Grade the Suns draft

[nevetsov]

^ upgrade at SG.

I see our rotation as:

Game 1

Dragic, Marshall
Tucker, Lee
Dudley, Morris
Markieff, Scola
Gortat, Len

Expendable/ DLeague: Goodwin, Brown, Beasley, 57, Frye

Post-All star break - Gortat trade:

Dragic, Marshall
??, Tucker
??, Dudley
Morris, Scola
Len, Frye?

Man, we need a pair of athletic, sharpshooting wings in the worst possible way.

[pidi]

i´d give them a b- / wait how len will develope so you can go on and trade the gortat for a sg, or sign a sg via free agency.. i was thinking if we could go after jr Smith - would be a nice Addition to Dragic - imo..

in the second round you can´t expect anything from the draft, you can get a steal or a bust, noone can tell you - i am fine with the selection we made...

[NiGhtWiSh]

I don't understand why we let McLemore go, but still I give an A for the picks.

[batsmasher]

Gave it an A because McD got his man without having to move up.

Goodwin at 30 is a good project.

I thought the Suns would have been high on CJ Leslie but apparently not..

[Ryu]

I am going with the B+. Even though I wanted McLemore I am very pleased with Alex Len. Players with that size, mobility, coordination and skill level are very hard to find. He will be a huge player for us, barring any unfortunate injury.

I also like Archie Goodwin a lot. He needs a lot of work re: jumper and decision making but has great physical tools to succeed. Not to mention he already has the best slashing ability from this draft.

Oriakhi I don`t know so well so I will reserve judgement but picking another big body at 57th slot cannot be bad, I suppose.

[ATTL]

I guess I'll join the majority and state that I was upset wit Len over Ben but I'm starting to be ok with it, especially if we can find a good offer for Gortat. Also a fan of Goodwin pick. Ive wanted him since I thought we were getting a second lotto pick from the lakers.

[irish22022]

This is just a bunch of group think. Not saying Len won't perform or turn out, but Ben was the right pick here. No question. This was a bad draft for us. We were given a bone, and we didn't adjust in the 16 minutes or whatever it was. Both Noel and Ben will be better NBA players then Len. We drafted a role playing center, a Brook Lopez at the VERY best (making him an all star, but I really doubt it). Ben is a tremendously athletic player, and Noel is too.

McD messed up.

[Ryu]

This is just a bunch of group think. Not saying Len won't perform or turn out, but Ben was the right pick here. No question. This was a bad draft for us. We were given a bone, and we didn't adjust in the 16 minutes or whatever it was. Both Noel and Ben will be better NBA players then Len. We drafted a role playing center, a Brook Lopez at the VERY best (making him an all star, but I really doubt it). Ben is a tremendously athletic player, and Noel is too.

McD messed up.

Len is pretty athletic, too. I can see Brook Lopez comparation but I believe Len could be a better rebounder and defender.

[Revived]

Len is more along the lines of Jonas Valaciunas than anyone else.

[Saberestar]

Since January, I have been watching a ton of NCAA basketball because our season was over around that month. Noel and McLemore for me were great prospects and probably the next face of our franchise in the next few years if we would have the opportunity to grab one of them in the draft.

Noel was spectacular until the injury,playing with good IQ and been a game changer at defense.A beast. McLemore was playing like a future All Star, shooting amazingly and playing good defense overall.

Len?? It was an unimpressive player, not exciting center, who alter shots and have decent skills....but boring player...I never saw him like a real option for our new Phoenix Suns.
When I see that we selected Len over these two other, it hurts me to my heart.

Not a fan favourite player at #5. I do not have excitiment to watch Len play basketball, that is the most important thing in my opinion.

Well, and Holiday available...he is an All Star, 23 years old with a good contract, can defend SG like Dragic and he is getting better and better. With the pick well protected ( Top 5), I think it was a great opportunity to have a young star, only one step or two behind players like Harden or Love.

I like Goodwin like a #29 pick, he has hugh upside.

I do not like Oriakhy at #57, he is very old and seems a finish product, and the product is not very good.

Overall, I rate this draft like a C- or D.



P.D. I hope I am wrong. Go Suns.

[JMac1]

Well I gave it a B only because we didn't trade Gortat and get a higher rated wing. I unlike the most of you guys here, I didn't like McLemore. People here thought the McLemore stuff from us was a smoke screen, guess not! I see McLemore as Brandon Rush 2.0...Enough with him, he isn't apart of the discussion anymore.

