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If you're in charge, or just looking at it from a fan's perspective, what are your top and/or all your priorities? Maybe list in order of importance.

For me, it depends on who we get in the draft. If it's one of the point guards then I would move bledsoe. If we draft a wing then I'd keep Eric at least another season and hope things work out.

Regardless of draft night, I'd try to move knight for anything I can get. Maybe a disappointing young player that may need a change of scenery?

1) Draft the best prospect at our draft position, regardless of the position they play. The front office has earned my trust in the draft, so I expect them to do just fine.
2) Reach out to TJ Warren and see if we can reach an agreement on a reasonable extension. I want him here even if we draft a SF.
3) Decide which 2 centers will be kept on the roster next year between Tyson Chandler, Alex Len, and Alan Williams depending on how much money Len and Williams are looking for. I don't see Chandler and Len both being on the team next year unless Len's contract is much lower than we expect.
4) Shop Brandon Knight. I'm not sure what the trade market looks like for him, but I doubt too many teams are clamoring for him and I don't see us giving him up for scraps. If we can get any positive asset for him, then he should be on the next flight out.
5) Shop Bledsoe for the right price if the lottery puts us in the position to draft a top PG that McD and company think can contribute immediately. Drafting a PG and holding onto Bledsoe is a good insurance policy in case they bust, but it also can lower his trade value because teams know we'd be log jammed and that we need to make a move. With that said, if are able to draft Fultz and deal Knight, a 4-man rotation of Bledsoe/Booker/Fultz/Ulis at the guard spots with Fultz playing PG and SG and Booker playing SG and some SF would be pretty nasty.

That's really all I need I want as far as front office stuff. I expect us to court free agents in the hopes of signing a younger one, but I'm not expecting us to add any veterans to the roster with how vocal we've been about building through the draft. I just want a good draft, competitive Summer League with this year's rookies playing some, Bender to play with the Croatian NT, and the young guys to keep getting better together.

Assuming we pick top 3 I'd go either Fultz, Jackson or Ball and then do the hardest thing ever: sit on your hands while everybody goes crazy. I mean do really nothing. Knight won't get anything of value anyway, so why bother.

If we fall out of the top 3 I'd either at this point draft Ntilikina or trade the pick away and go all in for Butler PG Griffin and whoever is around, as I don't see our current roster being a competitor even few years from now as it is.

Extend Warren and Williams. Match Len for not more than $12 M a year.

If we land Fultz or Ball:
1. Stick to building through the draft, which means no trading away our young core/picks for win now players.
2. Get rid of Knight ASAP.
3. Re-sign Warren and Williams.
4. Ship out Bledsoe for a good haul, trade away Barbosa and then keep Chandler as well as Dudley for veteran leadership.
5. Let Len walk in FA because he will most likely be overpaid by a desperate team with a lot of cap space like Brooklyn for example.

If we land JJ or Tatum:
1. Stick to building through the draft, which means no trading away our young core/picks for win now players.
2. Get rid of Knight ASAP.
3. Re-sign Warren and Williams.
4. Trade away Barbosa and then keep Bledsoe, Chandler as well as Dudley for veteran leadership.
5. Let Len walk in FA because he will most likely be overpaid by a desperate team with a lot of cap space like Brooklyn for example.

Would you guys rather have Ball or Jackson? Is Bledsoe the PG moving foward? & Ulis the backup. Or you draft Lonzo & move Bledsoe for some kind of wing help? -- Assuming you get the 2 pick & Fultz is gone of course.

My take (rarely watch PHX), but Bledsoe is young enough to keep around. Booker is young but already a beast. Draft Jackson. & the future with those 3 the 2 young bigs. I'd even keep Dudley & Tyson around for being good vet mentors. IDK opinions on TJ Warren? he a keeper? But i'd keep most of the roster the same. You guys are building a nice little team down there. If nothing special, get rid of him. Let Len walk. Flip Knight for a 2nd. Trip off the fat of the roster. You got the young guys you are developing. & The Vets teaching them & helping them win games now in the current. Nothing in between.

Bledsoe - Ulis - Price
Booker - Barbosa
Jackson - Jones Jr - Millsap
Chriss - Dudley - Williams
Chandler - Bender

Next season you get Bender playing. The internal improvement will be big. Should be low-mid 30w's. Am I really off?

2Mas wrote:Would you guys rather have Ball or Jackson? Is Bledsoe the PG moving foward? & Ulis the backup. Or you draft Lonzo & move Bledsoe for some kind of wing help? -- Assuming you get the 2 pick & Fultz is gone of course.

