Is Josh Childress the answer at SG?

[jagu]

Time to get beat up for this post but we've seen how ineffective Dudley, Brown are at the position. I liked what I saw from Ronnie Price but what about Childress? He's fast enough to cut through defenders and receive some easy passes from Nash in the paint where he looks pretty good. His length and speed could be a plus on the defensive end as well. I always thought management gave up on him too fast and benched him for no reason.

Nash
Childress
Hill
Frye/Morris
Gortat

Childress is very active and also makes good plays on both end of the court. I'd like to see more of Nash-Childress. Opinions?

 

[slinslin]

A SG who can't shoot at all, can't create at all, can't handle the ball at all and has managed maybe 5 games in 2 years to not be terrible?

Sign me up , the quest for #1.

 

[Folster]

The "S" in SG stands for shooting... so no.

 

[jagu]

Well Josh Childress has shot 50% or better in his last 5 NBA seasons. So he's doing something right. Right? Plus he is a career 78 percent FT shooter. Yea he can't shoot threes that well but he's a slashing guard who has the ability to finish at the rim.

 

[Griffin]

I think the Suns need to play Childress simply because he gets paid a lot of money so it would benefit the team to try to build up some trade value for him if at all possible. He has no value to anyone sitting on the bench. Starting Dudley or Price hasn't exactly helped the Suns win games, so I'm all for giving Childress a shot even though I doubt it will make much difference in the win column. But if he could start putting up similar numbers to what he did in Atlanta, he could gain some trade value.

 

[Forrestham]

When he was signed he had a good track record of being a solid NBA player. Regardless of how he has plaed he is still overpaid. They may as well play him. He has played well the last few games. They have nothing to lose. Dont think Sarver wants to cut him a big check to go away and i cant blame him. i think they should just cut Brown and Give Childress the minutes. What do they have to lose. If he plays well he can help the team or be traded. if not then its time to bith the bullet. I really dont think he has got a fair shot

 

[carey]

I came to make the joke he could start if you changed the position name to Non-Shooting Guard or NSG, but someone basically made it. Plus, it wasn't that funny.

I will say that Ronnie Price can't shoot either, so yeah I'd rather see him or Michael "signed to sit on the bench" Redd. I think Childress is as good of a defender and scores probably a little better than Price too.

 

[Folster]

Well Josh Childress has shot 50% or better in his last 5 NBA seasons. So he's doing something right. Right? Plus he is a career 78 percent FT shooter. Yea he can't shoot threes that well but he's a slashing guard who has the ability to finish at the rim.

It doesn't take much observation to see that the vast majority of his shots are within 5 feet if not lay-ups/dunks. So his 50% from the field is relative. Ideally a shooting guard needs to be able to shoot from mi-range and long-range and should also possess good ball handling abilities.

 

[Mainstreet]

As pointed out, the Suns should play Childress because he is getting paid and he can contribute. He is not worth what Phoenix is paying him but this is not his fault that Sarver overpaid. Childress is not a SG but he can contribute more than Brown.

One thing for sure, the Suns are a better team without Brown and Lopez playing.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I've always thought he should be starting for us. Partially because I like what he can do on the court but mostly because I think everyone else that they've tried starting in front of him is a liability except for Dudley and Duds is a much better fit coming in off the bench. It would certainly be an improvement if our shooting guard could actually shoot but our roster doesn't allow for that option.

There are a lot of teams that would probably love to have the Childress of a few years ago on their roster even at his current salary. Leaving him on the bench or giving him sporadic, confidence destroying minutes does nothing but convince the rest of the league that the Childress of old doesn't exist. We have so little of value why not play this guy 33 minutes a game for a month and see what we have.

Steve

 

[JCSunsfan]

I've always thought he should be starting for us. Partially because I like what he can do on the court but mostly because I think everyone else that they've tried starting in front of him is a liability except for Dudley and Duds is a much better fit coming in off the bench. It would certainly be an improvement if our shooting guard could actually shoot but our roster doesn't allow for that option.

