Small Forward
Kelly Oubre, Cameron Johnson, Mikal Bridges vs Tobias Harris and James Ennis
My gut instinct initially to this swap is: yes please. Let’s make a trade.
I am a huge fan of Tobias Harris and hoped the Phoenix Suns would have given him a run in the offseason as a free agency acquisition.
This season Tobias Harris is doing Tobas Harris things, averaging 19.6 points per game thus far (second on the Sixers) and shooting 36.0% from beyond the arc.
That’s the kind of output you want from a star small forward who happens to be your highest-paid player at over $31 million this season.
However, Kelly Oubre averages just 1.9 points fewer per game than Harris.
And he is actually shooting 34.6% from 3 (the Ricky Rubio effect?).
Plus Oubre is the most energetic player on the team and a defensive stalwart. Add in the fact that he is three years young than Tobias, and while I wouldn’t necessarily use their age difference to angle the decision in favor of Oubre, I do think it could be fairly called a “push.”
Now add in the fact thought that the Sixers once again do not have any real depth at the position, and the Suns have two young players (Mikal Bridges is another defensive bull dog while Cameron Johnson appears to have brought his killer 3 to the NBA), and one might actually easily make an argument to chose the Phoenix Suns at the position of small forward overall.
So, hey, I might be a homer for doing this, but: No. I would not swap small forward depth with Philadelphia.