Update: I am Very Convinced We’re Going to Trade the #1 Overall Pick
What a shit show these last 24 hours have been. I went from thinking it was a forgone conclusion that we were going to have Markelle Fultz in a week to now actually believing it’ll be Josh Jackson instead. Ainge must’ve read my blog about me not buying the whole Jackson over Fultz thing because he really dropped the bomb on us yesterday. Let’s start from the beginning:
Sources: 76ers in advanced talks to acquire No. 1 pick from Celtics to take Markelle Fultz. @WojVerticalNBA report. https://t.co/vuvSHV0saS
— The Vertical (@TheVertical) June 16, 2017
Woj hits us with this tweet saying that the 76ers are suddenly in advanced talks with the Celtics for the first overall pick. Initial reaction: I’m not exaggerating when I say that my jaw dropped through the floor. Where did this even come from? You don’t hear a thing about any trade rumors for weeks and all of a sudden, less than a week before the draft, the Celtics are ready to give up the top pick. I know Philly is very high on Fultz, but I thought we were too. But my mindset still was “nothing is official yet, let’s see what happens.” Then the trade details came in:
Boston would acquire Sixers No. 3 overall pick in 2017 and package to include future first from Sixers, sources say. https://t.co/AK5LyYXnYX
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 16, 2017
Okay… so we still get a pick in this year’s draft (probably Josh Jackson), a potential lottery pick next year (Michael Porter Jr/Deandre Ayton), and another Philly pick down the line. Plus we still have Brooklyn’s pick next year, so we’d have two potential top 5 picks in what’s projected to be another stacked draft. I like the thought of that. Then I tried to convince myself that Josh Jackson wouldn’t be that bad over Fultz (still working on that part). But still, nothing was official yet. Then I see this:
Deal talks are far enough along that Fultz could be on his way to Philadelphia for a meeting Saturday, sources say. https://t.co/kR8vwZu8i2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 16, 2017
This is where I started to go into a full out freak out mode. What this tweet doesn’t include is that Fultz was supposed to be coming to Boston today for a second meeting, but instead was re-routed to Philidelphia. That’s how deep these guys are into trade talks. Now it’s being reported by ESPN that the trade is pretty much agreed upon, but won’t happen until draft night. Smart move by Ainge in my opinion, because if they pick Fultz at #1 with intentions of trading him, but Josh Jackson goes #2 to the Lakers, they don’t have to do the trade and they still end up with Markelle. But for some reason, I have a funny feeling LA is going to go with Lonzo at #2. They just brought him in for a second workout, and I guess their work out with Josh Jackson wasn’t as good as they thought it’d be. So now I’m officially convinced that we’re going to end up with Josh Jackson next Thursday.
I can’t get across how much time I’ve spent watching Markelle Fultz highlights, draft analysis, and just fully convincing myself he is going to be a good NBA player over the past couple months. With that being said, after a lot of thinking, I can’t say I’m too mad about this. Let me explain. This draft is deep enough where trading down and acquiring more assets can’t hurt you as much as it would’ve if you were to do it, let’s say last year for example. Danny Ainge is in love with Josh Jackson, and he knows that he can trade down and still get him instead of taking him at one. By doing so he can start stockpiling more assets which he can either keep and develop, or flip in a monster deal for a superstar like Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, or anybody else the C’s have been linked to. That doesn’t sound that bad to me.
I love Markelle Fultz, I bought his damn Washington jersey. But I feel like I’d be stupid to say I hate the idea of making this trade. I do feel like Ainge could get a bit more out of Philly, like maybe another pick (Sacramento 2019) or even a player like Richaun Holmes or Dario Saric. But right now, all signs are pointing to this trade going down the way Woj is reporting it. I’ll be sad to see Fultz somewhere else after all of the time I spent thinking he’d be the next face of the Celtics franchise, but I trust Danny Ainge enough to make the right decision. Who knows, maybe LA will end up taking Jackson and they won’t even make a trade. One thing I do know for certain though is that this picture will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life if Fultz dominates in Philidelphia:
Written By: Nick Cherico (@NickCherico2)