2020 Offseason Speculation, free agency, summer trades (keep draft prospect talk in draft thread)

[SuperSunsFan]

easy money is flowing everywhere now that i don't think teams really care much about luxury tax or cap space that would have made the tyler johnson contract valuable.

[Qwigglez]

No, I think they really thought he would help this season nd be a guy who had played on tough teams and bring toughness and some leadership to some extent, like he kind of did last year. I don't think they were thinking of trading him, but hoping he could help us get better and maybe a hopeful playoff run.

Still 0 of 2. Overall the only asset play he made which went well is the Ariza for Oubre trade which in all honesty was probably a fluke

If we could have gotten Dillon Brooks it would have been a good trade (Ariiza was worthless) and he would have been cheap and allowed us not to have to give up Melton and probably could have waited to trade TJ or not trade him at all.

You don't think getting Oubre was good in itself? Brooks just got a contract extension which is right around his market value I'd say ($11.5mil per year basically for 3 years). I don't understand why you like Brooks more, when all of his advanced stats are terrible plus he's shooting 42% overall this year. For 2020 though, he is playing a lot better averaging 19.2, 3.4, 2.2 on 44/44/84 shooting. Oubre to start 2020 is playing equally as impressive averaging 21.8, 7.8, 1.2 on 47/40/77 shooting. Plus everyone is talking about Kelly Oubre's usage being so high, yet Dillon Brooks usage is higher than Kelly's.

As for Melton, I really didn't want to give him up. He has the prototypical making of an elite 3&D PG in the mold of a stronger Pat Beverly. He's got the wingspan to bother almost all PG's in the league (6'8 wingspan being 6'4), I never understood why Booker didn't like him last year, but I guess Melton can't shoot very well.

[Slim Charless]

Just so we are clear here, JJ traded Anderson, Warren, Melton, Jackson, and 3 2nds, for TJohnson and Carter...

At least we get to see how the Sun's version of the Rockets looks like, since Diallo will be the starting center. I would totally pick up Bender right now, but we all know JJ loves those empty slots.

James Jones has NOT proven anything except that he is willing to help Lebron James.


Oubre was a LUCKY trade from a botched Dillon Brooks trade attempt.

James Jones also gave away Jackson, Warren, Melton for nada... now ALL three of those players are playing good minutes for Playoff teams.

If the Suns fire James Johnson now... there is NO impact to the team, because he hasn't done anything positive.

if the Suns dont re-sign Saric, that is another strike on James Jones...
If Baynes leaves for nothing... another strike...

Rubio is a good player, but signing him for 3 years might bite him on the butt as well, as he has really high mileage as he has played professional since he was 14 years old (note: Doncic also has played since he was 14), Rubio should have been offered a 2 year deal with the 3rd year as team option at the very worst.

Re-singing Saric to justify a bad trade is worse then cutting your losses (unless we’re talking about signing him for next to nothing). Baynes will need to prove he can be durable before we bring him back. Everything else is hard to argue, yeah.

Well worse comes to worse Masai contact's up end of next season. We keep sucking fire Jones next yr and offer Masai whatever it takes to make it happen

[sunsbum]

Schroder? Reggie Jackson? Teague? I don't know

Fact is, our once glorious treasure trove of assets is now a mostly empty cupboard with a couple of pieces of stale biscuits lying about. We damn near gave away all of our 2nd round picks and one of our best trade assets (TJ Warren) for cash and now another asset is crossed off the list. We did nothing with Chandler's contract after paying/carrying him for 4 seasons. We did nothing with Rivers who could've helped. And now the spiritual contract of Knight, who we metaphorically carried the corpse of for all 5 seasons has turned into....nothing

We're at the point where our only assets to trade now are our own future 1st rounders and actually good rotation players (which we need to field a team). This team better HOPE that we've changed the image of the Phoenix Suns because we now have all this cap space with pretty poor history of attracting good FA. So if the plan was about preserving cap space, here you go; now do something productive with it.

