Confused? Youre not alone.
Lets go step by step here. Maybe it will help us make some sense out of what happened with Thursday evenings NBA draft. Perhaps it will help us understand why the Sixers did what they did. Because, at the moment, its difficult to fathom. The organization had a lot of questions heading into the off-seasonand now it has another.
It was around 9 p.m. when the Sixers decided which name to pass along to David Stern. There were some good ones available, especially if you thought the Sixers needed a big man. The team was seventh in the NBA in overall rebounding last season but only 22nd on the offense boards. If you watched them in the playoffs or even during the regular season, you know that the Sixers werent the most physical team (Elton Brand excepted). Tyler Zeller, the 7-foot UNC centera traditional post player who rebounds and clogs the lane and likes to put a body on people defensivelywould have looked good in a Sixers uniform. Instead hell look good in a different uniform. (Rod Thorn said that Zeller is a lot like Nikola Vucevic, and they like Vucevic.)
So the Sixers didnt go with Zeller. Or anyone you probably expected. They selected Maurice Moe Harkless, a 6-8 small forward from St. Johns (see story).
If youre wondering why the Sixers, a team that already has a few tweeners in the 6-6 to 6-9 height range (among them Andre Iguodala, Thad Young and Evan Turner), you arent alone. Unless, that is, you have a cushy national TV gig, at which point you evidently loved the pick. When the selection was made, one of the ESPN talking heads said the Sixers needed to get better inside and they did that tonight.
Harkless made them better inside? Harklesswho played one year at St. Johnsis listed at 208 pounds, which is lighter than Young by 12 pounds. Or, to put it another way, Harkless is an inch shorter and almost 50 pounds lighter than Brand.
The Sixers seem to be OK with that. Thorn noted that everyone agreed on Harkless, then added he was our No. 1 choice, by the way.
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Our feeling, Thorn said, with his potential, with his athletic ability, it was too good a player to pass up.
Thorn said Harkless will initially play small forward, but they expect him to eventually transition to power forward because Elton doesnt have a lot of time left in his career. According to Thorn, Harkless growth plates are still open. He mentioned growth plates a lot. So theres that. It will surely comfort you during the off-seasonthe idea of Harkless and his growth plates getting bigger, Hulk style, as he sleeps.
If the athletic ability and he can still grow bits sound familiarif they make you think about some of the players the Sixers already have under contractyou have company on that front. When Thorn was asked how that makes Harkless different from Younganother athletic swingman who still needs to add weight and musclehe said that the newest Sixer shoots the ball better. That was an interesting statement. In his only year at St. Johns, Harkless made just 17 of the 84 three pointers he attempted. Thats 20.2 percent for the math fans at home.
But dont worry. Thorn said Harkless shot is fine and they think hell be a very good shooter. Why? Because he hit 37 of 50 three pointers when the Sixers worked him out. In a gym. With no one guarding him.
The Sixers have made a lot of perplexing picks in the past. This one is puzzling, too. Harkless is essentially the same size as Turner, Iguodala and Young, and, like those three, he doesnt have a defined position. How will that work? Maybe theres a bigger plan here, one that hasnt been disclosed, one we dont yet fully understand. Maybe the team will ship someone out of town and move pieces around and then it will all make sense. Maybe they simply want to give Harkless time to develop. Or maybe this team will have even more interchangeable parts than it did a year ago.
Later in the evening, the Sixers traded the 45th pick and a future first-rounder for Arnett Moultrie, a 6-10, 233-pound power forward from Mississippi State (see story). For a team that needed a paint presence, Moultrie made sense. But even with Moultrie in their pocket, Harkless remains tougher to understand. How will Harkless fit here and how will they use him? It's difficult to graspnot that the Sixers are too concerned with explaining it to any of us.
When asked how the organization planned to sell Harkless to the fan base, Thorn didnt bother with spin.
Its not a matter of trying to sell the pick, Thorn said.
Clearly.
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com