Season speculation, free agency, and trade ideas: #ValleyBoyz rise up

[BobbieL]

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Not to drink too much kool-aid but seems like a good hire. Younger GMs like Langdon would not work with Jones and Buk. Needed a mentor type. I like him better than McHale and Paxson. Been around the NBA a long time -. Woj wrote positive things. Jones said this week he thought a hire was close. Seems like a good solid practical move. I hope this means keeping Igor too. Need stability

[lilfishi22]

It's about as good a hire (if we finalise) as you're gonna get with Sarver. Certainly prefer this over Paxson and McHale both who had pretty poor records as executives.

[Kerrsed]

The NBA did a 360 video with Josh Jackson. If you watch on a computer or phone you can click and drag it around, but where it really shines is with a VR Headset.

Watch on YouTube

Kinda cool.

[sunsbg]

Josh likes playing chess...now if he starts showing tactics while playing basketball..

[Crives]

It's about as good a hire (if we finalise) as you're gonna get with Sarver. Certainly prefer this over Paxson and McHale both who had pretty poor records as executives.

This is good news considering the rumors. Maybe the McHale rumor was to get us to love their real choice when announced.

I wonder what Bower has been doing over the last year? Has he had a minor role in any FO? I was kind of hoping we would get a guy with a complete scouting report/analysis of this years draft.

It sounds like we now have

Player relation expert: James Jones
Contract expert: Trevor Buckstein
Draft expert? Bower

The report said high ranking front office position instead of directly saying president of b-ball ops. I wonder if jones will be reporting to bower or directly to Sarver.

[BobbieL]

It's about as good a hire (if we finalise) as you're gonna get with Sarver. Certainly prefer this over Paxson and McHale both who had pretty poor records as executives.

This is good news considering the rumors. Maybe the McHale rumor was to get us to love their real choice when announced.

I wonder what Bower has been doing over the last year? Has he had a minor role in any FO? I was kind of hoping we would get a guy with a complete scouting report/analysis of this years draft.

It sounds like we now have

Player relation expert: James Jones
Contract expert: Trevor Buckstein
Draft expert? Bower

The report said high ranking front office position instead of directly saying president of b-ball ops. I wonder if jones will be reporting to bower or directly to Sarver.

Like I said in the GM thread - I hope his job is two fold

1) Sit with Bob Sarver and let Sarver vent, blather, blow hot air and whatever and give Sarver a sounding board

2) filter out the "shtuff" from Sarver and mentor Bukstein and Jones; add his two cents where appropriate. Devils advocate based on his years in the league

[Gorilla Warfare]

The hiring of Bower is a waste if we don’t end up with a duo of Zion/Kyrie or Ja/KD in the off-season.


If we end up settling on someone like Al Farouq-Aminu as our top free agent pickup at the end of the summer I’m going to lose my mind.

[BobbieL]

The hiring of Bower is a waste if we don’t end up with a duo of Zion/Kyrie or Ja/KD in the off-season.


If we end up settling on someone like Al Farouq-Aminu as our top free agent pickup at the end of the summer I’m going to lose my mind.

Suns have very little control over getting Zion or Ja. Granted, they could always trade the farm to move up in the draft if they don't win the ping pong lottery. Plus, I don't want Morant or Graland or anybody not named Zion or Clarke in this draft in the first 6 picks.

Second, the free agents, again, the players have the option to go where they want.


Getting Aminu and a good PG would be a good offseason for the Suns actually. A 19 win team - probably not getting anybody from the "K Club" - I would be very happy with Rubio or Collison and a PF like Aminu or Clarke for the Suns.

[WeekapaugGroove]

The hiring of Bower is a waste if we don’t end up with a duo of Zion/Kyrie or Ja/KD in the off-season.


If we end up settling on someone like Al Farouq-Aminu as our top free agent pickup at the end of the summer I’m going to lose my mind.

? Why on earth would you believe Kyrie or KD are even remotely possible outcomes this offseason?

If that's your expectation then just be mad now and save yourself the time because you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. The suns won't be on their list of teams to consider and frankly don't have near enough cap room to make it happen.

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[ImNotMcDiSwear]

What I like most about Jeff Bower is the fact that I've never heard of him.

We don't need another decision maker, really. We just need perspective, experience, expertise. This dude sounds like he fits the bill.

[BobbieL]

The hiring of Bower is a waste if we don’t end up with a duo of Zion/Kyrie or Ja/KD in the off-season.


