It’s been three years since the Philadelphia 76ers fully began their rebuild by trading away Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel and an additional pick in 2014. The plan was to add pieces around Noel, but it was two centers that epitomized “Best Player Available” at picks No. 3 in both the 2014 and 2015 drafts.

Sam Hinkie stuck with his mantra of picking talent over need, despite losing their targeted player to other teams, and the Sixers finally have four positions they can target without worrying about teams plucking their ideal players.

Taking three straight centers, including one who has yet to play, and neglecting to upgrade other positions played a part in the organization winning just 10 games last season and boosted their odds at having the coveted No. 1 selection. 

With the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery resulting in chalk, the 76ers can select either Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram. They are the consensus best two prospects on the board, plus neither is a center, and they can therefore instantly enrich a roster deprived of talent on the perimeter. Bryan Colangelo will use this offseason to begin making the 76ers' roster more coherent and more competitive. 

The Sixers have their pick of either dynamic forward, a position on the depth chart they haven't addressed with high lottery picks in the last three drafts.

Philadelphia’s preferred targets before each of the last two drafts were taken ahead of their selection. The Sixers would have been enamored to be in this situation two years ago. The premise of the Sixers’ 2013 offseason was to have an optimal chance at being in a position to draft Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Joel Embiid’s surprise ascension as a freshman at Kansas made a deep draft even beyond Wiggins and Parker with the likes of Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle and Dante Exum even deeper. 

Philadelphia, missing out on their ideal target in Wiggins, opted to double down on centers and take an immeasurable risk by selecting Embiid at pick No. 3. That decision, vying not to go the route of filling a need and taking a forward, essentially altered the focus of Philadelphia’s goal and displayed their willingness to take high-upside talent over filling immediate needs.

This theory held true at last year’s draft, when taking another center with the team’s first round pick bordered on the absurd. D’Angelo Russell, like Wiggins, seemed like a bulletproof fit with the Sixers possessing an obvious hole at point guard. The Lakers somewhat surprisingly picked Russell at No. 2 rather than an offensive savant on the block in Okafor.

The Okafor-Noel tandem was a mess offensively on the court and there's a distinct possibility one of the two will be dealt in order to open to up the roster regardless of whether Embiid is healthy enough to play.

The Sixers have a month to dissect whether they prefer Simmons’ passing and rebounding skillset, or Ingram’s offensive upside, shooting and length. Other teams can’t thwart the Sixers as they finally have optimal optionality with no team impeding or factoring into their draft decision.