Teams with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft just don’t trade it. With good reason. Those picks tend to be too valuable in a league where you need franchise changing guys and All-Stars to win, you can’t pass up the potential to draft one.
However this year the rumors are out there.
Chad Ford of ESPN started it (he starts a lot of rumors) and others have reported there have been at least some talks about the Sixers packaging the No. 3 pick and Thaddeus Young for the No. 1 pick — the Sixers want to make sure they get Andrew Wiggins that badly. How far down that road talks have gone is up for debate, but it has been discussed.
The Cavaliers have a lot of options, but should they really trade the No. 1 pick? Should the Sixers do it when a lot of mock drafts have Wiggins falling to them at No. 3 anyway?
For the Cavaliers, the answer to the above question is tied to the answer of another question: Do you think Joel Embiid or Andrew Wiggins can be a transcendent player?
If the Cavaliers believe that Embiid — the Kansas center said by many to be on top of the Cavs draft board — is a future top 10 NBA player who, along with Kyrie Irving, can be the foundation of a team that wins championships, then you keep the pick and take him. Talent wins in the NBA and you need those top 10 guys to get a title. You don’t trade them unless your hand is forced (see Minnesota with Kevin Love). The same is true if the Cavaliers grade Wiggins (or Jabari Parker) out that way.
However, if the Cavaliers believe that those three guys are close together and will all be good but not top 10 players, then I’d make the move because if you want to make the playoffs next season, Young is a good guy to have on your roster. The Cavs would still have the No. 3 pick and get a quality player.
The Sixers are clearly very high on Wiggins, which makes sense because putting the freak athlete on a team that wants to play ultra fast is a good marriage of player and system. But should they give up Young just to make sure they get Wiggins? Again, are they that sold he can be transcendent?
Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com doesn’t think the trade is the best move for the Sixers and GM Sam Hinkie.…to me that the talent between the three players is marginally equal, and to give up another asset to pick at No. 1 is overpaying for the selection….
For my money, it’s entirely possible that Wiggins slips to No. 3 overall, where the Sixers will make their first selection of the 2014 draft -- barring a trade to move up or down.
I would much rather see the Sixers keep the third pick and then package their 10th pick, along with one of their five second-round selections, to move up to eighth and take the shooter they like best in this draft. Imagine if the Sixers’ starting five looked like this next fall: Michael Carter-Williams at point guard, Michigan’s Nik Stauskas -- who shot 44 percent from three-point range last year -- at two-guard, Wiggins at small forward, Thaddeus Young as a hybrid four and Nerlens Noel protecting the rim.
That would be a fun young core, certainly a group that would struggle at times but be entertaining to watch. There would be hope in Philly.
In a lot of current mocks, Wiggins does slip to three. However, if Hinkie and the Sixers believe Wiggins is going to be a transcendent star, then giving up assets to get him is the right play. It just depends on how you grade him out.
In the end, I just can’t see the Cavaliers moving the pick, this time they seem assured to get somebody who can help them in that slot. You just don’t trade No. 1 picks in the NBA.
