Trade Deadline Countdown....January 2016

[nevetsov]

Clearing cap space isn't the #1 priority... clearing Markieff, and any other toxic attitudes, should be. Complete chemistry cleanout. Should have happened a long time ago, irrespective of value back. You don't want his piss poor influence remotely able to tarnish the attitudes of the young core.

Second should be collecting pieces that will be part of our long time future/ core (players or picks).
Third should be getting the right complementary guys to help those pieces develop.

Trading Keef is #1.
Trading Chandler and Tucker could, in the right deal, satisfy #2 at the cost of #3, which I am ok with.

I watched the Magic game last night and Napier seems like a good young PG - can shoot, defend, and he's quick. He'll be limited to a backup behind Payton, perhaps we could make a deal for him. No idea what Orlando need though, they seem stacked everywhere.

Other option might be Marcus Smart, if Boston is serious about making a playoff push and are happy with IT moving forward.

[Cutter]

I see no reason to make any changes to this team. We are headed for a top 3 worst team finish, with a strong chance at the #1 pick. As we continue to lose for the remainder of the year, we need a couple of vets to keep the locker room from going toxic. Why trade Chandler, Tucker or Price when they can be positive influences in the locker room as the young guys get tons of minutes, and help us lose games. Yes, playing Booker, Warren and Len heavy minutes is going to ensure we lose a lot of games.


Let the Suns play hard, let the young guys grow and learn, let the second tier vets like Leuer and Teletovic play and develop trade value. In my opinion this is the right way to "tank", while the Sixers are doing it the wrong way.

Edit: I left this out, but of course Kieff and his toxic aura must be moved immediately. If the Jan 15th trade for Terrence Jones doesn't materialize, then we either cut him or attach an asset and trade him to the highest bidder.

[nevetsov]

The only thing about keeping PJ is that he's likely playing for a new contract for next season - I don't know if it would be better to keep him knowing that he's going to go balls out (good example for the young guys), or trade him because he's going to try and get his own (at the expense of the young guys).

Seems like the draft is PF heavy at the top so I am happy to keep Leuer/ Tele at the 4 this season. If we can get a talented young PG who actually plays like a PG, and develop him as a backup behind Knight this season while there are PG mins available, that would pretty much set us up at every position.

[bwgood77]

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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Even the worst pick in the league only has a little over a 64% chance of landing in the top 3.

[AtheJ415]

I see no reason to make any changes to this team. We are headed for a top 3 worst team finish, with a strong chance at the #1 pick. As we continue to lose for the remainder of the year, we need a couple of vets to keep the locker room from going toxic. Why trade Chandler, Tucker or Price when they can be positive influences in the locker room as the young guys get tons of minutes, and help us lose games. Yes, playing Booker, Warren and Len heavy minutes is going to ensure we lose a lot of games.


Let the Suns play hard, let the young guys grow and learn, let the second tier vets like Leuer and Teletovic play and develop trade value. In my opinion this is the right way to "tank", while the Sixers are doing it the wrong way.

Edit: I left this out, but of course Kieff and his toxic aura must be moved immediately. If the Jan 15th trade for Terrence Jones doesn't materialize, then we either cut him or attach an asset and trade him to the highest bidder.

I agree with this in principle, but I'd argue this locker room is already toxic, so we might as well move the vets. Just move them for picks and sign D league guys so we don't suddenly win.

[Mr-Al]

Would you trade:

Phoenix: Michael Kidd Gilchrist, Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams (expiring)

Charlotte: Brandon Knight, Markieff Morris


Gilchrist is hurt this year so our tank gets even better. He's also only 22 years old and would be the lockdown defender our future starting unit needs in the frontcourt. His midrange shooting is actually pretty decent and has a lot of time to improve his shot as he already is an elite defender and rebounder. (I'd eventually start Warren at PF and MKG at SF)

Would the Hornets do it? Probably not, but I don't think the value is too far off

Future starting five has a really good mix of offense and defense

Bledsoe
Booker
MKG
Warren
Len

[bwgood77]

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.

You just named our four keepers in your previous post, and Len has probably played in 150 NBA games, Warren maybe 70 at the most, Booker, what 20-25? And then a guy who has never played in the nba? These guys have a lot of talent but they are not nearly as highly touted outside of this board has being playoff worthy talent at this point in time. That's just crazy.

It might be exciting because it appears they have a chance to be very good, but they are not there yet. Certainly not playoff level, or even 500 level.

[AtheJ415]

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.

