Qwigglez wrote:Ghost of Kleine wrote:Swap Camara and Dunn positionally and throw in ATL 25' 2nd ( protected 41-59)/ MIL 29 1st no protections for taking back Aytons' max contract for them and I'm agreeable.
Now I don't see them being willing to attach picks even to move Ayton's contract. So I don't think a deal would happen. But those would be my conditions to bail them out of Aytons' contract on top of also giving them Allen in the deal too.
I just think Nurkic is unplayable in the playoffs and there is no coach that can make it work. You are only as strong as your weakest link and Nurkic is a huge weakness. The Wolves were supposed to be the Suns most hopeful playoff matchup, and Suns got skunked. The game where Nurkic played the least was Game 4 and it was the only game that Suns lost by less than double figures. Suns have to resort to drop coverage in every pick and roll scenario with Nurkic and that is something that can easily be exploitable by opposing teams. It is what I said when the Suns initially traded for Nurkic that he makes it easy to gameplan against. It doesn't matter if you have a KD, Booker on the team when you got such a plodder at center who is unable to finish in the paint and is unable to spread the floor. It would be different if Nurkic could at least do one of those two (finish in the paint, or spread the floor).
Having Royce take the starting SF spot makes the Suns that much larger too, where I felt Grayson Allen could be a bit small against the larger SF's in the league. I know the trade wouldn't realistically happen (can't happen anyway with the 2nd apron rules), but I would hope the Suns recognize the limitations of Nurkic and attempt to find a situation where he can be traded for a more versatile center.
Agree with you on Nurkic being unplayable in the playoffs. And you're right that we'd be best served having a more athletic rim running shotblocking center option that is quick and switchable. But for now, I'd keep Nurkic for his regular season production and look to add a more athletic, mobile rim running option to back him up. Possibly even two similar more dynamic athletic backups that could allow him to sit during certain matchups and he could still be an option for other more ideal matchup situations.
I'd still look very hard at the Nik Richards premise. But another alternative for me in a Portland trade would be Allen/ future 2nd for Timelord/ Camara/ 25' ATL 2nd (protected 41-59). Or IF we're looking to trade Nurkic, AND PORTLAND was actually willing to take him back, then the trade that I'd look at would be:
Portland-
Nurkic/ future 2nd.
Phoenix-
Timelord (Robert Williams)/ Toumani Camara/ Jabari Walker.
Otherwise if keeping Nurkic, I'd look at names like Kai Jones and Damian Jones on the vet min. As for O'neale playing at the starting SF position, I'm honestly not a fan because he's honestly undersized ( for what our needs are) and is also a bit slow and unathletic to matchup with some players although still strong in the post. ALSO I'm a big advocate of adding a big, long, athletic 4/5 so we could move Durant to the 3, and then Allen and O'neale to the bench. Something about having a bench unit of:
Morris/ Allen/ O'neale/ Theiss/ Plumlee is very enticing to me. Theiss would be signed on the vet min after letting Roddy go. Honestly, not to he a dick about things, and even though I like Okogie, he's redundant with Dunn now. I'd actually prefer to
1- Not bring back Okogie.
2- Waive Roddy.
3- Sign Covington to be our starting SF.
4- Sign Theiss to be our backup PF.
Beal/ Booker/ Covington/ KD / Nurkic.
Morris/ Allen/ O'neale/ Theiss/ Plumlee.
Gillespie/ D Lee/ Dunn/ Bol Bol/ Ighodaro.
But if we really want to move Durant to the 3 giving us a bigger lineup whilst also moving Allen/ O'neale to the bench, I'd look at Meyers Leonard, Mike Muscala, Kai Jones, Pter Cornelie on the vet minimum for a big (6'11 4/5). Then move KD to the 3, and Allen, Oneale to the bench for added scoring punch and depth.
