The Boston Celtics are currently in the NBA Finals, and there’s no doubt that this has been a long time coming for them. They have an elite homegrown core, and rookie coach Ime Udoka has been a revelation for the franchise.
There is no doubt that the Boston Celtics are enjoying their success, but there is one team that is likely regretting some of its past choices while watching the Celtics play in the Finals. Instagram page Basketball Forever has recently detailed how the Philadelphia 76ers could have had the Boston Celtics’ current core if they didn’t make 5 mistakes:
1) Drafted Markelle Fultz over Jayson Tatum
2) Drafted Ben Simmons over Jaylen Brown
3) Took Matisse Thybulle over Grant Williams
4) Had Ime Udoka as an assistant coach
5) Traded Al Horford for Danny Green
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were both drafted with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 and 2017 NBA drafts, respectively. The Philadelphia 76ers had the No. 1 picks in both of those drafts but ended up taking Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz with those picks, and neither of those players is on their team currently. Grant Williams and Matisse Thybulle were both members of the 2019 NBA Draft, with Williams being selected as the No. 22 pick, and Thybulle being selected as the No. 20 pick.
Ime Udoka was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2019-20 season. Al Horford played with the Philadelphia 76ers during that same season as well. If the Philadelphia 76ers made a few different choices, they could have had a core that can get to the Finals, and that’s without mentioning their superstar-level player in Joel Embiid.
It is hard to completely fault the Philadelphia 76ers for their choices, though, as most of the moves they made were viewed as solid at the time. For example, Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle are both solid players, and Markelle Fultz has been decent since getting traded to the Orlando Magic. Al Horford also didn’t quite fit well with Joel Embiid, though part of that could potentially have been the general lack of spacing on that 76ers team.
There is no doubt that it is fun to imagine what could have happened with the Philadelphia 76ers had they done things differently. However, that is all in the past, and their focus right now should be to build a contender around Joel Embiid. We’ll see if they are able to do so.
