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

[MrMiyagi]

It's funny that everyone thinks we have bottom 5 or 10 in talent yet expect Hornacek to get us into the playoffs in arguably the toughest west ever.

We just gotta hope we keep adding talent/assets, are able to pull off a good trade or free agent signing, nail our draft pick, and hope, that even if our team isn't playoff caliber, that it is an enjoyable young team to watch that we can be excited about and a group that we can see growing together and becoming playoff caliber and hopefully are able to contend some day. Some teams don't get that really high pick and just make a nice signing or two, make some good draft picks, and suddenly compete (Memphis, by signing Randolph, Gasol growing into the player he is today, and Conley gradually becoming a stud, and then Indiana making a great pick in Paul George, a trade for George Hill (of course they gave away Leonard though), and then a good signing in David West...and the emergence of Lance Stephenson last year). Unfortunately I remember hoping we would sign Randolph and then West, back in the day when we still had Nash and lost Amare. But we were focused on Childress and Warrick and Turk to get us back to glory.

There are multiple ways.....not all stars were high draft picks. Karl Malone was the 13th pick.

Just because a superstar falls out of the top 5 once in a blue moon, shouldn’t mean the Suns are justified being a middle of the pack team, who picks with the #13 and #14 picks year in and year out. Rarely do stars fall out of the top 5.

The Suns are in the worse place you can be. They are not bad enough to get a top pick and have a chance to draft a game changer, yet they lack the talent to even compete for a playoff spot. I keep hearing certain Suns fan claim the draft is a crapshoot, so fans should be happy that we remain “competitive” and wait for a trade. Too bad the Suns don’t have any real assets to trade for a disgruntled star. No team is giving up an all-star talent for a selection of Len, Warren, Goodwin, and a bunch of mid to late 1st round picks.

Bottom line, the Suns need a star to build around. We are not doing ourselves any favors by constantly drafting in the middle of the draft or giving up a possible #6 pick for the right to overpay another combo guard. I think deep down all that Robert Sarver, and some fans want to do is, find the next Aaron Brooks or Nate Robinson, year after year. That is, find a cheap combo guard who can overachieve one year and sneak the team into the 8th seed, even if there is no sustainability.

And lets stop with this "all the negativity is driving good posters away" bull. Most of the people that do not post on here are bandwagon fans that loved to drink the Kool-aide, but now that Kool-Aid is hard to choke down, no matter how much Lon Babby and this front office insist otherwise.

Well personally I don't drink the FO Kool Aide after the fiasco this past year. But I'm not going to whine like a little kid repeatedly either.

I was hoping for a high pick and Wiggins or something before last year happened. But I don't want to follow your plan and trade Len, Warren, Bledsoe and everyone that is any good for bad players so we can be bad and hope we can get lucky in the lottery and hope there is a superstar there that can redefine the Suns on his own.

Philly has that plan and they have an out of shape Embiid and a mediocre Noel along with perhaps a guy like Mudiay who may or may not be good....then Saric who may or may not be a good nba player.

We had a crap team and a great chance at a high pick one year and got the 2nd pick and Armen Gilliam while the Spurs got David Robinson. Luckily we later traded for KJ from that draft, but just having a high pick doesn't guarantee you anything.

It's not necessarily once in a blue moon that good players get drafted....some of the best players in the league were drafted outside of the top 5. Curry was like the 7th pick. Kawhi Leonard was a mid round pick. Paul George was the 13th pick. We picked Amare, Marion and Nash well outside of the top 5. You would also have a pretty big list if you looked over all top 5 picks and saw how many didn't do anything.

Larry Bird was the 6th pick.

There are also these guys:

. Dirk Nowitzki, Milwaukee Bucks, 1998
The only NBA MVP (and the greatest European player ever?) in this group easily earns the honor for greatest No. 9 selection all time although the last 10 years has seen its share of All-Stars – Tracy McGrady (’97), Shawn Marion (’99) and Amare Stoudemire (’02) ….Notables at this spot include Celtic great Jo Jo White, Reggie Theus (’78), Rolando Blackman (’81), Dale Ellis (’83), Charles Oakley (’85) while also boasting its share of do-overs ---Larry Demic, Ed O’Bannon, Rodney White, Michael Sweetney …
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 35; HOF = 0

