The Philadelphia 76ers have a conundrum: Despite having the 16th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the players they would prefer to select with that pick aren't interested in heading to Philadelphia to show the Sixers they're worthy of that selection.
Philly probably shouldn't be a place agents are scared to send their clients, unless the non-usage of Evan Turner really raised red flags, but that seems exactly what's happening as the Sixers attempt to arrange their pre-draft workouts.
"It's amazing. I'm not a mathematics major, but right now there are about 20-plus people thinking they're going in the top 15," Philadelphia's Director of Player Personnel, Courtney Witte, said on Saturday. "There's not a lot of separation so that lends itself to a lot of people thinking they're going to go in front of us."
The Sixers held their first workout on Saturday with Temple's Lavoy Allen, Syracuse big man Rick Jackson, Florida's Vernon Macklin, Greg Smith of Fresno State and Crotian Tomislav Zubcic. Dayton's Chris Wright was also supposed to be in attendance, but he apparently cancelled at the last minute and was replaced with Delvon Johnson from Arkansas.
"I didn't do well in math, but I do know this: we're at 16, so if there are 20-plus players thinking they're going to be picked before us. There's going to be people dropping to us."
Hopefully the Sixers are at least able to lure some potential first round prospects as that first batch is pretty light on first round prospects (As in none of those guys will be selected anywhere near 16th overall).
To watch Witte's comments on video, courtesy of PhillyBurbs' Tom Moore, hit the jump.
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