Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Discussion of the league and of our favorite team.
User avatar
INFORMER
Posts: 8476
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:19 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by INFORMER »

specialsauce wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:00 pm
I think you’re wrong about Bridges not being able to play PF. I think with Ayton there we can afford to go smaller at the other positions of Bridges or Jackson put on a little bit of weight. Booker-Jackson-Bridges-Ayton will be a great lineup IMO.
Maybe. If Jackson progresses as a rebounder, it may help.

Against Houston, we don't have to worry about Jackson/Bridges matching up against anyone, but I do worry about leaving the rebounding all up to Ayton. With the way Capela, Harden, and Tucker attack the boards, it is going to be difficult.

I wouldn't worry about Bridges/Jackson matching up against Gibson in Minnesota, but again, we might get really beat on the glass.

If New Orleans loses Cousins, then we'll be fine there. Bridges/Jackson can handle Mirotic.

I'm inclined to think Portland won't be an issue with Aminu and Harkless, but Aminu may be able to have his way with Bridges/Jackson on the boards.

Paul Millsap in Denver would likely take advantage of the Bridges/Jackson combo.

I'm not concerned with the matchup of Anthony/George in OKC.

Sacramento may be tough if they start Bagley at the 4 and Cauley-Stein at the 5; Bagley would destroy Bridges or Jackson.
Free Agency
DeMar Derozan for the minimum!

PG: Jordan McLaughlin, Killian Hayes, Kris Dunn, Spencer Dinwiddie, Monte Morris
C: Mo Bamba, Andre Drummond, James Wiseman, Goga Bitadze, Jay Huff

User avatar
ShelC
Posts: 12896
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:00 am

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by ShelC »

It's similar to when we had Shawn at the 4. We played small and fast but guys like Nick Collison would have 20 rebound games against us.

User avatar
INFORMER
Posts: 8476
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:19 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by INFORMER »

But Shawn Marion was one of the best rebounders in the league.
Free Agency
DeMar Derozan for the minimum!

PG: Jordan McLaughlin, Killian Hayes, Kris Dunn, Spencer Dinwiddie, Monte Morris
C: Mo Bamba, Andre Drummond, James Wiseman, Goga Bitadze, Jay Huff

User avatar
SDC
Posts: 3966
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:25 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by SDC »

specialsauce wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:00 pm
I think you’re wrong about Bridges not being able to play PF. I think with Ayton there we can afford to go smaller at the other positions of Bridges or Jackson put on a little bit of weight. Booker-Jackson-Bridges-Ayton will be a great lineup IMO. I’d much rather play Bridges at the 4 than bring in Aaron Gordon to play the 4.
suns are going to ruin mikal's career if they do that. i'd rather have josh jackson at the 4 since the guy cant shoot from outside.

User avatar
Ring_Wanted
Posts: 5011
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:47 am

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Ring_Wanted »

INFORMER wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 pm
Overall, the Suns walked away with a tremendous amount of talent. But passing on Doncic and overpaying for Bridges are two huge misses for me. So I would probably give the draft a C+.
Basically I had the same reasoning, but I liked Doncic less, so that upped my grade to B-.

User avatar
AmareIsGod
Posts: 5529
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:24 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by AmareIsGod »

INFORMER wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 pm
So I would probably give the draft a C+.
My man! Wouldn't have expected anything less from you. An Informer C+ is anyone else's A-.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton

User avatar
Wormwood
Posts: 523
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:30 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Wormwood »

My take:

Ayton: You have to go with him... but if he can't play defense you cannot keep him on the floor. That's a huge risk, and it's realistic. A defenseless big who can't stretch the floor would be a complete bust. If he develops a 3 point shot, but still can't defend, he has some value. The game has moved away from big men who cannot stretch the floor, except for a few guys who are defensive aces like Gobert. B-. Huge upside, but in a lot of ways he's much more likely to be a bust than most #1 picks. He'll put up numbers, but can you keep him on the floor? Gut says no.

Bridges: Gave up way too much for a guy where we're already paying people $25M to play the same position. JJ will get his minutes. Warren is our most efficient offense player inside the arc. Dudley actually has the best total real +/- of any of our small forwards. The whole "positionless NBA" is a BS excuse for playing guys out of position and getting crushed. Remember Hedo Turkoglu at the 4? And what we gave up for him was ridiculous. A lot of projections had Zhaire Smith being several tiers higher, and equal in value to Bridges. Speaking of whom, players who are 3 or 4 year players are much less likely to become all stars than one and done guys. I'm not expecting a lot out of the guy besides 3 pointers and adequate defense for so many reasons, not the least of which is that finding minutes for him is going to be tough, or we will be playing a SF against guys who are 50 lbs heavier. D. Paid way too much for a guy with "meh" upside who plays the same position as three other guys we're paying big money to.

Okobo: The Suns did as well as could be hoped for with a 2nd round pick here. Big upside, great shooter, iffy as a distributor. Probably an upgrade over our current back ups, but that's saying very little. A-, but the weight on this is pretty low.

King: It's the 59th pick. They could draft my dog and it would still be a C.

Overall: C+. Super high risk #1, paid too much for a meh #10 that doesn't fill a need position.

