Trade Deadline Countdown....January 2016

[RunDogGun]

We can't win a game without Bledsoe. I think that should tell you all you need to know about his worth to us.

Well we did lose twenty games with him, so I'm not sure that's saying much, but sure he is important to the team.

[bwgood77]

Bledsoe's Defense prowess was a myth. People looked at his athletic ability, a limited book of business, and projected him to be some sort of lock down defender all D guy.

He isn't.

his length, speed and hops allow him to make up for lack of pure intensity and desire. Seems to me his steals usually come off of lazy entry passes and rarely from his on Ball pressure. His blocks are more chase down ones.

Am I wrong ? Can we just quit pretending are players are better than what they are ? The rest of the league has.

No, I noticed that the other day. He is good at steals and blocks but barely better than an avg player defensively. But he's also not a huge negative defensively like Knight, Booker and Warren at this point. The latter two at least, should improve though.

[JJ13]

Trade PJ, Kieff & Tyson for cap space and assets

Go hard after Boogie (Len, Bledsoe, Goodwin, Picks)

Sign Rondo & Horford this summer

Cut Horny, sign Pringles Man

Rondo
Knight/Booker
Warren
Horford
Boogie

That team would be sick

[saintEscaton]

Trade PJ, Kieff & Tyson for cap space and assets

Go hard after Boogie (Len, Bledsoe, Goodwin, Picks)

Sign Rondo & Horford this summer

Cut Horny, sign Pringles Man

Rondo
Knight/Booker
Warren
Horford
Boogie

That team would be sick

So we basically switch places and become the Suicide Squad Kings? Ride or Die. None of this will ever happen but keep the dream alive

[jredsaz]

the only player Brooklyn might interested in is Knight, the question is, do you trade Knight, and maybe Chandler or Markieff, for Joe mega expiring and a young prospect, like RHJ?
Because that is the only option there.
I'd hold my horses with that type of move just yet.

Right! So we trade the Lakers pick, Plumlee, and Enis for... RHJ!?!

Lol. That gets everyone fired right on the spot.

[thamadkant]

I think a ball-handling SF who can hit the three like Batum is what's needed. Problem is he's likely going to cost the max!

I can see this as being a really solid and balanced starting 5...minus the gaping hole at PF.

Len
?
Batum
Booker
Bledsoe
---
Knight - scoring 6th man/spot starter

Horford would be PERFECT as a stretch 4 and then whatever pick we nab can be eased in.

If they can move Chandler, Kieff and Tucker then we would have room to throw two big deals out at Horford and Batum.

Yeah Batum would work well with scoring point guard and shooting guard since he can fascilitate


Also Booker is a terrible defender and unless he gets coached by a defensive coach that can make him atleast average... I dont see him holding down a starting SG on a contender. Unless of course he becomes a 20ppg scorer who can dish here and there in which his offense will make up for his defense.
He is an excellent shooter though and is not a chucker. But he definitely needs a defensive coach soom whilst he is young.

Len has the tools to be a good defender. His confidence is shot at the moment. He needs to be utilized offensively even just to receive the ball to help rotate it.


Ideally for the Suns to be a contender..
They need 3 to 4 good defenders on the rotation.

I agree with some here about Bledsoe playing lazy a lot of times. When on, he can shut down players.. But half if not most of the time he is on 2nd gear just going through the motions.

[thamadkant]

Bledsoe's Defense prowess was a myth. People looked at his athletic ability, a limited book of business, and projected him to be some sort of lock down defender all D guy.

He isn't.

his length, speed and hops allow him to make up for lack of pure intensity and desire. Seems to me his steals usually come off of lazy entry passes and rarely from his on Ball pressure. His blocks are more chase down ones.

Am I wrong ? Can we just quit pretending are players are better than what they are ? The rest of the league has.

No, I noticed that the other day. He is good at steals and blocks but barely better than an avg player defensively. But he's also not a huge negative defensively like Knight, Booker and Warren at this point. The latter two at least, should improve though.

Bledsoe is in 2nd gear most nights playing defense. But thats motivation.

You need a coach who will call time out and challenge him when he shows laziness defensively. He is quick strong athletic and has good reaction but half the time he isnt focused.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Chandler for Al Jeff and a pick.
Chandler for Splitter and a pick.
Chandler for Noah and a pick.
Chandler for Budinger, Hill and a pick.
Chandler for Mayo, Vasquez and pick.
Chandler for Pekovic and Muhammad/pick.
Chandler for Asik and a pick.
Chandler for Koufos, Butler/McLemore and a pick.

PICK PLS.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Bledsoe's Defense prowess was a myth. People looked at his athletic ability, a limited book of business, and projected him to be some sort of lock down defender all D guy.

He isn't.

his length, speed and hops allow him to make up for lack of pure intensity and desire. Seems to me his steals usually come off of lazy entry passes and rarely from his on Ball pressure. His blocks are more chase down ones.

Am I wrong ? Can we just quit pretending are players are better than what they are ? The rest of the league has.

