Phx-Suns.Net

the 2018 draft thread is hot, and rightfully so
we're hungry, the fruits are ripe, but we're likely to be just out of range for the cream of the crop

instead of relying on injuries (real or imagined)
let's tank the right way
by legitimately being worse than our remaining opponents

chandler stinks, we probably should keep him and start him every night
and start ulis, because he can't shoot
and start jackson, because he's got problems

monroe is a good big man, he's got to go
daniels is an excellent 3 point weapon, he's got to go too
the game changer, however, is to risk moving warren, bender or chris if it might help us get down to a top 3 pick
the loss of warren would guarantee more suckage
chris is better than bender now. he deserves consideration

i think warren is the play, or chris, perhaps even both
i think i'd prefer to make a significant move now rather than run next season with the same basic team plus pick 6 - 10.

Moving Warren is about the most absurd and stupid thing we could do.

booker + a top 3 2018 pick in 2019
the rest are just exchangeable parts

i think we need to get another all-star quality player on our own
and then we can attract and sign another star (including tj warren if he gets to that level)

I don't think we're going to be making a splash in free agency the next couple of years, so if we could trade a year or two of cap room for a young stud, that's the kind of deal we should be looking for.

some say Cleveland should trade their Nets 2018 pick for a stud that can help them now
warren + ? for the Nets' pick...

? = troy or monroe + one of our picks

1tinsoldier wrote:some say Cleveland should trade their Nets 2018 pick for a stud that can help them now
warren + ? for the Nets' pick...

? = troy or monroe + one of our picks

They need shooting & defense. Neither of which Warren provides much of. Daniels at least checks one box.

cleveland is an excellent defensive team

t.j. for j.r. (plus daniels and a pick from us for the nets' pick)
imo just getting rid of j.r. smith is a plus for them
t.j. would help them now and in the future if lebron leaves
and j.r. would help us suck more

1tinsoldier wrote:cleveland is an excellent defensive team

Huh? They have the 2nd worst defense in the league.

So what do we do with Monroe? His expiring is massive. Do we just cut him?

We can add salary over the next two-three seasons and rape someone for their picks.

We can add something to Monroe's contract (Chriss/pick?) and see what difference maker becomes available.

Most of our big contracts expire next year, in the summer of 2019. Chandler and Dudley both come off the books.

Brandon Knight is a freaking albatross. About the best we can do is just play him next year, because as bad as he is, he's still (probably) marginally better than Canaan and Ullis.

I don't think Len will be re-signing with us this summer.

Interested to see what McD does with Chandler and Monroe. Not interested in any other moves and not sure there are any others to be made.

ShelC wrote:Interested to see what McD does with Chandler and Monroe. Not interested in any other moves and not sure there are any others to be made.

Daniels. Len.

You think anyone's trading for those guys? I don't see it. And I'm still open to keeping Len for the right price in the offseason, but only in a backup role.

Ring_Wanted wrote:

ShelC wrote:Interested to see what McD does with Chandler and Monroe. Not interested in any other moves and not sure there are any others to be made.

Daniels. Len.

Len can veto any trade, and has heavy incentives to do so. Unless someone wants him on a sign and trade, he doesn't move. Nobody seemed to want him this summer, so...

ShelC wrote:You think anyone's trading for those guys? I don't see it. And I'm still open to keeping Len for the right price in the offseason, but only in a backup role.

I really wish we would stop playing Chandler completely. Len or Monroe should be starting right now, and then we figure out who is our starting C next year. Williams shouldn't be it. So we need to re-sign Len, or find someone else that is a starting caliber Center.

Indy wrote:

ShelC wrote:You think anyone's trading for those guys? I don't see it. And I'm still open to keeping Len for the right price in the offseason, but only in a backup role.

I really wish we would stop playing Chandler completely. Len or Monroe should be starting right now, and then we figure out who is our starting C next year. Williams shouldn't be it. So we need to re-sign Len, or find someone else that is a starting caliber Center.

Problem is, that is highly probably that neither of those two would remain here beyond the summer, but Chandler will. That's why I prefer to go after someone as Valanciounas with all of his shortcomings (but hey, neither Len or Monroe are perfect), to stablish a long term presence in the position clearly capable to make Chandler accept a bench role. Unless we have a real chance to land a building block, (unlikely without including aditional assets) we still need a long term answer at center, even if it is similar to what we did with Warren at SF (flawed, but still productive player, on a friendly contract). Of course it has to the right player to the right price, JV at three years remaining is not the right Price, but otherwise he wouldn't be available (and I'm using him just as an example).

The time to evaluate Len expired last summer, the best you could say about him was "incomplete grade", another casualty from Watson's development "tactics", because the difference on expectactions about the contract probably got worse if Alex truly buyed one of those "you are the greatest" peptalks. But he could still benefit from a trade to a team that will play him consistently on a defined role, and a chance to showcase in a playoff run.

Still not sure that Alex is not on "contract year mode", so given the chance, I would prefer to resign Monroe, a player with specific and developed skills, and have already showed a good demeanor on bad situations (final year in Detroit, bad fit on the Bucks, trade from a playoffs team to a rebuilding one, undefined role and playing time), but it looks, like the Front Office already made their mind on him, or concede him an agreement to deal him or buy him out.

I just don't get this center rotation where Len plays 12 minutes, then 25, then logs a DNP. Monroe is hardly playing despite the fact that he's really our best big and we traded our starting PG for him. If we're showcasing Chandler...good luck.

I'm still very open to the idea of Bender growing into the center position. Maybe I'm off with that, but I think his skillset translates nicely to what the 5spot has become. Play him at the 3 pt line, use his passing to set up others, then use his shotblocking instincts around the rim. The biggest thing is that it'll give us a more speed, athleticism and maybe, just maybe, an identity.

Shabazz wrote:

1tinsoldier wrote:cleveland is an excellent defensive team

Huh? They have the 2nd worst defense in the league.

cleveland is known to be under-motivated during the regular season, and that starts with Lebron, but i witnessed an exceptional defense from them over the last 3 playoffs

unless, Kyrie was a defensive power house (which he wasn't) they should excel again in that department when it matters