2019 season speculation including trade ideas

[lilfishi22]

Reading through the player updates on Rotoworld and the update on Tyler Johnson’s game mentions that the Suns have been trying to trade him but not getting any interest... was this common knowledge? I know he has a big fat expiring
https://www.rotoworld.com/basketball/nba/player-news/9281221‪‬

Shouldn't be surprised. I think we're happy to keep him around for the season because he adds solid depth, experience, competency at either guard positions and his expiring contract is helpful for our cap situation but the goal is to move him for something that will help the team.

[SuperSunsFan]

Please keep Okobo, I saw a young player last night who was showing signs that he has finally 'got it' and on the verge of a dramatic breakthrough, he could develop into a barbosa or jason terry type player, a great 6th man assassin off the bench for us for many years going forward.

[bwgood77]

Charlotte is awful. Look at all the players not playing for Miami and then look at the offensive #s, FG%, 3pt%, assists from Rozier, etc from the Hornets.

And of course the score. Geez.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401163139

[matt131]

National analysts got it right - Jazz sure looking like the early favorites in the West.

[lilfishi22]

National analysts got it right - Jazz sure looking like the early favorites in the West.

You're judging them on one preseason game ?

[Young gun 6]

Bender looking good out there.
Amazing what being on a good team can do for some players.

[Qwigglez]

Bender looking good out there.
Amazing what being on a good team can do for some players.

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

[bwoolf2]

Bender looking good out there.
Amazing what being on a good team can do for some players.

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

[Qwigglez]

Bender looking good out there.
Amazing what being on a good team can do for some players.

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Len looked good last year. Bender has never looked good for us even in Summer League. Him looking good in preseason is better than him typically looking bad regardless of what the competition is.

[matt131]

National analysts got it right - Jazz sure looking like the early favorites in the West.

You're judging them on one preseason game ?

Lol just making a joke, hence the green font. Obviously a preseason game without Ingles or Gobert means nothing.

[Mystical Apples]

Charlotte is awful. Look at all the players not playing for Miami and then look at the offensive #s, FG%, 3pt%, assists from Rozier, etc from the Hornets.

And of course the score. Geez.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401163139

It happens when a mediocre team loses their 3 best offensive players. I’d say Charlotte needs to rely upon defense but they’ll suck there, too.

[Qwigglez]

But is this Charlotte team the worst in their franchise history?

[Mystical Apples]

But is this Charlotte team the worst in their franchise history?

The 2012 Bobcats are untouchable (probably).

Maybe if Rozier gets hurt and they stick Malik Monk at pg. Even then I’d figure at least 13 wins.

[bwgood77]

Bender looking good out there.
Amazing what being on a good team can do for some players.

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Neither are great, but Len developed quite a bit last year, and Bender probably will. We had awful coaching with Watson, and of course 3-4 coaches for guys which obviously didn't help development, but one big problem is just giving up on guys too quickly. Len would have been a solid backup C for years, and for cheap and Bender would have been dirt cheap with much higher potential upside than Kaminsky and Diallo.

[Saberestar]

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Neither are great, but Len developed quite a bit last year, and Bender probably will. We had awful coaching with Watson, and of course 3-4 coaches for guys which obviously didn't help development, but one big problem is just giving up on guys too quickly. Len would have been a solid backup C for years, and for cheap and Bender would have been dirt cheap with much higher potential upside than Kaminsky and Diallo.

I prefer Baynes to Len as our backup C.

I think Baynes is an smarter basketball player on both ends of the court and that is a big difference between them. Len plays like a robot, he doesn't have any feel for the game. He commits too many bad decisions on the court, small things that limits his time on the court because he truly makes your team a bit worse.

That is why he just plays backup minutes... 20 minutes per game in the last three seasons. The Hawks were a terrible team (but better than the Suns) and didn't give him more minutes than that, because he doesn't play winning basketball IMO. He has improved his shooting but he is worse at rebounding.

Baynes can give us better positioning on defense, he is a high character guy and can spread the floor for us.

[King4Day]

But is this Charlotte team the worst in their franchise history?

The 2012 Bobcats are untouchable (probably).