I've brought this up once or twice but if Philly tanks and they move on from their guys. I would think Ben Simmons would love to come here. Booker and him are boys and I'm guessing he would have a good time in Scottsdale as well. We might be one of the teams at the top of his list. Idk what we'd use to get him besides Oubre and whatever pick we get-i don't think thatd be enough

Philly won't tank. They have the pieces to compete, they just aren't fitting right. If anything they'll move on from one of Embiid or Simmons and Simmons us probably the odd man out. I have no idea what it would take to get him but I'd imagine it will be near a king's ransom. They will be looking to get good value back for trading one of the key pieces in The Process.

I really have doubts that Oubre has as much value as some here might think he has. I think it's one of those cases where he's worth more to us than to others because of what we lack (scoring outside of Book/Ayton) and I just don't get the sense that other teams are exactly enamored with him. I don't know who leaked to the media that we were fielding expression of interests but either we're way overvaluing Oubre or the offers from other teams show just how much interest they have in him.

But yet we were the ones getting trade calls for him.

[sunsbum]

Just so we are clear here, JJ traded Anderson, Warren, Melton, Jackson, and 3 2nds, for TJohnson and Carter...

At least we get to see how the Sun's version of the Rockets looks like, since Diallo will be the starting center. I would totally pick up Bender right now, but we all know JJ loves those empty slots.

James Jones has NOT proven anything except that he is willing to help Lebron James.


Oubre was a LUCKY trade from a botched Dillon Brooks trade attempt.

James Jones also gave away Jackson, Warren, Melton for nada... now ALL three of those players are playing good minutes for Playoff teams.

If the Suns fire James Johnson now... there is NO impact to the team, because he hasn't done anything positive.

if the Suns dont re-sign Saric, that is another strike on James Jones...
If Baynes leaves for nothing... another strike...

Rubio is a good player, but signing him for 3 years might bite him on the butt as well, as he has really high mileage as he has played professional since he was 14 years old (note: Doncic also has played since he was 14), Rubio should have been offered a 2 year deal with the 3rd year as team option at the very worst.

Josh Jackson is still garbage. Melton is still just a back up PG. TJ Warren I can see people having an argument about although personally I think Kelly is better. I don't care how James Jones got him, he traded Trevor **** ariza for a him. If you don't count that as a win you probably think Josh Jackson and Deanthony Melton are really good players.

[lilfishi22]

I've brought this up once or twice but if Philly tanks and they move on from their guys. I would think Ben Simmons would love to come here. Booker and him are boys and I'm guessing he would have a good time in Scottsdale as well. We might be one of the teams at the top of his list. Idk what we'd use to get him besides Oubre and whatever pick we get-i don't think thatd be enough

Philly won't tank. They have the pieces to compete, they just aren't fitting right. If anything they'll move on from one of Embiid or Simmons and Simmons us probably the odd man out. I have no idea what it would take to get him but I'd imagine it will be near a king's ransom. They will be looking to get good value back for trading one of the key pieces in The Process.

I really have doubts that Oubre has as much value as some here might think he has. I think it's one of those cases where he's worth more to us than to others because of what we lack (scoring outside of Book/Ayton) and I just don't get the sense that other teams are exactly enamored with him. I don't know who leaked to the media that we were fielding expression of interests but either we're way overvaluing Oubre or the offers from other teams show just how much interest they have in him.

But yet we were the ones getting trade calls for him.

Due diligence call. What you take a couple of good 2nds for Oubre? That's still a trade call.

Also I'm pretty confident he wasn't the only one we got called up about. Someone, probably the Sun's, leaked it to drum up value

[sunsbum]

Philly won't tank. They have the pieces to compete, they just aren't fitting right. If anything they'll move on from one of Embiid or Simmons and Simmons us probably the odd man out. I have no idea what it would take to get him but I'd imagine it will be near a king's ransom. They will be looking to get good value back for trading one of the key pieces in The Process.

I really have doubts that Oubre has as much value as some here might think he has. I think it's one of those cases where he's worth more to us than to others because of what we lack (scoring outside of Book/Ayton) and I just don't get the sense that other teams are exactly enamored with him. I don't know who leaked to the media that we were fielding expression of interests but either we're way overvaluing Oubre or the offers from other teams show just how much interest they have in him.

But yet we were the ones getting trade calls for him.

Due diligence call. What you take a couple of good 2nds for Oubre? That's still a trade call.

