June 03, 2019
The Sixers are going to have a ton of draft workouts over the next few weeks, and with a handful of second-round picks, there will be what will feel like an endless amount of candidates to be selected. With that in mind, we will be keeping track of a lot of the guys who make it through the doors at Camden, and what they might bring to the table.
Here's what happened (and with who) at Monday's workout.
Let's just say there is a bit of favoritism at play here bringing the younger brother of Tobias Harris in for a workout. Terry averaged just over eight points per game in less than 21 minutes per game this past season at North Carolina A&T, and it is his connection to a guy the Sixers are trying to re-sign this summer that means more than anything else.
Harris, of course, had very little insight to share about his big brother's free agency plans.
"He tells me a lot of great things about the Sixers, he obviously wanted me to play my best here today," the younger Harris said. "He hasn't [told me anything about free agency]. Just told me to be ready for this opportunity and go hard."
Reuniting the brothers on the floor for the first time since Terry Harris was in eighth grade seems like a pretty unlikely outcome here, but you can see they share a lot of character traits if nothing else. Harris said he looks to his brother constantly for advice, so maybe the Sixers should consult him on how to lure in their free agent.
Drafting another player with a questionable shot profile seems impossible for the Sixers at this point, but they have been keeping tabs on Dort for a little while now, according to Vince Rozman, Philadelphia's Senior Director of Scouting. The Sixers watched some of his prep tape while he was still in high school, so their interest in him pre-dates his year at Arizona State.
Rozman noted his body/tools, his aggression, and his competitive level as several of the standout traits Dort possesses.
Dort has a pretty interesting backstory — raised in Montreal by Haitian immigrants, basketball came to Dort later in life, after he spent the early part of his youth playing goalkeeper in soccer. Growing up in the French-speaking province of Quebec, Dort also had to learn English in his teens before leaving to play at a prep school in Jacksonville, Florida. On-ball defense is kind of his calling card, so perhaps the goalkeeper instincts have helped him out some there.
His rawness is most evident in his three-point shooting numbers (30.7 percent during his lone NCAA season), but Dort is a heck of an athlete with the physical tools to turn into something special if he rounds his game out. He told reporters he wanted to prove to the Sixers the shot continues to improve, though workout-setting shooting is obviously much different than NBA-level shooting.
Speaking of shooting, Rozman went out of his way to spotlight Davis' performance as a shooter during Monday's availability with the media. We didn't get to see a whole lot of spot-up shooting during the portion of the workout that was open to the media — three-on-three settings don't tend to feature a ton of outside shots — but Davis seemed to feel good about how he performed.
"Well, recently I have been shooting the ball well, I didn't shoot it well in drills but when we got in live play, I did shoot extremely well," Davis said. "It was overall a great day today, we competed, got out there, definitely a great workout. I always try to get something out of each workout and not just come here and get a sweat. Try to learn from each [coaching staff] and even the other guys working out."
Davis has been on something of a roll since the college season ended. He was on the All-Tournament team at the Portsmouth Invitational, an annual showcase of 64 of the country's top senior players. Davis then received an invite to the G-League Elite Camp on the final day invites went out, and eventually earned another invite to the league's draft combine in Chicago.
Like Dort, there are questions about his shot, but might be worth a flier with one of the team's second-round picks. He has already secured second workouts with the Warriors and Celtics, so he's doing alright for himself in the pre-draft process, at the very least.
Reid was one of the more interesting names on the list coming into the workout, as big men who can move and shoot a little bit tend to draw your attention. Unfortunately, after an athletic finish at the rim in transition during his workout, Reid appeared to roll his ankle and missed the end of the workout to get his ankle checked on by Philadelphia's training staff.
So, you know, seems like a perfect Sixers draft pick.
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