Suns Offseason Thread 3: Spurned for the Spurs

[thamadkant]

McD bringing in Chandler was smart when they were courting Aldridge. No do

[oldjeezy]

Honestly, I'd still like to move him and McNeal for Anderson. With those two small contracts, we can absorb the rest of Anderson's contract, if NO is looking to dump salary.

If we could do that, then we sign Knight, and look for vet mins, and what we could get from the Goran trade exemption.

Of course Anderson would be way better but i wondered what you guys think about Leuer.

Well I watched him kick our butts last year, and he looked good while doing it. If we don't get an Anderson or someone like him, I wouldn't mind seeing a Leuer/Len front court. We could run them with Warren, and have the spacing with Warren cutting. But our team thought Tolliver would open up space, and it just didn't work for us.

But I'm still also interested to see if Alec Brown can do something in summer league and/or Harrellson. Alec is still a shot blocker, so pairing him with Len, could be a nice paint protection. Then there is Patric Young too. A lot of hustle and toughness could be in our bench front court.

I'm sure McD is watching this summer league to see guys that may have not been drafted, or may be behind a few guys when regular season comes about.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/616775799434141696[/tweet]

[RunDogGun]

I really like Len, and I think going up against Chandler all the time, will really help him. Len has the goods, he just needs to figure out how to stay on the court, by staying healthy and out of foul trouble.

[RunDogGun]

Of course Anderson would be way better but i wondered what you guys think about Leuer.

Well I watched him kick our butts last year, and he looked good while doing it. If we don't get an Anderson or someone like him, I wouldn't mind seeing a Leuer/Len front court. We could run them with Warren, and have the spacing with Warren cutting. But our team thought Tolliver would open up space, and it just didn't work for us.

But I'm still also interested to see if Alec Brown can do something in summer league and/or Harrellson. Alec is still a shot blocker, so pairing him with Len, could be a nice paint protection. Then there is Patric Young too. A lot of hustle and toughness could be in our bench front court.

I'm sure McD is watching this summer league to see guys that may have not been drafted, or may be behind a few guys when regular season comes about.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/616775799434141696[/tweet]

Bummer!

[thamadkant]

McD bringing in Chandler was smart when they were courting Aldridge. No doubt.

But now, I think it's not as smart since it means Len will take a back seat.

Len's confidence either gets negatively impacted or it stays where it is IMO.

He really needed to play big minutes to develop to his full potential IMO.

We don't know if McD will trade him now, but hopefully not.
I'm sure suns definitely needed a veteran presence, but that could of been done by trading Tucker or Morris or both for one.
Someone to play next to Len.... Not in front of him.

Unless the Suns think Len needs less minutes in the next 2 years, maybe they know issues with his ankles and it's better long term to reduce his minutes now... But that's highly speculative.

In any case, the suns still need a reliable offensive player at the PF spot... Someone who will contribute night in and night out, not someone who plays well once a week.

[thamadkant]

Last season Bullas apparently had a trade lineup for the Morrii or one of them.


I sure hope it's on the table again...

I'd do Tucker, Morris
For
Mirotic, McDermott

I think Mirotic with 30 minutes a game can be a poor man's Dirk Nowitski.

[kennydorglas]

I think it's ok for Len to backup a quality player. Obviously this wasnt the case when Plumdawg was here.
He'll learn A LOT from Tyson.

[bigfoot]

Alex Len in some pretty good company for a player with 10+pts per 36, 10+rbds per 36, 2.5blks per 36 and at least 500 minutes played in their first two seasons.

http://tinyurl.com/ofhorj3

Here is a list of 22 year olds that have done what Len did at 21.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/p2hmmub

Will be interesting to see how he progresses this year

[King4Day]

Last season Bullas apparently had a trade lineup for the Morrii or one of them.


I sure hope it's on the table again...

I'd do Tucker, Morris
For
Mirotic, McDermott

I think Mirotic with 30 minutes a game can be a poor man's Dirk Nowitski.

Probably more likely Morris for Gibson and McDermott.
I'm not sure if that'd be seen as too much for the bulls to give up. I see Kieff as a younger, cheaper, and controlled piece for them. A deal starting that way at least.

[saintEscaton]

Last season Bullas apparently had a trade lineup for the Morrii or one of them.


I sure hope it's on the table again...

I'd do Tucker, Morris
For
Mirotic, McDermott

I think Mirotic with 30 minutes a game can be a poor man's Dirk Nowitski.

LOL after Mirotic exploded in the month of March posting a statline of 20 ppg. 8 rpg and a block no way they would even entertain that lowball offer let alone throw in Dougie McBuckets. Would be a totally counter-intuitive downgrade. Thibs hated playing his rookies but they should be feautured now with a more offensive minded coach taking over

[saintEscaton]

Bulls already have great PF depth behind Pau as it is with the addition of Portis. They aren't looked to swap bigs . Most likely want a wing or backcourt help

[WeekapaugGroove]

Wow this thread has went in a lot of odd directions.

Len and to some degree Archie have more value to the suns than in a trade. They haven't accomplished much on the court but this staff has two years invested in their development. Draft picks are like brand new cars in that they lose some value once you have them and your best off to keep them for a while and live with your decision.

No of course they "could" be traded because almost anyone could be for the right price. I just don't see it as likely.

