On the Beat: Simmons, Luwawu-Cabarrot Set for SLC, Vegas

SALT LAKE CITY – With this year’s top pick on the verge of making his professional debut, the 76ers have finalized their summer league roster. Ben Simmons highlights a group that features another 2016 first-rounder, three rising NBA sophomores, and a host of present and past undrafted free agents.  Simmons, the multifaceted forward from LSU who last Thursday emerged as the third number one selection in Sixers’ history, will be available for both the Utah Jazz and Samsung NBA Summer Leagues.  Such is also the case for Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, whom the Sixers took with the 24th pick in the first round.  Having appeared on last year’s regular season roster, T.J. McConnell, Richaun Holmes, and Christian Wood will serve as veteran members of the Sixers’ summer squad.  McConnell logged a team-high 81 games; Holmes, despite injuries, showed steady potential; while Woods shuttled back and forth between the Sixers and their NBA Development League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers.  The remaining personnel that the Sixers will be bringing with them to Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, however, fall under the category of free agents who, at one point or another, were bypassed in the draft.”What we’re trying put together is undrafted players, guys that we talked about as potential free agents that might come, that might want to get a tryout for an NBA club,” Sixers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo said the day following the draft.  Almost immediately after the draft ended, Colangelo, along with Vice President of Basketball Administration Brandon Williams and the rest of the front office, began reaching out to potential summer league targets, several of whom they had already become very familiar with.  Of the 10 summer league invitees who either went undrafted this year, or did not play for the Sixers last season, five visited the team during the multiple rounds of pre-draft workouts the organization hosted in May and June.  The remaining five players have gained pro experience in the NBADL, or overseas.Colangelo believes the likes of McConnell and Wood represent two positive examples to follow. “As you can see, it can work very favorably,” said Colangelo. “For someone like T.J., not only making a team, but got a chance to play a lot of NBA minutes last year.” The Sixers will conduct back-to-back two-a-day practice sessions in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday as part of their summer league minicamp. Monday, the Sixers will play their first of three contests in the Utah Jazz Summer League. After wrapping up in Salt Lake City against the host Jazz on Thursday, the Sixers will then head to Las Vegas, where they make their first Samsung NBA Summer League appearance on July 9th. Billy Lange will coach the summer Sixers in Utah, with Lloyd Pierce taking over in Las Vegas.  Both have served as assistants under Brett Brown since he was hired as head coach in August of 2013.Here’s a snapshot of the 15 players, listed in alphabetical order, who will suit up for the Sixers this summer:[[{“fid”:”55229″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{“height”:”634″,”width”:”633″,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]][[{“fid”:”55231″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{“height”:”556″,”width”:”636″,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]]