2019 season speculation including trade ideas

[JDJ26]

Suns need to stand pat and evaluate the team once everybody is available to play. Hopefully Sarver doesn't get impatient and force James Jones into a stupid move.

[lilfishi22]

Ayton coming back won't fix the PG situation but it will give us a better idea of who is a keeper. I'm also in support of waiting to see how we play with Ayton back before doing anything dumb and/or drastic

[bwgood77]

I dont know about the others but Jeremy Lin is really bad at least from last season, you dont want him even as a 6th guard.

I'm not sure how much of lins' overall regression could be attributed to him being relegated to playing mostly garbage minutes last year, But really, I guess it just really depends upon what we'd be looking for primarily in a backup guard. Overall, there's still plenty of low cost veteran options that could be signed as an insurance policy for Rubio. At the very least, we could have some ball handlers with veteran experience.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/08/notable-free-agent-guards-still-available-2.html .

I'm not even opposed to players such as Jerryd Bayless, Or Jerian Grant or even Jody Meeks ( shooting guard). If not a Lin or Livingston. Or acquiring someone through trade. Just a reasonable stopgap should suffice I think.

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

I was going to say the same. We have 4 pgs and Booker handles the ball quite a bit. We don't need to go after one of these guys.

[lilfishi22]

I'm not sure how much of lins' overall regression could be attributed to him being relegated to playing mostly garbage minutes last year, But really, I guess it just really depends upon what we'd be looking for primarily in a backup guard. Overall, there's still plenty of low cost veteran options that could be signed as an insurance policy for Rubio. At the very least, we could have some ball handlers with veteran experience.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/08/notable-free-agent-guards-still-available-2.html .

I'm not even opposed to players such as Jerryd Bayless, Or Jerian Grant or even Jody Meeks ( shooting guard). If not a Lin or Livingston. Or acquiring someone through trade. Just a reasonable stopgap should suffice I think.

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

I was going to say the same. We have 4 pgs and Booker handles the ball quite a bit. We don't need to go after one of these guys.

Which leads me to question why Carter isn't talked about as much as Okobo and Ty. On paper the guy is the perfect fit next to Booker. He doesn't take shots away from Booker, defends very well and has been known to hit 3's. Yet the talk seems to be revolving around deciding between Ty and Okobo for playing time.

[hollywood6964]

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

I was going to say the same. We have 4 pgs and Booker handles the ball quite a bit. We don't need to go after one of these guys.

Which leads me to question why Carter isn't talked about as much as Okobo and Ty. On paper the guy is the perfect fit next to Booker. He doesn't take shots away from Booker, defends very well and has been known to hit 3's. Yet the talk seems to be revolving around deciding between Ty and Okobo for playing time.

To me all three are sub par, but I agree. In fact from what I've seen, jerome is third on the list, although I suppose it could be a bit premature. I'm sure we could swing a trade for a real backup.

[m1chal]

To me our 2nd best PG is Okobo, I can't really understand why he hasn't been playing lately. Attitude, French accent, something else?

[Djedefre]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

[Saberestar]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

McDonough era is absolutely over and we are already seeing that James Jones and Bower are better (not that difficult BTW) than him at trading/signing/drafting.

That gives me a big hope to me. Mistakes have been made, of course, but we are on the right track NOW.

[Saberestar]

I'm not sure how much of lins' overall regression could be attributed to him being relegated to playing mostly garbage minutes last year, But really, I guess it just really depends upon what we'd be looking for primarily in a backup guard. Overall, there's still plenty of low cost veteran options that could be signed as an insurance policy for Rubio. At the very least, we could have some ball handlers with veteran experience.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/08/notable-free-agent-guards-still-available-2.html .

I'm not even opposed to players such as Jerryd Bayless, Or Jerian Grant or even Jody Meeks ( shooting guard). If not a Lin or Livingston. Or acquiring someone through trade. Just a reasonable stopgap should suffice I think.

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

I was going to say the same. We have 4 pgs and Booker handles the ball quite a bit. We don't need to go after one of these guys.

I think that we need to give Ty Jerome an actual opportunity to consolidate him as our full time backup PG.

He was injured and he has played just four games. FOUR games after being out a long time.

He played really well the first game. Then he was probable for a game or two because he had a bit of soreness in his ankle, that is understable.

