Dei Lynam Believes Draft Night Was Just The Beginning For Daryl Morey
Contributor- Ryan Straub
It is safe to say that this offseason will be very interesting for the Sixers, with President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey holding the reigns to a surplus of options that will help round out the roster come late October. Morey and the Sixers have the ability to create more than $60 Million in cap space, which can be used to sign a high-profile player like Paul George, Jimmy Butler, or LeBron James in free agency to side with the likes of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
But first up on the offseason agenda was the NBA Draft, held last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Sixers used their only first-round pick to take guard Jared McCain out of Duke. McCain, standing at 6’2 197 pounds, averaged 14.3 points per game and shot an impressive 41% from three during his only season with the Blue Devils, even rising to 50% during the NCAA tournament in which they advanced to the Elite Eight.
On the defensive end of the floor, McCain makes up for his lack of size by being a tough and gritty perimeter defender who often took the task of guarding the opposition’s best player. Whether he will be able to defend at an NBA level is still to be determined.
While McCain, only 20 years old, certainly has a lot of upside, questions are being raised about Daryl Morey’s ideals regarding this selection. He has been quoted many times saying that younger players don’t necessarily help you win an NBA championship right away. On the board was Dalton Knecht, the 6’6 wing out of Tennessee who is 23 and can also shoot the lights out. Perhaps Morey went against his own better judgment when selecting McCain?
Dei Lynam Weighs In On Daryl Morey After Round 1
Dei Lynam thinks that this offseason is just getting started and that the draft was just step 1 for Morey: “I do believe he has a grand plan. I do think that. McCain was the best available at the time they picked […] I take Daryl at his word that he became a better defender. I’d like to see that because we all know that’s one of the big things here. You know, you got to be able to keep the guy in front of you. You got to be able to, you know, guard the pick and roll and know what you’re doing. So, yeah, an interesting player with, you know, obviously a lot of personality.”
When asked if her optimism level for the upcoming season lessened in any way after the McCain selection, she said “No, because I actually did not think his biggest work was going to be done on draft night.”
In regards to what exactly this “biggest work” might be, Lynam suggests: “Yeah, I really believe it’s either going to be, you know, in the free agency window, but some kind of sign and trade. And last night was always just going to be a part of getting a piece that somebody else could use and you getting, you know, throwing that in for your deal. […] Now, who’s the top name that we hear the most? Jimmy Butler, because he’s already been vocal about being unhappy. So that would be my hunch more than the others”
The NBA Draft concludes tonight, with Free Agency officially beginning on June 30th at 6:00 pm.
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