Could a young star PG become unexpectedly available for the Phoenix Suns this summer?
By Adam Maynes
Ricky Rubio is running point guard well for the Phoenix Suns, but could a young guard become available for trade this summer?
The Philadelphia 76ers are the epitome of what the Phoenix Suns apparently attempted to do during the last decade and have not yet achieved: build a playoff team around two young, drafted players by adding veteran talent around them to build a Championship roster.
To some extent this has worked for the 76ers, having made the Eastern Conference playoffs each of the last two seasons, yet failing to get out of the Semifinals either year.
This season, there appears to be some impatience with the way things are going (while Phoenix Suns fans roll their collective eyes as they suffer through their tenth consecutive year without a playoff appearance), and some rumblings have begun to surface that the duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid might already be broken up.
Philadelphia is currently 5th in the East, and while they could easily step into 4th and own home court in the first round, based on how far ahead Milwaukee, Toronto, and Boston are, they are more likely to drop down to 6th than move up to 3rd – they finished 3rd each of the last two seasons.
On pace for 51 wins (they won 51 last season and 52 the year before), they do appear to have leveled out and for whatever reason cannot seem to take that next step towards a 60 win season and a 1st or 2nd seed.
If they do lock themselves into 4th or 5th, they will more than likely face the Miami Heat in the first round, and regardless of who owns home court, the matchup will easily be the most difficult first round opponent this Sixers core has faced yet – which could very likely lead to their first first round exit as well.
You know Jimmy Butler will do everything in his power to make such a defeat happen – and Miami has already won the season-series 3-1.
If such a loss does occur, then a shakeup could commence that two seasons ago nobody would have expected so soon.
But such is the way of the NBA these days, and while it is a long shot that the breaking up of Embiid and Simmons occurs, if it does become a viable possibility, then the Phoenix Suns must step in and do what they can to guarantee such a franchise-altering event.