My take (rarely watch PHX), but Bledsoe is young enough to keep around. Booker is young but already a beast. Draft Jackson. & the future with those 3 the 2 young bigs. I'd even keep Dudley & Tyson around for being good vet mentors. IDK opinions on TJ Warren? he a keeper? But i'd keep most of the roster the same. You guys are building a nice little team down there. If nothing special, get rid of him. Let Len walk. Flip Knight for a 2nd. Trip off the fat of the roster. You got the young guys you are developing. & The Vets teaching them & helping them win games now in the current. Nothing in between.

Bledsoe - Ulis - Price
Booker - Barbosa
Jackson - Jones Jr - Millsap
Chriss - Dudley - Williams
Chandler - Bender

Next season you get Bender playing. The internal improvement will be big. Should be low-mid 30w's. Am I really off?

I'm torn between the two in all honesty, I like both quite a bit but for now I'm leaning towards JJ. Warren is definitely a keeper, at worse he will be a sixth man of the year type player for us. Also, I believe that Price is retiring so he won't be around next season unless it's in a coaching role.

I'd want Ball more if we didn't have Ulis. We need JJ desperately imo.

Try to extend warren at a reasonable price.

If they draft a pg then absolutely trade bledsoe this summer. I get that he could coexist with a young pg but why bother. IMO its best to just hand the reins to the new guy day 1

Get rid of knight even if they have to give him away. That ship has sailed time to move on.

Figure out the center situation. Maybe bring one back in a bledsoe trade or roll one more year with some of the guys they have.

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2Mas wrote:Would you guys rather have Ball or Jackson? Is Bledsoe the PG moving foward? & Ulis the backup. Or you draft Lonzo & move Bledsoe for some kind of wing help? -- Assuming you get the 2 pick & Fultz is gone of course.

My take (rarely watch PHX), but Bledsoe is young enough to keep around. Booker is young but already a beast. Draft Jackson. & the future with those 3 the 2 young bigs. I'd even keep Dudley & Tyson around for being good vet mentors. IDK opinions on TJ Warren? he a keeper? But i'd keep most of the roster the same. You guys are building a nice little team down there. If nothing special, get rid of him. Let Len walk. Flip Knight for a 2nd. Trip off the fat of the roster. You got the young guys you are developing. & The Vets teaching them & helping them win games now in the current. Nothing in between.

Bledsoe - Ulis - Price
Booker - Barbosa
Jackson - Jones Jr - Millsap
Chriss - Dudley - Williams
Chandler - Bender

Next season you get Bender playing. The internal improvement will be big. Should be low-mid 30w's. Am I really off?

The majority of us here want Jackson more than Ball if it's the 2nd pick (and Fultz is gone of course). I have no idea what the front office is thinking. Not long ago they really seemed all about Bledsoe being a part of the future core. Sarver even talked about him as close to being an all star to season ticket holders and saying we are building through the draft and hope to really compete by 19-20 but we have plenty of young guys to be excited about and watch them grow.

But then he gets benched. He did have a hyper extended knee, but whether it was all to preserve his knee, for that AND to lose games, for that AND to just take a look at our youth to give them opportunity to grown, learn, develop chemistry and assess draft needs, all of the above combined is unknown. This leaves a little more question up in the air if he is part of our future. Part of me would be really surprised if we took Ball but I guess I'm never truly surprised by anything any more.

I think Warren is a keeper. Doesn't mean I don't think Jackson would be a great add. They have completely different strengths. Warren could be a sixth man scorer off the bench if need be, if we get Jackson and he is starter worthy in a year or so.

If Boston had the 2nd pick, and Fultz was gone, who would YOU take? You obviously have Brown from last year, but then at PG you have IT and Smart. Ball seems to make a little more sense as he moves the all, but does he fit your team? I also see a lot of mocks have you taking Jackson now, even at 1.

I've been hyped about josh Jackson for 2 years, anxiously waiting to see him in the league. He's the best wing prospect since Wiggins, and I think is a better one.
Point guard is a relatively easy position to fill given the glut of quality points in the league.
Small forward talent is more rare right now.