His passing ability and shooting are for real, he needs to improve athletically to be better on defense and his handles to be a better true PG.

I am a big believer in him.

[sasquatchBob]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

What are you talking about?

No growth chances? Look at the average age of our core players.

Sub-par playmaking? We signed one of the best playmaking PG in the whole league and are currently ranked top 3 in team assists.

The Suns are finally turning into a team. You can't jump from 19 wins to 60 in one off-season.

[bwgood77]

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

I was going to say the same. We have 4 pgs and Booker handles the ball quite a bit. We don't need to go after one of these guys.

I think that we need to give Ty Jerome an actual opportunity to consolidate him as our full time backup PG.

He was injured and he has played just four games. FOUR games after being out a long time.

He played really well the first game. Then he was probable for a game or two because he had a bit of soreness in his ankle, that is understable.

His passing ability and shooting are for real, he needs to improve athletically to be better on defense and his handles to be a better true PG.

I am a big believer in him.

I am too. Just might be good to bring him along a little slower, though I guess he will get up to speed more quickly with more time.

[bwgood77]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

Just bad enought ot not actually be good or just good enough to not actually be bad? Or are those the same thing? We looked pretty good early, even without Ayton. Now teams may have adjusted watching game tape, and we don't come out with fire often in the 2nd half. The worst part about it is that the pieces that have made us better may not be around long, except Ricky for two years, but he probably isn't improving from here. Baynes could be gone, or at least isn't a long term piece, or likely one. And Saric is probably about at his peak, so yeah, it mostly lies on Ayton. Booker has gotten better though learning to play more the right way. The rookies may not be high upside guys. The positive is that we are at least watchable and it's possible we get into the playoffs. I just hope (wished) we use our draft picks very wisely since that's the best way to build for the long term. Of course a nice signing in FA or potentially a trade could help but those may be less likely or just get us short term small improvement with no upside or growth for future (if it's a guy like Love or Blake or Aldridge).

[hollywood6964]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

What are you talking about?

No growth chances? Look at the average age of our core players.

Sub-par playmaking? We signed one of the best playmaking PG in the whole league and are currently ranked top 3 in team assists.

The Suns are finally turning into a team. You can't jump from 19 wins to 60 in one off-season.

I think everyone is forgetting about running being banged up for a while and maybe had been too. And then ayton not playing. This is making a huge difference when we have no real backup pg and have to play a bench of in saric, and a seat warmer like kaminsky. Really there's only a big hold in the backup pg spot. This team will be good when reasonably healthy.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I dont know about the others but Jeremy Lin is really bad at least from last season, you dont want him even as a 6th guard.

I'm not sure how much of lins' overall regression could be attributed to him being relegated to playing mostly garbage minutes last year, But really, I guess it just really depends upon what we'd be looking for primarily in a backup guard. Overall, there's still plenty of low cost veteran options that could be signed as an insurance policy for Rubio. At the very least, we could have some ball handlers with veteran experience.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/08/notable-free-agent-guards-still-available-2.html .

I'm not even opposed to players such as Jerryd Bayless, Or Jerian Grant or even Jody Meeks ( shooting guard). If not a Lin or Livingston. Or acquiring someone through trade. Just a reasonable stopgap should suffice I think.

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

Thanks man, Yeah, I would like Livingston the best out of that list too IF we absolutely decide that we need to look for a more seasoned veteran backup option to Rubio, Whilst we let Jerome and Okobo( been pleasantly surprised by his improvements) develop further. But I have to apologize, as upon further research, I just discovered that he apparently chose to retire about a month or two ago. My bad, I still really like Jerome though, And think that he'll develop pretty well for us once he gets back up to speed. Okobo developing nicely as well. And I'm cool with seeing how they develop together for now. But IF they can't hold things down well enough for us for some reason.........

Then there are still three options in the 2020 draft that I like possibly in our range, should we find ourselves outside of the lottery are: Ayo Dosunma ( 6'5 and reminds of Jrue Holiday in terms of his potential), Tyreese Haliburton ( 6'5 and sneaky athletic with a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and shooting over 40% from three) , and Tyus Jones ( 6'2, maybe the best all around on ball defender and floor general in all of college basketball, and also a very good facilitator). Also, There's likely also some very good young options likely available in the G league , I'm partial to PJ Dozier for his size and defensive potential, Or maybe Brandon Goodwin, for his potent scoring and passing. I don't really want to change up the roster much ifvat all possible either, Perhaps just a slary for salary trade with someone to give a little more veteran stability behind Rubio for now?