Also I'm pretty confident he wasn't the only one we got called up about. Someone, probably the Sun's, leaked it to drum up value

You're confident in your assumptions. Just give JJ credit where it's due. It's almost like y'all want to make him look like the **** GM in the NBA by discounting one of the best trades of the year. Also, while I'm here Frank Kaminsky was a great signing. Also, while I'm still here...we somehow managed to convince Ricky Rubio to sign with one of the worst teams in the NBA. Sure, you can look back with your 20/20 vision and say he's not a great fit..but it was a good get at the time.

[Mr Puddles]

JJ has made some iffy moves, but overall atleast he seems to have a clear vision that makes sense.

McD was all about collecting assets and then leaving it to the coach to figure things out. That how we ended up with 3 starting point guards, drafted two power forwards in the same year, drafted and signed players that didn't really address any of our needs or fit the rest of the team.

JJ seems to be dedicated to building this team around Booker and Ayton - even if this means a couple of 80 cents on the dollar trades:

• We realistically couldn't keep both Warren and Oubre, so we got rid of one.
• We needed a floor general to allow Booker to play off ball - so we paid premium to get one.
• We needed interior defense and toughness - out goes to bucks pick, in comes Baynes.
• We needed shooters around Booker and Ayton - cam and Jerome are drafted.
• we needed power forwards who can space the floor - in come Kaminski and Saric.

In a vacuum some of his trades look bad, but i like the overall vision and I hope he continues to construct this team with players who will complement the strengths and ameliorate the weaknesses of Booker and Ayton. I also don't mind the 80 cents on the dollar trades, sometimes those are a necessary evil.

[sunskerr]

If we want a likely lateral move, and at best (imo) a marginal upgrade at starting PG while saving some cash, I'd look at signing Shabazz Napier this offseason. He's been pretty good since he started consistently getting north of 20 mpg https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/napiesh01/gamelog/2020#303-326-sum:pgl_basic

He would give us less playmaking (6.5 from the date range I provided above, vs Rubios 8.6) but is a better shooter than Ricky is from 3, and he can create his own shot. This would provide a little bit of relief to our offense, although he isn't quite as good on defense as Rubio. I don't think he can resolve the issue of being that second shot creator, however, because quite frankly he's not good enough to be the second shot creator on a team.

He should be starting over Ish Smith in Washington for 30 mpg at this point given his improvement, but you know how Scott Brooks is not a very good coach. All this being said, I think by far the biggest reason to acquire Napier would be to simply save some cash, and potentially come out stronger when considering production per dollar. Of course it should go without saying this is all contingent upon his performance for the remainder of the year.

As for a player who would be a surefire upgrade, Fred Van Vleet is probably the best available PG this summer who is a large upgrade over Rubio. He'll probably have a lot of suitors, however, given the sparseness of this years FA pool. He is a similarly capable playmaker to Rubio but a far, far better scorer and can reliably provide spacing with his 40% 3P% and 2.7 3M. He would give much more relief to the offense than Shabazz would and has the potential to be the second shot creator behind Booker. His name has been tossed around a lot here so I thought I'd make another plug for him, at least concerning this offseason only.

The follow up would be finding a way to offload Rubio's contract. But I haven't really thought that far ahead.

[Ghost of Kleine]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/therookiewire.usatoday.com/2019/12/06/top-g-league-rookie-players-call-up-10-day-contract/amp/

Potential candidates for our open roster spot. I remember mentioning James Palmer in the Summer League myself as a potential player to be developed as an eventual Warren replacement. His scoring and style of play is just so very similar to TJ Warrens' that with proper development, It'd almost be like we never lost him. Meanwhile, With Oubre and Bridges, He still could be a solid consideration as a 3rd string backup shooting guard/ Small forward.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Watch on YouTube

Also, some other great prospects to really focus in on for us with our open roster spot would be:

- Kyle Alexander.

Read on Twitter

?s=19 .

Alexander is averaging 12.5 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.5 assists in 11 games. He is fourth in total rebounds among all players and fifth in offensive rebounds. Alexander has five double-doubles this season and recently strung together three consecutive such games

Alexander started off the season on a complete tear on defense. He tallied 15 total blocks in his first two games, falling just short of a point-rebound-block triple-double in both contests.

