What if the Sixers trade the No. 1 pick? It isn't impossible | Bob Cooney
What if the top pick in the draft is so tempting to the Knicks that they'd give Kristaps Porzingis to the Sixers in a deal?
ON THURSDAY NIGHT, the 76ers will be the first team on the clock in the 2017 NBA draft, courtesy of this week's trade with the Boston Celtics.
Or will they?
To think they wouldn't stand pat and have commissioner Adam Silver call out Washington product Markelle Fultz's name is most likely silly. It appears president Bryan Colangelo and coach Brett Brown targeted Fultz as the best fit to mesh with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons out of all the talent at the top of this draft. Colangelo has said how he would like to see this excruciatingly young group grow together for a while before making a big splash in free agency or via trade.
Still, if you could read between the lines — perhaps with a mighty powerful magnifying glass — and catch that slight glimmer in Colangelo's eyes when he spoke of the trade with the Celtics, something makes you think, ever so slightly, that there might be more to come. Maybe, just maybe, the president gained that first pick only to unload it for something the organization sees as an even better fit than Fultz.
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The likelihood? Call it just 5 percent, for many reasons. As stated above, Colangelo has said he would like to study this group first, maybe tweak here and there, and then go all-in.
"It sure feels right that this group, that this young core that we are assembling, has a chance to grow together," he said Monday. "Again, assuming health and assuming the development of the players as we see that happening, or projected out, it feels right."
And most likely, Fultz feels right for the organization. He has so much exciting potential at the offensive end of the floor with shot-making ability, a keen sense of court vision, and a run-out mentality. He is only 19 and a late bloomer as a basketball player, and seeing him grow into NBA maturity with Embiid and Simmons is as exciting as anything this organization has teased fans with in a long time.
But what if? What if the reports of the Sixers' talking to the Knicks about Kristaps Porzingis have more meat than we know? What if that No.1 pick is more enticing to Knicks president Phil Jackson than the player the Knicks took just after the Sixers took Jahlil Okafor in 2015? Would a frontcourt pairing of Embiid and Porzingis excite Colangelo enough to think of parting with his recently received gift from Boston — which is what it was because of how little he gave in return? What if the ghost of Evan Turner past still looms around the Sixers organization? Many thought he and Jrue Holiday were going to be backcourt mates for 10 years here when Turner was acquired with the second pick, but that just didn't work out.
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Perhaps the Sixers will get involved in the trade talks that involve Indiana's Paul George. A couple of reports had the Sixers peripherally involved, winding up with Cavaliers forward Kevin Love in a multiple-team trade. That would give the Sixers a stretch four who can rebound and would be the ultimate outlet man for a team that wants to run as much as possible. The Sixers would have to pay Love for only two more years and then could decide how they would move ahead.
There was a reason the Celtics decided to move out of the No.1 spot and Fultz. Reports say that they found him lacking in explosiveness. He did suffer a mysterious knee injury last season that cost him six of Washington's last eight games. Fultz said that all was good when he worked out for the Sixers on Saturday and that there are no knee issues. But what if Colangelo has some concerns about that?
Again, this is just a look at what is considered about a 5 percent chance of happening. If you're a gambling person, it says here to bet the house that the first name called Thursday will be Fultz's and that the hat he will pull down on his head will have a Sixers logo on it. Just don't bet the car, too.