Where have you gone, Al Henry?

BY MARK PERNER and Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: June 29, 2012

THE DAY OF the NBA draft might not be a good time to bring up past Sixers draft failures, but it does add a little spice to the procedures. No matter what happens Thursday night, the Sixers will not take their worst or best 15th pick because, amazingly, they have never had the 15th pick since arriving in Philly in August 1963.

The Sixers have drafted — not including picks who were parts of draft-day deals — three players in the first round who either never played for them (Marvin Barnes) or never played a game in the league (Dana Lewis and Raymond Lewis). And there were six first-rounders who played 50 games or less in a 76ers uniform (Al Henry, 49; Craig Raymond, 27; Shaler Halimon, 50; Jim Spanarkel, 40; and Leo Rautins, 28; Monti Davis, 1).

Here are the rest of the worst, by where they were picked in the draft:

At No. 1, 1986. Not saying another word.

At No. 2, Shawn Bradley was the biggest underachiever and at 7-6 biggest disappointment.

At No. 3, Jerry Stackhouse. Some thought he'd be the next Jordan. But he couldn't co-exist with Allen Iverson and was traded after two-plus seasons.

At No. 5, Freddie Boyd, not so much for being terrible but more so for where he was picked. He averaged a decent 10.5 points as a rookie and it was downhill from there.

At No. 6, Sharone Wright, after being drafted in 1994, played in 125 games over two seasons before being shipped to Toronto for two second-round picks. He was out of the NBA by 1998.

At No. 8, Larry Hughes, taken in 1998. He was going to play the point with Iverson. See Stackhouse, Jerry. He was outta here in less than two seasons.

At No. 9, Matt Guokas. Coming off an All-America season at Saint Joe's, he was going to be the local kid who made good. Didn't happen.

At No. 10, Leon Wood was coming off the 1984 Olympic team. He is now an NBA ref. Name a good player whoever became an NBA ref. Nuff said.

At No. 19, Kenny Payne. Fans at the Spectrum attending the draft booed when his name was announced in 1989. Coach Jim Lynam had to calm them down and explain the pick. They wanted Vlade Divac. Crowd 1, Sixers 0.

So, no matter the outcome tonight, just remember, it could be a lot worse. 

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