User avatar
Bruiser
Posts: 275
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:59 pm
Location: Duesseldorf, Germany

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Bruiser »

Ring_Wanted wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:58 pm
INFORMER wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 pm
Overall, the Suns walked away with a tremendous amount of talent. But passing on Doncic and overpaying for Bridges are two huge misses for me. So I would probably give the draft a C+.
Basically I had the same reasoning, but I liked Doncic less, so that upped my grade to B-.
Giving grades this early is a little bit confusing but I have the exact same thoughts. I do hate to play Debbie Downer when everybody is having Coolaid but the Draft was a C for me.

Although I am well aware of the fact that I might sound bitter, the Okobo pick is the only thing I really liked about our draft. As I see it, drafting Doncic would have been the competent thing to do. Not overpaying for Bridges (let's say by using another pick or at least putting some protection on it) would have made things a little bit easier to swallow. Even though I love the player, that was a godfather offer and a desperation move in my book. Picking Doncic and then sacrificing this good of a pick to get into the top 6 to select let's say Mo Bamba or so would have been a different story. I am also upset about the reasoning for the picks and moves we made. This draft really made me change my perspective in terms of trusting our front office.

Please don't get me twisted, I really like the talent and players that we got (it is a lot of talent and they all seem very humble and good people) but I am not happy how the talent is structured / distributed and how much we paid for it considering that we are clearly not in all-in / win-now mode at the moment.

On the other hand, the Mavericks have always been a bit of a bandwagon team for me since Dirk started playing in the NBA, so I am happy that Sacramento was stupid enough to pass on Luka too.

User avatar
gosuns
Posts: 463
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:42 am
Location: Europe

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by gosuns »

I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best. I think Bridges might disappear during games without a great distributing point guard. Like his general skill set and size, but see him as a 3. We have now 4 SF... I hope Coach can find a way to make it work but doubt it. I will judge the roster when the season starts an believe at least one of the 4 has to go. Okobo could be ok, but his handles seem iffy. King I don’t know nothing about. I give the Draft a B-.

User avatar
AmareIsGod
Posts: 5529
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:24 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by AmareIsGod »

Someone made a good point regarding the MIA pick in 2021 being part of the trade we made. You don't bank on the potential of that being a good pick, which would need a season or two anyways to develop while letting Booker age another 4-5 years. You need to take advantage of having him here, having him happy and having him on a winning team. We need to do what we need to do to get a competitive and good team rolling today, not focus on 2021.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton

User avatar
Uncle_Gene
Posts: 846
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:07 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Uncle_Gene »

gosuns wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:30 am
I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best.
So you prefer the next Clint Capela (Bamba) over the next Embiid (Ayton) ?
Phoenix Suns 2024-25 NBA Champions !

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Indy »

Uncle_Gene wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:25 am
gosuns wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:30 am
I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best.
So you prefer the next Clint Capela (Bamba) over the next Embiid (Ayton) ?
That is crazy Gene.

User avatar
Superbone
Posts: 35807
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:44 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Superbone »

Indy wrote:
Uncle_Gene wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:25 am
gosuns wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:30 am
I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best.
So you prefer the next Clint Capela (Bamba) over the next Embiid (Ayton) ?
That is crazy Gene.
Why?
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.

"Be Legendary."

User avatar
gosuns
Posts: 463
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:42 am
Location: Europe

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by gosuns »

Uncle_Gene wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:25 am
gosuns wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:30 am
I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best.
So you prefer the next Clint Capela (Bamba) over the next Embiid (Ayton) ?
I actually think Ayton could be better and more stable than Embiid. Embiid looks flashy, but his contribution to winning is, in my opinion, overrated. I saw what the Sixers did without Embiid. I believe the Sixers offense was equal with him sitting. Also i value interior defense more than post offense. And Bamba would have been much cheaper than Capela. Plus Bamba has the potential to be much better than Capela. But as anyone else here I could be wrong. I’m not a basketball guru.

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Indy »

Superbone wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:47 am
Indy wrote:
Uncle_Gene wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:25 am
gosuns wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:30 am
I prefered Doncic or trading down for Bamba over drafting Ayton. Ayton to me is a B+ at best.
So you prefer the next Clint Capela (Bamba) over the next Embiid (Ayton) ?
That is crazy Gene.
Why?
To matter of factly state Ayton is the next Embiid. Or the Bamba is the next Capela.

User avatar
Mori Chu
Posts: 23607
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:05 am

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Mori Chu »

Ayton is the next Amare, not the next Embiid. :-)

User avatar
TOO
Posts: 11598
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:21 pm

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by TOO »

Embiid > Amare

Just sayin...

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by Indy »

TheOriginalOriginal wrote:
Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:48 pm
Embiid > Amare

Just sayin...
At this point in their respective careers, absolutely. It isn't close.

User avatar
sose
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:44 am

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by sose »

A - Because i say so.

User avatar
ShelC
Posts: 12896
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:00 am

Re: Rank our draft, and give your reasoning!

Post by ShelC »

The Sose has spoken!

Ayton is already more fundamentally sound on offense than Amar'e. Unfortunately, he might be as bad defensively. I'm hoping he can at least become a solid interior defender, where he can learn to react quickly enough to defend the basket with his size. One of our best defensive seasons came when Kurt Thomas was our 5. He had no physical gifts but knew how defend the paint, so it's not all about measureables.

Post Reply