The order of the 2016 NBA Draft remains a mystery, but we’re not going to wait for the lottery to shake out to start projecting what the Philadelphia 76ers are going to do on June 23rd.
For the purpose of this exercise, let’s sat that the lottery order turns out exactly the way that that the odds would lead you to believe. That means the Sixers are on the clock, but no Lakers pick:
A little controversy to kick things off! A confession: I don’t completely know exactly where I stand in the Simmons/Ingram debate (probably a lean toward Simmons), just as I don’t know exactly what Bryan Colangelo is thinking.
A past look at Colangelo’s draft history reveals some excellent value picks in Phoenix (Michael Finley, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Amar’e Stoudemire, Stephen Jackson) and some decent selections in Toronto (DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, Ed Davis, Terrence Ross) overshadowed by one major mistake (Andrea Bargnani over LaMarcus Aldridge).
For now, let’s be different and say that the Sixers pass on Ben Simmons and go with the silky smooth wing from Duke with the super long strides and far superior jump shot up to this point:
Pick 24: Ante Zizic, C, Croatia (6’10”, 240 lbs.)
The Sixers could face a bit of a roster crunch entering next season, especially if Joel Embiid is healthy and Dario Saric comes over from Europe: Noel, Okafor, Embiid, Covington, Grant, Saric, Holmes, Top Draft Pick X, Stauskas (who, for all his warts, played half-decent in the second half), and possibly McConnell because the Sixers are thin in the backcourt.
Then think about Colangelo trying to supplement the roster with at least a few free agents. There are a lot of ways that the new president of basketball operations can shape that aforementioned group (“optionality”), but one is by selecting players that you can stash in Europe for a year or two.
Zizic comes from the same team, Cibona Zagreb, that Dario Saric played on before heading to Turkey to ply his trade. He might not have the most upside, but Zizic has a chance to be a decent backup big man. As a 19-year-old, he averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds:
There are many different ways you can go with this pick. Another Euro like Spanish wing Juan Hernangomez? Maybe a more under the radar one-and-done like Washington’s Dejounte Murray or Florida State’s Malik Beasley?
For today, we’ll go with the local kid. Both ESPN (25) and Draft Express (31) have the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year going in this range, so it’s not a reach.
I love Bembry’s game, and he raised his play another level when it mattered most in both the Atlantic 10 and NCAA tournaments. The concerns with the jumper are real (26% from three, 66% from the line), but at 26, I’m willing to bet on him working hard to refine his stroke. Ball-handling is another area that he needs to improve, but the rest is already there:
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