Trade Deadline Countdown....What will we do? What should we do?

[dremill24]

I like the potential of this lineup.

C: Whiteside
PF: Simmons
SF: Warren
SG: Booker
PG: Goodwin
PF/C: Len
SF: Jerami Grant
PF: Leuer
PG/SG: McRae
PF/C: Jefferson

Archie as our longterm starting PG, really? I guess having Simmons as your primary ballhandler gives you more lineup flexibility to play three wings but still...

I dont know, I think Goodwin can eventually replicate Bledsoe's numbers.
The thing is, Suns can indeed keep Bledsoe, but I think his effectiveness is time limited, as in he is 27 next season, but his style of play... he may regress sooner than later.

But I will see how he is next season.

I just really like what I see with the "BIG" back court, with more confidence and a defensive coach, they could be the answer against the 3pt shooting era.

Let's get real, Goodwin is NOT a PG. He's only playing it now because the Suns have exactly 0 healthy PGs to throw out there. Any team with Goodwin as their full time point guard Is going nowhere fast.

[8on]

Woj posted something really interesting...
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-unlikely-story-of-how-kristaps-porzingis-found-his-way-to-the-knicks-072828935.html

Before Jackson made the final call on Porzingis at No. 4, the Knicks did have one significant pause: Talks about trading the pick for a talented wing player and another first-round pick lingered into the late afternoon, but ultimately died when the Knicks couldn't get Jose Calderon's contract into the deal.

You may have seen this rumor, around the time of the draft.

The Suns had talks with the Knicks about dealing the fourth pick for point guard Eric Bledsoe and the No. 13 pick, but Phoenix has not been limited to the Knicks in that regard.

I was never certain of that rumor. It seemed a little crazy that we would trade Bled for Zinger, not knowing what we now know about the Latvian giant.

Woj is apparently confirming it.

Now compare that with this tweet from Marc Stein. (from before we extended B Knight)

That Suns will seriously explore their Eric Bledsoe trade options if they indeed strikes the deal w/B-Knight that @GeryWoelfel is reporting

It tells me that we would trade Bled. This really surprises me, but isn't a terrible idea. We've only been able to get 120 games out of him every 2 seasons. I don't know if we can win a championship that way.

Does the FO see Knight as our one point guard? What if we get Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram? What if we make a "Godfather" offer including TJ and Bled for a star? Whiteside? An unhappy Boogie, at some point down the line? DeAndre Jordan? Name it. A bunch of teams would consider it. Al Horford?

I'm starting to see things more clearly. I don't think we're locked into a two point guard thing, although I think having Bled and Knight on the payroll gives us the opportunity to trade one or the other. Maybe that was why we signed Isaiah. Trade value. Hell of a good use of $7M in cap space, no?

Until we build that championship team (which none of our trade partners, age contemporaries or division or conference opponents have built), what's the harm in dropping two seasons?

The GREAT thing about all this? We won't be stuck in the middle. Orlando, Milwaukee, New Orleans, all stuck in the middle. We, on the other hand, have a lot of options. Who has more options than us?

THAT is McD's true genius. It's not about winning now. Only two or three teams are doing that. It's about having enough avenues and talent so that we can get there at some point. Maybe Hydra was never the plan. Maybe Knight/Bled was never the plan.

Super curious.....a light has been shown, and it's making things clear.

[bigfoot]

Kief - Tucker - Telly to the Bulls
Noah - Portis - McDermott to the Suns

Gives the Bulls a very good bench which seems to be their weakness.
Gives the Suns some youth and a big expiring in Noah (out for the season. TJ Warren and McDerrmott battle for the starting SF spot.

[letsgosuns]

The main player I would avoid trading for is Al Horford. He is nowhere close to the superstar that some people make him out to be. I just watched Chandler and Len dominate the hell out of him when the Suns beat the Hawks. That is not a good sign considering every other team is beating up on the Suns. Horford has a nice jump shot but other than that he is slow and seems like he can barely get off the ground. He lacks that fluid athleticism that you need to be a dominate big guy. He is also undersized for a center at 6'10".

