2019 Draft Discussion - Suns with 6th pick!

[NBA Fiend]

[Blonde]

As far as the poll goes for our pick I’d order it

Culver
Garland

Trade for veteran (could be the first option depending on who that vet is/at what price obviously)
Trade down

Clarke
White
Hunter
Reddish

I expect both Culver and Garland to be selected before us unfortunately. Trading up isn’t worth it in all likelihood either. That 6th pick is stinging a little harder than I expected. If both of them are gone I can’t really get excited about any of the other names. White has a little De’Aaron Fox in his game but he’s not nearly the athlete. I’m still pretty set on the limited upside with Clarke too but I understand the appeal.

[Saberestar]

Why are you citing statistics for a guy that played 4 full games?

What else is there to cite for him exactly?

I'm not. The Stepien is. Click the link. Just doing some research and found this... do you have any positive on the guy? I would love to see it / read it. Garland, as far as I can find, is being compared to a jump shooting 2 guard as his projection who struggles to finish / get to the rim and FT line.

Everyone is quick to forget that Garland was viewed as the top point guard in the class heading into the season. The injury obviously damaged his ranking, and he is now projected to be picked after Ja Morant, but the talent and skills are there.

Watching him on those few games for Vanderbilt you get the vibe of someone that is gonna be so difficult to stop. He has GREAT handles and hesitation moves, and that deadly step back shot that is a big weapon nowadays in the NBA. You never know what he is gonna do with the ball in his hands, a lot of options with those skills.

Size is not gonna be problem for him. Trae Young is slightly smaller and lighter than Garland and he has been terrific in his rookie season.

We can start Tyler Johnson next year and play Garland as his backup during his rookie season. Then, if he shows that he deserves the spot we can give him the keys and start him next to Booker.

[Young gun 6]

Garland at 6 will be a perfect pick.

[RunDogGun]

Is Clarke really better than some guy like Randle that we can get in free agency?

Depends what you need at that 4 spot. I think we need shooting and defense to put next to Ayton. Randle gives us neither shooting nor defense. Clarke at least potentially will be a good defender in the NBA and has a chance he could be extend his offense out of the paint.

Are we really expecting to get a player shooting better than 34% from three, 33% from 16'-3pt, 41% from 10-16', 43% from 3-10', and 69% at the rim, who grabs 8.7 rebounds a game, and gets 21 points per game? Defense and fit next to Ayton I can understand being concerned about, but if the whole team is hustling, defense can easily improve.

[King4Day]

Gambo said that he got a text message from a high ranking NBA guy saying him that the Suns is the team that has promised to Garland that we will pick him at #6.

Gambo added that he knows that we like Garland for sure and that an option that we are thinking too is to trade #6 for Lonzo Ball.

Gambo also said this recently:

Read on Twitter

You know Gambo, gotta cover both sides so he is always right somehow.

I was listening to that segment, Gambo said that he received a text from someone saying they think the Suns made the promise, not that it definitely was the Suns. It's obviously Chicago making the promise and having him back out like Hutchison last year.

They can make all the promises they want, I see no way Garland passes 4 or 6. Though, if it is Chicago who wants him, and he slips past LA, Cleveland could theoretically swap picks with Chicago. Guessing the Cavs will want Hunter.

[Saberestar]

Gambo also said this recently:

Read on Twitter

You know Gambo, gotta cover both sides so he is always right somehow.

I was listening to that segment, Gambo said that he received a text from someone saying they think the Suns made the promise, not that it definitely was the Suns. It's obviously Chicago making the promise and having him back out like Hutchison last year.

They can make all the promises they want, I see no way Garland passes 4 or 6. Though, if it is Chicago who wants him, and he slips past LA, Cleveland could theoretically swap picks with Chicago. Guessing the Cavs will want Hunter.

Yeah, I think that Garland's floor is #6.

[MathiasPW]

Heart and intangibles is hard to quantify even though I see it in action and while I agree that he seems to have loads of that, there are plenty of dirt workers in the NBA who have made a career of just having heart, intangibles and just generally being a smart basketball player but never become more than that. I'm not saying having those intangibles and smarts mean nothing but the NBA is still overwhelmingly an athletes game and having below average size, length and strength even with all the aforementioned intangibles, will still be a potentially limiting factor for him in the NBA. Had he been 19 or 20 with room to grow, I would be a lot more comfortable with his projections but at 23, you could say he's probably pretty close to his ceiling when it comes to adding size and strength.

Athletically, I think he's very athletic (I'm fine with considering him elite) but when you don't have the size and strength, it does mitigate a lot of what that athleticism normally brings. He does have an elite touch around the rim though but without some range, it's not worth a ton in my books. Yes, I'm a little more skeptical about his ability to develop a reliable J than you.

Check this out:

https://runrepeat.com/height-evolution-in-the-nba

Average PF/Cs are getting smaller and A LOT lighter over the past few years.

