Rivers and Melton should be fine this season
but our pg of the future needs to be a smart, creative passer
when we invested in AYTON over Doncic and others
we knew we'd only realize his potential when paired with a crafty facilitator
a key criticism of the Sarver regime has been lack of a team identity/game plan
--having above average point guards then having only backups
and drafting and trading for duplicate parts at other positions
the plan over the next year needs to be to make a starting pg
the 3rd most important piece of this team
Booker + Ayton + ?
iow, we should plan on Rivers, Melton, or Okobo being our backup Point Guard Of The Future
with Ayton and Holmes, the Suns are probably the best they've ever been at center
both are young and need to be properly fed
Rivers is gone after this seadon. We need to plan on either Melton or Okobo being our back-up combo guard of the future in the Leandro Barbose role and consider using the other one as a trade chip to acquire one of what I believe our greatest needs to be:
1. A veteran distributing NBA veteran starting point guard who is a good, reliable, smart passer, has a good enough outside shot to keep opposing defenses honest and who is at least an average and willing defender; and
2. A veteran NBA veteran starting power forward who is a solid rebounder who can share that burden with Ayton, who is a solid and versatile defender and who has enough of a jump shot to keep our offensive spacing what it needs to be.
I've discussed at length the realistic options available for #1 (and I'm afraid they're not that great, with Dragic, Rubio, Russell or Teague likely being the best we can do, and then only if we overpay drastically).
For #2, I concur that Randle would be ideal. Mirotic might work there as well. I don't think Harris is realistic, nor do I think he brings what we need at that position in terms of rebounding and defense. I'm kind of at a loss for who else might be realistically available to fill this need.
