Season Speculation, Trade Ideas and Discussion

[OGBAH]

Call up kings and offer them Knight and Bender. Trade chandler for a pick.

more then fair for cousins who could walk 2018.

I'm willing to gamble on him. Booker and Cousins could make some noise together.

I'd rather trade those Miami picks and keep Bender if we knew Boogie would resign

[NavLDO]

Call up kings and offer them Knight and Bender. Trade chandler for a pick.

more then fair for cousins who could walk 2018.

I'm willing to gamble on him. Booker and Cousins could make some noise together.

I'd rather trade those Miami picks and keep Bender if we knew Boogie would resign

Absolutely! I don't understand why anyone would want to trade Bender based upon the talents/upside he's already shown in the small snippets of time he's been on the court.

19!!

...as of ONE week ago. No way do we trade Bender in the next 3 years, IMO, unless he proves to be injury riddled, or he just completely reverses course on the development he's already shown.

We don't get the 4th overall pick very often. Why the heck would we want to trade it for, albeit an uber talented, yet seriously troubled player who's already in his prime. And OBTW, he can leave us 'high-n-dry' with nothing in a little over a year. 'Bye-Bye Bender'...all for a rental that has shown that he can't get a team to the playoffs by himself with middling talent and guess what we have right now on our roster...YEP!! Middling, or rather, undeveloped, talent, neither of which is gong to get us beyond the 7th or 8th seed at best. So we want to trade our potential future star for one season, maybe two???? No thanks.

Let's just sit tight this year, UNLESS it involves us trading away a veteran or two for a young developing talent. I'd even be open to packaging Bledsoe, of the young talent(s) was/were right for our rebuild. There might be a 'win now' team that needs Bledsoe more than the rookie or 2nd year player they have that is developing into a stud; I'd be open to that type of deal...not the other way around where we trade away our young talent for a Vet. Just my opinion though...I can see why someone would want Boogie now, but for me, it's just too risky.

[Barkley_34]

Call up kings and offer them Knight and Bender. Trade chandler for a pick.

more then fair for cousins who could walk 2018.

I'm willing to gamble on him. Booker and Cousins could make some noise together.

I'd rather trade those Miami picks and keep Bender if we knew Boogie would resign

Kings will require a young player with a lot of potential + Knight and at least 2 picks with good potential. I think it will be a basic value. In my view, by the roster we have and the news, Knight + Warren and our 1st of now and next year's Miami. The value of the cousins is not that high at the moment. It will depend a lot on the offerings of other gms, Boston, Nuggets and Wizards can make a very good offer.

[NavLDO]

Call up kings and offer them Knight and Bender. Trade chandler for a pick.

more then fair for cousins who could walk 2018.

I'm willing to gamble on him. Booker and Cousins could make some noise together.

I'd rather trade those Miami picks and keep Bender if we knew Boogie would resign

Kings will require a young player with a lot of potential + Knight and at least 2 picks with good potential. I think it will be a basic value. In my view, by the roster we have and the news, Knight + Warren and our 1st of now and next year's Miami. The value of the cousins is not that high at the moment. It will depend a lot on the offerings of other gms, Boston, Nuggets and Wizards can make a very good offer.

Then, if I'm McD, I say "Pass". No way do I trade: Bender, Chriss, Ulis, Warren, Booker, or Len. If they will take DJ Jr., Jenkins, or Williams, plus Knight, our top 10 protected 1st this year, and our 2019 lotto protected 1st, then fine. If they push for more, I offer Bledsoe before any of the six above. As was mentioned, we already lost Bogdanovic, a promising youth; I'm not prepared to give up another.

[Barkley_34]

I'd rather trade those Miami picks and keep Bender if we knew Boogie would resign

Kings will require a young player with a lot of potential + Knight and at least 2 picks with good potential. I think it will be a basic value. In my view, by the roster we have and the news, Knight + Warren and our 1st of now and next year's Miami. The value of the cousins is not that high at the moment. It will depend a lot on the offerings of other gms, Boston, Nuggets and Wizards can make a very good offer.

Then, if I'm McD, I say "Pass". No way do I trade: Bender, Chriss, Ulis, Warren, Booker, or Len. If they will take DJ Jr., Jenkins, or Williams, plus Knight, our top 10 protected 1st this year, and our 2019 lotto protected 1st, then fine. If they push for more, I offer Bledsoe before any of the six above. As was mentioned, we already lost Bogdanovic, a promising youth; I'm not prepared to give up another.

