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OK let’s get this first one out of the way right off the bat. Stefan Bondy covers the Knicks. Why is he reporting about the Sixers? Fuck knows! But here’s how I read this: Bryan Colangelo is taking a point guard or at least wants people to think he’s taking a point guard.

Fox: Love him. Just not for the Sixers. He seems to have the widest DELTA between his floor and ceiling of any of the four (now five and maybe even six) guys projected to be taken third. He’s crazy athletic and quick, but he can’t shoot, is a bit erratic, and somewhat small. If this were a year ago and the Sxiers weren’t ready to turn the page, I’d be willing to take a chance on Fox because he has superstar potential. Alas. Colangelo is (I think rightfully) set to move forward, and Fox really isn’t a great fit.

Dennis Smith Jr.: I’m gonna be real transparent– a highlight video of Smith from his high school days popped up on my Facebook feed last night and by the end of it I had already customized my Smith Jr. jersey on Sixers.com. I haven’t done a deep dive on him yet (I will today), but the skinny is that he’s a talented, NBA-skilled point guard who can get to the rim and shoot effectively but lacks decision-making ability, played for a lousy NC State team, and is 15 months removed from tearing his ACL (fun fact: Kyle Lowry tore his ACL before his freshman season, and this injury basically means nothing anymore).

Smith seems to be getting a lot of buzz lately, oh and he just happens to be a point guard who checks most of the boxes the Sixers need. There’s also an interesting theory in this FanSided breakdown of his game, which posits that he was hurt by his supporting cast and routinely had to deal with multiple defenders, and may have played timid after recovering from said knee injury:

However, as with Fultz and outlined in earlier Smith breakdowns, if you delve deeper for team context the fact Smith was able to get to the rim as much as he did given his surrounding personnel was impressive. As scouts and writers start to dive back into the tape on Smith, the lack of spacing and secondary playmaking talent Smith dealt with was clear. He routinely saw multiple bodies attacking the paint, as illustrated in this handy snapshot from DraftExpress’ Josh Riddell.

The best way I can characterize Smith’s athleticism display last year is inconsistent. There’s a decent argument to be had that potential physical limitations, operating at less than 100 percent healthwise, may have constrained Smith physically on the court, but also mental hesitancy post-injury.

As ex-head coach Mark Gottfried noted in an interview with the New York Post, it takes time for an athlete like Smith to regain confidence in his body after sustaining a significant injury. You could see this manifest on the court at times last season, especially against notable athletes in space. I noted this in a video breakdown against the Blue Devils in January, and plays like this against Frank Jackson in space just scream hesitancy.

Keep in mind, the other top prospects other than Fultz played for UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas and Duke.

I don’t love the idea of a player coming in with built-in excuses, but both of these could be legitimate reasons for a somewhat muted output. Though taking yet another player with lower-body injury concerns scares the actual shit out of me. Yep, I just took a Marcus.

I thought this watching the Spurs this postseason and wondered why Mills’ name hadn’t come up for the Sixers. Now it has.

Mills is Australian, so the combination of him, Brett Brown and Ben Simmons would make the Sixers ripe for Outback and Fosters sponsorships that would build Scott O’Neil another vacation home. Get ready for Shrimp on the Barbie Night in the lux seats. The rest of you peons get $8 Fosters specials.

Mills is 28 and can shoot the three (over 40% this year), but has been a career backup to Tony Parker. A good backup, but still a backup. He has the right combination of skills the Sixers are looking for – can handle the ball but play off it too – but forgive me for not getting too excited about a 28-year-old averaging 9 and 3 per game who is a defensive liability.

Here is an obscenely long article from Marc Whittington at Liberty Ballers making the case for Jayson Tatum:

Narrative 2: Tatum lives in the midrange, and is an iso-scorer.

Yes, Tatum does use a larger share of possessions for isolation than many prospects. However, that does not make him either incapable of playing different styles or incompatible with the modern game.

Tatum’s isolation style jumps off the screen when you watch him. Any highlight compilation will feature one or two pinch post-ups or an isolation drive. That many of these plays result in long 2’s has garnered him (wrongful) comparisons to Carmelo Anthony and DeMar DeRozan.

But this also overstates the impact his style has on a game overall. According to Synergy, Tatum used 23.2% of his finishing possessions for isolations (117 total). This puts him very high among college athletes— for instance Josh Jackson only used 46 isolations, 7.8% of his finishing possessions. However, it is still a remarkably small number of plays given the length of a college basketball season.

Tatum’s usage rate was 26.2% this year. If 23% of his usage was reserved for isolations, that comes to only 6.1% of Duke’s possessions while he was in the game, which is fewer than 4 possessions per game. In a smaller role in the NBA, those possessions will shrink further to potentially only 1 or 2 per game. An occasional isolation play is hardly a ball-stopping, offense detonating disaster, and Tatum doesn’t project to destroy motion offenses because he played an iso-heavy style in college.

Moreover, there have been plenty of players who shouldered heavy usage, isolation roles in college who then adjusted to playing more of an off-ball role in the NBA. Gerald Henderson, Klay Thompson, and Luke Babbitt(!!) all used more possessions for isolation in college, and no one would dream about labeling them isolation players now.

Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant may be great examples of how being iso-heavy in college does not necessarily lead to iso-dependency in the NBA. Both were high usage isolation players in college (Durant used an equal percentage of possessions as Tatum did). Golden State avoids isolation even when they might exploit mismatches, preferring player motion, intricate screening, and ball movement to capitalize on them. This is one of the most sophisticated offenses in the NBA, and both players are key contributors to its success despite their college playing style. There is no reason why the same should not be true of Tatum.

I respect the hell out of this breakdown and the work that went into it, but it feels like Whittington, who just dismissed the percentage-based evaluations that define modern day NBA analytics with a wave of the hand and a “yeah, but 23% isn’t really that high,” is trying to talk himself into Tatum. What he wrote here amounts to: Sure, Tatum takes a lot of jump shots, but it’s not as many as you think and he can totally change, just like Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Problem: Kevin Durant was a freak who could get to the rim and shoot the three better than Tatum. And Klay Thompson is an all-world shooter. Tatum is neither of those things. He’s also somewhat slow and his old-school skill set doesn’t translate well to the modern NBA, certainly not for a team like the Sixers.

Matt Mullin delves into the possibility of the Sixers’ signing the Wizards’ Otto Porter. I like Porter– he’s 6’8 and shot over 40% from three. But popular conjecture has the Wizards retaining him.