Suns trade for Royce O'Neale and David Roddy

[Ronin]

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[SirStefan32]

That would be on brand for James Jones. I'm not against Azabuike getting a regular contract but I'd hope we get someone better than him or Lee for at least 1 spot.


Frank the Tank is available. Let's bring him in. I'm only half joking about that.

I actually think he would be really good as a Nurkic backup. He can pass AND hit the three. Now imagine throwing a lineup of nothing but shooters out there and daring them to double Booker, KD, or Beal- whoever is on the floor at that time.

 

[Suns_fan69]

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I was feeling pretty good about the trade until this tweet.

 

[Lefty]

Here is a piece from ESPN+ regarding the Suns report card for their trades:
Phoenix Suns grade: A-

When I wrote about the biggest needs for contending teams last month, I argued that adding another 3-and-D wing was more important for the Suns than their ballyhooed lack of traditional point guards. Evidently, Phoenix agreed, landing O'Neale as their big addition at the deadline.

Aside from Phoenix's stars, O'Neale might be the strongest role player on the roster with balanced contributions at both ends. Limited because of his 6-4 stature and lack of athleticism, O'Neale is certainly a better defender than the Suns' best shooters (Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon) and with his career 38% from 3 he is more of a perimeter threat than Phoenix stoppers Josh Okogie (27% this year) and Bates-Diop (31%).

Since O'Neale isn't elite at either end of the court, it's possible he's squeezed out of Phoenix's postseason finishing five in favor of Okogie for defense or Allen's superior shooting. (Allen leads the NBA by making 49% of his 3s this season.) Still, O'Neale got a better chance of finishing games than a point guard who would have been stuck spotting up with the Suns' offense running through Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.

As a bonus, O'Neale is an underrated passer who's averaged better than four assists per 36 minutes each of the last two seasons. He might not have as many assisting opportunities but with Goodwin's departure, no Suns reserve has averaged more than Gordon's 2.7 assists per 36 minutes.

The mechanics of how Phoenix acquired O'Neale without including any players making more than the minimum salary are interesting in their own right. By including Memphis in this deal, the Suns were able to take Roddy into their trade exception from last year's deadline deal that sent Dario Saric to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then all four minimum contracts were aggregated, giving just enough spending power to add O'Neale.

Because Phoenix's salary will exceed next year's second luxury-tax apron, Thursday was the last day the Suns could aggregate salaries together. Now, they can re-sign O'Neale -- an unrestricted free agent at season's end -- for any amount and potentially trade him for smaller salaries down the road.

That creativity comes with a luxury-tax cost. Before Phoenix fills either of the roster spots created by this trade, their tax bill has already increased $13.5 million with this trade to a total of $64 million -- third-highest in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers.

 

[Raindog]

That would be on brand for James Jones. I'm not against Azabuike getting a regular contract but I'd hope we get someone better than him or Lee for at least 1 spot.


Frank the Tank is available. Let's bring him in. I'm only half joking about that.

Totally on par for James Jones. He has to be one of the most low risk/low reward GMs in the league. And before anyone mentions trading for Durant, we all know that wasn't him.

 

[itlnsunsfan]

3D wings are exactly the kind of players that best complement the big 3. O'Neale is an above average defender and a career 38% 3pt shooter. He's about as good a pick up as we could've hoped for. I think Roddy is an interesting project as well.

 

[itlnsunsfan]

I actually think he would be really good as a Nurkic backup. He can pass AND hit the three. Now imagine throwing a lineup of nothing but shooters out there and daring them to double Booker, KD, or Beal- whoever is on the floor at that time.

I wouldn't mind picking up Kaminsky one bit.

 

[itlnsunsfan]

I liked Goodwin. I see him as an Okogie-lite. However, like Okogie, his defensive value can largely be erased on the other end by his lack of 3pt shooting. The opponent can sag off to kill spacing, thus, reducing offensive efficiency. To truly make it as a role player in today's NBA, unless a player is otherworldly at a particular skill, it is absolutely essential for a player to be able to contribute on both ends of the floor. Currently, the combination of capable 3pt shooting and defense is of particular value. Anybody that can do both of these things at an above average NBA level will always see playing time, let alone have a job.

 

[SirStefan32]

Here is a piece from ESPN+ regarding the Suns report card for their trades:
Phoenix Suns grade: A-


Aside from Phoenix's stars, O'Neale might be the strongest role player on the roster with balanced contributions at both ends. Limited because of his 6-4 stature and lack of athleticism, O'Neale is certainly a better defender than the Suns' best shooters (Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon) and with his career 38% from 3 he is more of a perimeter threat than Phoenix stoppers Josh Okogie (27% this year) and Bates-Diop (31%).

That's a really good summary. He gives you significantly better defense than Allen and Gordon, and he gives you significantly better shooting than Okogie, KBT, etc. He is not a defensive stopper and he is not an elite shooter, but he is a good/ plus on defense and at shooting. Part of the issue with this team is that they don't have a "three and D" guy. They have "three" guys and they have "D" guys, but until Royce, they did not have a single player who was a three AND D guy.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I liked Goodwin. I see him as an Okogie-lite. However, like Okogie, his defensive value can largely be erased on the other end by his lack of 3pt shooting. The opponent can sag off to kill spacing, thus, reducing offensive efficiency. To truly make it as a role player in today's NBA, unless a player is otherworldly at a particular skill, it is absolutely essential for a player to be able to contribute on both ends of the floor. Currently, the combination of capable 3pt shooting and defense is of particular value. Anybody that can do both of these things at an above average NBA level will always see playing time, let alone have a job.

