I wouldn't say "ahead". Philly is just taking a riskier route, which is worthy of praise as well IMO. So in terms of upside, i do think Philly has a higher ceiling than us, but at the same time, they have a lower floor. And since the point of contention are generally unproven commodities, then just like beauty, it's all in the eye of the beholder.
I guarantee though that if Philly drafted Smart and we were able to draft Embiid at 6, and we got Saric at 17 and they got Young at 10, and we got Noel at 13 (instead of KO), we'd think a lot more highly of them. Now, we point to the Nets picks, which we're all hoping will eventually be high/lottery picks though, given the willingness to spend of Brooklyn mgmt, it seems unlikely.