Bridges or DiVincenzo + Miami 2021

[Folster]

By all accounts, the Suns were poised to take DiVincenzo with #16. This was reported by Gambo and verified by McDonough in not so many words today on the Doug and Wolf show.

So the question to everyone is who would you rather have had, Bridges or DiVincenzo and the Miami 2021.

 

[Chaplin]

Absolutely Bridges. #1 Wing in the entire draft. And the Miami pick is literally 3 years away. Even assuming a Miami rebuild, who's to say they will still be rebuilding in 2021? Pat Riley doesn't seem to be someone that would be satisfied with losing for that long.

Miami hasn't had 3 consecutive losing seasons since they were created back in 1988-1991. They simply don't string bad seasons together that would put them in a position for a top 5 pick.

 

[Mainstreet]

It depends how good Bridges is going to be. Way too early to assess this. The Suns decided the future is now.

This draft was rich in PGs. By drafting Bridges at #10, the Suns were able to add a forward and then come back and get a quality PG prospect at #31.

The Suns nailed this draft.

 

[elindholm]

For me it depends on how they plan to use Bridges, and what that means for Jackson. I see posters here penciling one or the other of them in at PF, which will not work except in short stretches. If acquiring Bridges means that this team is going to go forward as Deandre And The Squirts, put me in the "don't like it" column.

Also, I realize that it's fashionable on this board to dump on Warren, but he was an asset -- until now. Now it's obvious that the Suns don't want him, which will hurt his trade value. So that needs to be factored in as well.

 

[Rab]

I'm torn a little. Throwing the Miami pick in the mix is what left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The more I read about Bridges, the more I think he would be a great fit. I like that they got aggressive to get their guy, but like previously stated, too early to tell.

 

[Chaplin]

For me it depends on how they plan to use Bridges, and what that means for Jackson. I see posters here penciling one or the other of them in at PF, which will not work except in short stretches.

Why not?

 

[Chaplin]

I'm torn a little. Throwing the Miami pick in the mix is what left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The more I read about Bridges, the more I think he would be a great fit. I like that they got aggressive to get their guy, but like previously stated, too early to tell.

Miami pick isn't going to be as great as you think it will be.

 

[Finito]

Bridges easy. The term 3&D was created for this kid. He's the prototype. He shoots 43% from 3 and 51% from the field. He's super athletic can blow by you and dunk on you just as easy. He's a flat out lock down defender 6'7 with a 7'2 wing span. I freaking love this pick.

 

[Folster]

Miami pick isn't going to be as great as you think it will be.

I don't see how you can say that so definitively.

 

[Ronin]

I would rather have Bridges and Donte Divncenzo.
I wasn't attached to the Miami pick.

 

[Mainstreet]

McDonough talks about Mikal Bridges. He was on the Suns radar and their target.

The Suns also had the 16th pick, though McDonough mentioned they wanted to move up and had conversations with several teams in an attempt to land a second top-10 pick. Their target was Bridges, who McDonough called “the perfect 3-and-D forward”.

Speaking of the 76ers.

“They drafted Mikal, I think, with the intention of keeping him and then we said, ‘Hey, look, that’s our guy. Let’s keep this conversation going,'” McDonough said. “And then they called us back, I think, when they figured out Zhaire Smith would be there at 16. They called us back and asked if we still had interest and we did, so that’s the way the deal got done.”

“Which could be a good pick, it may not be. It’s three years out,” McDonough said, adding Bridges was well worth the high price.

“We’d look at consolidation of assets to move up for a certain player and Mikal Bridges, just with our roster needs, I mean, we need floor spacing and shooting — we thought with Deandre coming in in particular that was even more important — and we need defense and a guy who can play off the ball and be effective.”

http://arizonasports.com/story/1569418/mcdonough-2018-nba-draft-class-suns-addressed-needs/

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'd hate to have to place a bet either way. Donte might be a 30 day wonder. Bridges might be nothing more than a great college "system" player. The Miami pick could end up being the top pick in an historically strong draft or it could end up netting someone Len's less talented brother.

I'm (very mildly) concerned because Jay Wright was on NBA channel around that time and it seemed to me he was more enamored of Donte as a pro than Mikal. He praised both but Donte's seemed more enthusiastic.

 

[Rab]

Miami pick isn't going to be as great as you think it will be.

