Dec 27, 2014; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Montrezl Harrell (24) shoots against Kentucky Wildcats forward Trey Lyles (41) during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Kentucky defeated Louisville 58-50. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
3. Power Rebounding
Here’s where things get slightly tricky for the 76ers, because it’s hard to project how this will be affected by Joel Embiid’s presence in the future.
To be frank, he 76ers suck at rebounding this season. Furkan Aldemir has helped since he arrived from Turkey, but that’s not enough. Nerlens Noel isn’t a great rebounder, Henry Sims is terrible at everything, and the Sixers don’t have the type of guard rebounding power to be able to compensate with a team rebounding approach. They need someone to clean the glass.
Here’s where Jalil Okafor would likely have the biggest impact, even more so than post scoring, which Embiid should be able to do well. Okafor is averaging 8.9 rebounds per game this season at Duke, and he is such a large body that he’ll have no problem being a good rebounder at the next level. Pairing him with Noel or Embiid would allow the other to play in space on both ends, which frees up Noel to roam and block shots defensively, and Embiid to operate from the high post offensively. It’s a great fit, far more so than Towns, who isn’t even the best rebounder on his own team (that would be Willie Cauley-Stein).
However, I think the Sixers would be best served waiting on this until later in the draft, because the pool of solid rebounders in this draft is quite large. The dream guy for the Sixers has to be Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell, a high-motor four averaging 9.3 rebounds per game. He’s incredible at clearing the glass and a natural fit in Philly’s up-tempo system. He’s probably going to go too early though, but that’s okay; late-1st round options are UNLV’s Christian Wood (10 rpg, rim protection), and Arkansas’s Bobby Portis (7.6 rpg and a high-energy guy), and in the 2nd round they could go with a guy like UNC’s Kennedy Meeks (8.9 rpg, is enormous), or French giant Mouhammadou Jaiteh. Even if it’s a guy like Meeks or Harrell, who will rebound and not contribute much else right away, the Sixers can definitely be flexible with where they land rebounding help.