2025 NBA DRAFT NIGHT!

[Split T]

Without being too negative, I'm apprehensive. Is he a basketball player or a guy that plays basketball. I don't love 18 yr olds who "just started playing a few years ago and are just scratching the surface". That's a red flag for me, especially with bigs. I feel like every time I've read/heard that, it almost never ends well. There are exceptions obviously so maybe Maluach is one of them.

Real question here…I am sure I’m selectively only remembering the ones who work out, but who are the guys that just started playing basketball that don’t work out? Embiid and Hakeem jump to mind for me as examples of guys who did. Didn’t Amare get to basketball late too?

[Kryptonic]

Yea, I thought Amare started late too.

[Furlanfufi]

Hakeem was a goalkeeper in football.

I rather have someone who started late buy have a great work ethic than someone who takes his career for granted.

[JeremyG]

It all makes sense now. They thought Maluach would be gone and they would draft CMB at PF like Gambo was hyping up. So they negotiated a trade for Williams.

Now they’re stuck with both and lost two firsts for an injury-prone center.

What an inept FO. Even moreso if this is wrong and they agreed to the trade after the pick.

[ShelC]

It's hard to remember the ones that didn't work out because...they didn't work out. And yea there are always going to be exceptions, like I said. But I'd prefer the kid who's been playing since he's 7-8 years old and has been coached up every day and has an innate feel for the game. Then, if they have a growth spurt and get to 6-10 or 7ft, they already have that IQ and feel. It's different when these kids don't play, hit a growth spurt at 13-14 years old and then start playing because they're tall.

It's anecdotal and I'm sure most will disagree. We want Maluach to be a stud for us so I get the push back here. I hope he works out for us and is a monster in the middle.

[wpmiller42]

I refuse to accept that drafting Maluach and trading a late first rounder and a probably mid to late first rounder for Williams is a bad move for the Suns. We are a team desperate for size and athleticism. These guys check those boxes. I DO think that as Maluach develops, he can potentially be on the floor with Williams.

Williams is a guy that the Lakers were willing to give up Knecht, Reddish, an unprotected first rounder and a pick swap for and, at the time, EVERYONE thought the Lakers "won" the trade. When healthy, Williams is legit. And I get that he's had a rough start injury wise to his career, but it's not because he's out of shape; it's bad luck. And he wouldn't be the first player to have a rough couple of years injury-wise and then be relatively good from then on.

I think the media is on this, "...it's cool to make fun of the Suns..." kick so every move is ridiculed. Some of it is deserved, but yesterday was a good one for the franchise, and we've gone a long ways towards upgrading our size and athleticism.

[O_Gardino]

...
I think the media is on this, "...it's cool to make fun of the Suns..." kick ...

Hey, me too!

[ShelC]

2nd round tonight, we're sitting at 52 and 59. Here's ESPN's best available list. We've had a bunch of these guys in for workouts. I like Javon Small, Mark Sears, Eric Dixon but not sure they'll be around when we're selecting unless we move up.

https://www.espn.com/nba/draft/bestavailable

[TOO]

It all makes sense now. They thought Maluach would be gone and they would draft CMB at PF like Gambo was hyping up. So they negotiated a trade for Williams.

Now they’re stuck with both and lost two firsts for an injury-prone center.

What an inept FO. Even moreso if this is wrong and they agreed to the trade after the pick.

Blah blah blah blah just keep saying the same shit on repeat. Back to mute you go.

[Superbone]

Hakeem was a goalkeeper in football.

I rather have someone who started late buy have a great work ethic than someone who takes his career for granted.

Yep, and Tim Duncan was a swimmer until he finally found basketball.

[Superbone]

I think the media is on this, "...it's cool to make fun of the Suns..." kick so every move is ridiculed. Some of it is deserved, but yesterday was a good one for the franchise, and we've gone a long ways towards upgrading our size and athleticism.

I think we have a lot of that going on here too. The Gregory hire was suspect at best but I'm just trying to judge each move since on its own merit.

[specialsauce]

Yes, as much as I like to criticize, I would say that the team no doubt got better last night in both the short and long term

[TOO]

To go from no size, youth or athleticism and now having all of that after the KD trade and the draft, feels pretty good.

[ShelC]

[JeremyG]

What an excuse—“just a few days before.” This is complete malpractice by the rookie GM. They knew they were going to obtain a pick in that range for KD. For months. They should have been working out all prospects who could possibly fall in the 9-20 range.

And if you trust DC:

[Sunsfan4life]

Why would t they just wait for 5 minutes? They had nothing to gain by not waiting til pick 10. Sounds like a made up story

[SunsRIt]

What an excuse—“just a few days before.” This is complete malpractice by the rookie GM. They knew they were going to obtain a pick in that range for KD. For months. They should have been working out all prospects who could possibly fall in the 9-20 range.

And if you trust DC:

I need to know why you are even a Suns fan. You have been bitching and moaning about how bad this organization is for the last 5 years, never happy with anything they do. Give it a damn rest. I hate the fact that you have Al McCoy as you PFP. I like Al, but can’t even begin to like anything you post. I think I’m with TOO, back to mute for you.

[INFORMER]

Here’s my pretty uninformed opinion on the pick…Everyone is bringing up the concerns with Maluach, which is completely fair, there’s just concerns about anyone we could have picked at 10.

Yes, but not all concerns are created equal, and not all prospects have the same amount of concern. To just write off as "hey, no one is without concerns," just seems unreasonably dismissive.

I don’t know if Maluach will be good, none of us do, but I am glad we didn’t pick some of the other guys we could have…namely CMB or Derek Queen.

I am happy we didn't have the opportunity to get CMB. It does worry about this front office that they would be high on him.

[INFORMER]

Why would t they just wait for 5 minutes? They had nothing to gain by not waiting til pick 10. Sounds like a made up story

I hope it is made up.

[Split T]

Here’s my pretty uninformed opinion on the pick…Everyone is bringing up the concerns with Maluach, which is completely fair, there’s just concerns about anyone we could have picked at 10.

Yes, but not all concerns are created equal, and not all prospects have the same amount of concern. To just write off as "hey, no one is without concerns," just seems unreasonably dismissive.

I don’t know if Maluach will be good, none of us do, but I am glad we didn’t pick some of the other guys we could have…namely CMB or Derek Queen.

I am happy we didn't have the opportunity to get CMB. It does worry about this front office that they would be high on him.

Just seemed like I was hearing a lot of complaining, but no one actually even suggesting someone else we should’ve picked. Not talking you specifically. You’ve mentioned alternatives you liked