Maybe not, but maybe so. You never know what can happen. I get Miami is a stable franchise with great leadership, but they are also on that bubble much like the Suns were the last 2 years of Nash where they were just mediocre. We all know that's about the worst position you can be in a franchise. At some point, they'll either need to make a splash via free agency, or tear it down and rebuild. Who knows what that timeline looks like for them. Now, the pick is 3 years away, which if you're the Suns looking to turn the rebuild up a notch now, is a long way out. That puts me at ease a little.

 

[Cheesebeef]

For me it depends on how they plan to use Bridges, and what that means for Jackson. I see posters here penciling one or the other of them in at PF, which will not work except in short stretches. If acquiring Bridges means that this team is going to go forward as Deandre And The Squirts, put me in the "don't like it" column.

Also, I realize that it's fashionable on this board to dump on Warren, but he was an asset -- until now. Now it's obvious that the Suns don't want him, which will hurt his trade value. So that needs to be factored in as well.

agreed. They should have moved Warren before this. Now everyone knows we're looking to dump him which diminishes his value.

 

[1tinsoldier]

in the moment i would have traded Div + Miami for Porter but i would have been rash and wrong
Porter will never be dependable
at best he becomes a vital piece to your team but ends up cheerleading from bench after the intensity of the playoffs puts him on the injured list when you need him most (see Chris Paul, Kyrie 2018)

3 & D is exactly what we needed now, or later from the Miami pick

 

[Hoop Head]

By all accounts, the Suns were poised to take DiVincenzo with #16. This was reported by Gambo and verified by McDonough in not so many words today on the Doug and Wolf show.

So the question to everyone is who would you rather have had, Bridges or DiVincenzo and the Miami 2021.

Gambo whiffed badly twice yesterday and I don't think that should be overlooked so quickly. Yes the draft can get confusing with a lot happening but he made 2 horrible calls, saying the Suns were making a trade with the Clippers when it was in fact Charlotte and the Clippers doing a deal and then saying the Suns had selected DiVincenzo and actually tweeting that out while they were working a deal with Philly. Yes, plans change, but his sources within the Suns front office aren't as reliable as they once were and this draft is evidence of that. I think everything he reports about the Suns going forward needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt because he's not going to admit his mistakes and try to temper expectations with what he says about the Suns plans in free agency. He hasn't hit on anything really during the McD era and shouldn't be referenced as a major insider until their is a significant change within the Suns front office.

 

[Chaplin]

I don't see how you can say that so definitively.

You look at the history of the Miami Heat, and it's definitely not exactly reaching. Sure, it's possible it will be a good pick, but you can't say THAT definitively, either. Bridges is a great player in the hand now.

 

[hsandhu]

I posted in other thread but better here:

In the summer of 2020, miami has all their money coming off the books. except about 28 million/could be 16 million if olynyk opts out.

They'll have a TON of cap room. Realistically what are the chances they don't add some good talent. It's the city of Miami, and one of the best organizations in the nba they'll add some good talent. Certainly you would expect good enough talent to at least compete for playoffs in the east.

 

[Folster]

Gambo whiffed badly twice yesterday and I don't think that should be overlooked so quickly. Yes the draft can get confusing with a lot happening but he made 2 horrible calls, saying the Suns were making a trade with the Clippers when it was in fact Charlotte and the Clippers doing a deal and then saying the Suns had selected DiVincenzo and actually tweeting that out while they were working a deal with Philly. Yes, plans change, but his sources within the Suns front office aren't as reliable as they once were and this draft is evidence of that. I think everything he reports about the Suns going forward needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt because he's not going to admit his mistakes and try to temper expectations with what he says about the Suns plans in free agency. He hasn't hit on anything really during the McD era and shouldn't be referenced as a major insider until their is a significant change within the Suns front office.

It was confirmed my McDonough. They asked him if he was going to pick Donte. He hemmed and hawed and stated something to the effect of "let's just say we really liked a few Villanova players".

 

[hsandhu]

Gambo whiffed badly twice yesterday and I don't think that should be overlooked so quickly. Yes the draft can get confusing with a lot happening but he made 2 horrible calls, saying the Suns were making a trade with the Clippers when it was in fact Charlotte and the Clippers doing a deal and then saying the Suns had selected DiVincenzo and actually tweeting that out while they were working a deal with Philly. Yes, plans change, but his sources within the Suns front office aren't as reliable as they once were and this draft is evidence of that. I think everything he reports about the Suns going forward needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt because he's not going to admit his mistakes and try to temper expectations with what he says about the Suns plans in free agency. He hasn't hit on anything really during the McD era and shouldn't be referenced as a major insider until their is a significant change within the Suns front office.