I agree that putting a Rodney Hood-physique to play big men position might be too much of a stretch, but his relative size/strength is less of an issue than it was a while ago.

It will all boil down on how his shooting in the workouts comes along. If he's hitting long shots consistently, he'll be considered a safer bet.

[mg]

So if Garland makes it to 5 any chance Suns offer some kind of trinket to the Cavs to move up 1 spot?
I have a feeling the Bulls will try to jump up ahead of Suns to grab Garland. Their gm already admitted after the lottery that pg is their biggest weakness.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Is Clarke really better than some guy like Randle that we can get in free agency?

Depends what you need at that 4 spot. I think we need shooting and defense to put next to Ayton. Randle gives us neither shooting nor defense. Clarke at least potentially will be a good defender in the NBA and has a chance he could be extend his offense out of the paint.

Are we really expecting to get a player shooting better than 34% from three, 33% from 16'-3pt, 41% from 10-16', 43% from 3-10', and 69% at the rim, who grabs 8.7 rebounds a game, and gets 21 points per game? Defense and fit next to Ayton I can understand being concerned about, but if the whole team is hustling, defense can easily improve.

He could be our Marion 2.0 for us, Not a bad consolation for one of our needs to be met.

[LukasBMW]

No one commented on my prior post.

But doesn't Clarke remind you of rookie TJ Warren???

If we can't use TJ right and always talk about trading him away...why pick Clarke?

[Wilber85]

Depends what you need at that 4 spot. I think we need shooting and defense to put next to Ayton. Randle gives us neither shooting nor defense. Clarke at least potentially will be a good defender in the NBA and has a chance he could be extend his offense out of the paint.

Are we really expecting to get a player shooting better than 34% from three, 33% from 16'-3pt, 41% from 10-16', 43% from 3-10', and 69% at the rim, who grabs 8.7 rebounds a game, and gets 21 points per game? Defense and fit next to Ayton I can understand being concerned about, but if the whole team is hustling, defense can easily improve.

He could be our Marion 2.0 for us, Not a bad consolation for one of our needs to be met.

Why are y'all so high on clarke. Dude is tiny for a 4 and we already have 3 - SF's

Also Culver was trash in the NCAA tournament

We need to focus on either Garland or Coby White for PG. Then free agency

[WeekapaugGroove]

I always follow a bunch of 'draft twitter' types this time or year to get some takes on prospects and the Clarke thing is kind of a facinating look at human nature and cognitive dissonance. He's been almost unanimously loved by draft Twitter kind of their collective 'were higher on him that NBA guys' that happens every year with a couple prospects. These same folks often put a good amount of stock in measurements but when Clarke's came out yesterday many really went out of their way to ignore or defend them more than they would a normal prospect. Just an interesting look at how people can bend their normal mental evaluation process when they get data that goes against their already preconcieved opinion.

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[jcsunsfan]

Clarke is too small for his NBA position, and he has t-rex arms. Too light too. He is fools gold.

[WeekapaugGroove]

No one commented on my prior post.

But doesn't Clarke remind you of rookie TJ Warren???

If we can't use TJ right and always talk about trading him away...why pick Clarke?

Other than size wise I don't really see the comp. TJ is a very natural and skilled offensive player but has below average defensive IQ and is an average athlete. Clarke has great defensive IQ and is a really good athlete, he shoots a great % because he mostly takes shots at the rim and he's good at that but I wouldn't consider him particularly skilled offensively.

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[LukasBMW]

We need to trade our pick for a vet and we need to put next years pick on the table as well.

Why?

The draft is about to become a TOTAL crapshoot. Between the new lottery odds AND the fact that we will soon be drafting high schoolers again, the top 20 picks might become about even. A good scouting team will become 10x as important as where you pick.

In the future, there might be a few unanimous high school players who are obvious #1 picks (Lebron), but there will be more spectacular busts like Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Robert Swift, etc.

Even guys like Jermanine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson took forever to develop.

[WeekapaugGroove]

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[Mjee]

We need to trade our pick for a vet and we need to put next years pick on the table as well.

Why?

The draft is about to become a TOTAL crapshoot. Between the new lottery odds AND the fact that we will soon be drafting high schoolers again, the top 20 picks might become about even. A good scouting team will become 10x as important as where you pick.

In the future, there might be a few unanimous high school players who are obvious #1 picks (Lebron), but there will be more spectacular busts like Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Robert Swift, etc.

Even guys like Jermanine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson took forever to develop.

100% ..... We need to get some win-now players to improve the culture of the franchise. No more timeline, no more developing new draft picks, no more 19 year olds. That **** is done. Time to get some legit talent that can help us transition to the next level.

If that means trading our 2020 unprotected pick as well to grab an all-star .... Do IT

The time is this offseason !!! Time to be bold !

[Biff]

No way in hell. When he's on the floor I'm sure he'll be impactful but I have strong suspicions that he is never going to be healthy.

[darmani]

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The Lakers trying very hard to increase their pick's value