Draft Thread: Who do you want with the 13th pick? Stanley Johnson and WCS added..change votes if you want

[RunDogGun]

If Suns still had the previous regime (Blanks etc). I wouldnt be surprise if they trade for another pick and draft the Harrison brothers. Its like someone in the FO dreamt years ago that "the prodigical twin brothers" will carry the Suns to their first championship and ever since that day they've been trying to put teams together with twins/brothers.

Hilarious. It was probably Sarver's dream. I hope Sarver isn't a twin, next thing we know he'll be subbing in off the bench.

Very early on we had both of the Van Arsdale twins on our team so it isn't Sarver.

Nets recently had a Lopez and a Collison.

I coached twins once, and while they were very short for basketball, they were amazing to watch play together. They had this amazing ability to find the other on the court. Multiple times I watched one throw the ball ahead, and thought, "where the heck is that pass going?", and out of nowhere, the other flew in to catch the pass. The recent brothers we have had loved having there sibling around, and those siblings didn't really cost much to bring in. We got Marcus for a second rounder, and Zoran was a FA. Fropez took longer to find his game, but I'm sure many here would want him back while Len is injured.

[JDR720]

Because Hornets have a glut of big men... Jefferson, Biyombo, Zeller that are more suited to where the Hornets are... Which is fighting for a playoff spot.

Dont forget Jason Maxiell, he played over Noah the entire season and even played over Biz for a month.

[Damkac]

Many people support the idea of trading Bled for high pick. Outside of top3 who do you think could become a better player than Bledsoe?

Anyone and everyone. Half this board thinks any lottery pick is better than our current players, former lottery picks themselves.

Yes I know, but seriously which of these guys are worth giving Bledsoe?
Mudiay
Winslow
Hezonja
Porzingis

[RunDogGun]

Many people support the idea of trading Bled for high pick. Outside of top3 who do you think could become a better player than Bledsoe?

Anyone and everyone. Half this board thinks any lottery pick is better than our current players, former lottery picks themselves.

Yes I know, but seriously which of these guys are worth giving Bledsoe?
Mudiay
Winslow
Hezonja
Porzingis

Valid concern and question. Another thing to consider is the salary filler we'd have to take back with the pick, and/or TPE. Then if a TPE, who could we trade for with it, and what possible picks could we potentially get if we take on salary (or bad contract) using that TPE.

For example,we could trade Bledsoe for a high pick and a large TPE. Then use that TPE to take on a contract and receive another pick for our troubles.

[thamadkant]

Because Hornets have a glut of big men... Jefferson, Biyombo, Zeller that are more suited to where the Hornets are... Which is fighting for a playoff spot.

Dont forget Jason Maxiell, he played over Noah the entire season and even played over Biz for a month.

so how high are hornets on Vonleh?

Will they part with him for pick 13? or maybe for a player like Tucker?. Or maybe a combination.

[JDR720]

Because Hornets have a glut of big men... Jefferson, Biyombo, Zeller that are more suited to where the Hornets are... Which is fighting for a playoff spot.

Dont forget Jason Maxiell, he played over Noah the entire season and even played over Biz for a month.

so how high are hornets on Vonleh?

Will they part with him for pick 13? or maybe for a player like Tucker?. Or maybe a combination.

he was high on their big board so i doubt it, could get Zeller or a Bismack sign&trade for pick 13. i think both of them would fit well here.

[SarcasticSun]

Many people support the idea of trading Bled for high pick. Outside of top3 who do you think could become a better player than Bledsoe?

Anyone and everyone. Half this board thinks any lottery pick is better than our current players, former lottery picks themselves.

Yes I know, but seriously which of these guys are worth giving Bledsoe?
Mudiay
Winslow
Hezonja
Porzingis

I think Bledsoe at the minimum is worth a top five pick. I agree that this year, outside of the top three, no one is really worth the risk. People here aren't valuing Bledsoe nearly enough. I mean didn't Jrue Holiday fetch two first rounders recently? Bledsoe at this point is probably more valuable than Holiday was at that point.

[SarcasticSun]

Dont forget Jason Maxiell, he played over Noah the entire season and even played over Biz for a month.

so how high are hornets on Vonleh?

Will they part with him for pick 13? or maybe for a player like Tucker?. Or maybe a combination.

he was high on their big board so i doubt it, could get Zeller or a Bismack sign&trade for pick 13. i think both of them would fit well here.

Don't like Zeller, but I think our front office was interested in him at the time of the draft? Not 100% sure on that. I would hate to move the pick for Zeller though. Bismack I like but don't think he fits well here.

[LukasBMW]

If Utah wins their last game against Houston and we lose our last game against the Clippers, do we get the #12 spot?

