October 20, 2015
Right before every basketball season, general managers take part in an NBA.com poll and answer questions on various topics around the league. Since most of these questions are based on the present and framed in a positive manner, the Sixers aren’t prominently featured.
The big takeaways from this year’s poll in terms of the Sixers are:
1. The GMs believe Jahlil Okafor well be the best rookie, but not the best player in the rookie class in the long run.
2. The GMs think that Dario Saric is the best international player not currently playing in the NBA.
44.8 percent of general managers think that Okafor will win the Rookie of the Year award, which makes sense. The big fella will get plenty of touches, and he should be able to score a decent amount right away. The voters generally tend to reward points over other areas of the game in ROY voting. Okafor is my pick, as well.
Okafor doesn’t fare as well in the question of, “Which rookie will be the best player in five years?” Karl-Anthony Towns runs away with that question, garnering 62.1 percent of the vote. Okafor is tied for second with Emmanuel Mudiay at 10.3 percent. Towns would also be my pick here.
Finally, Dario Saric took top honors by receiving 28.6 percent the vote on, “Who is the best international player NOT in the NBA?” I’m not sure that is true yet, but you also have to factor in that Saric is at least six years younger than any of his closest competitors.
Be on the lookout for some Saric video later in the week, because Efes has started its Euroleague campaign.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