Watch on YouTube

- Kyle Guy. *** Already have mentioned him. But he'd be a great knockdown shooter and catch and shoot 3 point Sniper for us alongside of Jerome ( who he was teammates with) during their Virginia Title run. His shooting mechanics are so perfect and crisp that he'd basically be a guard version of Cam Johnson for us. Think of a mix of prime Mark Price/ Better shooting TJ McConnell. And could give us at least 3 deadeye shooters close to, Or over 40% from three alongside of Jerome and Cam Johnson.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

The Kings’ two-way rookie has been among the top players in the G League this season. In nine games played, Guy is averaging 26.6 points, 5.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds while he is shooting 36% from 3-point range. He is third among all players in total points and second in 3-pointers.

As previously mentioned, Guy tied a G League season-high with 42 points scored on Nov. 30 against the Iowa Wolves. He shot 11-of-23 from the field, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range to help the Kings to victory in that game.

Watch on YouTube

Are there any specific G league prospects and/or waiver wire players that we should be targeting to take a chance on?

[lilfishi22]

But yet we were the ones getting trade calls for him.

Due diligence call. What you take a couple of good 2nds for Oubre? That's still a trade call.

Also I'm pretty confident he wasn't the only one we got called up about. Someone, probably the Sun's, leaked it to drum up value

You're confident in your assumptions. Just give JJ credit where it's due. It's almost like y'all want to make him look like the **** GM in the NBA by discounting one of the best trades of the year. Also, while I'm here Frank Kaminsky was a great signing. Also, while I'm still here...we somehow managed to convince Ricky Rubio to sign with one of the worst teams in the NBA. Sure, you can look back with your 20/20 vision and say he's not a great fit..but it was a good get at the time.

What credit?

The Oubre trade is flukey as hell given what transpired but I'll give JJ the benefit of the doubt there and while we came out looking like the winner in that trade, it's really the one win, in a host of losses. FWIW I like the Kaminsky signing, he's a solid bench piece, good job JJ. As for Rubio, we overpaid to get Rubio and we would've overpaid for Rozier if the Hornets didn't step up to make that mistake for us.

[BobbieL]

I don't think he helped. It just another nail in the coffin for those expiring assets which JJ had and couldn't use.

Name a contract that Tyler could have been traded for without second round picks?

I get not keeping Tyson and Rivers was stupid - I think Tyler has zero value except for like Kevin Love

Schroder? Reggie Jackson? Teague? I don't know

Fact is, our once glorious treasure trove of assets is now a mostly empty cupboard with a couple of pieces of stale biscuits lying about. We damn near gave away all of our 2nd round picks and one of our best trade assets (TJ Warren) for cash and now another asset is crossed off the list. We did nothing with Chandler's contract after paying/carrying him for 4 seasons. We did nothing with Rivers who could've helped. And now the spiritual contract of Knight, who we metaphorically carried the corpse of for all 5 seasons has turned into....nothing

We're at the point where our only assets to trade now are our own future 1st rounders and actually good rotation players (which we need to field a team). This team better HOPE that we've changed the image of the Phoenix Suns because we now have all this cap space with pretty poor history of attracting good FA. So if the plan was about preserving cap space, here you go; now do something productive with it.

If you trade for Shroeder - thats your summer in free agency

Teague and Reggie Jackson - what incentive do either team have withouta second round pick coming back to them. I am okay keeping cap space for this summer

If Jones doesn't make the Tyler Johnson trade - he can easily stretch Anderson and Josh and still have a boat load of 2nd round picks, Melton and possibly even TJ Warren.


Somebody mentioned Saric - no value

Baynes - must not have had value and maybe they bring him back next year. I am actually okay with Jones doing nothing because when you do something - you get Tyler Johnson for Ryan Anderson when in the short run - it seems better. But in the long run, it was a terrible

[sunsbum]

Due diligence call. What you take a couple of good 2nds for Oubre? That's still a trade call.

Also I'm pretty confident he wasn't the only one we got called up about. Someone, probably the Sun's, leaked it to drum up value

You're confident in your assumptions. Just give JJ credit where it's due. It's almost like y'all want to make him look like the **** GM in the NBA by discounting one of the best trades of the year. Also, while I'm here Frank Kaminsky was a great signing. Also, while I'm still here...we somehow managed to convince Ricky Rubio to sign with one of the worst teams in the NBA. Sure, you can look back with your 20/20 vision and say he's not a great fit..but it was a good get at the time.

