The Sixers don’t have room on their roster to accommodate all six picks that they own, so expect a trade or two by draft night, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia heads into Thursday’s draft with the 10th and 26th selections in the first round, plus Nos. 38, 39, 56 and 60 in the second round.
One option is trying to package both picks along with a player to move into the top five, Pompey notes. Another is a smaller deal to inch up a couple of spots and increase the odds of landing Villanova’s Mikal Bridges. The Sixers could also swing for the fences on Kawhi Leonard, offering the Spurs the 10th pick, Markelle Fultz and either Dario Saric or Robert Covington.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Philadelphia needs to make room on its roster for Jonah Bolden, a 2017 second-rounder who is expected to come to the NBA next season, Pompey adds in the same story. A 6’10” stretch four, Bolden played for Maccabi Tel Aviv this year in the Israel Premier League.
- Mikal Bridges and Kentucky’s Kevin Knox would both be good fits for the Knicks, ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenburg tells Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Even though Kristaps Porzingis is expected to be sidelined until at least December with a torn ACL, Greenburg believes the priority should be to find a player who complements him. “You’re not winning today,” Greenberg said, “so I think you’ve got to approach it like, ‘Who will play best with Porzingis?’ You’ve got to give Porzingis something to get excited about. Who’s going to fit with him? I think Knox and Bridges can both.” He adds that the Knicks should avoid drafting another point guard, even if Trae Young or Collin Sexton is available at No. 9.
- The agent for Timofey Mozgov has talked to the Nets about his client’s lack of playing time, but hasn’t demanded a trade or discussed a buyout, relays Brian Lewis of The New York Post. With two years and $33.7 million remaining on his contract, Mozgov is virtually untradeable, and Lewis points out that the Nets are unlikely to go through with another buyout while they’re still paying Deron Williams. “I don’t know any reason why I first lost my place in the starting five and then not playing even a minute,” Mozgov said. “But it’s the head coach’s decision and he is responsible for result. I tried to speak to [Kenny] Atkinson, but he was not able to give me an answer.”
Adding Kawhi would be the best thing imo for the Sixers. Kawhi is the best defender in the league and can defend multiple positions and he’s also an underrated shooter. He’d also help take some of the pressure off of Simmons to be the primary playmaker. Kawhi for 10, Fultz, and Covington/Saric seems fair to me.
SA must be drooling at that Sixers offer because who WOULDN’T want Markelle Fultz?
Fultz looked great in limited minutes. I just don’t think you trade anything for ONE uncertain year of an enigmatic Leonard. When healthy he was incredible. I’m not sure how effective he is offensively without the ball in his hands. Even Pop ran tons of iso for him. I think Paul George, overrated as he is would be a better fit in Philly
But Kawhi is literally the 3rd best player in the league! Paul George is like 15th. And the sixers are very unlikely to get Paul George. In reality it’s a:
40% chance he goes to the Lakers
25% Thunder
15% Philly
10%Clippers
10% the rest of the league
The spurs won’t likely even trade Kawhi to a western conference team. I say go all in for the best defender in the league because Paul George is an overrated pipe dream.
Kawhi wants to go to LA, let’s just stop with the trades to Philly. It’s not going to be worth it once he opts out. If they dont trade for him on draft night and dont end up with both LBJ and PG13 then they will land Kawhi in 2019. If they have both LBJ and PG13 then they cant afford Kawhi and it only will cost the Sixers money. Or hell have to settle for LAC.
Everyone forgets that he needs to be traded. He has little to no say in where he goes. If the Spurs get a great offer with a top five pick, why would they say no? What did he do for them lately?
No they can trade him wherever, hell just opt out next year and go to LA if they have the space.
That’s true, but Leonard’s apparent preference to join the Lakers will probably limit what other teams will offer and reduce the Spurs’ chances of getting any other team’s Top 5 pick.
Stinxers have very little in players of value, outside of embiid and Simmons.
Saric has the most value, but he’s so inconsistent. He might do better away from embiid.
Fultz has as much value as okafor had or Noel.. little to none.. the guy needs to play a season before any real value.
Covington, really.. he’s pure trash offensively. Why would the spurs want him at all.
The 10th pick isn’t what pop wants, they aren’t going into a rebuild..
Stinxers have little real value to help improve spurs chances next season.
I stopped reading after you used Stinxers.
Saric was very consistent – I watched every Sixer game this season…
I think the Sixers roster is full of value. Any team would love to have someone like Saric or Covington. Fultz was a number one pick who just needs to get right. High draft picks. Guys like Holmes also can give you solid production.
As a Cavs fan I would be more than happy to reunite with Mozzy. He was a solid player for us. Energetic, can rebound and finish around the basket. Could handle ally oops and put backs. Good on pick and rolls. Can block shots. Obvious a liability when he has to defend on the perimeter but they can handle that. He would upgrade the interior defense.
Cavs have limited ability to add to the payroll. I think the best thing they can do is re-purpose it towards an area of need. With Clarkson and Hill on the team I would be more than willing to move Smith, give the starting SG spot to either Hood if they extend him or Jordan Clarkson.
Smith’s contract for 2019-20 is only guaranteed for $3.4 mil effectively making his contract a 1/$17 mil expiring deal. Mozzy is guaranteed 2/$32 mil. I would trade Smith for Mozzy and one of Brooklyn’s two 2nd round picks (40th or 45th overall). It would make perfect sense for Brooklyn because they can save a total of $15 mil. It makes sense for Cavs to remove Smith from our memory and add depth with our bigs since all we have are Love, Thompson and an untested Ante Zizic. Kendrick Perkins needs to be released
Didnt know that about JR. He and Hill then only cost 4.8M next year bc both r gone. That’s a better trade package now for other teams looking to get out of LT deals.
I know he spells his name Timofey, but he’s got to be really stupid if he can’t understand why his overpaid butt is not getting starter minutes on a team that isn’t prepared to win at this stage. Especially when he’s going to be to old or gone by the time they are prepared.
Now that they get their picks back… they should play him full tank mode
The Nets shouldn’t tank due to the NBA changing the lottery rules. The NBA is aiming to prevent tanking by making the odds at landing the #1 pick the same for all lottery teams.
I can’t help but imagine the South Park character Timmy belting out Mozgov’s first name whenever I see it in print.
If I’m a Grizzlie fan I would be disgusted that my team, after sucking for the entire season, would prioritize saving money from Parson’s contract vs selecting, perhaps, a franchise caliber player with the #2 overall.
Trading Fultz this year is one of those decisions that can comeback to bite you, wait to see what he does in 1-2 years, he might still come very good, if not you move him then… but what if you move him for a 1 year rental of Kawhi & then he becomes an all-star that could well be one of the worst ever trades. Remember Fultz is only 19, & only playing a few minutes became the youngest ever NBA player to clock a TD, I believe the guy can ball.
i don’t know… if PHI gets anywhere near Leonard’s usual performance and a deeper run into the playoffs than they did with Fultz, I’d find it hard to fault the PHI FO for trading Fultz regardless of Fultz’s performance down the road.
The Nets shouldn’t tank due to the NBA changing the lottery rules. The NBA is aiming to prevent tanking by making the odds at landing the #1 pick the same for all lottery teams.
Not true. Top 4 slots will be selected by the ping pong balls, with flattened odds that still favor the top teams, but not as much as now. Not sure it prevents tanking or just changes the teams that are motivated to tank.
Top three determined randomly followed by order of finish with the team just missing the playoffs drafting first and each successively worse team to follow could really help curtail tanking.