Suns should trade Markieff, Tucker, and Knight for the best offers they can get that net them more picks. I would hold onto Chandler unless the Suns can get a lottery pick for him. Then finish out the season with as many losses as possible, hopefully get a top three pick, and on draft night look into making a blockbuster trade if it makes sense.

[bwgood77]

Right. Giving up all of our assets for Blake (not that the Clippers would ever consider it) would be like the Knicks trading for Carmelo. They gave up everything they had of value except Amare for 26-year-old Anthony and have largely been irrelevant since. They had a couple of weak playoff runs in the East. I think if you're building a championship team you have to be methodical and accumulate sustainable talent that can play together long term. You have to keep a guy like Booker who looks like the next Klay Thompson.If we can add Simmons/Ingram/Rabb to the Booker/Warren core we might be alright in a few years.We have to start spending wisely and stop going for the quick fix which which landed us in this position. The whole rebuild while being competitive is a bill of goods.

One problem with above analysis on Griffin trades-not just Carey's. PHX would have a lot left after grabbing Griffin. this would not be a repeat of the Knicks who only had Amare. We would have Bled, Knight, Chandler, Tucker, Warren and Len in the scenario I posted above. There are plenty of assets there to grab additional players from other teams via trade, or grab during the offseason with $20 million in FA dollars (Batum, Barnes, Conley....) I think that team could be well ahead of the Knicks and depending on how the chips fall would have a chance to be much better.

I love potential, but winning teams and championship teams are made from players that know how to play the game. Griffin knows how to play the game. He has gotten better every year. He has added a very consistent mid-range game and shoots threes pretty well too. He has adapted. He would also have the affect of attracting additional FA's, I think. His biggest weakness is his defense, but if he improved in other areas, there is no reason why he wouldn't continue there. I think McD would pull the trigger if Griffin is available, and I would applaud him for taking the risk.

I strongly agree with Carey's statement generally. And I'm starting to think that Booker alone might be too high a price to pay for Griffin, much the way that Thompson was too high a price to pay for Love, and Curry to high a price to pay for Amare. I certainly wouldn't give up Booker *and picks* for Griffin. But I also think it's interesting that we finally appear to have assets sufficiently valuable to trade for a superstar.

Much depends on what McD thinks might be coming his way in the draft. Booker's a solid building block, as are some of our other young players. Another one is likely coming our way in the draft.

Now, I think it's essentially unfathomable that the Clippers would trade Griffin this season. We'd be in a stronger bargaining position by the time the draft rolls around, especially if it's clear that the Clippers are prepared to rebuild. Would we be interested then? Well, if Simmons is coming our way, probably not. Overall, it's probably not a good idea for us in most cases. But this would be the first superstar since Love to be available in trade, so we'd obviously talk to the Clippers about it.

I found this interesting in a recent Lowe column on whether or not the Clippers should trade Love.

Griffin is a tricky piece in the modern NBA: a big man who doesn't shoot 3s or protect the rim. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that you can remove those players, even the ones with killer post-up games, replace them with skilled shooters who make less money, and lose basically nothing.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14669764/blake-griffin-tenure-los-angeles-become-questions-hour

[Saberestar]

Ishmael Smith was under the impression that the Sixers, too, wanted him to return. So he left it up to his agent at the time to work out a deal.
Confident that Smith would get a market-value offer from his desired team, the agent turned down a $2.9 million deal from the Phoenix Suns.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20160131_Journeyman_Ish_Smith_finds_a_home_with_the_Sixers.html

[Sunsss]

Ishmael Smith was under the impression that the Sixers, too, wanted him to return. So he left it up to his agent at the time to work out a deal.
Confident that Smith would get a market-value offer from his desired team, the agent turned down a $2.9 million deal from the Phoenix Suns.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20160131_Journeyman_Ish_Smith_finds_a_home_with_the_Sixers.html

So he kills us every time we play his team? **** you, Ishmael, enjoy your league minimum!