▪ Trade Knight ASAP. We can add a second round pick (#54) to receive just an expiring contract for him. Waive that player if we don't need him or sit him at the end of the bench.
▪ Extend Warren. Hopefully around $60M / 4 years.
▪ Draft BPA.Fultz my favourite choice, Jackson second. With a little bit of luck we get one of those two guys. Jackson more possible if we pick #2 or #3.
▪ Extend Len if the price is decent. $44 / 4 years.
▪ Extend Williams on a low salary. He doesn't protect the rim at all, and that's a red flag for a C. $15M / 3 years.
▪ Keep Chandler if we lose one of Len or Williams or Keep him like a bench player if he wants badly to stay here and we need his salary to get to the salary floor. Trade him to a contender if we don't need his salary or we have Len and Williams signed.
▪ Price and Elijah Millsap out. Price can stay like a coach.
▪ Draft Kennard or Adebayo at #32 if one of them is available. BPA.
▪ Stay patient and don't sign any FA.

Bledsoe / Ulis
Booker /Jackson / Barbosa
Warren / Jackson / DJJ
Chriss / Bender / Dudley
Len / Williams / Adebayo

The roster would have a couple more players after trading Knight and Chandler, but I don't expect them to be part of the rotation.

Booker/Warren/Jackson can play all the minutes at SG and SF, with Barbosa and DJJ just giving us some depth.

I would explore trading Bledsoe later, probably before the deadline if we aren't in the playoffs race.

Going to take a slightly different perspective and ignore player movement/draft since I agree with a lot of what has already been said on that front.

1) I want Watson and the assistant coaches to spend a lot of time looking at tape and thinking through the right way to structure the offense. With or without Bled and BK, we often are way too reliant on ISO and P&R with 3-4 guys standing around.

2) Find the best developmental talent available and bring them on board. We have a lot more young, developing players than other teams, so we need a larger, better staff to help them grow.

3) Bring on team defensive expertise.

4) Retain focus on improving reputation/culture/perception about the org. Winning would help the most here but that's pretty far off in the future and we have a lot of ground to make-up (for both fair and unfair reasons).

1. Draft the best player possible.
2. Obtain another star player through trade or free agency.

Get better defensively.

For me, I'm looking long term and I'm looking to add talent that fits that longer term outlook.

1. Commitment to the youth movement
I'd love to see us get better sooner rather than later but in this current climate, I think our options are limited so I'd continue to look for young talent through the draft and through trades (Bledsoe for top pick?). If we are to win or lose games, it should be because of the youth.

2. Stay the course
I'm not in favor of another tanking season. I think with this upcoming draft, we have enough drafted young talent to develop and evaluate. We should be looking to build off the last few seasons of being terrible and develop those young players through winning. If we want to add more young talent, it should either be through free agency or through trades.

3. Keep the veterans
I'm talking Chandler, LB, Dudley, Price. It's maybe not the most popular opinion but I've finally come around to having these players around. I believe, Chandler could fetch something decent on the trade market but if nothing comes up, I don't have any problems keeping him around. I think all four players have seen this team, they know what their roles are here and I think they are satisfied with taking a backseat to the young players. I also believe they play a very important role in coming in when the youngin's aren't firing, correct their mistakes and putting the game back on the right course. As mentioned before, the winning and losing should be by the hands of the youth; the veterans should only be there to keep them on the right track if they start to pick up bad habits.

4. Defense, defense, defense
With a team that has the explosive scoring abilities of Booker and the reliable and efficient scoring of Warren, we need to focus on defense now. This season's defense has been atrocious. We're top 10 in team PPG but we're also at the bottom of the league in points given up. Either we focus more on defense in-house or we bring in a specialist (not sure if we already do)

5. Resign Warren and Len
Warren will be looking for a big contract and I think he should be paid accordingly. He's young enough to get better and an efficient swingman who rebounds will always have a market if we want to move him. I'm on board with resigning Len but it'll have to be $14m max. Any more and I think I might want to look elsewhere. He just hasn't shown enough to me nor has he developed at the rate we expect him to have to warrant a deal worth more than that.

6. Bledsoe and Knight
Knight should be traded. That's a no brainer. I wouldn't be opposed to keeping Bledsoe if we don't end up picking up Fultz or Ball but I'd still be looking at moving him if the opportunity for another top pick or a trade for a young C arises. Again, I think Bledsoe should be on a better team who could use an elite PG in his prime but if nothing comes up, I'd rather keep him than make a lateral move.

7. ???

8. Multipe Championships

Gassing up the tank for next year.

