Game 8: Atlanta Hawks (4-5) @ Phoenix Suns (4-3) l Saturday l 7:00pm l BSAZ

[RedIndian]

Solid win. This is why it makes sense to have a deep team, and why the 3rd stringers matter.
Once Payne and CamJo find their groove we'll be hard to beat in the regular season, and should be well rested for the playoffs.

(Although I still think we sould try to add Thad Young for the playoffs - that's where the 3rd stringers don't really matter, while your top 8-9 players should be the best in order to win in the Finals.)

I think the team has a couple of weaknesses yet to address.

1. Absolutely need a guy who can help us go small ball. Torrey Craig was the guy last year, and Thad Young could and should be the guy this year. McGee, Kaminsky or Cam at the 5 won't help in the playoffs if teams are running and attacking on switches relentlessly.

2. Another playable point of attack defender. Mikal is great, but he can't play 48 minutes. At least last year we had the option of playing Jevon for 10 mins. Shamet works hard, but he will be targeted in the playoffs. Nader is garbage. Can we try Hutchison? I don't know. Sure wish we had drafted Vassell instead of Jalen Smith.

Agree with you on the 1st point.

2nd point is a bit more dubious. We didn't really have another point of attack defender in the playoffs either last year unless you count Craig. Carter played 22min all of last playoffs so he was essentially a non-factor even if he could defend the hell out of some guards. Ultimately, it's a bit of a group effort when it comes to defense. Book stepped up, Bridges was solid, CP3 was solid as well and Payne was the guy off the bench for us defensively.

The question is, if you bring in a defender in (or play Hutch) you're likely to give up something on offense and take minutes away minutes from other offensively productive players like Shamet, so are you willing to give that up? The way I see it, our starting backourt is fairly solid defensively, even with Booker because when he's focused, he can defend. If we're talking about defense, I think finding that small-ball 5 is more important than another point of attack guy

On point 2, our playoff rotation towards the end had shorted to 8 players - starters plus Payne, Cam, Craig. Saric of course was part of the rotation till he got injured. Craig was unique in that he could defend 1-5, big enough to play small ball 5, and also pick up wings and guards when needed. He picked up Paul George in the Clippers series on a few occasions.

Adding Thad helps replicate that somewhat, though he plays like a big these days. He'll defend 4s and 5s, but I wonder if he can see a lot of minutes playing against 1s, 2s or 3s. I'd definitely like to add a big guard or a small wing who can play POA defense. Do I think it will happen? Not really - I expect Mikal to do the bulk of this work, and Shamet to play about 10 mins.

[bwgood77]

Solid win. This is why it makes sense to have a deep team, and why the 3rd stringers matter.
Once Payne and CamJo find their groove we'll be hard to beat in the regular season, and should be well rested for the playoffs.

(Although I still think we sould try to add Thad Young for the playoffs - that's where the 3rd stringers don't really matter, while your top 8-9 players should be the best in order to win in the Finals.)

It's interesting, because if we had Thad, I imagine Kaminsky wouldn't have played as much in 2 of the last 3 games with Ayton out. Would have been interesting to see if we were better with Thad playing over Kaminsky.

The thing about Kaminsky I noted before the game was that I'd play him over McGee because he will draw Capela out so we wouldn't get as killed on the boards.

But Kaminsky has great offensive instincts. All the way back to Wisconsin. He can hit the 3, he knows where players are knows where to be.

I agree with JDiddy....I kind of like him better overall than Saric outside of those streaks where Sarver plays REALLY well but that only happens for like one stretch of 10 games per season.

Kaminsky never looks great in spot minutes, but when he gets a decent amount of minutes he almost always plays well.

He can't really defend, but offensively he's pretty solid for stretch big who can pass, etc.

Well, Thad is an overall better player than Frank for sure. Does Frank have fortes? Absolutley. Like you pointed out, and in these 2 games in particular those strenghts were needed, and used well. Definatley helped us getting the W's. I'll go further, I'm not sure we'd win both with Thad in place of Frank. However, overall (and especially in the playoffs, especially with this years rules (no wishtles)) I'm 100% sure that we would be better with Thad.
Also - forget about Saric already... he ain't coming back this year and if he does, he/it will do more harm than good. He will be slower than a turtle, and jump like one too.

