Back to the Philadelphia 76ers Newsfeed

Smallwood: How Sixers have failed in recent drafts

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 and if ESPN.com were to release its annual rankings of NBA players today instead of before the 2016-17 season began, at least one Sixer likely would get a lot more respect.

Sixers rookie center Joel Embiid may not have played for the previous two seasons, but he is 58th in the top 200 players.

Embiid doesn't qualify for the statistical leaders because he's only played 15 games, but his 18.2 points per game would rank fifth among centers.

His 2.5 blocks per game would rank second to Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, and he is actually tied for 13th with 38 blocks in his limited games.