How Great is the 2017 draft class?

[JCSunsfan]

You cant trade down for these players. Tatum is rising, no way he does not go top 4.

He has been the best player over the last month and imo clearly the best fit for the Suns. In my opinion the most complete player in this draft aside of maybe Fultz.

I can see him play with either Chriss and Warren as a forward combo. Tatum looks legit 6'9.

Trading back a spot or two is not unheard of. If the Suns get a top two pick, trading back to 3 or 4 makes sense, if Tatum or Jackson is the player they want anyway.

 

[Russ Smith]

Its not even about that. Its about the fact that this is not HIS income, its his son's. I don't care how much my kids make, I am not going to live off of them (at least not until dementia starts).

Lonzo needs to dump his dad.

If that's the standard then all of these kids are in the same boat. You don't think Trier's mom is waiting for him to get paid, for example?

Lavar is trying to start a business, I wish he'd be more careful with what he says but the entire system of college basketball would fall apart if parents weren't allowed to use their kids as a future source of income.

 

[hsandhu]

I just read chad ford's big board from last week on reddit, it says different teams are split on ball vs fultz, one of the teams' it had leaning ball.... was the suns.

Seriously, if we luck out and get 1 and take ball, that will be all time dumb. If this is true, it may almost be better we get 3 or 4, to take jackson or tatum.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I just read chad ford's big board from last week on reddit, it says different teams are split on ball vs fultz, one of the teams' it had leaning ball.... was the suns.

Seriously, if we luck out and get 1 and take ball, that will be all time dumb. If this is true, it may almost be better we get 3 or 4, to take jackson or tatum.

Meh. I am pretty much back and forth on those 2 as well. I could see a scenario where either of them ends up being the better player in the future.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I like Tatum a lot as well. He looks a bit like a more modern Grant Hill.

I watched Jackson and wasnt too impressed. He looked like a role player. His offensive game needs to grow a lot for him to ever be an all star.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Tatum is growing on me. We need top 4 pick.

 

[hsandhu]

Tatum is growing on me. We need top 4 pick.

Unless suns start resting players, which inexplicably there has been no sign of, we are not getting 4. Likely 6, Orlando, Sacramento (which is horrible) and philly all should pass us.

Our best hope for tatum, is somehow get 5 and sacramento or orlando, which really need a pg, take dennis smith.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Unless suns start resting players, which inexplicably there has been no sign of, we are not getting 4. Likely 6, Orlando, Sacramento (which is horrible) and philly all should pass us.

Our best hope for tatum, is somehow get 5 and sacramento or orlando, which really need a pg, take dennis smith.

We've traded away one player from our rotation and benched two others. Also, since the end of February they've reduced Bledsoe's minutes by almost 4 per game. It might not be the ones you want but we have taken some steps.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I'm liking Josh Jackson or Jayson Tatum for the Suns. If the Suns should get the 1st or 2nd pick, I wouldn't be surprised if they flipped draft picks to get one of these players plus a first round draft pick or some other asset.

"This" And if the Suns get the sixth pick you use the Miami picks and move up for Jackson. Can't wait

 

[Mainstreet]

Unless suns start resting players, which inexplicably there has been no sign of, we are not getting 4. Likely 6, Orlando, Sacramento (which is horrible) and philly all should pass us.

Our best hope for tatum, is somehow get 5 and sacramento or orlando, which really need a pg, take dennis smith.

Here is an update by NBADraftNet. See link below.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

To calm myself, I'm starting to look at BPA scenarios if the Suns draft around #7. Drafting Markkanen would not be the worst option.

 

[Sunburn]

"This" And if the Suns get the sixth pick you use the Miami picks and move up for Jackson. Can't wait

This is suppose to be a deep draft. Trading what could turn into extremely valuable picks to move up a couple of spots seems unwise to me.

 

[hsandhu]

We've traded away one player from our rotation and benched two others. Also, since the end of February they've reduced Bledsoe's minutes by almost 4 per game. It might not be the ones you want but we have taken some steps.

Trading that player and benching the other two has given us a much better chance of winning games!

That probably wasn't the goal by management when they did it, so now you adjust and rest people, especially on back to backs.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I want Jackson I trade one of the picks.

 

[hsandhu]

I want Jackson I trade one of the picks.

So do i, would do the same, no one is making that trade.

 

[Mainstreet]

"This" And if the Suns get the sixth pick you use the Miami picks and move up for Jackson. Can't wait

I wouldn't use more than one Miami pick to move up in the draft but I prefer the Suns let the draft come to them. Now if a quality player starts to drop after the Suns pick, I start to look at it.

