Chriss and Knight traded

[ColdPickleNachos]

I'm torn on this trade. I really don't like adding Anderson's salary; that's a bummer. However, I am a Melton fan and, most importantly, am very excited about not having to watch Knight lead this team next year. We don't have a starting-caliber point guard after this trade, but I would argue we didn't have one before the trade either.

 

[BC867]

I guess at the end of the day I am not excited that this is the big trade we were waiting for. The only thing I can see is both Knight and Chriss were viewed negatively. We got rid of those "problems" so now that opens the board up when we make the NEXT trade?

Maybe we look at this like chess, looking two or three moves ahead?

I see that most of the reaction is against the trade. I agree with Yuma and think that it is Step 1 in the ol' addition by subtraction.

You don't bring the #1 draft pick, and a Center at that, into a roster with what most of us have regarded as too many negatives.

I'll be anxious to see the next step, particularly at Point Guard. And I am glad to see that McDonough did not put his ego first and keep troubled players.

 

[Yuma]

Not sure why everyone is so upset over this.

I actually do think Knight will be a good fit in Houston, if he can every stay healthy. Ideally, he provides some upside off the bench at guard, can hit from three, plus has his moments getting to the rim. Never been a fan of Chriss, so I think thats addition by subtraction alone. Hes a solid buy low in Houston's system though.

Anderson makes a lot of sense considering the way the roster is currently constructed. Suns have more than enough defense right now. They need to keep building out the spacing, and Anderson will slide into that role quite well. Not to mention, if you play him with Ayton, the two can easily switch defensive assignments based on match ups. Suns have Anderson covered on the wing and in the post defensively, so hes a solid fit in my mind. The extra ~$5.5 the Suns lose in flexibility next summer is inconsequential right now.

Adding Melton is another a good move. Quality perimeter defender, and a guy who looks like yet another Drew Hanlan success story (one of the best shooting coaches in the world). I like Melton, although I question what he provides the Suns the next few years. Luckily, he has some shot creators next to him, plus a switchy defensive scheme, a primary ball handler, and plenty of spacing. He would have been better off in Houston, developing slowing around all that talent, but the Suns offer more minutes in a hopefully friendly environment.

Quality deal for both teams, IMO.

Could be. I am thinking the press we had for both Chriss and Knight had hit national note. We trade those guys, and now we have a roster with nuetral to a great player. So the team has dealt two negatives. I think this is a setup for a future move.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

This trade makes our team better and I think a lot of the negativity here is a symptom of fans of a team overvaluing their own players. Hou fans are not all that thrilled with this either, which tells me it's probably a pretty fair trade. Anderson at 4, allowing Ariza to play his natural 3, is an upgrade at both positions for us. Knight is addition by subtraction, and Melton has the best ceiling at this point of any of the 4 players.

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[BC867]

Anderson at 4, allowing Ariza to play his natural 3, is an upgrade at both positions for us.

Key point! In addition, a solid Power Forward can take pressure off a young Center.

Conversely, covering PF with a natural Small Forward puts more pressure on the kid.

 

[Yuma]

This trade makes our team better and I think a lot of the negativity here is a symptom of fans of a team overvaluing their own players. Hou fans are not all that thrilled with this either, which tells me it's probably a pretty fair trade. Anderson at 4, allowing Ariza to play his natural 3, is an upgrade at both positions for us. Knight is addition by subtraction, and Melton has the best ceiling at this point of any of the 4 players.

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Thank you for the clip! I see some upside to this guy. Hopefully we got a quality back up.

 

[Yuma]

Key point! In addition, a solid Power Forward can take pressure off a young Center.

Conversely, covering PF with a natural Small Forward puts more pressure on the kid.

We will see if Anderson starts. If so you have Anderson, Ariza, and Ayton on the front lines starters, You have to find minutes for Bridges, TJ and JJ. It will be interesting how the puzzle pieces fit here.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm not mad at the trade, I'm just confused. I don't see why we did it. So, it's wait and see for me.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

We will see if Anderson starts. If so you have Anderson, Ariza, and Ayton on the front lines starters, You have to find minutes for Bridges, TJ and JJ. It will be interesting how the puzzle pieces fit here.