No, I noticed that the other day. He is good at steals and blocks but barely better than an avg player defensively. But he's also not a huge negative defensively like Knight, Booker and Warren at this point. The latter two at least, should improve though.

Bledsoe is in 2nd gear most nights playing defense. But thats motivation.

You need a coach who will call time out and challenge him when he shows laziness defensively. He is quick strong athletic and has good reaction but half the time he isnt focused.

Bled played great D early in the season, before things went to ****. Once things went to ****, his D became ****.

[thamadkant]

Suns still doesnt have to rebuild fully.

They have good players, however wrong coach and system.


You need 2 way players in atleast 3 starter positions. A threath to score 15 plus a night but also makes it hard for their opponents to score... Simple.

Leuer, Teletovic, Chandler, Knight... Veterans who are one way players. Can work as off the bench players or supported by elite two way players or super elite one way players.

You cant have Chandler with a mediocre offensive player as an example...Next to prime MVP Dirk.. Perfect.

Clippers are same with Jordan and Griffin.... Their front court is solid and sufficient because Griffin is a 20 point a game PF who can dribble, pass and play inside out.

[rottenbanana36]

The suns offensive schemes are stagnant. They really only have one play which is the pick and roll with and a kick out or lob. If you are playing against us that's all you need to guard against. It's honestly kind of pathetic that they haven't tried to change it up at all. This type of offense only really works when you have one player who when played 1 on 1 is dominant a la Curry/Harden. The Suns don't move without the ball enough or set enough back picks to free their best shooters like Booker or even Knight for that matter. To top if all off both Bledsoe and Knight are extremely turnover prone and reckless when driving although Bledsoe seems to have gotten a little bit better on this.

I think that setting screens higher where the roll to the basket is not the primary option would help. Our guards are so fixated on setting up the lob to Chandler or going 1 on 1 that it's taken away from all of the other players on the floor. I'd like to see more pick and rolls involving 2 guards or a small forward. With Warren's deadly ability to score from mid range he should be the go to option for setting pick and roll screens. Also run Booker off of more backside screens that are set by our bigs. Your biggest goal when you intiate the offense should be to create chaos and favorable matchups.

Defensively they are lacking the mental focus and toughness. A team of average can still be a good defensive team if they understand and execute their roles. Len and Chandler are perfectly capable defenders and there is no way that I believe that in one offseason Chandler has all the sudden become a bad defender. Our guards seem to get lazy because they assume that with Chandler/Len down low that they will clean up the mess but that's not the case. I want to see our guards press higher up when the opposing PG brings the ball across half court and see our bigs fight harder for positioning before the entry pass. Our SG and SF need to get closer to their assignments to make opposing passes more difficult instead of sagging off 2-3 feet away and letting their opponents catch passes cleanly.

[bwgood77]

Leuer, Teletovic, Chandler, Knight... Veterans who are one way players. Can work as off the bench players or supported by elite two way players or super elite one way players.

Leuer may be an average player but he's not a one way player. He is pretty avg on both sides of the ball. He actually measures out a little better on the defensive side.

[AtheJ415]

That is all well and good but my point remains. A focus on clearing cap space should not be the priority. There are too many teams with cap space to find value. Again, what young players (like Terrence Jones, Evan Fournier, or Whiteside) would choose the Suns in a marketplace where there will be a dozen teams willing to over pay them (many with better situations than PHX).

Chandler is playing better and looks fully healed from that hammy. Let the guy play 25 minutes a game and build his value. Tucker can get back SOMETHING of value. Kieff will be dealt on the 15th for an asset (probably attached to a bad contract).

Trading the three for Joe Johnson is not a good idea.

You'd do it for the following years. Contending teams will use their cap space this year. The following year, all these teams wouldn't have cap space, and you're not just losing the contracts for this season, you lose them going forward. So yes, it has value. Obviously, you'd want to get something more back, but selling cap space as a single year thing is a misnomer. Cap space provides flexibility for as long as you have it. It's a multi-year thing. If you don't lose it, you don't magically lose it or its value.

I gotta agree with jredsaz. If you HAVE to dump them later for cap space, fine, but to not give it some time and assess trade value which you never know when it will pop up due to injuries, people desperate at trade deadlines, desperate after FA targets going elsewhere, etc. Most all of our guys have trade value. Dumping them for cap space when you don't need to at this point in time makes no sense. You can always do so later if you suddenly find out Kevin Durant wants to come to Phx or something.

I thought you wanted to at least get Terrence Jones or a pick for guys like Kieff and not just dump them.

I do want a pick or Jones for Markieff. I specifically stated initially that I'd be okay dumping them so long as we couldn't get something in return. Obviously I'd rather get a long-term piece. I just disagree that it makes no sense to dump a 4 or 5 year contract this year just because we probably won't get a star FA this offseason.

[Weemsickew14]

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=jktd5uh
Supposed to be Knight but hes not available to be traded yet.
Who says no? Maybe picks involved. Cuban has a history of trading picks.
Wes is an elite 3 and D player who has a great history with Hornacek (Not that it matters as of next year )

[alldayeveryday]

I didn't know Steven Adams on OKC was only 22!

