Denzel Valentine, Michigan State University
While the value of swingmen has drastically risen over the past few seasons, it just doesn’t make sense for the Philadelphia 76ers to draft Denzel Valentine.
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He’s a bit undersized and doesn’t have the elite athleticism to hang with many of the small forwards (that he would have to cover on defense) in the NBA.
Valentine is an excellent shooter and was certainly a top-notch college player, but he’s already 22 years old (will turn 23 in December) and the Sixers already have a few swingmen rostered in Dario Saric, Jerami Grant, Robert Covington and either Brandon Ingram or Ben Simmons. The frontcourt is already crowded enough, and Philly needs to improve its backcourt before crowding yet another position.
If the Sixers do decide to take a small forward in the draft, there’s others that should be available around the same time as Valentine (Malachi Richardson, DeAndre Bembry) that would benefit the Sixers more than him.
Also, in order to get Valentine, Philadelphia will need to trade up from the 24th pick. And if they do trade up, this isn’t exactly the ideal guy worth moving up the board for; it just feels like he has “bust” written all over him.
Next: Brice Johnson, University of North Carolina