Welcome Cam Johnson

[Dr. Jones]

Meanwhile Ayton had the best season by a rookie big in years.

I, again, vehemently disagree.

The dude has serious offensive chops. I will give him that. Can he integrate a 38% or higher 3pt game and learn to become something more than one of the most embarrassing defenders at the Center position in the entire league? I'm not so sure.

I personally think Jackson had a better rookie year than Ayton. Being a force of nature on both ends of the court is what it takes these days. Unless you are a ball dominant guard with serious skills and one upper echelon, super-lethal move (or more).

Bagley & Jackson could end up better bigs in the league. I like Ayton more still...... but it's not as definitive as the Doncic vs. Ayton argument has become.

 

[Phrazbit]

I, again, vehemently disagree.

The dude has serious offensive chops. I will give him that. Can he integrate a 38% or higher 3pt game and learn to become something more than one of the most embarrassing defenders at the Center position in the entire league? I'm not so sure.

I personally think Jackson had a better rookie year than Ayton. Being a force of nature on both ends of the court is what it takes these days. Unless you are a ball dominant guard with serious skills and one upper echelon, super-lethal move (or more).

Bagley & Jackson could end up better bigs in the league. I like Ayton more still...... but it's not as definitive as the Doncic vs. Ayton argument has become.

I’m more worried about Trae Young than any of them. He and Ayton have the highest ceilings.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I’m more worried about Trae Young than any of them. He and Ayton have the highest ceilings.

Trae Young was like the second worst defender in the entire NBA??

 

[Phrazbit]

Trae Young was like the second worst defender in the entire NBA??

Doncic sucked on defense too.

Trae Young has elite shooting potential and he his passing/court vision reminds me of Nash.

He’s going to be a lousy defender, but I think he has a chance to be a player who perpetually leads top 5 offenses.

 

[Hoop Head]

Trae Young was like the second worst defender in the entire NBA??

Being a bad defender never stopped Nash from winning MVP's or receiving other awards for his play.

I'm not saying Trae Young is that similar to Nash but I think Nash is a perfect example of a player receiving top honors without breaking a sweat on defense. Steph Curry is another who won back to back MVP's without being a good defender, although better than Nash.

Young has the potential to be the best PG in the league and will be entering his prime when most of the current crop of PG's are retiring, like Curry, Lillard, Kyrie, Westbrook, Paul, Kemba, etc. I think he could catch up to them soon but he won't need to due to the age differences.

 

[SunnyBaller]

In the Doncic Ayton debate I think people just get to caught up in the flash that comes with being a guard when you always have the ball in your hands you have more chances to hit the game winners or create the highlight plays , that coupled with the fact that 3 pointers are arguably a bigger draw then dunks in today's NBA means that Luka always was going to have an advantage in this debate. And this is only my personal opinion not taking anything away from how good Luka was but I do think that the fact he was white had a huge influence in his popularity

 

[Cheesebeef]

In the Doncic Ayton debate I think people just get to caught up in the flash that comes with being a guard when you always have the ball in your hands you have more chances to hit the game winners or create the highlight plays , that coupled with the fact that 3 pointers are arguably a bigger draw then dunks in today's NBA means that Luka always was going to have an advantage in this debate. And this is only my personal opinion not taking anything away from how good Luka was but I do think that the fact he was white had a huge influence in his popularity

i think the fact that he put up statistically one of the best rookie seasons ever and helped the Mavs win 14 games more than they did the prior season is why he was so popular.

 

[Phrazbit]

i think the fact that he put up statistically one of the best rookie seasons ever and helped the Mavs win 14 games more than they did the prior season is why he was so popular.

I agree with this, but I think Doncic playing well has skewed the conversation on Ayton to a silly extent. He also had a great rookie season but meanwhile he was just compared to Levi Brown.

IMO, they'll both make several all-star teams, they both have high floors and high ceilings, I think the difference physically compared to their peers makes Ayton's higher, but he will need to want it.

