The Philadelphia 76ers finally got a lucky break, jumping into the top three of the NBA Draft Lottery. While Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper aren't walking through that door, Philadelphia should be able to add an impactful player and an important long-term cornerstone next to Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain.

Flagg and Harper are essentially locks at the top of the board, but the draft opens up significantly at No. 3. There are clear favorites in the land of mock drafts, but the Sixers are expected to cast a wide net, per ESPN's Jonathan Givony. He lists five names thought to be under consideration in the City of Brotherly Love.

That said, the overwhelming favorite in mocks everywhere, from ESPN to The Athletic to Yahoo, is Rutgers wing Ace Bailey. Bailey has been hovering around the top three on boards since preseason and he has maintained his stranglehold on the imaginations of basketball fans everywhere, despite a bumpy freshman campaign in Piscataway.

Bailey has severe shortcomings as a prospect, but at the end of the day, he's an athletic 6-foot-9 wing with major shot-making chops. He has several fans in his corner — as well as one prominent member of the Sixers core, Paul George.

This is not the first time George has come out in support of Bailey. Months ago, before the NCAA Tournament, when the idea of Bailey in Philly was nothing more than a pipe dream for the city's most pessimistic denizens, George said the Rutgers commit had a higher ceiling than Cooper Flagg.

Bailey over Flagg is an insane take, of course, but if the Sixers are sitting there at No. 3, it's a far more appealing option. George has not earned the clout necessary to determine Philadelphia's course of action on draft night, but it's not nothing when your All-Star comes out in support of a prospect. Especially when he says, without a hint of irony, that Bailey might be the best player from his draft class.

As it so happens, Bailey shares some noticeable parallels to George, whom the 18-year-old cites as an inspiration and role model.

Bailey is going to get serious consideration from the Sixers — Daryl Morey has said so himself — but the discourse in the Philadelphia fandom has been far too polarizing since the lottery order was announced last week.

Yes, Bailey is a tremendous talent with a ton of upside, but to act like he's the clear-cut option at No. 3 is oversimplifying things. The opposite is also true. Acting like Bailey is a worst-case scenario for the Sixers is far too extreme and, frankly, a little disrespectful.

He is a potentially generational shot-maker who needs to undergo a significant change in approach at the next level. While Bailey's confidence on bail-out jumpers is admirable, he needs to stop settling for so many long 2s and start looking to incorperate teammates. He needs to start locking in on defense. There is a reason even the experts call him a project. Bailey is immensely gifted, but he does not always deploy those gifts in the most productive way.

Philly is a great landing spot on paper, as it can give Bailey the support and structure he needs to buck bad habits and embrace winning basketball. His odds of success are much higher as a Sixer than as a Wizard. That said, other top prospects, such as Baylor's VJ Edgecombe or Duke's Kon Knueppel, deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. This is a proper debate with multiple logical outcomes, not a cut-and-dry situation with an unimpeachable truth.