Brett Brown sold me.
I agree with my colleague Andrew Kulp that the moment the news of the Sixers trading Mikal Bridges broke that I was flabbergasted. His mother works for the Sixers! Mikal was literally talking about how exited she was for him to be in Philly when the news broke. His poor mother! It was pretty much as rough as it gets in terms of optics.
It looked awful from a PR perspective. There are tons of disappointed Villanova alums today.
But it's an unfortunate situation, in my opinion, not an organizational embarassment, as Kulp wrote.
An unprotected first round pick though? Dang. That's enticing.
Then Brett Brown came out after the first round ended and put my mind at ease that the Sixers made the right move.
They did what they believed to be best for the Sixers, a "Godfather offer" if you will. Here's Brett's full, incredibly honest and thoughtful opening statement. I think it's worth reading in its entirety to realize how much thought Brett and his decision makers put into this one.
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"It starts out with just tremendous excitement," Brett said. "When this is my 18th year in the NBA and when you sit there and you watch a draft board play out and on our notes, on our big board, we had 1A and 1B and when the 9th pick was selected you realize, we're going to get one of our two, and we chose Mikal [Bridges]. And to see that play out knowing the history that he has had in this city and at Villanova, it was very much aligned and he was somebody that could come in a fit with what we had. And so it goes from that level of excitement in the extreme coincidence, given his history in this city, to a situation in between that the phones were active and we knocked back an incredible deal where we would lose him. We didn't rate it to be a Godfather type of deal, something that really would impact the franchise to the level that it would have to in order to trade Mikal, who we valued very much. And then Phoenix came in and offered a 2021 unprotected plus our 1B in Zhaire [Smith], who we value very highly, and you're in a position that you're on the clock and you really have a decision to make. And for me, and all of us in that room, what also rules our day is a few things. First- and in this order-what is always best for the organization, I'm going into my sixth season with the Philadelphia 76ers and so what is best for the organization and how do you win a championship, how do you acquire things that can attract stars or develop stars? That pick might be the key to all of this, that pick might be the thing that links a possible trade, and we have our 1B in Zhaire and they're very different, there are very different stages and so you ask a very open question and all of those emotions and all of those facts happened in a 20-25 minutes window, very different emotions, very different set of circumstances that resulted in the trade of Mikal."
The trade was jarring emotionally. There's no sugar coating that. Bridges is by all accounts a wonderful and thoughtful kid. Not to mention a hell of a basketball player who would absolutely help the Sixers in 2018.
Brown later added a line that should make you more comfortable with the Sixers moving on from him: "We are star hunting or we are star developing."
If the Sixers didn't believe that Mikal Bridges would be one of those stars, they added an incredibly valuable piece in the unprotected first that can help acquire a star. Either via trade or in a future draft. And they got their 1B on top of it.
Some very smart NBA people even believe that Zhaire Smith is a better prospect than Bridges. Only time will tell on those two players. But the Sixers did what they believed put them in the best position to land a star.
Isn't that what the Process is all about anyway?
"I'm here to win a championship," Brett Brown said at the introductory press conference for Smith this morning.
They pulled off this trade because they believe it helps them get closer to a championship. At the end of the day, are you worried more about one family's feelings or the Sixers winning a championship?
If you watched Mikal speak to the Phoenix media following the trade, he'll be just fine growing alongside DeAndre Ayton. That kid is a pro. And the Sixers put them in the position they believe best sets them up to land a star.
Now they just need to go out and do it.
