Sixers 2008 Draft Center

Confident at 16

The culmination of scouting and work - much of which started right after the conclusion of last year's draft - will all fall into place on June 26th at the NBA Draft. After countless hours of attending camps, holding workouts and conducting interviews, the team has a good grasp on who will be available when they make their selection with the 16th pick.

“We feel real good,” Sixers President and GM Ed Stefanski said. “We feel there will be a guy there for us who will not only be a nice player for the future but will fit a need.”

This draft is deep with quality prospects at the forward and center position, which is one of the areas the Sixers will be targeting. As many as 18 power forward and/or centers are projected to go in the first round, many of whom are expected to be available when the team selects.

“A big is going to help us going forward, and it just happens that this year there is a lot of bigs, which fits our needs," Stefanski said. "Most of the time we go for the best player available but right now the best player available is a big guy.”

The Sixers have already seen or worked out most of the players they expect to be there when they go on the clock on June 26th, including Texas A&M’s DeAndre Jordan (Stefanski calls him "a project with an upside,") or Ohio State center Kosta Koufas (Stefanski called him "ingriguing"), and Florida’s Marreese Speights. The Sixers have also brought in Nevada’s JaVale McGee N.C. State’s J.J. Hickson early in the process.

But the Sixers aren't done.

“We have had some issues getting people in, where agents don’t feel at 16 that they’ll ever get there," Stefanski said. "But as many of you know in this business as it gets closer to the draft agents start to panic and teams panic so we’ll probably get some more guys in here.”

Stefanski added that two more prospects will likely be coming in for workouts this week: Kansas’ Darrell Arthur and Rider’s Jason Thompson. The only bigs the team hasn't seen are Stanford’s Brook Lopez and UCLA’s Kevin Love, who are both projected to go in the top 10.

As for moving up in the draft, Stefanski said the price is just too steep at this point.

“We have talked to everybody about moving up or back but where we’re sitting at 16, we think there is going to be a handful of guys - one, two or three of them - are going to be there when we draft.”

Either way, the Sixers are confident where they currently stand. Coming off last season’s playoff run, they know on draft night there is an opportunity to add a quality player at a position of need, but don't have to put pressure on him to come in and make an impact right away.