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Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working

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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1701 » by Crives » Tue Mar 5, 2019 5:53 pm

Frank Lee wrote:
Crives wrote:
Spoiler:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:I guess the extension route could be an option at the right price but I kind of find it hard to think of a number that works for both sides. Johnson will probably just want his $20mil now and then hit FA in 2020 so to get him to not do that you will need to over pay him and I'm not sure it's a good idea to make that kind of long term commitment.

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I
know what you mean, but I would like to see us address pg/pf with our pick and possibly a wing in a trade. Oubre is to good to let walk for free. I posted here a little while back saying we should be open to trading Bridges even though he is our favorite wing. Bridges has the most trade value, will allow us to keep Oubre and can possible bring back a high value pf/pg like JJJ,Collins,Lauri it Jrue depending on who wins Zion.


Yer nuts dude.... There are but 4 or 5 rookies per draft that are worth their deals. Its too good of a value to have one, especially at the 10 and below paygrade. Bridges is going nowhere. Dont make a hole to plug another. Just as with Markky, JJJ and the rest you may covet, those guys are keepers unless, at very greatest longshot, you are dealing for a tier one soop. Oubre wants to be here and we'll work a deal for him after everyone else is inked. He is our ticket over the cap.



My point is that we can trade Bridges for a high value player at one of our holes since we are stacked at SF. I don’t want to trade him but we should be open to it if the right opportunity becomes available. For example, if Grizzlies win Zion, we should be open to Bridges + a pick for JJJ.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1702 » by WeekapaugGroove » Tue Mar 5, 2019 5:58 pm

Crives wrote:
Frank Lee wrote:
Crives wrote:
Spoiler:
I
know what you mean, but I would like to see us address pg/pf with our pick and possibly a wing in a trade. Oubre is to good to let walk for free. I posted here a little while back saying we should be open to trading Bridges even though he is our favorite wing. Bridges has the most trade value, will allow us to keep Oubre and can possible bring back a high value pf/pg like JJJ,Collins,Lauri it Jrue depending on who wins Zion.


Yer nuts dude.... There are but 4 or 5 rookies per draft that are worth their deals. Its too good of a value to have one, especially at the 10 and below paygrade. Bridges is going nowhere. Dont make a hole to plug another. Just as with Markky, JJJ and the rest you may covet, those guys are keepers unless, at very greatest longshot, you are dealing for a tier one soop. Oubre wants to be here and we'll work a deal for him after everyone else is inked. He is our ticket over the cap.



My point is that we can trade Bridges for a high value player at one of our holes since we are stacked at SF. I don’t want to trade him but we should be open to it if the right opportunity becomes available. For example, if Grizzlies win Zion, we should be open to Bridges + a pick for JJJ.


If I were the Grizzlies and got Zion I'd be absolutely stoked to play him and JJJ together. JJJ would be about the perfect C next to Zion.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1703 » by bwgood77 » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:12 pm

WeekapaugGroove wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:When looking at how they will fit in some vets in the salary structure I'd say one obvious way is into either Jackson or Warrens salary slot. Regardless of what they do with Oubre I don't see any reason to have both Jackson and Warren on this roster next season and if you bring oubre back both should probably go.

Jackson is the most obvious guy to go because if your going to bring in vets for the rotation then some guys are going to be squeezed out and him and Crawford are the rotation guys who hurt them the most so would be the most obvious to be replaced.

Warren could go because he would actually fetch you something in a trade. Sure they need his shooting but if you can replace that in his trade or other moves then you make the move.

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Ideally we keep as much shooting as we can and add as much as we can. Our defense won us that game, but it won't be that often that a team like the Bucks (or many teams) shoot that poorly from 3. Middleton was 1-7, Lopez 2-9, Bledsoe 0-6 and Mirotic 3-10. That's 6-32, or without Mirotic, 3-22.


Oh I'm all for having as much shooting as possible on this team. Everyone they bring in this summer should be at the bare minimum a league average 3pt shooter. I'm not suggesting they give Warren away for free or not replace the shooting he provides if they do move him. Warren has value so might be needed as part of a package that brings in a PF or PG who can provide shooting and also fill a position of need.

