Phx-Suns.Net

We traded TJ Warren and the #32 pick for cash considerations.
We acquired Dario Saric and #11 for #6.
We drafted Cam Johnson at #11.
We traded the future MIL 1st-rounder for #24 and Aron Baynes.
We took Ty Jerome at #24.

How would you grade the Suns' 2019 draft day overall? Obviously the mark is in some way "Incomplete" until we see what the team does in FA. But let's just evaluate it on its own for the moment. How did they do, and why? What should they have done?

(I didn't put in the +/- grades like A+ or B- because I didn't want to bloat the poll with too many options. If you want to give a "plus" or "minus" grade, do so in the comments and explain your reasoning.)

I don't think you can look at the draft alone without looking at the other moves that happened yesterday, and what will happen in 9 days.

I went with "D":

- The Warren trade was ridiculous, highlighted by the fact that Indy turned right around and turned #32 into three, *THREE*, future 2nd-rounders. Unbelievable. We shouldn't have had to include that pick, or they should have had to give us a future 2nd-rounder, or something, at a minimum.

- Saric is a good addition; I like that move a lot in isolation.

- Drafting Cam at #11 is unconscionable. Don't hate him as a player, but you could have gotten him ten spots lower, easily. And if you know that, you have to trade down and get an asset. You just have to. This is complete malpractice and mismanagement.

- I'm lukewarm about Ty Jerome. Seems like an interesting player; I like the little I've seen of him in the NCAA tournament and in video clips. I assume Baynes won't stay so I'm not thinking about him much.

- Obviously we still really need a PG. It sure feels like we're going to stretch Tyler Johnson and then throw a big contract at D'Angelo Russell or maybe Malcolm Brogdon.

Overall that would be a decent offseason improvement but short of what we could have done given the assets we entered with.

If I'm trying to be positive, I can say that I do like how they are prioritizing shooting and mature guys who can contribute right away over projects and 19-year-olds. But I just don't like the management of the assets. If you want those players, fine, but get them in a smarter way. Don't overspend to acquire them when their perceived value is this low.

I liked a lot that you are trying to be positive, I’m on that camp as well. Feels like the Front Office went shopping in early november for things that would be at 50% discount on Black Friday a few days later, maybe they were caught in the moment (rookie mistake) and run out of margin to deal so they proceed (hopefully) knowing they were wasting value almost on every asset they used yesterday. Altough they will be spinning full time during upcoming press conferences, in the future is likely they will do better.

But if privately hey think they mastered this draft, we are her for another frustrating management cycle coming.

F+

+ #6 for Saric and #11 was a good trade.

- We should not have given up a pick to send Warren out.

- Drafting Cam at 11 was worse than just giving the pick away.

- Giving up anything to draft Ty Jerome was awful.

Hated it. F

I’ll say D+

I think Cam, Ty, Saric, and Baynes all help us, but we botched the whole value aspect of this. We had to use Warren, 6, 32 and the Mil pick to get them. Feel like we should have been able to get that same value and still had 32 and the Mil pick.

Free agency may move it up to a C-, but hard for me to go any higher.

Here's Simmons and House talking about the draft. They start ripping on the Suns at about 41:00.

https://www.theringer.com/the-bill-simm ... -joe-house

I’ll judge the draft based upon our free agent signings. JJ is probably sick of seeing gms over evaluate college players with little to show for it. This draft in particular pick values are skewed so he went with safe bets of getting us a good stretch 4 and the best shooters with his picks.

Just look at this shit and grade later
ahahaha ...https://arizonasports.com/story/709927/ ... icks-trade

No one can really guess what is going to happen in a such weak draft class as is the case this year. Wait and see is my mood now till the end of free agency.

I don’t care if they only got a bag of balls for Warren. He needed to go. Period. He could not be depended on for anything but missing games for mystery ailments every year.

Too early to judge.
Let's see who they will sign in free agency, how our rookies will develop, how other rookies will...

Some thoughts :
* This summer reminds me the 2004 one. We had traded with the knicks to create financial flexibility (and get some picks) and build around Stoudemire/Marion/Johnson.
Here we're building around Booker/Bridges/Ayton. I really hope they make the right choice in free agency.