You just named our four keepers in your previous post, and Len has probably played in 150 NBA games, Warren maybe 70 at the most, Booker, what 20-25? And then a guy who has never played in the nba? These guys have a lot of talent but they are not nearly as highly touted outside of this board has being playoff worthy talent at this point in time. That's just crazy.

It might be exciting because it appears they have a chance to be very good, but they are not there yet. Certainly not playoff level, or even 500 level.

You can gauge talent beyond who has played in a number of NBA games. Ben Simmons has played in 0. He has talent.

There are a lot of smart writers out there who have flat out said, "The Suns have talent." I'm not alone in this thought. This team's wins over the previous years, combined with our picks who have hit and shown more promise than most the guys ahead of them, can lead me to very rationally declare that.

My keepers are players who have more value to us than other teams and fit our future window, so by definition they will be young and unproven. That's just a necessity of a rebuilding team and what a keeper means to a rebuilding team.

You also left off the 24 and 26 year olds who I said you maybe keep or maybe trade, and they are an all-star and a near all-star. My reasons for trading them were specifically not based on talent, but on fit and age.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Would you trade:

Phoenix: Michael Kidd Gilchrist, Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams (expiring)

Charlotte: Brandon Knight, Markieff Morris


Gilchrist is hurt this year so our tank gets even better. He's also only 22 years old and would be the lockdown defender our future starting unit needs in the frontcourt. His midrange shooting is actually pretty decent and has a lot of time to improve his shot as he already is an elite defender and rebounder. (I'd eventually start Warren at PF and MKG at SF)

Would the Hornets do it? Probably not, but I don't think the value is too far off

Future starting five has a really good mix of offense and defense

Bledsoe
Booker
MKG
Warren
Len

Yes.

[bwgood77]

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.

You just named our four keepers in your previous post, and Len has probably played in 150 NBA games, Warren maybe 70 at the most, Booker, what 20-25? And then a guy who has never played in the nba? These guys have a lot of talent but they are not nearly as highly touted outside of this board has being playoff worthy talent at this point in time. That's just crazy.

It might be exciting because it appears they have a chance to be very good, but they are not there yet. Certainly not playoff level, or even 500 level.

You can gauge talent beyond who has played in a number of NBA games. Ben Simmons has played in 0. He has talent.

There are a lot of smart writers out there who have flat out said, "The Suns have talent." I'm not alone in this thought. This team's wins over the previous years, combined with our picks who have hit and shown more promise than most the guys ahead of them, can lead me to very rationally declare that.

My keepers are players who have more value to us than other teams and fit our future window, so by definition they will be young and unproven. That's just a necessity of a rebuilding team and what a keeper means to a rebuilding team.

You also left off the 24 and 26 year olds who I said you maybe keep or maybe trade, and they are an all-star and a near all-star. My reasons for trading them were specifically not based on talent, but on fit and age.

Knight is not a near all star. He was in the all star conversation in the crappy east last year but wouldn't sniff it against guards in the west. Not even Bledsoe will, despite you saying it be so.

We were projected to win 36.5 games, and have certainly overachieved, but have had a disgruntled player taking us out of games early, and some boneheaded turnovers or end bounds passes by your near all star.

We do have some talent, and might be in the playoff conversation, but NOBODY except a few people here put us ahead of Utah or New Orleans, or the top six not including Dallas, but Dirk continues to play well, and we don't have anyone as good as him, and Wesley Matthews has recovered better than expected.

That's a big part of the problem. The owner, the FO, you, others, think this team is full of talent. We don't have a third team all nba guard like a couple years ago or the best pick n roll tandem in the league. That drove a lot of our success....in year one the team proved to have chemistry and it was torn to pieces. We are trying to regain some but it has basically been trying to swing for home runs, and miss, and miss other big names, and scramble for the scraps that are left. The last two offseasons and the last trade line were disasters.

And yeah, Ben Simmons has talent, but he is probably not going to make the playoffs as a rookie unless he ends up in Boston.

[Leapinlarry22]

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.

Ben Simmons is no joke, he has great court awareness and passing skills, he can be a superstar. We are only .5 games from 3rd, 3 games from 2nd and 8 games from 1st


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[AtheJ415]

You just named our four keepers in your previous post, and Len has probably played in 150 NBA games, Warren maybe 70 at the most, Booker, what 20-25? And then a guy who has never played in the nba? These guys have a lot of talent but they are not nearly as highly touted outside of this board has being playoff worthy talent at this point in time. That's just crazy.