Phoenix/San Antonio-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=wga7zpa.
Bellinelli could give us another veteran ball handler and proficient 3 point shooter in the backcourt, and give us a little insurance for rubio as well.

Phoenix/Chicago:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yx4cdtut . ( *** We'd add a future 2nd if necessary as a sweetener).

I still like Dunn( as a competent veteran backup, And for his defense). And Gafford is a young 6'11 big man that has great potential defensively with his shotblocking and rebounding too. Very bouncy. And he's still on his rookie contract, and could grow with our young core.

[bwgood77]

This team is an epitome of mediocre. McD's era was frustrating, but at least we had a promise of high picks in a few very good drafts (botching the actual job is a completely different story). What do we have now? Basically no trade chips (Jones had spent them fairly quickly), very slim chances of internal growth, still a glaring hole at 4 spot for the future and subpar playmaking in this league. The big change this season will be that we're going to be just bad enough to not be actually good. Maybe there is a light, but i'm not seeing it although i'm trying really hard.

What are you talking about?

No growth chances? Look at the average age of our core players.

Sub-par playmaking? We signed one of the best playmaking PG in the whole league and are currently ranked top 3 in team assists.

The Suns are finally turning into a team. You can't jump from 19 wins to 60 in one off-season.

I think everyone is forgetting about running being banged up for a while and maybe had been too. And then ayton not playing. This is making a huge difference when we have no real backup pg and have to play a bench of in saric, and a seat warmer like kaminsky. Really there's only a big hold in the backup pg spot. This team will be good when reasonably healthy.

So you like Kaminsky at backup PF?

[bwgood77]

I'm not sure how much of lins' overall regression could be attributed to him being relegated to playing mostly garbage minutes last year, But really, I guess it just really depends upon what we'd be looking for primarily in a backup guard. Overall, there's still plenty of low cost veteran options that could be signed as an insurance policy for Rubio. At the very least, we could have some ball handlers with veteran experience.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/08/notable-free-agent-guards-still-available-2.html .

I'm not even opposed to players such as Jerryd Bayless, Or Jerian Grant or even Jody Meeks ( shooting guard). If not a Lin or Livingston. Or acquiring someone through trade. Just a reasonable stopgap should suffice I think.

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

Thanks man, Yeah, I would like Livingston the best out of that list too for a more seasoned veteran backup option to Rubio, Whilst we let Jerome and Okobo( been pleasantly surprised by his improvements) develop further. But I have to apologize, as upon further research, I just discovered that he apparently chose to retire about a month or two ago. My bad, I still really like Jerome though, And think that he'll develop pretty well for us once he gets back up to speed. Okobo developing nicely as well.

And three options in the 2020 draft that I like possibly in our range, should we find ourselves outside of the lottery are: Ayo Dosunma ( 6'5 and reminds of Jrue Holiday in terms of his potential), Tyreese Haliburton ( 6'5 and sneaky athletic with a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and shooting over 40% from three) , and Tyus Jones ( 6'2, maybe the best all around on ball defender and floor general in all of college basketball, and also a very good facilitator). Also, There's likely also some very good young options likely available in the G league , I'm partial to PJ Dozier for his size and defensive potential, Or maybe Brandon Goodwin, for his potent scoring and passing. I don't really want to change up the roster much ifvat all possible either, Perhaps just a slary for salary trade with someone to give a little more veteran stability behind Rubio for now?

Phoenix/San Antonio-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=wga7zpa.
Bellinelli could give us another veteran ball handler and proficient 3 point shooter in the backcourt, and give us a little insurance for rubio as well.

Phoenix/Chicago:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yx4cdtut . ( *** We'd add a future 2nd if necessary as a sweetener).

I still like Dunn( as a competent veteran backup, And for his defense). And Gafford is a young 6'11 big man that has great potential defensively with his shotblocking and rebounding too. Very bouncy. And he's still on his rookie contract, and could grow with our young core.