Send Chandler for Adams, Waiters and a filler. Waiters and Filler off the books after a year.

[AtheJ415]

Bledsoe's Defense prowess was a myth. People looked at his athletic ability, a limited book of business, and projected him to be some sort of lock down defender all D guy.

He isn't.

his length, speed and hops allow him to make up for lack of pure intensity and desire. Seems to me his steals usually come off of lazy entry passes and rarely from his on Ball pressure. His blocks are more chase down ones.

Am I wrong ? Can we just quit pretending are players are better than what they are ? The rest of the league has.

He had more blocks per game than any non-big man in the NBA over the course of his time with the Clippers. As a PG that is damn impressive. His D was no myth.

[AtheJ415]

the only player Brooklyn might interested in is Knight, the question is, do you trade Knight, and maybe Chandler or Markieff, for Joe mega expiring and a young prospect, like RHJ?
Because that is the only option there.
I'd hold my horses with that type of move just yet.

Right! So we trade the Lakers pick, Plumlee, and Enis for... RHJ!?!

Lol. That gets everyone fired right on the spot.

Kind of agree, although Plumlee and Ennis have done nothing to suggest they have any value.

[Leapinlarry22]

The correct course of action at this point would be to suck for Simmons, with the consolation prize being Ingram. At the end of the year we will all be happy that we had Ben tanking.

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The thing is, we probably will be fairly lucky to get in the bottom 3 or 4, and may end up at 6 or 7, and likely drop a spot from where we end up, but of course you have a decent chance of jumping into top 3 too.

The way things are going now with this team, we are a lock for top three Pong ball allotment, but truthfully probably have an excellent chance of number one, certainly number two.


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[AtheJ415]

It's hard to be patient with this team because so much of it isn't guys who fit us long term. In my opinion, we have 4 definite keepers in Len, Warren, Bogdan and Booker. Bogdan is an unknown, but I see no reason to sell on him now. You bring him over and see what he has next year, and as a 2/3 who can shoot 40% from 3 (international, say 37% from NBA line) and an improving defender with his 6'11" wingspan, he has a role on this team no doubt.

We have 1 guy (Bledsoe) who is an all star (he is, I don't care if he didn't make it--his numbers are of that character across the board and he clearly has as much value as many all stars after our team imploded without him) but at 26 and with injuries is nearing the age where he may be more valuable elsewhere, and so you may move him in this process.

We have another guy in Knight who has a world of talent and is the right age for our core, but who must improve on the defensive end and buy into his role on offense. I'd like to see him with a new coach because Hornacek has done nothing for him imo. Playing him league leading minutes isn't the way to teach him a disciplined shot selection or to avoid turnovers, or even to play D. This is a common problem across all of our players imo. However, if you think he's a bad fit then he'd be movable also. I'd put him as wait and see.

Then we have 3 guys who just simply aren't that good at all. Either for talent or age reasons or both, they have no real place on this team. Those are Chandler, Tucker, and Price. I think Price would be tough to get anything of value for. Tucker and Chandler we could get some sort of pick in my opinion. These are guys you definitely move if you can get something for them. I think contenders looking to bolster lineups at the deadline may be the guys to scoop them up.

And then we have a bunch of guys of varying value who you keep or lose: Leuer, Tele, Archie, Jefferson. Jefferson likely has 0 value to another team. He's fine to keep on the end of the bench. Leuer is 26 and a rotation guy we should keep, but he's not a guy we must keep. His will depend on salary, but I do like him on this team. He's one I would like to keep of this group. Tele is a monster at what he does. He is unlikely to improve, but has a clear and definable value for any team. I think we could get something for him, even though he's an FA next year, because teams need spacing and shooters come playoff time, particularly at the 4, and ones like Tele don't grow on trees. Archie is just a mystery. He still never plays so it's tough to say what he has. He's young enough to become something other than a benchwarmer, but he may never reach that potential.

Then there's Markieff. He's a disaster who hopefully we can get the Rockets to bite on so we can add Jones.

[AtheJ415]

The correct course of action at this point would be to suck for Simmons, with the consolation prize being Ingram. At the end of the year we will all be happy that we had Ben tanking.

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The thing is, we probably will be fairly lucky to get in the bottom 3 or 4, and may end up at 6 or 7, and likely drop a spot from where we end up, but of course you have a decent chance of jumping into top 3 too.

The way things are going now with this team, we are a lock for top three Pong ball allotment, but truthfully probably have an excellent chance of number one, certainly number two.


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Yup. We are the worst team playing basketball right now. I think we have a real shot at the 2nd or 3rd seed in the tankathon if this continues. It's kind of exciting, because despite what many think on here, I don't believe we're anywhere close to as untalented as these other teams. We were never legitimate contenders anyways, so the net result of this year could benefit us if we get a great player we otherwise couldn't have when the season ends, and we add it to a team that is drastically underachieving, which can pay real dividends once the ship is righted.