There were plenty of story lines heading into the 2016 NBA Draft but barring one major trade, the night turned out to be rather uneventful.
As expected Ben Simmons was drafted No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Brandon Ingram No. 2 overall. Simmons was the clear No. 1 pick and should immediately make an impact in Philadelphia. Similarly, the Lakers were thrilled with their selection of Ingram as they envision him being part of their young and developing core of Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell.
The Celtics then did shake things up a bit by selecting Jaylen Brown No. 3 overall but there weren't any more real surprises until the Thunder traded Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for the No. 11 pick (Domantas Sabonis), Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova.
This year's NBA draft featured an NBA record of 14 international players being selected in the first round which caused players like Skal Labissiere, Dejounte Murray and Deyonta Davis to drop to the bottom part of the first round and into the second.
Here are a couple takeaways from draft night:
1. The Philadelphia 76ers had an amazing draft. Obviously, ending up with Ben Simmons at No. 1 overall in a draft that may only have two stars is a huge coup for Bryan Colangelo and the Sixers. They reportedly were aggressive in trying to secure the No. 3 pick to draft Providence guard Kris Dunn, but a deal never materialized for the Boston Celtics and Philly. They then reportedly tried to get the Minnesota Timberwolves to bit on a similar deal or the same deal exactly. No go there.
The Sixers never panicked after that. They just went about their business, showed patience as the surprise draft selections unfolded, and then calmly picked two very promising international prospects with the 24th and 26th picks. Timothe Luwawu was a guy projected as high as the top 10 for a short time during the pre-draft process, and even seemed like a lock for the late lottery. There are some questions about his jump shot holding in the NBA, but mostly, he's an athletic wing who should excel on both ends of the floor. Getting him at 24 feels like a steal.
Then they added Furkan Korkmaz, who has a great feel for playmaking and can really shoot the ball. He's probably not coming over right away, but he played on the same team as Sixers' overseas stash Dario Saric, so he was as well scouted as possible for them. He was projected around the top 20 for much of the pre-draft process as well. Ended up at 26. Sixers added potential star power and nice depth to trickle in over the next couple of years.
2. Outside of the Serge Ibaka trade to Orlando, the big deals never came. Sam Presti shocked the world by moving Ibaka to the Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and Domantas Sabonis. He added great depth and versatility while not forcing himself into a position of overpaying for Ibaka next summer. But where were the other big deals?
Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck went full Joe Lacob by telling the media after the Celtics selected Jaylen Brown that the trade offers thrown their way were so bad that they laughed at all of them. Instead of being able to find more depth and assets through a move with the Sixers or getting Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls, the Celtics settled for a nice prospect but not the big haul we've had rumored for months.
The Minnesota Timberwolves also were engaged in talks to get Butler, and rumors of a Butler for Zach LaVine and No. 5 pick Kris Dunn danced around social media. But by the end, both sides were denying they had anything serious brewing in the trade cauldron. The Phoenix Suns made a move with the Sacramento Kings, but the rumored trades of either Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe never happened. We had chaos in the picks but not much with trades.
3. The international prospects ruled the draft. The first round's selection of 14 different international players was a bit shocking to some of the American born players in the green room. Ben Simmons, while he did attend school in the U.S., is from Australia. Croatian big man Dragan Bender went fourth to the Phoenix Suns. We saw a huge reach for Thon Maker at No. 10 to the Milwaukee Bucks, and the middle of the first-round on through the end of it had a very international flavor to it.
This is a fantastic advertisement for the global initiatives of the NBA over the past couple of decades.
NBA Draft
First round
1. Philadelphia - Ben Simmons
2. Los Angeles Lakers - Brandon Ingram
3. Boston (From Brooklyn) - Jaylen Brown
4. Phoenix - Dragan Bender
5. Minnesota - Kris Dunn
6. New Orleans - Buddy Hield
7. Denver (From New York) - Jamal Murray
8. Sacramento - Marquese Chriss (Traded to Phoenix)
9. Toronto (From Denver via New York) - Jacob Poelti
10. Milwaukee - Thon Maker
11. Orlando - Domantas Sabonis
12. Utah - Taurean Prince
13. Phoenix (From Washington) - Georgios Papagiannis
14. Chicago - Denzel Washington
15. Denver (From Houston) - Juan Hernangomez
16. Boston (From Dallas) - Guerschon Yabusele
17. Memphis - Wade Baldwin
18. Detroit - Henry Ellenson
19. Denver (From Portland) - Malik Beasley
20. Indiana - Caris LeVert
21. Atlanta - DeAndre Bembry
22. Sacramento (From Charlotte) - Malachi Richardson
23. Boston - Ante Zizic
24. Philadelphia (From Miami via Cleveland) - Tim Luwawu
25. Los Angeles Clippers - Brice Johnson
26. Philadelphia (From Oklahoma City via Denver and Cleveland) - Furkan Korkmaz
27. Toronto - Pascal Siakam
28. Phoenix (From Cleveland via Boston) - Skal Labissiere
29. San Antonio - Dejounte Murray
30. Golden State - Damian Jones
Second round
31. Boston (From Philadelphia via Miami) - Deyonta Davis
32. Los Angeles Lakers - Ivica Zubac
33. Los Angeles Clippers (From Brooklyn) - Cheick Diallo
34. Phoenix - Tyler Ullis
35. Boston (From Minnesota via Phoenix) - Rade Zagorac
36. Milwaukee (From New Orleans via Sacramento) - Malcom Brogdan
37. Houston (From New York via Sacramento and Portland) - Chinanu Onuaku
38. Milwaukee - Patrick McGraw
39. New Orleans (From Denver via Philadelphia) - David Michineau
40. New Orleans (From Sacramento) - Diamond Stone
41. Orlando - Stephen Zimmerman Jr.
42. Utah - Isaiah Whitehead
43. Houston - Zhou Qi
44. Atlanta (From Washington) - Isaia Cordinier
45. Boston (From Memphis via Dallas) - Demetrius Jackson
46. Dallas - A.J. Hammons
47. Orlando (From Chicago) - Jake Layman
48. Chicago (From Portland via Cleveland) - Paul Zipser
49. Detroit - Michael Gbinije
50. Indiana - George Niang
51. Boston (From Miami) - Ben Bentil
52. Utah (From Boston via Memphis) - Joel Bolomboy
53. Denver (From Charlotte via Oklahoma City) - Petr Cornelie
54. Atlanta - Kay Felder
55. Brooklyn (From Los Angeles Clippers) - Marcus Paige
56. Denver (From Oklahoma City) - Daniel Hamilton
57. Memphis (From Toronto) - Wang Zhelin
58. Boston (From Cleveland) - Abdel Nader
59. Sacramento (From San Antonio) - Isaiah Cousins
60. Utah (From Golden State) - Tyrone Wallace
