Season Speculation, Trade Ideas & Discussion Pt. 2

[Mulhollanddrive]

Keep Bledsoe to draft day and target a star prospect with a package of:

3 Firsts - Phoenix, Miami, Miami
3 Seconds - Phoenix, Memphis, Toronto
1 Player - Bledsoe

With Booker looking like an All-Star next season this would be a good time to finish the roster build and acquire the final piece.

[Saberestar]

It very much is, and I will bet damn near any sum of money if you would like to make that wager.

I would never bet against the Suns.

You wouldn't be. You would be betting for them to make the playoffs. I would be betting against it, but for their long-term future because I want a high pick, and I know that teams this young don't win consistently enough in this NBA to make the playoffs, particularly in the western conference that just added basically every legitimate all star.

Yeah, my bad, I wanted to give you an advise.

It is more fun to enjoy a lot of wins this season IMO.

[AtheJ415]

That is not true.

It very much is, and I will bet damn near any sum of money if you would like to make that wager.

It could very well be true, but why would you bring this up now right in the middle of us winning 4 out of the last 5.

You must be fun at parties

Also, I brought it up because we just won 4 of 5. I literally said, "we need to stop winning games". Not sure why you are confused. I don't believe playoffs are realistic, so I would rather tank out while playing competitive ball with primarily the youngsters and with old ass players like Tyson never seeing the court. That's my optimal season, and it is very logical even if you disagree. I like how we've played but would have rather lost each game by a small margin.

[AtheJ415]

I would never bet against the Suns.

You wouldn't be. You would be betting for them to make the playoffs. I would be betting against it, but for their long-term future because I want a high pick, and I know that teams this young don't win consistently enough in this NBA to make the playoffs, particularly in the western conference that just added basically every legitimate all star.

Yeah, my bad, I wanted to give you an advise.

It is more fun to enjoy a lot of wins this season IMO.

I would rather be at a point where I thought the team was ready to be ultimately competitive, and thus rooting for wins again. I just don't honestly believe they are, and I think this season is particularly important to lose because other tanking teams are going to start winning (MN, Philly). It gives us a good opportunity to catch up in the talent war among the young teams. My hope is a top 5 pick this year, trade Bled for more picks, play to our strengths as drafters and keep said picks unless somebody like Porzingis became available, and start winning next year so that we can attract FA's the following offseason.

My rooting interests are built around that ideal. Unfortunately, that means us losing right now.

[NTB]

It very much is, and I will bet damn near any sum of money if you would like to make that wager.

It could very well be true, but why would you bring this up now right in the middle of us winning 4 out of the last 5.

You must be fun at parties

Also, I brought it up because we just won 4 of 5. I literally said, "we need to stop winning games". Not sure why you are confused. I don't believe playoffs are realistic, so I would rather tank out while playing competitive ball with primarily the youngsters and with old ass players like Tyson never seeing the court. That's my optimal season, and it is very logical even if you disagree. I like how we've played but would have rather lost each game by a small margin.

So what do you suggest while saying we need to lose games? Players should lose intentionally? Triano should go with bad rotations to lose game? Chandler needs to play like 35+ minutes to tank properly.

[AtheJ415]

Keep Bledsoe to draft day and target a star prospect with a package of:

3 Firsts - Phoenix, Miami, Miami
3 Seconds - Phoenix, Memphis, Toronto
1 Player - Bledsoe

With Booker looking like an All-Star next season this would be a good time to finish the roster build and acquire the final piece.

That's an overpay unless it's for Porzingis. I can't see any other player who might become available who is worth that. 3 1sts is the traditional star trade. Throwing in 3 2nds and Bled on top of it is too much imo.

[NTB]

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[Mulhollanddrive]

I'd rather overpay for a Doncic or Ayton (just as examples) so we can have everyone we need within 8 months.

Booker is ready to go as a no.1 option and we can go into win now mode with our guys next season.

[AtheJ415]

It could very well be true, but why would you bring this up now right in the middle of us winning 4 out of the last 5.

