Especially when Larry Nance, the first of the NBA's 6'10 Small Forwards, hit the roster forcing Davis to the backcourt. We'll never know if moving Walter was the plan or a reaction. I hoped it was the plan.
I'm fine with Melton and Okobo as a potential long-term backup PG's and both have the potential of becoming maybe more. Both are young, cheap and seem to accept a complementary role. Holmes is a good backup C, if we can sign him to a reasonable contract like 15mil./3year, it's OK, otherwise he is not someone who you go into a bidding war for. Besides Booker and Ayton Bridges is a keeper and so is Jackson, IMO despite his heavy struggles. He showed slight improvement this season and it would be too early to give up on him. I still hope, that one day he could become a Nic Batum-like (in his best days) player. Even if we count Warren at PF, we start to have too much wings after keeping Bridges and Jackson. Warren might be traded but I just do not see the PG who is available for Warren and represents a heavy upgrade. Trading Warren for a draft pick is more or less out of question due different reasons. That leaves Oubre as a trade candidate. He is a good player but I don't really see his future role in Phoenix, he will get a new contract soon. He might net a mid 1st rounder/late lottery pick from a desperate borderline play-off team like Detroit or New Orleans who is starving for a 3/D player, With a #12-18 pick I would target Nickeil Alexander-Watson who seems a (future) more mobile version of Malcolm Brogdon and might turn out an excellent fit to Booker.
And who would you have start at point guard for us in the meantime? We still have an immediate need for a veteran starting point guard.
Until we know what we have, and that takes time for maturity and development, we really have no idea what we need to do. Unless we change our goals. If all we care about is to no longer be an embarrassment, the solution is simple. Trade Ayton, Booker, Jackson, Oubre and a few others for solid veterans. Then, replace Koko with a coach like the one in Brooklyn and live with 35 to 40 win seasons until we can luck into a Giannis-like star with a middling pick. But Booker is going nowhere and I see no problem with spending this season trying to develop the players we believe in and jettisoning the ones we don't. But I don't mean the ones us fans believe or don't believe in, I mean the people that work with these guys every day. If we get lucky with the lottery, we take Zion and trade a few future picks and Warren for a quality starting point guard. I'm not sure who that will be but some team will likely go back to the drawing board before much longer and hopefully they'll have a PG we want. If we don't get lucky, then we draft a PG or trade it and whatever it takes to fill that position. Regardless, time (AKA patience) has to be the watchword of the day, trying to fix this mess right away should not be our priority. The cost is too high IMO.
Watching Duke play my new plan involves kidnapping a few NBA people and holding them hostage until they turn over Zion to us in the draft.
This has been the Suns motto for far too long and it's one of the reasons imo why this team has the second longest playoff drought in all of basketball. Sure no need for a panic trade but a move regardless still has to be made for at least one or two of the glaring holes on the team.
We have the second longest drought because for several years we DID NOT do what we are doing now. Youth is the culprit the past 3 seasons or so, that's it - the rest is on the shoulders of broken down old guys and bad free agent veteran signings by Sarver and company.
Good point. I'm certainly not arguing against even an average PG but It's hard to imagine an average PG could make that much of a difference. If the difference between being competitive and losing 60 games is an average PG we probably need a different system.
You might be right on the system part. The Suns need to find a better way to feed Ayton. Igor needs to be able to adapt. An average point guard might make more of a difference than might be anticipated since the Suns do not have a starter or even a good bench point guard.
Yeah, everybody expecting an “average” point guard to solve all our problems is living in a dream world. Time to develop our young players is the main thing needed.
I think poor drafting is more of the culprit than youth. If the Suns hadn't blown the 2016 draft so miserably they wouldn't be in such dire straits. They missed on Bender and Chriss while trading away the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic in the process. Also the jury is also out on Josh Jackson. The Suns have had their bites of the apple with early draft picks. It's more the draft picks have not produced. Hopefully Ayton and Bridges prove to be good selections.
