RealGM

Trades and Transactions board is going to be doing an expansion draft project where we imagine we are running a new expansion team starting play in 2015/16 and having to create our initial roster pulled from current NBA teams.

So in advance of that I'm trying to get the best possible idea of what 8 players each franchise would most likely choose to protect. And while last year we depended on our Trade board posters to provide us that list, this year we thought it would be more accurate if we consulted with the team boards.

So I would love to get your opinions itt on which 8 players you think the Suns would protect in an expansion draft. I am attaching a link to last year's project so you can see some of the criteria we used when assembling the expansion team. Other than the cap figures the rules would be roughly the same this year.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1348605

We'd also love to have any and all of you come participate in this project.

I'd protect: Bledsoe, Knight, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren, Alex Len, Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin and Teletovic.

It's kind of tough not having seen Weems play yet...but

I'd protect: Bledsoe, Knight, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren, Alex Len, Devin Booker, Markieff Morris, Sonny Weems. With Teletovic being a free agent next year, it seems it would be a waste to keep him. Also, I think Markieff holds way more trade value than Teletovic. I like Archie but I don't see him getting much time in the rotation. I think Weems will be a more solid player.

bwgood77 wrote:It's kind of tough not having seen Weems play yet...but

I'd protect: Bledsoe, Knight, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren, Alex Len, Devin Booker, Markieff Morris, Sonny Weems. With Teletovic being a free agent next year, it seems it would be a waste to keep him. Also, I think Markieff holds way more trade value than Teletovic. I like Archie but I don't see him getting much time in the rotation. I think Weems will be a more solid player.

Yea I wanted to keep Weems as well but i couldn't write that since we don't know how he will play. And i haven't thought about contract situation. I kept Teletovic because stretch 4 is really important to Suns i think. I also wouldn't write Goodwin if we didn't need to write 8 players.

Yeah for me it's pretty much the same but I'd keep Goodwin over Weems for now. I'd like to keep them both, so I suppose it partly comes down to who would be more likely to be picked up in that expansion draft, the cheap vet with euro experience and something to prove or the athletic freak who could potentially break out someday down the line? If I'm an expansion team I go with Goodwin.

So: Bledsoe, Knight, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren, Alex Len, Devin Booker, Markieff Morris, Archie Goodwin.

NTB wrote:I'd protect: Bledsoe, Knight, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren, Alex Len, Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin and Kieff.

Fixed.

Bledsoe, Knight, Chandler, Warren, Len, Booker, Kieff, Weems

Bledsoe, Knight, Booker, Weems, T.J. Warren, P.J. Tucker, Chandler and Len.
The other player that I want to protect is Archie Goodwin, but I think Weems is gonna surprise a lot of people with his play and Booker seems the perfect SG out there...so Archie is the odd man at that position.

saintEscaton wrote:I'd leave everybody on this roster unprotected

That's my line.

I know who I would leave unprotected for sure: Leuer, Price, Tucker, Kieff and Goodwin. Rest I can live with

Looks like we are split 3-3 on Weems and Goodwin so far. I can understand why some would leave Markieff unprotected, but that would be insane considering what his trade value will be after the court case is settled. Also there is no way Teletovic and Leuer could hold down the PF position, plus they are each only under contract for one year.

Bledsoe, Knight, Chandler, Len, Warren, and Booker are no brainers for the first six.

Gotta keep Kief even though I would prefer to see him replaced. He is easy to trade and should get very good return.

That leaves one to pick from
Tucker
Goodwin
Leuer
Price
Teletovic
Weems

Eliminate the easy ones
Leuer
Price

Left with
Tucker (age 30, on a two year contract)
Goodwin (age 21, two year contract then RFA)
Teletovic (age 29, will be a UFA)
Weems (age 29, on a two year contract)

It's either
1) Tucker with a reasonable non-guaranteed contract and should be easy to trade. Maybe for a late 1st rounder?
2) Archie although he is still behind Knight, Bledsoe, and maybe Booker. Bogdan coming over is an issue too.

I'm sticking with Archie

Bledsoe, Len, Knight, Kieff, TJ, Archie, Booker, and Chandler. I want Weems to do well this season, but I don't think McD is sold on him, hence the shorter contract. I think he'd stick with the guys he's drafted and signed.

I'm interested in the reason why people would choose to keep Weems over Archie.

MrMiyagi wrote:Bledsoe, Len, Knight, Kieff, TJ, Archie, Booker, and Chandler. I want Weems to do well this season, but I don't think McD is sold on him, hence the shorter contract. I think he'd stick with the guys he's drafted and signed.

I'm interested in the reason why people would choose to keep Weems over Archie.

I just think he is far more seasoned and will be a solid energetic player for us. I don't trust that Archie will ever shoot well enough to be solid in a competitive NBA game. He looked decent shooting the ball late in the summer league, but euroleague is higher level than summer league (especially the team defense you will face making it much harder to be productive offensively, and he was productive) and I can't remember who said it, but a reporter mentioned that a GM said Weems was the highest paid player in the euroleague.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOYlZ83tNk8[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kUZ0XtUAqE[/youtube]

Easy.

Chandler
Len
Morris
Warren
Goodwin
Booker
Bledsoe
Knight



I think it'd be interesting to see what teams like the Warriors and Bulls ended up doing.

Booker
Len
Warren
Bledsoe
Knight
Chandler
Kieff
and Archie

Weems/Mirza/Price/Leur/Tucker are expendable.
(We still have Bogdanovic overseas too )

Knight, Bledsoe, Chandler, Keiff, Booker, Goodwin, Len, and Warren.

I'm not sure why some are saying they'd leave Keiff/Goodwin unprotected. I'd rather leave Chandler unprotected. We signed him as a major selling point for LMA and safety net for Len. Except we overpaid him. Big time. And he doesn't fit the age bracket of our team and it cements us into NBA purgatory 8th-10th seed with no hope of truly competing.

Now with that said, I don't mind keeping Chandler. He brings a lot to our team and can at least pass on some experience and intangibles to our younger guys. But in an expansion I think I'd rather risk him being taken with his contract than give up a young asset.