Thorn says Sixers won't move from 15th pick
After monitoring the workout of Illinois center Meyers Leonard, president Rod Thorn said the team would not move up from the 15th pick.
Thorn says Sixers won't move from 15th pick
Bob Cooney
Big, strong and athletic. That is what the Sixers have said they are looking for when they make their first pick, No. 15, in Thursday's NBA draft. They had a player in for a workout Tuesday who fits that description in 7-1 center Meyers Leonard, out of Illinois. Leonard may or might not be available when the Sixers pick, and they may or may not want him. It's all still a mystery as to whom they may select and if they'll stick with selecting an inside presence.
"We had a good workout out today. Meyers Leonard is a guy who is in our mix," Sixers GM Rod Thorn said. "He's over seven feet, has a great body, can shoot the ball and is very athletic. So he's definitely a guy who is in our mix."
That mix, Thorn conceded, includes maybe a handful of players that interest the team. And they most likely won't be moving from that 15 spot.
"I don’t see us moving up," said Thorn. "I think we’re content to be about where we are right now. There are some cases that you couldn’t even move up if you wanted to. As of right now I don’t see us moving up. I’d say in a normal draft 15 is probably about the cutoff of players who you think are going to be good players. This year I think it goes a little bit deeper than that. We’ve gone over the stuff ad nauseam with our scouts, with people, with Tony (DiLeo) and Courtney (Witte). I think we’re going to have a choice at 15 of 2 or 3 guys we like.
This draft is loaded with power forwards, whether it's a talented class is yet to be seen.
"Definitely there are more fours and fives who will be NBA players in this draft. Not as many twos as normal and not as many ones. The depth of the draft is in fours and fives. You always hope that whoever you draft can play in your rotation. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. If you take a real young kid, let’s say, that you think has a real good upside might not be able to play that much right away. But I think any time you draft 15 you’re hopeful the guy can play in the rotation.
"There are two or three guys that bring excitement to us but they may not be there. We’re hopeful. Our coaches are included in this too, there are several guys that we like who we think can come in and play for us."
Perhaps Leonard is among that group. We'll find out on Thursday.
I'm with 'bbrady,' what is it with this guy? I thought new ownership was going to be bold and aggressive, seems like the same old bull-s^^t to me. But why should we expect anything more from an organization that drafted, Shawn Bradley, Christian Welp, Terry Catledge, Clarence Weatherspoon, Leo Rautins and traded Moses Malone for a beat-up Jeff Ruland. Thorn is useless!— Xavier19- "Ehhh we're happy with the 15th. We don't want to be active and try to get something better. Easy does it now. We don't want to deviate too much. Mediocre is always better than bad, is what I always say. Don't want to make too much noise. If you make a splash, somebody gets wet." - Rod Thorn.— enkiel
- Can we get rid of thorn before Thursday lol ughh— eaglessuperfan
- 1 other thought he said they are not "moving up". That would not rule out getting a higher pick with a player while keeping the 15. I do agree that that is a long shot, but one can hope.— eaglessuperfan
- Really wish petitions could actually work so we could get this senile, passive, unimaginative, and useless old man out of the front office. New Owners are really disappointing me, I was hoping they do what Rob is doing to the Magic FO, but they're really no better than Snyder. Heres to more mediocre years— cflip12
Comment removed.- PMT10CGC:great comment, as 15-25 does appeal.— bearsfriend
- He's right tho. You can get the same player at 15 as you can at 8. Trade Iggy for Pau and then take the best shooter at 15. You still have 45 and 54 to add some depth at the 2/3 role. Amnesty Brand and go after another F.A.(Humphries?). Yes, Gasol would have to play center but so what. Lineup goes: Gasol, Humphries, Young, Turner, Holiday. That's not bad.— scootch
- I'm convinced the bigs we get in the draft will be more the LaVoy Allen type backups (for now) because we're probably targeting veteran bigs like Humphries and Gasol. I'm all for bringing LaVoy back and him and Vucevic being our main backup bigs along with Thad. This might be Thorn's way of saying Iguodala or Brand are gone. Let's be realistic here DC is not gonna start a rookie consistently. He would have brought Jordan off the bench if he was the coach MJ's first season. Blame Thorn if you want but he was the safe hire to get until the new ownership chooses the next guy. He also was the guy who drafted Jordan when 2 others passed on him. He turned around a god-awful Nets team into a 2-time Eastern Conference champs team.
I'm going to reserve judgment until moves are made. Who knows if this is playing someone's bluff or something along those lines. It is out of character for this team to make a statement like this before anything is done.— joesmooth2u - HDem???? Felton? You have to be kidding us. The Portland fans don't boo, and they are booing Felton out of town. He is overweight, overpaid, and dumb.— camasbud
- X19:::you forgot that stud Sharone Wright in 1994....lets go down memory lane a little:
1992 Weatherspoon not bad at 9th
1993 Bradley at 2nd pick...pick 3 was Penny Hardaway pick 4 Mashburn
1994 Sharone Wright at 6th pick....10th was Eddie Jones
1995 Stackhouse at 3rd (very nice)
1996 Iverson 1st (awesome)
Trade Stackhouse in 1998....dumb move!— bbrady25 - Guys like thorn have no passion, he is a franchise killer from a fans perspective. Way to go rod you are creating so much excitement about the sixers the new ownership must be so happy with your work you deadbeat.— jmb53
- Thorn said he wasnt going to trade up from 15. He didnt say he wasnt going to acquire another pick via said trade.— Zeru
- camasbud: i posted a second time and said i meant crawford. theyre gonna get rid of him probably and rumor is the sixers are interested. the key would be getting the 6 pick and the only reason you add someone in return is to make contracts match better so they dont go over the cap taking iguodalas contract. i wish they would start free agency before the draft like in football where they would be able to sign hawes and then trade both him and iguodala, for the 6, 11, and crawford while keeping the 15. portland would like hawes probably. it makes no sense to me why the draft takes place before free agency— HDemetriou
- camasbud: i posted a second time and said i meant crawford. theyre gonna get rid of him probably and rumor is the sixers are interested. the key would be getting the 6 pick and the only reason you add someone in return is to make contracts match better so they dont go over the cap taking iguodalas contract. i wish they would start free agency before the draft like in football where they would be able to sign hawes and then trade both him and iguodala, for the 6, 11, and crawford while keeping the 15. portland would like hawes probably. it makes no sense to me why the draft takes place before free agency— HDemetriou
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
