2018 NBA Mock Draft: Who’s moving at the top?

If the DiVincenzo pick at No. 26 is partially to replace the physical, sweet-shooting duo of Marco Belinelli and JJ Redick (if they both leave), one could make the argument that drafting Bridges would in part be to replace Ersan Ilyasova, who became a big part of the team’s rotation in the playoffs. But really, it’s about adding another young, versatile shooter to the core that should compete for championships over the next several years.

Bridges showed off just about everything you might want from an offensive player in college, from versatile, explosive shooting to playmaking at the forward position. The Sixers need to keep this wild mishmash of ubertalented pieces together and make it work. If doing that is the goal — hardly running pick-and-roll, switching on defense — Bridges makes a lot of sense. He played a more traditional system at Michigan State that often took the ball out of his hands, but his excellence in that capacity as well as the potential he develops past that point has to be intriguing for Philadelphia.

Joel Embiid’s contract extension kicks in next season, in addition to whatever the team decides it wants to pay Redick should he return, plus a potential new contract for T.J. McConnell in 2019, followed by a maximum contract for Ben Simmons and new money for Dario Saric in 2020. Those are crazy decisions for a team that just made the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.

Bridges will be the final young piece on a slightly delayed timeline from the rest of these guys.