Season Speculation, Trade Ideas & Discussion Pt. 2

[MathiasPW]

Ok, just got done listening to Gambo (Link in the spoiler).

Spoiler:

http://arizonasports.com/category/podcast_player/?a=336956&sid=1005&n=Burns+%26+Gambo

I hate to say, i have to agree with him. A few things i took away from the show:

Love how he called Shultz out on his BS. Him and his dad are in good with Watson, and thats where he was getting his limited info from. Watsons out, and so Shultz is now just throwing **** to the wall and hoping something sticks.

Despite what Shultz said, we are still talking to the Bucks.

Now, the Brandon Knight thing. I wish the "Search User Posts" function was working here on RealGM, because i brought up Knight the day Bledsoe tweeted. Look, he played great in Milwaukee. We trade for him and he was just ho-hum for the rest of that season. Thats to be expected, going to a new team with a new system that you're expected to run (Specially out of position). 1st full season with us and he did great! Bledsoe was out for the year, so Knight was able to actually finally play PG, and put up like 20/5/4/1. Sure his percentages could be better, but still pretty good for his 4th season playing. I mean, let us also not forget, Knight was a celebrated Kentucky player!

SEC All-Freshman Team, First Team All-SEC; SEC Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team.

Along with his HS credentials:

McDonald's All-American (2010)
Gatorade Athlete of the Year (2009)
2× Gatorade National Player of the Year (2009, 2010)

So he has the track record that shows he can be a great player. So why then has he been considered a failure here in Phoenix? Simple, HE IS NOT A SG! Sure, he is considered a shoot first PG, but thats a lot different than a SG. With the ball in his hands he can create more and get himself better shots (Hitting a higher FG% than being stationary in Watsons offense). His 1 season as our PG, he did pretty damn good. His season and a half as our SG, numbers down across the board with his %'s taking a major hit.

Look, he is 25, still under contract, and has negative trade value around the league, so we are pretty much stuck with him. If we can turn him into a usable PG than that $13M a season becomes a steal. He has pretty much been **** on since he's been here, but has also taken everything in stride, and just soldiered on. If anyone follows him on twitter or instagram, you saw how hard he was working on his game during the entire offseason. I say next season we might as well give him a chance and throw him the keys.

Let James/Ulis/Booker finish out the season. We dont really NEED a PG in return for Bledsoe. Get the best package available regardless of position.

Watch on YouTube

Don't you dare to revive the corpse of Brandead Knight here. He is not a PG. He is not a SG. We tried both. He is a disgrace. All those accolades, while the truth is he moves too fast for his brain.

[bwgood77]

So, back to the Nuggets players watch. Mudiay actually had a good game tonight, playing 28 minutes and scoring 16 on 5/11 shooting with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

He probably played a lot a because Murray stunk up the joint again with 3-12 shooting and 0-2 from 3. So he only played 20 minutes. He is shooting 25% for the year and 9.5% from 3 (2 for 21).

[lilfishi22]

Don't want Thon, dude is like 30 and lying about it. He has reached his peak as an athlete and b ball player! I think I saw him as an extra in the old 90's Jordan commercials " who is Johnny Kilroy"

IDK, i think he is going to be great! Mutombo said that when he was a kid, Thon was his favorite favorite teammate growing up and he always looked up to Thon. Mutombo even credited Thn with teaching him the finger wag when they were in HS together.

Really? That's not what I heard. I heard Maker was one of the village elders who encouraged young Mutumbo to go to college in the US.

[Kerrsed]

Don't you dare to revive the corpse of Brandead Knight here. He is not a PG. He is not a SG. We tried both. He is a disgrace. All those accolades, while the truth is he moves too fast for his brain.

[Fo-Real]

I hear Thon maker had a contract with Just For Men in the late 80s when he started going grey that's why he's just shaves it all off now. I hear he was there in the bar that night was Charles Barkley threw that dude out that plate glass window, they were drinking together.

