Suns Trade Knight and Chriss for Anderson and Melton

[Split T]

I love Shaq and advocated him starting before this trade.

I think Melton has a lot of the same skills as Shaq. Melton is younger and therefore a little more hope he's a better offensive prospect.

[Superbone]

Whoa, with the lack of activity lately, I wasn't expecting to come here and hear about a trade. At least now all the Knight speculation can stop.

[Superbone]

I love Shaq and advocated him starting before this trade.

I think Melton has a lot of the same skills as Shaq. Melton is younger and therefore a little more hope he's a better offensive prospect.

I was impressed with Melton's 3 point shooting in that SL highlight video.

[Shabazz]

If nothing else, I think the Suns got the best 2 players in the deal.

[Split T]

A lot of people on Twitter who think Houston pulled a fast one on us. I guess when you suck no one pays attention to how bad your players are. Anderson has a terrible contact but Knight's is almost as bad. Add Chriss and the contracts are essentially a wash. I wouldn't have done Knight for Anderson straight up, but I'm intrigued by Melton, I'd rather have him than any of the other three by far.

[Split T]

I love Shaq and advocated him starting before this trade.

I think Melton has a lot of the same skills as Shaq. Melton is younger and therefore a little more hope he's a better offensive prospect.

I was impressed with Melton's 3 point shooting in that SL highlight video.

Ya, I was too. If he can shoot, he's fantastic next to Booker

[Mori Chu]

Hmm. I don't know how I feel about this trade.

The good: I had no confidence whatsoever in Knight and am glad we got rid of him. I think he had almost no value and was unlikely to have a big resurgence and be a starting-quality NBA point guard for us. And I'd prefer to give those minutes to the young guys like Okobo and Harrison. I also hate Chriss and wanted him o-u-t ASAP. So I don't think we gave up anything good here.

The bad: Why are we obsessed with stockpiling the worst of Houston's undersized old power forwards? Ryan Anderson is only 30, but he's an old 30. He looked almost washed up last year. He has a reputation as a sharpshooter, but he hasn't been much of one for a year or two now. Not sure if he helps us very much. And his contract is longer and for more money than Knight's and Chriss's were, so we took on money here. As for the other guy, Melton, I hadn't heard of him until tonight. Looking at his stats, he looks like a bad shooter, with .437/.284/.706 splits. Not sure how that will help us. I admit that I don't know much about him, so I can wait and see.

Summary: Happy to see Knight and Chriss go, but why take on more money for the privilege? Feels like Morey may have fleeced us here. At least we didn't give up a draft pick.

[Split T]

Anderson has the same length contract as Knight. Both expire after next year. Anderson at 21 million. Knight at 16 million. With Chriss at 4 million next year, we took on 1 million.

[Split T]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1035393464173821952
Don't want Anderson starting at all

[Mori Chu]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1035393464173821952 Woj says Ryan Anderson will be our starting PF. What?! Then why did we sign Trevor Ariza for $187 million or whatever it was?

[Cap]

He has a reputation as a sharpshooter, but he hasn't been much of one for a year or two now.

His last two seasons he shot .403 and .386 from 3.

[Split T]

I'm not sure Woj knows who we're starting. I'm not sure we even know. I wouldn't look too much into that quote. More interested in our next move. What pg's are available,?

[Cap]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1035393464173821952 Woj says Ryan Anderson will be our starting PF. What?! Then why did we sign Trevor Ariza for $187 million or whatever it was?

I guess Ariza will back him up and Bender will have to play center.

[Split T]

Or we're trading Warren for a PG and Ariza is starting at SF... Or Anderson isn't actually starting because those decisions haven't been made.

[Superbone]

https://twitter.com/esidery/status/1035375130443014144 https://twitter.com/esidery/status/1035375732959002624

[AmareIsGod]

Read this comment elsewhere and agree.

I'll preface my comment by saying that I'm still a fan of Marquese Chriss and there's a huge chance that this trade blows up in our face.

That being said, I like it.

In a vacuum I think it's easy to evaluate Melton as a mid-second round pick, Knight as a former All-Star caliber PG and Chriss as a promising prospect and therefore consider this a loss for us.

But if you delve deeper than that, this trade pushes the Suns way closer to achieving a true identity rather than a random assortment of players whose styles clash.

De'Anthony Melton is a guy that I was very high on going into the draft, a guy who I evaluated as being a top 25-30 prospect. ANY Suns fan who has been clamoring for a player like Patrick Beverley or Marcus Smart will INSTANTLY become a fan of Melton because that's exactly the type of player he is. He brings great physical tools and a defensive intensity that is often hard to find on the perimeter. Between him and Shaq we have a real chance to hide Booker on defense this season by surrounding him with switchable and capable defenders.

And then you have Anderson. Absolutely terrible defensively, but Anderson's three-point shooting gives us 3 more-than-adept shooters at PF between him, Bender and Ariza.

Before we had a major ballhog/ball stopper in Brandon Knight and then Marquese Chriss, a prospect who thus far hasn't figured out how to be "efficient" in any one type of play. We replaced them with two guys who absolutely have major limitations but who know their respective roles and have the potential to be elite at a particular skill.

If anything this trade tells me the Suns are giving strong thought to the idea of Booker at PG and copying what the Rockets did with Harden before the arrival of CP3. With Melton's defense and Anderson's shooting you could build a scheme that is extremely similar to what the Rockets had in '16-17.

What do you guys think? Igor has previously said Booker isn't a PG, but now I'm not sure if we can afford to name Shaq Harrison the opening day starter...

[Superbone]

By shipping out Knight and Chriss, Suns GM moves on from mistakes
BY KELLAN OLSON

http://arizonasports.com/story/1647690/ ... -mistakes/

[Shabazz]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1035393464173821952 Woj says Ryan Anderson will be our starting PF. What?! Then why did we sign Trevor Ariza for $187 million or whatever it was?

The only way that makes sense is if Booker starts at the 1 and JJ (or Bridges) starts at the 2. We're not bringing all 3 of Bridges, JJ and Warren of the bench so Anderson can start. All of those guys are better than Anderson.

I don't think Woj knows what he's talking about here.

[Split T]

We have some really good defensive players (Melton/Harrison/Bridges/Reed/Jackson/Ariza)

[carey]

I'm not sure how Anderson fits but I do like that we are acquiring good vets to balance out our young guys. Ryno's salary is gross and probably takes us out of the FA hunt next year. When we discussed trading for him previously it was always Chandler that got moved. So this was a bit of a surprise. At least you guys don't have to watch Knight play. Anderson is a huge upgrade at PF, but it's a curious trade when you consider Ariza was likely penciled in at that spot. I wonder if we really are trying to recreate the Harden led Rockets prior to Paul's arrival. That would mean a lot of Booker at PG. I guess we'll see.

Melton seems intriguing but if he's a PG then we'll likely see less of Okobo than I would have liked this year.