Season Speculation, Trade Ideas and Discussion

[Zelaznyrules]

I think we'd jump on a Knight for Okafor deal if it only cost us a couple of 2nd round picks. I can't see that happening though with the way Knight has been playing.

[blacksun]

I think we'd jump on a Knight for Okafor deal if it only cost us a couple of 2nd round picks. I can't see that happening though with the way Knight has been playing.

Oak's not playing too hot either.

[lilfishi22]

I think we'd jump on a Knight for Okafor deal if it only cost us a couple of 2nd round picks. I can't see that happening though with the way Knight has been playing.

Oak's not playing too hot either.

Perfect time to make a deal

[bwgood77]

I think we'd jump on a Knight for Okafor deal if it only cost us a couple of 2nd round picks. I can't see that happening though with the way Knight has been playing.

Oak's not playing too hot either.

Perfect time to make a deal

Craziest thing about that article that was posted was this deal:

Potential Trade: DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans for E'Twaun Moore, Buddy Hield, Alexis Ajinca and two first-round picks (after Dec. 14)

[Qwigglez]

Oak's not playing too hot either.

Perfect time to make a deal

Craziest thing about that article that was posted was this deal:

Potential Trade: DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans for E'Twaun Moore, Buddy Hield, Alexis Ajinca and two first-round picks (after Dec. 14)

You're saying that trade idea is crazy for the Kings to do right?

[bwgood77]

Perfect time to make a deal

Craziest thing about that article that was posted was this deal:

Potential Trade: DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans for E'Twaun Moore, Buddy Hield, Alexis Ajinca and two first-round picks (after Dec. 14)

You're saying that trade idea is crazy for the Kings to do right?

Well, yes, but more just the thought of a potential Cousins/AD pairing I can't really imagine.

[KLEON]

Can you imagine Anthony Davis on this team? I wish A.D would demand a trade and then McD pull offs a steal like the Lakers did when they got Gasol but a man can only dream.

Don't wish that on NOLA please. The city was really hurt when Chris Paul demanded a trade, and it came on the heels of Baron Davis openly tanking and refusing to play. They really don't need that again.

No disrespect to your city but at the same time it must be frustrating for him to be playing on that team.

[Frank Lee]

Under McDonough we have not been a treadmill team, that much is obvious.

Under Blanks/Babby we were absolutely a treadmill team.

Ha.... what is obvious is under McD, we are just plain bad.

You banking his success on Booker Warren and a couple of teenagers ? Because the rest of his tinkering hasn't really improved this team... but he has set himself up for another deal.
The heat is on. We'll see if McD has the stones to make an impact trade. He has to, for relying on youth to lead the way to success is far to flimsy of a plan.

My take is he has positioned the Suns to be a front runner in the Boogie Sweepstakes when they begin. He has gathered extra picks and has enough tradable youngsters to offer a pretty decent chance for Sac to rebuild. Len, warren, binder, Chris's, ulis... all available. Golden child Booker the only certain Sun.

Remember his blueprint? The one lacking piece is acquiring a superstar/all star.

There is no guarantee DMC will be on the block, but it won't take much as Sac continues to suck.
Furthermore, no guarantee we'll have the best offer. But imagine if DMC is the one who says Phoenix, and only agrees to resign here? Take a look at McDs structuring so far. He has acquired the consummate veteran leader in Chandler. Added solid lockerroomer Dudley, and kept no nonsense Tucker. These have to be three of the best 'handlers' you could have for volatile DMC. Add in family guy Watson best bud Bled, and alums Ulis and Booker and you have a solid foundation that Boogie has never seen.

This is what seems obvious to me.

Of course, a plan B must exist as well, and frankly, I think if McD can't get DMC, then it's firesale and a full blown youth movement. Sell high on Bled, move TC to a playoff team, Tuck too...etc etc. it's going to take some balls either way, but to do nothing will cost McD his job.

