CAMDEN, N.J. — In his first press conference as the 76ers new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey said he was looking for players who were “fountains, not drains.”
Whatever it took to parse that particular turn of phrase, the actions would eventually speak louder. And in his first substantial move in charge of the 76ers’ basketball future, Gansey hinted at it.
In using the 22nd overall pick in Tuesday’s NBA Draft on Labaron Philon Jr., a 6-3 guard out of Alabama, Gansey opted for a brand of cultural fit.
Was it a position of need? Sure, insofar as guys who can put the ball in the hoop is a perennial need for all but a select handful of clubs that have the banners the 76ers have chased in vain for four decades. Did it fit some kind of larger playing philosophy?
Perhaps, but no more so than getting guys who can create their own shot and handle the ball is an ideology. It’s not, for instance, taking a flier on a raw, athletic, high-ceiling, low-floor wing because he’s lanky.
But the more pertinent part of the pick that seems to have separated Philon from the rest was something about the mentality the 20-year-old brings.
At his official introductory press conference, Philon offered glimpses of that. He shrugged off a question about comparing himself to other guards who were picked ahead of him, Philon generally regarded by experts as a top-15 talent on most boards that Gansey said “fell into our laps” at 22.
“I’m really just worried about my own game,” Philon said. “… I feel like you don’t get to compare yourself to anybody, so just be worried about your own game.”
He offered a telling quote about what changed from a promising but incomplete freshman year at Alabama to a much more polished sophomore campaign.
The Mobile native averaged 10.6 points per game as a freshman in a complementary role with more defensive responsibility before testing the draft waters. He returned and blossomed as a sophomore, the only Division I player last season to average 22 points, five assists and shoot better than 50 percent (50.1) from the field.
He credited the coaching staff of the Crimson Tide for the accountability that led to that.
“I give it all to Coach Preston (Murphy, assistant coach) and Coach (Nate) Oats my freshman year, being able to take me in and not just give me what I wanted, but making me work for things,” Philon said. “I feel like it should be no different here, really. Just expecting that, not being handed anything and being able to work for the things you want. And I feel like my second year, they still treated me the same way, made me work for everything, and made me grow that way as a leader, instead of just a freshman young kid coming in. They wanted me to, my second year, lead the young guys and be a standout leader.”
Gansey cited the guard’s competitiveness. Philon reemphasized it Thursday, as “that competitive juice is everything to me.” He’s secure in his ability to match up defensively, fashioning himself a “ballhawk.” And unlike other draft picks who’ve come to Philadelphia feeling secure in themselves as players and thus unable to stomach the vulnerability needed to improve (cough, Ben Simmons, cough), Philon doesn’t carry that particular baggage.
Gansey didn’t invent this strategy of soft-skill focus, nor is he revolutionizing it. A year ago, then POBO Daryl Morey touted VJ Edgecombe’s intangibles, competitiveness and teachability as a differentiating factor among the other talented options at No. 3 overall. Morey is no longer employed, but he was dead right on Edgecombe, who was a Rookie of the Year finalist.
Morey then talked about a shift in culture. The 76ers were coming off a disaster of a 24-win season, with limited health for Joel Embiid and Paul George. At the start of preseason last fall, Tyrese Maxey harped on identity, demanding that the 76ers looked like a recognizable, consistent version of themselves no matter who happens to be available to play that night.
That largely worked in 2025-26, and defeating the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs was much more than a consolatory proof of concept.
So the question is now how to build toward a next step. Embiid is still here. He and George are pretty much unmovable on long, max deals that helped usher Morey to the exit. Maxey and Edgecombe comprise the other, longer-term cornerstones. Philon has a chance to grow into a valuable part of that core. A few ancillary pieces, both old — maybe re-signing Kelly Oubre? — and new will be added when free agency opens next week.
There are a lot of pieces to assemble around the core that might make the 76ers a legitimate threat in the East. But in Philon, the 76ers added a talented and adaptable options, one who isn’t arriving with dictates or limitations on how he should be used but willing to tailor his game to the space the team affords him.
“It was very important for me to go back and just work on the shooting, the off-ball shooting, and being able to play on and off the ball,” he said of his evolution at Alabama. “So not really having a preference of what to do and really just being able to adapt in any situation they put me in and being ready to play basketball. I feel like for me that’s one of my biggest traits as well, being able to adapt and do both.”
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com