Suns Draft Positioning Post Nash Trade

[Cutter]

Suns 3 year Draft Position. 10 total picks....five 1st round.....five 2nd round.

2012-13
Suns 1st
*Lakers 1st (see note below)
Suns 2nd
**Lakers 2nd (see note below)

*note: Lakers 2013 first round draft pick owed to Cleveland
Cleveland has the right to swap the least favorable of their own 2013 1st round pick, Miami's own 2013 1st round pick (top-10 protected) and Sacramento's own 2013 1st round pick (top-13 protected) with the L.A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick (top-14 protected). If the L.A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick is #1-#14, then the L.A. Lakers' obligation to Cleveland shall be extinguished. [Cleveland-L.A. Lakers, 3/15/2012]

**note: Lakers 2013 second round draft pick owed to Dallas
Dallas has the right to swap their own 2013 2nd round pick with the L.A. Lakers' own 2013 2nd round pick. [Dallas-L.A. Lakers, 12/11/2011]

2013-14
Suns 1st
Suns 2nd
Lakers 2nd

2014-15
Suns 1st
Lakers 1st (unprotected from what I can tell)
Suns 2nd

While we would all have liked to get better picks for Nash, we are in pretty good shape concerning draft picks. Babby has done a great job recently preserving cap space, and I expect him to use these picks wisely in the future to improve the team.

Option1: Use several of these picks to help consumate the Eric Gordon signing with NO.

Option2: If Suns have a bad year (top 10 lotto) package picks to move up in the draft (I see this as a very real possibility).

Option3: At the trade deadline Suns package players/picks for talent.

I am optimistic about the next 2-3 years with the good cap position we are in, and having 10 picks available is icing on the cake.

[jlove_26]

The Lakers '15 first has said to be minimally protected, so I'm assuming it's only Top 3 or Top 7 protected

[bwgood77]

It's certainly better than the past. Next year's draft is supposed to be really weak overall after about the top 5, so hopefully we get a really high pick, and then have some REALLY good scouts that can find us someone to get with that pick in the late 20s.

[mybloodisorange]

We can package multiple picks to move up a few spots in the draft. If a team with the 3rd pick is confident the guy they want will be there at 5 then why wouldnt they trade down a couple spots for picks.

[phx#7]

The 2013 2nd round pick is Denver's not the Lakers.

[eastsidecrossover]

That lakers 2015 pick has to be protected because this team my fall apart by then or not be as good due to age and injuries. The suns finally have assets to build a brighter future. The suns sold their assets and did not use them wisely due to DA and Sarver. I personally would like to get top 5 this next year and build off of that pick for our team. Maybe stash a player over season with the lakers pick or try someway to get better value from the lakers 13 pick by trading it for a future first or moving up.

So I go with Option 2.