Philadelphia 76ers Feeling A Sixer Draft

Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum speaks during the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

2016 NBA Draft prospects…from where?

The 2016 NBA is nearly a year away, but with so many picks lining up for the Philadelphia 76ers, I would be remiss not to offer some sort of drill down analysis for the class of 2016, right?

Well, lets start out by examining which collegiate programs offers strong prospects who are currently projected to an NBA mock draft next season. The list of excellent college basketball programs worth monitoring this season (with more than one projected NBA draft prospect) are as follows:

University of Arizona (2 prospects), University of California (2 prospects), University of Florida (3 prospects), Gonzaga (3 prospects), University of Kansas (3 prospects), University of Kentucky (2 prospects), Louisiana State University (2 prospects), University of Maryland (my alma mater, Go Terps!) (3 prospects), University of North Carolina (3 prospects), Notre Dame (2 prospects), Senegal (2 prospects), University of Texas (2 prospects), and the University of Connecticut (2 prospects).  If you are interested in maximizing your “NBA draft IQ”, these should most certainly be colleges you keep abreast of this season.

Internationally, the countries of France (2 prospects) and Turkey (2 prospects) are worth watching as well.

Will 2016 be the year for the Sixers to make a run at both the draft and subsequently at the NBA?

The challenge with the upcoming draft is the lack of data to accurately project who will be valued. There are far too many changes between today and the eventual draft. Mocks in September carry less weight than you might think, as many players do not realize their full potential, while others surprise in a positive way.

There are likely a hundred prospects who could and should be considered in assessing the 2016 NBA draft.   We’ve highlighted the schools (or countries) of 35 of them.   It’s clear that there will be more going on in the NBA draft than these prospects.   Since we know where we want to go, let’s examine the draft from that perspective?

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