Grade the Suns' 2019 draft day

[Shabazz]

2 thoughts:

If we give away Melton we're dumb. Who cares if he can't shoot (yet). He showed a ton on D as a rookie. He's absolutely worth keeping and developing on a minimum deal. He can also shift between guard spots, so I'm not as concerned about the PG log-jam.

The rationale of "well, we were wrong about past drafts being good when they were bad, so maybe we're wrong about this one being bad when it's good" is the worst thing on the internet today.

[Superbone]

It’s the Costanza effect.

[specialsauce]

Who voted A and who is your crack dealer?

Gambo must have an account on here.

lol

[Democritus]

I voted A. Because we deserve it.

[O_Gardino]

I voted A. Because we deserve it.

Fits your avatar perfectly.

[Split T]

Trying to look at it differently...taking each move separately

Warren and #32 for Cap Space - D-Plus

He needed to go, but we get docked for having to give up 32. Grade is somewhat incomplete until we find out what we do with the created space. Though Baynes and Saric have taken most of it already.

6 for 11 and Saric - B-Plus

I liked this move. Saric is an actual PF, he’s a good fit offensively with Ayton, and I didn’t love any players at 6 anyways.

Drafting Cam Johnson at 11 - D

I like Cam, but I fail to see how he is anything other than a shooter off the bench, which is why he was mocked in the late 1st. I don’t mind targeting him, but the D is because we took him to high. We lost value. Should have traded back and we’d probably still have the Milwaukee Pick.

Milwaukee pick for #24 and Aron Baynes - B-Minus

I think 24 and Baynes definitely have more value than the Milwaukee pick. Dropped the grade a bit because it eats into cap space. Baynes will be useful though. Thought maybe we could have picked up an extra 2nd for taking his contract off Boston’s hands though.

Drafting Ty Jerome at 24 - B-Minus

I like Jerome, don’t love him. We took him about where he was supposed to go. Pick makes sense with everything James Jones has been doing.

Signed Jalen Lecque to a 4 year deal with 2 guaranteed - A

I like it! Low risk, high reward potential. May end up fairly inconsequential, but I’m glad the front office isn’t completely abandoning future development opportunities.

So I think I’m gonna move the overall grade to C-Minus. Could potentially be a C if we use cap space wisely. I see what we’re trying to do, just don’t think the execution was great.

One thought...we didn’t have scouts and I tried to downplay that a bit, but I think it impacted things more than I thought. All our workouts seemed to be for 2nd round prospects and prospects at #6. I wonder if we didn’t have a great feel or understanding of the prospects in the 11 range. Perhaps we scouted Cam for 32 and maybe we looked into trading down further but got no bites, so we just took him because we had incomplete data on the other prospects in that range.

We did bring in Clarke though, so no excuse there.

[Superbone]

I gave it a C / Incomplete. I think you have to look at the whole picture including free agency. We got 2 for sure rotation players (Saric/Baynes) plus I believe at least Johnson will be one as well. Our basketball IQ increased greatly. I foresee my 35+ win prediction coming to fruition. This team is going to start winning basketball games at a much higher frequency this season.

[Cap]

I foresee my 35+ win prediction coming to fruition.

And you have such a stellar track record with such forecasts.

[Superbone]

I foresee my 35+ win prediction coming to fruition.

And you have such a stellar track record with such forecasts.

CAP! LOL. Where's the smack emoticon? Not the smack talk emoticon. Just the smack.

[INFORMER]

Listening to The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe is dumbfounded by the Cam Johnson pick. He and Bobby Marks also can't believe they gave up #32 in the Warren deal. Marks even thought when the deal was announced that the Pacers were going to have to give up their first rounder.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=27024830

[Ring_Wanted]

No surprise PHX is getting blasted for that move. Indeed shades of KT.

[jonh]

Listening to The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe is dumbfounded by the Cam Johnson pick. He and Bobby Marks also can't believe they gave up #32 in the Warren deal. Marks even thought when the deal was announced that the Pacers were going to have to give up their first rounder.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=27024830

I still can't wrap my head on why the Suns were the ones that had to give up the pick here. There is nothinga bout Warren (except for some injury concerns) that justifies the Suns giving up that pick. Really was an indefensible trade.