In order of importance:

• STAY COMMITTED TO THE REBUILD!!!!: Don't do something stupid like trading away young assets for a guy like Jimmy Butler.
• Continue draft winning streak: McD has been doing an above average job in the draft. Whoever he drafts, I'll be fine with.
• Lock him up!: The Morris brothers have been escaping their prison sentence for far too long now, it's about time they're hauled off to the big house. Just kidding, I meant lock up TJ to a long term extension .
• Look to pick-up another first rounder: Plenty of gems in the late lottery / mid first round. Hopefully we can capitalize on that and at a minimum move a few spots up from the 32rd.
• Explore the market for Bledsoe & Knight: We won't get anything better than 50 cents on the dollar for Knight if we're lucky, but Bledsoe should hold some value. Would love to see Bledsoe moved for a pick and/or guy who fits the age trajectory of the rest of the core.
• Re-sign big(s): With the cap being lower than expected, and the market for back-up big men having dried up a bit, I think we might be able to bring back both Len and Williams on reasonable contracts. I believe under the new CBA we can have 15 roster spots. Chandler will probably miss some time next year, and will likely be on a minutes restriction, so next year we should be able to test the waters with Len and Williams a bit more and see if we can develop one of them into a high impact quality big. Then, try to find our future center in next years NBA draft (which looks to be flooded with quality C's), move Chandler to the role of trainer, and flip whoever didn't pan out between Williams and Len to the highest bidder.

bwgood77 wrote:The majority of us here want Jackson more than Ball if it's the 2nd pick (and Fultz is gone of course). I have no idea what the front office is thinking. Not long ago they really seemed all about Bledsoe being a part of the future core. Sarver even talked about him as close to being an all star to season ticket holders and saying we are building through the draft and hope to really compete by 19-20 but we have plenty of young guys to be excited about and watch them grow.

But then he gets benched. He did have a hyper extended knee, but whether it was all to preserve his knee, for that AND to lose games, for that AND to just take a look at our youth to give them opportunity to grown, learn, develop chemistry and assess draft needs, all of the above combined is unknown. This leaves a little more question up in the air if he is part of our future. Part of me would be really surprised if we took Ball but I guess I'm never truly surprised by anything any more.

I think Warren is a keeper. Doesn't mean I don't think Jackson would be a great add. They have completely different strengths. Warren could be a sixth man scorer off the bench if need be, if we get Jackson and he is starter worthy in a year or so.

If Boston had the 2nd pick, and Fultz was gone, who would YOU take? You obviously have Brown from last year, but then at PG you have IT and Smart. Ball seems to make a little more sense as he moves the all, but does he fit your team? I also see a lot of mocks have you taking Jackson now, even at 1.

I like the idea on Warren. I just don't watch too much to really know. But in theory yeah that'd be really nice to have.

But we're kinda split on the Ball - Jackson situation. We know Danny Ainge is prob salivating over Jackson cause that's just his type. but I like him too. I wouldn't mind going 2 big athletic strong wings in Brown & Jackson. Have kinda old school wings. & Really, we're not paying Avery Bradley 20mil after next year, so they might be the future wings.

That said - I seen NBAdraft.net having us take Jackson #1. & That's just so so stupid. Fultz is a beast. We're gonna struggle in the playoffs cause IT is our only real playmaker. We're gonna pass on Fultz? Who's floor is like Dame Lillard ish? No shot. 100% we'd take Fultz & have him start at the 2 & have 2 possible 20ppg scorers to make stuff happen.

1. Extend McDonough asap. That should be done first.

2. Draft the BPA in the draft.

3. Offer Len reasonable contract. 12-14mil per. If he declines it, give him the Qualifying Offer and either sign and trade him or let him walk.

4. I'm really not sure what Williams' value will be considering he's only had around a half season of work. I'd offer 6-10mil per. Lower the better but I would be afraid to go higher as he may not peak much more.

5. Investigate trading Bledsoe, Knight, and Chandler. Knight, as long as it's not a detriment, I would take back a not-so-friendly contract (ie: Crabbe). Chandler and Bledsoe should only be dealt if we're getting something significant in return.
I'd rather keep Chandler another year to groom whomever we draft. Especially if it's Ball.

6. Look for bargain contracts that we could trade for value later. Maybe someone who needs a 2nd chance on a 1 year deal (ala Waiters or Jeff Green).

7. Extend Warren. I think his agent will have him wait it out and get a bigger deal next season. If that's the case, we might want to look into trading him.

I fear we are going to cut Knight which i don't agree with. Stretching his salary over the next 5 years scares me.
Too bad there was no amnesty clause in the new CBA.