On the shooting side I actually think their most clear path to be a better shooting team is Booker and Bridges shooting a higher percentage next year. Booker is having a bad year from deep but if he gets healthy and gets more good looks with better players around him it's reasonable to think he can shoot better. Bridges should shoot better next year by simply being more comfortable with NBA distance. Both those guys have the chops to shoot better and will be playing a ton of minutes.


I definitely think Bridges will continue to shoot better and Booker certainly should. It seems like Book should be a better 3 pt shooter than 35.5% over his career and dropping to 32.1% this year. I don't know if it's something you can count on though...seems like we always figure people would/should improve their shooting.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1704 » by bwgood77 » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:12 pm

WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Crives wrote:
Frank Lee wrote:
Yer nuts dude.... There are but 4 or 5 rookies per draft that are worth their deals. Its too good of a value to have one, especially at the 10 and below paygrade. Bridges is going nowhere. Dont make a hole to plug another. Just as with Markky, JJJ and the rest you may covet, those guys are keepers unless, at very greatest longshot, you are dealing for a tier one soop. Oubre wants to be here and we'll work a deal for him after everyone else is inked. He is our ticket over the cap.



My point is that we can trade Bridges for a high value player at one of our holes since we are stacked at SF. I don’t want to trade him but we should be open to it if the right opportunity becomes available. For example, if Grizzlies win Zion, we should be open to Bridges + a pick for JJJ.


If I were the Grizzlies and got Zion I'd be absolutely stoked to play him and JJJ together. JJJ would be about the perfect C next to Zion.


Yeah, you can't get much of a better fit in the frontcourt than those two together.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1705 » by Crives » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:15 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Crives wrote:

My point is that we can trade Bridges for a high value player at one of our holes since we are stacked at SF. I don’t want to trade him but we should be open to it if the right opportunity becomes available. For example, if Grizzlies win Zion, we should be open to Bridges + a pick for JJJ.


If I were the Grizzlies and got Zion I'd be absolutely stoked to play him and JJJ together. JJJ would be about the perfect C next to Zion.


Yeah, you can't get much of a better fit in the frontcourt than those two together.


How about Hawks win Zion, Bridges + pick for Collins
Or
Chicago wins Zion, Bridges + pick for Lauri
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1706 » by bwgood77 » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:19 pm

Crives wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
If I were the Grizzlies and got Zion I'd be absolutely stoked to play him and JJJ together. JJJ would be about the perfect C next to Zion.


Yeah, you can't get much of a better fit in the frontcourt than those two together.


How about Hawks win Zion, Bridges + pick for Collins
Or
Chicago wins Zion, Bridges + pick for Lauri


I don't know why those teams would trade those guys.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1707 » by Qwigglez » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:28 pm

Maybe Bookers has some psychological issue dealing with the hand injury, where he is compensating in some way which is why his 3P% has dropped. Or just because he’s taking harder looks too. I hardly see him get open threes but even when he is open it’s not as automatic as you’d think.

For me, the ideal players to surround Booker/Ayton are versatile lengthy 3&D guys. Exactly what Bridges and Oubre are. Oubre kind of reminds me of Marion where he has that explosive first jump, the length, etc. hes been averaging almost a block and steal a game with a Suns uniform on. He doesn’t have the same defensive IQ as Marion though. For PG, Melton possesses the length for my ideal PG around Booker/Ayton however he will need a couple years to develop.
I bring this up because I don’t want to trade Bridges or lose Oubre. Ideally we don’t lose Warren either.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1708 » by Crives » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:30 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
Crives wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Yeah, you can't get much of a better fit in the frontcourt than those two together.


How about Hawks win Zion, Bridges + pick for Collins
Or
Chicago wins Zion, Bridges + pick for Lauri


I don't know why those teams would trade those guys.


Ok forget it
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1709 » by JJ13 » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:31 pm

There are a lot of great/good PGs in Free Agency this year...how many teams actually need PGs though? Here's the list of players (ranked in order of my preference)...

Kemba, Kyrie, D. Russell (Nets probably match), Brogdan (Bucks probably match), Rubio, McConnell, Rozier (Celts probably match if/when Kyrie leaves), Beverly, Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, Collison, Joseph

That is a ton of decent options. That doesn't include PGs who could be on the block, Conley, Lowry, Lonzo, Wall (yikes!), etc. How many of these FAs are max players? I'd say 2 - Kyrie and Kemba. The rest will be fighting for the best situation and most cap space. What teams need a starting PG?