This is just short-sighted. If you think the team has a less promising future given who we have drafted and their respective ages then I don't know what to tell you. What is clear is that young teams don't win in the NBA. It is incredibly rare. That doesn't mean our future is just plain bad. I don't think "the heat is on" and that the youth movement hasn't begun. It has. We're starting Chriss even though he's not as good as Dudley. We're finally starting Warren even though he's been better than Tucker for 2 years now. The vets we have signed this offseason like Dudley were done with the express message and purpose of aiding in the youth movement.

I didn't mean to imply our future looks bad. But Take off the shades a moment and realize the unlikely occurrence of all of the koolaid kids reaching their potential. Pour yourself a big cup of Alex Len while you are at it.

Currently, this a poorly constructed team, ripe for some big changes via trade, or its one that will chug chug chug its way to another top lotto pick whom we can project into stardom. McD is all in in either case. Will he get the three or four years needed for the movement to take hold ? We shall see.

'Let us proceed.... 0 and 48... and counting'

[bwgood77]

Ha.... what is obvious is under McD, we are just plain bad.

You banking his success on Booker Warren and a couple of teenagers ? Because the rest of his tinkering hasn't really improved this team... but he has set himself up for another deal.
The heat is on. We'll see if McD has the stones to make an impact trade. He has to, for relying on youth to lead the way to success is far to flimsy of a plan.

My take is he has positioned the Suns to be a front runner in the Boogie Sweepstakes when they begin. He has gathered extra picks and has enough tradable youngsters to offer a pretty decent chance for Sac to rebuild. Len, warren, binder, Chris's, ulis... all available. Golden child Booker the only certain Sun.

Remember his blueprint? The one lacking piece is acquiring a superstar/all star.

There is no guarantee DMC will be on the block, but it won't take much as Sac continues to suck.
Furthermore, no guarantee we'll have the best offer. But imagine if DMC is the one who says Phoenix, and only agrees to resign here? Take a look at McDs structuring so far. He has acquired the consummate veteran leader in Chandler. Added solid lockerroomer Dudley, and kept no nonsense Tucker. These have to be three of the best 'handlers' you could have for volatile DMC. Add in family guy Watson best bud Bled, and alums Ulis and Booker and you have a solid foundation that Boogie has never seen.

This is what seems obvious to me.

Of course, a plan B must exist as well, and frankly, I think if McD can't get DMC, then it's firesale and a full blown youth movement. Sell high on Bled, move TC to a playoff team, Tuck too...etc etc. it's going to take some balls either way, but to do nothing will cost McD his job.

This is just short-sighted. If you think the team has a less promising future given who we have drafted and their respective ages then I don't know what to tell you. What is clear is that young teams don't win in the NBA. It is incredibly rare. That doesn't mean our future is just plain bad. I don't think "the heat is on" and that the youth movement hasn't begun. It has. We're starting Chriss even though he's not as good as Dudley. We're finally starting Warren even though he's been better than Tucker for 2 years now. The vets we have signed this offseason like Dudley were done with the express message and purpose of aiding in the youth movement.

I didn't mean to imply our future looks bad. But Take off the shades a moment and realize the unlikely occurrence of all of the koolaid kids reaching their potential. Pour yourself a big cup of Alex Len while you are at it.

Currently, this a poorly constructed team, ripe for some big changes via trade, or its one that will chug chug chug its way to another top lotto pick whom we can project into stardom. McD is all in in either case. Will he get the three or four years needed for the movement to take hold ? We shall see.

'Let us proceed.... 0 and 48... and counting'

I think we are all clearly aware that there is a very good chance that Chriss OR Bender don't live up to what we hope. I personally think Warren will and likely Booker. Bledsoe is a question mark mostly due to injury possibility and Len is also a big question mark.

I fear we won't address the PG position in this draft after Watson comparing Bledsoe to Curry and Warren to Durant earlier. That's a super stretch. But he IS a motivator.