It might be exciting because it appears they have a chance to be very good, but they are not there yet. Certainly not playoff level, or even 500 level.

You can gauge talent beyond who has played in a number of NBA games. Ben Simmons has played in 0. He has talent.

There are a lot of smart writers out there who have flat out said, "The Suns have talent." I'm not alone in this thought. This team's wins over the previous years, combined with our picks who have hit and shown more promise than most the guys ahead of them, can lead me to very rationally declare that.

My keepers are players who have more value to us than other teams and fit our future window, so by definition they will be young and unproven. That's just a necessity of a rebuilding team and what a keeper means to a rebuilding team.

You also left off the 24 and 26 year olds who I said you maybe keep or maybe trade, and they are an all-star and a near all-star. My reasons for trading them were specifically not based on talent, but on fit and age.

Knight is not a near all star. He was in the all star conversation in the crappy east last year but wouldn't sniff it against guards in the west. Not even Bledsoe will, despite you saying it be so.

We were projected to win 36.5 games, and have certainly overachieved, but have had a disgruntled player taking us out of games early, and some boneheaded turnovers or end bounds passes by your near all star.

We do have some talent, and might be in the playoff conversation, but NOBODY except a few people here put us ahead of Utah or New Orleans, or the top six not including Dallas, but Dirk continues to play well, and we don't have anyone as good as him, and Wesley Matthews has recovered better than expected.

That's a big part of the problem. The owner, the FO, you, others, think this team is full of talent. We don't have a third team all nba guard like a couple years ago or the best pick n roll tandem in the league. That drove a lot of our success....in year one the team proved to have chemistry and it was torn to pieces. We are trying to regain some but it has basically been trying to swing for home runs, and miss, and miss other big names, and scramble for the scraps that are left. The last two offseasons and the last trade line were disasters.

Being an all star and having all star talent are 2 different things. Bledsoe has all star talent and played at an all star level this year. His numbers are unequivocally better than a couple guys who will make it. Yes, he won't make it, but that's a different conversation. Goran was top 5 in win shares and made 3rd team all nba but wasn't an all star that year. Kobe is having the worst year maybe ever and is going to make it. He made it as a youngin despite not even starting on his team simply because he was popular. A lot goes into that. Knight, in my opinion, has a hell of a lot of talent, which I would call near all star. He doesn't play like it this year for many reasons, which we've discussed on this board ad nauseum. But I think it's fair to say he's not performing up to his talent level, and within that statement it means his talent level is higher than what he's shown.

To characterize our season as lost relative to where we are now because of our early season issues with Markieff and the boneheaded plays by Knight is a big misnomer. That's why the playoffs may have been lost and explains why we might have been the 9 or 10 seed picking in the early teens, but it in no way explains where we are now, which is what I was discussing in my post when I said we can catch a 2 seed potentially and I'm excited about that.

Also, I'll say this: Those issues aren't talent-related. Markieff being disgruntled has nothing to do with Markieff's talent. Knight making a boneheaded play isn't because he's untalented. Those are both mental issues. Hell, Hornacek could've prevented both by: 1. Benching Markieff, but Hornacek kept playing him through his awfulness for no reason, then sat him, watched others drastically outperform him, and then miraculously played him again. 2. Not running game-deciding plays through Knight. But hell, Hornacek wasn't good at end of game scenarios even during Dragic's monster year. He's always struggled with that, but his defenders always make excuses for that, just like his lack of assists, lack of leadership, the constant lack of chemistry, and lack of respect he seems to command with almost everyone we add. The entire team is underperforming, which points to a much larger issue. Our coach is the 2nd biggest underperformer imo. A coach's job is so much more than X's and O's, and while Hornacek may be a smart guy, I've yet to see him be the locker room leader who commands respect and disciplines this team in the manner a coach should. It's been an issue our entire time here.

Now, we have reached a new low, and so either Bledsoe ought to be an MVP candidate and considered way more than an all-star given what's happened since he left, because he was the difference between getting blown out by the Lakers and losing to the 76ers and competing for the 8 or 9 seed, or perhaps the team has given up because our coach has been unable to get them to perform to their potential. You can't have it both ways. You can't say our star guard isn't a star, but then also use that as an excuse for why we have suddenly become the worst team in the NBA, all while absolving the coach. We have had a dramatic and epic fall off that teams that have lost stars simply haven't, and I don't see, for instance, Indy last year without Paul George as more talented than what we have right now.