[kennydorglas]

Ishmael Smith was under the impression that the Sixers, too, wanted him to return. So he left it up to his agent at the time to work out a deal.
Confident that Smith would get a market-value offer from his desired team, the agent turned down a $2.9 million deal from the Phoenix Suns.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20160131_Journeyman_Ish_Smith_finds_a_home_with_the_Sixers.html

Imagine how much he hated Hornacek here hahaha

[dremill24]

The main player I would avoid trading for is Al Horford. He is nowhere close to the superstar that some people make him out to be. I just watched Chandler and Len dominate the hell out of him when the Suns beat the Hawks. That is not a good sign considering every other team is beating up on the Suns. Horford has a nice jump shot but other than that he is slow and seems like he can barely get off the ground. He lacks that fluid athleticism that you need to be a dominate big guy. He is also undersized for a center at 6'10".

Suns should trade Markieff, Tucker, and Knight for the best offers they can get that net them more picks. I would hold onto Chandler unless the Suns can get a lottery pick for him. Then finish out the season with as many losses as possible, hopefully get a top three pick, and on draft night look into making a blockbuster trade if it makes sense.

Horford's value isn't in that he dominates any one aspect of the game. Its in that he's so versatile that you're not stuck trying to put very specific players around him to cover his weaknesses, and thereby can slide next to many different flawed players to help cover many different weaknesses of others. He fits into many roles, and can be used in many styles of play.

Yeah, your team would probably struggle of he's making $25mil and is your #1 scorer, but otherwise you couldn't really ask for much else in a big.

[bigfoot]

Wow Ish turned down $3M from the Suns. Ouch that has got to hurt. He'll get paid next year ... maybe.

[lilfishi22]

Spoiler:

Woj posted something really interesting...
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-unlikely-story-of-how-kristaps-porzingis-found-his-way-to-the-knicks-072828935.html

Before Jackson made the final call on Porzingis at No. 4, the Knicks did have one significant pause: Talks about trading the pick for a talented wing player and another first-round pick lingered into the late afternoon, but ultimately died when the Knicks couldn't get Jose Calderon's contract into the deal.

You may have seen this rumor, around the time of the draft.

The Suns had talks with the Knicks about dealing the fourth pick for point guard Eric Bledsoe and the No. 13 pick, but Phoenix has not been limited to the Knicks in that regard.

I was never certain of that rumor. It seemed a little crazy that we would trade Bled for Zinger, not knowing what we now know about the Latvian giant.

Woj is apparently confirming it.

Now compare that with this tweet from Marc Stein. (from before we extended B Knight)

That Suns will seriously explore their Eric Bledsoe trade options if they indeed strikes the deal w/B-Knight that @GeryWoelfel is reporting

It tells me that we would trade Bled. This really surprises me, but isn't a terrible idea. We've only been able to get 120 games out of him every 2 seasons. I don't know if we can win a championship that way.

Does the FO see Knight as our one point guard? What if we get Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram? What if we make a "Godfather" offer including TJ and Bled for a star? Whiteside? An unhappy Boogie, at some point down the line? DeAndre Jordan? Name it. A bunch of teams would consider it. Al Horford?

I'm starting to see things more clearly. I don't think we're locked into a two point guard thing, although I think having Bled and Knight on the payroll gives us the opportunity to trade one or the other. Maybe that was why we signed Isaiah. Trade value. Hell of a good use of $7M in cap space, no?

Until we build that championship team (which none of our trade partners, age contemporaries or division or conference opponents have built), what's the harm in dropping two seasons?

The GREAT thing about all this? We won't be stuck in the middle. Orlando, Milwaukee, New Orleans, all stuck in the middle. We, on the other hand, have a lot of options. Who has more options than us?

THAT is McD's true genius. It's not about winning now. Only two or three teams are doing that. It's about having enough avenues and talent so that we can get there at some point. Maybe Hydra was never the plan. Maybe Knight/Bled was never the plan.

