Ingram says his 'mental toughness' separates him

It was an obvious question: Why should the 76ers select Duke swingman Brandon Ingram first overall in the June 23 NBA draft?

"My mental toughness, a guy with high character," Ingram said Monday after he worked out for the Sixers at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "But everyone is different in the draft. Everyone talks different in the draft. Everyone has a different character and everyone has a difference preference. So I can't say which guy they like and which guy they don't like."

The Sixers are likely to select former Louisiana State power forward Ben Simmons with the opening pick. The franchise, however, has yet to secure a workout with Simmons.

The low-key Ingram is projected to go second to the Los Angeles Lakers even though he had the better college season. Both players applied for the draft after their freshman campaigns.

NBA executives and scouts say they believe that Simmons will have the better NBA career. They say he can develop into a marquee player and perennial all-star. They say Ingram will be a solid player but not a superstar.

But the Sixers brought in Ingram on Sunday and Monday to get a third look at the 6-foot-9, 190-pound player. They first interviewed him in Chicago at the NBA combine on May 11. Then they attended his pro day workout on May 24.

Ingram had dinner with the Sixers coaches, executives and center Joel Embiid on Sunday. He worked out for the team on Monday morning. Sixers executives, coaches and players — Jahlil Okafor, Robert Covington, Christian Wood, and Nik Stauskas — were in attendance.

Ingram made his fair share of shots as the Sixers put him through shooting drills. He was obviously tired in the portion of the workout that was open to the media, but he kept pushing through it.

"I think Brandon is everything that we thought he was," said Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers' president of basketball operations. "Today obviously in a one-on-none workout, you are not going to learn everything about a player. But that's why we scouted a lot of basketball games, watched a lot of tape."

The Sixers are still trying to get Simmons in for a workout. The Australia native is represented by Klutch Sports Group, which is based in Cleveland. Simmons has been training there throughout the pre-draft process. The team hasn't ruled out going to Ohio to meet with Simmons and watch him work out.

"It's not a red flag," Colangelo said of Simmons' representation not wanting him to work out for NBA teams. "Everybody deals with the draft process differently. Sometimes agents are involved. Sometimes families are involved in those decisions.

"Again, everything we that we get in respect to our intel that it relates to Ben is he would very much like to be selected No. 1."

More workouts

The Sixers will have two separate workouts on Tuesday. The highlight will be their afternoon workout with former California swingman Jaylen Brown, who's projected to be a top-10 pick in the draft. In the morning, the Sixers will work out Michael Bryson (UC Santa Barbara), A.J. English (Iona), Tomasz Gielo (Mississippi), Georges Niang (Iowa State), Dyshawn Pierre (Dayton) and Jarrod Uthoff (Iowa).

Celtics shopping pick?

Now the trade-talk decisions are about to get serious.

Comcast SportsNet New England reported that the Boston Celtics are aggressively shopping the third pick in the draft.

We will find out if that is a good thing for the Sixers, who already have the first, 24th and 26th picks in the first round. They could use the third pick to draft combo guard Jamal Murray (Kentucky).

The Sixers likely would have some competition to add the third pick. Brown appears to be one of the players that interests Boston. The Celtics probably could select him in the eighth spot, meaning the Phoenix Suns (fourth), Minnesota Timberwolves (fifth), New Orleans Pelicans (sixth), Denver Nuggets (seventh) and Sacramento Kings (eighth) could be in play.

Tragic loss

The Sixers lost a treasured employee Friday when Marlene Barnes, the executive assistant to the president, died of cancer at her Lansdowne home. Barnes' three children and her grandchildren were at her side.