Is Sixers' Moultrie this year's draft steal?

Who came up with the steal in this year’s NBA draft? Could it be one of the eight young foreign players selected in the second round whose names none of us can pronounce? Did the Sixers pull off a good trade with Miami allowing them to get Arnett Moultrie?

Many draft experts predicted the Sixers would go after Moultrie at No. 15 but they eventually got their man at 27 and were still able to get a 19-year-old small forward in Maurice Harkless from St John’s with their original pick (see story). It’ll be a year or two until we really know how good these two young players will be, but this we do know -- the Sixers came into the draft with the third-youngest roster in the NBA with an average age of 25.9. 

This team has been stockpiling young players for a while. A year ago, the Sixers might have pulled off the biggest steal of the draft when they picked Lavoy Allen out of Temple with the 50th pick. Allen turned out to be one of the biggest surprises in the rookie class and you can only hope that his performance in the postseason is an appetizer for things to come.

While I was watching the latter part of the draft late Thursday night, I could only think that one of those players might pay off huge dividends for the team that drafted him. The Sixers gambled a little bit in the draft but now the real work begins with deciding who stays and who goes and who can compliment the existing roster.

It should be an interesting next few months until training camp arrives.   

E-mail Neil Hartman at nhartman@comcastsportsnet.com