You must be fun at parties

Also, I brought it up because we just won 4 of 5. I literally said, "we need to stop winning games". Not sure why you are confused. I don't believe playoffs are realistic, so I would rather tank out while playing competitive ball with primarily the youngsters and with old ass players like Tyson never seeing the court. That's my optimal season, and it is very logical even if you disagree. I like how we've played but would have rather lost each game by a small margin.

So what do you suggest while saying we need to lose games? Players should lose intentionally? Triano should go with bad rotations to lose game? Chandler needs to play like 35+ minutes to tank properly.

No. Never said any of that regarding intentionally losing. Tanking has NEVER been intentionally losing, and I am not sure why so many on this board read it as that.

You don't lose on purpose. You play youngsters, which almost inevitably leads to losing. Young, inexperienced players are the highest correlation to bottoming out of any other factor. Trading Bled, regardless of how he started the season (he is still a top 35 player in this league even if all of you hate him and the numbers bear that out), should help that cause on the season overall. Chandler is bad so moving him may actually hurt that effort, but we need the cap space so I can live with that.

Basically, I think playing the youth, the jolt of a new coach fading, and the schedule coming out of its soft opening month will take care of this on its own. I expect players and coaches to try to win. And if it is due to the youth developing at a faster than expected rate then so be it, but we are still better off losing this year. Playoffs will not happen. Not when teams with Anthony Davis, Cousins, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Melo are battling for the 8/9 spots.

[NTB]

Also, I brought it up because we just won 4 of 5. I literally said, "we need to stop winning games". Not sure why you are confused. I don't believe playoffs are realistic, so I would rather tank out while playing competitive ball with primarily the youngsters and with old ass players like Tyson never seeing the court. That's my optimal season, and it is very logical even if you disagree. I like how we've played but would have rather lost each game by a small margin.

So what do you suggest while saying we need to lose games? Players should lose intentionally? Triano should go with bad rotations to lose game? Chandler needs to play like 35+ minutes to tank properly.

No. Never said any of that regarding intentionally losing. Tanking has NEVER been intentionally losing, and I am not sure why so many on this board read it as that.

You don't lose on purpose. You play youngsters, which almost inevitably leads to losing. Young, inexperienced players are the highest correlation to bottoming out of any other factor. Trading Bled, regardless of how he started the season (he is still a top 35 player in this league even if all of you hate him and the numbers bear that out), should help that cause on the season overall. Chandler is bad so moving him may actually hurt that effort, but we need the cap space so I can live with that.

Basically, I think playing the youth, the jolt of a new coach fading, and the schedule coming out of its soft opening month will take care of this on its own. I expect players and coaches to try to win. And if it is due to the youth developing at a faster than expected rate then so be it, but we are still better off losing this year. Playoffs will not happen. Not when teams with Anthony Davis, Cousins, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Melo are battling for the 8/9 spots.

Ok I agree that playoffs won't happen this year but we are already playing youngsters. Chandler actually hurts the team and we are still winning. So I don't know why you are not enjoying this.

[AtheJ415]

I'd rather overpay for a Doncic or Ayton (just as examples) so we can have everyone we need within 8 months.

Booker is ready to go as a no.1 option and we can go into win now mode with our guys next season.

Okay. I can get behind that, but I am not sure that would work. It depends where our picks fall. 2 late lottery picks this year plus a future Miami pick might not get us into the top 5. And the teams in the top 5 may not want Bled because they are probably rebuilding around youth like we are trying to do.

That is why I still think we need to trade Bled for more picks and/or youth. That would give us more power to trade with a top of the draft type of team. The easiest course though imo is to be that top of the draft team ourselves and then use the additional assets diligently to move up if possible or to add to our stacked youth. Worst case scenario if we added Osman and Zizic, for instance, we have the following youth:

Ulis
Booker, DJJ
Jackson, Warren, Osman
Chriss, Bender
Williams, Len, Zizic

Our pick, Miami pick all on rookie or early 2nd contracts and all under 25. That is pretty awesome on its own. The Miami pick will have a couple very nice point guard prospects available where it figures to fall.

[AtheJ415]

Actually, I wonder what type of pick(s) it would cost to get Budenholzer from Atlanta.

[AtheJ415]

So what do you suggest while saying we need to lose games? Players should lose intentionally? Triano should go with bad rotations to lose game? Chandler needs to play like 35+ minutes to tank properly.