If we don't trade Warren (+??) for a starting caliber point guard, I would envision a lineup of Booker, Jackson, Ariza, Anderson, Ayton - with Harrison, Bridges, TJ, Bender, Chandler as the second unit. That actually looks like a real NBA roster, frankly. Not a great one, but a bunch of solid names in there which is something we haven't had in a while.

 

[Yuma]

Starters: Harrison ( gotta pick someone at PG, I don't care who!), Booker, Ariza, Anderson, Ayton. Second unit Bender, Raschaun, TJ, JJ and Okoboe? Bridges our 6th man? I thought Bridges had been slated as a starter even though a rookie? You guys help me!

 

[BC867]

We will see if Anderson starts. If so you have Anderson, Ariza, and Ayton on the front lines starters, You have to find minutes for Bridges, TJ and JJ. It will be interesting how the puzzle pieces fit here.

Anderson/Ariza/Ayton ... is that AAA Roadside Assistance?

It will be interesting to see what the three bigger positions look like (starters and backup) at the beginning of the season.

As long as we don't pit our young players against each other throughout the season as we did last year.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Ok. Trying to think this through. Didn’t Igor coach Ryno somewhere along the way? Is it fair to say that Anderson is a better fit with Ayton than Chriss? Is Anderson’s style offense the best model for Bender to follow?

Seems to me Igor wants a few vets and is willing to dump some young talent to get them. I do believe this trade is Igor driven. He probably became convinced that BK just would not work in his offense.

That’s the best I can come up with. This trade is still a head scratcher to me. If we traded BK and Chriss for nothing, it might make more sense.

It’s probably just the new coach cleaning house. He didn’t want them and wasn’t going to use them. So they got a shooter and a young pg prospect.

 

[Evil Ash]

I'm not mad at the trade, I'm just confused. I don't see why we did it. So, it's wait and see for me.

We could be making this move to get pieces for another. I believe there's a 2 day window to trade players we get in one trade to trade them to another, so we're likely to find out something in that timeframe. As it stands now this trade is a confusing one.

We gain salary but since we have the stretch provision, it doesn't hurt too much. Melton looks like a good player but seems redundant with Okobo (all youth at PG?).

Maybe this gets us pieces for a Kemba trade. Kupchak is always a weird one to figure out what he wants (ie his seeming obsession with Mozgov).

 

[Suns_fan69]

There has to be another shoe waiting to drop for a PG. I don't think it's fair to evaluate this trade until that happens. As of right now though, it's a complete head scratcher. I agree with most of you, losing Knight and Chriss made sense. Ryan Anderson makes no sense to me.

 

[JCSunsfan]

There has to be another shoe waiting to drop for a PG. I don't think it's fair to evaluate this trade until that happens. As of right now though, it's a complete head scratcher. I agree with most of you, losing Knight and Chriss made sense. Ryan Anderson makes no sense to me.

We always say that, but there rarely is.

 

[Raze]

I was a fan of picking Melton at #31 over Okobo. He just compliments Book better and is an underrated passer. Here was my take on him in May:

D'Anthony Melton is an interesting prospect. A potential PG at 6-4 with a 6-8 reach. CRAZY good defender and has a natural instinct for the game. His timing on blocks and steals are exceptional. He also has good vision as his 2:1 A/TO ratio indicates. 3 pt shooting percentage is horrible, but his form isn't. I could see that getting better.

The FBI thing might be a blessing in disguise for teams as he'll cost less to draft. Could land him at #31, but has a skill set that would be in the teens in other drafts. Personally I like what he has to offer more than his comps: Holiday or Brunson. They don't compliment Book like he does.

He certainly isn't a starting PG right now. But he sure as heck is a great player to come off the bench to be a jack of all trades defender. 2 S/G and 1 B/G is really good for 27 minutes. He really does have the potential to be a star defensive PG in the Gary Payton range. Probably similar assists as well.

That said, this trade is beyond weird (which is far too typical for McD).

