Suns News: Week 16 (1/30 - 2/5)

[LazarusLong]

This reminds me. Okogie drives me crazy sometimes with his constant fakes and unwillingness to shoot the damn ball! Just let it fly, dude. He was surprising me with his 3 point makes a couple weeks ago but lately he seems to have a fear of shooting the ball. He is pretty good at drawing fouls when he takes it to the hoop though.

The mask he's wearing has definitely impacted his game.

[Superbone]

This reminds me. Okogie drives me crazy sometimes with his constant fakes and unwillingness to shoot the damn ball! Just let it fly, dude. He was surprising me with his 3 point makes a couple weeks ago but lately he seems to have a fear of shooting the ball. He is pretty good at drawing fouls when he takes it to the hoop though.

The mask he's wearing has definitely impacted his game.

Maybe. His first game back with the mask was amazing.

[TOO]

Welp, we're screwed.

Not sure why Sam Cooper cut his response off. The second half of it was much better:

Of power forwards, he says all 30 teams want a good power forward and there aren’t that many around. Jones says that’s why someone like Jerami Grant can go from not being wanted as a starter by anybody four years ago, having to go to the Pistons to get his money, will now be worth $30 million a year this summer.

What Jones wants is a guy who can get his shot no matter the situation, no matter who’s defending them, no matter how high-leverage the situation is.

Jones even praised inefficient scorers, saying they can get a bad rep but that they’re often inefficient because they’re willing to take the toughest shots. He wants to add someone willing to take tough shots.

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2023 ... s-shooting

Makes sense. I guess I haven’t framed it as shooting. When I hear shooting I think of JJ as a player. We’ve known what we need is a guy who scores, creates for himself. To that end I’m glad he affirms what went missing last postseason. But we don’t need another Cam Payne or Shamet. We need someone who walks into the gym and hangs 15-20.

What's available though for bench flame throwers? Clarkson? Hyland?

[TOO]

It also makes me think he's gonna move for Grant in the off-season. Would they trade Ayton for Grant and resign him?

[Drewsprocket]

It also makes me think he's gonna move for Grant in the off-season. Would they trade Ayton for Grant and resign him?

I’m terrible at guessing these things. Who knows at this point. So much calculus now with Ishbia coming on board. Nobody wants Crowder with anything we want and anyone willing to trade with us wants picks over salary dumps.

[Vladimir_Taltos]

a. Trading Ayton for anyone other than Sikam is a tear down and start over move, as the team has yet more holes.
b. Trading for another SF / Wing? (OG) Why? We don't suck there.
c. A breakout backup PG and an upgrade at PF are our known issues. None of the drivel getting spouted addresses EITHER of those. WTF?

VT

[Drewsprocket]

a. Trading Ayton for anyone other than Sikam is a tear down and start over move, as the team has yet more holes.
b. Trading for another SF / Wing? (OG) Why? We don't suck there.
c. A breakout backup PG and an upgrade at PF are our known issues. None of the drivel getting spouted addresses EITHER of those. WTF?

VT

If you can get OG without losing Ayton, Bridges, and Book you do it. OG is a top defender with ceiling to get better offensively. Missing out would be a mistake. He is a bigger and better defender than Crowder and could play the 4.

[Mori Chu]

If you can get OG without losing Ayton, Bridges, and Book you do it.

Well, maybe, but it depends on what draft assets you are sending out. I'm not a fan of trading, say, three 1sts plus CamJ plus other salary just for OG.

[Split T]

Sam Vecenie on OG

[Superbone]

There sure has been a lot of OG smoke lately.

[Drewsprocket]

If you can get OG without losing Ayton, Bridges, and Book you do it.

Well, maybe, but it depends on what draft assets you are sending out. I'm not a fan of trading, say, three 1sts plus CamJ plus other salary just for OG.

I agree with that as well. I have a feeling Ishbia has a better sense of using the draft more wise than we have in the past and probably differs from JJ philophically. I think GSW and Boston have shown you can build through drafting well in addition to making smart moves.

[virtual9mm]

a. Trading Ayton for anyone other than Sikam is a tear down and start over move, as the team has yet more holes.
b. Trading for another SF / Wing? (OG) Why? We don't suck there.
c. A breakout backup PG and an upgrade at PF are our known issues. None of the drivel getting spouted addresses EITHER of those. WTF?

VT

Agree on all 3 counts especially (a). The board has many bouts of irrationality and Ayton frustration at not being able to make the leap turning into Ayton hate is one of them.

[TOO]

a. Trading Ayton for anyone other than Sikam is a tear down and start over move, as the team has yet more holes.
b. Trading for another SF / Wing? (OG) Why? We don't suck there.
c. A breakout backup PG and an upgrade at PF are our known issues. None of the drivel getting spouted addresses EITHER of those. WTF?

VT

Agree on all 3 counts especially (a). The board has many bouts of irrationality and Ayton frustration at not being able to make the leap turning into Ayton hate is one of them.

Don't hate him so much as I think he's just a waste of money now. He's a very overpaid role player.

[INFORMER]

Sam Vecenie on OG

Vecenie is way too high on him.

[TOO]

Sam Vecenie on OG

Vecenie is way too high on him.

Yes.

For the cost.of doing business and then having pay him more than Bridges, absolutely not interested in that.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I think we're at the point where Bridges contract is not a fair place marker. He's already met the production and development level to merit the contract value, and we're approaching it being on the best value contracts in the league.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Based on my experience, I'm pretty sure Booker is referring to shooting on double rims.

[Flagrant Fowl]

This is a great lengthy thread to go through. I'll caution against assuming everything will click into place when Booker returns. It'll take some time to reintegrate, and I won't be surprised when Mikal has a stretch of quiet games offensively. At least we've seen Mikal do this stuff fairly consistently now so we have a vision of the ceiling with the best lineup.

[Wormwood]

Sam Vecenie on OG

Vecenie is way too high on him.

If you can get OG for expirings plus 3 late first round picks, you have to do that. Odds of you getting a top 10 NBA defender who can guard 4-5 positions who also shoots very well from three with one of those picks in the 20-30 range is low. He'd represents a better long term solution (OG is only 25) at PF than Cam Johnson, who isn't nearly the defender. In terms of defensive RPM, OG is on a par with Mikal. His stock is a little low due to injuries the past couple seasons, but buy low, right?

[TOO]

I don't think blowing all your draft assets is buying low, just my opinion of course.