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If 76ers want a Kentucky guard, pick De'Aaron Fox over Malik Monk | Mike Sielski

Fox is "going to be the total package," an SEC coach said, and he'd be another ballhandler on a team with that need.

In the De'Aaron Fox game that everyone remembers, there's one De'Aaron Fox play that stands out most: Kentucky vs. UCLA in the Sweet 16 of this year's NCAA tournament, Kentucky up 12 with two minutes to go, Kentucky with nothing to worry about, Fox with something more on his mind.

Fox is lefthanded, and he's dribbling the ball with his dominant hand at the top of the key. He already has spent most of the game outplaying up his ballyhooed point-guard counterpart, Lonzo Ball. And now two UCLA defenders slide toward him to try to double-team him, Ball from the right and Bryce Alford from the left, and Fox has one final indignity to inflict. Instead of daring the smaller, slower Alford to defend him, he decides to attack Ball, zooming past him for a layup.

Fox finished with 39 points in Kentucky's 86-75 victory, holding Ball to 10 points, forcing four turnovers from him, grinding him into cud.

In evaluating a player's potential, there's always a danger in placing too much weight on too small a sample of his history, especially a single game. But Fox's performance that night, the way in which he seemed bent on proving himself the better point guard and NBA prospect than Ball and humiliating him as a happy byproduct, was difficult to erase from memory.

Fox's teammate Malik Monk had a similar game in December, when he scored 47 points in a 103-100 win over North Carolina, the eventual national champion. It must be tempting for those NBA teams that  will have an opportunity to draft either Fox or Monk to focus solely on those two neon-marquee nights and the possibility within them.

The 76ers, holding the No. 3 overall pick, are likely to be one of those teams, and if the draft proceeds according to conventional wisdom - the Boston Celtics take Markelle Fultz, and the Los Angeles Lakers select Ball - they may have to choose between Fox and Monk. They don't have to take either of them, of course. But in judging each player on the totality of his only season of college basketball, it's pretty clear which Kentucky guard should be the Sixers' higher priority. It's Fox.

Again, if you want to argue that the Sixers should select a small forward at No. 3, whether it's Kansas' Josh Jackson or Duke's Jayson Tatum, that's fine. That's also a different discussion. The reason the Fox-Monk debate is fascinating is that it gets to the heart of the key question for the Sixers in this draft: Should they select the "best player available," regardless of his position, or should they draft to fill an immediate need?

Complicating that question is the uncertainty around Ben Simmons - not only whether and when he will be healthy, but whether the Sixers are sincere about having him be their primary point guard and whether he can handle that responsibility.

I'd argue that the Sixers still have to find a point guard who can play alongside Simmons - that in the modern NBA, having a tall wing player in the style of Scottie Pippen, LeBron James, or Simmons doesn't negate the need for another player who can handle the ball and orchestrate a halfcourt set. If you accept that premise, then Fox would fill the Sixers' need for a point guard just as Monk would address their need for a perimeter scorer. More, Fox is the better player with the higher upside.

This is not to slight Monk, who averaged 19.8 points per game, shot 40 percent from 3-point range, and was the Southeastern Conference player of the year. That he is a much better outside shooter than Fox, who took 69 three-pointers all season and made just 17 (24.6 percent), is not in dispute. Even Monk's relatively short stature (6-foot-3) for a shooting guard wouldn't necessarily be a deterrent against drafting him.

But to watch game video of Kentucky was to see how hard the Wildcats worked as a unit to create open looks for him: screens, double screens, back picks, the works. Fox, also 6-3, averaged 16.7 points a game, shot 48 percent from the floor and 74 percent from the line, and could create his own shot virtually whenever he wanted.

"Monk was really, really hard to prepare for because they did so much for him," said an SEC assistant coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He was the focal point of their offense. The question for him to take that next step and be a really good pro is, can he go make a play on his own? I don't think he's very good at creating. I was actually a bigger fan of Fox. I love Fox. I think he can be special."

Why?

"His speed and his presence," the coach said. "He's got a really magnetic personality where it seems like everyone loves him. He's got a great spirit on the court, too. He brings so much energy. He has really good shot mechanics, whereas Ben Simmons had flawed mechanics. I think Fox, in two or three years, is going to be a good shooter, much better than his percentage is right now. He started off terribly, which isn't that uncommon for college freshmen. If you look at his stats for his last 15 games, I'll bet it's significantly higher than for his first 15."

The coach wasn't far off. Fox played 36 games for Kentucky. Over his first 18, he shot 13.5 percent from three-point range (5 for 37). Over his final 18 games, he shot 37.5 percent from three-point range (12 of 32).

"He has elite speed," the coach said. "He really tries to guard. I think he's going to be the total package."

Meanwhile, the coach compared Monk to J.J. Redick, who's an unrestricted free agent this summer. What if the Sixers were to sign Redick and draft Fox? There would be worse ways for them to spend their offseason.