Charlotte
Dallas
Indiana
Miami
Spurs (maybe? they have murray)
Utah (maybe? Exum, Allen and Neto)
...and Phoenix

Who am I missing? Only Dallas and Indiana have more "practical cap space". According to Sportrac, we have the 10th most cap space and 4th most "practical cap space", which removes Jackson and Johnson from the books, frees up $26MM this off season. We aren't desperate with Johnson playing well, worst case we keep him and let him earn a decent contract for 2020...BUT, if we want to get one of the best above FAs, which I think we need to shoot for, we can stretch Johnson (roughly $6MM cap hit), and assuming we trade Jackson (or Warren) and don't take too much salary back, we'd be at around $20MM. That doesn't get us Kyrie or Kemba, but could it get us Brogdan, Russel or Rubio? I think it can. And any one of those guys would make us substantially better and solve our PG issue for the foreseeable future.

I'm not a cap expert, and I don't know what Oubre's Restricted Free Agency allows us to do in terms of going over the cap. I am a big Oubre fan and would be very open to trading Jackson AND Warren to free up the $12-15MM he'd likely demand. We have Bridges as a solid back-up. If Holmes has to go, not ideal but so be it...I think he gets $5-7MM in FA. If we don't get top pick (Zion), see if you can flip a 2-3 pick to Toronto for Siakam, or another rising/young PF.

If we can get one of Brogdan, Russell or Rubio, keep Oubre, and solve the PF void in Draft/Trade, I'd be very happy with this off season:

Brogdan/Russell/Rubio
Booker/Daniels (if we can keep, don't think he'll be expensive)
Oubre/Bridges
DRAFT/TRADE (if not Zion, flip pick for PF)
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1710 » by RunDogGun » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:53 pm

It will all depend on where our draft pick lands. 1 or 2, i feel we keep it. Also possible to swap our pick and gain an asset in the process. I would say Jackson is on the chopping blocks, even though at times he has stepped up. I would hate to lose Warren, but he should net us a decent return. Johnson should be used in a trade if it is for a higher tier pg with a large salary.

I don't think we should put Bridges on the chopping block. I could see him working on his threes this upcoming season.

draft first? then trade for a pg, and get some help in FA lower costs.
draft second? Grab Ja, or trade with the 3rd drafting team, and gain an asset, if they want RJ. Then trade for a PF. We still have assets with draft picks.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1711 » by jcsunsfan » Tue Mar 5, 2019 6:58 pm

a good pg has to look at this roster and salivate a bit. There is a lot of talent here just waiting ignited.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1712 » by ImNotMcDiSwear » Tue Mar 5, 2019 7:27 pm

Man I got rose-colored glasses on today. I want to keep Oubre, JJ, Dragan and Johnson after last night's performance. If we keep Oubre, one of TJ or JJ has to go. And after last night, I'm back on team JJ. TJ is our best trade asset, anyway. I think we're clearly better with Dragan as the starting 4 rather than one of our wings. There's light at the end of that tunnel, so keep moving that direction. I mean, Bender at 0-0 was more useful than Mirotic at 3-13 last night! I'd be happy to extend him at a salary that restores him to his rookie scale. His defense has vastly improved, and that three is finally starting to get some arc under it.

Also, I take Tyler at the $13 million extra it would cost not to waive and stretch him over Terry at $16 million. Easy. Dude puts in maximum effort on defense, keeps the ball safe, distributes, and is adequate offensively. Of course, I'd prefer to have Tyler opt out and re-sign, but I have a hard time seeing him sacrifice so much money. Tyler can be a backup to someone, but not Terry Rozier.

Keeping this squad together (getting a little ahead of things, I know, but let's see how the season ends) would effectively remove us as a meaningful player in free agency. I say, draft a good player, and trade TJ for the biggest needs that remains on the roster, whether that be starting PF or PG, or role players on solid contracts.