I really wanted Goodwin to succeed too. He could have found a nice space if he wasn't such a black hole on offense and was better at drive and kicks but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

 

[Phrazbit]

I really wanted Goodwin to succeed too. He could have found a nice space if he wasn't such a black hole on offense and was better at drive and kicks but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I think he might find his way, good defenders get lots of chances, but we don’t have the luxury of letting him learn through failure.

 

[itlnsunsfan]

Here is a piece from ESPN+ regarding the Suns report card for their trades:
Phoenix Suns grade: A-

When I wrote about the biggest needs for contending teams last month, I argued that adding another 3-and-D wing was more important for the Suns than their ballyhooed lack of traditional point guards. Evidently, Phoenix agreed, landing O'Neale as their big addition at the deadline.

Aside from Phoenix's stars, O'Neale might be the strongest role player on the roster with balanced contributions at both ends. Limited because of his 6-4 stature and lack of athleticism, O'Neale is certainly a better defender than the Suns' best shooters (Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon) and with his career 38% from 3 he is more of a perimeter threat than Phoenix stoppers Josh Okogie (27% this year) and Bates-Diop (31%).

Since O'Neale isn't elite at either end of the court, it's possible he's squeezed out of Phoenix's postseason finishing five in favor of Okogie for defense or Allen's superior shooting. (Allen leads the NBA by making 49% of his 3s this season.) Still, O'Neale got a better chance of finishing games than a point guard who would have been stuck spotting up with the Suns' offense running through Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.

As a bonus, O'Neale is an underrated passer who's averaged better than four assists per 36 minutes each of the last two seasons. He might not have as many assisting opportunities but with Goodwin's departure, no Suns reserve has averaged more than Gordon's 2.7 assists per 36 minutes.

The mechanics of how Phoenix acquired O'Neale without including any players making more than the minimum salary are interesting in their own right. By including Memphis in this deal, the Suns were able to take Roddy into their trade exception from last year's deadline deal that sent Dario Saric to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then all four minimum contracts were aggregated, giving just enough spending power to add O'Neale.

Because Phoenix's salary will exceed next year's second luxury-tax apron, Thursday was the last day the Suns could aggregate salaries together. Now, they can re-sign O'Neale -- an unrestricted free agent at season's end -- for any amount and potentially trade him for smaller salaries down the road.

That creativity comes with a luxury-tax cost. Before Phoenix fills either of the roster spots created by this trade, their tax bill has already increased $13.5 million with this trade to a total of $64 million -- third-highest in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers.

If we were to create the perfect NBA owner in a lab, could we have done much better than Ishbia? Going from arguably the worst owner in the league to Ishbia, I feel like Will Smith in The Pursuit Of Happyness when he was told that he got the job.

 

[BirdGangThing]

I'm good with O'Neal and curious about Roddy - hearing good things about O'Neal playing hard

 

[clyde2tw]

I guess that's the best trade we could get and it's a good trade for the Suns for their goals. We tried out many min. level players, Gordon, Okogie, Eubanks, Bol panned out fitting, KBD，Yuta, Metu, Goodwin not so, and we now replace the latter with a known commodity in ONeill and another propect in Roddy. Great progress.
PS: Look at our roster, the starters and potential rotation players KD, Book, Beal, Allen, EG, RO, JO, Little, Roddy can switch smoothly on D, that alone neutralizes a lot of off. sets the other team can use.

 

[Germz249]

Trade deadline is over right?? We dodge the Torrey Craig bullet..

 

[Proximo]

I really wanted Goodwin to succeed too. He could have found a nice space if he wasn't such a black hole on offense and was better at drive and kicks but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

He's not.

I do not understand fans acting like he sucked on offense. He had 3 bad games shooting and it's like everyone forgets the first 2 months of the season.

 

[Mainstreet]

Trade deadline is over right?? We dodge the Torrey Craig bullet..

Torrey Craig wouldn't have been terrible, but the Suns have been there and done that. It was time to move on.

 

[BirdGangThing]

Vogel should be happy - he wasn't utilizing anyone but Diop and even that was sparingly

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

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He had 17pts in a fourth quarter? Now you know why we acquired him.

 

[nashman]

He had 17pts in a fourth quarter? Now you know why we acquired him.

Well he’s young and has talent not a bad pickup imo. And brings some size and can bang inside…

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Former Warriors GM Bob Meyers likes the Suns addition of Royce O'Neale.

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Love Bob Myers loving Royce. Guess we will see.

 

[Yuma]

I was feeling pretty good about the trade until this tweet.

I was feeling bad about the trade until that tweet!

 

[Yuma]

He had 17pts in a fourth quarter? Now you know why we acquired him.

Our guys get 17 points in the fourth, over 17 games though.

 

[Yuma]

We did free up two roster spots for the buy out market!!

 

[Sunstroke]

Love the O'Neale pickup. I doubt Roddy even gets rotation minutes when
the Suns make the playoffs. Glad to see the garbage disguised as bench players
shoveled out of the organization today.