Ayton can play his career on cruise control and probably average 20-12, which is a blessing and a curse.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Problem is, you can’t say that and then say we need a point guard in the same breath. Do we need a point guard or does Booker need the ball in his hands most of the time? These “experts” don’t seem to know anything about the Suns.

Certainly fair.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

That’s being disingenuous. 20 were in the poll but only 6 named Rubio contract as worst move. Still that is 6 that said worst move of summer which is troubling.

I will die on this sword. I love the Rubio signing because of what it will do for Ayton.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns may have overpaid a bit for Rubio but that is as far as it goes.

Most fans would be upset if the Suns tried to save a buck filling their most pressing team need. Finally the Suns have some players that can play point guard.

I do not care what the outsiders think. Their favorite thing is kicking the Suns anyway.

 

[JCSunsfan]

i think the fact that he put up statistically one of the best rookie seasons ever and helped the Mavs win 14 games more than they did the prior season is why he was so popular.

I think both of you are right. He is popular for those accomplishments, and he could not have attained that level of play without the ball in his hands. Bigs cannot accomplish much without guards who set them up. Ayton not only was not a guard, he did not have even an average point guard to get him the ball. Its just the nature of the beast regarding guards and bigs. Now, Ayton could have made more of an impact on defense than he did. But Doncic was no defensive world-beater either.

Doncic had a fantastic rookie year. He handled the offense like a veteran star. He deserved his ROY award. But I still think Ayton will dominate in this league with the right guard combo.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The Suns may have overpaid a bit for Rubio but that is as far as it goes.

Most fans would be upset if the Suns tried to save a buck filling their most pressing team need. Finally the Suns have some players that can play point guard.

I do not care what the outsiders think. Their favorite thing is kicking the Suns anyway.

If overpaying for Rubio makes Ayton and Booker significantly better, it is well worth it. Remember Monopoly? You will pay more than anyone else for Park Place if you already own Boardwalk.

At least that is how I am trying to look at it right now. It seems like you can never absolutely be sure what you are going to get when you add a player--any player--to a team. I learned that last year the hard way with Ariza.

 

[Hoop Head]

Back to Cam Johnson, the 7SOL podcast posted this video and while it's just a highlight video, Cam looks really comfortable moving the ball upcourt. He seems to have better handles than Bridges, or is more comfortable than Mikal. I don't expect Cam to handle the ball a lot but it appears he can put the ball on the court occasionally.

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[Yuma]

i think the fact that he put up statistically one of the best rookie seasons ever and helped the Mavs win 14 games more than they did the prior season is why he was so popular.

We don't get the coverage he gets in Dallas, but predraft I listened to a one hour documentary on him, and this guy is charismatic, too. That's where I came up with my crazy idea of going all in to get the second overall pick, too and try to get Ayton AND Doncic. As a GM, my thought would be pairing those two with Booker, would be our big three. Probably would have took three first round picks and three second round picks. I would have done it, though! I still don't know if Cuban would have traded that pick for three first rounders.

 

[GatorAZ]

We don't get the coverage he gets in Dallas, but predraft I listened to a one hour documentary on him, and this guy is charismatic, too. That's where I came up with my crazy idea of going all in to get the second round pick, too and try to get Ayton AND Doncic. As a GM, my thought would be pairing those two with Booker, would be our big three. Probably would have took three first round picks and three second round picks. I would have done it, though! I still don't know if Cuban would have traded that pick for three first rounders.

I’m a Luka guy but think the Suns have a brighter future than Dallas. You could argue we have 4-5 guys better guys than their third best player and even if Porzingis is healthy we don’t know how effective he’ll be after a bunch of injuries.

Depending on how both team progress over the next two years I think we’ll see FA competition between the two in 2021. They do have the ownership edge...