10. Paul Westphal, Boston Celtics, 1972
This comes down to the simple question: who’s a better player: Paul Westphal or Paul Pierce? I’m going with Westphal for now and may change my mind based on what Pierce does the remainder of his career …Westphal was a better shooter from the field (50 vs. 44) and (barely) from the line (82 vs. .79) although not as prolific as a scorer (12,809 vs. 15,375 and counting) as Pierce but Westphal was a member of nine playoff teams and did the “Sunderella Suns” to the 1976 Finals, so that’s counts for something and there you have the difference ….Other notables (and there aren’t too many) include Jeff Malone, Horace Grant, Joe Johnson, Caron

11. Reggie Miller, Indiana Pacers, 1987
Robert Horry may have seven rings but everyone is taking a backseat to Reggie Miller and his 25,279 career points (14th all time) …Miller Time in Indy lasted for 18 seasons (still hard to believe Pacer fans booed this selection when the team didn’t nab Hoosier favorite Steve Alford) …Notables out of this spot include Jamaal Wilkes, Fat Lever, Derek Harper and was the pick of future GMs in Ernie Grunfeld and Kiki Vandeweghe ……Kevin Willis was selected in 1984 and he’s still playing ….this is also the spot where Fran Vazquez was taken in 2005. Haven’t seen him? Neither have the Magic …
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 20; HOF = 0

13. Karl Malone, Utah Jazz, 1985
The greatest power forward of all time and the greatest No. 13 selection of all time ….No doubt, we will revisit this list in a few years based on what Kobe does, who by the way remains the greatest player in NBA history to never have won an NBA MVP ….Malone, the No. 2 scorer of all time, has only his former teammate to worry about in possibly dethroning him because it certainly isn’t going to be Bob Bigelow (’75), Dudley Bradley (’79), Danny Schayes (’81), Joe Wolf (’87), Terry Dehere (’93) or Keon Clark (’98) ….Notables include (and it’s not many), Sleepy Floyd (’82) and Corey Maggette (’99)
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections =24; HOF =0 (note: Mailman and Kobe are locks)

14. Clyde Drexler, Portland Trail Blazers, 1983
You must be pretty good when the Blazers pass on the golden opportunity to draft Michael Jordan …Drexler, one of the best passers in NBA history from the big guard position, glided to 22,195 points and was one of only three players in league history to top 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists …Who are other strong candidates at the 14 spot – Maurice Lucas (’74 drafted by the Bulls but played in the ABA before joining Portland), Tim Hardaway (’89), Dan Majerle (’88), Peja Stojakovic (’96) and Michael Cage (’84) …
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 25; HOF = 1

15. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns, 1996
Did anyone ever think that when the Suns drafted little known Stevie Nash that he would later win back-to-back NBA MVPs and finish runner-up for a third? Had he won No. 3, he would have joined Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird, who by the way finished runner-up in the MVP race twice following his three consecutive wins …Clearly the Class of No. 15, no one selected in this spot is even worthy of being mentioned with this future Hall of Famer
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 7; HOF = 0 (note: Nash is a lock)

16. John Stockton, Utah Jazz, 1984
Similar to Nash (or is it the other way around?), no one could have predicted that John Stockton out of tiny Gonzaga would become the NBA’s all-time assists and steals king … Two future Hall of Famers chosen at point with the No. 15 and 16 picks (listen up Detroit and Washington) …..Who else was selected in this spot that has made some noise in the NBA? Ron Artest (’99) and that’s about it ….
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 15; HOF = 0 (note: John Stockton is a no brainer)

17. Shawn Kemp, Seattle SuperSonics, 1989
Shawn Kemp, Jermaine O’Neal, Josh Smith …notice a pattern, here? This spot has a penchant for being home to high school players ….While O’Neal’s career is far from over, the nod is going to the Reign Man, who played a key role in leading the Sonics to the Finals, was a six-time All-Star (five with Sonics, one with Cavs) and threw down the most thunderous dunks this side of Dominique Wilkins ….Not to be overlooked is Larry Drew (’80) and a forward out of North Dakota named Phil Jackson (’67)
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 16; HOF = 0

18. Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons, 1985
Was it any coincidence that after the Pistons drafted Joe D. out of McNeese State that they would go on to make three Finals appearances in the next six years? Dumars was one of the key cogs in the Pistons machine that went on to win back-to-back titles while the Shreveport, La., native won Finals MVP honors in '89 ...A leader by example, Dumars was a standout defender who took the lead in defending Michael Jordan in Detroit's vaulted Jordan Rules....According to MJ, no one gave him more fits on the defensive end than Joe D ....the ultimate sportsman, the NBA named its sportsmanship award after Dumars ... Mark Action Jackson won NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1989-90 and retired as the No. 2 all-time leader in assists behind John Stockton. That’s right, he’s ahead of Magic, Oscar and Isiah …Not bad for the 18th overall pick …This pick is definintely representin’ with Calvin Murphy (’70) joining Dumars as the only Hall of Famers in this group and let's not forget about Ricky Pierce (’82) and his 14,467 points …
Draft Fact: All-Star Selections = 10; HOF = 2

Very thorough BW. Also, when did you become a Mod? Congrats!

I think it's funny that some people are talking about how Len, Archie and TJ haven't done anything yet. They're still young. Not every player drafted comes into the league playing like a stud. I liked these picks at the time, I still do. I think Knight will be a good player for us, he only got to play 11 games with the Suns, that doesn't seem anywhere near a big enough sample size to dismiss him. This season was a rocky one, but I think getting a chance to let this group of players develop some familiarity will be big for us.

[Mr-Al]

I"m looking for some draft&stash players and Vezenkov looks like the best who could be available at #43
19yo, 6'8 w/ a really interesting all-around game. (39% in 3's, 77% FT, 1.1 AST/TO, great rebounder)... not athletic at all though.
He looks like a smaller Mirotic to me.

Another one is Luwawu, the complete opposite of Vezenkov (super athletic, defensive stopper), but I think he'll go in the late 1st.

I was somehow hoping that Luwawu would fall into the 2nd round and that we could trade up and get him but you'd be crazy not to take him in the 1st round just based off potential alone. Reminds me of Nic Batum. Weird that they're both french

[Mr-Al]

Just because a superstar falls out of the top 5 once in a blue moon, shouldn’t mean the Suns are justified being a middle of the pack team, who picks with the #13 and #14 picks year in and year out. Rarely do stars fall out of the top 5.

The Suns are in the worse place you can be. They are not bad enough to get a top pick and have a chance to draft a game changer, yet they lack the talent to even compete for a playoff spot. I keep hearing certain Suns fan claim the draft is a crapshoot, so fans should be happy that we remain “competitive” and wait for a trade. Too bad the Suns don’t have any real assets to trade for a disgruntled star. No team is giving up an all-star talent for a selection of Len, Warren, Goodwin, and a bunch of mid to late 1st round picks.

Bottom line, the Suns need a star to build around. We are not doing ourselves any favors by constantly drafting in the middle of the draft or giving up a possible #6 pick for the right to overpay another combo guard. I think deep down all that Robert Sarver, and some fans want to do is, find the next Aaron Brooks or Nate Robinson, year after year. That is, find a cheap combo guard who can overachieve one year and sneak the team into the 8th seed, even if there is no sustainability.

And lets stop with this "all the negativity is driving good posters away" bull. Most of the people that do not post on here are bandwagon fans that loved to drink the Kool-aide, but now that Kool-Aid is hard to choke down, no matter how much Lon Babby and this front office insist otherwise.

very well said.

and least this FO seems to be pretty decent at drafting though, it's a relief in comparison to the past.

I've liked what we've done for the most part, but McD keeps talking about remaining competitive while also rebuilding or whatever.

I don't see the point in the remaining competitive part, we're only hurting ourselves in the draft. Seems like a cheap ploy to keep whatever fans are left in their seats. Hope Sarver isn't pressuring McD

[Damkac]

A McD type player is someone with the physical attributes, athleticism to push him above his peers. He sees IQ and shooting skills as "a fixable" thing via coaching.. or thats the impression I get anyways.

Westbrook, Lebron James etc are 2 players that exemplify McD's vision of his "type".

It's not exactly athleticism but more of some elite skill like Goodwin slashing and Warren scoring near the basket.

[RunDogGun]

Wow, I didn't see that you became a mod, bwgood. Congrats!

