Realistically, which are the positions that need major upgrade for the S5?

[no dice]

I see that we have some intriguing young talents on the roster who all deserve more playing times. With that in mind where are the areas that we are willing to let some of these guys go and for what in the S5?

To me the wings are stacked: Dick, Walter, Ochai, RJ, Battle. Both Dick and Walter are in the similar function with different abilities. Battle is also a sick sniper that can comfortably create shots.

Along with Shead, Quickley, Mogbo etc.

My obvious answer is the Center position. But I am very reluctant to part with any of the young ones right now since so much untapped potential. Without them in the deal we basically won't net any major upgrade.



Interested to know what you guys think.

[Senbonzakura]

Ffs.

When are you guys gonna get it?

There's nothing to "build around" here. The team isn't good. We need to get our hands on an actual star. Doesn't matter what position they are. Idk why some of you think we're like a piece or two or tinker here and there away from contending.

Look at the best teams in the league, hell even some of the teams in the play-in spots in the West. Most of these teams have multiple players who are better than ANYONE on our roster.

[MessiahUjiri]

What the heck is S5, and why won’t you talk like a normal human.


BTW, have you heard of Deez?

[ForeverTFC]

We need talent, period. Dick, Walter, Ochai, RJ, Battle, Shead, or Mogbo should have no impact on who we bring in. IQ and Scottie are the only 2 you need to be cognizant of, and even then if you can upgrade, you upgrade.

[ConSarnit]

We don't have a real SF on the roster (Battle is probably a deep bench guy). Barnes is a PF. Barrett (our defacto SF) isn't cut out for the position. He doesn't defend well enough and his bully ball game is better suited when matched up against SG's. If we were looking at "what would make this team better next week" it's a SF.

That said, we shouldn't be making draft decisions based on perceived holes. We need to take BPA and let the rest sort itself out. We have a bit of a logjam at SG (a good problem to have) but almost all of them are strictly SG's (Walter, Dick, Ochai and RJ). If someone really takes the reigns at SG next season I wouldn't be opposed to moving one of the other guys to try and get better elsewhere.

[Kingsway_fan]

Team needs upgrade at all positions.... you take best available talent at draft.. work from there. I hope we can land a top 5 pick this year...

Farm system has nothing right now also... lots of work needed.

[Indeed]

Forward. Big and quick perimeter player who can penetrate, finish and shoot the ball with the ability to pass the ball on offense, and capable of defending.

You can find C in the market, but hardly a forward who can impact both ends being available

[Potential]

What do we need to do? We need to make a trade for Devin Booker at next years draft or the 2026 trade deadline. I think once Phoenix starts to fade he's going to potentially want out

[PhilBlackson]

SMALL FORWARD easily tops the board because it's arguable that we don't have a natural SF on the roster...buuuut even C or PG (in that order) could use a more "ideal" upgrade (ie/ a floor spacing big or bigger PG better able to switch defensively).

All the wings you listed are not SFs, they're SGs being forced to play up a position.

There are PLENTY of SFs that are 6'8'+ at the position (many of which substantially bigger ie/ Bron, Tatum, Paolo, KD etc) that they should not be asked to try & guard. Ideally we want a player at 6'8+ at that position even if it's another tweener forward like you see ORL do with Paolo/Franz. The reality is if you project what the next 4-5 years is looking like in the East obviously you have to deal with Tatum & Brown at their peak, Paolo & Franz being the next duo on the come up, plus Mobley/Allen....and whatever is left of Giannis & Embiid.

That's a TON of height/length that this roster is going to have to deal with to try & get through the East so imo although yes I'd prefer a bigger guard than IQ but getting another bigger body whether that's another larger wing (preferable imo) or getting even bigger at C. The team is going to need to add some girth (super pause lol) if it wants to get through the gauntlet ahead of them.

[Thaddy]

RJ, Poeltl, and Dick aren't starters on a championship team. The player we need to remove ourselves from first is RJ. He's the definition of empty calories.

I would draft his replacement in the draft. If we get Jakucionis and he shows he's a ROY candidate then we should move IQ for a forward.

The key is to draft the BPA and then make good trades to balance the roster. Other than that we need to remove the net negatives like RJ.

Poeltl looks good but he isn't an elite rim protector or offensive option. He's just solid. We should be looking to trade him as well.

The best path forward is to completely tank 2025 and 2026. This would give us two high quality prospects who should contribute at some level on rookie scale deals. Then we pull a Houston and bring in vets when we're ready to compete.

Culture is important but not to the degree our front office pushes it. We don't need to give Garrett Temple and Olynyk multi million dollar contracts. We need to put Barnes in that position, he's a young vet now and the supposed leader.

Poeltl / 2026 1st / POR 2nd
Barnes / Mogbo
2025 1st / Walter
FA Vet / Agbaji / 2026 1st
IQ / Dick

We should buy 2 vets who can be in the rotation until our younger guys figure things out. A 2-3 year contract for 2-3 vets would give us a deep line up.

