The Philadelphia 76ers’ Zhaire Smith and the Phoenix Suns’ Mikal Bridges will forever be connected by an NBA Draft-night trade.
That collective groan you heard from the East was from Philadelphia 76ers fans when they learned yet another top draft pick will be injured and not able to play for the season opener.
Zhaire Smith, the 6’4” swingman out of Texas Tech, suffered a Jones fracture in his left foot at a developmental camp in Las Vegas. He is expected to be out 6-8 weeks.
In the meantime, 6’7” swingman Mikal Bridges is turning the heads of Phoenix Suns fans and media members, with one article even talking about Bridges as a potential All-Star.
Why is this important? Because the 76ers broke Bridges’ heart on NBA Draft night by selecting him with the 10th overall pick and then trading him to the Suns for Smith and a future draft pick.
Bridges starred at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, and helped nearby Villanova win two national championships. He dreamed of playing for the Sixers. His mother already worked for the team as head of human resources.
It was a fairy tale story that turned quickly into a Greek tragedy when Bridges was traded a few minutes after his emotional interview with ESPN.
In truth, it was a good trade for the 76ers. The team not only got a player they were already high on and considered drafting at No. 10, but they also received the Miami Heat’s 2021 unprotected draft pick from the Suns — proof that “The Process” never ends.
But now that Zhaire Smith will miss the beginning of the season, and Mikal Bridges is showing that he has a much higher ceiling than scouts thought, could this turn out to be another bad trade for a team know for some of the worst trades in NBA history? Do the names Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley and Moses Malone ring a bell?
It is far too early to make that call. However, now that Smith is injured, Philadelphia 76ers fans are grousing on social media that the team traded Bridges.
And if the fans are agitated, just imagine how Mikal’s mother feels.
Mikal Bridges was seen as a 3-and-D player coming into the draft. In NBA Summer League he lived up to that billing. He shot an eye-popping 43.8 percent from behind the arc. His hustle and 7’1″ wingspan made him a defensive force.
He showed both the 3 and the D within 18 seconds during a Summer League game against the 76ers:
While Mikal Bridges had a spectacular Summer League, Zhaire Smith left a lot to be desired. As Kyle Neubeck pointed out in Philly Voice, the plusses are that Smith can play solid defense. He is patient on offense and unselfish.
But the minuses, according to Neubeck, are major. Smith’s shooting was an abysmal 32.1 percent, he had trouble creating his own shot and his ball-handling was not at an NBA level.
So Smith disappointed in Summer League play, while Mikal Bridges over-produced from his very first Summer League game when he scored 14 points and missed only one shot.
The injury makes it easy to forget that the summer ended exactly as it began, with the consensus that Smith may need time to develop, while Bridges is ready to play right away. Bridges was a four-year player at Villanova and is 21 years old. Smith is a one-and-done player and is 19.
It is probably not fair to compare them at this point in Smith’s development, and especially not now that he is injured. But that won’t stop the won’t stop 76ers fans from checking Suns box scores everyday during the season and calling Philadelphia sports talk radio with draft remorse.
Fair or not, Zhaire Smith and Mikal Bridges will always be linked in 76ers history. If Bridges plays as well as he did over the summer, with Smith riding the bench in a suit, Sixers fans will pine for what might have been.
The best thing that could happen to Smith is that the Sixers live up to their potential and start the 2018-19 season as hot as they were at the end of the 2017-18 regular season. Then the Smith-Bridges comparison will be just a nagging footnote of success.
And if Smith develops into the player that head coach Brett Brown believes he can be, it will be Mikal who?