Suns Trade for Tyler Johnson/Wayne Ellington

[specialsauce]

That draft pick most likely drops us to pretty much the MLE, so we essentially don’t have cap space. Unless we renounce Oubre’s cap hold.

We could easily shed Warrens deal and renounce Oubre and free up a bunch of money.

[specialsauce]

I'll only be upset with this trade if it turns out that Johnson is good enough to take the Suns out of the bottom 3.

I think we’re 4th. Knicks, Cavs, Bulls will out lose us

No way. Supposedly we are shutting Booker down for the rest of the season. We won’t win more than 2 more games with this roster

Where is this coming from

I’ve been on the RealGM boards all day. I thought I read it as Gambo said it on the radio but I’ll go back and look. They were discussing it over there.

This is how misinformation is spread. People are commenting to him that the Suns should just shut him down. Gambo isn’t saying they will or he thinks they should.

[Indy]

I watched a bunch of his highlights: definite rotation player, heady combo guard, good defender, competitive spirit, comes off screens and hits 3s or dives into the lane, can hit the open man, good ball handler. Looks like he was just over paid. With the suns he will have the opportunity to prove himself.

He can't be a good defender. WW said he was TERRIBLE!

Stats say he's a bad defender. -1.5 DRPM (well below average, bottom 25th percentile). NBA math puts him at -4.59, which is below average. NBA Advanced stats has his DEFRTG at 105.8, which is a little below average. His OFFRTG is 103.1, which is very poor.

There's really not many ways to slice it: he's not a good player, we're paying him 19M, he doesn't address our needs at PG at all, and if he isn't buried on the bench we'll just be screaming at him because he couldn't find an open player if his life depended on it. Like, he makes Melton look like a great distributor.

What do those same stats say about Anderson? I look at this as a hit to the cap by about 3.6M, but a plus on the court. I am not sure if we were going to stretch Anderson, but I assumed so. This should at least give us a player that will see court time. And comparing him to Melton doesn't make sense. He isn't a PG. He is playing there exclusively this season because Wade came back, but for his career before this year, he was an equal split between 1 and 2.

[djy2j]

I think we’re 4th. Knicks, Cavs, Bulls will out lose us

No way. Supposedly we are shutting Booker down for the rest of the season. We won’t win more than 2 more games with this roster

Where is this coming from

I’ve been on the RealGM boards all day. I thought I read it as Gambo said it on the radio but I’ll go back and look. They were discussing it over there.

This is how misinformation is spread. People are commenting to him that the Suns should just shut him down. Gambo isn’t saying they will or he thinks they should.

Yeah, I am unable to listen to the show but was just going by discussions on the other board. It may not be reality yet and hope it doesn’t come to that.

[djy2j]

That draft pick most likely drops us to pretty much the MLE, so we essentially don’t have cap space. Unless we renounce Oubre’s cap hold.

We could easily shed Warrens deal and renounce Oubre and free up a bunch of money.

Define easily. All we’ve seen so far is Jones ability to waive players and trade bad contracts for other bad contracts and then waive even more players.

[JeremyG]

That draft pick most likely drops us to pretty much the MLE, so we essentially don’t have cap space. Unless we renounce Oubre’s cap hold.

Another reason to trade the pick. Unless it's the first or second pick (highly unlikely lottery odds), we don't need another 19-year old player on our team.

[Drewsprocket]

That draft pick most likely drops us to pretty much the MLE, so we essentially don’t have cap space. Unless we renounce Oubre’s cap hold.

Another reason to trade the pick. Unless it's the first or second pick (highly unlikely lottery odds), we don't need another 19-year old player on our team.

Picks 1-3 are solid, otherwise we will have the pieces for a phat trade.

[AmareIsGod]

Another athletic wing! Sweet. We should partner up with Buffalo Wild Wings and run a promotion.

[ShelC]

He's a combo, which makes him a combo with wings.

[Wormwood]

Another athletic wing! Sweet. We should partner up with Buffalo Wild Wings and run a promotion.

Eh. Give him 3 months with this team and he'll be doing civic duty promos for suicide hotlines. This front office kills everything it touches. It's the black pit. Everyone knows they're never going to make the playoffs, and it just drains the life out of everyone.

[carey]

Listening to Gambo's podcast from today. He really sold this trade as the Suns getting a large $20M expiring to trade next year. So they really took on salary so they can maybe trade for someone making a lot of money next year? After trading a guy making $15M on a one year deal and buying out 2 other guy making $13M each? You can't make this stuff up. That's $41M in expiring contracts that we had. We turned them into Oubre and a $20M expiring next year. That's just solid GMing right there.

[Ring_Wanted]

Meh. This doesn't solve our deep issues, but if Meth Curry busts his ass off on defense and can make his threes this is an obvious net win on the court, because Anderson was unplayable. Now, given the considerable tax relief MIA is getting, we should have gotten some kind of draft stock, even if just a distant second rounder.

[SDC]

tj gets playing time for the heat. i dont know really if you want him to become the dominant ball handler, but he can play off the ball and can dunk the basketball.

[SDC]

tyler johnson is the designated closer if suns acquire lonzo.

[O_Gardino]

Tyler Johnson is a little better than Anderson for us, but that's not how I evaluate the move. After all, Anderson was an active role player for a very good team before coming to the Suns, and Johnson is just a bench guy for a mediocre team. Johnson is not going to be a difference maker. So how does the move impact the team or indicate a direction for us?

Drafted Okobo
Traded for Melton and Anderson, giving up some cap space and creating some competition for the rookie PG minutes.
Trade for Tyler, giving up even more cap space and bringing in an incredibly mediocre PG to play in front of our rookies, slowing their development.

We've got to stop making trades that eat up cap space, take time from young players, and don't make the team better.

[Split T]

I think there will still be minutes for okobo or Melton. Truth is they are not ready to be starters. I think they’re better off getting minutes on the bench unit. Confidence matters and getting destroyed by opposing starters doesn’t build confidence. We did lose 3.6 million in space next summer, but I’ll be surprised if that actually ends up being a difference maker.


Also calling Anderson an active role player for a very good team is highly misleading. Houston was searching for ways to dump him from their rotation. It also ignores the fact that he was atrocious every time he stepped on the court this year. Johnson isn’t good, but he’s an nba player. Anderson could play pickup at the ymca and still not be the best player on the court.

[JeremyG]

[INFORMER]

I'm also not bent out of shape of about adding $3M to the cap next year because I've never once believed the Suns are a FA destination. The best they could probably do is a mid-level guy like Rubio, and space can be cleared to get someone like that if they wanted to try it.

But we've been clearing space. Why compromise any portion of that for Tyler Johnson?!

The FA destination stuff is immaterial. We don't need to chase stars. What we do need are multiple signings of skilled, smart veterans.That is very possible, regardless of the perception of Phoenix or the organization.

[specialsauce]

I'm also not bent out of shape of about adding $3M to the cap next year because I've never once believed the Suns are a FA destination. The best they could probably do is a mid-level guy like Rubio, and space can be cleared to get someone like that if they wanted to try it.

But we've been clearing space. Why compromise any portion of that for Tyler Johnson?!

The FA destination stuff is immaterial. We don't need to chase stars. What we do need are multiple signings of skilled, smart veterans.That is very possible, regardless of the perception of Phoenix or the organization.

Yes.

[INFORMER]

Now, given the considerable tax relief MIA is getting, we should have gotten some kind of draft stock, even if just a distant second rounder.

Agreed. This is the other thing that bothers me about the trade. We say to Miami, "Hey, you need L-Tax relief? Sure we'll help you out. Our price? Tyler Johnson." That's not a benefit.