You keep mentioning Tyus Jones, who was the backup in Minnesota and now plays for Memphis. Do you mean Duke's Tre Jones, who vastly disappointed last year as a high recruit?

[Ghost of Kleine]

If we think we need a backup PG, first we will have to clean the house a little, right now we have 4 PGs, 5 if you count Ty Johnson as one.
After that, some of the names you gave are nice, I love Livingston.

Thanks man, Yeah, I would like Livingston the best out of that list too for a more seasoned veteran backup option to Rubio, Whilst we let Jerome and Okobo( been pleasantly surprised by his improvements) develop further. But I have to apologize, as upon further research, I just discovered that he apparently chose to retire about a month or two ago. My bad, I still really like Jerome though, And think that he'll develop pretty well for us once he gets back up to speed. Okobo developing nicely as well.

And three options in the 2020 draft that I like possibly in our range, should we find ourselves outside of the lottery are: Ayo Dosunma ( 6'5 and reminds of Jrue Holiday in terms of his potential), Tyreese Haliburton ( 6'5 and sneaky athletic with a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and shooting over 40% from three) , and Tyus Jones ( 6'2, maybe the best all around on ball defender and floor general in all of college basketball, and also a very good facilitator). Also, There's likely also some very good young options likely available in the G league , I'm partial to PJ Dozier for his size and defensive potential, Or maybe Brandon Goodwin, for his potent scoring and passing. I don't really want to change up the roster much ifvat all possible either, Perhaps just a slary for salary trade with someone to give a little more veteran stability behind Rubio for now?

Phoenix/San Antonio-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=wga7zpa.
Bellinelli could give us another veteran ball handler and proficient 3 point shooter in the backcourt, and give us a little insurance for rubio as well.

Phoenix/Chicago:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yx4cdtut . ( *** We'd add a future 2nd if necessary as a sweetener).

I still like Dunn( as a competent veteran backup, And for his defense). And Gafford is a young 6'11 big man that has great potential defensively with his shotblocking and rebounding too. Very bouncy. And he's still on his rookie contract, and could grow with our young core.

You keep mentioning Tyus Jones, who was the backup in Minnesota and now plays for Memphis. Do you mean Duke's Tre Jones, who vastly disappointed last year as a high recruit?

Yeah...lol my bad man, Whenever I think about Tre Jones, I always think about Tyus in terms of his potential. Then get the names mixed up But thank you for the correction. And yes! I definitely like Tre Jones IF he's possibly in our range, outside of the lottery.

Also, With respect to tyus now playing in Memphis. Do you think there might be any possibility of somehow snagging him from them ? Any info on if they're high on him, ot if he was just a filler more or less for them in the trade?

[darealjuice]

Crazy to see someone talking about how mediocre and topped out this team is when we've only seen them play one game with the #1 pick in last year's draft lol. I guess having to see Frank start at center for almost half of the season is starting to wear people down.

[BobbieL]

Crazy to see someone talking about how mediocre and topped out this team is when we've only seen them play one game with the #1 pick in last year's draft lol. I guess having to see Frank start at center for almost half of the season is starting to wear people down.

I am actually pleased with how Frank has played - and he will be fine when he is a back up 4 along Baynes coming off the bench with DA starting.

Saric I think will be better next to Ayton at the 4.

The team is better, more competitive, better to watch. Things take time

[bwgood77]

Crazy to see someone talking about how mediocre and topped out this team is when we've only seen them team play one game with the #1 pick in last year's draft lol. I guess having to see Frank start at center for almost half of the season is starting to wear people down.

Yeah, I mentioned a lot lies on him. But the thing is I think Baynes is a game changer for us. A big one. Of course Ayton is too. Not sure about our future at PF and long term at PG.

As for the PG discussion, I think we likely obviously keep Jerome at backup, Okobo at 3rd string and let Carter go...he will be a RFA I believe..not sure if he will be picked up but Okobo certainly has far more upside being a couple years younger, a better passer, and in the long run probably a more effective defender with his length and quickness. I imagine the shooting keeps coming around...already 40% from 3. Per 36 for ast/to is 9.1/1. Also finishes at the rim at over 57% which isn't great but Carter is at 40%.

I do think Bridges can be a real impact player with his defense, cutting and ability to finish at the rim at a high rate (over 70%). Also just a high IQ player and shooting over 50% from 3 in December.