What credit?

The Oubre trade is flukey as hell given what transpired but I'll give JJ the benefit of the doubt there and while we came out looking like the winner in that trade, it's really the one win, in a host of losses. FWIW I like the Kaminsky signing, he's a solid bench piece, good job JJ. As for Rubio, we overpaid to get Rubio and we would've overpaid for Rozier if the Hornets didn't step up to make that mistake for us.

I'm speaking absolutes while you're making your case on assumptions and what ifs. I don't care what the circumstances were around the KO trade. The....FACT is that there were 30+ other teams that could have made the trade, but we somehow turned Trevor Arizas twice buried corpse into a pretty damn good player. You can't take that away from JJ. You can come up with all the excuses in the world, but at the end of the day Kelly Oubre plays for the sun's and that's because JJ got him here.

I've already addressed Rubio. I don't cry over spilled milk like most of the board members, I like looking forward. I mean some of y'all are still talking about andre Iggudola(sp don't care) draft debacle....are you serious right now?
14 years later every 2 months I gotta listen to this board bitch about Iggy. So again, it's easy to talk **** about the Rubio signing when he's played like crap and we've had time to evaluate him. His shooting is more of an issue that we hoped but if you told me this time last year we are getting Rubio compared to what we were watching, I'm happy as a clam.

[BobbieL]

Just so we are clear here, JJ traded Anderson, Warren, Melton, Jackson, and 3 2nds, for TJohnson and Carter...

At least we get to see how the Sun's version of the Rockets looks like, since Diallo will be the starting center. I would totally pick up Bender right now, but we all know JJ loves those empty slots.

The Brandon Knight trade, giving up an unprotected first and then signing him for 5 years, $70 million, which turned into Ryan Anderson and then Tyler Johnson really set us back. If we could have gotten a better player with whatever space we had, that would have been better. Even just staying pat with Bledsoe and IT would have been fine and adding pieces at other positions.

The very worst, though, was trading 2 1sts and Bogdan for Chriss, after drafting Bender, and then the next year we drafted Jackson.

Also, the Chandler and Dudley signings were terrible, as well as all those euros he tried like Mike James, Sonny Weems and Zoran Dragic.

And her is the thing - in the NBA - one really good player can be such a difference maker. If Ryan had hit on one of the three: Dragan, Josh or Chriss - totally different team. But he gave up a helluva lot for Bogdan.

I truly am glad Jones didn't do anything this past week in hindsight. Activity doesn't equal accomplishment. Oh yes, it also cost SArver more money

[Fo-Real]

Just so we are clear here, JJ traded Anderson, Warren, Melton, Jackson, and 3 2nds, for TJohnson and Carter...

At least we get to see how the Sun's version of the Rockets looks like, since Diallo will be the starting center. I would totally pick up Bender right now, but we all know JJ loves those empty slots.

James Jones has NOT proven anything except that he is willing to help Lebron James.


Oubre was a LUCKY trade from a botched Dillon Brooks trade attempt.

James Jones also gave away Jackson, Warren, Melton for nada... now ALL three of those players are playing good minutes for Playoff teams.

If the Suns fire James Johnson now... there is NO impact to the team, because he hasn't done anything positive.

if the Suns dont re-sign Saric, that is another strike on James Jones...
If Baynes leaves for nothing... another strike...

Rubio is a good player, but signing him for 3 years might bite him on the butt as well, as he has really high mileage as he has played professional since he was 14 years old (note: Doncic also has played since he was 14), Rubio should have been offered a 2 year deal with the 3rd year as team option at the very worst.

Josh Jackson is still garbage. Melton is still just a back up PG. TJ Warren I can see people having an argument about although personally I think Kelly is better. I don't care how James Jones got him, he traded Trevor **** ariza for a him. If you don't count that as a win you probably think Josh Jackson and Deanthony Melton are really good players.