I'm not sure why the playoffs somehow came into this. None of my previous post was about us making the playoffs. It was about us having way more talent than the other tanking teams. Utah certainly isn't one of those tanking teams. We have more talent than how we are playing right now, and therefore have no business having a shot at the 2 seed in the tankathon. I'm merely stating that, and that I'm happy for it because it may benefit us more in the long run than playing to our potential would have thanks to this high pick. Also, when it comes to a discussion of the playoffs in the current year, developed talent is the key. That is different from long-term talent that you'd want to build around. So the word talent means different things in those 2 contexts. The guys I labeled as keepers, as guys we must move, and as in-between are all based on long-term value and therefore includes undeveloped talent/ceiling, and not their short-term ability to help us succeed this season. Those are 2 very different discussions. Otherwise, Bledsoe is my keeper and not in between, for instance.

[letsgosuns]

Bledsoe and Knight are not all star players. Bledsoe and Knight are not Team USA candidate players. Unfortunately, Bledsoe and Knight are paid like they are those types of players. How can a player be considered an all star player and have all star talent if he has a hard time dribbling a basketball. This is a joke. Knight ain't close to an all star. He is just another version of Jamal Crawford except far dumber. Bledsoe is a guy with talent but plays with wavering energy quarter to quarter. I have seen him play hard and then things do not go well and he plays like he gave up.

There are a few keys to fixing the Suns. Trade the dead weight: Markieff, Tucker, and Knight. Trade Chandler for something good because he has value. Fire Jeff Hornacek. See how McDonough does the rest of the season and what players he gets in return in trades. Trade Bledsoe on draft night for another top pick if possible. Bring in a point guard that is willing to pass. Build the team around Len, Warren, Booker, and the new draft picks and do not do something stupid again like sign a player at a position you do not need (i.e. isaiah thomas).

What else can the Suns do? There are no franchise altering free agents wanting to come to Phoenix right now. You have to rebuild through trades and draft picks.

[bwgood77]

Spoiler:

You can gauge talent beyond who has played in a number of NBA games. Ben Simmons has played in 0. He has talent.

There are a lot of smart writers out there who have flat out said, "The Suns have talent." I'm not alone in this thought. This team's wins over the previous years, combined with our picks who have hit and shown more promise than most the guys ahead of them, can lead me to very rationally declare that.

My keepers are players who have more value to us than other teams and fit our future window, so by definition they will be young and unproven. That's just a necessity of a rebuilding team and what a keeper means to a rebuilding team.

You also left off the 24 and 26 year olds who I said you maybe keep or maybe trade, and they are an all-star and a near all-star. My reasons for trading them were specifically not based on talent, but on fit and age.

Knight is not a near all star. He was in the all star conversation in the crappy east last year but wouldn't sniff it against guards in the west. Not even Bledsoe will, despite you saying it be so.

We were projected to win 36.5 games, and have certainly overachieved, but have had a disgruntled player taking us out of games early, and some boneheaded turnovers or end bounds passes by your near all star.

We do have some talent, and might be in the playoff conversation, but NOBODY except a few people here put us ahead of Utah or New Orleans, or the top six not including Dallas, but Dirk continues to play well, and we don't have anyone as good as him, and Wesley Matthews has recovered better than expected.

That's a big part of the problem. The owner, the FO, you, others, think this team is full of talent. We don't have a third team all nba guard like a couple years ago or the best pick n roll tandem in the league. That drove a lot of our success....in year one the team proved to have chemistry and it was torn to pieces. We are trying to regain some but it has basically been trying to swing for home runs, and miss, and miss other big names, and scramble for the scraps that are left. The last two offseasons and the last trade line were disasters.

Being an all star and having all star talent are 2 different things. Bledsoe has all star talent and played at an all star level this year. His numbers are unequivocally better than a couple guys who will make it. Yes, he won't make it, but that's a different conversation. Goran was top 5 in win shares and made 3rd team all nba but wasn't an all star that year. Kobe is having the worst year maybe ever and is going to make it. He made it as a youngin despite not even starting on his team simply because he was popular. A lot goes into that. Knight, in my opinion, has a hell of a lot of talent, which I would call near all star. He doesn't play like it this year for many reasons, which we've discussed on this board ad nauseum. But I think it's fair to say he's not performing up to his talent level, and within that statement it means his talent level is higher than what he's shown.

To characterize our season as lost relative to where we are now because of our early season issues with Markieff and the boneheaded plays by Knight is a big misnomer. That's why the playoffs may have been lost and explains why we might have been the 9 or 10 seed picking in the early teens, but it in no way explains where we are now, which is what I was discussing in my post when I said we can catch a 2 seed potentially and I'm excited about that.