 

[Yuma]

The draft is just so FAR Away..........

 

[AzStevenCal]

Here is an update by NBADraftNet. See link below.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2017mock_draft

To calm myself, I'm starting to look at BPA scenarios if the Suns draft around #7. Drafting Markkanen would not be the worst option.

I'm not going to hammer on anyone just because they see it differently, I've certainly been wrong often enough in the past to know that I miss my share. That said, I still see Markkanen as perhaps the safest pick in this draft. The recent Sabonis comparisons shock me, those two have virtually nothing in common: not ceiling, nor floor, nor style.

Markkanen, IMO, will be a little better than Frye or Kaminski on the low end. His ceiling is close to Nowitzki and I think he's more likely to approach his ceiling than his floor. Passing on him because of Bender or Chriss makes no sense to me, Markkanen is less of a risk and is a better player than either of those two right now and I'd expect the gap to grow in his favor over their respective careers.

Remember, the college game is typically hard on the big man. But it isn't his performance thus far that would keep Lauri from being selected first, it's his anticipated arm length. If, for example, on measuring day they showed him with a 7'5 wingspan, he'd be the first player chosen without question IMO.

 

[AzStevenCal]

That probably wasn't the goal by management when they did it, so now you adjust and rest people, especially on back to backs.

And yet most fans here thought Tyson was having almost a career year and PJ was a legit candidate for first team all defense if not DPOY?

 

[JCSunsfan]

I'm not going to hammer on anyone just because they see it differently, I've certainly been wrong often enough in the past to know that I miss my share. That said, I still see Markkanen as perhaps the safest pick in this draft. The recent Sabonis comparisons shock me, those two have virtually nothing in common: not ceiling, nor floor, nor style.

Markkanen, IMO, will be a little better than Frye or Kaminski on the low end. His ceiling is close to Nowitzki and I think he's more likely to approach his ceiling than his floor. Passing on him because of Bender or Chriss makes no sense to me, Markkanen is less of a risk and is a better player than either of those two right now and I'd expect the gap to grow in his favor over their respective careers.

Remember, the college game is typically hard on the big man. But it isn't his performance thus far that would keep Lauri from being selected first, it's his anticipated arm length. If, for example, on measuring day they showed him with a 7'5 wingspan, he'd be the first player chosen without question IMO.

I made the comparison and it only had to do with the "high floor low ceiling" thing. Not playing style or anything else. That is how Sabonis was viewed before the last draft.

 

[slinslin]

Markkanen would never be the first player chosen even if he had a 7'6 wingspan.

He is too slow, lack of explosiveness and not particularly good at anything besides shooting.

Dirk was much more athletic.

A good comparison for Markkanen would be Mehmet Okur.

 

[slinslin]

"This" And if the Suns get the sixth pick you use the Miami picks and move up for Jackson. Can't wait

No way I would do that. Jacksons bad shooting is abig deal no matter how good he might be defensively.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Markkanen would never be the first player chosen even if he had a 7'6 wingspan.

He is too slow, lack of explosiveness and not particularly good at anything besides shooting.

Dirk was much more athletic.

A good comparison for Markkanen would be Mehmet Okur.

You should watch him play every game instead of clips now and then. I've watched Okur and I've watched Markkanen, I don't see the resemblance. At all. He's not too slow, he's fairly explosive for his size and nothing, absolutely nothing is as important as shooting well. Even if you were right and he did nothing else, being a great shooter means a lot more than any other facet of the game.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I made the comparison and it only had to do with the "high floor low ceiling" thing. Not playing style or anything else. That is how Sabonis was viewed before the last draft.

I knew you'd made the comparison but I stayed general in my comment because someone else picked up your comparison and ran with it. Personally, I think comparing either his floor or his ceiling is dead wrong. I liked Sabonis last year and thought he had a good floor for a player in our draft range at 13. IMO Markkanen has a good floor for our current draft range of 3, that's a huge difference.

And I thought Sabonis as an exiting sophomore was fairly close to his ceiling. Lauri is a smart player but IMO he shows signs of greatness, something that was never really in the future for Sabonis. Anyway, tourney play tends to firm things up for a lot of prospects so we'll see how things go. I do seem to be alone in my feelings about Markkanen and that's rarely a good sign.

 

[Russ Smith]

http://www.tmz.com/2017/03/15/lavar-ball-family-home-burglarized


Tough week for Lavar Ball.

 

[AzStevenCal]

http://www.tmz.com/2017/03/15/lavar-ball-family-home-burglarized


Tough week for Lavar Ball.

Probably looking for Big Baller gear, those T Shirts aren't cheap.