The Phoenix Suns should have traded for Markelle Fultz

Although such a trade was obvious, the Philadelphia 76ers trading their former number one overall pick Markelle Fultz was a surprise. What’s worse is once again: the Phoenix Suns should have been the one making the trade acquisition – yet didn’t.

The Phoenix Suns are in desperate need of a point guard (at least fans  believe so, ownership and management might think otherwise).

The Philadelphia 76ers used to have a point guard who was drafted first overall, but due to some sever shooting issues, they couldn’t hang onto him while making a championship run.

The Phoenix Suns have a number of young and future assets that can be used as trade pieces (and all of which should  be considered in trades to upgrade the team).

The Philadelphia 76ers wanted both future assets as well as assets that could help them right now.

All things considered, one would have thought that a trade of Markelle Fultz to the Phoenix Suns from the Philadelphia 76ers would have been a match made in basketball trade heaven.

And yet, Fultz is a member of the Orlando Magic (another rebuilding team in desperate need of a starting point guard), and the Phoenix Suns acquired Tyler Johnson while trading away Ryan Anderson.

Yay.

Who knows to what conversations did happen between he Suns and Sixers, and whether or not Phoenix had any interest in Fultz.

Phoenix Suns

Feux general manager James Jones noted in a radio interview following the deadline that he spoke with all of the other 29 teams in the league (that is believable, but inconsequential), and one would presume that in the moments leading up to the trade with Orlando coming to fruition, Sixers GM Elton Brand probably called Jones and laid out what Orlando was prepared to offer seeing if Phoenix wanted to either match or surpass the deal laid before him (one would have to imagine that Brand would have preferred to move Fultz to the Western Conference rather than in division in case Fultz does develop and bites Philadelphia in the butt).

My question is, if that is what happened (total presumption on my part, but I am confident that Phoenix was made aware of the discussions involving Fultz so Jones would at least have had an opportunity to make an offer or counter-offer), then why didn’t Jones pull the trigger?

I get that Fultz has a really  messed up shot, but who is to say that a clean slate on a new club, in a new city, with a franchise that is starved for anything exciting to happen and a fan base that would have embraced Fultz and maybe a new coaching staff (led by a head coach in Igor Kokoskov that was called a point guard whisperer  prior to his hire because of work he had done with point guards prior to his hiring) could have helped the flailing young player out and potentially developed him into a legitimate starting point guard?

Before I get into what the Suns could have offered, I do want to touch on that point in regards to Igor briefly: Kokoskov literally had  been called a point guard whisperer, and that moniker had been tied to the Suns management’s desire to develop both De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo.

Is the fact that Jones didn’t  find a way to acquire Fultz an indictment on his belief that Igor could actually make something out of Fultz? That he doesn’t believe that Igor could work magic on a player now on  the Magic and therefore trading a role player, a weak first round pick, and a second round pick, was too much  of a risk because he doesn’t believe that his head coach could pull it off?

Just a thought…

In regards to what Phoenix could have offered, we need to quickly look at what Orlando gave up:

"Jonathon Simmons, who is a 29-year-old role playing shooting guard under contract for $5.7M next seasonOklahoma City’s 2020 first round pick (which is going to be in the range of the mid-20s no doubt, but it is protected top-20 so if it falls in the teens or higher then it converts into two future second round picks)A 2020 second round pick (that is most likely going to be Cleveland’s as it is the highest pick that Philadelphia is likely to own)"

Forgive me for the all caps, but…THAT’S IT?!?!?! PHOENIX COULDN’T MATCH THAT OFFER FOR THE FORMER NUMBER ONE OVERALL PICK?!?!?!

I must further ask: would Troy Daniels (a far superior  shooter to Simmons, is two years younger, and is a free agent after this season giving the Sixers a little additional cap space) not an equivalent to or superior  player to Simmons when head-to-head in a potential trade?

Is the Milwaukee first round pick (which will almost undoubtedly be passed to the pick holder in 2020 based on protections in 2019), not at least be relatively equivalent to the Oklahoma City pick, especially since the OKC pick is top-20 protected thus it’s value is automatically low?

With how many young players the Suns have on their roster anyway, should Phoenix ever even use a second round pick again within the next five years??

Now to be fair, if Philadelphia was looking to amp up their defense, according to the two player’s defensive ratings, Simmons is a better defender than Daniels, but would not Troy’s much superior 3-point shooting and cap relief after this year not be worth the trade-off in that sense?

Could Phoenix have not offered maybe Dragan Bender as well to help bolster defense, a much younger player than Simmons who too is also a free agent after this season?

Who knows though: maybe James Jones did offer the very trade that I have proposed, and maybe Philadelphia just preferred the Orlando option. Maybe I am not giving James Jones the benefit of the doubt that he deserves on this.

Maybe too my theory that he doesn’t trust Igor to fix Fultz is legitimate and losing the draft picks as well as adding Fultz’ salary for the next two seasons just wasn’t worth that risk.

In the end though, Phoenix added  salary for next year by acquiring Tyler Johnson, they did not  invest in a young player who at least potentially could be the point guard of the future, and they did not make a single move that inspires hope in the franchise by the fan base.

Those are three strikes that at least in baseball would demand the ump boasting “‘Yer out!”

Knowing the extraordinarily low value of the assets moved, the Phoenix Suns absolutely should have traded for Markelle Fultz. Their failure to do so is apparent on so many levels and should truthfully breed even more fear in the direction of the franchise and capability of it’s management than fans had even had prior to this season’s deadline.