Also, I'll say this: Those issues aren't talent-related. Markieff being disgruntled has nothing to do with Markieff's talent. Knight making a boneheaded play isn't because he's untalented. Those are both mental issues. Hell, Hornacek could've prevented both by: 1. Benching Markieff, but Hornacek kept playing him through his awfulness for no reason, then sat him, watched others drastically outperform him, and then miraculously played him again. 2. Not running game-deciding plays through Knight. But hell, Hornacek wasn't good at end of game scenarios even during Dragic's monster year. He's always struggled with that, but his defenders always make excuses for that, just like his lack of assists, lack of leadership, the constant lack of chemistry, and lack of respect he seems to command with almost everyone we add. The entire team is underperforming, which points to a much larger issue. Our coach is the 2nd biggest underperformer imo. A coach's job is so much more than X's and O's, and while Hornacek may be a smart guy, I've yet to see him be the locker room leader who commands respect and disciplines this team in the manner a coach should. It's been an issue our entire time here.

Now, we have reached a new low, and so either Bledsoe ought to be an MVP candidate and considered way more than an all-star given what's happened since he left, because he was the difference between getting blown out by the Lakers and losing to the 76ers and competing for the 8 or 9 seed, or perhaps the team has given up because our coach has been unable to get them to perform to their potential. You can't have it both ways. You can't say our star guard isn't a star, but then also use that as an excuse for why we have suddenly become the worst team in the NBA, all while absolving the coach. We have had a dramatic and epic fall off that teams that have lost stars simply haven't, and I don't see, for instance, Indy last year without Paul George as more talented than what we have right now.

I'm not sure why the playoffs somehow came into this. None of my previous post was about us making the playoffs. It was about us having way more talent than the other tanking teams. Utah certainly isn't one of those tanking teams. We have more talent than how we are playing right now, and therefore have no business having a shot at the 2 seed in the tankathon. I'm merely stating that, and that I'm happy for it because it may benefit us more in the long run than playing to our potential would have thanks to this high pick. Also, when it comes to a discussion of the playoffs in the current year, developed talent is the key. That is different from long-term talent that you'd want to build around. So the word talent means different things in those 2 contexts. The guys I labeled as keepers, as guys we must move, and as in-between are all based on long-term value and therefore includes undeveloped talent/ceiling, and not their short-term ability to help us succeed this season. Those are 2 very different discussions. Otherwise, Bledsoe is my keeper and not in between, for instance.

I agree we have some young talent, but even for the other tanking teams, I don't know how many fans outside of our forum, and many inside would take Booker, Len and Warren over Noel, Embiid and Okafor, or over Russell and Randle, or Wiggins, Towns, LaVine and Shabazz, or Greek Freak, Parker and Middleton. Perhaps you think our guys have more talent and that is fine.

Many talk about trading Bledsoe or Len. I don't want to do that. I like our talent and we have a lot of nice pieces, but we're also a makeshift roster, without a real FO plan when the big targets don't hit. I'm also glad we have a good chance at Simmons. I'm just not sure we have more young talent than the guys on those other teams.

Besides being a team playing the first year together with no continuity in roster, we've also played the most games in the league.

Hornacek has been far from a good coach this year but there have been all sorts of problems. I don't really want him to stay for his sake and sanity and I'm sure if he wants to coach he will find a place with more of a plan and continuity, though I think he might be happy just chilling in Phx.

You talk about raw talent but I really can't believe you think our young guys have more raw skills and talent than those other teams I named. Bledsoe has a lot of raw ability that I like, and has more athletic ability than a guy like Conley, but Conley plays smart ball.

I certainly wouldn't place Bledsoe above Curry, Westbrook, Harden (despite his down year), Klay, Paul, and probably Conley or Lillard...perhaps even Parker and Ginobili this year, because most of those play team ball. Bledsoe does have some great talent and should be ahead of at least those last three guys I named. I can't remember how many guards make the all star game though. We have a near all star in Bledsoe but the way even our fans (and fans of previous teams he's been on don't think he is really a near all star).

[saintEscaton]

Bledsoe and Knight are not all star players. Bledsoe and Knight are not Team USA candidate players. Unfortunately, Bledsoe and Knight are paid like they are those types of players. How can a player be considered an all star player and have all star talent if he has a hard time dribbling a basketball. This is a joke. Knight ain't close to an all star. He is just another version of Jamal Crawford except far dumber. Bledsoe is a guy with talent but plays with wavering energy quarter to quarter. I have seen him play hard and then things do not go well and he plays like he gave up.