[bwgood77]

Just because a superstar falls out of the top 5 once in a blue moon, shouldn’t mean the Suns are justified being a middle of the pack team, who picks with the #13 and #14 picks year in and year out. Rarely do stars fall out of the top 5.

The Suns are in the worse place you can be. They are not bad enough to get a top pick and have a chance to draft a game changer, yet they lack the talent to even compete for a playoff spot. I keep hearing certain Suns fan claim the draft is a crapshoot, so fans should be happy that we remain “competitive” and wait for a trade. Too bad the Suns don’t have any real assets to trade for a disgruntled star. No team is giving up an all-star talent for a selection of Len, Warren, Goodwin, and a bunch of mid to late 1st round picks.

Bottom line, the Suns need a star to build around. We are not doing ourselves any favors by constantly drafting in the middle of the draft or giving up a possible #6 pick for the right to overpay another combo guard. I think deep down all that Robert Sarver, and some fans want to do is, find the next Aaron Brooks or Nate Robinson, year after year. That is, find a cheap combo guard who can overachieve one year and sneak the team into the 8th seed, even if there is no sustainability.

And lets stop with this "all the negativity is driving good posters away" bull. Most of the people that do not post on here are bandwagon fans that loved to drink the Kool-aide, but now that Kool-Aid is hard to choke down, no matter how much Lon Babby and this front office insist otherwise.

very well said.

and least this FO seems to be pretty decent at drafting though, it's a relief in comparison to the past.

I've liked what we've done for the most part, but McD keeps talking about remaining competitive while also rebuilding or whatever.

I don't see the point in the remaining competitive part, we're only hurting ourselves in the draft. Seems like a cheap ploy to keep whatever fans are left in their seats. Hope Sarver isn't pressuring McD

I really want to know what you guys would do differently though. I agree that we should have played our young guys more than we did and been realistic of our chances of competing in the playoffs if we DID happen to make it, which was unlikely until the OKC injuries happened...and was still somewhat unlikely.

We started playing really good last year which was a surprise. The problem is, we were doing it with players that people had considered crap (outside of Dragic) or players who had never started before outside of Tucker, who was a journeyman.

That group was projected to win like 17 games. What do you propose they do? Devise a way to make them suck? Bench Bledsoe because he is playing too well? Take Frye out because we can't have the best pick n roll duo in the league and it hurts our draft pick?

I think McD's initial plan may have been to trade Dragic, but then the team took off in such a way, that trading him then, especially after Bledsoe went down, would have made the vast majority of the fanbase revolt.

So we miss the playoffs, and still end up with a guy I think will be a really good player. I'm not entirely convinced Wiggins and Parker will be THAT much better...but even if we had one of the worst records, we could have ended up with Marcus Smart or Julius Randle, and while they might be decent players and I really like Smart, I don't think they will be THAT great.

Forward to this year. The Thomas signing, in hindsight, was not a good move. Nor was the Ennis pick imo. I liked Ennis too....before the draft. I would have taken Rodney Hood.

But the chemistry was obviously pretty bad from the get go, and we still were in the mix. What would you have done going into this year? Traded Dragic and Bledsoe for picks and started Ennis, Goodwin, Warren, Kieff and Len? That might have gotten you a top 5 pick, but is that a core you think is going to make a difference? If we get the 4th or 5th pick, do you then gamble on Porzingis, Winslow or Mudiay? Are those guys game changers in a sense they improve a crappy team enough to be contenders?

Or are you talking you want to tank for multiple years like the Sixers and just draft like 8 top five picks over the next decade and hope 5 end up studs, so we can rule the league from 2020-2030?

[kennydorglas]

We got screwed in the draft because MIN jumped on us w/ LaVine. Our plan was to draft him at #14 and Warren at #18.
McD had to improvise and tried a bold move (Ennis highly touted w/ TOR) to force a trade like PHI did w/ ORL. They didnt bought it and stolen another target from us (caboclo)

In hindsight, I think McD did a decent job (mainly because of Warren).
Ennis was always a meh prospect (there's no place for unidimensional players in the NBA, they're just situational guys = bad value)
IF Bogdan comes to the nba with 25~26 years, it'll be a meh move too.
Alec Brown was a creative thinking, probably wont give us much, but u cant ask too much for a mid 2nd round pick.

