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Colangelo disappointed at not making draft-day deal

Bryan Colangelo, the 76ers president of basketball operations, couldn't mask his disappointment at not making any trades during his first draft with the team.

Yes, he was thrilled with the selection of No. 1 pick Ben Simmons, who he and the franchise consider a cornerstone player. But there was no secret that the Sixers tried to trade for another lottery pick. Before the draft, Colangelo said he hoped to trade into a second pick in the top eight. Though he was less specific about the player he might have chosen, it probably would have been a guard, perhaps from the group including Providence's Kris Dunn, Kentucky's Jamal Murray or Oklahoma's Buddy Hield.

"You are always a little disappointed when you have a goal and want to achieve it but at the end of the day we can't be disappointed in anything this evening when you look at the roster and see Ben Simmons there now," Colangelo said.

In staying pat, the Sixers selected 6-foot-7 shooting guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot of France at No. 24 and 6-6 shooting guard Furkan Korkmaz of Turkey at 26. Korkmaz was a teammate of Dario Saric at Anadolu Efes.

Colangelo couldn't say with certainty if either player will be in Philadelphia this upcoming season. Both players are under contract next season but could negotiate buyouts.

The Sixers didn't make any trades for the simplest of reasons.

"We didn't make a deal because we didn't feel like the right deal presented itself," Colangelo said. "There were some teams approaching us about some of our players, about our 24th and 26th pick that arguably could have gotten us into the top 10, but the deals that were presented, the assets that were asked for, the players that were asked for, we decided it was not in our best interest to move forward with those deal. By staying the course, we still have some things to do to this roster to make it more balanced."

Colangelo then revisited the subject of the disappointment of not making  a deal.

"Not necessarily disappointed but it is not going to stop us from continuing this effort moving forward to try to get this roster put together for the start of next year," he said.