[rsavaj]

Frank looked great for NYK today

[STEV13]

Read on Twitter

[thamadkant]

anyone seeing Oubre Jr lately... he's playing great for Wizards, him and Porter great combo... both ends.

Don't think they'd want Bledsoe, but they are vulnerable in the bench... maybe they'd be interested in Chandler?

[kennydorglas]

Don't want Thon, dude is like 30 and lying about it. He has reached his peak as an athlete and b ball player! I think I saw him as an extra in the old 90's Jordan commercials " who is Johnny Kilroy"

IDK, i think he is going to be great! Mutombo said that when he was a kid, Thon was his favorite favorite teammate growing up and he always looked up to Thon. Mutombo even credited Thn with teaching him the finger wag when they were in HS together.

Really? That's not what I heard. I heard Maker was one of the village elders who encouraged young Mutumbo to go to college in the US.

Maker has also a strong friendship with Manute Bol. Including being Bol Bol's godparent.

[jcsunsfan]

Don't want Thon, dude is like 30 and lying about it. He has reached his peak as an athlete and b ball player! I think I saw him as an extra in the old 90's Jordan commercials " who is Johnny Kilroy"

IDK, i think he is going to be great! Mutombo said that when he was a kid, Thon was his favorite favorite teammate growing up and he always looked up to Thon. Mutombo even credited Thn with teaching him the finger wag when they were in HS together.

Cmon man! That’s just because Thon and Wilt were buddies. He wasn’t that good back then.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[jredsaz]

Ok, just got done listening to Gambo (Link in the spoiler).

Spoiler:

http://arizonasports.com/category/podcast_player/?a=336956&sid=1005&n=Burns+%26+Gambo

I hate to say, i have to agree with him. A few things i took away from the show:

Love how he called Shultz out on his BS. Him and his dad are in good with Watson, and thats where he was getting his limited info from. Watsons out, and so Shultz is now just throwing **** to the wall and hoping something sticks.

Despite what Shultz said, we are still talking to the Bucks.

Now, the Brandon Knight thing. I wish the "Search User Posts" function was working here on RealGM, because i brought up Knight the day Bledsoe tweeted. Look, he played great in Milwaukee. We trade for him and he was just ho-hum for the rest of that season. Thats to be expected, going to a new team with a new system that you're expected to run (Specially out of position). 1st full season with us and he did great! Bledsoe was out for the year, so Knight was able to actually finally play PG, and put up like 20/5/4/1. Sure his percentages could be better, but still pretty good for his 4th season playing. I mean, let us also not forget, Knight was a celebrated Kentucky player!

SEC All-Freshman Team, First Team All-SEC; SEC Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team.

Along with his HS credentials:

McDonald's All-American (2010)
Gatorade Athlete of the Year (2009)
2× Gatorade National Player of the Year (2009, 2010)

So he has the track record that shows he can be a great player. So why then has he been considered a failure here in Phoenix? Simple, HE IS NOT A SG! Sure, he is considered a shoot first PG, but thats a lot different than a SG. With the ball in his hands he can create more and get himself better shots (Hitting a higher FG% than being stationary in Watsons offense). His 1 season as our PG, he did pretty damn good. His season and a half as our SG, numbers down across the board with his %'s taking a major hit.

Look, he is 25, still under contract, and has negative trade value around the league, so we are pretty much stuck with him. If we can turn him into a usable PG than that $13M a season becomes a steal. He has pretty much been **** on since he's been here, but has also taken everything in stride, and just soldiered on. If anyone follows him on twitter or instagram, you saw how hard he was working on his game during the entire offseason. I say next season we might as well give him a chance and throw him the keys.

Let James/Ulis/Booker finish out the season. We dont really NEED a PG in return for Bledsoe. Get the best package available regardless of position.

Watch on YouTube

I agree with a lot of what you said there. The only problem is I know how he plays basketball. Ball stopper. Iso. No defense. I'm fine running him back next year as the starter to build his value I guess. But if these youngsters develop a sharing/distributing kind of offense this season I'm fine stretching his ass.