I think the biggest thing that roster above lacks is a scoring guard off the bench. The role we've been trying to put Jamal Crawford and Troy Daniels in. We need one. Lou Williams is the prototype, and obviously, the Clippers wouldn't deal that golden contract for anything we should reasonably be willing to muster. I don't think the Nets would deal Dinwiddie for TJ (and I don't know if they can this summer anyway). So who do you target? I just don't know.

We can still throw around the $8.4 million mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception at $3.3 million. I say we use these to add to our depth. The trouble is finding solid defenders at these positions. For the bi-annual, I'd love to snag Jonas Jerebko. For the mid-level, I see guys like Lin and Rose, but I worry about disrupting the defensive identity we've been working so hard to establish.

Zion, Morant, Clarke and Garland look like the draft options to me. I think we might even finally be in a position to trust our player development! So pick a good one and keep going. We just beat the best team in the league! So here's where I start:

Johnson/Melton/Okobo
Booker/Jackson/King
Oubre/Bridges
Bender
Ayton/Holmes

+ 2019 pick, TJ's trade proceeds, MLE and BIE. The big hole is at PF, and we could use an upgrade at PG, but if last night is any indication, this group isn't nearly as bad as we thought. Add a scoring guard to the mix, a solid PF, some additional depth, and roll with it!
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1713 » by bwgood77 » Tue Mar 5, 2019 7:49 pm

ImNotMcDiSwear wrote:Man I got rose-colored glasses on today. I want to keep Oubre, JJ, Dragan and Johnson after last night's performance. If we keep Oubre, one of TJ or JJ has to go. And after last night, I'm back on team JJ. TJ is our best trade asset, anyway. I think we're clearly better with Dragan as the starting 4 rather than one of our wings. There's light at the end of that tunnel, so keep moving that direction. I mean, Bender at 0-0 was more useful than Mirotic at 3-13 last night! I'd be happy to extend him at a salary that restores him to his rookie scale. His defense has vastly improved, and that three is finally starting to get some arc under it.

Also, I take Tyler at the $13 million extra it would cost not to waive and stretch him over Terry at $16 million. Easy. Dude puts in maximum effort on defense, keeps the ball safe, distributes, and is adequate offensively. Of course, I'd prefer to have Tyler opt out and re-sign, but I have a hard time seeing him sacrifice so much money. Tyler can be a backup to someone, but not Terry Rozier.

Keeping this squad together (getting a little ahead of things, I know, but let's see how the season ends) would effectively remove us as a meaningful player in free agency. I say, draft a good player, and trade TJ for the biggest needs that remains on the roster, whether that be starting PF or PG, or role players on solid contracts.

I think the biggest thing that roster above lacks is a scoring guard off the bench. The role we've been trying to put Jamal Crawford and Troy Daniels in. We need one. Lou Williams is the prototype, and obviously, the Clippers wouldn't deal that golden contract for anything we should reasonably be willing to muster. I don't think the Nets would deal Dinwiddie for TJ (and I don't know if they can this summer anyway). So who do you target? I just don't know.

We can still throw around the $8.4 million mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception at $3.3 million. I say we use these to add to our depth. The trouble is finding solid defenders at these positions. For the bi-annual, I'd love to snag Jonas Jerebko. For the mid-level, I see guys like Lin and Rose, but I worry about disrupting the defensive identity we've been working so hard to establish.

Zion, Morant, Clarke and Garland look like the draft options to me. I think we might even finally be in a position to trust our player development! So pick a good one and keep going. We just beat the best team in the league! So here's where I start:

Johnson/Melton/Okobo
Booker/Jackson/King
Oubre/Bridges
Bender
Ayton/Holmes

+ 2019 pick, TJ's trade proceeds, MLE and BIE. The big hole is at PF, and we could use an upgrade at PG, but if last night is any indication, this group isn't nearly as bad as we thought. Add a scoring guard to the mix, a solid PF, some additional depth, and roll with it!


