Among last looks for 76ers: Thornton
The Florida State forward will be one of six players, including two local stars, to work out today.
Florida State forward Al Thornton, who is considered a serious candidate by the 76ers if they don't trade their No. 12 pick in Thursday's NBA draft, will be in today for a predraft workout.
Thornton was supposed to work out last Monday, but he postponed the visit after spraining an ankle.
He had been scheduled to work out with the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, but he postponed that visit until tomorrow. The Bucks have the No. 6 pick.
The 6-foot-8 Thornton, who will turn 24 in December, was a four-year player at Florida State and increased his scoring average each season. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring, averaging 19.7 points last season.
The Sixers, who have worked out 37 players, have six more workouts planned today in two sessions.
In the first session, at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, will be 6-10 Croatian forward Luksa Andric, 7-0 forward-center Kyrylo Fesenko of Ukraine and Josh McRoberts, the 6-10 sophomore from Duke.
The second session will include Temple's Dustin Salisbery, Villanova's Curtis Sumpter and Thornton.
Salisbery will be making his second visit with the Sixers.
Sumpter said he was surprised and gratified when the team called about a workout.
"At first I didn't think they were going to bring me in, because they saw me so much and Coach [Larry] Brown was at many of our practices," Sumpter said yesterday. "Once I got the call, I was glad, and can't wait to go down to play and show I'm healthy and ready to play."
Sumpter missed the 2005-06 season after having surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He returned last season to average 17.4 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Wildcats.
This will be Sumpter's sixth predraft workout. He had a combined workout with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets, with others at Miami, Washington, the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State.
Billy King, the Sixers' president and general manager, had said that today probably would be the team's final day for predraft workouts, although it's possible that players could be brought in privately in the days leading up to the draft.
King had indicated he was hoping to work out Florida forward Joakim Noah privately, but a team official said yesterday that nothing had been scheduled.