Yes, Thad's better than Frank, but he's not a good guy to pair with Ayton so you would want to play him in lineups when Ayton sits. He wouldn't pair well with JaVale either. So at that point we are playing him at small ball backup C or with Frank.

So the fit overall isn't ideal unless Ayton is out. It also likely squeezes minutes from our other PFs who can spread the floor if/when they do try to play him with Ayton or JaVale, and at that point the paint is crowded with defenders that make it harder for Ayton if he's paired with him but also easier to defend our midrange game.

Our whole team mostly relies on a four out offense, but on top of that, our two main crunch time scorers are best in the midrange. So you just have to weigh all that.

I'd take him on our team for sure. Do I think it's worth giving up a 1st for him in a year where Paul may have not even played and we could be declining, leaving us one first rounder in the next 3 years? Just for likely a few months of him possibly helping us some? I don't think it's worth it.

[Saberestar]

It's interesting, because if we had Thad, I imagine Kaminsky wouldn't have played as much in 2 of the last 3 games with Ayton out. Would have been interesting to see if we were better with Thad playing over Kaminsky.

The thing about Kaminsky I noted before the game was that I'd play him over McGee because he will draw Capela out so we wouldn't get as killed on the boards.

But Kaminsky has great offensive instincts. All the way back to Wisconsin. He can hit the 3, he knows where players are knows where to be.

I agree with JDiddy....I kind of like him better overall than Saric outside of those streaks where Sarver plays REALLY well but that only happens for like one stretch of 10 games per season.

Kaminsky never looks great in spot minutes, but when he gets a decent amount of minutes he almost always plays well.

He can't really defend, but offensively he's pretty solid for stretch big who can pass, etc.

Well, Thad is an overall better player than Frank for sure. Does Frank have fortes? Absolutley. Like you pointed out, and in these 2 games in particular those strenghts were needed, and used well. Definatley helped us getting the W's. I'll go further, I'm not sure we'd win both with Thad in place of Frank. However, overall (and especially in the playoffs, especially with this years rules (no wishtles)) I'm 100% sure that we would be better with Thad.
Also - forget about Saric already... he ain't coming back this year and if he does, he/it will do more harm than good. He will be slower than a turtle, and jump like one too.

Yes, Thad's better than Frank, but he's not a good guy to pair with Ayton so you would want to play him in lineups when Ayton sits. He wouldn't pair well with JaVale either. So at that point we are playing him at small ball backup C or with Frank.

So the fit overall isn't ideal unless Ayton is out. It also likely squeezes minutes from our other PFs who can spread the floor if/when they do try to play him with Ayton or JaVale, and at that point the paint is crowded with defenders that make it harder for Ayton if he's paired with him but also easier to defend our midrange game.

Our whole team mostly relies on a four out offense, but on top of that, our two main crunch time scorers are best in the midrange. So you just have to weigh all that.

I'd take him on our team for sure. Do I think it's worth giving up a 1st for him in a year where Paul may have not even played and we could be declining, leaving us one first rounder in the next 3 years? Just for likely a few months of him possibly helping us some? I don't think it's worth it.

With the right restrictions I would be OK trading a late 1st for Thad Young.

We would be able to retain him next season going over the cap and that would be really useful knowing that Jalen Smith will not be on the team and that McGee and Kaminsky will be UFAs.

He is versatile ad he can really play in the perimeter on offense. Not a shooter but he can score from three and he is pretty quick with or without the ball on his hands.

[Bogyo]

Well, Thad is an overall better player than Frank for sure. Does Frank have fortes? Absolutley. Like you pointed out, and in these 2 games in particular those strenghts were needed, and used well. Definatley helped us getting the W's. I'll go further, I'm not sure we'd win both with Thad in place of Frank. However, overall (and especially in the playoffs, especially with this years rules (no wishtles)) I'm 100% sure that we would be better with Thad.
Also - forget about Saric already... he ain't coming back this year and if he does, he/it will do more harm than good. He will be slower than a turtle, and jump like one too.