Anderson needs to retire. Not only does he suck, he costs a fortune for 2 years. He's a -5 on the pick up and single handedly makes this trade a loss. For those calling this trade a wash I'd ask you to watch this guy play basketball. Enjoy all those 9pts/gm and 5rb/gm highlights. Then watch him play D. And then remember that he gets $20M a year. No way does this guy deserve to start let alone be on the team. Loss.

While I love picking up Melton, he did just go #46 in the draft. Yes, he had a few good SL games under his belt, but c'mon man. If we wanted him that bad he would have been a heckuva lot cheaper than this. Standard trade value at #46 during the draft was a future 2nd. Loss.

Chriss had one bad season. ONE. And he's only one season removed from an All Rookie 2nd team. I've said numerous times I'm not a fan of Chriss, but selling this low is foolish. McD continues to show his ineptitude for trades as he sells at the lowest point possible. Chriss should have been traded the second they drafted Bridges and WELL before we signed Ariza. Loss.

Knight was initially acquired in a terrible trade. Agreed. But why compound the issue by selling now? This is about as low as he can get in value. Why not start him in a rebuilding year, let him show he has some ability left, and then mid season trade him like anyone with half a brain would? No matter how bad he was this year he'd have to worth more than the #46 spot AND a $20M scrub. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Knight will outshine Anderson this year. Heck, he might look amazing on a Houston squad that ignores D and constantly shoots from all over the place. Sorry, as much as I don't like Knight as my PG, he's WAY better than Anderson on the floor... at all. Loss.

This trade sucks. McD is absolutely awful at this aspect of his job. Please Sarver, for the hundredth time, place McD's sole responsibility on drafting prospects. He's good at that. Find ANYONE else to do signings and trades. Give James Jones a try. He can't be worse.

 

[Hoop Head]

The most valuable piece of the trade was 2019 capspace, I don't think anyone is upset about Chriss and Knight being shipped.

That doesn't make sense since we took on more salary for the 2019-20 season. Anderson has 2 years left on his deal for about $8 million more than Knight. So why swap the 2? Sure, we shed Chriss for Melton but why couldn't they have made a straight swap of Chriss for Melton if they really wanted him? I know salaries don't match but bring in a third team to make it work. Something is off. I don't hate getting Anderson but now the Ariza signing makes less sense. We're now overloaded with wings and Anderson taking the starting PF spot will steal around 25-30 minutes from Ariza that they'll need to squeeze out of the wing positions.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Chriss had one bad season. ONE. And he's only one season removed from an All Rookie 2nd team. I've said numerous times I'm not a fan of Chriss, but selling this low is foolish. McD continues to show his ineptitude for trades as he sells at the lowest point possible. Chriss should have been traded the second they drafted Bridges and WELL before we signed Ariza. Loss.

You're presuming there was a market for Chriss and I don't believe that's the case. Gambo told us in the middle of the season that we were trying to move him, I suspect we were hard pressed to find a taker.

I wouldn't have called either of his seasons "bad", more like comfortably below average. But it really wasn't just one worrisome season - it was two worrisome seasons. We made allowances for his disappointing rookie season because he made the all rookie 2nd team and because he was so young and because he improved throughout the season. But it wasn't a very strong class and Chriss was given consistent minutes unlike most rookies.

Statistically, there isn't all that much difference between his first two seasons. And the fight with the strength coach obviously didn't sit well with the team and probably not with the league either. Throw in the lack of conditioning and the comments he made about where his head was at and it's no wonder we're selling low.

I do have a real problem with what Ryan did with Chriss. Not the trade, that just confuses me. I have a real problem with his decision to draft the guy in the first place. Anyone that watched multiple games of his should have been scared away. And we didn't just draft him, we paid a premium to draft an extreme long-shot project. That's far more stupid than trading him for Ryan Anderson IMO.

 

[AzStevenCal]

That doesn't make sense since we took on more salary for the 2019-20 season. Anderson has 2 years left on his deal for about $8 million more than Knight. So why swap the 2? Sure, we shed Chriss for Melton but why couldn't they have made a straight swap of Chriss for Melton if they really wanted him? I know salaries don't match but bring in a third team to make it work. Something is off. I don't hate getting Anderson but now the Ariza signing makes less sense. We're now overloaded with wings and Anderson taking the starting PF spot will steal around 25-30 minutes from Ariza that they'll need to squeeze out of the wing positions.