Yeah, a lot of bitching going on in here, its crazy. Jones had a plan to just get better and play actual NBA basketball witch we had not played in years. After all of the experts and every tom dick and harry slammed the off season as a fail, saying we would get worse, WE DIDNT. In fact we came out of the gates playing like he knew what he was doing, and everybody was amazed, well most. Then injuries hit us HARD, we had players we thought were gonna be solid start to back pedal when we needed them to stand up, Ayton tied a hand behind our back and players NEEDED to play through injuries because we had on one else, so they were less effective. Through all of that ****, we are (like he hoped), better, and play NBA basketball. A lot of tough late losses to good teams, our win total is better than last year halfway through this year and we have finally gotten to a point where after the all star break we might come back healthy with Ayton actually starting to bloom!! In shallow view it has been frustrating but in grand scheme, at mid year we are not ALREADY ELIMINATED from the playoffs.... when is the last time that happened. No one is perfect, dumb **** happens, players dont pan out and quit on ya (Tyson, Ariza, etc) but **** man, we got BETTER!!! Leave them the **** alone!!!

[bwgood77]

Still 0 of 2. Overall the only asset play he made which went well is the Ariza for Oubre trade which in all honesty was probably a fluke

If we could have gotten Dillon Brooks it would have been a good trade (Ariiza was worthless) and he would have been cheap and allowed us not to have to give up Melton and probably could have waited to trade TJ or not trade him at all.

You don't think getting Oubre was good in itself? Brooks just got a contract extension which is right around his market value I'd say ($11.5mil per year basically for 3 years). I don't understand why you like Brooks more, when all of his advanced stats are terrible plus he's shooting 42% overall this year. For 2020 though, he is playing a lot better averaging 19.2, 3.4, 2.2 on 44/44/84 shooting. Oubre to start 2020 is playing equally as impressive averaging 21.8, 7.8, 1.2 on 47/40/77 shooting. Plus everyone is talking about Kelly Oubre's usage being so high, yet Dillon Brooks usage is higher than Kelly's.

As for Melton, I really didn't want to give him up. He has the prototypical making of an elite 3&D PG in the mold of a stronger Pat Beverly. He's got the wingspan to bother almost all PG's in the league (6'8 wingspan being 6'4), I never understood why Booker didn't like him last year, but I guess Melton can't shoot very well.

I was merely responding to lilfishi saying getting Oubre was getting a fluke, that I think the original trade would have been a solid move anyway. I have always liked Brooks though, and his overall fg% is largely influenced by shooting about 40% of his shots from 3.

I didn't mention anything about Oubre. I think that was a good trade. I didn't mention getting Brooks would have been better, though in some respects it may have been because we would have had the cap space which would have allowed us to keep Melton and the 2nd rounders, and have more flexibility regarding other moves.

But I do think Oubre is better (though he has had 2 more years in the league). Though in their 3rd years, Brooks was better...at least shooting and passing, with the same steals and blocks per game. http://bkref.com/tiny/lTIbH

I think Brooks contract is fine, and better than Oubre if Oubre gets north of $17-20 million.

[bwgood77]

JJ has made some iffy moves, but overall atleast he seems to have a clear vision that makes sense.

McD was all about collecting assets and then leaving it to the coach to figure things out. That how we ended up with 3 starting point guards, drafted two power forwards in the same year, drafted and signed players that didn't really address any of our needs or fit the rest of the team.

JJ seems to be dedicated to building this team around Booker and Ayton - even if this means a couple of 80 cents on the dollar trades:

• We realistically couldn't keep both Warren and Oubre, so we got rid of one.
• We needed a floor general to allow Booker to play off ball - so we paid premium to get one.
• We needed interior defense and toughness - out goes to bucks pick, in comes Baynes.
• We needed shooters around Booker and Ayton - cam and Jerome are drafted.
• we needed power forwards who can space the floor - in come Kaminski and Saric.

In a vacuum some of his trades look bad, but i like the overall vision and I hope he continues to construct this team with players who will complement the strengths and ameliorate the weaknesses of Booker and Ayton. I also don't mind the 80 cents on the dollar trades, sometimes those are a necessary evil.

I think Jones has done ok. I think the TJ and Melton trades were bad. Even if he wanted to trade TJ he could have waited. I know some disagree on that, but after teams struck out on bigger acquistions, they would have been happy to get TJ, especially with his 3pt shooting, for cheap since they were not asking for much. Could have gotten something back instead of giving tem away.

