suns12345 wrote:I dont care what everyone says and I don't care about his flaws, i friggin love watching Kelly on our team.
Yeah, clearly the most entertaining player on our team.
I've gone back and forth on it several times, but I think I've decided that unless a great deal comes our way this summer, we need to keep Kelly and make him our sixth man. He can be our go-to scorer when Book is out. Our on-ball defender when Mikal is out. Our stretch 4 when Cam is out.
It's our best chance to be the best team we can be next season. Based on what we saw in the bubble, we're close. Shockingly close. We don't need to go "all in" next season with earth-shattering moves and spending. Instead, we should keep this group together and see how far we can go. In a year, if Kelly doesn't want to be a perennial 6MOY contender for a contending team, we'll have a bunch of cap space, max appeal to free agents, and the ability to S&T Oubre (fwiw: may not be much considering how many teams will have space).
Also, because the roster will be pretty much full with a healthy Oubre back in the lineup, we can look to draft BPA without having to worry too much whether the player(s) we draft will be able to contribute next season.
....... So maybe, best case scenario is Hayes falling to us. In 4 years, when Hayes is up for an extension, Booker will be UFA. And if you don't think there's a real chance he jumps to the Lakers, I don't know what to tell you. He's given us every indication. And frankly, he'll have earned the right to choose his own adventure. I hope he stays, but if he opts to leave, it sure would be nice to have Killian ready to step into his shoes. Obviously not ideal, but that's the hand we have to play.
Fortunately, James Jones has proven worthy of our trust. Hopefully he's able to push this team over the top - and keep us on top for a long time.