McD is a analytics guy, he probably overthink the draft more than anyone... when he's forced to improvise, he isnt doing pretty things: drafting Ennis, Knight trade (kinda early to tell, but he got jobbed by Bucks' GM)

Let's just hope that his top prospect falls to #13. That's all.

[MrMiyagi]

very well said.

and least this FO seems to be pretty decent at drafting though, it's a relief in comparison to the past.

I've liked what we've done for the most part, but McD keeps talking about remaining competitive while also rebuilding or whatever.

I don't see the point in the remaining competitive part, we're only hurting ourselves in the draft. Seems like a cheap ploy to keep whatever fans are left in their seats. Hope Sarver isn't pressuring McD

I really want to know what you guys would do differently though. I agree that we should have played our young guys more than we did and been realistic of our chances of competing in the playoffs if we DID happen to make it, which was unlikely until the OKC injuries happened...and was still somewhat unlikely.

We started playing really good last year which was a surprise. The problem is, we were doing it with players that people had considered crap (outside of Dragic) or players who had never started before outside of Tucker, who was a journeyman.

That group was projected to win like 17 games. What do you propose they do? Devise a way to make them suck? Bench Bledsoe because he is playing too well? Take Frye out because we can't have the best pick n roll duo in the league and it hurts our draft pick?

I think McD's initial plan may have been to trade Dragic, but then the team took off in such a way, that trading him then, especially after Bledsoe went down, would have made the vast majority of the fanbase revolt.

So we miss the playoffs, and still end up with a guy I think will be a really good player. I'm not entirely convinced Wiggins and Parker will be THAT much better...but even if we had one of the worst records, we could have ended up with Marcus Smart or Julius Randle, and while they might be decent players and I really like Smart, I don't think they will be THAT great.

Forward to this year. The Thomas signing, in hindsight, was not a good move. Nor was the Ennis pick imo. I liked Ennis too....before the draft. I would have taken KYLE ANDERSON.

But the chemistry was obviously pretty bad from the get go, and we still were in the mix. What would you have done going into this year? Traded Dragic and Bledsoe for picks and started Ennis, Goodwin, Warren, Kieff and Len? That might have gotten you a top 5 pick, but is that a core you think is going to make a difference? If we get the 4th or 5th pick, do you then gamble on Porzingis, Winslow or Mudiay? Are those guys game changers in a sense they improve a crappy team enough to be contenders?

Or are you talking you want to tank for multiple years like the Sixers and just draft like 8 top five picks over the next decade and hope 5 end up studs, so we can rule the league from 2020-2030?

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

[bwgood77]

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

Yes, I would have been happy with that too..love him as a player...and at the time Gary Harris. I was shocked when we took Ennis. I still think McD tried to pull a power move with Ujuri to swap picks and pick up another asset and Ujuri called his bluff. We had Hood in for workouts at least twice.

[MrMiyagi]

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

Yes, I would have been happy with that too..love him as a player...and at the time Gary Harris. I was shocked when we took Ennis. I still think McD tried to pull a power move with Ujuri to swap picks and pick up another asset and Ujuri called his bluff. We had Hood in for workouts at least twice.

Now we can look forward to Anderson and Leonard destroying us for the next decade. DAMN YOU SPURS!

I think you're right about the Canadian Kid. I wonder what McD was looking to get from the Dinos.

[bwgood77]

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

Yes, I would have been happy with that too..love him as a player...and at the time Gary Harris. I was shocked when we took Ennis. I still think McD tried to pull a power move with Ujuri to swap picks and pick up another asset and Ujuri called his bluff. We had Hood in for workouts at least twice.

Now we can look forward to Anderson and Leonard destroying us for the next decade. DAMN YOU SPURS!

I think you're right about the Canadian Kid. I wonder what McD was looking to get from the Dinos.

Probably not much...at that point you can't get much...Ujuri was an experienced poker player and McD was at the table for the first time. Lesson learned hopefully. Hinkie did it to Hennigan in the same draft, but the roles were reversed.

[Revived]

There are some really good prospects in this draft in that top 10 range. Unlike last year's, I don't think its top 5 heavy. Its a bit more balanced.