So, in short, after last night, you think we should just roll with the same team next year plus a draft pick and try to trade TJ?
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1714 » by Qwigglez » Tue Mar 5, 2019 7:59 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
ImNotMcDiSwear wrote:Man I got rose-colored glasses on today. I want to keep Oubre, JJ, Dragan and Johnson after last night's performance. If we keep Oubre, one of TJ or JJ has to go. And after last night, I'm back on team JJ. TJ is our best trade asset, anyway. I think we're clearly better with Dragan as the starting 4 rather than one of our wings. There's light at the end of that tunnel, so keep moving that direction. I mean, Bender at 0-0 was more useful than Mirotic at 3-13 last night! I'd be happy to extend him at a salary that restores him to his rookie scale. His defense has vastly improved, and that three is finally starting to get some arc under it.

Also, I take Tyler at the $13 million extra it would cost not to waive and stretch him over Terry at $16 million. Easy. Dude puts in maximum effort on defense, keeps the ball safe, distributes, and is adequate offensively. Of course, I'd prefer to have Tyler opt out and re-sign, but I have a hard time seeing him sacrifice so much money. Tyler can be a backup to someone, but not Terry Rozier.

Keeping this squad together (getting a little ahead of things, I know, but let's see how the season ends) would effectively remove us as a meaningful player in free agency. I say, draft a good player, and trade TJ for the biggest needs that remains on the roster, whether that be starting PF or PG, or role players on solid contracts.

I think the biggest thing that roster above lacks is a scoring guard off the bench. The role we've been trying to put Jamal Crawford and Troy Daniels in. We need one. Lou Williams is the prototype, and obviously, the Clippers wouldn't deal that golden contract for anything we should reasonably be willing to muster. I don't think the Nets would deal Dinwiddie for TJ (and I don't know if they can this summer anyway). So who do you target? I just don't know.

We can still throw around the $8.4 million mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception at $3.3 million. I say we use these to add to our depth. The trouble is finding solid defenders at these positions. For the bi-annual, I'd love to snag Jonas Jerebko. For the mid-level, I see guys like Lin and Rose, but I worry about disrupting the defensive identity we've been working so hard to establish.

Zion, Morant, Clarke and Garland look like the draft options to me. I think we might even finally be in a position to trust our player development! So pick a good one and keep going. We just beat the best team in the league! So here's where I start:

Johnson/Melton/Okobo
Booker/Jackson/King
Oubre/Bridges
Bender
Ayton/Holmes

+ 2019 pick, TJ's trade proceeds, MLE and BIE. The big hole is at PF, and we could use an upgrade at PG, but if last night is any indication, this group isn't nearly as bad as we thought. Add a scoring guard to the mix, a solid PF, some additional depth, and roll with it!


So, in short, after last night, you think we should just roll with the same team next year plus a draft pick and try to trade TJ?


That’s a bold move Cotton.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1715 » by ImNotMcDiSwear » Tue Mar 5, 2019 8:17 pm

Qwigglez wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:So, in short, after last night, you think we should just roll with the same team next year plus a draft pick and try to trade TJ?


That’s a bold move Cotton.


Yeah, tl;dr, sorry for rambling.

If the draft pick is Clarke or Zion, the equation is easy. Trade TJ and use the MLE and the BIE to add a scoring bench guard and to round out the roster.

Plenty of people think Morant should be the pick on pure talent alone. But I think Ja's impact his first year might resemble Josh Jackson's and so hurt us more than it helps. Then you're left to fill a bigger hole at the PF.

But yes, unless I see this Oubre-Bender front court starting lineup unravel by the end of the season, I stick with it. Bender's 21, yo.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1716 » by WeekapaugGroove » Tue Mar 5, 2019 8:31 pm

If Bender did return next season I'm pretty sure it would be the first time ever a player had their rookie option not picked up and signed a new contract with that team.

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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1717 » by ImNotMcDiSwear » Tue Mar 5, 2019 8:34 pm

WeekapaugGroove wrote:If Bender did return next season I'm pretty sure it would be the first time ever a player had their rookie option not picked up and signed a new contract with that team.

