Suns News: Week 12 (1/2 - 1/8)

[Split T]

Well Siakam is the guy I want

[In2ition]

I've long contended that the best type of PG next to Book would be a taller pass first PG. I thought they would have that chance in the Jalen Smith draft to either move up(which is ridiculous in hindsight, as the Suns haven't moved up since '87), or make a trade with GSW for their pick, which would have been able to draft LaMelo at the time. There were rumors at the time that they had their sights on Rubio and/or Oubre. Add in the #10 pick, it would have worked out pretty well, imo.

Although, if they would have just picked Haliburton with #10, that would have been ideal with CP3 and Payne as 3rd option, imo.

[Split T]

Trading for DeJounte Murray would’ve worked too.

[Drewsprocket]

So Ayton hurt his ankle? Lol. This is a great year to tank. It’s beyond parody this season.

[Split T]

I’m also not opposed to giving Mikal more of a distributor role. He’s not great creating his own shot, but he’s not a zero there. I’ve seen stuff from him as a passer that intrigues me. Not saying he should be a pg by any means, but I think you can try putting the ball in his hands when you want to run Booker off ball. I know he shot terribly in that Miami game, but he was distributing the ball well.

Teams would press him and force turnovers if we tried to make him a pg, but just a thought in the half court.

So I’d envision Booker and another player being our primary ball handlers..let’s just insert Siakam here for the sake of argument. Ideally I’d want a stretch big at the 5 next to those two, then add two 3-D guys. One would need to be able to handle point of attack(Mikal) and one would ideally be able to do some minor playmaking(Mikal) and one would be an elite shooter(CamJ).

Let’s throw Turner as the big just for fun.

Booker/Bridges/CamJ/Siakam/Turner. You’ve got a point of attack defender, a lot of switchy wings, a big who protects the rim, and good size across the board. Everyone can shoot the 3(including 2 pretty elite ones)two of your guys are high level playmakers and you’ve got a 3rd decent playmaker.

Ya you might not have a super reliable ball handler, but if you bring in a good backup pg I think you can make it work.

[JeremyG]

Just think he’s old and his body is breaking down. He can’t play through even little nagging injuries anymore. He’s still producing at a decent clip when he plays. Shooting 40% from 3, still averaging 8 ast per game and keeps the turnovers down. He just can’t create great looks for himself anymore. That elbow pull-up hasn’t been there. I’d love to be able to transition him to a backup pg

Same. And that would work out perfectly if only we had had the #10 pick in 2020...

[Shabazz]

Ish at backup PG. Bizzy at backup SG. Can’t disrupt the delicate balance of this contender.

[Superbone]

Ish at backup PG. Bizzy at backup SG. Can’t disrupt the delicate balance of this contender.

Can’t wait! And Curry is returning. Should be a barn burner!!!

[Split T]

So(outside of Bridges)we might be without our entire starting lineup and their replacement in the starting lineup.

We gonna start Okogie/Lee/Mikal/Saric/Landale?

With Washington/Ish/Biyombo off the bench? That’s all we might have, lol…it almost feels like we are tanking. This is a team that Portland would’ve thrown out there last year.

[Split T]

I like Jalen. I’d be very happy if he’s our Crowder replacement

[ShelC]

I like us looking for a long, athletic wing but he seems a bit redundant at this point. He's not a banger with size/weight, not a true 4, not a connector type. Maybe he's a potential replacement for CamJ?

Also wonder if we'll be connected to Cam Reddish at some point since he's a similar type of wing who's on the block.

[Split T]

I think he’s more of a 4 than CamJ is…Cam is a better player though. He’s just a good young player and we are pretty short on those types. He’s an upgrade on Torrey Craig.

And hard to say anyone is redundant with our injury issues.

[ShelC]

We're not going to be injured forever tho. And he may be more of a 4 than Cam, but he's still going to get pushed around by the bigger, heavier frontcourt players which doesn't solve a problem we already have.

[INFORMER]

Where’s our max big guy on that list? Never even heard of Walker Kessler.

Monty told him not defend the PnR.

[INFORMER]

Russell Westbrook and a pick?

Westbrook is actually playing well enough to where this would be a nonstarter for LAL. Westbrook is arguably playing better than Paul, and Westbrook's contract gives LAL more flexibility than Paul's would.

Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward?

Hornets wouldn't include Rozier. You would get Hayward and McDaniels.

Reggie Jackson and Norman Powell?

I don't think the Clippers organization would be interested in a reunion.

[INFORMER]

One thing I've been wondering about is if maybe CP3 has long-Covid? I wonder if that's impacting him. It's weird to me how quickly he's fallen off. I still feel like he can bounce back from this.

It isn't weird. He has shown flashes of this both of the previous two years he has played here. It was only a matter of time...

[INFORMER]

Buying him out/declining his option just sets us back even further. Because of our cap situation we'd have limited means to replace him.

I disagree. We could stretch and waive him to spread out that $15 million over three seasons. Waiving him can give us the full MLE back. And we wouldn't be shackled by his walk-it-up style and deteriorating defensive abilities.

[INFORMER]

I like Jalen. I’d be very happy if he’s our Crowder replacement

I'm waiting for Gambo's tweet stating that the Suns have no interest in McDaniels.

[Superbone]

I like Jalen. I’d be very happy if he’s our Crowder replacement

I'm waiting for Gambo's tweet stating that the Suns have no interest in McDaniels.

Ha. That has been his MO lately. To shoot everything down. Maybe he knows something about the ownership transition.

[Split T]

The only one he didn’t shoot down was Kuzma