RedIndian wrote:Oubre for Gordon is a lateral move.
Oubre is the better offensive player, and on balance, they're about equivalent defensively.
Gordon is the better rebounder and passer, and probably the better interior defender, but that's about it.
Gordon on offense is at his best slashing inside, and doing some tertiary playmaking. That'd create bad spacing with Ayton already clogging the paint. At least Oubre shoots a high volume from 3, which Gordon struggles at.
I'd rather just stick with Oubre, especially given his popularity in the dressing room.
I also fear that we're becoming obsessed with finding a PF, when that isn't such a screaming need. I think a combination of Oubre, Saric or Kaminsky is perfectly fine if Ayton develops into a premier big. Hardly any team in the league runs with two legit bigs. If you have one, you make do with floor spacers and role players in the front court around him, and that's what we should do with Ayton.
The crying need on this roster is additional ball handlers and shot creators from the perimeter. Almost all playoff teams have 2-3 of those. We have just the one in Booker.
And unfortunately Jones, Bower & Monty seem to be content with that, and want to surround Point Book with role playing wings. That's a recipe for mediocrity, not playoff contention.
Yes, A backup point guard who is ISO proficient and a potent scorer is a absolutely big need for us!!! But so is getting a 3 and D power forward, and adding improved defense/ rim protection is still of even greater need obviously. I mean the whole season we watched the suns make some runs here and there, But then they repeatedly gave up leads to the opposing teams, and stood by watching as opposing teams performed layup drills at the rim, With absolutely no semblance of rim protection or tough frontcourt defense at all. Now Ayton has made defensive improvements for sure. However, Neither Saric nor Kaminsky offer any tim protection or solid defense whatsoever. And what they have shown so far is that when they're not hitting their shots consistently, they're a liability on the court. The unfortunate reality is that neither are starting caliber power forwards, Saric is a backup 4 at best, and Kaminsky is a 3rd string bench big that can be a streaky scorer at times. We need an actual athletic 4 with a strong defensive skillset/ shotblocking and floor spacing to properly compliment Ayton.
Now Saric, to his credit, plays hard and consistently competes. But honestly, he's not stopping anyone from scoring at the rim!
I mean it's crazy that a 6'10 225 lb player that is only 25 can't seem to block any shots and can barely clear the rim. Also, he's very slow to react defensively. And Kaminsky despite his size and length might be the most unathletic, uncoordinated soft mobile 7 footer that I've seen in a long time. So again, both are defensive sieves for us. Now the draft could quite easily address both these needs very well, But we have to actually do our due diligence and make our maneuvers appropriately and aggressively. We need to have a good understanding of the range that our top positional targets will fall, and place ourselves there to draft them. Now to accomplish this, We need to target our 3 and D big man first(** As they're harder to find) and then target our backup playmaking scoring guard accordingly.
My top picks are as follows:
( Power forwards).
1- Obi Toppin. *** Amare/ John Collins.
2- Jalen Smith. *** Serge Ibaka/ Nerlens Noel?
3- Precious Achiuwa. *** Jerami Grant/ Montrezl Harrell ( with a 3 point shot).
4- Aleksev Pokusevski. *** poor man's Porzingis/ Moritz Wagner??
5- Patrick Williams. ***Jeff Green/ Maurice Harkless??
Both are listed as small forwards, so they're not on my list. But could play the 3/4. Achiuwa could as well.
*** Jaden McDaniels ( a much cheaper, bigger 6'10 version of Oubre) also has Jonathan Isaac potential defensively. He'd be my 2nd choice after Toppin, IF we moved on from Oubre. And would afford us a ton of cap space for extensions and other positional upgrades.
*** Saddiq Bey. Would easily replace Oubres' scoring with his elite shooting, has playmaking skills, AND does play solid, tough defense. But doesn't have the athleticism and speed that Oubre does. Think a better 3 point shooting Thaddeus Young or TJ Warren with tougher defense, and less tunnel vision.
Now for the scoring, playmaking ISO guards, There's immense talent outside the lottery and even into the 2nd round! My guard list ( outside of the lottery) is:
1- Grant Riller. Just so unstoppable with his elite ballhandling, burst and efficient in scoring at the rim. ***Prime Deron Williams/ Fred Van Vleet.
2- Kira Lewis. He's so very fast and a crafty scorer and adept shooter. *** DeAaron Fox/ Dennis Schroder.
3- Tyrell Terry. He's an absolutely incredible shooter and crafty scorer. Hyperbole aside, His shooting stroke and crafty, scoring and slick passing reminds me of a Steph curry/ Patty Mills??
I'd honestly be very happy with any of these 3 guards as our backup guard.
***** Special Consideration for-
Cassius Winston. He's the ultimate floor general with incredible crafty scoring and playmaking. Think Isiah Thomas scoring, With Kyle Lowry poise, and Chris Paul playmaking. Watch his highlights and you'll see he's really underrated too. Now, Just so we are clear, I'm not opposed to keeping Oubre under the right circumstances. Like IF he's willing to accept a contract that tops out around 16-18 max. But let's be honest, That's not at all likely, Especially in that summer when all the teams are pooling their money for free agency.
But let's just say we do keep Oubre??? If Toppin is off the board, Then we can still easily trade back with teams to get optimal value, and add low cost depth at multiple positions. We could trade back with :
Phoenix/ BostonThe 10 pick for 17th and 22nd picks, Or for the 17th and 30th picks.
Phoenix/ DallasThe 10th pick for the 18th and the 31st pick.
Phoenix/ PortlandThe 10th pick for the 14th and 44th pick.
Phoenix/ New OrleansThe 10th pick for the 13th and the 39th pick.
Phoenix/ MinnesotaThe 10th pick for the 16th and 33rd pick.
Phoenix/ Philadelphia***
The 10th pick for the 22nd pick, The 34th pick, and the 36th pick. *** The reason I have us getting 3 picks back is for an optimal value return, And additional cost effective roster depth/ future tradable assets. With these particular picks, I would draft:
22-
For 3 and D defense/ rim protection Jalen Smith or Patrick Williams *( Kawhi Leonard potential).
34-
For Elite ISO scoring/ shot creation Whichever of Grant Riller, Kira Lewis, or Tyrell Terry is still there at 34??? Else, I would take Immanuel Quickly. ( Lou Williams/ Ish Smith) potential.
36-
For additional offense/ scoring at the 2. Desmond Bane or Isiah Joe( ** both are Dynamic scorers), Both can add offense to our backup shooting guard position and both are shooting over 40% from three for their careers. Bane is a really strong defender and scorer. ( Eric Gordon/ Marcus Smart). And Isiah Joe is an elite shooter. ( Anfernee Simons/ Jeremy lamb).
Last consideration would be IF we go with a guard first in the draft, then for a 2nd round big, I'd prioritize:
1-
For versatile perimeter defense and rim protectionAmyr Sylla. Even though he's still a bit raw, He can play the 3 or the 4, is super fluid and athletic, And is versatile enough to guard 1-4. *** think Pascal Siakim/ poor man's Jonathan Isaac.
2-
For Elite frontcourt floor spacing/ BASKETBALL IQ Killian Tillie. *** Much faster, more athletic, cheaper version of Saric, With better 3 point shooting. Would allow us to move Saric in a trade package.
3-
For Elite defensive playmaking/ post defense and basketball IQXavier Tillman. Very high defensive basketball IQ. Strong rebounder/ positional defender. Think Al Horford/ Draymond Green. Very solid post defender at 6'8.
