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**Coatesvillain** · 06-19-2004, 07:20 AM

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One international player who remained in the draft is 6-11 ½ Andris Biedrins, of Latvia, who is expected to visit the 76ers next week. The Sixers hold the No. 9 pick, but have been attempting to move up and/or add a pick, perhaps in the teens.

LINK (reg. req.)

I really like the way the Sixers are progressing through their workouts, they're looking at a wide variety of players from all over, and they're looking at players the fans actually have interest in. I'm really looking forward to how Biedrins works out, and who he'll be working out with.

**Coatesvillain** · 06-19-2004, 07:25 AM

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''You've got to look at and judge each person individually,'' Sixers president and general manager Billy King said. ''If that was the case, people would say you don't draft Duke players, although Carlos Boozer and some others have done pretty good .''

''You never look at that on the negative side,'' coach Jim O'Brien added, referring to using past performances in the evaluation process. '' you do it on the positive side if they come out of a program that has had unbelievable success .''

Friday's theme was size. Besides the 6-10, 290-pound Araujo, the Mountain West Conference's co-player of the year, the Sixers auditioned

6-9, 235-pound Kris Humphries, who came out after being named the Big Ten Conference's freshman of the year at Minnesota;

6-10, 215-pound Herve Lamizana, who led Rutgers in blocked shots and rebounding the last two seasons; and

Maryland's 6-9 Jamar Smith, brought back to round out the group after working out for the team Wednesday.

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''I'm a physical guy, I like to play hard,'' said Araujo, who, O'Brien eagerly pointed out, also has an outside touch (11 3-pointers in two seasons). ''I like to play in the low-post; that's my strength.''

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Humphries' college resume is short but impressive — the 19-year-old became the first freshman to lead the Big Ten in scoring (21.7 points) and rebounding (10.1), was a first-team all-conference pick, scored in double-figures in every game, and set Minnesota's freshman scoring record.

''It helped a lot, especially in the Big Ten,'' Humphries said of his only collegiate season. ''It's a very physical league; I had guys coming at me every night, throwing their bodies at me.''

Neither Humphries and Araujo are seen as top-10 picks — a scan of eight mock drafts have Araujo going anywhere from 12 to 20, and Humphries from 14 to 28.

''I'm definitely a possible nine,'' Humphries said. 'My agent wouldn't have sent me here unless he thought it was a possibility.''

''We were looking at these guys as the ninth pick — that's why we had them in,'' O'Brien maintained. ''If we come to the conclusion that they will not be a person we would draft at nine, then we have an understanding of who they are if we made a trade to go a little deeper.''

LINK

**Coatesvillain** · 06-19-2004, 07:29 AM

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"I don't know who Billy is thinking about [drafting]," O'Brien said yesterday after the Sixers worked out two likely first-rounders, Brigham Young center Rafael Araujo and Minnesota freshman forward Kris Humphries, along with senior forwards Herve Lamizana of Rutgers and Jamar Smith of Maryland and Overbrook High in Pine Hill, N.J. "That's the fun of it, and Billy hasn't dropped any hints to me."

One player the Sixers plan to bring in to interview and possibly put through a workout is Andris Biedrins, an 18-year-old forward-center from Latvia who is considered by many to be the top foreign player in the draft.

Biedrins, who was measured at 6-foot-111/2 in his bare feet last week by the NBA, has been suffering from an infected blister on his foot. He was supposed to work out for the Sixers on Wednesday, but was unable to because of the injury.

"We'll bring him in whether he can work out or not, because we want to meet with him," DiLeo said. "We're hoping when he comes in that he will be able to work out for us."

King has long been on the record as seeking to move up in the draft. He said the dialogue with other teams wouldn't really begin to heat up until sometime next week. And King said that through his conversations with other teams, the No. 9 pick has brought no shortage of inquiries from fellow NBA general managers.

"People would love to have the No. 9 pick and it has real value," King said. "The magic word of what teams would give up for it hasn't been said yet."

LINK (reg. req.)

**Coatesvillain** · 06-19-2004, 08:14 AM

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Ramos will continue to fly around the country for a workout every day leading up to the draft. His next stops (in order): Utah, Toronto, Boston, Washington and Philadelphia. Ramos says he doesn’t know who he will be going up against there and he doesn’t care either; he will play against anybody in order to prepare himself for the challenge of the NBA next year.

LINK

Most likely the Sixers are trying to setup Biedrins Vs PJ Ramos. Peter John is definitely not a top ten pick, but the Sixers looking at him could mean that there's some talk about trading down.

If he's working out everyday, this would make his workout for the Sixers on Thursday, June 24th which just happens to be the same day as the draft.

