RealGM

Hey guys,

Please forgive if this didn't need its own topic.

Two players on the road trip caught my eye, both in terms of their current abilities and their ceilings: J.J. Hickson and Nick Young. As I see it, the most consistently successful teams over the last two decades have been those that have 1) a dominant, scoring/rebounding center (or PF, in Duncan's case) and 2) a dominant wing player (Jordan, Wade, James, Durant, Bryant, etc.).

The Suns have good potential at C, though the argument about how much potential continues to rage. We have a promising talent at the PG position, and he's training under the best in the game. We have good young role players in Duds, Frye, and Childress.

So, here's what I see. We've got an obvious hole to fill at PF. If we're looking for a Duncan or Amare, we may wait a very, very long time--and we all saw how far we got with Amare: close, but not close enough. So, we need a serviceable young talent at that position. Hickson has size, and in some cases plays bigger than his listed height. He has a jumper that can be developed, athleticism, and some raw rebounding ability. Barring injury, I see him as a future starter and consistent contributor.

Nick Young has the ability to become a 20/5/5/2 kind of player. He has the athletic ability, energy, and shooting touch that allow him to be a scorer. He's also got good (and improving) court-vision, a nose for the ball, and the desire to play defense. I don't like to make comparisons, but I think he could develop into a quicker Brandon Roy type with time and refinement, and I see "future go-to scorer" written all over him.

I'm trying to think realistically, in terms of guys we have a shot at acquiring and building around.

What do you guys think of these players, and what do you think we'd have to give up to get them? We've gotta fill those two needs and get younger.

Thanks for reading. Discuss!

Ive been on the hickson bandwagon since we were rumored to be shipping amare to cleavland. Im fairly sure I was the ONLY person on this board that liked JJ. So if any of the regulars try to pipe up and say something different, they're lying

Anyhoo, I like his game.. hes really young and still has a high ceiling. Hes got a great body(!nohomo!), a solid jumper and a surprisingly good footwork on the block. He probably wont ever be an elite rebounder but I can live with 8 boards a game if our wings continue to hit the glass like they have been the past few years.

As for nick young, I havent really watched him closely at all. But if you see the potential in Hickson like I do then Id take a flyer on young as well

I just don't see the infatuation with Nick Young on RGM these days. Yeah, he can score in bunches, but there's no way in hell he's a 20/5/5 guy. That's saying he's a Tyreke Evans type prospect, which is foolish, in my eyes.

His stats are:
MPG FG% 3P% FT% ORB DRB RPG APG SPG BPG TO/G PF PPG
30.3 0.456 0.407 0.851 0.4 2.3 2.7 1.2 0.6 0.3 1.3 2.1 16.7

So he's already playing approx 30 minutes (so he could maybe play a couple more) and only averaging 16/3/1. Yeah, his percentages are there, but he's only getting those touches now that the team sucks. He's at best a 4th-5th option on a contending team in the starting lineup, but more like a Barbosa/Jason Terry/Ben Gordon: a great scoring threat off the bench that will give you quick buckets on decent shooting. Nothing more, no 20/5/5 caliber player, nothing of the sort.

Fair enough analysis on Young. Who do you see being a viable go-to wing for the Suns in the future?

hickson sucks........

i say we do anything to try and get okafor, and david west

vince carter, lopez, warrick, and orl 1st

jwilb49 wrote:hickson sucks........

i say we do anything to try and get okafor, and david west

vince carter, lopez, warrick, and orl 1st

yeah you made a thread about it. Probably right after you posted this and though "I should totally make a new thread about this thought!"

I used to really like JJ. I've moved on though, he hasn't produced a whole lot this year consistently enough. Nick Young would be a fantastic scorer off the bench, and I'd be thrilled to have him, but he wouldn't save us. My opinion is we could get better than JJ in the draft (Jan Vesely, Jonas Valanciunas, or Perry Jones if we get super lucky) so I'd pass on him. Nick's a fa after this year isn't he? I wonder how much we would have to pay him... OR we could pick Klay Thompson or Alec Burks with our later pick. One of those 2 will drop and they both seem like they'll be Nick Young/ Kevin Martin/ LB of old type players. One dimensional super scorers who can shoot you in or out of a game

I was alos big on Hickson last year when it looked like Amar'e was going for sure at the deadline - not that he's a replacement for Sta, but if we were going to deal, I was happy to ge him back. People have said that JJ should be killing this year and he's not but there's also the point of view that he's not really Byron's kind of player and he's suffering in the system

so yeah, so long as he doesn't cost us too much I'd take him.

