ESPN’s Marks likes Suns’ Bridges trade, calls Brandon Knight ‘X-factor’
Jun 25, 2018, 5:17 PM
ESPN Insider Bobby Marks knows the potential repercussions of trading away draft picks as well as anyone.
He was part of the Brooklyn Nets staff that traded the Boston Celtics a handful of picks that allowed the team to draft players like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
With that said, Marks likes the Phoenix Suns’ trade for Mikal Bridges.
The Suns gave up the No. 16 pick of the 2018 draft Zhaire Smith and the unprotected 2021 Miami Heat first-round pick.
“Let’s face it, this organization needs to win games,” Marks said on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug and Wolf on Monday. “I know it’s young … but when you lose 170 games over the last three years and you haven’t been to the playoffs for a long time, you’ve got to accelerate the rebuild.”
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In exchange, the Suns received one of the draft’s ready-now players with a high floor in Bridges.
It’s unclear how valuable the Heat pick will be when 2021 rolls around. The contracts of center Hassan Whiteside and guard Goran Dragic will expire the year before, but without those hefty price tags, Miami – a large-market beach town with Pat Riley at the helm – may be able to sign free agents and remain relevant in a playoff race.
But Marks had Bridges in the eight to 10 range of the draft and said the big wing is a type of player who the Suns can’t sign in free agency.
The Suns front office decided adding to the current core was more important than waiting three years.
Meanwhile, point guard Brandon Knight, who the Suns acquired in 2015 in exchange for the pick that would turn into Bridges, appears ready to take the floor for Phoenix.
The team hopes he can return to his early-career form, where he averaged 18.1 points and 5.1 assists per game from 2014 to 2016.
“I would say that is your X-factor,” Marks said. “We forget about Brandon, coming off that ACL, we forget how good he was a couple years ago when he was in Milwaukee.”
Even with Knight and No. 31 overall draft pick Elie Okobo, the Suns are planning to target a point guard this offseason. They have yet to decide on the future of guards Tyler Ulis and Shaquille Harrison, both of whom have non-guaranteed contracts for 2018.
Without realistic star options in free agency, Marks said Knight could be the “big free agent addition.”
“I think he’s got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder to get back from that injury and prove that he was worth giving up a first round pick,” Marks said.
