SUNS DRAFT KOA PEAT

[Split T]

I don’t think we traded up into the 1st to draft a guy to the g league team. I agree that he won’t likely play much as a rookie, but I think it’s fine to have a developmental player. He’s 19.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I don’t think we traded up into the 1st to draft a guy to the g league team. I agree that he won’t likely play much as a rookie, but I think it’s fine to have a developmental player. He’s 19.

That’s what they did with Fleming, trading up to 31 to get him and we already have an 19 year old development project on the roster.

[O_Gardino]

I don't think taking a 19 year old with his basketball resume and talent is a reach. He's not 22 or 23, he's not an 18 year old who's really raw with little basketball experience. There's some clear basketball there. He may not work out, but it's a solid enough pick.

What talent? Resume is great, can't knock that, but what NBA level talent does he have? He's built like Chuck Hayes, jumps like Chuck Hayes, passes pretty well, doesn't really defend or rebound at a high rate, can't shoot it. I hope I'm wrong because this team needs all the help it can get, but I just don't see it. Drafted a back up 4/5 tweener they can pass but can't shoot. We already have one of those.

Yeah, but this is a 3/4 tweener back up, and we only have Dunn to cover the “can’t-shoot-still-get-minutes” role there. Can’t wait to have him, Ryan and Oso sharing the frontcourt as our ultimate 3-4-5 can’t shoot lineup.

Sorry, hoping for the best, for another Gillespie-like success here, but I’m not holding my breath with this kid.

You're hoping he doesn't make his NBA debut until the age of 24, and doesn't get a rotation spot until he's 26?

Not really sure what you meant here, but I would say that he will get the same redshirt treatment that Fleming and Maluach as rookies. Beyond that, I wouldn’t bet on him getting a rotation spot, but more along a Koby Brea path: grasping for staying on the roster.

You said you hoped he'd have success like Gillespie, so I outlined Gillespie's path to success.

Of course he'll have to earn his minutes. And of course, he'll have to improve to do it. I'm perfectly fine with him having the same shot as those other guys you named. That's all I would ask from the 30th pick.

[SunsRIt]

I don’t think we traded up into the 1st to draft a guy to the g league team. I agree that he won’t likely play much as a rookie, but I think it’s fine to have a developmental player. He’s 19.

That’s what they did with Fleming, trading up to 31 to get him and we already have an 19 year old development project on the roster.

Oh no! You mean we 2 have to guys that we are grooming for the future? How terrible. I don’t know this kid at all, but damn. How dare we draft a kid over 6’6” that could develop into something.

[TOO]

Just gotta hope Ott plays these dudes that are over 6'6"

[JJ Slim]

My initial reaction was like yeah, okay move and doesn't hurt. But I wasn't thrilled about it either mostly because I didn't know anything about Peat. Taking everything I have seen today I'm actually rather excited now. A lot of what I saw was that he wasn't a shooter and that's why he fell so far. But other things that were said "good finisher", "not afraid to make contact", "physical specimen". How many times last year were we shouting during games "TAKE IT TO THE RIM!"? If he can do that I'm not worried about his mid- and long range shot but the first thing I want him to concentrate on is his FT shooting so he can capitalize on those opportunities and not let them use the hack-a-shaq thing on him.

I know he isn't that tall but have you seen the guns on him? He is only 19 and I'm pretty sure he is already bulkier than Dunn and Oso (not sure about Fleming). He is listed at 6'8" and 245lbs. Get him in the weight room and give him a year or two and we might have something. And just for context Amare was 6'10" at 240 and Karl Malone was 6'9" at 250.

[Shabazz]

Culture and all, but at some point the Suns need to stop acquiring the grunt guys and get Book some guys who are advantage creators on offense. I don’t think this 30th pick was the way to do it, but it’s a glaring weakness right now.

Admittedly, I didn’t watch a ton of college ball and what I know of Peat is from the highlight videos, but I didn’t love what I saw there. I’m usually watching to if the way the players create could translate in the NBA: are they blowing past players, getting into the paint with creative ball handling, etc? Peat’s highlights were more “I’m bigger and stronger than these guys, so I’ll just bully my way in.” That won’t be the case in the NBA, so he’ll need to adapt. I also feel like “he’s a winner” are famous last words from evaluators on many players who’ve busted in the past.

