Suns News: 2019 Off-Season

[Split T]

I love how people are acting like spending 3-4 years in college makes a player "NBA ready." Go ask Jazz fan how "NBA ready" Grayson Allen was. Go ask Piston fan how "NBA ready" Luke Kennard was. Let's have a chat about how "NBA ready" Alando Tucker was.

Well more experience helps, but I don’t think anyone has said Johnson and Jerome are nba ready just because they spent more time in college. They both were lauded for their high iq, ball movement, shooting. All very translatable skills.

[INFORMER]

So were Kennard and Allen.

[Split T]

Luke Kennard is a decent player, I don’t think that’s a great argument. And I never really saw Allen as a good player, he had a good sophomore year and back tracked his last two years in college.

This doesn’t mean Johnson and Jerome are going to be good, but they have nba skills that are pretty developed. Maybe their athleticism keeps them from being good nba players, but we’ll see.

[INFORMER]

This doesn’t mean Johnson and Jerome are going to be good, but they have nba skills that are pretty developed.

So did Kennard and Allen. And I'm just using them as examples; I had no interest in them when they were entering the draft.

Bottom line is that it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 23; what should matter is how talented you are and if you can translate to the NBA.

And it is kind of hard to call Ty Jerome "NBA ready," when he may not even be able to compete at the NBA level.

[Split T]

This doesn’t mean Johnson and Jerome are going to be good, but they have nba skills that are pretty developed.

So did Kennard and Allen. And I'm just using them as examples; I had no interest in them when they were entering the draft.

Bottom line is that it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 23; what should matter is how talented you are and if you can translate to the NBA.

And it is kind of hard to call Ty Jerome "NBA ready," when he may not even be able to compete at the NBA level.

That’s fair, I think his shooting and playmaking skills are nba ready, but you’re right that they may not matter if his athleticism is too much of a hindrance.

[Superbone]

I love how people are acting like spending 3-4 years in college makes a player "NBA ready." Go ask Jazz fan how "NBA ready" Grayson Allen was. Go ask Piston fan how "NBA ready" Luke Kennard was. Let's have a chat about how "NBA ready" Alando Tucker was.

Well, let's see how they perform before we make judgements. Every player is different.

[Superbone]

This doesn’t mean Johnson and Jerome are going to be good, but they have nba skills that are pretty developed.

So did Kennard and Allen. And I'm just using them as examples; I had no interest in them when they were entering the draft.

Bottom line is that it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 23; what should matter is how talented you are and if you can translate to the NBA.

And it is kind of hard to call Ty Jerome "NBA ready," when he may not even be able to compete at the NBA level.

Exactly. And Jerome is NBA ready if he's NBA ready. We won't know until we see him play in some NBA games. Why does it bother you what other's think? The proof is in the pudding.

[INFORMER]

I'm bothered by the assumption that they're NBA ready just because they're approaching their mid-20s.

[da_suns_fan]

Amare was NBA ready out of high school.

[Split T]

I do wonder if we could have made the warren trade, made the 6 for 11 and Saric trade, drafted Clarke and not done the Mil pick for 24 and Baynes trade. Then enter free agency with 20 million in space and the Mil pick. Then we could have been the team to snag Brogdon on a 4/85 S&T with the Mil pick and two 2nd’s going back to Milwaukee.

Brogdon/Booker/Oubre/Saric/Ayton
Melton/TJ/Bridges/Clarke/Holmes

[ShelC]

I love how people are acting like spending 3-4 years in college makes a player "NBA ready." Go ask Jazz fan how "NBA ready" Grayson Allen was. Go ask Piston fan how "NBA ready" Luke Kennard was. Let's have a chat about how "NBA ready" Alando Tucker was.

Well more experience helps, but I don’t think anyone has said Johnson and Jerome are nba ready just because they spent more time in college. They both were lauded for their high iq, ball movement, shooting. All very translatable skills.

It's never an exact science but with college "vets", you know you're getting guys who have been coached up for 3-4 years everyday, have likely played in big games, understand different game/late game situations, understand how to work and how to practice. You're just not getting that experience with 18-19 yr olds regardless of talent. And a lot of 18-19 yr olds miss out on learning certain fundamentals and cleaning up bad habits because there's hardly time to learn and be coached up in the NBA during the season. They can improve their individual skills, but aren't getting 2-3hr practices hammering home offensive or defensive principles. At this point, we needed the college "vets". Just like for every LeBron, there's a Ndudi Ebi. And just like for every Luke Kennard, there's a Carlos Boozer.

[Ring_Wanted]

Bookmark this: https://earlybirdrights.com/salary-cap/phx/2019-20/ We can revisit when Oubre signs tonight. The next step is easier to take when you leave yourself flexibility. If we want to remain flexible it might mean not signing Oubre, which clearly makes us worse in the short term. I worry we're going to turnout like Charlotte.

Exactly my concern as well. Give Oubre around 20M, keep Saric and you are toast. If anyone believes Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton plus Bridges, the rooks and MLE stuff can get PHX anywhere, great. But I don't share the optimism.

[Ring_Wanted]

I do wonder if we could have made the warren trade, made the 6 for 11 and Saric trade, drafted Clarke and not done the Mil pick for 24 and Baynes trade. Then enter free agency with 20 million in space and the Mil pick. Then we could have been the team to snag Brogdon on a 4/85 S&T with the Mil pick and two 2nd’s going back to Milwaukee.