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

[AtheJ415]

So, back to the Nuggets players watch. Mudiay actually had a good game tonight, playing 28 minutes and scoring 16 on 5/11 shooting with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

He probably played a lot a because Murray stunk up the joint again with 3-12 shooting and 0-2 from 3. So he only played 20 minutes. He is shooting 25% for the year and 9.5% from 3 (2 for 21).

Mudiay worked on his shot religiously all offseason. I am not convinced he is the bust some think. He needs to keep developing his BBall IQ and jumper, but he is still super young and is a freakish athlete even by NBA standards. I wouldn't take him over certain other rumored pieces, but he still has a chance to be damn good.

[AtheJ415]

I just don't see Chriss, Bender, or Len ever being legit starters. At least not on a competitive team. They're perennial bench guys.

Bender is 19 and Chriss is 20.....to say that today is silly.

I'm aware of the age. I just don't see the potential and they don't seem like natural basketball players to me. Hopefully I'm wrong.

But even if I am, they'll likely be long gone from the Suns by the time they're ready to be serious contributors. We're basically just developing them for some other organization like a minor league team

One of the most misguided things I've ever read on this board.

[AtheJ415]

I've always been on the "trade Bledsoe" then try to rehab Knight train. Reason being Knight may not be good, but he is certainly not as bad as he has played the last year and change. Also, if he does bomb, he helps the tank and we can address PG this offseason. Unfortunately, he is hurt so this pushes to next year regardless.

[TOO]

I would package Warren with Bledsoe if that helps us net some kind of special young player with potential.

Such as? There isnt anyone available that I'd trade Warren for at this juncture. Much less add him to Bledsoe.

[bwgood77]

anyone seeing Oubre Jr lately... he's playing great for Wizards, him and Porter great combo... both ends.

Don't think they'd want Bledsoe, but they are vulnerable in the bench... maybe they'd be interested in Chandler?

Yeah, I have him on my dynasty fantasy team and benched him tonight because I was ahead in games and he had 4 3's at the half.

[bwgood77]

I would package Warren with Bledsoe if that helps us net some kind of special young player with potential.

Such as? There isnt anyone available that I'd trade Warren for at this juncture. Much less add him to Bledsoe.

They're not trading Warren. You don't extend a guy early because he wants to be there and immediately trade him. That would really be a cold hearted move by McD...not that he isn't cold hearted, but that would probably be his worst...negotiating an extension and trading the guy a month later.

I think they are pretty high on Warren like some of us are.

[bwgood77]

So, back to the Nuggets players watch. Mudiay actually had a good game tonight, playing 28 minutes and scoring 16 on 5/11 shooting with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

He probably played a lot a because Murray stunk up the joint again with 3-12 shooting and 0-2 from 3. So he only played 20 minutes. He is shooting 25% for the year and 9.5% from 3 (2 for 21).

Mudiay worked on his shot religiously all offseason. I am not convinced he is the bust some think. He needs to keep developing his BBall IQ and jumper, but he is still super young and is a freakish athlete even by NBA standards. I wouldn't take him over certain other rumored pieces, but he still has a chance to be damn good.

Yeah, I've always been on the "Don't give up on a guy early, especially if he came out early" train, but one thing I hate is guards that are horrific shooters. He's still got a long way to go, and I will be surprised if he is ever a good shooter but at least tonight he got that chance to show it..hopefully he keeps showing it, especially if we trade for him.

[carey]

I think I'm done with freakish athletes that come without basketball fundamentals for a while. I want someone that is smart and has decision making as one of his best assets to run the show for a while. I'm not saying he has to be the second coming of Steve Nash but no more Bledsoes or Knights. Someone like a younger Dragic would be fine.

[ATTL]

I agree with a lot of what you said there. The only problem is I know how he plays basketball. Ball stopper. Iso. No defense. I'm fine running him back next year as the starter to build his value I guess. But if these youngsters develop a sharing/distributing kind of offense this season I'm fine stretching his ass.

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app