Need to get rid of Knight. I think Ulis is a rotation player at worst. I like our potential upside better than at any point in the last six years. While I usually attempt to be positive it has been very trying since two deadlines ago. But I hated trying to compete with aging vets, Beasley, Turkoglu, Brown, etc.

It's clear we will have a hard time really competing with GS, LAC in a playoff series in the next couple years, and probably San Antonio, but in that time, Booker, Warren, at least one of our top 8 picks (hopefully both and hopefully Len) improve during that time as well as adding three picks in the next two years, likely at least one lottery pick, and two other top 20 picks. After that, if things don't look good, we can trade some of the young guys most with rights for up to 9 years under control and maybe a pick or two for a massive trade. i wouldn't bail on the youth route now as good as the top 2 or 3 teams are in the west, as well as possibly teams like Utah, Houston, and Portland. We'd have to hope for injuries.

I think the team has been pretty exciting despite the losses this season. I am far less enthused about the NFL teams I follow, who are both better, but are somewhere in the middle, but blow games, only beat bad teams, and can't compete with the elite. That is tougher imo.

I think it's finally interesting to watch the young guys grow as we did with Marion, Amare and JJ before adding Nash at the perfect time.

[lilfishi22]

Spoiler:

Ha.... what is obvious is under McD, we are just plain bad.

You banking his success on Booker Warren and a couple of teenagers ? Because the rest of his tinkering hasn't really improved this team... but he has set himself up for another deal.
The heat is on. We'll see if McD has the stones to make an impact trade. He has to, for relying on youth to lead the way to success is far to flimsy of a plan.

My take is he has positioned the Suns to be a front runner in the Boogie Sweepstakes when they begin. He has gathered extra picks and has enough tradable youngsters to offer a pretty decent chance for Sac to rebuild. Len, warren, binder, Chris's, ulis... all available. Golden child Booker the only certain Sun.

Remember his blueprint? The one lacking piece is acquiring a superstar/all star.

There is no guarantee DMC will be on the block, but it won't take much as Sac continues to suck.
Furthermore, no guarantee we'll have the best offer. But imagine if DMC is the one who says Phoenix, and only agrees to resign here? Take a look at McDs structuring so far. He has acquired the consummate veteran leader in Chandler. Added solid lockerroomer Dudley, and kept no nonsense Tucker. These have to be three of the best 'handlers' you could have for volatile DMC. Add in family guy Watson best bud Bled, and alums Ulis and Booker and you have a solid foundation that Boogie has never seen.

This is what seems obvious to me.

Of course, a plan B must exist as well, and frankly, I think if McD can't get DMC, then it's firesale and a full blown youth movement. Sell high on Bled, move TC to a playoff team, Tuck too...etc etc. it's going to take some balls either way, but to do nothing will cost McD his job.

This is just short-sighted. If you think the team has a less promising future given who we have drafted and their respective ages then I don't know what to tell you. What is clear is that young teams don't win in the NBA. It is incredibly rare. That doesn't mean our future is just plain bad. I don't think "the heat is on" and that the youth movement hasn't begun. It has. We're starting Chriss even though he's not as good as Dudley. We're finally starting Warren even though he's been better than Tucker for 2 years now. The vets we have signed this offseason like Dudley were done with the express message and purpose of aiding in the youth movement.

I didn't mean to imply our future looks bad. But Take off the shades a moment and realize the unlikely occurrence of all of the koolaid kids reaching their potential. Pour yourself a big cup of Alex Len while you are at it.

Currently, this a poorly constructed team, ripe for some big changes via trade, or its one that will chug chug chug its way to another top lotto pick whom we can project into stardom. McD is all in in either case. Will he get the three or four years needed for the movement to take hold ? We shall see.

