Season Speculation, Trade Ideas & Discussion Pt. 1

[bwgood77]

http://www.nba.com/suns/now

Tyler looks bigger. Dragan too.

It sounds like Alex's focus this year is on improving his midrange J and adding some post moves. When asked about a go-to move by TC, he says "running hook." I've seen that running hook. The nickname for that hook could be "The Fifth Pick." Jesus, Alex.

If he really uses his running hook, he's going to be unemployed next year
GOD knows how many bricks he can throw with that move. DAMN

He must have meant "running hook backboard assists to Chriss and DJJ"

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

http://www.nba.com/suns/now

Tyler looks bigger. Dragan too.

It sounds like Alex's focus this year is on improving his midrange J and adding some post moves. When asked about a go-to move by TC, he says "running hook." I've seen that running hook. The nickname for that hook could be "The Fifth Pick." Jesus, Alex.

If he really uses his running hook, he's going to be unemployed next year
GOD knows how many bricks he can throw with that move. DAMN

He must have meant "running hook backboard assists to Chriss and DJJ"

[Damkac]

Really he has a perfect mentor for him on the team in Chandler. He should work to become Chandler 2.0. But he wants to be somebody he is not. I don't get it. Do he really think he is Hakeem?

[TASTIC]

Len should aim for Ilgauskas...Long and solid career, nothing wrong with that.

[jcsunsfan]

http://www.nba.com/suns/now

Tyler looks bigger. Dragan too.

It sounds like Alex's focus this year is on improving his midrange J and adding some post moves. When asked about a go-to move by TC, he says "running hook." I've seen that running hook. The nickname for that hook could be "The Fifth Pick." Jesus, Alex.

I think he said "right hand hook" not running hook.

[Qwigglez]

That's our first extension in quite some time, if I am not mistaken. Can anyone else recall an extension we've done in the last 10 years? There may have been some, but I'm not remembering...let me know if you can recall.

Brandon Knight 5/70....

MoBros.
Eric Bledsoe.

[DRK]

That's our first extension in quite some time, if I am not mistaken. Can anyone else recall an extension we've done in the last 10 years? There may have been some, but I'm not remembering...let me know if you can recall.

Brandon Knight 5/70....

MoBros.
Eric Bledsoe.

IIRC Bled was resigned as an RFA rather than extended

[LukasBMW]

Next moves:

-Trade Bledsoe for picks or a young PG

-Dump Knight and the 2018 Miami pick for Okafor.

We'll have lots of cap space and room to max Booker and JJ when the time comes.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Does this rule out Doncic, hard to see his fit here.

[bigfoot]

McD said they were going to simplify Len's role. I imagine it will be strictly pick and roll, rebound, block shots, and defend for Len. He will be paired with Ulis in the second unit and will have to take over Williams place in the Ulis/Williams pick and roll which was damn good last year. Funny but I expect Len will have his best shooting percentage this year as Ulis will be feeding him easy shots around the basket. Hopefully he brings some consistency to the game in rebounds and blocks. Any scoring will be a bonus.

[nevetsov]

So did they say that Chandler is 100% starting? I would think they'd want to seriously kick the tyres on Len one last time, at least while Williams is out.

[Saberestar]

So did they say that Chandler is 100% starting? I would think they'd want to seriously kick the tyres on Len one last time, at least while Williams is out.

It wasn't said like it's a sure thing, but all the comments from McDonough and Watson put Len on our second unit IMO.
I don't remember now the exact comments, but that was my conclusion after hearing the interviews.

[gaspar]

So did they say that Chandler is 100% starting? I would think they'd want to seriously kick the tyres on Len one last time, at least while Williams is out.

It wasn't said like it's a sure thing, but all the comments from McDonough and Watson put Len on our second unit IMO.
I don't remember now the exact comments, but that was my conclusion after hearing the interviews.

He shouldn't be in the rotation at all tbh. I would start TJ and JJ at forward spots and Chandler (or Chriss) at C, with Bender, Chriss, Dudley (when healthy) and DJJ coming off the bench in the frontcourt.

[bigfoot]

So did they say that Chandler is 100% starting? I would think they'd want to seriously kick the tyres on Len one last time, at least while Williams is out.

It wasn't said like it's a sure thing, but all the comments from McDonough and Watson put Len on our second unit IMO.
I don't remember now the exact comments, but that was my conclusion after hearing the interviews.

