Sixers reach for Thaddeus Young with top pick

By John McMullen
The Phanatic Magazine

If you heard a moan or groan Thursday night, it was likely Billy King awkwardly reaching for Georgia Tech forward Thaddeus Young with the 12th pick of the NBA Draft.

The league’s worst personnel man actually had a solid Plan A for once. King wanted to trade up to acquire Yi Jianlian, the Chinese star many have compared favorably to Dirk Nowitzki. But, Milwaukee ignored the fact that Yi didn’t want to play in a city without a large Chinese population, spurned the Sixers, and drafted the future star.

That left BK reeling. Not surprising since he’s a one-trick pony and had no alternative plan. Sure, John Paxson and Wayne Cooper felt bad for the overmatched one and tried to help the embattled Sixers’ president by plucking a pair of over-hyped and unfavorable players off the board, Joakim Noah and Spencer Hawes, right before King got to stick his hand in the candy jar.

It was almost perfect for the Sixers. King couldn’t screw it up. He had his choice between two competent players at a need position, Julian Wright and Al Thornton. Neither player is a world-beater but both would have been solid picks that could have contributed right away. Instead, King indulged his self-destructive tendencies and went for Young, a multi-year project that will take three or four years if he ever develops.

Even Young was surprised by his good fortune. "It was a big surprise," the young wingman said on a conference call . "I thought they'd take Julian Wright or Al Thornton, but I had a good workout with them and they took me early."

Apologists will say Young has the bigger upside, and since the Wachovia Center is filled with King groupies, the spin has started in earnest.

Don't buy it. Philadelphia is stuck in a basketball purgatory that will feature 7,000 fans per game and a losing team.

We all know there is only one way to fix that, but I’m tired of ripping King and pointing out his ever accumulating flaws. It’s become a cottage industry to insult the poor guy and frankly it has become boring and uninteresting.

Much like the team he has cobbled together.