Tristan Thompson joins an improving 76er team with pick 17 of our mock draft.
17. Philadelphia 76ers – Tristan Thompson, PF, Texas, 6-8, 225
Here is the Philly roster:
PG – Jrue Holiday (20), Louis Williams (24)
SG – Jodie Meeks (23), Evan Turner (22)
SF – Andre Iguodala (27), Evan Turner (22), Andres Nocioni (31), Jason Kapono (30)
PF – Elton Brand (32), Thaddeus Young (22), Craig Brackins (23), Darius Songaila (33)
C – Spencer Hawes (22), Marreese Speights (23), Tony Battie (35)
This is a tough call because the Sixers have turned into a pretty good team.
Doug Collins has them playing focused, disciplined basketball, but perhaps even more than that he has thus far overseen the most substantive individual improvement yet experienced for nearly every guy on the roster. Six guys on the 76ers now average double figures, a testament to both their team-wide unselfishness and the respective ability of the players.
Everyone is playing better. Everyone is developing.
The Sixers haven’t had a winning season since 2004-05, but they’re five wins away from locking one up this year. And that’s in spite of starting the season 3-13.
So where to they turn for external improvement?
My guess is to the power forward position. Elton Brand has looked revitalized this year, but he’s still 32. Thaddeus Young is effective there, but can’t defend against bigger 4’s.
I considered Nikola Mirotic, Kenneth Faried, and each of the Kansas bigs before ultimately deciding on Tristan Thompson.
If they’re looking for an understudy to Elton Brand, the Sixers will be looking for a player capable of developing into a reliable option in the post. But save for Marcus Morris, who is smaller than I think they will go, none of the aforementioned have the type of strength + refined post game combo that would be necessary to fill that role.
So we go a different route—Tristan Thompson.
The 6-9 F/C has an enormous 7-2 wingspan and was very productive in his for Texas this year despite having few real go to moves on offense. Instead, he bullied his way to 13.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks a game, finding success whenever his aggressiveness didn’t get him into foul trouble.
The biggest knock on Thompson is he’s still quite early in his development, and he’s not quite big enough to play center in the NBA.
The Sixers won’t need him to.
As evidenced by this season, Doug Collins likes to teach, he likes to be involved in the crafting of young player.
Tristan Thompson has the most ability for Collins to mold.
Three notes:
1. At current, Thompson says he’s returning to school. I will remove him (and Sullinger) from the mock the day the deadline passes, as we’ve seen in years past the success rate for after-tourney declarations is about 50/50.
2. Patric Young of Florida was a strong candidate for this spot. He won’t be on the board much longer.
3. The following was uttered during Texas’ opening round win against Oakland: “Tristan Thompson is Canadian, so you know his game is nice.” Yikes.
(Previous pick: Kemba Walker – New York Knicks)
(Upcoming pick: Minnesota Timberwolves)