Super curious.....a light has been shown, and it's making things clear.

I've always had little doubt that a potential deal in Bledsoe + pick for another top pick was in play. I just had strong doubts it would happen. Also at the time, I wasn't a fan of the deal because I didn't like the available players at #4. I thought after the top 2, maybe 3 picks, there was a considerable drop in talent which meant who you picked in the top to middle lottery would be pretty similar in talent.

Regarding Bledsoe or Knight being available for trade, I absoulutely believe it was an opportunity to pick up an asset for a potential trade later down the road if need be. That's MD's MO. We've seen him from time to time pick up assets for cheap (Telly, Leuer, Weems, Barron, IT, Plumlee, Green etc) and some worked out and contributed and others fizzled.

With regards to building a team, my feeling is that McD is still trying to put together the pieces for a future contender, all the while attempting to create an attractive trade option for other teams. When the pieces don't match or don't pan out, he goes back to focusing on our young guys. In 2014, we went hard at Lebron and in 2015, we went hard at Aldridge. Both time, had we signed those players, we would've been potential contenders. We didn't end up signing either and we're left with a mismatched group of talented but flawed players. That's part of my frustration but I really can't fault the guy for going after Lebron when he was on the market and he went for it. I can't fault the guy when Aldridge could've made us a very dangerous team either. I'm just frustrated when we miss out and we're left with a bunch of "assets" and not a real team. Looking back, had we stuck to a strict youth development plan, I have no doubts we would be a better team with more potential than what we have currently. But McD is a man with a vision for the team, one which Sarver must have endorsed prior to his signing.

[AtheJ415]

I loved Porzingis at the time of the draft, and would've been fine trading Bledsoe for him, but not Bledsoe + our pick in that draft. There were guys projected to go near that pick that were too good to move along with Bledsoe (Booker, Turner, for instance). We could probably trade Bledsoe for 2 firsts of some kind to a different team, and maybe those are mid 1sts instead of 4, but I'd rather do that with how good our GM is at drafting.

Bledsoe, particularly now, has increased his value. He was playing at an elite level before getting hurt, and him plus Booker is too much to pay at that time for Porzingis, who was always a risk.

I would've been fine with Bledsoe plus a different pick, or Bledsoe plus other guys.

[8on]

Spoiler:

Woj posted something really interesting...
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-unlikely-story-of-how-kristaps-porzingis-found-his-way-to-the-knicks-072828935.html

Before Jackson made the final call on Porzingis at No. 4, the Knicks did have one significant pause: Talks about trading the pick for a talented wing player and another first-round pick lingered into the late afternoon, but ultimately died when the Knicks couldn't get Jose Calderon's contract into the deal.

You may have seen this rumor, around the time of the draft.

The Suns had talks with the Knicks about dealing the fourth pick for point guard Eric Bledsoe and the No. 13 pick, but Phoenix has not been limited to the Knicks in that regard.

I was never certain of that rumor. It seemed a little crazy that we would trade Bled for Zinger, not knowing what we now know about the Latvian giant.

Woj is apparently confirming it.

Now compare that with this tweet from Marc Stein. (from before we extended B Knight)

That Suns will seriously explore their Eric Bledsoe trade options if they indeed strikes the deal w/B-Knight that @GeryWoelfel is reporting

It tells me that we would trade Bled. This really surprises me, but isn't a terrible idea. We've only been able to get 120 games out of him every 2 seasons. I don't know if we can win a championship that way.

Does the FO see Knight as our one point guard? What if we get Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram? What if we make a "Godfather" offer including TJ and Bled for a star? Whiteside? An unhappy Boogie, at some point down the line? DeAndre Jordan? Name it. A bunch of teams would consider it. Al Horford?

I'm starting to see things more clearly. I don't think we're locked into a two point guard thing, although I think having Bled and Knight on the payroll gives us the opportunity to trade one or the other. Maybe that was why we signed Isaiah. Trade value. Hell of a good use of $7M in cap space, no?