Without the young players the proposal is completely ridiculous. What would be the benefit of Kings taking picks with protection and players with no potential? Honestly, to get a player on the Cousins level we need to be a bit more realistic.

[NavLDO]

Kings will require a young player with a lot of potential + Knight and at least 2 picks with good potential. I think it will be a basic value. In my view, by the roster we have and the news, Knight + Warren and our 1st of now and next year's Miami. The value of the cousins is not that high at the moment. It will depend a lot on the offerings of other gms, Boston, Nuggets and Wizards can make a very good offer.

Then, if I'm McD, I say "Pass". No way do I trade: Bender, Chriss, Ulis, Warren, Booker, or Len. If they will take DJ Jr., Jenkins, or Williams, plus Knight, our top 10 protected 1st this year, and our 2019 lotto protected 1st, then fine. If they push for more, I offer Bledsoe before any of the six above. As was mentioned, we already lost Bogdanovic, a promising youth; I'm not prepared to give up another.

Without the young players the proposal is completely ridiculous. What would be the benefit of Kings taking picks with protection and players with no potential? Honestly, to get a player on the Cousins level we need to be a bit more realistic.

True, which is why I'm not a fan of trading for Cousins. Why give up a lot of young talent/potential for a guy who can walk in a year and a half and leave us with nothing? When he's a FA? Sure, we can go after him, but trading a lot of potential for a guy who's never sniffed the playoffs, to do what, exactly, for us??? Get us to the playoffs???

[DirtyDez]

I value our own pick this year as our second or third best asset. You cannot deal it under any circumstance not involving something impossible like AD.

[Qwigglez]

How about this deal...
Suns get-
Seth Curry
Deron Williams (expiring)
Andrew Bogut (expiring)
2017 1st round pick (no protection)
2021 1st round pick (top 10 protection)

Mavs get-
Eric Bledsoe
Tyson Chandler

Cuban won't ever go through a full rebuild so he takes his chances on Bledsoe/Chandler along with Dirk/Wes/Barnes to lure top tier free agents over the summer. We double our chances on getting a top pick and even though this trade would likely put the Mavs back to fighting for the playoffs they still might end up being 9th place.
We waive D-Will/Bogut and Tucker if we can't find a suitable trade for him and start Ulis with Booker. Bender gets ample playing time in the high 20's at the 3/4 along with Warren/Chriss.

[NavLDO]

How about this deal...
Suns get-
Seth Curry
Deron Williams (expiring)
Andrew Bogut (expiring)
2017 1st round pick (no protection)
2021 1st round pick (top 10 protection)

Mavs get-
Eric Bledsoe
Tyson Chandler

Cuban won't ever go through a full rebuild so he takes his chances on Bledsoe/Chandler along with Dirk/Wes/Barnes to lure top tier free agents over the summer. We double our chances on getting a top pick and even though this trade would likely put the Mavs back to fighting for the playoffs they still might end up being 9th place.
We waive D-Will/Bogut and Tucker if we can't find a suitable trade for him and start Ulis with Booker. Bender gets ample playing time in the high 20's at the 3/4 along with Warren/Chriss.

I'm on board, but not sure Dallas would go for that. True, that with Bledsoe and Chandler, they may become a contender, but they might rather stick us with the longer contracts with similar 'prices' like Dwight Powell for 4 years instead of Deron Williams, or the 'higher priced' player on a similar length contract, like Devin Harris instead of Seth Curry.

But even with those changes, I'd be cool with that offer, or something similar...

[OnceUponADime]

Man that would blow unless it was for a major piece, but that would suck to give up on him this quickly. I wonder if he seems upset or just doesn't really fit in.

Yeah, I think the same.

It can be just my imagination, but I think he is angry with one of our youngsters.

Listening to now. It's hard to say who he was talking about. When he says 4th pick, and trading that guy in Memphis, that would be pretty ridiculous to mention that if you were thinking about YOUR 4th pick. Earning playing time sounds like Bender. It would be hard to determine based on the season so far that Bender doesn't care about winning. That sounds like something like Knight. Financial situation? Bender? From everything we've always read about Bender is that he is a VERY HARD worker.

Chriss seems way more like he doesn't care on the floor at times, but Watson talks him up huge, mentioning the Draymond Green comparison.

Maybe he was talking in generalities.

Part of it seems like Knight. I just can't imagine that McD would want to trade Bender as much as he loved him in the draft. But if he keeps getting DNPs, who knows?

