By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Ah, summer basketball. It’s the time of the year when many of us spring for temporary television packages to watch some of the best young athletes in the world compete wearing outfits little better than the pinnies from middle school gym class. For Philadelphia 76ers fans, there’s a legitimate cause for excitement about watching hoops in July, as we are about a week away from Rookie of the Year favorite Ben Simmons making his professional debut.
So it looks like @NBATV says Ben Simmons is good for 76ers summer league & will televise his debut on July 4. pic.twitter.com/nEFvcctsoL
— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) June 27, 2016
Personally, I can’t think of a much better way to celebrate our country’s independence than watching a 19-year-old Australian go coast-to-coast and dunk on some unsuspecting Celtic.
Although we have to defer the dream of watching Simmons and Joel Embiid play together to this fall, as Embiid will only be practicing with the team during summer league play, we do know a handful of names thus far that will be participating.
Richaun Holmes – Holmes showed flashes during his rookie season, but also dealt with a couple different injuries and shot only 8-44 (18.2%) from three. Given how crowded the frontcourt is, it’s possible the new front office regime might try and showcase Holmes during summer league play in order to move him to another club.
Christian Wood – Another rookie big man last season, Wood had a remarkable 40-point, 13-rebound game in the D-League, but struggled in his 17 appearances with the big club, shooting just 41.5% from the field. It’s very tough to see Wood cracking the final roster; the Sixers may be looking at him in order to bring him back to the 87ers, while Wood could use the next few weeks to show other teams his high ceiling is still in play.
TJ McConnell – One of the team’s most pleasant surprises last season, McConnell actually went on to grab a pair of first-team All-Rookie votes. Now though, he has to prove to Bryan Colangelo he’s worth keeping around to hold down the backup point guard position. The fact that the Sixers didn’t draft any point guards greatly improves his chances.
Maodo Lo – Lo is a 24-year-old German point guard who played his college ball in the States at Colombia. Lo shot 40% from three during his 4 years at Colombia; he figures to run the second unit behind McConnell in summer league action.
James Webb III – On the surface, Webb is the kind of athletic, multi-positional forward that the Sixers were always trying to uncover during the years with Sam Hinkie at the helm. Strangely, Webb had a very concerning drop-off in shooting between his freshman and sophomore years at Boise State, falling from 40.9% from three, all the way down to 22.5%. He is a very effective on the glass, pulling down 9.0 rebounds per game. If his shot could rebound under the watchful eyes of the Sixers staff, he could really show NBA teams something.
Shawn Long – Standing at 6’11”, Long grabbed Sun Belt player of the year honors as a senior with Louisiana-Lafayette. He averaged over 12 rebounds per game last season, while scoring close to 19 per contest on better than 50% shooting. Worth repeating however, is that it would take an extraordinary effort to crack through the amount of big men on the Sixers. Long probably has the talent to find his way onto a NBA roster, but Philadelphia is likely not the place for him to do so.
The 24th overall pick, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, has stated that he hopes to play in summer league, but nothing official has been declared at this time.
Taken two picks after Luwawu at 26th overall, Furkan Korkmaz is heading to Manila as one of the 14 players on the Turkish national team in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. Sixers fans will not be seeing him this summer, and he’s an unlikely addition for the upcoming season as well.
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