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Probably the first time a guy who had his rookie option declined was a starter by the end of the season.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1718 » by phnart » Tue Mar 5, 2019 9:22 pm

I have to think TJ Warren is gone after this season. Aside from his lack of defense and passing, in his most durable season he played 66 games. He gets the weirdest injuries, too...the head thing that they never really said what happens, now a "sore ankle" or a bone bruise?
When you have a Kelly Oubre Jr ready to go, who plays defense, can get hot, and is two years younger has the experience of playing in the playoffs, it's a no brainer. Now, who would be interested in TJ and what you can get for him is another story.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1719 » by ImNotMcDiSwear » Tue Mar 5, 2019 9:28 pm

phnart wrote:I have to think TJ Warren is gone after this season. Aside from his lack of defense and passing, in his most durable season he played 66 games. He gets the weirdest injuries, too...the head thing that they never really said what happens, now a "sore ankle" or a bone bruise?
When you have a Kelly Oubre Jr ready to go, who plays defense, can get hot, and is two years younger has the experience of playing in the playoffs, it's a no brainer. Now, who would be interested in TJ and what you can get for him is another story.


I love TJ. I just think that the chemistry and defensive identity we've been developing in his absence shouldn't be disrupted. Sure, we'd be better giving all of JJ's minutes to TJ right now. So maybe it's a question of the value we could get in trade. Most of us think TJ would fetch more value in trade, but maybe not. I just love this chemistry and don't see where TJ fits in except perhaps behind Bender (or his replacement) and I just can't see him accepting such a diminished role. TJ's better than that. He should be scoring 22 PPG as a starter somewhere.
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Re: Season Speculation, Free Agency & Trade Ideas: Our Johnson is finally working 

Post#1720 » by BobbieL » Tue Mar 5, 2019 9:30 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
ImNotMcDiSwear wrote:Man I got rose-colored glasses on today. I want to keep Oubre, JJ, Dragan and Johnson after last night's performance. If we keep Oubre, one of TJ or JJ has to go. And after last night, I'm back on team JJ. TJ is our best trade asset, anyway. I think we're clearly better with Dragan as the starting 4 rather than one of our wings. There's light at the end of that tunnel, so keep moving that direction. I mean, Bender at 0-0 was more useful than Mirotic at 3-13 last night! I'd be happy to extend him at a salary that restores him to his rookie scale. His defense has vastly improved, and that three is finally starting to get some arc under it.

Also, I take Tyler at the $13 million extra it would cost not to waive and stretch him over Terry at $16 million. Easy. Dude puts in maximum effort on defense, keeps the ball safe, distributes, and is adequate offensively. Of course, I'd prefer to have Tyler opt out and re-sign, but I have a hard time seeing him sacrifice so much money. Tyler can be a backup to someone, but not Terry Rozier.

Keeping this squad together (getting a little ahead of things, I know, but let's see how the season ends) would effectively remove us as a meaningful player in free agency. I say, draft a good player, and trade TJ for the biggest needs that remains on the roster, whether that be starting PF or PG, or role players on solid contracts.

I think the biggest thing that roster above lacks is a scoring guard off the bench. The role we've been trying to put Jamal Crawford and Troy Daniels in. We need one. Lou Williams is the prototype, and obviously, the Clippers wouldn't deal that golden contract for anything we should reasonably be willing to muster. I don't think the Nets would deal Dinwiddie for TJ (and I don't know if they can this summer anyway). So who do you target? I just don't know.

We can still throw around the $8.4 million mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception at $3.3 million. I say we use these to add to our depth. The trouble is finding solid defenders at these positions. For the bi-annual, I'd love to snag Jonas Jerebko. For the mid-level, I see guys like Lin and Rose, but I worry about disrupting the defensive identity we've been working so hard to establish.

Zion, Morant, Clarke and Garland look like the draft options to me. I think we might even finally be in a position to trust our player development! So pick a good one and keep going. We just beat the best team in the league! So here's where I start:

Johnson/Melton/Okobo
Booker/Jackson/King
Oubre/Bridges
Bender
Ayton/Holmes

+ 2019 pick, TJ's trade proceeds, MLE and BIE. The big hole is at PF, and we could use an upgrade at PG, but if last night is any indication, this group isn't nearly as bad as we thought. Add a scoring guard to the mix, a solid PF, some additional depth, and roll with it!


So, in short, after last night, you think we should just roll with the same team next year plus a draft pick and try to trade TJ?


I think the team needs a bit more roster turnover than just adding a player for Warren and the draft. First, unless Zion, I do not want another draft pick. I will take my chances on "trading the rights to the next Player X." Second, I still think more experience is needed.

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