[NavLDO]

If Utah wins their last game against Houston and we lose our last game against the Clippers, do we get the #12 spot?

I found this...

In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy. In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43). Should the average number not be an integer, a coin flip is then used to determine which team or teams receive the extra combination(s). The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.

And in regard to this...

I think Bledsoe at the minimum is worth a top five pick. I agree that this year, outside of the top three, no one is really worth the risk. People here aren't valuing Bledsoe nearly enough. I mean didn't Jrue Holiday fetch two first rounders recently? Bledsoe at this point is probably more valuable than Holiday was at that point.

Bledsoe was the 18th overall pick, so he was never a lotto pick--I know you didn't say this, but you quoted one of the responses that discussed trading former Lotto picks away for a current Lotto pick in this draft. Anyway, just sayin'...

But in response to Jrue being worth 2 1sts, actually, it was Jrue and the 42nd overall pick for the 6th overall and the following year's Top 5 protected 1st. So it was a bit different than just 2 1st Rd picks.

In addition, remember that Jrue is on a better contract, and as I mentioned on the previous page, the 'contracts' are heavily weighed into the equation. Now, I don't remember Jrue's characterization at the time (RFA the next offseason? On that $10M per contract that he's on now? IDK), but suffice to say that it was better than Bledsoe at $14M per average.

So, it boils down to this. Would you trade Bledsoe for the 6th overall pick and a top 5 protected pick next season, from a team likely to be in the Lotto again, pushing it further down the line?

All I'm, really saying is that Bledsoe is being overvalued by some here, and probably undervalued by others like myself, but I guess my point in all this is that:
1) We have Knight, and assuming we sign him this summer, our PG position could be locked up, if the FO chooses to see it that way.
2) We are in more need of a really good PF more than in need of Bledsoe's services at $14M
3) Related to what I just said, Bledsoe has not lived up to his $14M per worth, and I, along with some others, are questioning if he ever will be.

So, I personally would be fine with trading Bledsoe away for a top 10 pick this year. I'd also be fine if we stayed put and hope for the best with our 12th or 13th overall pick. But for the love of all things good in this world, PLEASE, PLEASE fix our woeful PF position in some way or fashion in the off-season, and with the gluttony of PFs in this draft that will be in the mix for a 10-20ish value pick, if they walk away with anything other than a PF in this draft, I'll be extremely disappointed.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Every time I hear Bledsoe's not on a good contract, I .

People are slow to adjust to the world of a $90 million cap. $14 million is the new $10 million. The reason we've been so eager to lock guys up is because the cap increase is going to make all of these deals a bargain. Just wait til you see the amounts handed out in the summer of '16.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Glad to see Portis declared. I'd heard before he was not coming out. Draft gets deeper.

[letsgosuns]

Even though I am not the biggest Eric Bledsoe fan based on his play so far, his contract is fantastic. I have no clue why people think otherwise. Take this into account. Goran Dragic is expected to get a 5 year, 108 million dollar max salary from Miami. 38 million dollars more than Bledsoe. Dragic's will average 21.6 million per year while Bledsoe's averages 14 million per year. Does anybody think Dragic is worth that much more than Bledsoe? I do not. Not even close. Look at their statistics:

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4238/eric-bledsoe
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3423/goran-dragic

Bledsoe averages more points, more assists, more rebounds, has a better PER, and is also almost four years younger. The craziest part is that everything I read says that Miami fans are all for maxing out Dragic to keep him. I feel like I am in the twilight zone when I read that but it is what it is. Maybe I am missing something but how on Earth can Dragic be worth that kind of money when he has never made an all star team and basically had one really good year in seven seasons. I thought he was better in 2012-2013 than he was this year. And that year no one was even talking about him at all or saying he was on a good contract. He was basically an afterthought.

My point is that if people are factoring in contract salary into a player's value, then Bledsoe's contract enhances his value. When the salary cap rises to 90 million after next season, his contract will not even count for 16% of the cap. When the salary cap rises to 105 million dollars the following year like some have speculated, his contract will count for about 13% of the cap. That is barely anything for a supposed rising young point guard in this league. That is why I consider his contract excellent.

Now examining his contract situation, and the fact he averages over 17 ppg, over 6 apg, over 5 rpg, nearly 2 stlpg, and almost 1 blkpg while shooting a decent 45% fg and 80.3% ft, I would say he is an extremely valuable asset. He turned 25 a few months ago. How many players other than true superstars dominate the league at 25? Not many. His two biggest areas of improvement are needing to become a more consistent 3 point shooter and cutting down his turnovers. Both very achievable goals. All his positives make him definitely worth extremely high draft picks if the Suns want to explore trading him.