Yes, Thad's better than Frank, but he's not a good guy to pair with Ayton so you would want to play him in lineups when Ayton sits. He wouldn't pair well with JaVale either. So at that point we are playing him at small ball backup C or with Frank.

So the fit overall isn't ideal unless Ayton is out. It also likely squeezes minutes from our other PFs who can spread the floor if/when they do try to play him with Ayton or JaVale, and at that point the paint is crowded with defenders that make it harder for Ayton if he's paired with him but also easier to defend our midrange game.

Our whole team mostly relies on a four out offense, but on top of that, our two main crunch time scorers are best in the midrange. So you just have to weigh all that.

I'd take him on our team for sure. Do I think it's worth giving up a 1st for him in a year where Paul may have not even played and we could be declining, leaving us one first rounder in the next 3 years? Just for likely a few months of him possibly helping us some? I don't think it's worth it.

With the right restrictions I would be OK trading a late 1st for Thad Young.

We would be able to retain him next season going over the cap and that would be really useful knowing that Jalen Smith will not be on the team and that McGee and Kaminsky will be UFAs.

He is versatile ad he can really play in the perimeter on offense. Not a shooter but he can score from three and he is pretty quick with or without the ball on his hands.

Also - he could be a big ball PF. He is 2 inches taller than Crowder, but the same weight, and he is not a plodder at all. His shooting percentages aren't any worse than Crowders, and he is (was) playing on bad teams with more defensive attention on him. He is a better rebounder than Crowder too. So I think we could find him adequate playing time here, especially with how streaky our other two PF's are shooting the rock. Crowder has been like this forever, but this year Cam too...

[bwgood77]

Well, Thad is an overall better player than Frank for sure. Does Frank have fortes? Absolutley. Like you pointed out, and in these 2 games in particular those strenghts were needed, and used well. Definatley helped us getting the W's. I'll go further, I'm not sure we'd win both with Thad in place of Frank. However, overall (and especially in the playoffs, especially with this years rules (no wishtles)) I'm 100% sure that we would be better with Thad.
Also - forget about Saric already... he ain't coming back this year and if he does, he/it will do more harm than good. He will be slower than a turtle, and jump like one too.

Yes, Thad's better than Frank, but he's not a good guy to pair with Ayton so you would want to play him in lineups when Ayton sits. He wouldn't pair well with JaVale either. So at that point we are playing him at small ball backup C or with Frank.

So the fit overall isn't ideal unless Ayton is out. It also likely squeezes minutes from our other PFs who can spread the floor if/when they do try to play him with Ayton or JaVale, and at that point the paint is crowded with defenders that make it harder for Ayton if he's paired with him but also easier to defend our midrange game.

Our whole team mostly relies on a four out offense, but on top of that, our two main crunch time scorers are best in the midrange. So you just have to weigh all that.

I'd take him on our team for sure. Do I think it's worth giving up a 1st for him in a year where Paul may have not even played and we could be declining, leaving us one first rounder in the next 3 years? Just for likely a few months of him possibly helping us some? I don't think it's worth it.

With the right restrictions I would be OK trading a late 1st for Thad Young.

We would be able to retain him next season going over the cap and that would be really useful knowing that Jalen Smith will not be on the team and that McGee and Kaminsky will be UFAs.

He is versatile ad he can really play in the perimeter on offense. Not a shooter but he can score from three and he is pretty quick with or without the ball on his hands.

I know you like throwing away firsts for players for a few months. We would very unlikely retain him given our cap situation when he will be an UFA, and if we could sign him, could do so anyway in the offseason.

First round picks obviously don't seem valuable to us since we've botched some but we would not look so good without Book or Bridges, and not having Cam would hurt our depth. None of these were really high picks.

Protections on picks are often a curse because even if you keep a protected pick one year, the protection erodes so you may end up giving a better one later.

I mean if it was like top 20 protected for a few years and then reverted to two seconds, than maybe, but to get him we'd have to send out Saric, which, that in and of itself would probably cost us some compensation. I don't think Monty would want them to trade Dario at all.