There are a few keys to fixing the Suns. Trade the dead weight: Markieff, Tucker, and Knight. Trade Chandler for something good because he has value. Fire Jeff Hornacek. See how McDonough does the rest of the season and what players he gets in return in trades. Trade Bledsoe on draft night for another top pick if possible. Bring in a point guard that is willing to pass. Build the team around Len, Warren, Booker, and the new draft picks and do not do something stupid again like sign a player at a position you do not need (i.e. isaiah thomas).

What else can the Suns do? There are no franchise altering free agents wanting to come to Phoenix right now. You have to rebuild through trades and draft picks.

At least J-Crossover could beat any one off the drible and had killer ankle-breakers in his prime. Plus he knew his role as an instaoffense microwave scorer who could be counted on to carry the load when he's inserted at a moment's notice. Knight probably wouldn't thrive as a sixth man because had more off nights than on nights even when he was playing off the ball as an SG without playmaking duties. Sometimes he will make up for his slow start/ scoring drought in a single quarter (like that 17 points in the 3rd vs Chicago) but he has to play the whole game to get into a streaky rhythm. Knight is even worse than Monta Ellis in that he is a subpar finisher without the explosiveness to take it to the rim. His bread and butter is aimlessly wasting the clock dancing around the top of the key before taking a contested low percantage long 2.

[LukasBMW]

[
I agree we have some young talent, but even for the other tanking teams, I don't know how many fans outside of our forum, and many inside would take Booker, Len and Warren over Noel, Embiid and Okafor, or over Russell and Randle, or Wiggins, Towns, LaVine and Shabazz, or Greek Freak, Parker and Middleton. Perhaps you think our guys have more talent and that is fine.

I'd take Booker/Len/Warren over Russell/Randle/Clarkson 10 times out of 10. The Lakers really screwed up their picks. LOL

Philly and the Bucks...too early to tell. I really like Okafor. I'm not sold on Noel. Embiid has yet to even play. Parker doesn't look great coming off the ACL injury. Greek Freak is ozzing with potential. Middleton looks good, right now he is better then Booker.

Minnesota is the only team I am jealous of. Towns and Wiggins are going to be legit. LaVine is right up there with Warren in my mind. Shabazz will make a great 6th man.

But if we tank HARD and get Simmons this year AND he is as good as advertised, we are right back up there with Minnesota as the top young team in the NBA with 3 potential all stars.

If Simmons goes to Philly, there is no god.

If Simmons goes to Minnesota, life is not fair.

If Simmons goes to LA, I will drop my pants and **** on the hollywood sign in disgust.

[Mulhollanddrive]

In terms of the last few drafts, I'd have NO top with Davis and Minnesota 2nd with Towns.

If you have an MVP candidate (or likely to) you are better placed than everyone else without one.

Not saying Warren or Booker or other team rookies can't, but those 2 are the clear standouts.

[Saberestar]

Would you trade:

Phoenix: Michael Kidd Gilchrist, Cdody Zeller, Marvin Williams (expiring)

Charlotte: Brandon Knight, Markieff Morris


Gilchrist is hurt this year so our tank gets even better. He's also only 22 years old and would be the lockdown defender our future starting unit needs in the frontcourt. His midrange shooting is actually pretty decent and has a lot of time to improve his shot as he already is an elite defender and rebounder. (I'd eventually start Warren at PF and MKG at SF)

Would the Hornets do it? Probably not, but I don't think the value is too far off

Future starting five has a really good mix of offense and defense

Bledsoe
Booker
MKG
Warren
Len

Yes, I would make this trade.

[MrTwister]

I watched the Magic game last night and Napier seems like a good young PG - can shoot, defend, and he's quick. He'll be limited to a backup behind Payton, perhaps we could make a deal for him. No idea what Orlando need though, they seem stacked everywhere.

Other option might be Marcus Smart, if Boston is serious about making a playoff push and are happy with IT moving forward.

FWIW, Magic fans are not that high on Napier, 2nd round pick or Goodwin should do the trick if you want him.Napier is a chucker undersized combo guard who cant defend.He can shoot though but he is mostly negative while he is on the floor.He is already 24, turning 25 in summer so its not really that he is some young guy which can improve a lot.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Brandon Knight is one of those players that ends up in teams like Charlotte.