Phx-Suns.Net

I really also like Keita Bates-Diop for us.

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:43 pm

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 8:53 am

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:38 pm

My trade and buyout wish list below, broken into tiers (primary targets, secondary targets, expensive targets) in no particular order within the tier.

Main: Schroder, DFS, Powell, Olynyk, EG, Tate, Ju. Holiday, Craig, Hart, Kenrich, Muscala, Nance, Roco, KBD, Thad
Tier 2: TLC, Juancho, T. Brown Jr, Kleber, Nnaji, Lyles, Ibaka, Knox, Roby, Bagley
$: Washington, Wood, SloMo, Clarke, Barnes, Boucher

Interesting list. I would love a DFS or Shroder, though the latter won't be available. Holiday would be amazing. I'm most interested in guard depth at this point. I do think we're due for a stretch where CP3 needs to sit out a few games and we'll have to scramble to put together a good guard rotation.

Schroder is supposedly very available. The Celtics are about $6M above the tax and will probably look to drop under it.

Yes, but I just can't see James Jones acquiring him... I guess Elfrid Payton didn't seem like a James Jones guy either (wasn't it Chris Paul that said he wanted Payton)?

Suns signed Biyombo for the rest of the season.

Something else has to be coming, right? Suns won’t keep 6 centers on the roster, right?

Split T wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:09 am

Something else has to be coming, right? Suns won’t keep 6 centers on the roster, right?

Saric and Frank might not play again this year.

It’s still 40% of your roster dedicated to players you can’t play together. That’s not ideal.

I just think this tells me a Saric/Smith trade is coming.

Or just a Smith trade and we don’t expect Saric to play this year.

Biyombo alluded to the fact a few days ago that his people had been talking to the Suns since August so this isn’t a surprise.

Split T wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:20 am

It’s still 40% of your roster dedicated to players you can’t play together. That’s not ideal.

I just think this tells me a Saric/Smith trade is coming.

Or just a Smith trade and we don’t expect Saric to play this year.

I really wish we would have had 1 too many guys over 6' 8" in the finals last season.

Yeah, I'm not complaining about the sudden plethora of bigs we have.

Glad to see him sticking on the roster. I doubt we see Frank or Dario anytime soon and you can never have enough playable, defensive, athletic bigs - especially with CP at point. There's some redundancy but it's a pretty good redundancy IMO.

When you have a roster of 15 players I don't think having an excess of big men is any kind of problem.

It would be great to have a big time scorer coming off the bench at SF/SG, but if I have to make a choice I'd rather have depth at C/PF.

I mean depth is good, but 6 bigs? We were down to 1 last year in the finals, but that doesn’t mean we need 6…sure, injuries happen, but what if we lose one of our guards or one of our wings? Are you guys prepared to play Nader and Payton in the playoffs?

I think a big depth chart of Ayton/McGee/Biyombo is plenty. One of those guys won’t even play in the postseason if we’re healthy. And it certain matchups we may not see 2 of them.

If Frank comes back, then you’ve got 2 injury insurance bigs. I think we can afford to move our 3rd and 4th injury insurance bigs for something a little more useful.

The Bobster wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:17 am

When you have a roster of 15 players I don't think having an excess of big men is any kind of problem.

It would be great to have a big time scorer coming off the bench at SF/SG, but if I have to make a choice I'd rather have depth at C/PF.

You’d rather have a 6th big man over an upgrade on Elfrid Payton? We are 1 injury away from needing Payton in the playoffs. We’re 4 injuries away from needing a 6th big.

I don't think you can pass up Bizzy's value. Dario ain't playing this year and if he does who know how effective he will be. Those injuries take time. Jaylen can slide into a back up 4 role. Frank's return is a question mark and again who knows his effectiveness. Biyombo is effective now and comes in with the chemistry after 2 games that normally takes a season to build.

Dario and Stix can be traded for something better than a washed up Thad Young at this point if necessary.

Also, Wainright has equaled what Nader has given us. Nader and Elfrid can be waived if something attractive comes along on the buyout market.

Think I’d keep Crowder on the bench when he comes back for a bit. Johnson has played so well and sounds like we need to ease Crowder in anyways.

He doesn't look good in that photo. Looks a bit pale and sick to me.

Split T wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:44 am

I mean depth is good, but 6 bigs? We were down to 1 last year in the finals, but that doesn’t mean we need 6…sure, injuries happen, but what if we lose one of our guards or one of our wings? Are you guys prepared to play Nader and Payton in the playoffs?

I think a big depth chart of Ayton/McGee/Biyombo is plenty. One of those guys won’t even play in the postseason if we’re healthy. And it certain matchups we may not see 2 of them.

If Frank comes back, then you’ve got 2 injury insurance bigs. I think we can afford to move our 3rd and 4th injury insurance bigs for something a little more useful.

So last year you count Frank, Dario, Smith, and Ayton as 1 big in the playoffs, but now you want to count them as 4? It is the beginning of January.

• We have seen 3 games from Smith that says he could help, and 75 that says he can't.
• And Biyombo has played 2 games for us.
• We don't know if Saric will recover this year.
• Frank is out with a "who knows if and when he can play again" injury.
• The last time Biyombo saw playoff minutes was 6 years ago.

By my count we have 2 bigs that we know can play meaningful minutes in a playoff series, another that could if healthy, and a couple more we hope could help. That is a lot of hope...

Methinks there are some in the Suns organization who hope Smith could develop into a Bobby-Portis type 4.
Stix would have to develop more confidence in his three.
The form is there, he just needs to figure out when and where to shoot.