McD was specific that Len would be playing with Ulis in the media day interviews. Sounds like Chandler is starting. I'd really hope to see a lot of minutes for this line up

Bledsoe
Booker
Jackson
Warren
Chriss or Bender

[Waylay13]

Does this rule out Doncic, hard to see his fit here.

While he is slow for a guard I have seen and heard that he is more than capable of running the offense. I personally would rather see a quicker pass first guard but I can see him playing point in a motion offense.

[Walt_Uoob]

Does this rule out Doncic, hard to see his fit here.

While he is slow for a guard I have seen and heard that he is more than capable of running the offense. I personally would rather see a quicker pass first guard but I can see him playing point in a motion offense.

Yeah it would be very un-Suns-like but maybe with the ability of Booker, Jackson, Doncic, and Bender to all handle the ball and pass, we could play without a traditional point guard at all. Defending the really quick back courts in the league would be an issue of course, but at least we'd have size if not speed on them.

[LukasBMW]

I've been thinking that our team would be pretty tank-tastic, but I think that if 2 of 3 of Chriss/Bender/Len play well AND Bledsoe/Chandler stay healthy, we could actually surprise some people

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Daniels
TJ/JJ
----/-----
Chandler/-----

The above mentioned players are all highly capable and proven (I see 80 points a game from those 7). But we still have BIG unknowns at the backup center and PF position. So, again, if 2 of 3 of Len/Chriss/Bender perform at a high level, that gives us a good 9-10 man rotation.

The effort, hustle, and development of our young bigs will make or break this season.

[jcsunsfan]

I've been thinking that our team would be pretty tank-tastic, but I think that if 2 of 3 of Chriss/Bender/Len play well AND Bledsoe/Chandler stay healthy, we could actually surprise some people

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Daniels
TJ/JJ
----/-----
Chandler/-----

The above mentioned players are all highly capable and proven (I see 80 points a game from those 7). But we still have BIG unknowns at the backup center and PF position. So, again, if 2 of 3 of Len/Chriss/Bender perform at a high level, that gives us a good 9-10 man rotation.

The effort, hustle, and development of our young bigs will make or break this season.

Our roster is made up almost completely of young, improving players. We do not have any significant losses from last year (except Sauce for half of the year). We are adding Bledsoe and Jackson. Sometimes one player is all that is necessary to make the chemistry work for everyone. Jackson and Ulis could both be players like that.

We do not have any significant declining players except Chandler and Dudley and I am not expecting either of them to have a big contributing role.

So, this team could surprise.

[lilfishi22]

I've been thinking that our team would be pretty tank-tastic, but I think that if 2 of 3 of Chriss/Bender/Len play well AND Bledsoe/Chandler stay healthy, we could actually surprise some people

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Daniels
TJ/JJ
----/-----
Chandler/-----

The above mentioned players are all highly capable and proven (I see 80 points a game from those 7). But we still have BIG unknowns at the backup center and PF position. So, again, if 2 of 3 of Len/Chriss/Bender perform at a high level, that gives us a good 9-10 man rotation.

The effort, hustle, and development of our young bigs will make or break this season.

I'm over this feeling. Last few years I thought we would surprise people and vastly overestimated our W-L for the season. I'm just taking this season as what it is, another development year. There will certainly be games where our team puts everything together and beats a solid playoff team but I'm not expecting much outside of that.

[collidingNeurons]

I've been thinking that our team would be pretty tank-tastic, but I think that if 2 of 3 of Chriss/Bender/Len play well AND Bledsoe/Chandler stay healthy, we could actually surprise some people

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Daniels
TJ/JJ
----/-----
Chandler/-----

The above mentioned players are all highly capable and proven (I see 80 points a game from those 7). But we still have BIG unknowns at the backup center and PF position. So, again, if 2 of 3 of Len/Chriss/Bender perform at a high level, that gives us a good 9-10 man rotation.

The effort, hustle, and development of our young bigs will make or break this season.

I'm over this feeling. Last few years I thought we would surprise people and vastly overestimated our W-L for the season. I'm just taking this season as what it is, another development year. There will certainly be games where our team puts everything together and beats a solid playoff team but I'm not expecting much outside of that.

more or less how i feel as well, as exciting as we can be on some nights offensively we will look equally inept on other nights and unless our defense dramatically improves we will still be pretty bad defensively, Jackson alone wont change the fact most on the roster are average or below on defense