Hopefully he’s great, though.

[AmareIsGod]

Winner. Can't have enough winners on your team. It's not coincidence. He's a contributor towards success.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I don’t think we traded up into the 1st to draft a guy to the g league team. I agree that he won’t likely play much as a rookie, but I think it’s fine to have a developmental player. He’s 19.

That’s what they did with Fleming, trading up to 31 to get him and we already have an 19 year old development project on the roster.

Oh no! You mean we 2 have to guys that we are grooming for the future? How terrible. I don’t know this kid at all, but damn. How dare we draft a kid over 6’6” that could develop into something.

Are you serious about only having two projects on the roster?


Second and third year players are far from finished products and 2-way contracts are the way to go if you are taking a swing on someone, perhaps a 2nd, but not a four year contract, and before talking about the 3rd year options, Jalen Smith should enter the conversation.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

My initial reaction was like yeah, okay move and doesn't hurt. But I wasn't thrilled about it either mostly because I didn't know anything about Peat. Taking everything I have seen today I'm actually rather excited now. A lot of what I saw was that he wasn't a shooter and that's why he fell so far. But other things that were said "good finisher", "not afraid to make contact", "physical specimen". How many times last year were we shouting during games "TAKE IT TO THE RIM!"? If he can do that I'm not worried about his mid- and long range shot but the first thing I want him to concentrate on is his FT shooting so he can capitalize on those opportunities and not let them use the hack-a-shaq thing on him.

I know he isn't that tall but have you seen the guns on him? He is only 19 and I'm pretty sure he is already bulkier than Dunn and Oso (not sure about Fleming). He is listed at 6'8" and 245lbs. Get him in the weight room and give him a year or two and we might have something. And just for context Amare was 6'10" at 240 and Karl Malone was 6'9" at 250.

Maybe I’m behind the majority boarding the Peat hype train. I currently think of him as the local-boy-for-marketing pick, and therefore a waste of assets.

But him surpassing Dunn on the chart would be a good start even as a rookie. Ryan looked stagnant, even devolving to close the year.

[ShelC]

There are some definite red flags there but what he does well could really help us and the intangibles stuff could tip the scales with him.

[TOO]

Winner. Can't have enough winners on your team. It's not coincidence. He's a contributor towards success.

Have yet to see anyone talk about his actual game lol.

[JJ Slim]

My initial reaction was like yeah, okay move and doesn't hurt. But I wasn't thrilled about it either mostly because I didn't know anything about Peat. Taking everything I have seen today I'm actually rather excited now. A lot of what I saw was that he wasn't a shooter and that's why he fell so far. But other things that were said "good finisher", "not afraid to make contact", "physical specimen". How many times last year were we shouting during games "TAKE IT TO THE RIM!"? If he can do that I'm not worried about his mid- and long range shot but the first thing I want him to concentrate on is his FT shooting so he can capitalize on those opportunities and not let them use the hack-a-shaq thing on him.

I know he isn't that tall but have you seen the guns on him? He is only 19 and I'm pretty sure he is already bulkier than Dunn and Oso (not sure about Fleming). He is listed at 6'8" and 245lbs. Get him in the weight room and give him a year or two and we might have something. And just for context Amare was 6'10" at 240 and Karl Malone was 6'9" at 250.

Maybe I’m behind the majority boarding the Peat hype train. I currently think of him as the local-boy-for-marketing pick, and therefore a waste of assets.

But him surpassing Dunn on the chart would be a good start even as a rookie. Ryan looked stagnant, even devolving to close the year.

Just so I'm clear I don't think Peat is going to be the savior of the Suns. All I meant was that we gave up basically nothing to get him and he "could" be an awesome steal. He could just as easily end up being an All Star as he could be a total bust. But that's the nature of most players in the draft beyond a select few and even some of those end up busts (see a previous UofA #1 pick). So all I'm saying is that for what we gave up it is totally worth it to give him and chance and see what we got. If in a year or two it is obvious he is not NBA material we can move on without having mortgaged our future.

[JJ Slim]

Also I can't wait for the Peat and re-Peat jokes lol

[Kryptonic]

Also I can't wait for the Peat and re-Peat jokes lol

Shits already been Dunn.

[pickle]

Also I can't wait for the Peat and re-Peat jokes lol

What if he really develops a three point shot?

