June 22, 2015
It’s down to the nitty gritty of draft season and the rumors are a flyin’. The latest one, per the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner, is that a potential Sixers target might not be too keen on the idea of playing in our fine city:
After that it gets interesting, because Philadelphia is picking third, and no one in the NBA knows what the 76ers are doing and have been doing in recent years under secretive General Manager Sam Hinkie. After trading point guard Michael Carter-Williams, the 2014 rookie of the year, to Milwaukee this past season, it would appear that the 76ers need a point guard.
But the buzz around the NBA is that D'Angelo Russell, a 6-5 point guard from Ohio State whom many see as a lesser Stephen Curry-type, doesn't want to play for the unpredictable 76ers. Russell did work out for the 76ers last week.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this one, which was initially rumored when Russell got “real sick” and cancelled his initial Sixers workout. Still, the Ohio State one-and-doner worked out for the Sixers last week, a curious choice if he doesn’t want to play in Philly. On Sunday afternoon, Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony refuted Turner’s report:
Contrary to reports, I'm told D'Angelo Russell would be thrilled to be play for Philadelphia. He says he had a great workout there this week
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 21, 2015
Whatever the truth is, it doesn’t matter all that much whether Russell wants to play in Philly. What is of greater importance is whether the Sixers will select the 6-foot-5 guard if he’s still on the board at the third overall pick.
Chad Ford Mock Draft 7.0: Chad Ford, ESPN Insider
In this latest mock draft, Chad Ford has the Sixers taking Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis:
We've been hearing both Mudiay's and Russell's name here for months. But in the past few weeks, multiple sources around the league suspect that GM Sam Hinkie may actually be leaning toward Porzingis.
Like pretty much any scenario, Porzingis at three wouldn’t be surprising. Then again, everything is still on the table:
Or, as one rival GM believed, this Porzingis intel is all a smoke screen to get Orlando (who loves Porzingis) to trade up to No. 3 and give Hinkie another coveted asset. I believe Porzingis' camp strongly prefers he land in Orlando.
Iverson on possible job with Sixers: 'I am a basketball genius': Marc Narducci, Philadelphia Inquirer
There’s been a lot of talk over the past week of Allen Iverson’s quest to join the Sixers’ front office. I sincerely hope Iverson can get his life back on track, but this doesn’t seem like a very good or realistic idea for a lot of reasons. After the jersey unveiling last Thursday, the all-time great player said this:
"To me, I am a basketball genius and I really believe that, so at any capacity I could help this franchise, that is what I am going to do, whatever they ask me to do."
And later, he added this:
"I don't watch college basketball," he said. "But if I had that position, then obviously I would be."
Draft Spotlight: The Croatian YouTube Sensation: Max Rappaport, Sixers.com
We gave Mario Hezonja the “What I like, what I don’t like” treatment last week, but Rappaport gave a nice in-depth look at both his history with fellow Croatian Dario Saric and his current role in Barcelona. On Friday, he dropped 18 points in Game 1 of the league finals against Real Madrid on 5-6 three-point shooting.
Scott O'Neil: Three more doctors coming to see Joel Embiid: CSN Philly
Scott O'Neil went on Breakfast on Broad, giving an update on the franchise's building block while not really giving an update on the franchise's building block:
O'Neil confirmed Embiid didn't re-injure his foot. While the 7-footer has been shut down now from working out, O'Neil said the Sixers don't know if he'll miss summer league yet.
"We're still waiting," O'Neil said. "We have another three doctors to come see him. The nice thing about jobs like these — you can literally get the best experts in the world. All you have to do is call and they would love to see us."
1. Early last week, I wrote about taking a wait-and-see approach to Joel Embiid’s injury.
2. Later in the week, I went to the big jersey reveal, too.
3. Finally, I put Kristaps Porzingis under the microscope.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