[Damkac]

Last year's draft was more like top3 heavy. Wiggins, Embiid, Parker.
This year's looks like:
Tier 1 - Towns, Okafor, Russell, Mudiay
Tier 2 - Winslow, Porzingis, Hezonja (Johnson, WCS)
Though some suprises likely will happen like usual (mayby Porzingis going top3)
Anyway it looks like at Sac's 6th pick there will be 2 tier 2 prospects available.

very well said.

and least this FO seems to be pretty decent at drafting though, it's a relief in comparison to the past.

I've liked what we've done for the most part, but McD keeps talking about remaining competitive while also rebuilding or whatever.

I don't see the point in the remaining competitive part, we're only hurting ourselves in the draft. Seems like a cheap ploy to keep whatever fans are left in their seats. Hope Sarver isn't pressuring McD

I really want to know what you guys would do differently though. I agree that we should have played our young guys more than we did and been realistic of our chances of competing in the playoffs if we DID happen to make it, which was unlikely until the OKC injuries happened...and was still somewhat unlikely.

We started playing really good last year which was a surprise. The problem is, we were doing it with players that people had considered crap (outside of Dragic) or players who had never started before outside of Tucker, who was a journeyman.

That group was projected to win like 17 games. What do you propose they do? Devise a way to make them suck? Bench Bledsoe because he is playing too well? Take Frye out because we can't have the best pick n roll duo in the league and it hurts our draft pick?

I think McD's initial plan may have been to trade Dragic, but then the team took off in such a way, that trading him then, especially after Bledsoe went down, would have made the vast majority of the fanbase revolt.

So we miss the playoffs, and still end up with a guy I think will be a really good player. I'm not entirely convinced Wiggins and Parker will be THAT much better...but even if we had one of the worst records, we could have ended up with Marcus Smart or Julius Randle, and while they might be decent players and I really like Smart, I don't think they will be THAT great.

Forward to this year. The Thomas signing, in hindsight, was not a good move. Nor was the Ennis pick imo. I liked Ennis too....before the draft. I would have taken KYLE ANDERSON.

But the chemistry was obviously pretty bad from the get go, and we still were in the mix. What would you have done going into this year? Traded Dragic and Bledsoe for picks and started Ennis, Goodwin, Warren, Kieff and Len? That might have gotten you a top 5 pick, but is that a core you think is going to make a difference? If we get the 4th or 5th pick, do you then gamble on Porzingis, Winslow or Mudiay? Are those guys game changers in a sense they improve a crappy team enough to be contenders?

Or are you talking you want to tank for multiple years like the Sixers and just draft like 8 top five picks over the next decade and hope 5 end up studs, so we can rule the league from 2020-2030?

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

I was shocked that Anderson fell to 30th and that Suns didn't get him with 27th.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I am still wondering what all your thoughts are on picking up an additional midfirst rounder after hopefully securing our power forward needs at #13.


I am still really keen on r.j. hunter(first) or devin booker for our shooting and spacing needs, after watching a slew of their video clips.

I still see a remarkable resemblance to curry and klay thompson(perhaps even a bit of reggie miller) in the way the move fluidly, and shooting ease and mechanics, release.

Do any of you guys see a similar projection, providing they hit their ceilings?

Or if not, what do you see their ceilings as ?

Also, I still strongly advocate trying to secure the Sacramento trade for the 6th pick, stauskus, carl landry, darren collison, and derrick williams.

Best case scenario, we complete this trade and any of Winslow, porzingas, mundiay, hezonja or johnson fall to us. Collison serves as a great and highly talented/low cost back-up point guard.

Then we can have warren start at the 3 spot, with derrick williams playing second unit. This could be a great one/two punch I think, and could allow us to perhaps move tucker (great player and hate to see him go but....) for a mid first to a team like boston, houston, toronto, or dallas to pick up r.j. hunter (first choice) or devin booker.

With a roster hopefully of knight/collison at point guard.

Then stauskus/r.j. hunter or booker/ at the shooting guard spot.

Warren/ derrick williams at the small forward.

Porzingas/turner or kaminsky?/ landry at the power forward spot. Then len/wright at center, and in the 2nd round pick up dakari Johnson or kaleb tarczewski. Both great 7 foot centers.

Our roster would be very young, very talented, low cost, athletic. And the very best part about getting the players in the draft is that we would control their contracts for around 8-9 years. And we still have a ton of money to go any direction and be a major player in free agency.

