The 2016 Offseason Thread

[RunDogGun]

Kind of interesting that the guy we traded Bledsoe for, is now back on the team.

[NTB]

http://www.nba.com/suns/press-release/phoenix-suns-release-2016-preseason-schedule

[bwgood77]

Touche Miyag..... but considering McMully didn't really do his annual dismantling, I am assuming he might be trying to establish some continuity this year. So... yes, a 'core' .... though I have my doubts things will evolve as I would like when it comes to minutes/playing time.

This is a list of players who can be said to have been rotation players (~20mpg) and draft picks. Bold are "McMully's" acquisitions, not including extensions.

Year 1 roster under "McMully":
Goran, PJ, Gerald Green, Frye, Plumlee, Markieff, Marcus, Bledsoe, Len, Archie

Year 2 roster under "McMully" going in:
Goran, PJ, Gerald Green, Plumlee, Markieff, Marcus, Bledsoe, Len, Archie, IT, TJ, Ennis

Year 2 roster under "McMully" by season's end:
PJ, Gerald Green, Markieff, Marcus, Bledsoe, Len, Archie, TJ, Knight, Brandon Wright

Year 3 roster under "McMully" going in:
PJ, Markieff, Bledsoe, Len, Archie, TJ, Knight, Chandler, Mirza, Booker, Leuer, Price

Year 3 under "McMully" by season's end:
PJ, Bledsoe, Len, Archie, TJ, Knight, Chandler, Mirza, Booker, Leuer, Price

Year 4 under "McMully" a projection:
PJ, Bledsoe, Len, Archie, TJ, Knight, Chandler, Booker, Dudley, Barbosa, Bender, Chriss, Ulis

Looks like "McMully" has been building his core - which is to be expected from a new GM. This roster is now completely full of his guys. No leftovers from the last regime other than PJ who was extended by "McMully", Dudley and Barbosa, who "McMully" also signed.

Marcus wasn't acquired by him. He was traded for Feb of 2013 and McDonough was hired in May of 2013.

[bwgood77]

I just don't want to see Tucker, Dudley, and Chandler in for over half the game very often. I get we want to win, but I'm more concerned about developing the guys we drafted and our young guys like Booker, Warren, and Len than I am cranking out an extra 3 or 4 wins next year playing all these vets for big minutes. In my ideal world our depth chart looks something like this at the start of the season:

PG: Bledsoe (32), Knight (28), Ulis (Garbage time/D League)
SG: Booker (26 @ SG), Barbosa (10), Jenkins (Garbage time), Goodwin (Garbage time/Benchwarmer)
SF: Warren (24 @ SF), Tucker (20), Booker (4 @ SF)
PF: Dudley (20), Bender (12 - 14), Chriss (12 - 14), Warren (4 @ PF)
C: Len (28), Chandler (20), Williams (Garbage time)

Keep all the old guys playing around 20 minutes a game and let the young guys get the majority of the burn, run a small ball lineup of Bledsoe/Knight/Booker/Warren/Len for a couple minutes a game if we need to crank up the scoring, and play the better of Bender and Chriss during that game for couple of extra minutes. If Bender/Chriss start playing at a high enough level where they can see the court more, Dudley will be fine hitting the bench like he did in Milwaukee. If Knight is healthy through the trade deadline, maybe we can swing him into a nice draft pick or package him with someone like PJ and bring in another SF. Our core of Bledsoe/Booker/Warren/Bender/Chriss/Len can stay in tact, and if they're really obsessed with Knight being here, and he shows he can move the ball and be a 6th man instead of a chucking turnover machine, then he can stay too because he's so young. The most important thing for us to not continue to be a bottom feeder and move into the playoffs is developing the young guys we have here, then hope that we become attractive enough for a star to come in and take us over the top.

Ideally we're still not very good this year, get a top 5 pick, and bring in a top tier prospect like Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, Dennis Smith Jr, Markelle Fultz, etc.

I think you have too many minutes at PG there.

[Melvinlocker]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

[alphagorilla]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Shhh..... Are you trying to start a riot

[bwgood77]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Well I'm sure just about anyone would trade him if the deal is right. On your team I'm guessing it wouldn't be for anyone you wanted to trade. Most would probably trade for Gordon or Hezonja or Fournier or a lightly protected pick. Many for Biyombo or Serge. Maybe some for a combination of others and more heavily protected picks.

[Melvinlocker]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Well I'm sure just about anyone would trade him if the deal is right. On your team I'm guessing it wouldn't be for anyone you wanted to trade. Most would probably trade for Gordon or Hezonja or Fournier or a lightly protected pick. Many for Biyombo or Serge. Maybe some for a combination of others and more heavily protected picks.

In my eyes, Vucevic, Elfrid, Zimmerman & picks are assets that are moveable for a player of Knight's caliber. We own all of our picks & and potentially a top 5 protected LAL pick in 2019.