Brogdon/Booker/Oubre/Saric/Ayton
Melton/TJ/Bridges/Clarke/Holmes

Perfectly possible scenario, but Jones absolutely blew it. Bah.

[Ring_Wanted]

Luke Kennard is a nice player, btw.

[Hermen]

Bookmark this: https://earlybirdrights.com/salary-cap/phx/2019-20/ We can revisit when Oubre signs tonight. The next step is easier to take when you leave yourself flexibility. If we want to remain flexible it might mean not signing Oubre, which clearly makes us worse in the short term. I worry we're going to turnout like Charlotte.

Exactly my concern as well. Give Oubre around 20M, keep Saric and you are toast. If anyone believes Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton plus Bridges, the rooks and MLE stuff can get PHX anywhere, great. But I don't share the optimism.

I also worry about overpaying Oubre and Saric and would only keep them on bargain deals which would be easy to trade if needed. Still, if that lineup doesn't get us anywhere (like Portland level) I would worry about Booker and/or Ayton as well.

[Hermen]

I do wonder if we could have made the warren trade, made the 6 for 11 and Saric trade, drafted Clarke and not done the Mil pick for 24 and Baynes trade. Then enter free agency with 20 million in space and the Mil pick. Then we could have been the team to snag Brogdon on a 4/85 S&T with the Mil pick and two 2nd’s going back to Milwaukee.

Brogdon/Booker/Oubre/Saric/Ayton
Melton/TJ/Bridges/Clarke/Holmes

Perfectly possible scenario, but Jones absolutely blew it. Bah.

They sure managed the cap weirdly (to put it softly), but I'm not sure why Brogdon would pick the Suns over the Pacers. The team's reputation needs to improve before we get any high(ish) profile free agents on not-bad deals. Which Brogdon's might not be anyway.

[O_Gardino]

Last year's opening night starting lineup versus this season's:

Canaan
Booker
Ariza
Anderson
Ayton

versus

Rubio
Booker
Oubre Jr
Saric
Ayton

That right there is the difference between McD and Jones.

The paint is going to be crowded.

[Superbone]

Bookmark this: https://earlybirdrights.com/salary-cap/phx/2019-20/ We can revisit when Oubre signs tonight. The next step is easier to take when you leave yourself flexibility. If we want to remain flexible it might mean not signing Oubre, which clearly makes us worse in the short term. I worry we're going to turnout like Charlotte.

Exactly my concern as well. Give Oubre around 20M, keep Saric and you are toast. If anyone believes Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton plus Bridges, the rooks and MLE stuff can get PHX anywhere, great. But I don't share the optimism.

I also worry about overpaying Oubre and Saric and would only keep them on bargain deals which would be easy to trade if needed. Still, if that lineup doesn't get us anywhere (like Portland level) I would worry about Booker and/or Ayton as well.

I'd rather overpay Oubre than lose him. Here's what Diana Taurasi had to say about him:

https://theathletic.com/1055519/2019/06 ... dailyemail

You shared an arena with Kelly Oubre Jr. this past season. How important is he to this Suns team, and should James Jones be doing everything in his power to bring him back in 2019?

Absolutely. That’s the No. 1 priority right now to keep that nucleus together. The minute he stepped into this arena, he changed the whole attitude of this team. There’s a certain swagger, there’s a certain confidence that he gave everyone and his game showed that, too. I’m pretty sure he’ll be in a Suns uniform next season.

She is spot on.

[OE32]

Bookmark this: https://earlybirdrights.com/salary-cap/phx/2019-20/ We can revisit when Oubre signs tonight. The next step is easier to take when you leave yourself flexibility. If we want to remain flexible it might mean not signing Oubre, which clearly makes us worse in the short term. I worry we're going to turnout like Charlotte.

Exactly my concern as well. Give Oubre around 20M, keep Saric and you are toast. If anyone believes Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton plus Bridges, the rooks and MLE stuff can get PHX anywhere, great. But I don't share the optimism.

How much worse is Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton than Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid? What's the big difference there?

If we can't compete, it's because Booker and Ayton aren't very good. And if that's the problem, then there wasn't really anything smart we could do this offseason. At least with a roster of competent NBA players around them, we'll find out sooner rather than later what these kids are capable of.

[O_Gardino]

Bookmark this: https://earlybirdrights.com/salary-cap/phx/2019-20/ We can revisit when Oubre signs tonight. The next step is easier to take when you leave yourself flexibility. If we want to remain flexible it might mean not signing Oubre, which clearly makes us worse in the short term. I worry we're going to turnout like Charlotte.

Exactly my concern as well. Give Oubre around 20M, keep Saric and you are toast. If anyone believes Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton plus Bridges, the rooks and MLE stuff can get PHX anywhere, great. But I don't share the optimism.

How much worse is Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton than Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid? What's the big difference there?

If we can't compete, it's because Booker and Ayton aren't very good. And if that's the problem, then there wasn't really anything smart we could do this offseason. At least with a roster of competent NBA players around them, we'll find out sooner rather than later what these kids are capable of.

I like that way of thinking about it.