We continue our look down memory lane in past drafts for the Philadelphia 76ers. In this edition, we take it back to the 2002 NBA Draft where the Sixers held the 16th pick in the draft and, considering their team was mostly set, decided to deal the pick for future assets.
They selected Jiri Welsch from the Czech Republic and then flipped him to the Golden State Warriors for a 2004 first-round pick and a 2005 first-rounder as well. It was a wash of a trade for the most part.
In a recent 2002 re-draft done by Bleacher Report, they have the Sixers selecting Roger Mason Jr. out of Virginia.
B/R:
Mason packed a powerful three-point punch. And even if that meant less when he played than he does now, he combined it with defensive intensity to launch a decade-long NBA career.
He could shoot off the catch or the dribble—nearly 20 percent of his career threes were unassisted—and he had just enough handles to dissect defenses on pick-and-rolls. His 38.3 career three-point percentage was the best in class.
Hindsight is always 20/20 so you can’t really blame the Sixers for the move, they were after all just a year removed from reaching the NBA Finals in 2001, but imagine a guy like Mason next to Allen Iverson. He was a reliable 3-point shooter topping out on 42.1% from deep in the 2008-09 season with the San Antonio Spurs.
Of course, it was not like that from the get-go. He actually left the NBA in 2004 to play overseas for two seasons before returning to the NBA with the Washington Wizards in 2006, so who knows if it would have been that way for Philadelphia too, but the idea of Mason next to Iverson is a good picture. [lawrence-related id=29350,29357,29345]