Elton Brand's Asking Price For Markelle Fultz Is Laugh Out Loud Funny

(Philly.com) – There are few things that are certain in the NBA, but Markelle Fultz and the 76ers being better off without each other is one of them.

The 2017 first-overall pick needs a fresh start on a team that will make him the starting point guard. The change of scenery could also help him overcome the negative stigma that comes with failing to live up to the lofty expectations of others. 

The Sixers need to cut their losses and move past what has become a major distraction during a successful season.

A lot of that has to do with his dwindling trade value combined with the ownership group’s philosophy of not giving up assets for zilch. The ownership group also isn’t in total agreement with what do with Fultz, according to league sources.

Should they just cut their losses and take in an expiring contract at the appropriate time? Would it better to wait and see if the well-liked Fultz can overcome his shooting woes and get past the things that’s made his tenure a huge distraction?

They view his becoming a star for another team worse than him remaining a Sixer and continuing to struggle. Former general manager Bryan Colangelo, who drafted Fultz, would get the blame in the latter scenario. However, the front-office holdovers and ownership group would have to look at themselves in the mirror if they trade Fultz for next to nothing and he goes on to become the star they thought he was going to be when they drafted him.

A league source said the Sixers don’t want to part ways with Fultz unless a first-round pick is packaged in a deal for him. And they’re not talking about a late first-rounder, either.

I’m sorry, Elton Brand wants what? I’m not sure how I would take this if I were a Sixers fan. Everyone, including this new front office aka Elton Brand know that the team has to move on from Fultz. The damage is done and it’s time to cut your losses and start to figure out how to get assets/cap space to build around Simmons/Butler/Embiid. Now we’re hearing that Brand won’t trade him unless it includes not just a first round pick, but a good first round pick? Is he fucking high? If my GM gave up a lottery pick or close to a lottery pick for Fultz I would demand he be fired. This isn’t to say that Fultz may not develop into a player worth that price, but right now? How could anyone legitimately take that risk when you factor in the money commitment that you’d be taking on in the event that he didn’t work out? Here’s what that looks like for anyone who may not be aware

Again I ask you, who the hell is rushing to not only take this money on, but also give up real pieces in order to do it for a player that can’t even play right now? It’s not another GMs problem what the Sixers paid to get Fultz in the first place, so if Elton Brand thinks someone is going to be his Billy King and bail him out, he’s clearly in way over his head. The other thing that would bother me as a fan is that ownership apparently isn’t open to doing what’s best because there’s a chance they would take blame if Fultz turned out to be an actual player. I would never want basketball decisions to be made as a result of perception and not what was best for the team moving forward. You see the longer they wait, the lower that price is going to be. If he’s on this team after the February deadline he becomes so much harder to move. This story goes on to talk about how this exact team already went through this once before, with Evan Turner

And even if they made a trade right before the deadline, the trade market could dry up the longer they wait.

That what’s happened when the Sixers traded Evan Turner at the 2014 trade deadline.

They turned down several offers while waiting until the Feb. 20 deadline to trade the 2010 second-overall pick. They ended up packaging him and Lavoy Allen to the Indiana Pacers for Danny Granger’s expiring contract and the 60th and final pick of the 2015 draft. Granger never played for the Sixers, who bought out his contract.

Here’s the reality whether Brand wants to accept it or not. You’d be LUCKY to get even a late first round pick in return for Fultz, and in terms of players that are going to have to be included to make the money work, they probably aren’t going to be all that good. You’re looking at bad players who have been overpaid by someone else, that the Sixers are going to have to take in return, especially if a late first round pick is going to be part of the deal. Of course there’s risk in dealing Fultz and him turning things around, but there’s also risk in you not making a move and keeping him and not being able to play him while paying him a fuck ton of money and killing your cap space as you try and be an actual contender in the East.

If this were my favorite team, at this point I would want the team to get whatever they could. Whatever the highest return is, do that. Whether that’s a late first round pick, a decent player and some second round picks, whatever. The team has been good enough without him that I’d be willing to roll the dice. If he becomes a good player, great, that’s awesome for the team that traded for him but it’s clear that probably won’t happen in PHI. They reached for a talent we all thought would be legit in the NBA and it hasn’t worked out. Good franchises don’t act stubborn and keep a guy just because they paid a lot to get him. If he stinks he stinks and you cannot waste your opportunity to continue to build. Use the assets and freed up cap space to make your team better instead of sitting on a broken player just because.

But potentially holding out until you get a mid to high first round pick? Elton Brand may have no idea how any of this works.