Good: Gambo says Phoenix Suns likely will not trade 6 for Spencer Dinwiddie

John Gambodoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 says that he does not believe the Phoenix Suns would not trade their sixth overall pick for Spencer Dinwiddie. While he would be a good pick up, not for the sixth overall pick.

Spencer Dinwiddie has long been connected to the Phoenix Suns as a potential trade target for their gaping whole at point guard (especially if the Brooklyn Nets acquire Kyrie Irving and decide to re-sign D’Angelo Russell), but the long-standing argument has been what would Dinwiddie’s value be in trade, it should not include the sixth overall pick.

The pick’s value is and has been the greatest hangup in the discussion of who the Phoenix Suns could potentially acquire with it in trade as it’s value is projected as fairly low, especially when compared to last season’s girth of star-quality talent beyond those taken with just the first three players in the draft.

Had the Suns landed one of the first three picks, of course the pick would essentially be untouchable.

However, when they dropped back as far as they did, they instantly began fighting the perception of the lack of sure-fire talent at that spot, while still maintaining that there is enough talent to speculate a surprise or two potentially being available, causing this nebulous concept of it’s value.

It’s true value then will only be known during the draft itself leaving the pick’s true worth entirely within the eye of the beholder until that point.

It is the possibility though that there could be a Damian Lillard available (who was picked sixth overall in 2012) that gives the pick enough intrinsic value to believe that a star could be borne there, rendering the risk of a trade willy-nilly as abject, poor management.

Which brings us back to Gambo’s comments about the pick and Spencer Dinwiddie.

The Phoenix Suns should not trade the pick for the current Nets point guard, even if he does become available, for one very specific reason:

His age.

The player the Suns could  take at six will probably be 19-years-old. Dinwiddie will be 26 throughout the entire 2019-20 season, and is not nor ever will be a star.

A very good backup who has displayed solid offensive growth in the last two seasons, the seven year difference lost by this trade is far too much to overcome. Fans must not get trapped into the discussion that because he is good  he is should be a future target at nearly all costs.

We must remain focused on the understanding that while Dinwiddie is good  he is not great,  and that his ceiling is only yay-high.

Would Dinwiddie as a starting point guard make the Phoenix Suns a better team than they were last season: absolutely. But will he ever be the starting point for a great  Suns team?

Unlikely.

And therein lies the risk that General Manager James Jones would be taking by swapping that pick for a 26-year-old.

If Phoenix owned Atlanta’s 17th overall pick, the idea of trading a mid-round, post-Lottery pick for a career backup point guard with the hope that he can be a solid starter for at least five years makes perfect sense.

Historically, the number of stars selected at 17th is incredibly slim thus the risk is slim.

Dennis Schroder is definitely the best, most recent player taken with the 17th pick when he was selected in 2013. A solid point guard, one that the Suns would love to have themselves (for the right price), he was definitely very  good value for that selection (although Atlanta passed up on Rudy Gobert who went ten picks later).

Brooklyn would still hold that lottery ticket at 17 that if they “won” they would draft a good player, but at it’s baseline, they would essentially be trading a backup point guard (who was taken in the second round) for a mid-first round pick.

On Brooklyn’s part, that is enough of a value to sell that trade, especially if they are already acquiring a superstar point guard in Kyrie.

But not the sixth overall pick.

The chances of someone of legitimate value still being there are just too high and Phoenix should be focusing on trading for players who are far more of a guarantee  to help the roster take a significant step forward and become a regular playoff participant, and not risks who’s reward is never the possibility of a star.

As I said before, the value of the sixth overall pick is in the eye of the beholder, and while it’s value is much lower than fans of the Phoenix Suns would have preferred, it is still too high to trade for a career backup who is seven years senior to their likely draft selection. James Jones should absolutely trade for Spencer Dinwiddie, but he should keep the sixth overall pick out of it.