August is always a slow month in the NBA. There’s a flurry of transactions across the league in July, particularly the early part of July. Then, there’s the Summer League action which allows all of us to fawn over whoever our crush is from the June draft. Now, we’re left with certain restricted free agency standoffs that seemingly could drag on close to training camp, which is sort of the spot the Sixers are in with Quentin Grimes.
So, naturally it’s probably a good time to look back on some previous
transactions and grade them. That’s exactly at Sam Vecenie did recently in redrafting last year’s NBA Draft. Despite only appearing in 23 games as a rookie, Jared McCain looked like a steal for the Sixers at 16th overall. Vecenie redrafted the first 20 picks of the 2024 draft and we’re going to break them down in quarters.
Redraft picks 1-5 (actual pick in parentheses)
- Stefon Castle (4 by SA)
- Zaccharie Risacher (1 by ATL)
- Jared McCain (16 by PHI)
- Reed Sheppard (3 by HOU)
- Donovan Clingan (7 by POR)
Analysis: Outside of McCain’s jump, there’s not a lot of major revelations here. Castle ended up winning the Rookie of the Year and looks poised to form a formidable backcourt in San Antonio with De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper. The other three players in this quarter of Vecenie’s re-draft that aren’t McCain are all slotted within one or two picks of where they were actually selected.
Vecenie wrote multiple paragraphs of analysis on each pick in his re-draft and specifically stated that no player showed more offensive upside last season than McCain. Last year was viewed as a bad draft so perhaps that’s not as glowing of a statement as it would be with other rookie classes, but it’s certainly high praise nonetheless.
Vecenie also brought up a point that I’m sure Daryl Morey, Nick Nurse and the rest of Sixers management have talked about plenty this summer. Vecenie highlighted the fact that McCain looked very comfortable handling the ball and attacking the basket in games Tyrese Maxey did not play. The ability to create for himself and get to the rim is what could truly make McCain an elite offensive player as his career unfolds and he hopefully stays healthy. He was already billed as a high-level three-point shooter and perhaps one could make the argument his outside shooting was even better than expected as a rookie, but if he’s able to score off the dribble and at all three levels pretty consistently, the Sixers might have themselves a superstar in a few years’ time. But, how much of that scoring off the bounce for McCain will be hampered in games both he and Maxey are playing in? We all know Maxey thrives off quickness and athleticism which makes him someone that needs the ball in his hands to be the best player he can be. Figuring out how Maxey and McCain can coexist is undoubtedly the most important task for Philadelphia in 2025-26. In a worst case scenario in which Joel Embiid and Paul George are both frequently unavailable again and the Sixers miss the playoffs again, you’d like to at least feel good about Maxey and McCain’s ability to share the floor together moving forward.
Redraft picks 6-10
6. Matas Buzelis (11 by CHI)
7. Ron Holland II (5 by DET)
8. Zach Edey (9 by MEM)
9. Jaylen Wells (39 by MEM)
10. Kel’el Ware (15 by MIA)
Analysis: If you thought the Sixers got good value in selecting McCain at 16th overall, well how about Memphis getting Jaylen Wells at 39? That’s obviously the big takeaway from these five picks in Vecenie’s redraft. McCain still goes six picks higher than Wells and I think almost every NBA media member would rather have McCain on their team than Wells, but Wells came right in and was a Rooke of the Year finalist as a second-round pick and played a lot of minutes on a Memphis team that made the playoffs and posted decent shooting percentages.
Most people would rather have McCain than Wells, but would you rather be Memphis or Philadelphia right now? In the first-round last year, the Grizzlies surprised some people and took Zach Edey with the ninth overall pick. Edey nearly averaged a double-double as a rookie despite only playing 22 minutes per game. Vecenie noted that Edey graded out well from an analytical standpoint as the Grizzlies were rated very highly offensively in the minutes Edey played with Ja Morant and were also rated highly defensively in the minutes Edey played with Jaren Jackson Jr. To bring us back to the question we asked, it sure seems like the pieces are fitting together a little bit better right now for the Grizzlies. The Sixers are clinging to what might end up being a false hope that Embiid and George can bounce back and if they can’t, questions about how Philly’s young guards fit together need to be answered this season just for Philadelphia’s future to even be mildly exciting. It looks like the pieces are starting to fit together in Memphis and if the Grizzlies can build off of last year’s 48-win campaign and playoff berth, they’ll have a chance to make some more noise in the spring of 2026.
Redraft picks 11-16
11. Alex Sarr (2 by WSH)
12. Ajay Mitchell (38 by OKC)
13. Kyshawn George (24 by WSH)
14. Nikola Topic (12 by OKC)
15. Kyle Filipowski (32 by UTAH)
Analysis: There are a few Sixers angles to take away from this group of five players. First off, let’s hope that V.J. Edgecombe is not ranked outside the top 10 in a 2025 redraft at this time next year the way Alex Sarr is here. It seems like Vecenie’s big knock on Sarr is a lack of strength that had him getting bullied a lot inside against the bigs he was matching up with last season. If there’s any solace to be taken from this quarter for Wizards fans, Kyshawn George looks like another one of the steals of the first round.
The Thunder and Sixers have been connected in the draft dating back to 2020 when the Oklahoma City first-round pick conveyed to Philadelphia and became Tyrese Maxey for the Sixers. Oklahoma City has hit home runs all over the draft and Mitchell appears to be another one of the better second-rounders from last year along with Wells. If Philadelphia has another bad season in 2025-26, it’s likely its first-rounder will go to the Thunder and the rich will get richer.
Redraft picks 16-20
16. Bub Carrington (14 by WSH)
17. Terrence Shannon Jr. (17 by MIN)
18. Tristan Da Silva (18 by ORL)
19. Isaiah Collier (29 by UTAH)
20. Ryan Dunn (28 by PHX)
Analysis: This is an interesting final quarter of Vecenie’s mock draft because it’s the area of the draft that the Sixers picked McCain in. Interestingly enough, Vecenie noes that Carrington played more minutes than any other player in the draft class last year. Carrington was also one of the younger players in the draft so there might be some hope for him to stick around for a while in the NBA, but he’s the only guy that even had a big enough role as a rookie to have merited being selected where Philadelphia was picking and surely would have been a worse pick than McCain anyway.
The other thing worth noting here is Dalton Knecht is not mentioned at all in the redraft. Many Sixers fans debated Knecht versus McCain leading up to the draft and when Philly was on the clock with both players available. Knecht had lots of defensive problems as a rookie and the Lakers tried to trade him in a deal that eventually fell through with Charlotte. The big selling point on Knecht was his college experience and he seemed like someone that appeared to be more NBA ready than McCain. Let this exercise serve as a reminder that NBA readiness should not be all that high on any team’s priority list when drafting. The draft is about getting long-term building blocks and McCain sure looks like one for the Sixers.