Just an idea here:

PHX in:
Elfrid Payton
Al Farouq Aminu or Moe Harkless
ORL 2017 1st rounder top 10 protected

ORL in:
Brandon Knight
Mason Plumlee

POR in:
Nikola Vucevic

Given the rise of Booker & your teams lack of defense, I tried to make sure you guys had defensive minded players coming back to you. Elfrid is a guy that I like, but we just don't have the spacing to make it work right now. He's still 22 years old and showed some improvement as finisher and short range shooter. He's already one of the best passers in the game. He is a solid ball hawk as well. If he starts hitting those 16-18 footers more consistently, you're looking at really solid PG. Aminu is a great young defender as well who is starting to hit those corner threes consistently.

[Melvinlocker]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Shhh..... Are you trying to start a riot

I promise you that I'm not. I gather that this is a major point of debate for your board then.

I'm just really curious as to how you guys value him.

[bwgood77]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Well I'm sure just about anyone would trade him if the deal is right. On your team I'm guessing it wouldn't be for anyone you wanted to trade. Most would probably trade for Gordon or Hezonja or Fournier or a lightly protected pick. Many for Biyombo or Serge. Maybe some for a combination of others and more heavily protected picks.

In my eyes, Vucevic, Elfrid, Zimmerman & picks are assets that are moveable for a player of Knight's caliber. We own all of our picks & and potentially a top 5 protected LAL pick in 2019.

Just an idea here:

PHX in:
Elfrid Payton
Al Farouq Aminu or Moe Harkless
ORL 2017 1st rounder top 10 protected

ORL in:
Brandon Knight
Mason Plumlee

POR in:
Nikola Vucevic

Given the rise of Booker & your teams lack of defense, I tried to make sure you guys had defensive minded players coming back to you. Elfrid is a guy that I like, but we just don't have the spacing to make it work right now. He's still 22 years old and showed some improvement as finisher and short range shooter. He's already one of the best passers in the game. He is a solid ball hawk as well. If he starts hitting those 16-18 footers more consistently, you're looking at really solid PG. Aminu is a great young defender as well who is starting to hit those corner threes consistently.

That seems like a reasonable deal considering Bledsoe is injury prone, and comparing Payton to Knight, he's a better defender, has a much better ast/to ratio and shot nearly as well as him in this most recent season being 3 years younger, making less money and giving us longer control of him. Add the pick and that puts it over the top. The other guys are useful players as well.

[Melvinlocker]

Well I'm sure just about anyone would trade him if the deal is right. On your team I'm guessing it wouldn't be for anyone you wanted to trade. Most would probably trade for Gordon or Hezonja or Fournier or a lightly protected pick. Many for Biyombo or Serge. Maybe some for a combination of others and more heavily protected picks.

In my eyes, Vucevic, Elfrid, Zimmerman & picks are assets that are moveable for a player of Knight's caliber. We own all of our picks & and potentially a top 5 protected LAL pick in 2019.

Just an idea here:

PHX in:
Elfrid Payton
Al Farouq Aminu or Moe Harkless
ORL 2017 1st rounder top 10 protected

ORL in:
Brandon Knight
Mason Plumlee

POR in:
Nikola Vucevic

Given the rise of Booker & your teams lack of defense, I tried to make sure you guys had defensive minded players coming back to you. Elfrid is a guy that I like, but we just don't have the spacing to make it work right now. He's still 22 years old and showed some improvement as finisher and short range shooter. He's already one of the best passers in the game. He is a solid ball hawk as well. If he starts hitting those 16-18 footers more consistently, you're looking at really solid PG. Aminu is a great young defender as well who is starting to hit those corner threes consistently.

That seems like a reasonable deal considering Bledsoe is injury prone, and comparing Payton to Knight, he's a better defender, has a much better ast/to ratio and shot nearly as well as him in this most recent season being 3 years younger, making less money and giving us longer control of him. Add the pick and that puts it over the top. The other guys are useful players as well.

Great! Just sign on the dotted line right here and we have a deal .................

[letsgosuns]

The Suns do not need to trade Knight and bring a point guard back in the process. Bledsoe is the point guard. Barbosa can be the backup point guard. Ulis can play point guard. Plus Payton is a bad shooter. The guy is a career 57% ft shooter. That is awful. He is a good energy player and what not but the Suns have enough point guards. They do not need another.

Here is another trade that I would rather do. Knight straight up for the Magic's 2017 first round pick unprotected. If that is too risky in case it is the number one pick (I highly doubt that), then do top-3 protected. Top-10 protected is not good enough. Markieff Morris was traded for a top-9 protected pick and Knight is worth far more than him. I personally would demand that no protection be put on the pick because the Suns would be handing the Magic a 24 year old point guard that averages 20 pts, 5 ast, and 4 rbs signed for four more years without taking a player from their roster.

