2016 NBA Draft Night Winners
Philadelphia 76ers - This seems a little obvious as the team had the top overall pick, but they made the right selection and took the best prospect Ben Simmons from LSU. Coach Brett Brown better let Simmons handle the ball and create if he wants to get maximum value out of his shiny new toy. With their third pick in the first round (#26), they selected Furkam Korkmaz out of Turkey. Korkmaz may be stashed overseas but many thought he has the talent to justify taking him in the lottery. This pick may pay off in the next few years. The 76ers used their second first round pick (#24) to draft Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot out of France. This pick has lots of skeptics has he projects as a 3- and D guy in the NBA but the concern is over if he continue to improve his 3-point shooting and can be as effective guarding 1's, 2's and 3's in the NBA.
San Antonio Spurs - You always wonder who the Spurs are going to draft because they constantly draft towards the end of round 1 and always seem to get luck. This year the Spurs chose Dejounte Murray with the 29th pick in the draft. TO me, Murray had the longest slide on draft night and I personally thought he was a lock for the lotto. We will see in a few years if he becomes the best Point Guard from this year's draft class. Murray is only 19 had has the size to be an NBA Point guard at 6 foot 5 with an enormous 6 foot 11 wingspan. Murray is alethic, an excellent rebounder for a guard, a good defender and has a quick first step to the hoop. He will have to improve his shooting at the next level. As a reminder, Tony Parker was taken by the Spurs with the 28th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft.
A few other winners from Thursday night's draft…..
Golden State Warriors - The Warriors took a big man with the last pick in the first round as many expected. Damian Jones, a 7-footer from Vanderbilt is a long, athletic big man and a solid rebounder/shot blocker. Jones slipped on draft night also as expected due to a torn pectoral muscle during draft workouts. Patrick McCaw was the Warriors 2nd round pick (38th overall). McCaw out of UNLV is another versatile athletic player that teams covet. McCaw is a good shooter and has range out to the 3-point line. He can also defend multiple positions on the court.
Phoenix Suns - The Suns needed to draft a power forward in the worst possible way. So what did the Suns do? They landed arguably the two best stretch 4's in the draft with Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender. Phoenix also landed PG Tyler Ulis at No. 34. If Ulis was a few inches taller, he would have been a first rounder for sure.
Denver Nuggets - The league is about shooting from long range now…..a la Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The Nuggets landed 2 of the top shooters from long range in this year's class with Jamal Murray from Kentucky at No. 7 and Malik Beasley from Florida State with the 19th overall pick. The Nuggets had 2 other picks drafting Juan Hernangomez 15th overall (Stretch-4 probably a draft-and-stash) and in the second round they cook Petr Cornelie with the 53rd pick
By Steven Spector - 6-25-160
