On the Beat: Accomplished Point Guards Due in Town Tuesday

PHILADELPHIA – Two days before what figures to be a seminal moment in franchise history, the 76ers will proceed with their due diligence.The team has announced that Tuesday, it will bring a deep prospect pool – perhaps its deepest yet – to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.  Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis headlines the group, which also features Oakland’s Kay Felder, Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins, Louisville’s Chinanu Onuaku, Oregon State’s Gary Payton II, and France’s Guerschon Yabusele.  According to various mock drafts, all six players are projected to be selected in Thursday’s draft.Listed at just 5’10” tall and 149 pounds, Ulis showed last season that – at the collegiate level, at least – his size was no issue.  As a sophomore at Kentucky, he exploded for 17.3 points and 7.0 assists per game.  Those figures were sixth-best in the Southeastern Conference and seventh-best in the nation, respectively.  Not only was Ulis named the SEC Player of the Year at season’s end, he was also tabbed the conference’s top defensive player.  The only other SEC player to ever receive both awards in the same year was New Orleans Pelicans All-Star big man Anthony Davis.  Of note, Ulis sported a number “3” jersey during his Wildcats’ career.  According to Kentucky’s website, he chose the number because of his appreciation for Allen Iverson.Speaking of facilitating, no player in the country carried out the act more frequently last season than Kay Felder, who distributed an NCAA-best 9.3 assists per game.  Adding to the impressive nature of his junior year, Felder, who stands 5’9″ tall, placed third in the nation in scoring, with 24.4 points per game.  His father, Kahlil Felder Sr., played collegiately at Eastern Michigan, where he ranks among the institution’s top passers.Throughout his four years with Oklahoma, Isaiah Cousins gradually added layers to his game.  After tallying 48 total three-point field goals between his first two campaigns, the guard proceeded to knock down over 60 treys in both his junior and senior seasons.  His 40.7 career three-point percentage is seventh-best in the Sooner record book.  Last season, as a senior, Cousins showed that he could facilitate as well, handing out a personal-best 4.5 assists per game.  He had averaged no more than 2.2 helpers per tilt in each of his first three years.In two years at Louisville, Chinanu Onuaku made strides.  Logging about seven more minutes per game as a sophomore than he did as a freshman, Onuaku increased his scoring and rebounding averages by nearly 10.0 points and 4.0 boards, respectively.  A 6’10” tall, 245 pound big man, the Maryland native swatted aside 104 shots in 66 career games.Gary Payton II followed in his Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame father’s footsteps by attending Oregon State, and, like Gary Sr., the younger Payton had a positive impact on the program.  Last year, Payton manufactured the versatile line of 16.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, all while helping the Beavers qualify for the NCAA Tournament.  It was a first since 1990, when his dad was a senior.  Following each of Payton II’s two seasons in Corvallis, he was selected as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the league’s first player to earn the honor twice.  Payton II began his college career at Salt Lake Community College.  Guerschon Yabusele has spent the previous three years playing in France, alternating between the top two tiers of the country’s professional circuit.  With SPO Rouen Basket of the National Basketball League in 2015-2016, the small forward appeared in 36 contests, and achieved personal-best averages of 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds.  From the list of players invited to PCOM Tuesday, all but Yabusele attended the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.