[darealjuice]

I just don't want to see Tucker, Dudley, and Chandler in for over half the game very often. I get we want to win, but I'm more concerned about developing the guys we drafted and our young guys like Booker, Warren, and Len than I am cranking out an extra 3 or 4 wins next year playing all these vets for big minutes. In my ideal world our depth chart looks something like this at the start of the season:

PG: Bledsoe (32), Knight (28), Ulis (Garbage time/D League)
SG: Booker (26 @ SG), Barbosa (10), Jenkins (Garbage time), Goodwin (Garbage time/Benchwarmer)
SF: Warren (24 @ SF), Tucker (20), Booker (4 @ SF)
PF: Dudley (20), Bender (12 - 14), Chriss (12 - 14), Warren (4 @ PF)
C: Len (28), Chandler (20), Williams (Garbage time)

Keep all the old guys playing around 20 minutes a game and let the young guys get the majority of the burn, run a small ball lineup of Bledsoe/Knight/Booker/Warren/Len for a couple minutes a game if we need to crank up the scoring, and play the better of Bender and Chriss during that game for couple of extra minutes. If Bender/Chriss start playing at a high enough level where they can see the court more, Dudley will be fine hitting the bench like he did in Milwaukee. If Knight is healthy through the trade deadline, maybe we can swing him into a nice draft pick or package him with someone like PJ and bring in another SF. Our core of Bledsoe/Booker/Warren/Bender/Chriss/Len can stay in tact, and if they're really obsessed with Knight being here, and he shows he can move the ball and be a 6th man instead of a chucking turnover machine, then he can stay too because he's so young. The most important thing for us to not continue to be a bottom feeder and move into the playoffs is developing the young guys we have here, then hope that we become attractive enough for a star to come in and take us over the top.

Ideally we're still not very good this year, get a top 5 pick, and bring in a top tier prospect like Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, Dennis Smith Jr, Markelle Fultz, etc.

I think you have too many minutes at PG there.

Yeah was too lazy to split Knights minutes into him playing SG too. Realistically he'll be playing something like 16 at PG and 12 at SG under the distribution I posted.

[MrMiyagi]

The Suns do not need to trade Knight and bring a point guard back in the process. Bledsoe is the point guard. Barbosa can be the backup point guard. Ulis can play point guard. Plus Payton is a bad shooter. The guy is a career 57% ft shooter. That is awful. He is a good energy player and what not but the Suns have enough point guards. They do not need another.

Here is another trade that I would rather do. Knight straight up for the Magic's 2017 first round pick unprotected. If that is too risky in case it is the number one pick (I highly doubt that), then do top-3 protected. Top-10 protected is not good enough. Markieff Morris was traded for a top-9 protected pick and Knight is worth far more than him. I personally would demand that no protection be put on the pick because the Suns would be handing the Magic a 24 year old point guard that averages 20 pts, 5 ast, and 4 rbs signed for four more years without taking a player from their roster.

But he's the worst player in the NBA

[Melvinlocker]

The Suns do not need to trade Knight and bring a point guard back in the process. Bledsoe is the point guard. Barbosa can be the backup point guard. Ulis can play point guard. Plus Payton is a bad shooter. The guy is a career 57% ft shooter. That is awful. He is a good energy player and what not but the Suns have enough point guards. They do not need another.

Here is another trade that I would rather do. Knight straight up for the Magic's 2017 first round pick unprotected. If that is too risky in case it is the number one pick (I highly doubt that), then do top-3 protected. Top-10 protected is not good enough. Markieff Morris was traded for a top-9 protected pick and Knight is worth far more than him. I personally would demand that no protection be put on the pick because the Suns would be handing the Magic a 24 year old point guard that averages 20 pts, 5 ast, and 4 rbs signed for four more years without taking a player from their roster.

I can respect that position. What about our LAL top 5 protected 2019 pick + Stephen Zimmerman?

[OGBAH]

Knight will have a better year then Conley

[Jdiddy701]

If we can get Cousins without giving up Bledsoe/Booker/Bender then I'll be fine with it. Not saying I'd give up the rest of the team / assets for him though...

I don't know how long I can last with how high you guys rate Bender. I think that's what gets me the most with Suns fans and makes me dislike him more. I would give Len, Bender, and Archie for Cousins.

Bender will be a good player off the bench but will never have star potential like Cousins.


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[OGBAH]

I never said trade for cousins...I was thinking of signing him outright in '18

[saintEscaton]

Knight will have a better year then Conley

Conley got hella overpaid but he will still pwn Knight, won't put up empty numbers but will do everything that doesn't show up on a boxscore

[saintEscaton]

Hey guys! Magic fan here!

I've been curious as to how you guys value Brandon Knight. Would you consider trading him? If so, what would you expect in return?

Well I'm sure just about anyone would trade him if the deal is right. On your team I'm guessing it wouldn't be for anyone you wanted to trade. Most would probably trade for Gordon or Hezonja or Fournier or a lightly protected pick. Many for Biyombo or Serge. Maybe some for a combination of others and more heavily protected picks.

Knight has nowhere near that value, despite being locked in longterm on a "bargain' contract he is still a sub replacement level dime a dozen combo guard. Fournier is easily a Top 10 SG, Gordon/Hezonja haven't broken out yet but are promising prospects The Magic just relieved their backcourt logjam getting rid of Dipo, Knight doesn't make sense unless they envision him running the point which is a recipe for disaster. I don't think Hennigan would tradeBiyombo/Serge(who only has one year left) considering they were just acquired to anchor Vogel's defense. Gordon is probably getting the bulk of his minutes at the 3 as bad as that may sound