2018 NBA Re-Draft Proves 76ers Received Good Value in Multiple Picks

The NBA Draft is always hit or miss for any team. The best player in college basketball can come to the pros and never make the full transition as a star in the league. And on the other end, a player who gets selected sometime in the second round can shock the basketball world and become a solid player with a successful career in the NBA.

Nobody can tell the future on these prospects, and that makes every draft pick every year nothing more than a gamble. The Philadelphia 76ers have had some bets pay off recently with players such as Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who are both All-Stars. They've also seen some picks become busts in a short amount of time as well. That's just the way it goes. 

Usually, the first pick in a set of multiple selections often makes or breaks a draft. And because of that, many believe the Sixers' 2018 NBA Draft wasn't entirely successful. As we know, the Sixers landed Villanova forward Mikal Bridges with the tenth-overall pick that year but eventually flipped him for Texas Tech guard, Zhaire Smith.

Almost two full years into the Smith experiment and the Texas Tech product hasn't quite hit his stride. Not only has Smith spent more time down in the G League with the Delaware Blue Coats, but he was also reportedly on the 76ers' trade block throughout the 2019-2020 NBA season.

[RELATED: Is Zhaire Smith in Philadelphia 76ers' Future Plans?]

The future doesn't look very bright for Smith at this point. So does that mean the 76ers' 2018 NBA Draft was a flop? Not exactly. Recently, Bleacher Report re-drafted the 2018 NBA Draft based on what we've seen over the last two NBA seasons. 

While it's clear the Sixers made the correct pick the first time around with Mikal Bridges, as Smith doesn't even appear in the first round on the re-draft -- the results also showed that Brett Brown and the 76ers' front office did a stellar job finding good value in the draft that year. 

With the 17th pick in the re-draft, the Milwaukee Bucks selected former 76ers guard, Landry Shamet. When the 76ers decided on Shamet, it was with the 26th overall pick in the draft. Unfortunately, the 76ers didn't want to see the Shamet experiment through last year. That's not to say he was a disappointment in Philly, no. Actually, Shamet was the key piece in a trade that landed the 76ers Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, and Mike Scott last season. 

The value the Sixers got with Shamet was decent. However, the value they got with former SMU guard Shake Milton is phenomenal. Two years ago, the Sixers landed Milton with the 54th overall pick. In the re-draft, Milton becomes a first-rounder landing with the Chicago Bulls at No. 22 overall.

[RELATED: 76ers Keep Mikal Bridges in 2018 NBA Re-Draft]

Milton's development might've been a bit slow in the beginning, but as Sixers' guard Ben Simmons rehabbed from a lower-back impingement, Milton was beginning to break out as the team's backup point guard. Earlier on in the year, the second-year guard was nothing more than an emergency reserve. Now, he will have a role on the Sixers when the NBA returns even when Simmons comes back.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_