Game Day: Suns (15-25) @ Spurs (26-13), Fri 1/5/18

[Cap]

What about 2019? I haven't looked at the salaries but we'd have Deng+Knight for 32ish million, Warren for 12. If we give Booker a max extension this summer, would his contract be on the books before we sign any free agents? That's the year I'm worried about if we take on Deng's contract.

I see the appeal in it. Ball could be a really good player and could fit really well with Booker. I'm just not convinced he's worth the 36 million owed to Deng after this year, plus missing out on 2018/2019 free agents. If we can still work the cap to have enough space in 2019, then I'd be more open to the idea.

2019? LeBron and KD, but signing one of them is a prayer, not a plan. Deng, IINM, comes off the books in '20, same time as AASE. That is the summer to target in free agency.

[Split T]

LeBron and KD are 2018 and I have no hopes of acquiring them

[Cap]

LeBron and KD are 2018 and I have no hopes of acquiring them

Oops. That'll teach me to trust spotrac.

2019. I guess the cream of the crop are Kyrie, Klay, Bleds and Keef. I'm perfectly OK with waiting until '20.

[Split T]

The problem with spotrac is it doesn't take into consideration player options. It lists LeBron and KD as 2019 because they have player options for 2018, but they will almost certainly decline them. Most elite players do. If everyone declines their player option, 2019 should have Kawhi, Klay, Kemba, love, butler, Middleton, Bledsoe, whiteside, among others. 2020 should have anthony Davis and any 2019 guy that takes the player option.

[Mori Chu]

Ya, he has looked better recently. I just don't know if he's ever going to be the 40% 3pt shooter he was in college. Perhaps he'd look better here where he could let Booker create in the half court and just be a spot up shooter.

Spot up shooter? Oof. No way. That is the exact way you *don't* want to use Lonzo Ball. You want Ball to bring the ball up the floor and orchestrate the offense, helping find shots for his teammates.

As for Ball vs Jackson, they do have a similar flaw in that they both are awful shooters. But one difference is that Ball does have an elite skill for his position: his passing. Jackson isn't really elite at anything. What's that, you say? He's an elite defender? I haven't seen evidence of this at an NBA level. He's good, decent. Not elite. He's an elite finisher? An elite scorer? I haven't seen it. It may come, but it isn't there yet.

And besides, it isn't really about Ball vs Jackson. We'd have both of them, so we would be happy to root for both of them to succeed. I don't think you could play them both together in the same lineup very much, because two bad shooters in your 1-3 positions is a recipe for losing. But it'd probably work well with Warren at the 3, who is our starting SF of the future anyway, not Jackson. I suspect everybody will pressure Warren to spend the whole summer practicing corner 3s, which would be a huge improvement to his already impressive offensive game.

A starting lineup with Ball at point, Booker at SG, Warren at SF, Chriss or Bender at PF, and whomever (Williams? Len? whatever) at C would be very interesting and versatile offensively. I'd be excited about that core. That plus maybe one interesting FA would be a really fun young team.

[Split T]

Ball just isn't that great in the half court right now. He's not really a threat to score. His playmaking is much more evident in transition.