I have several concerns about building around IT. First, we're going to have to pay him, and handsomely, to keep him long term. That will immediately limit what we can bring in around him to a degree.
Second, he didn't just learn how to score. He's been able to do that since he came into the league. He blown up in Boston because we don't have any other top level scorers and are featuring him. That's great IT but what happens when he has to share the load with others? We've already seen that in other places, and he was basically shipped out in Phoenix. He would make more sense as a sixth man but then how can you pay him max money. Or more to the point, if he's scoring 19 ppg then his defense becomes more difficult to swallow. Kind of a catch 22.
Third, he's 5'9". As great of a story he has been, he's always going to work harder than others to succeed. That will become more and more difficult as he ages.
I'm not saying it isn't a tough decision because our choice is to let him walk to give him away for something that probably won't approach what he does for the team.
TP. This is one underrated thing that many here don't talk about, and it's certainly a catch-22.
People don't realize how perfect of a situation this team has been for him. We needed him to score this much and control the ball so much due to our lack of other options, which made his offensive contributions outweigh his defensive liabilities.
However, you add more scoring and playmaking to this team in Fultz plus hopefully one of Hayward or Griffin, let alone the development of Brown, then IT's offensive contributions will naturally shrink, bringing the balance with his defensive deficiencies much more even and perhaps to the point that paying him big money proves not to be wise, especially with an offensive juggernaut in Fultz right behind him.
That's why I've been a fan of the "wait and see" method with IT. If Fultz proves ready to start after next year and IT doesn't relent on wanting a full max, then I'm fine with letting him walk. It's not like you're going to get much for him in a trade anyways, so we might as well test the waters and see how the rook does and how good our team is next year before making a decision on him.
Besides, I really, really don't see a IT/Fultz pairing working in the backcourt. Fultz has a TON of defensive potential, but he's not going to develop in that area fast enough to cover for IT's terrible D over the next several years. I think he fits much better with someone like Brown or AB in the backcourt than IT, which is one reason that I'm hesitant to trade AB this summer for space, and I ultimately see Fultz as IT's replacement rather than his backcourt mate.