Phx-Suns.Net

Future rotation point guard for us?

I’d be happy to give him a shot…trade Tyus if it helps get Jimmy and give him an nba contract. We still have Monte too.

I think he can play, he might be a bit of a liability on defense (shocker I know) but he can shoot and seems always make the proper pass.

It would be malpractice to not give him a look…he’s clearly way too good for the g league.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:34 am

It would be malpractice to not give him a look…he’s clearly way too good for the g league.

Some guys just need the right situation too, Ty Jerome immediately jumps out

James Jones really hasn’t missed on a draft pick:

Cam Johnson - good starter
Ty Jerome - great bench guard
Jalen Smith - drafted too high, but solid bench big
Toumani Camara - solid rotation guy, 5th starter type
Ryan Dunn - see Camara, Toumani
Oso Ighodora - Verdict still out, but has shown promise.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 11:01 am

James Jones really hasn’t missed on a draft pick:

Cam Johnson - good starter
Ty Jerome - great bench guard
Jalen Smith - drafted too high, but solid bench big
Toumani Camara - solid rotation guy, 5th starter type
Ryan Dunn - see Camara, Toumani
Oso Ighodora - Verdict still out, but has shown promise.

James Jones is very good at drafting solid rotation guys and role players. He hasn't found any true stars yet. Not that it would really have been reasonable to expect that, given the numbering of most of the picks he's made. But this does bode well for his ability to make use of our picks / acquired picks that come later in the first round.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 11:01 am

James Jones really hasn’t missed on a draft pick:

Cam Johnson - good starter
Ty Jerome - great bench guard
Jalen Smith - drafted too high, but solid bench big
Toumani Camara - solid rotation guy, 5th starter type
Ryan Dunn - see Camara, Toumani
Oso Ighodora - Verdict still out, but has shown promise.

I don’t understand how you can consider Smith “not a miss.”

Because he’s a solid nba player.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:28 pm

Because he’s a solid nba player.

He never did anything for us and we could and should have had one of the Tyreses. That’s a miss.

Cap wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:42 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:28 pm

Because he’s a solid nba player.

He never did anything for us and we could and should have had one of the Tyreses. That’s a miss.

I’m not commenting on what we could have done with it…we certainly botched it in some ways…but Jalen is an nba player…jones didn’t miss on that

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:14 pm

Cap wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:42 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:28 pm

Because he’s a solid nba player.

He never did anything for us and we could and should have had one of the Tyreses. That’s a miss.

I’m not commenting on what we could have done with it…we certainly botched it in some ways…but Jalen is an nba player…jones didn’t miss on that

I find that I agree with the vast majority of your takes, Split, and I get the logic of your statement, but honestly that is a very literal interpretation of the term “miss”. In evaluating a team’s draft records I think it’s worthwhile to take a step back and see if our front office is able to maximize the draft positions we find ourselves in and the players available during those specific drafts. I agree with you that we haven’t drafted complete busts like Anthony Bennett, and I expressed optimism for the 31 1st for three late rounds 1sts exactly for the reasons you stated, but Jones did miss on obviously better players during at least one draft, and I would argue he could’ve easily traded back from 11 to pick up additional assets and still had gotten Cam Johnson.

pickle wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 9:50 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:14 pm

Cap wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:42 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:28 pm

Because he’s a solid nba player.

He never did anything for us and we could and should have had one of the Tyreses. That’s a miss.

I’m not commenting on what we could have done with it…we certainly botched it in some ways…but Jalen is an nba player…jones didn’t miss on that

I find that I agree with the vast majority of your takes, Split, and I get the logic of your statement, but honestly that is a very literal interpretation of the term “miss”. In evaluating a team’s draft records I think it’s worthwhile to take a step back and see if our front office is able to maximize the draft positions we find ourselves in and the players available during those specific drafts. I agree with you that we haven’t drafted complete busts like Anthony Bennett, and I expressed optimism for the 31 1st for three late rounds 1sts exactly for the reasons you stated, but Jones did miss on obviously better players during at least one draft, and I would argue he could’ve easily traded back from 11 to pick up additional assets and still had gotten Cam Johnson.

I agree..I don’t think I’m explaining my thinking very well. Or just not wording it well. We obviously shouldn’t have drafted Jalen Smith, Tyrese Haliburton was as obvious of a pick as I can remember. I’m just saying that so far, when James Jones has targeted a player in the draft, they’ve ultimately proven to be an nba player. I think he was right about Jalen Smith. I think Monty botched using him and then we made it worse by declining his option, but JJ evaluated Jalen correctly…how much of the option being declined was a Sarver money saving thing? I don’t remember if we were in luxury tax land or not.

My statement wasn’t factoring in good use of assets or who was available. Just simply that I think James Jones targeted a specific player that he thought was an NBA player and he was right. It’s not a good way to evaluate a draft record, but it does mean I think James Jones knows how to find an nba player…at least he’s identified something that makes people good nba players. I do wish he’d be a little more open minded to risk in the draft.

Yeah I get that. I just think the context in which a pick is called a miss probably matters. I am fairly optimistic about Jones’ ability to identify talent in the late first. With Ishbia replacing Sarver I’m hopeful we can make investments into player development and avoid the (post-draft) Stix disaster in the future.

As much as I hate the mortgaging the future approach, I think what Ishbia has done has been consistent.

pickle wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:07 pm

Yeah I get that. I just think the context in which a pick is called a miss probably matters. I am fairly optimistic about Jones’ ability to identify talent in the late first. With Ishbia replacing Sarver I’m hopeful we can make investments into player development and avoid the (post-draft) Stix disaster in the future.

As much as I hate the mortgaging the future approach, I think what Ishbia has done has been consistent.

You’re right, context matters. I probably should have said something like, ignoring who we could have taken instead, it’s interesting that everyone James Jones has picked has turned into a useful nba player.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:10 pm

pickle wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:07 pm

Yeah I get that. I just think the context in which a pick is called a miss probably matters. I am fairly optimistic about Jones’ ability to identify talent in the late first. With Ishbia replacing Sarver I’m hopeful we can make investments into player development and avoid the (post-draft) Stix disaster in the future.

As much as I hate the mortgaging the future approach, I think what Ishbia has done has been consistent.

You’re right, context matters. I probably should have said something like, ignoring who we could have taken instead, it’s interesting that everyone James Jones has picked has turned into a useful nba player.

I really don't understand why we gave up on Smith so quickly.