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Here's a link to NBA draft guru, Chad Ford's latest mock draft.

The draft is now just three days away and unlike most seasons, everything still seems to be up in the air. This happens to be Ford's sixth installment of the oh so popular mock draft and unlike his previous five he has someone other than Marreese Speights going to the Sixers. I've studied over 100 mock drafts in the past month and this is the very first one where this player appears next to the Philly logo. This player is Anthony Randolph. I had a post on this story earlier this week, but word on the street is Randolph has been very unimpressive in his workouts and scouts believe he needs to add a ton of weight to his frame. Both might be the case, but as a Sixers fan I could not be happier with a player of his caliber falling to us at pick 16. Randolph's been compared to current NBA ballers Chris Bosh and Tayshaun Prince. I see the Prince comparison, but Bosh, not so much.

Randolph is officially listed at 6'10'', 197 pounds. That's a ridiculous small NBA body. Last year people complained about Kevin Durant's small frame, who turns out to be a whopping 20 pounds heavier than Randolph. That being said, your not going to find a player as talented as him sitting there after 15 picks.

Randolph had solid numbers last year as a freshman at LSU. The one that stands out the most is the 2.3 blocks per game. Loaded with potential, I'd love to see Anthony Randolph land with Philly come Thursday evening.

Here's Mr. Ford's analysis,

The skinny: At some point, Randolph can drop no further.

He hasn't been great in workouts, needs to add a lot of strength and appears to be a few years away from making an impact.

But he has length, athleticism and tremendous upside, and the Sixers, a team on the rise, can afford to wait.
Here's one last observation. My number one rule of any draft is not to fall in love with a certain player. If you let yourself become attached to a certain player and your team either passes on him or he's taken before the pick, the whole draft experience is ruined. So, as hard as it might be, I'm going to avoid envisioning Anthony Randolph in a Sixer uniform until it's official. On the bright side, if he's taken before the Sixers, Ford's mock draft has Darrell Arthur, J.J. Hickson, Mareesse Speights, JaVale McGee, Donte Greene and DeAndre Jordan all going after pick 16. Any of those players would fill a need and allow me to sleep easy Thursday night.

I totally agree. I'm pretty much mentally ready for any player we take except for a select few (like a SF).

As for Anthony Randolph, I've heard A LOT of negative things about him and his work ethic, so I'm a little skeptical. But he does play PF, and if he works at it, has an unreal amount of upside.

So yea, I guess I could live with it.

i wouldnt mind seeing Randolph BUT i dont kno if i ever see him becoming a traditional back to the basket post up PF...i think hell be a villanueva esque 4...playing like a SF stuck in a PF's body.
Id rather see Speights or Greene

Well, if he truly is that skinny, will he ever be able to add the weight required? Or will he be a busteroni.....?

I totally agree. I'm pretty much mentally ready for any player we take except for a select few (like a SF).

So yea, I guess I could live with it.

don't you contradict yourself there? He's not a PF, and will get murdered if asked to be.

I would avoid Randolph like the plague. If you pick him you have to realize that he is simply a tall SF, not a PF. If he can keep his head on straight and be diligent about improving his skills to match his athletic talent, which are both big question marks with Randolph, he could be a more offensively gifted version of Tayshaun Prince. He might slip over to PF in a small line-up, but he does not have the frame to ever play there regularly. Dude makes Brandan Wright look like the Hulk.

On the surface I don't see why he can't play shooting guard. He has the agility and ball handling skills. He's apparently comfortable in the midpost. From the video online of him he looks like a 6'10" version of what Jalen Rose developed into after he moved from PG to SF. Hedo and Durant are other 6'10 guys playing SG. I think that people are looking at this guy all wrong. I believe that he'll be a SF so his weight isn't a concern at all. He'll be shooting over SF's for his entire career.

I actually couldn't agree more.


Who said that??

Count me among those who are scared off by Randolph's weight. IF we didn't have Dalembert or Booth, I could see taking a chance on Randolph. But what this team really needs is a heavyweight PF/C who can move people in the paint. It was all too obvious last season that length loses out to girth. Look at what happened to Dalembert against the heavier frontcourt players we went up against. I know Randolph supposedly has great upside but I think this year, we need to select the PF who's got some upper and lower body strength - someone in the 240 lbs weight class with back-to-the-basket skills.

STChaser

On the surface I don't see why he can't play shooting guard

If Iguodala's shooting scares you off from having him as a SG, Randolph will downright give you nightmares.

Oh don't get me wrong.....I want a banger in this draft!

1. I know you must go BPA when rebuilding, but Randolph seriously would have no spot in this rotation with both Iggy and Thad holding down the 2 and 3 spots (and as people have said, Randolph is no PF).

2. He honestly just seems like another in a long line of tall lanky wannabe PF's who never make it in the league (look at Marcus Haislip).

2. There are guys who are probably just as talented who will be there when we pick who fill a greater need, mainly, Maresse Speights and DeAndre Jordan.

I just can't foresee a scenario where Anthony Randolph is a Sixer.

Don't get me wrong, I think randolph is very talented, possibly as talented as anyone from 3-15. He's not just a tall athletic SF (a la Tyrus Thomas). He's very skilled with the ball, has good body control, and I don't think he has much "bust" potential. I think there's very little doubt he'll be a good player. When basing your expectations, you just have to be realistic and not expect him to be a PF, because I think he's a straight 3.

Sounds like we are goint to go with Lou, Iguodala, Thad, Randolph and Sam.

Who needs shooters, post scorers, bangers... We may lose on the court, but we'll kill you on the track.

don't you contradict yourself there? He's not a PF, and will get murdered if asked to be.

I know he's thin, but he's 6'11", and definitely has the frame to add more weight.

I think he's capable of playing PF, but I'm not a draft expert so... I could be wrong.

I know he's thin, but he's 6'11", and definitely has the frame to add more weight.

See, that's the problem. I don't think he has the frame to add more weight. If he ends up adding 20 lbs in the next few years, he might be able to get buy. When you look at him as a PF, you pretty much throw out his post game. He actually has decent footwork, but he'll always have trouble establishing position. The key is whether he'll be strong enough to hold his position defensively and on the boards. Right now I just don't see it.

KG IMO had some room to grow when he came into the league (btw, KG was 20 lbs heavier than Randolph). I just don't see the same body type in randolph.

To me Randolph is a perfect pick for NJ with their second pick. They can gamble more having two picks and have shown a willingness to take guys like Sean and Marcus Williams in the past. Randolph does not have the record of transgressions the two Williamses had, but if you read between the lines on reports on him there are very definite character questions being raised. I aslo don't see room on his frame to become Bosh or Garnett. He is very slight of frame in his hips and shoulders, he may add some weight but he'll never be a banger.

I hadn't seen much of Randolph before this thread. Took a look at his Youtube highlights...not too bad. Then I saw John Holinger's drafting rating. Perhaps Randolph looked so bad because the scores were weighted for PF/C and Randolph is probably a SF.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft200 ... ter-080620

If we are gonna go all out and select a "boom/bust" type player @ 16...id rather take the chance on Jordan than Randolph...

hell id rather avoid both and just select Speights/Arthur

If we didn't have Young already on the team, I would be all for Randolph. That said, we do have Thad Young and Randolph just wouldn't have much a chance to grow here right now. Not that I forsee this happening but if the draft order fell in such a way that Arthur, Koufos, and Jordan were off of the board and the decision had to be made between Speights and Randolph.... I would probably take Randolph because I think of Speights as more of just a role player off of the bench and frankly I can live without having him.

If we did draft Randolph, we would have to move Willie Green, Carney, or both.