NBA Draft: Grading the Philadelphia 76ers’ last 10 first rounds

2016

The moves: Drafted Ben Simmons, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Furkan Korkmaz

Ben Simmons

Now, there’s a player in every NBA Draft class that everyone seemingly thinks will work in the NBA. In 2016, that player was Ben Simmons. While there was some debate between whether he or Brandon Ingram was the top dog, Simmons was universally seen as a special talent. That is why the Sixers took him at number one. Unfortunately, Simmons suffered a foot injury right before the season started and was out for the year.

But, once he returned, Ben Simmons did not disappoint. After returning in 2017, Simmons showed the entire league why he was taken first overall. In his first four seasons with the Sixers, Embiid has averaged 16.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game. On top of that, Simmons has won one Rookie of the Year award and made two NBA All-Star games.

The one major knock on Simmons is his inability to shoot. Hopefully, that will come with time. However, that does not take away from the fact that he is a top-tier up and coming player in the NBA. Hopefully, he can continue on this track for years to come. He has shown it so far, and there should be more in store from the Fresh Prince.

Grade: A+

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot

Next, we have two players who seemingly were drafted in order to compete for one roster spot. At 24 and 26, respectively, the Philadelphia 76ers drafted Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Furkan Korkmaz. TLC came to the NBA right away, while Korkmaz came a year after due to a contractual agreement with Anadolu Efes S.K.

Nonetheless, TLC had a fairly mediocre career in Philadelphia, averaging 6.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. He wasn’t a very good shooter, either, with a clip of 32.3 percent from three. Many expected TLC to become a prototypical “3 and D” player. But alas, this did not happen.

Grade: C-

Furkan Korkmaz

On the other hand, ended up being a player who simply needed time to find his spot on the roster. While many wrote off Korkmaz for being a liability on defense and a poor shooter in his first two seasons, Korkmaz has proven to be rather solid. With the lack of depth on this Sixers bench, it seemed as though all hope was lost.

However, head coach Brett Brown turned to Korkmaz to provide a spark, and he did. So far this season, Korkmaz has averaged 9.7 points per game on 39.7 percent 3-point shooting. While he may not fully have it on defense, there’s still hope for the young Turkish wing. Not to mention, he pretty much won the position battle between himself and TLC.

Grade: B