Ace Bailey dunk and other Rutgers basketball workout highlights
Ace Bailey’s insane dunk and other Rutgers basketball workout highlights
We’re days away from the NBA Draft and rumors are starting to heat up.
With each day, we get closer and closer to finally finding out what the Philadelphia 76ers will do with their lottery pick the team was awarded after a disastrous 2024-2025 season.
Will the team come out of the draft with a young star? Whatever the Sixers do at the draft is anyone’s guess.
From reports the Sixers have engaged in talks with the San Antonio Spurs to move up to the No. 2 pick to snag Rutgers guard Dylan Harper to speculation the team might move back, there’s no shortages of options for Philly.
Which player the Sixers select is also up in the air with rumors they’ve locked into four players at the top of the draft.
Recently, Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe worked out for Sixers brass. Rutgers forward Ace Bailey scheduled for a visit to Philly Friday but canceled. He hasn’t worked out for any NBA teams as of Friday, an odd pre-draft strategy.
Some pundits suspect Bailey wants to fall to a team devoid of marquee players where the offense can run through him and he could quickly become the face of the franchise.
It is worth noting that canceling on the Sixers won’t necessarily prevent team general manager Daryl Morey from drafting Bailey. The team snagged Tyrese Maxey at No. 20 in the 2020 draft without a pre-draft visit from the star guard.
This past week the Asbury Park Press, a Gannett sister paper to the Bucks County Courier Times, drew some draft insight from Daniel Marks, formerly the Milwaukee Bucks’ manager of prospect information, where he spent nine years as they built an NBA championship roster.
Here’s what he had to say.
On Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper
After a mercurial season at Rutgers – a mix of spectacular showings and wildly inefficient ones – Bailey peaked as a source of intrigue this week. ESPN NBA Draft insider Jonathan Givony dropped him from the projected third pick to sixth while reporting on front office executives “expressing concern about his lack of preparation and focus” during interviews at the NBA Draft combine and Bailey’s refusal to participate in individual workouts with teams.
“People I’ve talked to seem to think he’s going to be either really, really good or a big bust, and has probably the widest range of outcomes within the top seven or eight picks,” Marks said. “So much of his ability is taking and making tough shots at his size, but those shots he was making (at Rutgers) are going to be a lot harder against NBA defenders. If he’s not making those shots at an elite level, is he going to do enough in other areas of the game to actually impact winning, or is he just a taller version of a Zach LaVine or a Bradley Beal, where he could put up a lot of points but doesn’t actually contribute to winning at a high level?”
It’s worth noting that Givony has a working relationship with Bailey’s agent, Omar Cooper, to the point where Givony actually broke the news of a much lower-profile Cooper client, Tariq Francis, committing to Rutgers in April. Could Cooper be intentionally engineering a drop in the draft so Bailey winds up with a team that he believes is a better fit (Read: Not the Sixers)?
“There are agents that will say ‘I’m not working (the player) out because I want you to go at (Pick No.) 7 because that’s a better situation’ – that’s definitely happened,” Marks said. “I don’t know what the game plan is here…”
“There are a lot of people (in the league) that are worried about: You had Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and you couldn’t get a winning season,” Marks said. “Dylan does more things than just shoot. He can get to the basket, he can create for others, he has the (family) pedigree. Some of those questions with Dylan are not as high as they are with Ace. Ace has a big group of people around him who are telling him what to do and not to do – there seems to be a lot of baggage around him.”
If Bailey is the draft’s biggest wild card, Harper is a consensus to go No. 2 behind Duke superstar Cooper Flagg.
“He’s got size at 6-6 and a strong body, is a pretty good athlete, can score at all three levels,” Marks said. “Obviously he has the pedigree with his dad’s career (five-time NBA champion Ron Harper), so he’s been around the (pro) game. Having those lead guards that can anchor a team offensively is so valuable. The ability to play both positions, the scoring instincts – he’s just a natural.”
There has been some speculation that the team holding the No. 2 pick, guard-heavy San Antonio, might trade it. Marks would be surprised.
“He’s incredibly talented,” he said. “I think they’ll worry about the fit a little bit later.”
2025 NBA Draft prospects
The Sixers didn’t end up with the first pick and the opportunity to draft Duke forward Cooper Flagg or Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, but they didn’t come up empty-handed.
Philadelphia gets to keep its pick and moved up two spots in the draft. Here’s a look at a few of the players who the team might target at No. 3 or in a possible trade down:
Ace Bailey, RutgersFreshman, guard-forward, 6-10, 200, 182024-25 stats: 17.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.3 bpg, 46% FG, 34.6% 3PT, 69.2% FTVJ Edgecombe, BaylorFreshman, guard, 6-5, 180, 192024-25 stats: 15.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.1 spg, 43.6% FG, 34% 3PT, 78.2% FTTre Johnson, Texas
2024-25 stats: 19.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.7 apg, 42.7% FG, 39.7% 3PT, 87.1% FT
Freshman, guard, 6-6, 190, 19
Jeremiah Fears, OklahomaFreshman, guard, 6-4, 182, 182024-25 stats: 17.1 ppg, 4.1 apg, 4.1 rpg, 1.6 spg, 43.4% FG, 28.4% 3PT, 85.1% FTKon Knueppel, Duke
2024-25 stats: 14.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, 47.9% FG, 40.6% 3PT, 91.4% FT
Freshman, guard-forward, 6-7, 217, 19
Khaman Maluach, Duke
2024-25 stats: 8.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 71.2% FG, 76.6% FT
Freshman, center, 7-2, 250, 18
Derik Queen, Maryland
2024-25 stats: 16.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.1 bpg, 52.6% FG, 76.6% FT
Freshman, center, 6-10, 246, 20
The first round is Wednesday June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It will air live on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m. The Sixers also draft 35th in the second round Thursday.
Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press and Tom Haines of the Bucks County Courier Times contributed to this story.