Philadelphia 76ers: Xavier Tillman has a little P. J. Tucker in him

Xavier Tillman could glue a new Philadelphia 76ers roster together.

With limited financial versatility and a half dozen roster spots up for grabs going into the 2020-21 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers are a team in desperate need of an influx of talent through the NBA draft.

Sure, they have Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton, and Norvel Pelle locked up on rookie-scale contracts for the foreseeable future, which is obviously nice, but with all five of the team’s 2019-20 starters rolling over into the new NBA calendar year, the Sixers have suddenly become an old team lacking in bright young stars outside of their established core.

Is the 21st overall pick really a ripe breeding ground for future NBA talent? Not historically, but you know what they say about scouting; it’s often about quantity, not quality.

More from Section 215

With four second-round pick on the books for the 2020 NBA Draft, the Sixers will have a slew of opportunities to land viable prospects to fill out their bench on either a two-way contract or a legit four-year NBA-level deal.

While targeting shooters will obviously be a priority – the priority if you ask many a fan of Philly’s favorite basketball club not named Villanova – a team cannot survive on one-way players alone. No, to truly succeed in the NBA, a team needs about as many defenders as they need offensive stars, especially if they can land said ‘glue guys’ in the second round.

If Daryl Morey‘s track record in Houston is of any indication, Xavier Tillman may be the glue guy Philly needs to target in the second round.

Measuring in at 6-foot-8, 245 pounds, Tillman’s one of the more established players in this year’s class, not to mention one of the most versatile. A three-year starter at Michigan State under Tom Izzo, Tillman is a member of the NCAA All-Regional team, the 2019-20 All-Big 10 team, and the Big 10 All-Defense team, in addition to being the recipient of the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year award in 2019 and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award in 2020.

Fun fact: As a rookie, Tillman will already be older than Zhaire Smith, who the Philadelphia 76ers drafted in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft.

Paired up with Cassius Winston for the majority of his college tenure, Tillman was often tasked with playing the ‘Jaren Jackson Jr.‘ role in Izzo’s starting lineup, aka a hybrid forward/center role similar to how Jay Wright used players like Omari Spellman and Eric Paschall at Villanova. He’d go from defending the rim on one player to shooting a corner 3 off to switching defensively on the wings, before finally slamming down a dunk off of a pick and roll drive to the basket.

Though he doesn’t fit the traditional definition of the sort of 3-and-D forwards Doc Rivers has had success with at the professional level, from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, his game does share some stark similarities to that of P.J. Tucker, a player Morey acquired for pennies on the dollar and transformed from a fringe starter with the Pheonix Suns/Toronto Raptors into one of the league’s most versatile two-way players.

Like Tucker, Tillman is an undersized NBA big man stuck in the body of a modern-day wing. At the game’s highest level, he’ll likely struggle to post-up against Joel Embiid-sized fives and could struggle to defend them too. At the same time, he’s far from an elite offensive option either, as his outside shooting game remains a bit of a work in progress based on his sub-30 3 point shooter percentage and career 69.5 percent shooter from the free-throw line.

But then again, what Tillman can do, and do very well, is the little stuff that makes a basketball team better.

As a junior, Tillman averaged 1.2 steals, 2.7 offensive rebounds, 7.6 defensive rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game over his 31 game tenure in East Lansing. If Tillman’s going to latch on at the NBA level for longer than a tryout, he’s going to need to do those things to remain on the court and stay in the good graces of his prospective coaches.

If you recall, that’s how Montrezl Harrell transformed himself from an undersized college big man into one of the premier sixth men in the NBA right now. Even if Tillman lacks Harrell’s motor, speed, and athleticism, he can look to the Rocket-turned-Clipper as an example of how to stick in a league rapidly altering how it plays right before our eyes.

Jahmi’us Ramsey is this year’s Landry Shamet. dark. Next

Currently ranked the 45th overall player on The Ringers’ big board and 32nd on NBC Sports’ most recent mock draft, Xavier Tillman is (probably) not going to develop into an NBA star anytime soon. Then again, with four picks in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft – which, unlike in years prior, they may actually (mostly) use – the Philadelphia 76ers don’t need to go big game hunting in the second round. If Tillman is on the board at 34, 36, or, by some miracle, at 49, there isn’t a more intriguing option available who could come in as a rookie and soak up some quality minutes next to whomever the Philadelphia 76ers have on their roster moving forward.