[ShelC]

They absorbed his salary without sending any back so I kinda get it, but I would've pushed for their 50th pick this year just to get ANYTHING back. And when you consider they replaced Thad Young for the same amount with a younger player and don't have to worry about filling that role in FA, they really made out well.

[Mori Chu]

In general you don't have to package picks to get rid of actual productive players like Warren. You have to include a pick when they are dead weight, salary ballast, when they just eat up cap space. Indefensible that we had to throw in our pick to get him out.

[Wormwood]

My quick take:

TJ Warren trade: D-. It would have been a C-, but then they ruined over half the cap space they created with their trade for Baynes. So, we gave up a starting caliber player on a good contract and a high 2nd round pick for... a back up center with one year left and $5M in cap space. Blerch.

6 for 11 and Saric: C-. Sarinc doesn't rebound, doesn't play defense, and is only an ok contributor on Offense. Marginal starter / decent back up. Will he look like Ryan Anderson on this squad? Potentially.

Drafting Cam Johnson at 11: D. EVen if there were rumblings he could was going to be taken in the teens, we could have moved back again and still had him. We also could have had a similar player at 26 (Dylan Windler). Basically, Cam probably has a role in the NBA (if he's not in a wheel chair by 26), but this was a VERY inefficient use of a lotto pick. Failed to trade back further for more, and ended up cutting into our cap space as a result.

Milwaukee pick for #24 and Aron Baynes - D. Only reason this isn't an F is because we used #24 on a player who is a good fit, and was drafted at an appropriate position. Baynes hurts our quest for cap space, and is "meh" as a back up.

Ty Jerome at 24: A. I like this pick. He's a high intangibles guy who fits well. Only knock I have is his defense.

Signed Jalen Lecque to a 4 year deal with 2 guaranteed - C-Minus. I have a hard time being excited about two years of guaranteed money for a guy who's an athlete more than a basketball player. We've had plenty of those, and they rarely pan out.

Overall: D / Incomplete

If they somehow come up with the cap space to land Brogdon and a sleeper PF like Theis or Aminu that can take us to playoff contention, great. Bump this up to a B+ / A-. Johnson and Jerome are great complimentary pieces on a team whose philosophy is 4 on the floor at all times who can nail threes. I get it. But, without other players who distribute the ball, shoot threes, and play defense at PG and PF this whole exercise will have been a pointless waste.

[ShelC]

I don't think you've seen Saric play if you're comparing him to Ryan Anderson.

[Wormwood]

I don't think you've seen Saric play if you're comparing him to Ryan Anderson.

He's considerably better than Anderson, but in many ways his role is supposed to be the same as Anderson's was. Without a decent PG and poor shooters elsewhere on the team, Ryan failed miserably. I'm not certain that putting Saric in the exact same situation while he brings some of the same things to the table will allow him to thrive, either.

[Mori Chu]

Here's a Saric sizzle reel from Philly. I really hope we get this version of Saric on our team. I like this guy.

[ShelC]

I don't think you've seen Saric play if you're comparing him to Ryan Anderson.

He's considerably better than Anderson, but in many ways his role is supposed to be the same as Anderson's was. Without a decent PG and poor shooters elsewhere on the team, Ryan failed miserably. I'm not certain that putting Saric in the exact same situation while he brings some of the same things to the table will allow him to thrive, either.

Saric can do things with the basketball other than shoot. He's a triple threat offensive player, similar to Tobias Harris IMO.

[Wormwood]

Here's a Saric sizzle reel from Philly. I really hope we get this version of Saric on our team. I like this guy.

Hope you're right. Here's what I'm asking though, and ShelC's not quite understanding.

They loved him in Philadelphia (a playoff team). He was bad in Minny. We're assembling a roster full of guys who can be contributors (but not stars) on playoff teams. We also can see that Saric did badly when moved to a non-playoff team. What I fear is that without a distributing PG who spaces the floor, the version of Saric we are getting will be more Minnesota than Philadelphia. To get the most out of players like Saric (and Channing Frye) you need stars around them to support.

Without those stars, they're going to look BAD.