14 Sixers Rising Stars Over the Years

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

With the NBA constantly striving to drum up interest in All-Star weekend, what is now the Rising Stars game has gone through a few makeovers over the years. It began as just the East vs. West rookie challenge (obviously increasing the likelihood of a team having a participant because you needed 20 rookies for the game), then morphed into the Rookie-Sophomore game, until finally adopting the old NHL iteration of USA vs. the World.

After Robert Covington was selected to replace Michael Carter-Williams in tonight’s game, the Sixers biw have a remarkable three players (joining Nerlens Noel) representing the franchise in the contest. I thought it would be fun to look back and list all of the players the Sixers have ever sent to the ‘Rising Stars’ game, look at how their careers unfolded and maybe where they are now. Excluding the 3 Sixers currently selected to participate, 5 of the 11 guys on this list eventually went on to make at least 1 All-Star team. That figure bodes well for the idea that the Sixers have at least 1 future All-Star among the current bunch.

Players are listed by their highest PER in an individual season to allow for a completely objective ranking.

14. Nerlens Noel – Best PER: 12.2

One of the criticisms of Player Efficiency Rating is that it doesn’t adequately account for a player’s impact defensively; we see that’s the case here as Noel certainly doesn’t belong last on this list while serving as the anchor of a rapidly improving Sixers defense. His offensive game certainly does need a lot of work, but you can see he’s working hard on improving his jumper:

13, Evan Turner – Best PER: 13.2

I feel better about Turner coming next. The former 2nd overall pick never lived up to his billing coming out of Ohio State and was shipped out as part of Sam Hinkie’s roster overhaul. He’s now toiling away in Boston where he’ll probably suffer a similar fate when the Celtics near the end of their current rebuild. Turner is happy to try to relive the glory days.

12. Robert Covington – Best PER: 15.0

Big Shot Bob has gone from D-League to All-Star weekend in a matter of months, quickly becoming the best shooter on the team and a fan favorite. There’s still room for improvement in other areas of his game, but he’s committed to improving his handle:

11. Sharone Wright – Best PER: 15.1

A product of the rookie challenge needing a bunch of participants, Wright only lasted 4 seasons in the NBA. He was coaching some camps in Europe for a bit, but seems to have fallen off the radar since then. I did enjoy this clip of him dunking over Ewing.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPomkFMTILk]

10. Kyle Korver – Best PER: 15.3 – All-Star

Korver is currently having arguably the best shooting season in NBA history, placing himself firmly in the middle of the whole ridiculous analytics vs. eye test debate raging through the NBA media right now. It’s ironic that PER, an advanced stat itself, doesn’t give Korver a whole lot of credit. So much of his value can be see in new things like gravity score; the attention he commands from defenses proves so much more valuable than what many other guys do with the ball themselves.

9. Michael Carter-Williams – Best PER: 15.5

MCW is one of two guys on this list to make the game as both a rookie and a sophomore. He may or may not be the point guard of what’s hopefully a blossoming Sixers contender down the road. Right now, he’s nursing that sprained toe and probably still celebrating the Patriots Super Bowl title.

8. Tim Thomas – Best PER: 16.4

Much hyped coming out Villanova, Tim Thomas once found himself on a list of laziest players in NBA history. Fair or not, you probably don’t want to even be considered for that conversation. Last we heard, just being a dad.

7. Todd MacCulloch – Best PER: 18.3

The big Canadian had a promising career cut short by a genetic disorder that caused problems with his hands and feet. He’s probably dominating someone in pinball right now.

6. Jrue Holiday – Best PER: 18.6 – All-Star

Jrue was a victim of being a couple years too old in the current trajectory of the Sixers’ roster career arc, but was talented enough to net the Sixers picks which became Nerlens Noel and Dario Saric. He’s currently fighting to come back from a stress reaction in his leg to try and help the Brow drag the Pelicans to the playoffs in the Western Conference death race.

5. Thaddeus Young – Best PER: 18.9

Ever the consummate professional, Young worked hard for a Sixers team clearly waiting to trade him away and is now doing a similar thing for a Wolves team among the bottom teams in the league. Thad will finally become a free agent this offseason and can earn himself that contract with a contender he’s been waiting for.

4. Andre Iguodala – Best PER: 19.0 PER – All-Star

The other player on this list to participate as both a rookie and a sophomore, Iguodala was always a controversial figure in Philly, having received the big contract but not being the prototypical 20 ppg scorer. He’s now the swiss army knife off the bench for the best team in the NBA, and of course, got absolutely robbed in the 2006 dunk contest.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZbYHqk4cw]

3. Shawn Bradley – 19.6 PER

Always seen as a huge bust because he was drafted between Chris Webber and Penny Hardaway, the 7’6″ Bradley actually carved out a really nice, long career for himself. Although it’s not representative of that, I couldn’t resist this clip of the top 10 dunks against him:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEi-Wm0OFII]

2. Jerry Stackhouse – Best PER: 21.8 – All-Star

Although he didn’t form the dominant backcourt with Allen Iverson Sixers management hoped for when they drafted him, Stackhouse went on to have a great NBA career. He eventually morphed into the great, veteran locker-room type, now doing the media work in his second career that goes along with that. He also has one of the greatest blog name ever: Stack’s House.

1. Allen Iverson – Best PER: 25.9 PER – All-Star

What more can be said about one of the greatest Sixers to ever don the uniform? You can still hear the echoes of his voice on City Ave. by the TGI Friday’s.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3X274lz3wY]