[dagger]

I'd say that in this coming draft, because of the quality, you go with BPA and if BPA is a tossup from Masai's perspective, go for the taller player at the position. For example, Harper is tall enough to play either guard position, Bailey is a tall forward appropriately sized for his position, and Flagg is just right for PF. After this draft, however, the team has to be careful about stacking guys at positions in the 2026 draft and beyond, because too many prospects competing for the same minutes creates lockjams. Houston has an interesting problem with Cam Whitmore. I'm not a huge fan, but he can't get a lot fof minutes because that team has better talent from recent drafts. So Whitmore is shuttling between Houston and their G League team.

You want some cheap second round talent to develop as role players, but after this draft, first rounders should be spread around the court, given talent we already have. Positional need becomes more important. I might consider trading up in 2026 for the best centre prospect, as in trading the two firsts we have for a higher first, something like that.)

You also don't want to be caught like Memphis is with a guy like Santi Aldama having a career year and heading into restricted free agency because the Grizzlies have a salary problem. They will have to bribe teams to take on future money so they can make Aldama a competitive offer. I'd watch this at the trade deadline.

[Indeed]

RJ, Poeltl, and Dick aren't starters on a championship team. The player we need to remove ourselves from first is RJ. He's the definition of empty calories.

I would draft his replacement in the draft. If we get Jakucionis and he shows he's a ROY candidate then we should move IQ for a forward.

The key is to draft the BPA and then make good trades to balance the roster. Other than that we need to remove the net negatives like RJ.

Poeltl looks good but he isn't an elite rim protector or offensive option. He's just solid. We should be looking to trade him as well.

The best path forward is to completely tank 2025 and 2026. This would give us two high quality prospects who should contribute at some level on rookie scale deals. Then we pull a Houston and bring in vets when we're ready to compete.

Culture is important but not to the degree our front office pushes it. We don't need to give Garrett Temple and Olynyk multi million dollar contracts. We need to put Barnes in that position, he's a young vet now and the supposed leader.

Poeltl / 2026 1st / POR 2nd
Barnes / Mogbo
2025 1st / Walter
FA Vet / Agbaji / 2026 1st
IQ / Dick

We should buy 2 vets who can be in the rotation until our younger guys figure things out. A 2-3 year contract for 2-3 vets would give us a deep line up.

A 2-3 year contract for 2 vets
Olynky and Barrett, lol. Those you want to trade.

I am unsure how Barnes is better than Barrett to be honest.

[Scase]

Outside of Barnes, and maybe Gradey, no one on this team is worth building around. We have a bunch of ok pieces, but calling anything on this team "stacked" is a massive overexaggeration.

Every position aside from PF needs an upgrade for us to actually compete.

Also the "untapped potential" is extremely connected to their draft pick. Mogbo looks like he could be really good, for a 31st pick. But no one is going to confuse him with a high potential lotto pick.

The roster has a bunch of guys, that if they develop well could blossom into a really solid bench, which is really important. But the overall potential of the team, is not particularly high, hence the need for the lotto pick.

[DelAbbot]

I too have untapped NBA potential. I'm sure if I practice my FT shooting, I can double my NBA2K rating

A team full of me would be stacked!!!

[SaveTheHens]

I think we're doing fine. We do have a good collection of assets. Barrett looks bad this season but in a reduced role he'll be fine, this is good practice time if anything. Idunno if you guys remember with Demar but he was atrocious at times, taking ill advised fades all the time, shooting us out of games. Helped him develop into a more efficient scorer eventually by having the practice of taking those shots over & over. And in Barretts case once he's a consistent 3rd option he'll provide some of what we need without overtaking the offence.
Clearly we're tanking this season, lot of guys out, I'm cool with it. Lets get a good pick and see what happens. I trust Masai and he'll always be looking at all options available. As long as we keep increasing our assets, whether picks or tradeable talent, we'll be ready for when some star player becomes available. In the meantime keep developing, find a trade for Brown by the deadline, keep resting players. I'm cool with holding onto this draft pick but if the perfect trade shows up in the offseason then I trust Masai to make it. Just a wait & see approach but we'll be fine, already have Scottie & talent around him. Kinda like in the bench mob days of Freddy/Siakam/Delon/Peoltl, we have a bunch of young guys and some of them are gonna take a step at some point. Hard to predict who it'll be just like it was hard then too, but it'll happen.

[ontnut]

What do we need to do? We need to make a trade for Devin Booker at next years draft or the 2026 trade deadline. I think once Phoenix starts to fade he's going to potentially want out

Booker would be an interesting acquisition target if PHX decides to blow it up. The problem is they're a 2nd apron team, so they can't aggregate players in a trade, which makes it almost impossible to work a trade with them. But even if we could, it would take something like IQ/Dick/Agbaji at a minimum to give them some young rebuilding talent, and then probably all the picks. Maybe you could get them to take RJ instead of IQ.

The problem for us would be and IQ/Booker backcourt could get abused pretty easily.

