Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
With the NBA Draft nearing and the Sixers sitting at #23 overall (at least for now), I’m enlisting good friend and draft expert Ben Pfeifer to get those who did not watch a lot of college basketball back up to speed, talking about the 2022 class as well as one member of last year’s class.
One area where the Sixers need as much help as they can get is on the wing. Who are a few wing prospects who could be available at #23 overall that you think would fit in well in Philadelphia?
I’ve been sending this guy to every late first round team, but David Roddy could be a solid option for Philadelphia as another scoring option on the wing who also adds some passing and scoring juice. Roddy’s blend of strength, quickness and shotmaking craft could make him uniquely equipped to hunt and punish mismatches, which Joel Embiid creates just about every possession.
This draft unfortunately doesn’t have a ton of late first wings I love, especially those that aren’t projects like Nikola Jovic. Marjon Beauchamp and Wendell Moore could provide solid spacing options with a bit of ancillary offense and solid defense. Christian Braun provides an all around presence with his well-rounded closeout attacking, secondary passing and finishing, but his shooting hesitance is a bit of a worry. The last guy they could go with is Max Christie, a fairly typical three-and-D wing prospect who could have some one dribble pull-up equity working off of other offensive engines.
Trading up is often frowned upon in the NBA, but we’ve seen the Sixers do it multiple times in the last few seasons. Are there any prospects who could fall into the teens who the Sixers should consider moving up for?
AJ Griffin is the main candidate here; Griffin’s stock seems to have crashed somewhat because of his injury history. Fortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers have been excellent at managing and preventing freak and recurrent injuries (Note from Adam: Ben, this line was totally unnecessary!!!), and the upside of Griffin as a versatile, massive shooter with some real secondary pick-and-roll upside would provide a considerably better wing option than anything they could find in the rest of the draft. If he falls past 15 or so, I would not be opposed to giving up assets to acquire him, as you’re not finding his star ceiling elsewhere.
The Sixers’ backup center spot has been infamously shaky for years now. Drafting a backup in the first round is atypical, but are there any bigs the Sixers should consider taking with the #23 overall pick?
I honestly don’t mind the idea of drafting a center in the late first, especially for a team like Philly who has shown the value of rotation big men in supplementing stars over the last few years. Unfortunately, there aren’t any bigs in that range I would be super excited about selecting, unless someone like Mark Williams or Jalen Duren fell or was acquired in a trade up.
My favorite option would be Jaylin Williams, who would add a dimension as a really skilled playmaking big to take pressure off of mega scorers like Embiid, as well as James Harden and Tyrese Maxey. He’d likely be best in a pick-and-roll centric offense, and I can imagine him working beautifully off of a James Harden short roll or as a dribble-hand-off operator with Maxey, as his passing and dribbling skill as a legit 6’10 shine through.
Let’s go back to last year for a moment — in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Sixers selected Jaden Springer with the #29 overall pick. Springer did not log any NBA minutes of consequence this season. Where did you stand on Springer last year, and has that evaluation changed because of his lack of opportunity in year one?
I was one of the foremost Springer proponents before the draft and took much heat for my continued support of him as a top-seven player from the 2022 draft. If anything I’m a tad bit higher on Jaden Springer because of his success in the G-League, but this season was basically a wash for me. He’s still 19 and will be until September. Do not let your faith waver!
Finally, fill in the blank: in a perfect world, at #23 overall the Sixers should select…
Jalen Williams of Santa Clara would probably be my ideal selection for Philly at this point. He very may well be the best player on the board and his off-ball playmaking skills could help Philly a ton. At 6’6, Williams’ potential as an off-ball shooter as well as an intricate pick-and-roll passer would add another creation element that never hurts to have.
Thanks a lot to Ben for lending us some of his knowledge. Be sure to follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his YouTube channel for plenty of excellent content.