Until we build that championship team (which none of our trade partners, age contemporaries or division or conference opponents have built), what's the harm in dropping two seasons?

The GREAT thing about all this? We won't be stuck in the middle. Orlando, Milwaukee, New Orleans, all stuck in the middle. We, on the other hand, have a lot of options. Who has more options than us?

THAT is McD's true genius. It's not about winning now. Only two or three teams are doing that. It's about having enough avenues and talent so that we can get there at some point. Maybe Hydra was never the plan. Maybe Knight/Bled was never the plan.

Super curious.....a light has been shown, and it's making things clear.

I've always had little doubt that a potential deal in Bledsoe + pick for another top pick was in play. I just had strong doubts it would happen. Also at the time, I wasn't a fan of the deal because I didn't like the available players at #4. I thought after the top 2, maybe 3 picks, there was a considerable drop in talent which meant who you picked in the top to middle lottery would be pretty similar in talent.

Regarding Bledsoe or Knight being available for trade, I absoulutely believe it was an opportunity to pick up an asset for a potential trade later down the road if need be. That's MD's MO. We've seen him from time to time pick up assets for cheap (Telly, Leuer, Weems, Barron, IT, Plumlee, Green etc) and some worked out and contributed and others fizzled.

With regards to building a team, my feeling is that McD is still trying to put together the pieces for a future contender, all the while attempting to create an attractive trade option for other teams. When the pieces don't match or don't pan out, he goes back to focusing on our young guys. In 2014, we went hard at Lebron and in 2015, we went hard at Aldridge. Both time, had we signed those players, we would've been potential contenders. We didn't end up signing either and we're left with a mismatched group of talented but flawed players. That's part of my frustration but I really can't fault the guy for going after Lebron when he was on the market and he went for it. I can't fault the guy when Aldridge could've made us a very dangerous team either. I'm just frustrated when we miss out and we're left with a bunch of "assets" and not a real team. Looking back, had we stuck to a strict youth development plan, I have no doubts we would be a better team with more potential than what we have currently. But McD is a man with a vision for the team, one which Sarver must have endorsed prior to his signing.

It's worth it to try everything. I have no qualms in having been the runner-up in the LaMarcus Aldridge Sweepstakes. Nobody's a sure thing but the guys, like LMA, that are already sure things. As much as I love TJ and Booker, I'd be willing to trade them if it meant landing a Porzingis or a Simmons.

Look at Atlanta, which is three steps away from losing half the roster. Having that A-list talent is essential. A bunch of B+ guys won't necessarily do it.

[bwgood77]

I loved Porzingis at the time of the draft, and would've been fine trading Bledsoe for him, but not Bledsoe + our pick in that draft. There were guys projected to go near that pick that were too good to move along with Bledsoe (Booker, Turner, for instance). We could probably trade Bledsoe for 2 firsts of some kind to a different team, and maybe those are mid 1sts instead of 4, but I'd rather do that with how good our GM is at drafting.

Bledsoe, particularly now, has increased his value. He was playing at an elite level before getting hurt, and him plus Booker is too much to pay at that time for Porzingis, who was always a risk.

I would've been fine with Bledsoe plus a different pick, or Bledsoe plus other guys.

I was really hoping we traded for Porzingis if that was an option...I'm sure if people were around paying attention they will remember...I am pretty sure I was not only fine with trading Bledsoe and 13 for him. Would I trade Bledsoe and Booker for him right now? That's a tough one. I love Booker, and I think Bledsoe can be really good, but I have no idea how long he can be healthy. I think KP is going to be a big star. He is THIS good already? He does everything the modern NBA needs.

[blacksun]

You keep IT... you don't trade for Knight. You don't trade for Knight, you retain what could be a top pick. You also don't spend 70mil on a 23yr old with hopes he 'gets it' one day.

So its basically

IT at 7 mill X 3 plus fLaker pick (with protection)
or
Knight at 14 mil x 5 plus Cleve pick (likely 25+)

at least acknowledge its much more than just Thomas vs Knight. Don't vacuum pack your opinions for convenience.