If we end up settling on someone like Al Farouq-Aminu as our top free agent pickup at the end of the summer I’m going to lose my mind.

? Why on earth would you believe Kyrie or KD are even remotely possible outcomes this offseason?

If that's your expectation then just be mad now and save yourself the time because you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. The suns won't be on their list of teams to consider and frankly don't have near enough cap room to make it happen.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

And not that I wouldn't say no to any of the K-Klub if they wanted to come to Phoenix -- but it would take a lot of moves to get the cap space necessary to get one of those players. So that would mean a lot of depth would be lost. I am okay with the more realistic and conservative approach of having Tyler opt-in (its probably better than trying to figure out a Spurs move of him opting out to sign him longer term to lower his cap number and stretching him would be downright stupid), bringing Oubre back at a reasonable deal and finding your PG and PF. Trying to be a more stable improving team.

As right now - I think the Suns can get PF with Clarke probably and with their MLE, a solid veteran PG - Collison, Joseph, Jones, last resort Beverly and just try to be a stable team, with some continuity.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Bender's gotten a lot of hate for his passivity, but no one complains much about Bridges. Just checked the scoreboard. Bridges scores 10.1 points per 36, with a TS% of 55.2%. Dragan scores 9.2 points per 36, with a TS% of 52.4%. Like Josh, Dragan's a year younger than Bridges. Hoping we give Dragan another contract. Curious to know how well Dragan, Spalding and Oubre could handle our PF minutes next season.

... Also wondering if we have it all wrong thinking Bridges > Jackson. Josh has had his struggles, but he also has much more potential on offense than Bridges. If I were forced to deal one right now, I would at least need some time to think about it. (And it sure would be nice to have another season or two to consider!)

[Crives]

Bender's gotten a lot of hate for his passivity, but no one complains much about Bridges. Just checked the scoreboard. Bridges scores 10.1 points per 36, with a TS% of 55.2%. Dragan scores 9.2 points per 36, with a TS% of 52.4%. Like Josh, Dragan's a year younger than Bridges. Hoping we give Dragan another contract. Curious to know how well Dragan, Spalding and Oubre could handle our PF minutes next season.

... Also wondering if we have it all wrong thinking Bridges > Jackson. Josh has had his struggles, but he also has much more potential on offense than Bridges. If I were forced to deal one right now, I would at least need some time to think about it. (And it sure would be nice to have another season or two to consider!)

I think your right. I mentioned something similar about Bridges a couple months ago.

For example

Internally
Say we value Bridges at 100, Warren at 85, and Jackson at 70

Externally
Other teams value Bridges at 100, Warren at 70 and Jackson at 30.

From a pure value perspective, it might make sense to move Bridges over our other wings to balance the roster. Would need to be a good deal though

[BobbieL]

What I like most about Jeff Bower is the fact that I've never heard of him.

We don't need another decision maker, really. We just need perspective, experience, expertise. This dude sounds like he fits the bill.

Agreed. I think Bower will be a true Sr Advisor that the GMs for Sarver never had. I mentioned a Wayne Embry or Rod Thorn and this guy might fit the bill.

[MathiasPW]

What I like most about Jeff Bower is the fact that I've never heard of him.

We don't need another decision maker, really. We just need perspective, experience, expertise. This dude sounds like he fits the bill.

A solid decision maker is precisely what we need.

No one in our FO has experience making decisions other than Sarver the Sage himself.

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[MathiasPW]

Bender's gotten a lot of hate for his passivity, but no one complains much about Bridges. Just checked the scoreboard. Bridges scores 10.1 points per 36, with a TS% of 55.2%. Dragan scores 9.2 points per 36, with a TS% of 52.4%. Like Josh, Dragan's a year younger than Bridges. Hoping we give Dragan another contract. Curious to know how well Dragan, Spalding and Oubre could handle our PF minutes next season.

... Also wondering if we have it all wrong thinking Bridges > Jackson. Josh has had his struggles, but he also has much more potential on offense than Bridges. If I were forced to deal one right now, I would at least need some time to think about it. (And it sure would be nice to have another season or two to consider!)

I think your right. I mentioned something similar about Bridges a couple months ago.

For example

Internally
Say we value Bridges at 100, Warren at 85, and Jackson at 70

Externally
Other teams value Bridges at 100, Warren at 70 and Jackson at 30.