Maybe if Rozier gets hurt and they stick Malik Monk at pg. Even then I’d figure at least 13 wins.

I believe they will have the worst record in league history this year.
I live in the area and there is absolutely no buzz (no pun intended) about the team. I don't see signs to get the fans interested. There's just nothing to look forward to for them. Everyone knows they will be terrible. They have nothing to be excited about outside of the hopeful growth of Bridges and Washington, and maybe Monk.

Rozier will help them snag the occasional win, but I def don't expect them to get more than 20 wins, and I'd be surprised if they got more than 15.

[bwoolf2]

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Neither are great, but Len developed quite a bit last year, and Bender probably will. We had awful coaching with Watson, and of course 3-4 coaches for guys which obviously didn't help development, but one big problem is just giving up on guys too quickly. Len would have been a solid backup C for years, and for cheap and Bender would have been dirt cheap with much higher potential upside than Kaminsky and Diallo.

Ever since we had a strong disagreement of the release of Davon Reed and his NBA potential I struggle with your player assessment, but like with Reed only time will tell. I do agree our coaching, gm, player development have sucked for a decade but so has our front offices ability to draft players.

[bwgood77]

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Neither are great, but Len developed quite a bit last year, and Bender probably will. We had awful coaching with Watson, and of course 3-4 coaches for guys which obviously didn't help development, but one big problem is just giving up on guys too quickly. Len would have been a solid backup C for years, and for cheap and Bender would have been dirt cheap with much higher potential upside than Kaminsky and Diallo.

Ever since we had a strong disagreement of the release of Davon Reed and his NBA potential I struggle with your player assessment, but like with Reed only time will tell. I do agree our coaching, gm, player development have sucked for a decade but so has our front offices ability to draft players.

Well, Reed got picked up by the Heat (a good organization) and just had 14 pts (4-5 from 3) and 9 boards last night. Sure it's preseason, but he was a cheap guy that shouldn't have been given up on so early...these guys take up less than 1% of the cap. He certainly wasn't worth cutting at the time over Canaan, who had already pretty much shown what he could do (or not do).

I'm not saying Bender will turn into anything, but giving up on a 21 year old who would have been cheap to pay a 26 year old Kaminsky $5 million a year is not a wise decision, because we know what Kaminsky is, and he sucks at D. He may add more this year than Bender would have but Bender probably has a better chance of adding more long term, even though he also could be gone. Kaminsky will likely be gone either way.

But yeah, we definitely differ on player assessment, and teams like the Pacers, Heat and Bucks pick up the cheap guys we let go.

[darmani]

But is this Charlotte team the worst in their franchise history?

Watch on YouTube

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Len is also looking good. Either we are horrible at developing players, or we aren’t putting them in a position to succeed.

or the more likely explanation, its preseason...

Neither are great, but Len developed quite a bit last year, and Bender probably will. We had awful coaching with Watson, and of course 3-4 coaches for guys which obviously didn't help development, but one big problem is just giving up on guys too quickly. Len would have been a solid backup C for years, and for cheap and Bender would have been dirt cheap with much higher potential upside than Kaminsky and Diallo.

If I'm just looking at this year, I take either of Kaminsky or Diallo over Bender, at least for this team. Kaminsky was the first player off the bench against Minny, which shows, I think, how much we value maintaining a high level of offense throughout the game. We'll see if Dragan maintains a high 3FG%, but he's still a couple years away from being an on-ball option on offense. He can be useful in certain contexts, but if he's not ready and steady with his shooting, it'll be hard to give him minutes when it matters.

.... That said, MIL has him on a 2 year deal at the minimum. Pretty solid. I'll be rooting for him.

.......... This just reflects the problem with NotMy draft strategy, which was to draft whatever player they projected would have the best overall career. He ended up drafting players who were *years* away from being ready for professional basketball.

Bender is probably worth that minimum deal. But how would I feel about paying him $7 million for the right to match any contract offers he would have received in 2020, with a $12(ish?) million cap hold? Bad. I understand that we could have re-signed him for Diallo's deal, but it's the unsteadiness and unpredictability we don't need. All our guys can play. Can Bender? Maybe! Don't really care much any more. We're free!