'Let us proceed.... 0 and 48... and counting'

I'm more a realist than an optimist so I can see why some fans aren't as high on our outlook as others. Booker, by all fan measures, will be a star in the league and it's seemingly blasphemous to say otherwise. But I think that view is clouded (or coloured by orange shades) by the fact that he's without a doubt the brightest Sun (pun intended) we've seen since Amare Stoudemire (a now-retired player, how time flies). I do also think he's in his own league when compared to the rest of our young players. Warren has proven he can be productive in the league even if he never gets any better than he does now. The rest of the youngsters, Chriss, Ulis, Bender and Len(?) are all still question marks and I wouldn't count on all of these guys (especially Len) reaching their potential. I will say that this team has a lot of promising players but I wouldn't say it's a promising team as currently constructed.

I agree with you that we're not a very well constructed teams and it's likely built more for an upcoming trade than anything. And while the language that's been projected is that we like our current team and want to develop our youngsters, it's always been McD's plan to accumulate assets in order trade for a disgruntled star. As you mentioned, he's done everything else (accumulate picks, draft well and sign under-utilised vets) but the trading for a disgruntled star part. It would be naive to think he wouldn't trade any player on the team not named Booker in the pursuit of a star to pair next to Booker.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

[carey]

I agree with you that we're not a very well constructed teams and it's likely built more for an upcoming trade than anything. And while the language that's been projected is that we like our current team and want to develop our youngsters, it's always been McD's plan to accumulate assets in order trade for a disgruntled star. As you mentioned, he's done everything else (accumulate picks, draft well and sign under-utilised vets) but the trading for a disgruntled star part. It would be naive to think he wouldn't trade any player on the team not named Booker in the pursuit of a star to pair next to Booker.

There's a major caveat to this. It has to be a budding star like Harden who was going into his first post-rookie contract or is very early in that contract. Cousins is 26. I'm not saying that he's too old but this is his 7th year in the league. Does he fit the window we're aiming for or are we trying to move that window up? I would like to add a player like Boogie but I'm hesitant to give up a guy like Bender or Chriss when they are oozing potential. If I had to pick one of them to trade right now, it would probably be Chriss. I think his skill set is easier to find in the draft than Bender's, but I can see an argument where someone says Bender is a real long shot to reach his potential. Sacramento is not going to want Knight or Len. It's a guarantee that one of Bender or Chriss goes, up to as many as 3 first rounders, and a contract to make the numbers work (which would have to be Knight or Chandler.) I think there are other teams that can make better offers. That said, do you really think a Cousins / Horford front court works?

[OnceUponADime]

If you could go back in time, do you guys think Suns should have agressively pursued Harrison Barnes? Yea he got paid a crap ton of money but from now, everyone will. He's also been putting up some really good #s with the Mavs while providing elite defense at positions 1-4.

Bledsoe
Booker
Warren
Barnes
Chandler

I wonder how that would do.

But also, Barnes may not have the kind of success in Phoenix that he's currently having in dallas because Rick Carslie is an excellent coach and could make players look better in his system than they really are also.

[AtheJ415]

If you could go back in time, do you guys think Suns should have agressively pursued Harrison Barnes? Yea he got paid a crap ton of money but from now, everyone will. He's also been putting up some really good #s with the Mavs while providing elite defense at positions 1-4.

Bledsoe
Booker
Warren
Barnes
Chandler

I wonder how that would do.

But also, Barnes may not have the kind of success in Phoenix that he's currently having in dallas because Rick Carslie is an excellent coach and could make players look better in his system than they really are also.

Not really. I prefer Warren to Barnes. I see in your lineup you have us going small with Barnes at the 4. I suppose that is possible, but we likely don't have Chriss if that happens. I didn't hate Barnes b/c his age is a fit here, but I just don't see that roster doing much right now and regardless I don't think Barnes signs here to play the 4.

[bwgood77]

I agree with you that we're not a very well constructed teams and it's likely built more for an upcoming trade than anything. And while the language that's been projected is that we like our current team and want to develop our youngsters, it's always been McD's plan to accumulate assets in order trade for a disgruntled star. As you mentioned, he's done everything else (accumulate picks, draft well and sign under-utilised vets) but the trading for a disgruntled star part. It would be naive to think he wouldn't trade any player on the team not named Booker in the pursuit of a star to pair next to Booker.

