2019 season speculation including trade ideas

[NapoleonII]

Ayton and Baynes might work. But didn't Ayton struggle with playing PF in college?

It'd only work if Ayton has improved defensively and Baynes can continue shooting the three lethally. I'd also stagger them, so Ayton can play more with our crumbling bench with either Booker or Rubio.

On offense I'd see Ayton being the inside presence and Baynes floating the opposing 4/5 to shoot the three.

Defensively Baynes would be the anchor and Ayton kind of like how Orlando plays Isaac, utilizing his length and foot speed to blow up PnR options (if he's actually improved defensively / what we saw in game 1) and rebound. Remember when he guarded Giannis last year? More of that.

[Qwigglez]

I know there are people that are crazy against putting Baynes and Ayton together in the starting line-up but can someone tell me that Baynes could not do or give us what Saric is giving us right now? He is probably a better defender than Saric, better on the boards, is shooting a better percentage from EVERYWHERE and is a better communicator on the floor. He seems lighter and more agile than I have ever seen him, with he and Ayton both being agile enough to guard Pf's and C's I see no reason they can not share the court if we think Ayton and Saric can share the court.

I'm totally for this, and is why I had the recent poll. Baynes really won't be very effective with our secondary unit, and has really good chemistry with Booker/Rubio. I'd hate to see his productivity go down simply because our bench guys can't utilize him properly. Saric on the other hand, I believe can help improve our bench, since he has some playmaking ability at the four spot.

We also need to just stagger Booker, Rubio a bit more. One of them needs to play with Bridges at all times, as I feel Bridges really struggles without a playmaker in the 2nd unit. Hoping though that once Ty Jerome comes back he can bolster that bench and get everyone going.

This is a good problem to have though...

[Crives]

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[Qwigglez]

^Yup. Didn't think the Spurs have really played anyone yet. They are 5-3 but only decent win is against the Blazers but the Blazers haven't played well yet. They lost to the Clippers, Lakers, and got blown out at home against the Celtics. Their next four games are still pretty meh against the Grizzlies, Wolves, Magic, and Blazers.

[bwgood77]

^Yup. Didn't think the Spurs have really played anyone yet. They are 5-3 but only decent win is against the Blazers but the Blazers haven't played well yet. They lost to the Clippers, Lakers, and got blown out at home against the Celtics. Their next four games are still pretty meh against the Grizzlies, Wolves, Magic, and Blazers.

That will be nice if our schedule gets a lot easier later especially if we have an adjustment period integrating Ayton at all. We will obviously, but it will likly be a positive one fairly quickly.....but even if we are behind a few games come that time, it should make it easier to catch up. It's too bad we couldn't catch the Pelicans once or twice during this stretch. Other teams missing key players too.

I havee always said I want to play and beat teams at full strength but at the same time, I don't want other teams to benefit more by playing them at less than full strength. Another potential advantage with an easier schedule later is that some teams could be tanking. The only downside is that if we do get into the playoffs you also want to have been battle tested going in, though our last 3 games are against the Jazz, Rockets and Lakers so that shouldn't be a problem. Will be interesting if we need those wins to make it or if the Lakers or anyone are resting players. Probably the Jazz and Rockets wouldn't, and the Lakers probably won't still have a lead in the conference either.

[King4Day]

Not that the impact is the same but am I right to assume Waiters is getting a 25 game suspension with the talk he ate edibles? He probably didn't realize what he was eating, especially after tasting it on the first bite, so hopefully the NBA is lenient with him <3

[denial]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

[Barkley6]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

Hmm. While I do like the idea of upgrading at PF, I wonder if there are better moves to be made for that package.

For example, if we took Johnson out of the deal, and kept all else the same, do you think we could get someone like Markkanen? The Bulls are not off to a good start (3-7) and will not gain much cap flexibility in the next offseason without making some moves. Getting two solid rotation players and a pick for Markkanen is pretty good, and for us trading Saric, Bridges and a pick to get a major upgrade at PF, and a perfect compliment to Ayton seems to make a lot of sense. Markkanen is also MUCH more in line with our timeline than Griffin.

If we rolled with:
Rubio
Booker
Oubre
Markkanen
Ayton

Bench:
Carter/Jerome
Johnson
Johnson
Kaminsky
Baynes

That's pretty deadly. Shooting, size, defense....all there.

[Crives]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

Hmm. While I do like the idea of upgrading at PF, I wonder if there are better moves to be made for that package.

For example, if we took Johnson out of the deal, and kept all else the same, do you think we could get someone like Markkanen? The Bulls are not off to a good start (3-7) and will not gain much cap flexibility in the next offseason without making some moves. Getting two solid rotation players and a pick for Markkanen is pretty good, and for us trading Saric, Bridges and a pick to get a major upgrade at PF, and a perfect compliment to Ayton seems to make a lot of sense. Markkanen is also MUCH more in line with our timeline than Griffin.