I also think not taking Clarke was bad, especially since we still could have gotten Saric and taken him.

They probably could have even kept TJ, if they drafted Clarke because they drafted Cam anyway. But perhaps it was time to move on. Him and Oubre are having about the same impact this season, though I will say Kelly provides the energy and positivity and TJ really didn't. But he is also more frustrating to watch at times and is more expensive.

Hopefully JJ improves. I hope Bower isn't influencing too much.

[Fo-Real]

I kind of hope we go after Millsap on a 1 year contract and draft a PF. That's probably our best FA bet. And then hope we have some money in 21 to spend on someone else, though there will be a lot of competition, however, hopefully whoever we draft this coming summer will be a big contributor. I'm not sure if those rumors about exploring Oubre's value were true, but he might be a great trade asset once some teams strike out in FA. Not sure who exactly I'd trade him for though.

I think there is a reason we did not trade our expiring contracts and take on future salary. The front office wants to have an off season with maybe choices. Weather its Milsap, or Gallo or we throw money at a Christian Wood or (GOD... I never really ask for anything... just this ONCE PLEEEEEEEESE), Anthony Davis considers our little dusty town, with our cold arena nachos with pickles instead of jalapenos... We decided not to take on salary in hopes of something, weather it pans out or not is the result to be seen.

[bwgood77]

I am quite sure we won't use that open roster spot on Bender, though the timing is a bit suspicious. I did find this interesting and encouraging if we did pick him up though....especially on a team as good as the Bucks.

This is from his play on the Bucks, not the G league team (other than the 2nd sentence in the first paragraph).

Bender’s 44.4 percent from deep may catch the eye most readily for many, even at a tiny sample of 13 minutes per game over seven contests. Encouraging on that front is Bender’s 42.6 percent shooting on 6.1 triple attempts per game in his 10 G League outings.

It’s Bender’s work on the opposite end that will afford him the opportunity to prove those percentages can hold up, though.

Where many Bucks big men have failed in recent years — looking at you, Thon Maker —Bender is thriving. The 19-year-old has incredible size at his disposal, but it’s the fact that he is also showing good positional awareness and exemplary discipline that really raises his ceiling on that end.

Bender can gamble and make plays given his mobility and quick hands, but he has clearly watched Brook Lopez, and Robin, closely, got reps in a similar system with the Herd, and fully bought into the role of a Bucks’ big in this scheme.

Even adjusted per 36 minutes, Bender’s tally of 2.0 blocks wouldn’t do justice to his influence in protecting the rim. A legitimate seven-footer with a phenomenal 9’3″ standing reach, Bender has used his verticality in textbook fashion to disrupt opponents at the basket in his limited run with the Bucks so far.

There’s undoubtedly a need to be wary of the sample, but the Bucks have won all seven games Bender has played in, and their defensive rating of 94.6 with him on the court is even better than the stellar marks posted by regular rotation cogs such as DiVincenzo, Sterling Brown, and potential Defensive Player of the Year Giannis Antetokounmpo.

https://behindthebuckpass.com/2020/01/27/milwaukee-bucks-dragan-bender-proving-seamless-fit-defensively/

[bwgood77]

I kind of hope we go after Millsap on a 1 year contract and draft a PF. That's probably our best FA bet. And then hope we have some money in 21 to spend on someone else, though there will be a lot of competition, however, hopefully whoever we draft this coming summer will be a big contributor. I'm not sure if those rumors about exploring Oubre's value were true, but he might be a great trade asset once some teams strike out in FA. Not sure who exactly I'd trade him for though.

I think there is a reason we did not trade our expiring contracts and take on future salary. The front office wants to have an off season with maybe choices. Weather its Milsap, or Gallo or we throw money at a Christian Wood or (GOD... I never really ask for anything... just this ONCE PLEEEEEEEESE), Anthony Davis considers our little dusty town, with our cold arena nachos with pickles instead of jalapenos... We decided not to take on salary in hopes of something, weather it pans out or not is the result to be seen.

I agree....we will have more options and more cap space, and didn't take on bad salaries. I wouldn't have minded Kennard, but they probably decided they didn't want to take on another injured player.