**Coatesvillain** · 06-22-2004, 09:37 AM

Like I noted in another thread: Today's workout features Andris Biedrins, JR Smith, and Kirk Snyder.

**Coatesvillain** · 06-22-2004, 02:36 PM

I turned to NBC10, and I saw clips of the workout and it looked like BEEZ's boy (I have to keep saying that

) JR Smith was getting the better of Kirk Snyder. One clip showed JR posting him up, and easily knocking Kirk to the ground, JR followed it up with a dunk.

The report said that the Sixers might be interested in taking him at #9, and then following that, they said the Sixers aren't sure that they'll have the 9th pick. Billy King said that yesterday he was 90% sure they'd have the 9th pick, but now he's a lot less sure of where they'll be picking.

**Coatesvillain** · 06-23-2004, 07:57 AM

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The chief topic of conversation when the 76ers conducted another round of pre-NBA draft workouts yesterday was not who showed up for the session, but who didn't.

Andris Biedrins, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound prospect from Latvia, passed on the Sixers' invitation to join guards Kirk Snyder of Nevada and J.R. Smith of St. Benedict Prep in North Jersey at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Biedrins, 18, a tall European player who, unlike some other tall European players, is not afraid to bang inside and play defense, is considered in some mock drafts to be the Sixers' pick at No. 9 in tomorrow's amateur draft, especially given the team's need for inside power players.

Both coach Jim O'Brien and president and general manager Billy King said Biedrins would not have been able to work out because of an infected blister on his foot. But he also declined a chance to sit and talk with team officials.

Still, King said Biedrins' no-show didn't bother him. He said that Danko Cvjeticanin, the team's European scouting coordinator, has given him a detailed scouting report on Biedrins.

"Having talked to Danko, we're very, very confident in his abilities, so we didn't need him to come in," King said. "I'm not worried about the fact that he didn't come in. We've seen him enough and we're pretty sure what he can do. I'm very confident that Biedrins is somebody that would fit well if he's the guy."

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Smith, who is a solid 6-6 and 225 pounds, made his second trip this month to a Sixers workout and held his own against the 6-6 Snyder, who played three seasons at Nevada and starred in the NCAA tournament.

Most mock drafts had Smith around 20 at the beginning of the workout process, but he has inched into the mid-teens. After watching him for the second time, O'Brien said he wouldn't be reluctant to take him at No. 9 if that's the way the Sixers go.

"I think this kid could play next year, absolutely," the coach said. "He's going against Kirk Snyder, who's a strong guy. Strength-wise, that was a wash.

"He can really shoot with depth. I think he's a very impressive player. I couldn't imagine having a young guy like J.R. on your team and him not competing for playing time next year. I think he's that good."

Smith, who reinjured a bruised right hand in his first workout with the Sixers, said he was "kind of surprised," but happy, that they asked him back.

"I think I can help the team right away," he said. "A lot of people told me my body is physically fit and ready. I feel I'm definitely ready to help contribute."

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As the draft approaches, King said he still was getting calls from other general managers regarding potential trades for the No. 9 pick his team owns. He also has talked to at least one team about getting a pick in the second round.

"There are possibilities, but tomorrow they could change," he said. "There are all kinds of deals that are under consideration. The likelihood of anything happening, I couldn't put a number on it."

LINK

That's a huge dissapointment to have Biedrins no show the workout, he's either very confident he'll be gone before #9, or his agent doesn't know what he's doing. If he showed up for the workout, and couldn't play, he would at least give them a chance to interview him and see what kind of guy he was like. Oh well, doubt he's at the top of the draft board now, but that's just me listening to my gut.

JR Smith improving his workouts is a good thing for him, if the Sixers are really interested, they'd obviously have to trade down as he's not worth the #9 pick. It seemed like he was going to fall out of the first, now he might have positioned himself into the middle of the first, with a few strong workouts.

**BEEZ** · 06-24-2004, 06:03 AM

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Originally posted by <b>PhillyPhanatic</b>!
I turned to NBC10, and I saw clips of the workout and it looked like BEEZ's boy (I have to keep saying that

) JR Smith was getting the better of Kirk Snyder. One clip showed JR posting him up, and easily knocking Kirk to the ground, JR followed it up with a dunk.

The report said that the Sixers might be interested in taking him at #9, and then following that, they said the Sixers aren't sure that they'll have the 9th pick. Billy King said that yesterday he was 90% sure they'd have the 9th pick, but now he's a lot less sure of where they'll be picking.

Lol not a problem at all PP. Hes been balling exceptionally well. Hopefully we could trade and pick him up. But with all the movement that’s been going on the other Smith, Josh that is may be there when we are ready to pick and I also think that Childress will fall too and if it came to Childress or Josh Smith I know Billy King and his retarded self would pick Childress.

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