If we rolled with:
Rubio
Booker
Oubre
Markkanen
Ayton

Bench:
Carter/Jerome
Johnson
Johnson
Kaminsky
Baynes

That's pretty deadly. Shooting, size, defense....all there.

I got a better idea, let’s add Ayton instead of Griffin

[denial]

@crives and Barkley
I was more just complaining about the press’s silly assertion that we made no major upgrades from last season. I don’t think Griffin would be a real target for us.

[spanishninja]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

Hmm. While I do like the idea of upgrading at PF, I wonder if there are better moves to be made for that package.

For example, if we took Johnson out of the deal, and kept all else the same, do you think we could get someone like Markkanen? The Bulls are not off to a good start (3-7) and will not gain much cap flexibility in the next offseason without making some moves. Getting two solid rotation players and a pick for Markkanen is pretty good, and for us trading Saric, Bridges and a pick to get a major upgrade at PF, and a perfect compliment to Ayton seems to make a lot of sense. Markkanen is also MUCH more in line with our timeline than Griffin.

If we rolled with:
Rubio
Booker
Oubre
Markkanen
Ayton

Bench:
Carter/Jerome
Johnson
Johnson
Kaminsky
Baynes

That's pretty deadly. Shooting, size, defense....all there.

I thought of adding Lauri as well but I doubt the Bulls would give him up at his career trajectory, and he's actually performing worse so far this season compared to last, after that great game in the opener. Playing with us could change that but it's no guarantee.

[lilfishi22]

Not that the impact is the same but am I right to assume Waiters is getting a 25 game suspension with the talk he ate edibles? He probably didn't realize what he was eating, especially after tasting it on the first bite, so hopefully the NBA is lenient with him <3

It was a 10 game suspension and it wasn't even because of the drug, it was "conduct detrimental to the team."

PED's is treated very differently to weed. It was never going to get the same 25 game treatment.

[lilfishi22]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that line. Individually, none of the addition from this offseason would have moved the needle. I mean we've added Saric? Baynes? Frank? Carter? None of these guys were gonna move the needle. Rubio is our biggest pick up but I don't think anyone in the media suspected that we'd play this well together this early in the season. It's a combination of great chemistry and addition by subtraction that has made us come together as well as we have, not a single major (star) upgrade which is generally how teams tend to kick off a big change

Also man, for a trade idea by some guy from Complex to be titled NBA Rumors.....lol smh

[denial]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that line. Individually, none of the addition from this offseason would have moved the needle. I mean we've added Saric? Baynes? Frank? Carter? None of these guys were gonna move the needle. Rubio is our biggest pick up but I don't think anyone in the media suspected that we'd play this well together this early in the season. It's a combination of great chemistry and addition by subtraction that has made us come together as well as we have, not a single major (star) upgrade which is generally how teams tend to kick off a big change

Also man, for a trade idea by some guy from Complex to be titled NBA Rumors.....lol smh

I guess you don’t think Rubio is a major upgrade over melton. To each his own

To me “major upgrade” has nothing to do with “star”.
It just means major upgrade.
I think we had several major upgrades personally

[Stark]

After 2 years of G-League level point guards and bunch of young players to one of the best floor general in the world and proven,smart vets and that's not a major roster upgrade. I seriously don't get how people like that becomes a sports writer.

[lilfishi22]

“ Despite not making any major roster upgrades this summer, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly off to a hot start”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquisitr.com/5735902/nba-rumors-blake-griffin-suns-pistons-blockbuster-deal/amp/

Yeah our roster is just about the same as last year.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that line. Individually, none of the addition from this offseason would have moved the needle. I mean we've added Saric? Baynes? Frank? Carter? None of these guys were gonna move the needle. Rubio is our biggest pick up but I don't think anyone in the media suspected that we'd play this well together this early in the season. It's a combination of great chemistry and addition by subtraction that has made us come together as well as we have, not a single major (star) upgrade which is generally how teams tend to kick off a big change

Also man, for a trade idea by some guy from Complex to be titled NBA Rumors.....lol smh

I guess you don’t think Rubio is a major upgrade over melton. To each his own

To me “major upgrade” has nothing to do with “star”.
It just means major upgrade.
I think we had several major upgrades personally

That's not what I'm saying. An Ish Smith would be a major upgrade over Melton. Rubio essentially takes us from mediocre at best at that position to above average. Rubio on his own isn't some majors star signing. He's a good player who happens to bring a few things we desperately needed like playmaking and leadership but individually, I can see how people don't view him as a major roster upgrade.

[bwgood77]

The Lakers game will be interesting because I don't know how we deal with their size. If we had Ayton, I wouldn't be too concerned. We are definitely going to have to hit our shots. Obviously it will be tough to shoot like we did tonight but we need to shoot well to beat them.

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[Crives]

Lakers might lose.... we could be 1st in the pacific if they lose tonight and we beat them on Tuesday.