Thoughts????

[Ghost of Kleine]

Sorry, forgot about archie goodwin. Definitely slot him in there at the 1or 2 spot. Anyways, here's the trade: http://espn.go.com/nba/trademachine?tradeId=mvru73m.

[kennydorglas]

Last year's draft was more like top3 heavy. Wiggins, Embiid, Parker.
This year's looks like:
Tier 1 - Towns, Okafor, Russell, Mudiay
Tier 2 - Winslow, Porzingis, Hezonja (Johnson, WCS)
Though some suprises likely will happen like usual (mayby Porzingis going top3)
Anyway it looks like at Sac's 6th pick there will be 2 tier 2 prospects available.

I really want to know what you guys would do differently though. I agree that we should have played our young guys more than we did and been realistic of our chances of competing in the playoffs if we DID happen to make it, which was unlikely until the OKC injuries happened...and was still somewhat unlikely.

We started playing really good last year which was a surprise. The problem is, we were doing it with players that people had considered crap (outside of Dragic) or players who had never started before outside of Tucker, who was a journeyman.

That group was projected to win like 17 games. What do you propose they do? Devise a way to make them suck? Bench Bledsoe because he is playing too well? Take Frye out because we can't have the best pick n roll duo in the league and it hurts our draft pick?

I think McD's initial plan may have been to trade Dragic, but then the team took off in such a way, that trading him then, especially after Bledsoe went down, would have made the vast majority of the fanbase revolt.

So we miss the playoffs, and still end up with a guy I think will be a really good player. I'm not entirely convinced Wiggins and Parker will be THAT much better...but even if we had one of the worst records, we could have ended up with Marcus Smart or Julius Randle, and while they might be decent players and I really like Smart, I don't think they will be THAT great.

Forward to this year. The Thomas signing, in hindsight, was not a good move. Nor was the Ennis pick imo. I liked Ennis too....before the draft. I would have taken KYLE ANDERSON.

But the chemistry was obviously pretty bad from the get go, and we still were in the mix. What would you have done going into this year? Traded Dragic and Bledsoe for picks and started Ennis, Goodwin, Warren, Kieff and Len? That might have gotten you a top 5 pick, but is that a core you think is going to make a difference? If we get the 4th or 5th pick, do you then gamble on Porzingis, Winslow or Mudiay? Are those guys game changers in a sense they improve a crappy team enough to be contenders?

Or are you talking you want to tank for multiple years like the Sixers and just draft like 8 top five picks over the next decade and hope 5 end up studs, so we can rule the league from 2020-2030?

I agree with everything about this, except for the who we should've drafted instead of Ennis, but I fixed that

I was shocked that Anderson fell to 30th and that Suns didn't get him with 27th.

Switch Mudiay for Winslow... Turner is a Tier 2 too.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I also wanted to mention that dakari johnson at 7ft. 255Lbs has a quite decent inside , bruising old school style of play, and at times could very conceivably play at the 4 spot with len.


If you can envision the dynamics and compliment of porzinas/len or Johnson and len in the paint, with shooters in knight/stauskus, or knight/hunter or booker on the wing and warren/ d williams at the three penetrating.

I believe you will find us having a very talented, athletic, and fun to watch team post draft.

And just imagine what we could do if porzingas, winslow, hezonja, or mudiay were to fall to us at 6???

[Damkac]

Switch Mudiay for Winslow... Turner is a Tier 2 too.

Mayby. It's not my rating just how most of mocks looks like.

It would be cool if we get Winslow. Just to have Goodwin and Winslow on one team

[kennydorglas]

Switch Mudiay for Winslow... Turner is a Tier 2 too.

Mayby. It's not my rating just how most of mocks looks like.

It would be cool if we get Winslow. Just to have Goodwin and Winslow on one team

No doubt about it. If you wanna trade up, it's better be for Winslow.

[bwgood77]

Switch Mudiay for Winslow... Turner is a Tier 2 too.

Mayby. It's not my rating just how most of mocks looks like.

It would be cool if we get Winslow. Just to have Goodwin and Winslow on one team

Mudiay is a big question mark, but Ford says a handful of GMs have their top 3 as Towns, Mudiay and Porzingis.