June 01, 2016
The Sixers announced that the following players will work out at PCOM on Thursday:
Isaia Cordinier (France)
Alex Caruso (Texas A&M)
Daniel Hamilton (Connecticut)
Brandon Austin (Northwest Florida State)
Rosco Allen (Stanford)
Alex Poythress (Kentucky)
Strictly from an on-court standpoint, Cordinier (DX #39) is the most intriguing player of the group. I wrote about him a little bit in Mock Draft 2.0. A 6’5”, 177 lb. wing playing his native France’s second division, the 19-year-old Cordinier is a good athlete and improving jump shooter. Somewhat similar to Brandon Ingram at the top of the draft, Cordinier will need to physically mature before he can make any real impact at the NBA level.
Bryan Colangelo, who mentioned the option of a draft-and-stash yesterday, could be looking at Cordinier as a player who fits next to Ben Simmons down the road but doesn’t take up a roster spot this season. For video of some of the things Cordinier does well, check this out:
Like the players we saw at the Memorial Day workout, the rest of Thursday’s participants could potentially go undrafted.
Austin is a Philly native with a checkered past. A highly-touted recruit out of Imhotep Charter, Austin’s off-court issues derailed his college career. He was accused of sexual assault at both Providence and Oregon but never charged. He left both schools and eventually sued the University of Oregon for $7.5 million.
A 6’7” wing with guard skills, Austin helped lead Northwest Florida State College to a JUCO national championship in 2014-15.
Poythress was part of the same recruiting class as Nerlens Noel, who he played with for one season at Kentucky. As a senior at UK in 2015-16, he averaged 10.2 points per game on 60 percent shooting.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