I am happy with the Goodwin pick as well..... I am still holding out hope we trade Gortat...if so, I will change my vote to an A

Len will be the truth as long as he has no health issues....I am trusting that is why we drafted him...no issues. Len will be a very good two-way player....

[Dragic13]

I think trading Gortat is almost 100% going to happen. And then picking Len at #5 will seem to have been the best thing we could have done. We just need to wait and see.

[Frank Lee]

Well.... its done and over with.

an average draft. Hardly enough to feed the frenzy that went on here. Time will tell.

Len should make the moving of theG much easier. Hard to imagine them both on the roster next yr, let alone come January. I guess in the eyes of the eyers, he was the BPA. Seems like a good kid in his interviews. Character may have killed McLemonade.

I guess McDo took Goodwin to throw some of the local draft dogs a bone . I hope their excitement is warranted.

Interesting to see what contribution Malcom Lee can make. I don't think we necessarily moved 'up' to take Goodwin, as much as just acquired a decent 'may be if given a chance' kid in Lee. Makes me think we have plans to deal Dudley or Tucker as part of a package. We know Brown is gone. More moves/acquisitions seem certain.

That cat at 57 is practice fodder. But he is a bruiser. Would have liked to see KBong there, but this whole draft, not just for us, was a head scratcher from the get go.

[Fo-Real]

I like Len, have always thought he was one of the few prospects in this draft that could go high in any draft. 7"1 255 and athletic isnt coming around too often in this world, and to those who said he reminds them of Robin Lopez, stop watching basketball because it is obvious you are not digesting it properly. Like the fact that Goodwin was there for us at 30, great swing for the fences pick. The kid is a first round athlete and has the chance to develope, he is only 19. Drafting two centers has to mean Gortat is on his way out right?? Maybe we are just waiting until we can attach Scola, he cant be traded till July 1st right?

[Fo-Real]

Gortat+ Duds+ Scola and maybe the Minn 1st next year for Aldridge+ Withey+ Crabbe

[Fo-Real]

Malcom Lee might be kind of a steal, the kid was a decent prospect coming out of UCLA. 6"5 200lbs and he was coming off injury that year.

[RunDogGun]

I'll grade this draft once all trades are made, and most of our offseason is over. It will be nice to see these guys under our head coach in the summer league.

[ShawnBronald]

If the Suns had figured out a way to trade Gortat to Portland for #10 and came away from this draft with Len/McCollum/Goodwin, I'd have given them an A for sure. Right now, I'm thinking C. If both Len and Goodwin develop, it could easily still turn out to be an A. Guess we'll see how everything pans out.

[Cash]

I gave it a C. I've been very underwhelmed by Len throughout the draft process, and I think (along with Noel and Bennett) he's one of the most likely to bust of the top group. I would've preferred McLemore or maybe even Noel. We'll see. I'm not going to kill the pick, but the Suns better be right. If you want to go against the conventional wisdom (which would say McLemore as best fill of a need or Noel as highest upside), you need to be proven correct in hindsight. No excuses. If Len winds up worse than McLemore or especially Noel, this was a bad pick. Doesn't matter if Len looks great on the court, but can't stay healthy -- there are plenty of injury flags around him at this point, so we can't pretend to be surprised. Luckily for the Suns, my track record with NBA prospects is very weak, so my opinion doesn't matter much.

As for Goodwin, seems like a decent pick. I like that he's young and has upside. Teams in our position don't have much use for role players, so no point in going for "safe" picks. I am intrigued though -- the Suns apparently see Goodwin as a PG. So what's the plan at SG then? Play 2 points most of the time? Tucker and Dudley can guard some 2-guards, but not all of them (esp. Dudley), and both of them are definitely SFs offensively. You can get away with playing only forwards around your PG if your PG is Nash or Chris Paul, but not if it's Goran Dragic. No knock on Drago, I still like the guy a lot, but he's realistically never going to be an All-NBA player who can do it by himself. He needs at least a little help in the backcourt.

[carey]

You can get away with playing only forwards around your PG if your PG is Nash or Chris Paul, but not if it's Goran Dragic. No knock on Drago, I still like the guy a lot, but he's realistically never going to be an All-NBA player who can do it by himself. He needs at least a little help in the backcourt.

Definitely.

Check out the last two months of last season for Dragic though. He posted 8.5 then 9.4 assists per game with this **** roster. That is positively Chris Paul like. I can see him doing that for the season if we could just surround him with players that can shoot and finish.