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Kristaps Porzingis to Sixers Gaining Steam

By Eric Mullin

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Every year as the NBA Draft approaches, a ‘hot prospect’ emerges from the field of potential draftees. This ‘hot prospect’ goes flying up draft boards by way of impressive workouts and reports citing specific teams interest in the player.

Last year’s ‘hot prospect’ was Elfrid Payton, who was viewed as a very late first-round pick a month before the draft. But look at Payton’s rise in Draft Express’s mock draft history in the month leading up to last year’s draft:

Ten days before the draft DX had Payton slotted at number 20, but slowly moved him up the board in the days following. On the day of the draft they had him at eight, which is a considerable jump from being a late first-rounder to a top-ten pick in a matter of days. Payton was ultimately selected tenth overall by the Sixers and subsequently dealt to the Magic. The rapid rise of Payton’s stock last year is a prime example of how much a prospect can move up the board just days before the draft.

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This year’s ‘hot prospect’ would appear to be Kristaps Porzingis, a seven-foot, international prospect from Latvia. Porzingis has been considered to be a consensus top-ten pick for the past year and has more recently been mocked around the seven to ten range of the draft. But after holding in an impressive workout in Las Vegas last Friday, Porzingis has garnered reported interest from a few teams in the top five, even as high as the Lakers with the number two pick.

Out of all of the teams in the top ten, the Sixers would appear to be the team that has been most linked to Porzingis through multiple reports. Over the weekend, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that Porzingis was ‘in play’ for the Sixers. Today, Liberty Ballers’s Jake Pavorsky reported that Porzingis is a favorite of Sam Hinkie:

"..Liberty Ballers has received more confirmation on the Sixers interest in the 19-year-old. Word amongst higher up members of the Sixers front office is that Sam Hinkie is essentially head-over-heels for Porzingis, who played with Sevilla in the Spanish ACB this season."

Last week, Draft Express released an updated version of their team-specific mock draft and moved Porzingis from Hornets at number nine to the Sixers at number three. DX updated their mock draft again today and still had Porzingis going to Sixers. Here is DX’s thinking behind Porzingis to Philly:

"While Porzingis’ camp is rumored to be cool on the Sixers as a potential destination, that certainly won’t stop Sam Hinkie from picking him. Joel Embiid’s recent injury setback has made Porzingis a lot more attractive now, and there’s still a great deal of uncertainty regarding when Dario Saric (anyway more of a small forward) will come over. According to what we’re told, it absolutely won’t happen before 2016, and could get pushed back to 2017 when he’s no longer bound by the NBA rookie-scale contract. Regardless, Hinkie believes in swinging for the fences in search of maximum potential, and Porzingis, with his tremendous athleticism and sweet shooting stroke, certainly has a great deal of that."

While all of these reports could be true, as they come from reliable outlets, anything leaked before the draft should be taken with a more than a grain of salt. A lot of reports come from teams using them as smokescreens in an effort to hide their true intentions or from agents using them as a way to drive up the value of their client.

Porzingis’s shooting and athletic ability as a seven-footer would make him a potential fit in Philly. He could conceivably play alongside Nerlens Noel or Joel Embiid on both ends of the court. His skill set on the offensive end has drawn comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol, but the translation of Porzingis’s game to the NBA is still very much in question, as he struggles to play through contact and is not a strong defender on the low post.

Porzingis could be a trade-down option for the Sixers, but I do not see them selecting him with their third overall pick. Just because Sam Hinkie and the Sixers are reported to be fans of Porzingis does not mean that he is essentially their ‘guy’ or that they are not high on any other of the top prospects. Unless they decide to move down, it would surprise me if the Sixers passed up on one of whoever remains out of Towns/Okafor/Russell/Mudiay/Hezonja in favor of Porzingis.

Ever since the failure of Darko Milicic’s translation to the NBA, teams have had pause in selecting an international big high in the draft. If there is one thing that you can convince me on, it is that it is going to a General Manager who has guts and is not risk-averse spend to a top-five pick on Porzingis, and Sam Hinkie has proven to be that kind of GM. Only nine more days until we find out just how high the Sixers really are on Kristaps Porzingis.

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