Phx-Suns.Net

I know it's early, but I figure this topic is separate enough from the draft itself to Warrant its own thread. I'm also going to sticky it for a week just to see what everyone's thoughts are on the early returns.

I will admit, I was a late addition to the Luka train. But I think as I've had time to process, it appears that our draft as a whole really does seem pretty solid.

So taking all that into account, along with my personal feelings, I'm going to give us the letter grade of...

A-

A- from me.

We landed number 1,9, and 10 guys on my board. Only reason it's not an A+ is we did give up a lot to move up for Bridges. I think the Miami pick is more likely to be mediocre than great, but no protection on it is dangerous.

B++

Ayton was set in stone, good pick. I think my favorite thing about him is not having to see Chriss/Bender trying to play the 5 anymore.

Bridges, best wing the draft, super stoked to get him, do not care about the Heat pick, can't sit on stuff forever.

Okobo, meh, he's why it's not an A. Could be a nice 2nd unit scorer maybe.

King, no idea who this is, probably doesn't get outta SL with us.

TheOriginalOriginal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:09 pm

King, no idea who this is, probably doesn't get outta SL with us.

First I heard of him was at the combine. Can't say I've ever watched him, but a couple interesting things about him.

6'6 220 with 7'0 wingspan.
Known as a defender.
13 points, 8 boards and shot 40% from 3
2 years ago he shot 45% from 3

Can't imagine he's anything more than a 2-way contract, but there is something to work with.

I would've given a B before the trade, but now I'll call it an A-.

It's pretty hard to fuck up the first pick in the draft. B+ for doing something that was expected.

Bridges is exactly the type of wing player we need and he's a proven winner. A on him and the trade.

Net grade is an A-.

B+. Very solid. Excited about the group we brought in. A little apprehensive about giving up our crown jewel asset, considering it could have fetched something special.

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:26 pm

B+. Very solid. Excited about the group we brought in. A little apprehensive about giving up our crown jewel asset, considering it could have fetched something special.

It did.

A-

Not worried about using the pick. That's what it's there for. Very hard to project the quality of player available when it eventually conveys. We just got a top 10 pick in a deep draft. Getting Bridges was a very nice surprise for me. Legler just said he sees some Pippen in Bridges.

TheOriginalOriginal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:36 pm

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:26 pm

B+. Very solid. Excited about the group we brought in. A little apprehensive about giving up our crown jewel asset, considering it could have fetched something special.

It did.

Fair enough.

B.

Would have been an A if that pick they included was any other pick or had any protections

Both Tim Legler and Jay Bilas just gave Phoenix best draft honors.

A++

A+

We got the #1 and #10 in one deep draft. How often does that happen? Never! How can that not be an A+?

I know you guys are grading the front office for this and not so much the players. I’m still grading it an A+. They sucked enough to ensure high picks and part of that is the front office in part planning for the future I believe. The year before half the starters were held out the last half of the year. Last year we seemed to hold out starters like Bender more than needed in the last half of the season as well. We had a 25% chance of getting the first pick this year being in last place. All the stars lined for once.

The old gypsy witch is getting old and losing her grip on the spell.

suns would be in much better shape if they had tatum instead of joshjackson. imagine booker, bridges and tatum shooting lights out.

SDC wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:12 pm

suns would be in much better shape if they had tatum instead of joshjackson. imagine booker, bridges and tatum shooting lights out.

What does that have to do with anything?

Did we fill our need at PG? I could have sworn they were talking about making some off season moves.

When do SDC's posts ever have anything to do with anything?

TheOriginalOriginal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:22 pm

When do SDC's posts ever have anything to do with anything?

Well, I went to sleep with 2 picks in the bag, loved the trade for Bridges along with the Ayton pick and then they added Okobo who I think will be a real gem from that late in the draft.

Overall for me it is an A.

Would have been an A+ if we’d have managed to keep hold of the Miami pick, but assests are only valuable if you use them to your advantage. Even if Miami suck we can’t live our lives hoping other teams suck for us to be successful.

A-.

Nice maneuver moving up to nab Bridges. And Ayton has a decent chance of being the biggest stud of the whole draft and is a worthy #1 pick (though I wanted Doncic).

We still have a gaping hole at PG and a logjam of guys at the 3-4 spots, all of whom have big question marks. I am still not much of a fan of Josh Jackson, and I would kind of rather hand all of those minutes to some combination of Bridges and Warren. I don't like that we are likely to give starter's minutes to the worst shooter of the three, and then might have to bury Bridges at the end of the bench. But oh well. He's young; maybe he wouldn't be ready for big minutes yet.

Our PF rotation is also pretty messed up. We have Bender and Chriss along with Dudley's corpse. I think I would prefer to see this team just go waaaaay small and rotate in guys like Warren or Jackson (or Bridges? don't know if he can handle it) at the PF spot. Trade or dump Chriss, still start Bender but back him up with our SF players so that those guys all get enough minutes.

I wish Chandler were off the team. I guess we can keep him around a year for "mentorship" or "leadership" or whatever he provides.

What are they going to do at PG? Are they really going to try to start Brandon Knight? Really? I like Ulis more than most; I would be fine with giving him the reins if we don't find a PG free agent. I wonder if there are legs to that Kemba rumor now. It sure feels like this team is a PG-focused trade away from having a balanced roster. Something like Warren, Chriss, and picks. Not sure I love Kemba on this team (I much prefer pass-first PGs), but it would make more sense than the current roster with really shaky talent at the PG position.