[pickle]

We used two future 2nds to move up 17 slots. OKC used 2 future 2nds to move up 1 spot. Detroit used 3 to move up 4 slots.

I don’t care at all about the 2nds. People sell those picks every year. We can just buy more 2nds.

Now I don’t have much of an opinion on Peat. I didn’t watch UofA and didn’t really scout him beforehand at all. There’s some draft guys that do really like him. Sam Vecenie had him 16 on his board. I’ll summarize a part of his write up that I found interesting. He said you need to have 4 of the 5 skills to be useful as a role player(Passing, Dribbling, thinking, shooting, and defending). He says Koa can already do the first 3…he will make or break on whether the shot comes around or he can be a high level defender. He’s a good finisher…I don’t really get the concerns that he’s an undersized, unathletic forward. I would not consider him undersized. He’s 6’7 245, 6’11 wingspan. He’s very strong. He also looks like a good athlete to me in the film. He doesn’t have Dunn’s athleticism or Fleming’s length, but he’s not Royce O’Neale.

I think to me it’s clear that Ott doesn’t exactly like guys that can’t dribble, pass, and think. It’s why Dunn seems to be expendable and had a hard time sticking in the rotation. He’s pretty bad at all 3. It’s also why Fleming was in and out of the rotation. He needs to progress in those same areas. Koa will need to shoot, but I like that he’s 19. He has time. If he does shoot, he’ll be a really good role player imo.

I've read through this thread and honestly am a little confused why some on the board hate this move so much, and I think I agree with Split's position on this most.

I don't watch college so all my opinions are based on scouting reports pre-draft. After we draft a player I then go look for their Youtube scouting videos. I know that Peat's report says that' he's not athletic and isn't currently a very good defender and is undersized, but those feel like just labels, to be honest. The one major negative is that he doesn't shoot well from the outside and only shoots 62% from the line, but at least he has the recognition to find a shooting coach so that's definitely going in the right direction.

(As a tangent, I don't know why Ishbia doesn't go out and hire the best shooting coach in the league, as so many of our players would immediately become that much more valuable if they can be consistent 3 point threats.)

Reports say that he doesn't have plus athleticism, but he seems to be quite explosive in the scouting reels. He may not have that super second jump that top tier athletes have, but he plays above the rim, and exercises outstanding body control when dealing with contact and finishes quite well in the paint, and to me that's part of athleticism too. His handles are not great, but that's probably something that's a bit easier to pick up than shooting. As for the undersized label, he's 6'7 barefoot with a 6'11 wingspan, so that's pretty solid for a modern 4, and he's got the bulk to bang with some of the bigger players. Think I still have PTSD from watching Mikal get completely abused by Luka a few years back. Sure, he could be 6'10 with a 7'4 wingspan, but we are talking about a 30th pick here, not early lottery. And while he doesn't have eye popping defensive counting stats, he had very solid to amazing defensive fg% apparently, so having a guy who has good fundamentals who can chase around 3s and 4s is something I'd happily sign up for.

Anyway, this is a very long way of saying that I'm happy we made this move, and I look forward to seeing him in summer league. Hope we can already intervene with his shooting coach efforts to make sure that he's not being led astray.

[The Bobster]

If Peat had been able to do all the things people are asking about he never would have been available to us in the draft.

Pretty much every player in the draft has areas of their game to work on and logically, the further down the list, the more to work on. It seems that most draft predictions had him in the 20 to 25 range so I don't think the pick is any kind of a reach. He seems to be a good finisher around the basket with better size than most of our forwards (other than Fleming and Huntley) and looks to be a good passer. I think he'll be able to bully a lot of forwards with his strength, but his rebounding is nothing special.

When you pick at the end of the first round you're hoping you find an eventual rotation player. Sometimes you end up with a Larry Nance, Rajon Rondo or a Michael Finley. But more often its a Casey Jacobsen, Alando Tucker or a Mario Bennett.

[pickle]

Not comparing their games whatsoever, but Peat's physical profile reminds me a little of Stanley Johnson.

[Kryptonic]

Maybe it’s my PTSD of the last u or a guy but this just feels too much like they took Peat because he’s a valley kid. I thought we got a new scouting dept…. Are they allowed to leave the valley? Hope I’m wrong.