Philadelphia 76ers

Philly Frills: 15/10/2021

With the 37^th pick in the 2020 NSL Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select…

Marko Simonovic out of KK Mega Bemax, Serbia.

Position: Forward/Centre
Age: 21 years old
Height: 6-11
Weight: 220lbs

Last year when the 76ers were again flush with 2^nd round picks and not a lot of roster spots available, they fell in love with the 19 year old big man playing overseas and averaging 17/8/1/1/1 across all Euro competitions with a penchant for rebounding and the ability to put the ball on the floor and hit from outside. They stashed him a year, and now he's heading over!

Simonovic has been playing professionally for 4 years now, and this past year he found him starting for Mega Bemax and averaging 16/9/2/1 in 30 minutes a night while shooting 48/32/77 splits in what was a growth year for the youngster hoping to land a deal stateside. He impressed enough to draw some comparisons with his former Mega allum, Nikola Jokic, though mostly in his smarts and because he's a big man, as there is one very clear difference in the two…body type. Marko needed and still needs, to put on weight and muscle if he's going to succeed.

He never got a look last year after being drafted, but this year he's come straight over with the buy out clause being enacted early on signalling the 76ers intent to bring him over. In Summer League he impressed with his poise as they opted to play him only small minutes, given he's played against men before, and he put up 12/5/2 and 1.4 steals in only 18 minutes a game. Unfortunately, his shooting stroke eluded him as he didn't make a triple, but he showed he can run the offence off the high post making smart passes and plays particularly with his new NBA teammate, Ayo Dosunmu.

"Marko is someone we were looking forward to bringing over. The curve will still be steep for him from here, but he's here now and we're very happy to have him."

- 76ers News.