IQ/Booker/Battle?/Barnes/Poeltl with Walter/Shead/Mogbo doesn't look that strong. If you trade IQ and keep RJ, there's a bit of spacing issue with RJ/Booker/Barnes all operating in that mid range vs being a major 3pt threat. And we still have the issue of a shallow forward rotation.

I like the idea of Booker being a missing piece, but it's basically impossible to a) get him and b) build a team around him post trade.

[ontnut]

If BKN wants to tank, I wouldn't mind going after Cam Johnson for Bruce's expiring plus a pick or two. They basically gave Schroder away because they want to tank. The salaries match up 1:1 almost exactly, and while Cam is 28, he's passable on defence, and shoots the 3 at a 40% clip as a 6'8" PF/SF. He can also operate without the ball in his hands, which is great for our needs.

I know this is a kind of "anti-tanking" move, but if you can get Cam for $20m a year for 2 more years, that's a bargain. He can be rerouted down the line. The fit is nice too. IQ/Barrett/Cam/Barnes/Poeltl is nice, with Dick going to the bench that would be huge for our bench.

And with the IQ/Barrett/Cam contract, we could easily target the next superstar wing still, while retaining our picks. If that's the outcome of the Bruce contract...I don't think I'd be too mad tbh.

[Raptorfan2012]

What do we need to do? We need to make a trade for Devin Booker at next years draft or the 2026 trade deadline. I think once Phoenix starts to fade he's going to potentially want out

Booker would be an interesting acquisition target if PHX decides to blow it up. The problem is they're a 2nd apron team, so they can't aggregate players in a trade, which makes it almost impossible to work a trade with them. But even if we could, it would take something like IQ/Dick/Agbaji at a minimum to give them some young rebuilding talent, and then probably all the picks. Maybe you could get them to take RJ instead of IQ.

The problem for us would be and IQ/Booker backcourt could get abused pretty easily.

IQ/Booker/Battle?/Barnes/Poeltl with Walter/Shead/Mogbo doesn't look that strong. If you trade IQ and keep RJ, there's a bit of spacing issue with RJ/Booker/Barnes all operating in that mid range vs being a major 3pt threat. And we still have the issue of a shallow forward rotation.

I like the idea of Booker being a missing piece, but it's basically impossible to a) get him and b) build a team around him post trade.

You can get a Booker-type at a fraction of the cost by just drafting Dylan Harper or Tre Johnson.

[earthtone]

What do we need to do? We need to make a trade for Devin Booker at next years draft or the 2026 trade deadline. I think once Phoenix starts to fade he's going to potentially want out

Booker would be an interesting acquisition target if PHX decides to blow it up. The problem is they're a 2nd apron team, so they can't aggregate players in a trade, which makes it almost impossible to work a trade with them. But even if we could, it would take something like IQ/Dick/Agbaji at a minimum to give them some young rebuilding talent, and then probably all the picks. Maybe you could get them to take RJ instead of IQ.

The problem for us would be and IQ/Booker backcourt could get abused pretty easily.

IQ/Booker/Battle?/Barnes/Poeltl with Walter/Shead/Mogbo doesn't look that strong. If you trade IQ and keep RJ, there's a bit of spacing issue with RJ/Booker/Barnes all operating in that mid range vs being a major 3pt threat. And we still have the issue of a shallow forward rotation.

I like the idea of Booker being a missing piece, but it's basically impossible to a) get him and b) build a team around him post trade.

You can get a Booker-type at a fraction of the cost by just drafting Dylan Harper or Tre Johnson.

The draft is a lottery, and prospect development takes time. Even if you manage to secure a spot where you can draft Harper or Johnson, it will take multiple seasons before they produce at Booker's level - if they ever reach that level.

[ForeverTFC]

What do we need to do? We need to make a trade for Devin Booker at next years draft or the 2026 trade deadline. I think once Phoenix starts to fade he's going to potentially want out

Booker would be an interesting acquisition target if PHX decides to blow it up. The problem is they're a 2nd apron team, so they can't aggregate players in a trade, which makes it almost impossible to work a trade with them. But even if we could, it would take something like IQ/Dick/Agbaji at a minimum to give them some young rebuilding talent, and then probably all the picks. Maybe you could get them to take RJ instead of IQ.

The problem for us would be and IQ/Booker backcourt could get abused pretty easily.

IQ/Booker/Battle?/Barnes/Poeltl with Walter/Shead/Mogbo doesn't look that strong. If you trade IQ and keep RJ, there's a bit of spacing issue with RJ/Booker/Barnes all operating in that mid range vs being a major 3pt threat. And we still have the issue of a shallow forward rotation.

I like the idea of Booker being a missing piece, but it's basically impossible to a) get him and b) build a team around him post trade.

I'm a massive Booker fan and think he'd be a perfect running mate for Scottie, but if he were to become available over the next year or two, Houston would be first in line with a package we couldn't even sniff. Imagine replacing Green with Booker on that roster? Instant contenders.