76ers exec on Temple’s Christmas: ‘He will not go undrafted’

<center><b>Will draft day be Dionte's day?</center></b>

Will draft day be Dionte's day?

Courtney Witte, the director of player personnel for Your Philadelphia 76ers, liked what he saw from Temple’s Dionte Christmas at a pre-draft workout yesterday, according to the Daily News:

“He will not go undrafted,” Witte said.

Christmas said his skills include moving without the ball and using screens.

“Some coaches tell me not a lot of guys know how to do that in the NBA,” he said.

He came to the Sixers yesterday after having shown his wares to New York in a group that included projected top 10 guards Stephen Curry and Gerald Henderson.

“I think I competed real well with those guys,” he said. “Those are some of the guys [who are] supposed to go [in the] lottery. I think I held my own there.”

It’s only natural for Christmas to say he feels he can compete with guys like Curry and Henderson; it’s why we haven’t shared many of the pre-draft stories on Christmas and ‘Nova’s Dante Cunningham. Until now. Because this time, the comments came directly from a team executive.

The Sixers, the team Christmas grew up watching, don’t pick until No. 17 at the June 25 draft. They are eyeing a guard in what is considered a guard-heavy draft, even after trading for Toronto sharpshooter Jason Kapono earlier this week. There’s no doubting Christmas can shoot it, and that he does a great job rolling off screens to catch and shoot. The DN story says Christmas has already worked out for 13 teams and is scheduled to do so for a few more today in New Jersey, along with Saint Joe’s Ahmad Nivins, whom we’re less convinced is going to hear his name called. ‘Nova’s Cunningham continues to make the rounds, too, with a workout for the Charlotte Bobcats slated for today. Fellow Wildcat Dwayne Anderson — a total longshot to get pick — was to have worked out yesterday for Larry Brown and the B-cats.

Link: Christmas in June for 76ers [Daily News]
Scroll to the bottom: Anderson to work out with Bobcats [Daily News]
Photo credit: [Getty Images]

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Posted: Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 3:31 pm by dom
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