It seems his sources are good, his methods of delivering info are bad. He had the clippers trade before anybody (woj/shams), but messed up the details.

Apparently he texted "are we(suns) trading with charlotte" and the reply back was LAC, so without confirmation he went out and reported it was suns trading with clippers.

 

[Hoop Head]

It was confirmed my McDonough. They asked him if he was going to pick Donte. He hemmed and hawed and stated something to the effect of "let's just say we really liked a few Villanova players".

Ok, I could see that and McD saying that helps but it still does speak poorly for Gambo. I was going to mention that in my last post but said enough already. McD can verify that was correct and they planned on taking him but Gambo still flubbed his handling of the info. For someone to be wrong about 2 trades the Suns were involved with on draft day is pretty bad, especially with how wrong he was. It wasn't messing up protection on the picks but he reported a deal that wasn't even happening, the LAC and Charlotte deal, and then missed the trade involving 16 completely. I think he missed the pick for 16 because he was too concerned with reporting who they'd select first instead of getting the correct info out there. Since it was so close in time to the last mistake it came across worse, IMO. Especially since he just tried deleting evidence he said the Suns were dealing with the Clippers instead of a retraction of sorts.

 

[Folster]

It seems his sources are good, his methods of delivering info are bad. He had the clippers trade before anybody (woj/shams), but messed up the details.

Apparently he texted "are we(suns) trading with charlotte" and the reply back was LAC, so without confirmation he went out and reported it was suns trading with clippers.

Yeah. I hate to defend Gambo, but he clearly has connections, but man was it amateur hour last night. I think he was embarrassed. He had gotten to cocky with his info when time was still on the clock. Also his desire to be first caused him to make the Clipper flub. Bad night for him.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Miami pick isn't going to be as great as you think it will be.

And we still have the Bucks first round pick...

 

[AzStevenCal]

Gambo whiffed badly twice yesterday and I don't think that should be overlooked so quickly. Yes the draft can get confusing with a lot happening but he made 2 horrible calls, saying the Suns were making a trade with the Clippers when it was in fact Charlotte and the Clippers doing a deal and then saying the Suns had selected DiVincenzo and actually tweeting that out while they were working a deal with Philly. Yes, plans change, but his sources within the Suns front office aren't as reliable as they once were and this draft is evidence of that. I think everything he reports about the Suns going forward needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt because he's not going to admit his mistakes and try to temper expectations with what he says about the Suns plans in free agency. He hasn't hit on anything really during the McD era and shouldn't be referenced as a major insider until their is a significant change within the Suns front office.

He was reading Woj and passing it on as his own. Woj put up a somewhat ambiguous tweet, Gambo jumped to conclusions and then delighted us all with his inside info. At least, that's how it all seemed to me. I'm not particularly bothered by it, Gambo is there for entertainment not sports news IMO. I've never thought he had a real source once Ryan/Babby closed the Sarver leak.

Spoiler: Woj tweet

Charlotte is discussing trade possibilities with the 11th pick, league sources tell ESPN. Phoenix has wanted to get back into lottery to get one of elite point guards. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is focus here.

 

[Mainstreet]

Gambo whiffed badly twice yesterday and I don't think that should be overlooked so quickly. Yes the draft can get confusing with a lot happening but he made 2 horrible calls, saying the Suns were making a trade with the Clippers when it was in fact Charlotte and the Clippers doing a deal and then saying the Suns had selected DiVincenzo and actually tweeting that out while they were working a deal with Philly. Yes, plans change, but his sources within the Suns front office aren't as reliable as they once were and this draft is evidence of that. I think everything he reports about the Suns going forward needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt because he's not going to admit his mistakes and try to temper expectations with what he says about the Suns plans in free agency. He hasn't hit on anything really during the McD era and shouldn't be referenced as a major insider until their is a significant change within the Suns front office.

I think there was a fumble on the play (using football terminology) when the Suns made a last second trade with the 76ers. Gambo knew the Suns liked Donte but the ball popped out until it was recovered. Let's give Gambo some credit for knowing a trade was in the works and he was doing his best to figure it out. No one in the Suns organization had time to give him a heads-up on what was going on. I will cut him some slack on this one.