[Damkac]

Among point guards Bledsoe is 9th in WS (12th in OWS, 6th on DWS), 15th in PER, 10 in Box plus/minus, 8th in VORP
Not that I understand all of this but it looks like he is a good player

The problem is he isn't good as a first option on a team. He would undoubtedly work great next to elite wing scorer like Harden.

[bwgood77]

Dragic will get $108 million? In what world?

In other news, due to my boring day, I was playing the draft lottery on espn to see how many times it would take for the Suns to jump top 3, but I had to stop after seeing the Lakers pick drop to 6th and becoming a Sixers pick and them taking Porzingis four times.

You know that's going to happen and Porzingis will become the next Dirk or better and we will talk about it for years.

[letsgosuns]

Dragic will get $108 million? In what world?

In other news, due to my boring day, I was playing the draft lottery on espn to see how many times it would take for the Suns to jump top 3, but I had to stop after seeing the Lakers pick drop to 6th and becoming a Sixers pick and them taking Porzingis four times.

You know that's going to happen and Porzingis will become the next Dirk or better and we will talk about it for years.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... -contract/

[bwgood77]

Dragic will get $108 million? In what world?

In other news, due to my boring day, I was playing the draft lottery on espn to see how many times it would take for the Suns to jump top 3, but I had to stop after seeing the Lakers pick drop to 6th and becoming a Sixers pick and them taking Porzingis four times.

You know that's going to happen and Porzingis will become the next Dirk or better and we will talk about it for years.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... -contract/

Yeah, that's the expectation of his agent. I know we've talked about it quite a bit and everyone assumed he would cost 5/100, but I'll be a bit surprised if he gets it unless there is some sort of bidding war.

[sunshoopjunky]

It may not be as deep, but it is full of Bigs, which we desperately need. In the top 30 prospects, or basically, guys with a "1st Rd grade," there are 5-6 Cs and 7-8 PFs, depending on how you look at guys like Towns--PF or C.

Cliff Alexander
Jarell Martin
C. Wood
Montrezl Harrell
Kevon Looney
Trey Lyles
Bobby Portis
Myles Turner
Jakob Poeltl
Frank Kaminsky

All of these guys are likely available at 13--with Poeltl/Turner/Kaminsky being borderline. But point is, only Porzingis, WCS, Okafor and Towns being the only guys for sure that won't be on the board by 13.

So no, I wouldn't trade out of this draft, but I would strongly consider dropping down to a team with 2 1sts (which could be anyone by the time we draft, depending on trades). This way, we could draft 2 of these guys--something like Lyles and Harrell--would be awesome, IMO.

The only way I'd be ok with trading out of this draft would be, as some mentioned, trading our pick for a Vonleh-type of guy--a young Big with potential.

I was thinking the same thing about moving down in the draft for a big.

I could see Boston or Cleveland willing to move picks with us. I am not sure I would want two picks this year. We have so much growing to do already. Maybe just switch picks and a future 1st or other assets. It just depends on who is left on the board at our pick and what other teams are looking for. I just pray to God we don't draft another PG/SG. As this could happen very easily if we go with best available again.

I like Frank Kaminsky and he has dropped a lot in some mocks after the tournament. I think he may be available at Boston's 15th I figure him as a poor mans Love. Not sure I would take him 12-14.

I love Portis but that's thinking with my heart I love his perimeter defense, his intensity, his deflections, his attitude, and his wingspan. You may not agree but he reminds me of Kevin Garnett. Full disclosure is I am a Razorback fan. I would take him at 12-14 but again not sure that is justified as I have a huge man crush.

Wood, Harrell, Looney intrigue me not really sure on them.

Lyles will probably not drop with the Kentucky roots but I think he will be a great glue player and wouldn't mind taking him with our pick at 12-14 if Portis was gone.

Turner would be good pick if we were not already so young he is going to take 3 or 4 years to bring enough to the table to justify where he most likely gets picked at. If he falls to the 25 to 30 range he would be a good value pick to stash in the D league to get older. I doubt he falls because of his size and potential. For a older team he would be a good 15 to 25 pick just not us.

Poeltl and Len would stunt each other although I would throw a second rounder at Poeltl if he is there at 43.

[thamadkant]

I think Suns are better off trading their pick (assuming it doesnt become top 3 or no-one drops down).
As mentioned previously, I'd trade it for a future pick.

But looking around the league.
There are a lot of 21-23 year olds that may be ideal targets also.

Biyombo
Zeller
Sullinger
Henson
Jones

that can come in straight away and impact the lineup.

[JMac1]

My boy Gambo mentioned on KTAR today that the Suns could be targeting Kaminsky!