From a pure value perspective, it might make sense to move Bridges over our other wings to balance the roster. Would need to be a good deal though

Thinking in terms of value makes more sense when you are gathering assets/starting a rebuild, though.


I would give out more value/overpay in a trade if you get back that piece that makes your team competitive.

In your value math exercise (which I don't agree with, but that's not the point), I would move Warren + Jackson (plus something to exceed the value of 100 of Bridges) for Jrue Holiday, for example.

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[Saberestar]

Bender's gotten a lot of hate for his passivity, but no one complains much about Bridges. Just checked the scoreboard. Bridges scores 10.1 points per 36, with a TS% of 55.2%. Dragan scores 9.2 points per 36, with a TS% of 52.4%. Like Josh, Dragan's a year younger than Bridges. Hoping we give Dragan another contract. Curious to know how well Dragan, Spalding and Oubre could handle our PF minutes next season.

... Also wondering if we have it all wrong thinking Bridges > Jackson. Josh has had his struggles, but he also has much more potential on offense than Bridges. If I were forced to deal one right now, I would at least need some time to think about it. (And it sure would be nice to have another season or two to consider!)

Two things about Bridges and Jackson and why Bridges is a better asset/player for us:

1) Bridges is a low usage player. He doesn't need the ball in his hands and he spaces the floor well enough.
He doesn't commit mistakes, Jackson loses the ball a lot.

Jackson USG%: 24.0
Jackson TOV%: 15.8

Bridges USG%: 12.2
Bridges TOV%: 10.5

2) Jackson is under contract for next year ($7M) and then a TO for 2020/21 ($9M).
So $16M/ 2 years.

Bridges is under contract for next season ($4.1M) and then TO for two more years.
So $14.1M / 3 years.

[bwgood77]

The NBA did a 360 video with Josh Jackson. If you watch on a computer or phone you can click and drag it around, but where it really shines is with a VR Headset.

Kinda cool.

Pretty hilarious he got the chess club started in high school.

[Fo-Real]

What I like most about Jeff Bower is the fact that I've never heard of him.

We don't need another decision maker, really. We just need perspective, experience, expertise. This dude sounds like he fits the bill.

Is he the guy who signed John Leuer to that atrocious contract?!?!

[bwgood77]

Bender's gotten a lot of hate for his passivity, but no one complains much about Bridges. Just checked the scoreboard. Bridges scores 10.1 points per 36, with a TS% of 55.2%. Dragan scores 9.2 points per 36, with a TS% of 52.4%. Like Josh, Dragan's a year younger than Bridges. Hoping we give Dragan another contract. Curious to know how well Dragan, Spalding and Oubre could handle our PF minutes next season.

... Also wondering if we have it all wrong thinking Bridges > Jackson. Josh has had his struggles, but he also has much more potential on offense than Bridges. If I were forced to deal one right now, I would at least need some time to think about it. (And it sure would be nice to have another season or two to consider!)

Two things about Bridges and Jackson and why Bridges is a better asset/player for us:

1) Bridges is a low usage player. He doesn't need the ball in his hands and he space the floor well enough.
He doesn't commit mistakes, Jackson loses the ball a lot.

Jackson USG%: 24.0
Jackson TOV%: 15.8

Bridges USG%: 12.2
Bridges TOV%: 10.5

2) Jackson is under contract for next year ($7M) and then a TO for 2020/21 ($9M).
So $16M/ 2 years.

Bridges is under contract for next season ($4.1M) and then TO for two more years.
So $14.1M / 3 years.

I don't know that Jackson is really better at anything that Bridges. You can probably pick out a month he shot better from 3 or something but the thing about Jackson is that one of his biggest things you figured he HAD coming out was his athleticism and getting to the rim.

When people talk about him adding the 3 it seems like they assume he is good at the rim and he just needed that 3 pt shot. But he's been pretty terrible at the rim. Like 53%. Bridges is like 63%. Oubre 64%, Booker 66%, TJ 67%. If you look at short midrange...3-10 feet..Jackson really bad there...like 34%...the others are all a lot better. Mikal is a much much better defender too.

I have always been about sticking with young guys so I'm fine with it..I wanted to pick up Bender's option, but Jackson is far behind Bridges right now and I'll be surprised if he ever is as good. He's far behind all those guys. But that's also why he's unlikely to have much trade value either so if you have any belief he can become a useful positive rotation piece going forward, you should continue working with him, but he's also getting more expensive.