If you want to trade Bender this early, what could you get for him? Once guys are drafted, those guys are worth far less than when you could trade the 4th pick, especially if they've gotten DNPs.

It's scary.

Maybe it's just me but hasn't Bender looked much better when he's on the court than Chriss has this season?

Bender is day and night better than Chriss defensively and offensively Bender makes more high IQ plays even though Chriss may make more highlight dunks and such.

Someone was telling me the other day when watching the Suns game that seems like Chriss is only starting over Bender because he's black and stronger than Bender. I didn't put much into it at the time but after watching how both play when their on the court, sure seems that way.

[bwgood77]

Yeah, I think the same.

It can be just my imagination, but I think he is angry with one of our youngsters.

Listening to now. It's hard to say who he was talking about. When he says 4th pick, and trading that guy in Memphis, that would be pretty ridiculous to mention that if you were thinking about YOUR 4th pick. Earning playing time sounds like Bender. It would be hard to determine based on the season so far that Bender doesn't care about winning. That sounds like something like Knight. Financial situation? Bender? From everything we've always read about Bender is that he is a VERY HARD worker.

Chriss seems way more like he doesn't care on the floor at times, but Watson talks him up huge, mentioning the Draymond Green comparison.

Maybe he was talking in generalities.

Part of it seems like Knight. I just can't imagine that McD would want to trade Bender as much as he loved him in the draft. But if he keeps getting DNPs, who knows?

If you want to trade Bender this early, what could you get for him? Once guys are drafted, those guys are worth far less than when you could trade the 4th pick, especially if they've gotten DNPs.

It's scary.

Maybe it's just me but hasn't Bender looked much better when he's on the court than Chriss has this season?

Bender is day and night better than Chriss defensively and offensively Bender makes more high IQ plays even though Chriss may make more highlight dunks and such.

Someone was telling me the other day when watching the Suns game that seems like Chriss is only starting over Bender because he's black and stronger than Bender. I didn't put much into it at the time but after watching how both play when their on the court, sure seems that way.

It's not just you. Bender has been clearly better.

[bwgood77]

Holy ****, some of you guys are becoming seriously paranoid about Watson.

Nah, Just that he thinks a little too highly of himself and sounds like an idiot at times. Only plays better rotations when we have injuries.

[Qwigglez]

Listening to now. It's hard to say who he was talking about. When he says 4th pick, and trading that guy in Memphis, that would be pretty ridiculous to mention that if you were thinking about YOUR 4th pick. Earning playing time sounds like Bender. It would be hard to determine based on the season so far that Bender doesn't care about winning. That sounds like something like Knight. Financial situation? Bender? From everything we've always read about Bender is that he is a VERY HARD worker.

Chriss seems way more like he doesn't care on the floor at times, but Watson talks him up huge, mentioning the Draymond Green comparison.

Maybe he was talking in generalities.

Part of it seems like Knight. I just can't imagine that McD would want to trade Bender as much as he loved him in the draft. But if he keeps getting DNPs, who knows?

If you want to trade Bender this early, what could you get for him? Once guys are drafted, those guys are worth far less than when you could trade the 4th pick, especially if they've gotten DNPs.

It's scary.

Maybe it's just me but hasn't Bender looked much better when he's on the court than Chriss has this season?

Bender is day and night better than Chriss defensively and offensively Bender makes more high IQ plays even though Chriss may make more highlight dunks and such.

Someone was telling me the other day when watching the Suns game that seems like Chriss is only starting over Bender because he's black and stronger than Bender. I didn't put much into it at the time but after watching how both play when their on the court, sure seems that way.

It's not just you. Bender has been clearly better.

I'm in the same camp here. I'm uncertain if Watson is the best coach for Bender.

[sunsbum]

I think you guys are getting way ahead of yourselves.. The quote by watson was saying trading a guy like drew gooden helped the team get better, who happened to be a #4 pick. Basically he was throwing the ole addition by subtraction story out there. I seriously 100% doubt they are talking about Bender or Chriss. Anyone with half a brain can see Bender is going to be special.

[AtheJ415]

I think you guys are getting way ahead of yourselves.. The quote by watson was saying trading a guy like drew gooden helped the team get better, who happened to be a #4 pick. Basically he was throwing the ole addition by subtraction story out there. I seriously 100% doubt they are talking about Bender or Chriss. Anyone with half a brain can see Bender is going to be special.

I agree completely. I didn't hear that as about Bender or Chriss at all. I mean if it was about Chriss like some mentioned, then what coach on earth would reward him by starting him? That gives the coach no power going forward or control.

