PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – DECEMBER 15: President of basketball operations Daryl Morey … [+]
The Philadelphia 76ers entered the 2024 NBA draft with the chance to drastically reshape their roster. Instead, they kept their powder dry for the start of free agency on Sunday.
Rather than trading the No. 16 pick, the Sixers stood pat and took Duke guard Jared McCain. Team president Daryl Morey later told reporters that they had him graded as a top-10 prospect in this draft class.
“Jared’s just been a winner everywhere,” Morey said. “He’s gonna be someone Philly loves. Pretty rare to get a combination of both a guy who’s got some skills that will get him on the floor earlier, including shooting, but also a lot of upside and on a very steep improvement curve.”
Morey added that the Sixers were “looking at a lot of scenarios” including trading down in the draft or trading out entirely, but “they all sort of went away when Jared made it” to them at No. 16.
“That was the exact question we faced on the clock,” he said. “There was a player offered to us that was pretty interesting; we’d move back a bunch of slots. There was a move back pretty far, but pick up quite a few second-round picks and things like that. But we had McCain as a top-10 player in this draft.”
During his lone season at Duke, McCain averaged 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 46.2% overall and 41.4% from deep. That shooting was one of the major reasons why the Sixers took him where they did.
“All else equal, we really value shooting given the rest of our roster,” Morey said, highlighting star center Joel Embiid in particular. “We just think Joel’s unguardable when he has shooting around him.”
McCain measured in at only 6’2″ with a 6’3½” wingspan at the NBA combine, which made him a target defensively early in his college career. However, he made strides on that end of the floor throughout his freshman season, to the point that he developed into a plus defender by the end of the year.
“He’s got a strong frame, very strong,” Morey said. “Good rebounder. We think he’ll be a solid defender in the league over time.”
Pairing him with another small guard in All-Star Tyrese Maxey might require some lineup tinkering, although both guards can thrive on and off the ball. Worst-case scenario, McCain projects as a high-end sixth man, but the Sixers think he can become far more than that.
“We’ve got a lot of roster opportunity, so if you can get a player who is hopefully rotation-ready at a very young age—I don’t want to put pressure on him, but we think he’s got the improvement curve, he’s got the approach,” Morey said. “He’s obviously got a skill that the coach will turn around on the bench and say, ‘Hey, I need that skill.’ He can really punish people in transition. Can really rebound.
“He’s pretty special for a guy to get sort of in the middle of the first round. I don’t want to put any tough expectations on him, but we really think this guy’s gonna be a 76er for a very long time.”
After standing pat at No. 16, the Sixers had another opportunity to make a move Thursday during the second day of the NBA draft. Front offices had an overnight break between the two rounds for the first time, and they took advantage of the extra time by organizing an outrageous number of trades. More than half of the picks in the second round changed hands at some point during the draft.
The Sixers weren’t one of them. They stood pat at No. 41 and took UCLA big man Adem Bona, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer was high on the selection.
In his scouting report for Bona, O’Connor called him a “big-bodied defender with the hands and feet to thrive in any pick-and-roll scheme.” Although he measured in at only 6’8″ at the combine, he has a 7’4″ wingspan and a 243-pound frame that should help him rebound and block shots against NBA bigs.
“Adem is a high-motor player with proven abilities as both a rim protector and switchable defender,” Morey said a team press release. “He possesses an impressive blend of size, athleticism, and defensive toughness, and we’re excited to add him to our team.”
It’s unclear what (if anything) the addition of Bona means for Paul Reed, whose $7.7 million salary is non-guaranteed until January. The Sixers could waive him this summer without incurring a dead cap hit if they need to create more cap space for a free-agent signing or a trade, or they could keep him on the books and use him for salary filler in a trade later on.
Once the draft concluded, the Sixers quickly signed Kentucky wing Justin Edwards (a local product) and Memphis wing David Jones to two-way contracts. They also signed Rice big man Max Fiedler to an Exhibit-10 deal, according to Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress, which should get them a close-up look at him during summer league.
No matter how the Sixers round out their roster this offseason, it will behoove them to have a few young developmental projects at the end of their bench. Edwards, Jones and Bona might spend most of the year in the G League with the Delaware 87ers, but as Morey noted, offseason roster turnover could open opportunities for any of them.
With the draft and the priority undrafted-free-agent signings complete, the Sixers can now direct their full attention to free agency. With McCain on their books for $4.0 million, they could still create up to $61.3 million in cap space even if they guarantee Ricky Council IV’s $1.9 million contract as well.
It’s unclear whom the Sixers will add in the coming days, but Morey made it clear Wednesday that he isn’t thinking small going into free agency.
“We’re planning to be the best team in the East next year,” Morey said. “To be right there with Boston and the other competitors.”
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.