Hindsight's a beautiful thing, Frank. Much easier to condemn after the fact, than it is to decide to make the deal at the time.

Let's also not forget that Knight was 4th in All-Star voting, while IT wasn't anywhere close, and IT is 2 years, 10 months older. Also, IT is 5'10', with a 6'2" Wingspan and 7'8" Reach, whereas Knight is 6'3", with a 6'8" Wingspan and 8'3" Reach--he's got a 5"-7" advantage in all aspects. And IT is purely a PG, whereas Knight is more SG than PG, and I a better 'fit' next to Bledsoe. Of course the pick tied to IT is going to be better, as on paper Knight is the better prospect. And IT had a lot of issues on this team, we didn't know then, that Knight was going to have issues. Leave IT on this team, and leave Brandon Knight on the Bucks, and any guesses who would look better this year, right now? I don't. People would be bashing IT just like last year for the same issues he had last year, and give fans the knowledge that we almost traded for Knight, and they would be pining for Knight, wishing we would've signed him and traded IT.

Again, hindsight is 20/20; a lot harder to project these issues than it is to look back and say "Wow, that was a horrible deal."

Lets not pretend we loved the Knight deal from the beginning. It was horrible then, and its horrible now. We only talked ourselves into liking Knight because of this great play at the start of the season, and because we had to for our own mental health. Giving up that pick and young players in Plumlee and Ennis too? Well thats just gravy.

IT had to be chased out of town because of the chaos he "caused". Dragic was crying, and the front office had to look for someone who was responsible (even though it was their fault). The suns fandom would riot had we kept the supposedly "ballhog" and napoleon complex IT over their homegrown hero Goran.

Personally id have neither of the three PG's. Draft picks are sexier because if they pan out, you get control of a young player for low cost for a long time. If you dont wanna take it, you can always trade it for good value. And really, Bled is good enough. The fiasco at last years trade deadline should have been a sign for the FO to ditch the two PG lineup. Now im just glad its gonna be forcibly gone because of our lights-out SG rook.

[SideSwipe]

One problem with above analysis on Griffin trades-not just Carey's. PHX would have a lot left after grabbing Griffin. this would not be a repeat of the Knicks who only had Amare. We would have Bled, Knight, Chandler, Tucker, Warren and Len in the scenario I posted above. There are plenty of assets there to grab additional players from other teams via trade, or grab during the offseason with $20 million in FA dollars (Batum, Barnes, Conley....) I think that team could be well ahead of the Knicks and depending on how the chips fall would have a chance to be much better.

I love potential, but winning teams and championship teams are made from players that know how to play the game. Griffin knows how to play the game. He has gotten better every year. He has added a very consistent mid-range game and shoots threes pretty well too. He has adapted. He would also have the affect of attracting additional FA's, I think. His biggest weakness is his defense, but if he improved in other areas, there is no reason why he wouldn't continue there. I think McD would pull the trigger if Griffin is available, and I would applaud him for taking the risk.

I strongly agree with Carey's statement generally. And I'm starting to think that Booker alone might be too high a price to pay for Griffin, much the way that Thompson was too high a price to pay for Love, and Curry to high a price to pay for Amare. I certainly wouldn't give up Booker *and picks* for Griffin. But I also think it's interesting that we finally appear to have assets sufficiently valuable to trade for a superstar.

Much depends on what McD thinks might be coming his way in the draft. Booker's a solid building block, as are some of our other young players. Another one is likely coming our way in the draft.

Now, I think it's essentially unfathomable that the Clippers would trade Griffin this season. We'd be in a stronger bargaining position by the time the draft rolls around, especially if it's clear that the Clippers are prepared to rebuild. Would we be interested then? Well, if Simmons is coming our way, probably not. Overall, it's probably not a good idea for us in most cases. But this would be the first superstar since Love to be available in trade, so we'd obviously talk to the Clippers about it.

I found this interesting in a recent Lowe column on whether or not the Clippers should trade Love.