Anyone notice Speights didn't play last night? He's not hurt so far as i know - DCollins is not fond of the kid at all

The guy I really want is Thad Young - my god, he's a beast

No. Both of these guys are average players on bad teams. I don't see them helping our team improve drastically.

Two players I'd like to see in a Suns uniform:

Kevin Love
or
Jared Sullinger

I understand that these guys aren't near the best at their respective positions, at least not at the moment. But I'm thinking about how best to address the Suns' weaknesses going forward in a way that will eventually allow us to compete for a title.

IMO, we need a solid PF, not an all-star.

We do, however, need a dominant wing player. I don't know much about Sullinger or Perry Jones, but I know that the Suns haven't ever been all that successful at building through the draft. And with the current leadership, I don't expect that to change. That and the fact that we'll always be decent enough (or unlucky enough) to avoid a lottery pick (mark my words on that. Even if we tank.)

So: other suggestions? Players we actually have a shot at getting who can help us in the future?

Yeah, I'd like to see Love here too. I think it'll be a cold day in hell when it happens, though.

I've heard Speights as an option...and unfortunately I was too frustrated with the game to pay enough attention to Thad Young.

I'm actually not as concerned with finding a PF as with finding a scoring wing--I know it sounds crazy, with the number of 2's and 3's that we have on the roster. But none of them can score consistently, and in the time I've been watching basketball, I've never seen a team really compete without that factor. An interior presence is great, but usually not enough by itself. You need someone aside from your point guard to be able to create shots for themselves and teammates.

I think it might have to do with how teams defend the post as opposed to the perimeter. Most post players can be trapped, doubled, or cut off on dives off the PnR. We've occasionally seen that strategy with Amare when he was here...a good defensive team with length can take away a lot of post effectiveness if you have nothing to force them into perimeter rotations. It's harder to trap on the perimeter in the NBA, in general, and so I think it's tougher to defend a team with a decent post presence and an outstanding wing player than it is to defend a team with a dominant post player and no consistent slashing/shooting threat.

Ideally, you have great players at both positions. After many years of watching Amare, however, I fell out of love with the idea that a big man in his mold would get us any further than we got...even with one of the best PG's of this era. You need a good big man at C or PF, and you absolutely need a perimeter player who can get you 30 points on any given night. and they're kinda rare.

Uhhhh Hickson has been complete crap this season without Lebron. Nick Young is coming to his own but he's hardly a game changer despite putting up some nice numbers as of late.

LeBron is to Hickson, what Amare was to Lopez. They both need stars to draw defences before they can be effective. So no. We don't need two bumbling big men on our team to suck at the same time.

mikea7 wrote:I've heard Speights as an option...and unfortunately I was too frustrated with the game to pay enough attention to Thad Young.

I'm actually not as concerned with finding a PF as with finding a scoring wing--I know it sounds crazy, with the number of 2's and 3's that we have on the roster. But none of them can score consistently, and in the time I've been watching basketball, I've never seen a team really compete without that factor. An interior presence is great, but usually not enough by itself. You need someone aside from your point guard to be able to create shots for themselves and teammates.

Use VC to get Gerald Wallace and then play him at the 3, and screw how many wings we have. He's too good not to go after and we can deal the excess away somehow.

Nash/Dragic/Wallace/Frye/Gortat

use Hill at the 1 and the 3 off the bench, bring Janning back (we're still paying him and he could really be handy in the second unit.)

My method would be get the best players we can acquire and then do our best to unload what we don't need. But the first job is to assemble the best starting five we can and work form there

Crash would do wonders here, if we have any chance of getting him, we should definetely shoot for it.

Rudy and who's the other guy?

Derrick Favors?

its Tupac Shakur (drafted by the Kings in 06) and the other guy is Seansational!!!!

Kingsforlife wrote:its Tupac Shakur (drafted by the Kings in 06) and the other guy is Seansational!!!!

Wtf?