I think you may have misinterpreted his post. I believe he was making the point that many of us are upset because we gave away valuable cap space.

 

[Errntknght]

I think I understand the trade. First Knight and Chriss were two of Ryan's mistakes and its easier to forget them if they're not around. They are not fan favorites either so there won't be a hue and cry about their departure. It is certainly possible that Igor was glad not to have to try to rehabilitate Knight. Second, Ryan Anderson is 10 year vet and we're close to having a void at PF and he's a stretch 4, at that. If you say it quick, he sounds like the perfect pickup - and McD doesn't mind spending Sarver's money. What's not to like? Third, Melton lighting it up in summer league made McD concerned about passing on him to draft Okobo. He found an easy fix for that.

Personally, I like getting shed of Knight and Chriss, especially Knight. If Melton is as good a defender as Harrison, I like him... well, provisionally at this point. Anderson gives us something closer to a legit PF than anybody currently on the team - at 8 million, he'd probably be worth it. Heck, it might even increase Ayton's self confidence playing against him in practice. Ariza will probably be happy not to play much at PF - so more time for tutoring our young wings. It does overcrowd us yet more at SF, but those who believe the more wings the better in the modern NBA, will be tickled. IMO, we're slightly better from the trade and perhaps we'll have a happier and more cohesive team.

 

[Hoop Head]

I think you may have misinterpreted his post. I believe he was making the point that many of us are upset because we gave away valuable cap space.

I see what you're saying, yeah I read that wrong. That's the main issue with that trade, IMO, and I imagine I'm not alone in thinking that. Knight and Chriss are what they are, best case scenario for this season would have involved them being average players. The odds of both of them playing at that level were slim and I don't think anyone will miss either of them. The cap space we lose next year hurts and it only makes sense to sacrifice that now if we're bringing in a PG that can run the team for a few seasons as soon as possible.

I'm still scratching my head because our need for a PG just became even greater than it was and I didn't think that was possible. If any teams thought they could negotiate with us from a position of power because we need to move a wing and add a PG then this just weakens our footing even more. I don't like the idea of Booker playing big minutes at PG out of necessity either. It would be one thing if he were covering for an injured player but it appears we're pushing him into that role regardless of how he or Kokoskov feel about it. One more trade could get all of our pieces to fall into place but I don't really trust McD to pull it off anymore. Instead of being optimistic about moves headed into the season I'm now scared to hear the Suns made another trade.

 

[taz02]

Booker is going to be our primary PG / Ball handler while we develop the rookies.

I think this will work just fine since the new additions will take some of the scoring pressure away from Booker.

 

[boisesuns]

So why the drop off recently from Anderson? Was he hurt last year? He was barely in the playoff rotation for Houston if I remember correctly.

I do wonder if some of the drop off is also how much harden and Paul have the ball?

 

[Krangodnzr]

He is literally worse than Bender. He is Bender without defense. They MUST be really high on Melton, but they drafted Okobo over him, so that doesn't make sense either.

This just isn't true. Bender is by most measurements one of the worst players in the NBA. He has loads of potential but right now...

 

[SunsTzu]

That doesn't make sense since we took on more salary for the 2019-20 season. Anderson has 2 years left on his deal for about $8 million more than Knight. So why swap the 2? Sure, we shed Chriss for Melton but why couldn't they have made a straight swap of Chriss for Melton if they really wanted him? I know salaries don't match but bring in a third team to make it work. Something is off. I don't hate getting Anderson but now the Ariza signing makes less sense. We're now overloaded with wings and Anderson taking the starting PF spot will steal around 25-30 minutes from Ariza that they'll need to squeeze out of the wing positions.

I didn't say that the Suns received capspace. I'm pretty strongly against this trade on it's own.

I wasn't expecting much this upcoming season, but with a strong FA class and a lot of space I thought 2019 was when they could make a real push.

Also regardless of how good Melton might be, they just added a fourth rookie to a team that had the worst record.