* Seems to me Jones has a plan. He played for several championship teams. They had their (super)stars and the right kind of roleplayers. He follows the same pattern.

*We need to be relevant asap.
The guys drafted seem to be high bbiq, not-so-athletic guys. If that means less iso and a real system, great!

I went with "C" but agree with Marty on just about everything. If Saric and Johnson become solutions/players for us, no one will care about the 32nd pick. I place a lot of value in the top 5-7 picks of the 2nd round but I get the FO just wanting to move on and cut the cord. Sometimes it costs you.

Cam was a reach without question but we needed shooting desperately. I wish he were a little bigger, wish he didn't have the injury history but if he shoots it as well for us as he did at UNC, he'll be a huge help. And I imagine the FO and Monty know that if they want to play inside-out thru Ayton, they gotta have shooters. I think there's a chance he can be a smallball 4 if he puts on a little weight but he's got a narrow frame so it may be tough.

Jerome will have to prove he can cut it physically. He's got the skillset in terms of ballhandling, passing and shooting and knows where to be on D but he's going to get torched 1 on 1.

At the end of the day, we drafted two older, more mature, polished players who have played for successful programs in big games and can really help us where we need it (shooting especially). I'm a fan of that, in general. They're not projects, we're not betting on potential, they're not "2 years away". You can argue about value, what it cost to get them, etc but they fill needs for us at the moment and the FO seems to want to move things forward now.

F if I just look at the moves pulled at the draft. We'll see how the FO manages the salary cap over the summer and what upgrades they can find.

Initially my reaction was it was positive as things started happening. I disliked the value that they got from the Warren trade, but felt like maybe we overvalued what his real value was around the league. It's not like we wanted him anymore and people were ready to give up the farm for him. Then I was good with the move back to 11, because I could see we could really use a player like Saric and didn't have a single PF on the roster, unless you think Spalding is one.

Then, when the Suns took Cam Johnson I was livid and besides myself. I thought this was a HUGE reach and in a lot of ways it was. It was a matter of value and where he was taken way way too high. So I would have given it an "F" just based on that pick alone. Of course I wanted Clarke bad, and I was angry for quite awhile.

Then the trade back in for Ty Jerome happened and I thought, "Crap they didn't get rid of Jackson and there goes that Mil pick that we probably needed to get rid of him with." But, I liked Ty Jerome and thought that he would be great at 32(which was already gone). I was happy they got back in, but again I was pissed that it wasn't for Clarke. When I heard that they got Aron Baynes with him, I was pretty happy again. He's a tough, smart center, that can rebound, play defense and even shoot. I was excited about that, but then word came out that they were going to waive him and I was like, "WTF, you suck so bad, Suns! This is a guy they could use and you have to give him up for nothing?" I would have given them an "F-" at that point.

But, then things changed...we found out that the Baynes report was false. This helped. Then I took a step back and looked at what they picked up and it seemed that they were going to get rid of the non-shooters, the low bballiq players and replace them with high bballiq guys that can all shoot. I started to see their plan and this morning I am getting pretty damn excited about the Suns again.

I don't know what they are going to do for sure with the rest of FA, but I expect Jackson & Melton to be traded away. I think Tyler gets stretched and waived. I'm a little sad that I think Richaun is probably gone, but the truth is he can't really shoot. Maybe that changes and they do bring him back, but it seems that they are going to go after more shooters in PF and PG positions.

As of this moment, I am giving it a "D" for execution, but a "B" for perceived plan and an incomplete for FA move.

I hate grading these things. We had 2 big needs. A PG and a real PF. It sounds like we have shored up the PF spot.

Jerome sounds interesting. He sounds like Nash 2.0 like he has all the skills and high B-Ball IQ and played on a championship team but, is counted out due to his size. Everybody hates the pick. He will be an interesting story this year. Can he and the FO make everybody eat their words.

Nodack wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 21, 2019 3:51 pm

Can he and the FO make everybody eat their words.

I'd absolutely love it.

Where is the F- option?

Who voted A and who is your crack dealer?

specialsauce wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:26 pm

Who voted A and who is your crack dealer?

Gambo must have an account on here.