[DirtyDez]

Jordan Schultz ‏@Schultz_Report 1h ago
Hearing the Suns are trying to deal Markieff Morris, who has an affordable 8M/yr deal. He and Hornacek don't get along, plus Marcus is gone.

This guy well known reporter? Doesn't sound like it...

[bwgood77]

Jordan Schultz ‏@Schultz_Report 1h ago
Hearing the Suns are trying to deal Markieff Morris, who has an affordable 8M/yr deal. He and Hornacek don't get along, plus Marcus is gone.

This guy well known reporter? Doesn't sound like it...

Not sure how reliable he is, but here is his latest zinger..

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/status/618129862780448769[/tweet]

[RunDogGun]

Jordan Schultz ‏@Schultz_Report 1h ago
Hearing the Suns are trying to deal Markieff Morris, who has an affordable 8M/yr deal. He and Hornacek don't get along, plus Marcus is gone.

This guy well known reporter? Doesn't sound like it...

Not sure how reliable he is, but here is his latest zinger..

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/status/618129862780448769[/tweet]

We should post some weird trade ideas here but plausible, and see what he tweets next.

[letsgosuns]

Players on the Suns that have untapped potential that we do not know what they will be yet are Len, Goodwin, and Warren. Players on the Suns that could potentially still have big improvement are Bledsoe and Knight. Players on the Suns that have pretty much maxed out their potential and have maybe a small chance of improvement are Markieff and Tucker.

Basketball is much different than a sport like baseball when it comes to development of young players. In baseball, it is not uncommon to take many years for a young player to become a top player. A great example is Max Scherzer, which I am sure is a player many people on this board are probably familiar with. He did not start to truly dominate until he was already in the league for six or seven years. That usually does not happen in basketball. It more often than not happens far quicker than that. Steve Nash is the rare case of a player who had been in the league for eight years and then elevated his game to an mvp level, but do not forget he was already an all star prior to being an mvp.

Kenny Smith said many years ago that every dominant big man he has ever seen dominated from the day they came into the league. It happened immediately. I believe that is still true for most of the star players in the league today, regardless of position. All the top players were already becoming stars by their third years. Now I think a player like Len still has star potential because he was hurt most of his first season and was honestly starting to look like he could become dominant at times last season, but he did not play consistently. A player like Markieff has gotten quite a bit of playing time consistently for four years now and has absolutely not elevated himself to star potential. He is an average power forward. Really poor rebounder, weak defender, and a low iq. He has a good mid-range game and a knack for hitting clutch shots but that is about the only positives I see from him. He basically takes up space and I do not see him being any better than he is right now. Same with Tucker. So I am fine with shipping out Markieff and Tucker because I do not believe they will ever be any better than they already are and the Suns need players with more talent to build around.

[Saberestar]

Jordan Schultz ‏@Schultz_Report 1h ago
Hearing the Suns are trying to deal Markieff Morris, who has an affordable 8M/yr deal. He and Hornacek don't get along, plus Marcus is gone.

This guy well known reporter? Doesn't sound like it...

Not sure how reliable he is, but here is his latest zinger..

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Schultz_Report/status/618129862780448769[/tweet]

We should post some weird trade ideas here but plausible, and see what he tweets next.

That guy was the reporter saying this **** five minutes before Woj confirmed LMA to San Antonio....

Source: Suns are getting closer to signing LaMarcus Aldridge. No more meetings between the two sides unless he visits PHX.

Just saying.

[Barkley6]

McD bringing in Chandler was smart when they were courting Aldridge. No doubt.

But now, I think it's not as smart since it means Len will take a back seat.

Len's confidence either gets negatively impacted or it stays where it is IMO.

He really needed to play big minutes to develop to his full potential IMO.

We don't know if McD will trade him now, but hopefully not.
I'm sure suns definitely needed a veteran presence, but that could of been done by trading Tucker or Morris or both for one.
Someone to play next to Len.... Not in front of him.

Unless the Suns think Len needs less minutes in the next 2 years, maybe they know issues with his ankles and it's better long term to reduce his minutes now... But that's highly speculative.

In any case, the suns still need a reliable offensive player at the PF spot... Someone who will contribute night in and night out, not someone who plays well once a week.

Then trade him now. If his psyche is so fragile that competition for a place will shatter his confidence, then he isn't cut out for the NBA. Does he need court time to develop? Yes. But if anything, signing Chandler should light a fire under him and bring out his best. In other words, if he's discouraged instead of motivated, he doesn't have the right mental makeup.

[RunDogGun]

Jordan Schultz ‏@Schultz_Report 1h ago
Hearing the Suns are trying to deal Markieff Morris, who has an affordable 8M/yr deal. He and Hornacek don't get along, plus Marcus is gone.

This guy well known reporter? Doesn't sound like it...

I've never heard any issue between Markieff and Jeff. Maybe this guy doesn't know that it was Marcus that was yelling at Jeff.

[letsgosuns]

I could care less what Jordan Schultz says. That guy has never been right about the Suns from what I have seen. He is the guy that said LaMarcus Aldridge is getting closer to signing with Suns hours before he announced his decision to sign with the Spurs. I believe he is also the guy that said last season Amare was coming back to the Suns and then he signed with Mavericks. Two major screw ups on his part.