Griffin is a tricky piece in the modern NBA: a big man who doesn't shoot 3s or protect the rim. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that you can remove those players, even the ones with killer post-up games, replace them with skilled shooters who make less money, and lose basically nothing.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14669764/blake-griffin-tenure-los-angeles-become-questions-hour

. That is an interesting take though ultimately incorrect in my opinion with regards to Griffin. This might have been true of the Griffin who came out of school, but not the Griffin there is today, who does shoot 3's and midrange shots effectively. The Griffin who has scored on just about everybody he has played against on a team that has been winning in the arguably most difficult division since he came in the league. Griffin is not great defensively, but it is passable.

[Frank Lee]

amen darkstar

[aewyatt7]

I would like us to move kieff/tucker/BK. Archie will be a great back up pg. either trade them a pf or extra picks or superstar from sg-c. Don't move the picks we need to kee building.

Keep the rest of the team. That's hair me tho.

[bwgood77]

I strongly agree with Carey's statement generally. And I'm starting to think that Booker alone might be too high a price to pay for Griffin, much the way that Thompson was too high a price to pay for Love, and Curry to high a price to pay for Amare. I certainly wouldn't give up Booker *and picks* for Griffin. But I also think it's interesting that we finally appear to have assets sufficiently valuable to trade for a superstar.

Much depends on what McD thinks might be coming his way in the draft. Booker's a solid building block, as are some of our other young players. Another one is likely coming our way in the draft.

Now, I think it's essentially unfathomable that the Clippers would trade Griffin this season. We'd be in a stronger bargaining position by the time the draft rolls around, especially if it's clear that the Clippers are prepared to rebuild. Would we be interested then? Well, if Simmons is coming our way, probably not. Overall, it's probably not a good idea for us in most cases. But this would be the first superstar since Love to be available in trade, so we'd obviously talk to the Clippers about it.

I found this interesting in a recent Lowe column on whether or not the Clippers should trade Love.

Griffin is a tricky piece in the modern NBA: a big man who doesn't shoot 3s or protect the rim. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that you can remove those players, even the ones with killer post-up games, replace them with skilled shooters who make less money, and lose basically nothing.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14669764/blake-griffin-tenure-los-angeles-become-questions-hour

. That is an interesting take though ultimately incorrect in my opinion with regards to Griffin. This might have been true of the Griffin who came out of school, but not the Griffin there is today, who does shoot 3's and midrange shots effectively. The Griffin who has scored on just about everybody he has played against on a team that has been winning in the arguably most difficult division since he came in the league. Griffin is not great defensively, but it is passable.

Well if you read the whole column, he concluded that they should keep him. Also mentioned he is like 41% from long 2s, so he should basically add the 3 pt shot to his game.

[JohnWall2]

I loved Porzingis at the time of the draft, and would've been fine trading Bledsoe for him, but not Bledsoe + our pick in that draft. There were guys projected to go near that pick that were too good to move along with Bledsoe (Booker, Turner, for instance). We could probably trade Bledsoe for 2 firsts of some kind to a different team, and maybe those are mid 1sts instead of 4, but I'd rather do that with how good our GM is at drafting.

Bledsoe, particularly now, has increased his value. He was playing at an elite level before getting hurt, and him plus Booker is too much to pay at that time for Porzingis, who was always a risk.

I would've been fine with Bledsoe plus a different pick, or Bledsoe plus other guys.

I was really hoping we traded for Porzingis if that was an option...I'm sure if people were around paying attention they will remember...I am pretty sure I was not only fine with trading Bledsoe and 13 for him. Would I trade Bledsoe and Booker for him right now? That's a tough one. I love Booker, and I think Bledsoe can be really good, but I have no idea how long he can be healthy. I think KP is going to be a big star. He is THIS good already? He does everything the modern NBA needs.

Yeah, maybe if we were happy to take on Calderon's salary perhaps we could have even got away with sending them the Cleveland first or something and had KP and Booker this season to build around