Now that the Sixers have locked in the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, it is time to get up to speed on all of the best non-Cooper Flagg prospects in this year's class.Today's prospect: Derik Queen, a 6-foot-10 big from Maryland whose stock appears to have risen since a strong run in March Madness. Nobody doubts Queen is gifted, but there is still work to do for him to maximize his talents. And his fit with the Sixers — either at No. 3 overall or in a trade down — is a bit questionable due to Joel Embiid's presence on the roster.
Let's dive in...
Adam Aaronson: If the Sixers are even going to consider taking a big anywhere close to this high in the draft, they will likely need to feel a whole lot of confidence that said player can share the floor with Joel Embiid in productive lineups. Do you see Queen being able to play the four next to Embiid short-term and long-term? Chuck Falck: The definitions of “short-term” and “long-term” matter a lot there. Queen has the skills and the inclination to play with another big offensively, which is what he did at Maryland next to Julian Reese, a true center. Queen has an argument as the best one-on-one player in the draft, bar none. And his passing vision and physicality as a driver can certainly make things easier for Embiid.But right away? That is difficult. A ton of Queen's upside is tied to his conditioning, and it would be a pleasant surprise, to say the least, if he came in ready to handle a 25-plus minutes per game load for a good team.
Embiid needs more accommodation defensively than offensively as he gets older. Queen's defense as a power forward, while underrated in certain respects, still suffers from inconsistent effort and the strain that rotating hard out to the perimeter puts on him.
Ironically, Paul George’s age likely means that he needs more athleticism next to him at the four than it may appear. Connective power forwards on contending teams tend to fill a lot of roles and check a lot of athletic boxes (Aaron Gordon, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Jalen Williams, etc). Queen obviously is a different kind of athlete and player. If anything, he would be more useful in a zone if the Sixers wanted to use that route to save Embiid some wear and tear.
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AA: The Sixers also have to account for a world in which Embiid is consistently unavailable moving forward, and if that does happen Queen would serve as an insurance policy of sorts. What are Queen’s strengths and weaknesses at the five worth knowing about?CF: Queen
would immediately have some of the better ball skills in the league among centers. He has an advanced handle, finishing creativity, and shotmaking prowess for a player his size. He would come up with solutions when facing up against most bigs, to the point where most teams would probably try to hide their center elsewhere and put a big wing on Queen.As long as the Sixers have enough lineup balance to punish that decision, they would be in business. Queen can pass out of the gravity he draws very well, and it is easy to envision a dynamic offense with him at the five, especially if he gets in good enough shape to increase and leverage transition opportunities. His three-point volume would need to increase, but I am not too worried about him figuring that out eventually.
Defensively, Queen lacks the size and vertical pop to protect the rim in any traditional sense. He would need a lot of help on the weak side from multiple teammates and he would struggle in drop coverage. But what he can do is locate and deflect the ball when it is exposed to him, and he holds up surprisingly well in switches. The Sixers would likely use him in hard hedges to try and blow up pick-and-rolls and put themselves in rotation, or just embrace his switching ability and put him on an island. Queen relishes those one-on-one moments and has a lot of confidence that he can be stronger, cleverer, and more skilled than his opponent.
That confidence can be misplaced and Queen can get burned or pick up fouls, but his enthusiasm for those assignments and his advanced hand placement at least provides a good foundation as a switch defender down the line. Again, as long as he gets in good enough shape.
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AA: Queen only made 20 percent of his three-point attempts at Maryland on low volume, but you seem to have more optimism about his shooting ability than the average person would based on those numbers. Is that true? If so, make the case for us.CF:
Yes. Queen shot 76 percent on over 200 free throw attempts at Maryland, and the tape on his mid-range shot-making is very, very encouraging for his overall shooting touch. His three-point release is slow and likely always will be slow, but his volume was also lower because of how much Queen enjoys attacking closeouts and taking defenders off the dribble.
As Sixers fans know from watching Embiid, a three-point release (or a pump fake) does not need to be lightning quick as long its purveyor has creative counters when a defender bites. Queen absolutely will have those, and he seems personally delighted when he can wrong-foot his defender to open up a passing or driving lane. Opposing teams will dare him to shoot, and so Queen will have plenty of opportunities to rep out his form. He is many things, but “shy” is not one of them.I would not necessarily want to give Queen a mandate to shoot six or seven threes a game. I would want to give him as much freedom as possible, because he has the very rare creativity and guard skills at his size to figure out the appropriate diet for winning offensive basketball.
ASKING NBA DRAFT EXPERTS ABOUT SIXERS' POSSIBLE CHOICES AT NO. 3
Ace Bailey | V.J. Edgecombe | Kon Knueppel | Derik Queen
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