Why Philadelphia 76ers Should Expect All Draft Picks To Play This Year

By Bret Stuter | Jun 25, 2016

Jun 24, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers number one overall draft pick Ben Simmons (25) and number twenty-fourth overall draft pick Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (20) pose for a photo with President Of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo (L) and owner Josh Harris (R) at the Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

2 of 4

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; A general view of a video board displaying all thirty draft picks in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; A general view of a video board displaying all thirty draft picks in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /

A Warm Draft

In the 2016 NBA Draft, despite all the drum-beating beforehand, the Philadelphia 76ers executed a draft strategy that left most of the Philadelphia 76ers fans amazed. Not only did the team land top overall pick Ben Simmons, projected by many analysts as a true NBA franchise player, but they also landed Timothe Luwawu Cabbarot from France and Furkan Korkmaz from Turkey at 24 and 26 respectively. In many draft boards, they were lottery prospects if not projected to the top ten.

Now the ultimate question – if both prospects COULD be stashed in Europe for now, why would the Philadelphia 76ers want to bring them under the constraints of their 15 man limit roster?

More from Sixers News

Simply stated- the Philadelphia 76ers have the world premier practice facility coming on-line this fall, as well as one of the most sophisticated Basketball Analytics programs in the sport. In the past, the team was focused on acquiring the rights to players to use to accumulate talent. Now, the focus of this team is about developing that talent.

Still, there are financial implications to consider. With the NBA, a team can buy out an international contract up to $650k. Any amount which exceeds that contract price will come from the rookie wage scale as per the NBA collective bargaining agreement. But neither contract is as forboding as the terms of another international prospect – power forward Dario Saric.

Told Luwawu's buyout fits into that $650k amount. As previously mentioned, Korkmaz's is more ($2m), but can be paid in installments.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 24, 2016

It’s a lot of work to jump through all the hoops to get both Luwawu and Korkmaz to the Philadelphia 76ers this season. Is there any incentive to do so for the team besides better training?

Next: TImothe Luwawu-Cabarrot