There's a major caveat to this. It has to be a budding star like Harden who was going into his first post-rookie contract or is very early in that contract. Cousins is 26. I'm not saying that he's too old but this is his 7th year in the league. Does he fit the window we're aiming for or are we trying to move that window up? I would like to add a player like Boogie but I'm hesitant to give up a guy like Bender or Chriss when they are oozing potential. If I had to pick one of them to trade right now, it would probably be Chriss. I think his skill set is easier to find in the draft than Bender's, but I can see an argument where someone says Bender is a real long shot to reach his potential. Sacramento is not going to want Knight or Len. It's a guarantee that one of Bender or Chriss goes, up to as many as 3 first rounders, and a contract to make the numbers work (which would have to be Knight or Chandler.) I think there are other teams that can make better offers. That said, do you really think a Cousins / Horford front court works?

On top of this, you have character issues, or at least potential ones at the very minimum AND the fact that he could leave in a year and a half to go somewhere else like to play with this best bud John Wall in Washington or anywhere for that matter.

[lilfishi22]

There's a major caveat to this. It has to be a budding star like Harden who was going into his first post-rookie contract or is very early in that contract. Cousins is 26. I'm not saying that he's too old but this is his 7th year in the league. Does he fit the window we're aiming for or are we trying to move that window up? I would like to add a player like Boogie but I'm hesitant to give up a guy like Bender or Chriss when they are oozing potential. If I had to pick one of them to trade right now, it would probably be Chriss. I think his skill set is easier to find in the draft than Bender's, but I can see an argument where someone says Bender is a real long shot to reach his potential. Sacramento is not going to want Knight or Len. It's a guarantee that one of Bender or Chriss goes, up to as many as 3 first rounders, and a contract to make the numbers work (which would have to be Knight or Chandler.) I think there are other teams that can make better offers. That said, do you really think a Cousins / Horford front court works?

Does it fit the window? I'm not sure but I don't think we're a million moves away. We have the mismatched roster we have now because we went for LMA and Lebron in the past. We didn't build this roster because we built it from the ground up, it is what it is because we wanted to make things happen via trades/FA. If we got Boogie and we immediately switched into playoff contender mode, I don't think we're too far away from that.

We would likely have to gut a decent chunk of our assets to attain Boogie although how much exactly seems to fluctuate but the feeling around the league is that the Kings are expecting too much which means they may either stubbornly hold onto him or they have to let him go for less than he's worth if everyone is of the mindset that he's not worth the risk. To me, Boogie is the definition of the star McD has been salivating for. He's without a doubt a star player with elite talent but he doesn't seem happy with the directions the Kings have been in and with how erratic the Kings FO seem to work; he's ripe for a trade. I have little doubt that if we were to trade for him, McD would have some assurances that we would at the very least be very high on his list of teams he would resign with. I believe Kings would know of these teams and would communicate that during trade talks because that's the only way they can get max value for Boogie.

I'm not in disagreement with our current approach, I'm only trying to read McD's mind. That being said, as much as I do like our young players, I also don't think we have team like the 08-09 Blazers or 09-10 Thunder where we have all the pieces of a potential future contender. I think we're still in the hoarding asset/talent phase.

[Villalobos]

So many garbage teams this year. Too much tank competition.

[OGBAH]

Tank for the 12 pick

[nbafan341]

So many garbage teams this year. Too much tank competition.

Can we trade you giys demarre carroll for pj tucker + filler? If youre looking to tank, hes your man! Ideally Id like dudley but we cant always get nice things

[MrMiyagi]

So many garbage teams this year. Too much tank competition.

Can we trade you giys demarre carroll for pj tucker + filler? If youre looking to tank, hes your man! Ideally Id like dudley but we cant always get nice things