Bender is the only of the rookies who would fit it, but by the simple fact that he is insanely mature I would be beyond shocked if that was the case.

Maybe it's Ulis. Who is pissed for sitting behind Knight.

[AtheJ415]

Re: Cousins trades. We would trade the Miami picks before the youngsters imo. People claiming that the trade would demand multiple high caliber picks and 2 youngsters are a bit off. Typically it's 3 of any combo of young players, picks, etc.. Also, typically a team prefers a pick over a young player unless the young player is already proven, as they would rather draft a guy they like for their particular system. The idea that teams demand and get equal value for stars or even good value is misguided. It's something fans would like but rarely happens. Carmelo is the only one I can think of that got it. The rest are typically 3 picks or 2 picks and a player from the draft the other team wanted. Also, please keep in mind that Vlade is awful. I mean awful.

I could see the Kings wanting Bender. I could see them wanting Booker and Warren too, but we wouldn't trade them. Chriss they could've had already. Why would they want him now? He hasn't really improved as a player by any amount that would make them want him now. If Bender is included, then I'd expect a pick or 2 to be removed from the trade. It won't be both imo.

I think we aren't trading for Cousins. People wanting a quick rebuild should hope for signing him in FA--not trading for him with the packages put out there.

If a trade happens, I think you are much more likely to see both Miami picks gone and something like Knight and Tucker so they can move Gay in a subsequent move.

[lilfishi22]

How about this deal...
Suns get-
Seth Curry
Deron Williams (expiring)
Andrew Bogut (expiring)
2017 1st round pick (no protection)
2021 1st round pick (top 10 protection)

Mavs get-
Eric Bledsoe
Tyson Chandler

Cuban won't ever go through a full rebuild so he takes his chances on Bledsoe/Chandler along with Dirk/Wes/Barnes to lure top tier free agents over the summer. We double our chances on getting a top pick and even though this trade would likely put the Mavs back to fighting for the playoffs they still might end up being 9th place.
We waive D-Will/Bogut and Tucker if we can't find a suitable trade for him and start Ulis with Booker. Bender gets ample playing time in the high 20's at the 3/4 along with Warren/Chriss.

That's quite reasonable. They definitely need a third scorer because they are struggling with just HB and with Dirk out.

I think there may be a few holds ups though
1. From what I've read, Chandler wanted to stay with the Mavs but they never gave him an offer because they went hard at DAJ. I think those bridges are burnt
2. Carlise is a demanding coach and likes high IQ players. I think that's why he's worked well with Williams. Bledsoe is kind of a one trick pony, maybe two tricks if you count his defense. But he doesn't pass well, I don't know how he'll play in a set offensive scheme.

[Saberestar]

“I love Dragan,” Watson said. “I always want to try to find a way to get him into the game. I think Dragan is going to have amazing opportunities moving forward. We understand he’s a big part of our future as a cornerstone. But the NBA is not just as easy as playing guys you like. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2016/11/24/rookie-tyler-ulis-slides-into-suns-rotation-smoothly/94385990/

[Barkley_34]

“I love Dragan,” Watson said. “I always want to try to find a way to get him into the game. I think Dragan is going to have amazing opportunities moving forward. We understand he’s a big part of our future as a cornerstone. But the NBA is not just as easy as playing guys you like. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2016/11/24/rookie-tyler-ulis-slides-into-suns-rotation-smoothly/94385990/

who is that Watson was upset?

[thamadkant]

Let's not turn this into a Bender vs Chriss.

Both have good potential.

Chriss
Pros:
- Aggressive
- Upper tier athlete
- Outside shot already there at 19 years old
- Moves well offensively as a 19 year old.
- A tweak in mindset away from being a capable defender.

Cons:
- Body language, looks disinterested sometimes.
- Defense needs work, mainly tactically and approach wise.
- Under 5 years experience playing organized basketball (can be a pro)



Bender
Pros:
- Swiss-army knife game ALREADY as a 19 year old.
- Good outside shot already as a 19 year old.
- Good vision and decision making ALREADY as a 19 year old.
- Very good lateral mover for a 7 footer, can keep up with small forwards and some guards.
- Good defense acumen already.

Cons:
- Needs strength to be able to guard big forwards.
- Can be passive offensively sometimes, needs to be more aggressive.








If Suns ever trade for a star player, they need to keep one of them depending on who fits better. If its Cousins, I think both players can fit well but Bender would be better fit long term.





If I was cleaning house... I would look at the guards and older forwards.