 

[Hoop Head]

We don't get the coverage he gets in Dallas, but predraft I listened to a one hour documentary on him, and this guy is charismatic, too. That's where I came up with my crazy idea of going all in to get the second overall pick, too and try to get Ayton AND Doncic. As a GM, my thought would be pairing those two with Booker, would be our big three. Probably would have took three first round picks and three second round picks. I would have done it, though! I still don't know if Cuban would have traded that pick for three first rounders.

Doesn't matter what Cuban would have wanted since it was the Hawks pick that selected him at #3. We could have tried trading with Sacramento or Atlanta to get Doncic and just had to beat the Mavericks offer. Of course the Mavericks had the #5 pick, which made it a very enticing deal for the Hawks who had their eye on Trae Young. That allowed them to still get their guy and add assets.

 

[JCSunsfan]

We don't get the coverage he gets in Dallas, but predraft I listened to a one hour documentary on him, and this guy is charismatic, too. That's where I came up with my crazy idea of going all in to get the second round pick, too and try to get Ayton AND Doncic. As a GM, my thought would be pairing those two with Booker, would be our big three. Probably would have took three first round picks and three second round picks. I would have done it, though! I still don't know if Cuban would have traded that pick for three first rounders.

Doesn't matter what Cuban would have wanted since it was the Hawks pick that selected him at #3. We could have tried trading with Sacramento or Atlanta to get Doncic and just had to beat the Mavericks offer. Of course the Mavericks had the #5 pick, which made it a very enticing deal for the Hawks who had their eye on Trae Young. That allowed them to still get their guy and add assets.

There was no way we were going to get Luka without giving up the #1 pick or Booker. But it is a nice thought.

 

[SunnyBaller]

There was no way we were going to get Luka without giving up the #1 pick or Booker. But it is a nice thought.

I didn't quite get the first sentence, did you mean there #1 next year? Because you don't trade the number #1 pick for the #3. At the time the had there other pick, future firsts and JJ actually had trade value back then so it was probably possible just would have cost alot

 

[AzStevenCal]

There was no way we were going to get Luka without giving up the #1 pick or Booker. But it is a nice thought.

From Dallas yes, from Atlanta maybe not. Not that it matters to me, I think giving away the farm for Doncic was the wrong way to go. I was in favor of giving up something like 3 picks plus Josh and TJ for Trae Young and still think that would have been a great move for us.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I didn't quite get the first sentence, did you mean there #1 next year? Because you don't trade the number #1 pick for the #3. At the time the had there other pick, future firsts and JJ actually had trade value back then so it was probably possible just would have cost alot

Right. You don't trade the #1 for the #3, but the #1 was all that we had that they would take for Luka. So there was no way we could get both Ayton and Luka. A future first rounder(s) would never cut it.

People pan us for not taking Luka. Not sure why I do not hear more about Atlanta and Sacramento not taking him.

 

[Yuma]

We would have kept Ayton with our number one pick last year. It would have been three FUTURE first round picks, and probably three future second rounders. Probably would have to give up a haul to get that second pick. To me it would have been worth it to have that Booker, Ayton, Doncic big three.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

I am not so sure that Booker and Doncic could co-exist easily. Doncic is built to lead his team, as is Booker. Just my opinion, but I think one would be asking for a trade in 2/3 years.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I am not so sure that Booker and Doncic could co-exist easily. Doncic is built to lead his team, as is Booker. Just my opinion, but I think one would be asking for a trade in 2/3 years.

We are in a league of superstars teaming up. I think it is far fetched to think that two guys that have on and off ball skills couldn’t coexist. That being said I really don’t think a scenario of getting both Doncic and Ayton was any sort of real option without trading Booker.

 

[SirStefan32]

I am not so sure that Booker and Doncic could co-exist easily. Doncic is built to lead his team, as is Booker. Just my opinion, but I think one would be asking for a trade in 2/3 years.

Booker and Doncic would be a deadly duo on offense. Defensively, they would be awful, but they could coexist easily.