No. Never said any of that regarding intentionally losing. Tanking has NEVER been intentionally losing, and I am not sure why so many on this board read it as that.

You don't lose on purpose. You play youngsters, which almost inevitably leads to losing. Young, inexperienced players are the highest correlation to bottoming out of any other factor. Trading Bled, regardless of how he started the season (he is still a top 35 player in this league even if all of you hate him and the numbers bear that out), should help that cause on the season overall. Chandler is bad so moving him may actually hurt that effort, but we need the cap space so I can live with that.

Basically, I think playing the youth, the jolt of a new coach fading, and the schedule coming out of its soft opening month will take care of this on its own. I expect players and coaches to try to win. And if it is due to the youth developing at a faster than expected rate then so be it, but we are still better off losing this year. Playoffs will not happen. Not when teams with Anthony Davis, Cousins, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Melo are battling for the 8/9 spots.

Ok I agree that playoffs won't happen this year but we are already playing youngsters. Chandler actually hurts the team and we are still winning. So I don't know why you are not enjoying this.

I like that they are playing well. I am just stating that I would prefer narrow losses over narrow wins this year. I was not a fan of the 40+ point blowouts at all. My goal is competitive losses as a fan for this year. Next year I will root for wins again.

[DRK]

The never ending cycle of "root for losses this year" and we get the savior in the draft and suddenly our team is going to win next year. It never ends and is a losing mentality. Hasnt exactly worked for us so far has it.


Winning isnt just about flicking a switch because we have enough talent. Alot of it is about team culture and mentality. Us winning 4 in 5 games without Bledsoe should be more than enough evidence to support that.

[darealjuice]

I wonder if the Suns doing so well with Bledsoe being benched is devaluing his trade value lol

[bigfoot]

It very much is, and I will bet damn near any sum of money if you would like to make that wager.

It could very well be true, but why would you bring this up now right in the middle of us winning 4 out of the last 5.

You must be fun at parties

Also, I brought it up because we just won 4 of 5. I literally said, "we need to stop winning games". Not sure why you are confused. I don't believe playoffs are realistic, so I would rather tank out while playing competitive ball with primarily the youngsters and with old ass players like Tyson never seeing the court. That's my optimal season, and it is very logical even if you disagree. I like how we've played but would have rather lost each game by a small margin.

It's actually not a very logical argument because you overlook several major flaws in your "optimal" season. The flaws in your argument are 1) you assume we will indeed lose and 2) that other teams will not be as bad as us, affording us a top 5 pick. Neither of those are guaranteed to happen. Honestly we could be a middle of the pack (or better) team picking around 15 again. So your's is not a very logical argument.

You are also missing the important fact that we are primarily playing our youngsters. Old man Bledsoe is not playing, Dudley is not playing, and Tyson is going to play because we have no other center with Williams hurt. I guess you could demand we sit out TJ (24), James (27), and Daniels (26) to make sure JJ, DJJ, and Ulis get 35+ minutes per game. I hope that is not the logical argument you are making

[Cutter]

The never ending cycle of "root for losses this year" and we get the savior in the draft and suddenly our team is going to win next year. It never ends and is a losing mentality. Hasnt exactly worked for us so far has it.


Winning isnt just about flicking a switch because we have enough talent. Alot of it is about team culture and mentality. Us winning 4 in 5 games without Bledsoe should be more than enough evidence to support that.

And1

[Christine-In-AZ]

What...where would Phoenix have finished last year minus anvil coach Watson and minus the ability to bench players for losses? 6th? 7th?

Hoping for a bottom 5 record (barring more injuries) seems unrealistic to me. There's no mechanism to legislate losing from the FO, and there is no way you purposely lose by bench directive with an interim Triano.

Playoffs are a pipe dream, but a high lotto spot seems almost as dream-like. Finishing 10th in the West would be a fine achievement for this super young team. I'll take it.

[ATTL]

I'd rather overpay for a Doncic or Ayton (just as examples) so we can have everyone we need within 8 months.

Booker is ready to go as a no.1 option and we can go into win now mode with our guys next season.

Usually win now means mortgaging the future but I'd be willing to give up several picks to get ayton.

[NTB]

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