There are a lot of teams that would probably love to have the Childress of a few years ago on their roster even at his current salary. Leaving him on the bench or giving him sporadic, confidence destroying minutes does nothing but convince the rest of the league that the Childress of old doesn't exist. We have so little of value why not play this guy 33 minutes a game for a month and see what we have.

Steve

Umm. Yes. I think it would be good to start Childress. We are in a rebuilding year going for draft picks. He would likely guarantee us a better pick. We really don't have a young player to groom for that starting job anyway. I love Dudley, but he is not our future starter at the 2.

So, either Childress costs us wins and gets us a better pick. Or he actually starts playing well enough to trade his sorry backside somewhere without it costing us too much.

Win-win.

 

[Folster]

Actually, a starting line-up of Nash, Childress, Hill, Frye, and Gortat could work (relatively speaking). On offense Frye is essentially playing as a shooting guard so that allows Childress to work the baseline and scrap for boards and on defense they'll resort to their conventional positions with Frye defending the post and Childress on the perimeter.

 

[jagu]

Actually, a starting line-up of Nash, Childress, Hill, Frye, and Gortat could work (relatively speaking). On offense Frye is essentially playing as a shooting guard so that allows Childress to work the baseline and scrap for boards and on defense they'll resort to their conventional positions with Frye defending the post and Childress on the perimeter.

What about on defense?

 

[95pro]

i like the idea of him starting, considering our personnel, and who we have been starting.
like others have said, price cant shoot either.
childress has length and could bother some 2's out there. im sure he'll fair better when given a wide open 3 pointer than price.
we all like dudley, but he's just not quite starter material and has more of an impact when coming off the bench.

 

[BC867]

Michael Redd scored 17 points in 23 minutes vs. the Bobcats in his first start in two years.

If he is ready, I hope he is given the chance. We are missing the clutch shooting at the end of games that he brings to the table.

 

[Proteus]

Why don't we just amnesty Childress?

 

[AzStevenCal]

Why don't we just amnesty Childress?

We don't really benefit by doing that. We can dump him and get nothing in return or we can try and create value out of him. Give him some regular playing time so he can get comfortable and show what he can do and worst case scenario maybe we can include him in the Nash trade at the deadline.

Steve

 

[elindholm]

Why don't we just amnesty Childress?

Amnestied players still have to be paid; it's just that their salary doesn't count against the cap. The only reason to amnesty Childress would be if the Suns thought they could improve their roster by signing a FA for comparable money. That obviously isn't the case this season, and in the summer, they'll have more cap room than they'll know what to do with anyway.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I think the Suns need to play Childress simply because he gets paid a lot of money so it would benefit the team to try to build up some trade value for him if at all possible.

Trade Childress? Unless he was an expiring contract, there is 0% chance of anyone trading for Childress.

 

[Griffin]

Trade Childress? Unless he was an expiring contract, there is 0% chance of anyone trading for Childress.

I wouldn't say it's zero. Right now it may be zero but if he could get 35 mpg and average 13/6/2 for the rest of the season then he would gain some value. In either case, the Suns have nothing to gain by not playing him.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Trade Childress? Unless he was an expiring contract, there is 0% chance of anyone trading for Childress.

Right now you are probably correct. However, I've watched a lot of Childress through the years and IMO he "used to be" a very effective player. He's never had good form but he does a lot of the little things that make a team better and he's a bit like Ceballos in his ability to sneak in and clean up the garbage. Maybe he lost the ability to do all of that over night but it looks to me like we've never given him a fair chance.

His inability to shoot from distance has made him the captain of the DNP-Coaches-Decision squad. I really believe he can be worth his contract to the right team but that can't occur if he doesn't get the kind of consistent playing time that every player needs in order to (re-)build his confidence and find his game again. And if I'm wrong, what's it going to hurt? God forbid he costs us a game or two.

As a matter of fact, I think I'd start playing Warrick 40 minutes a night too. He's always going to kill us defensively but maybe we can find a team that bases their personnel decisions on highlight reels and box scores. Again, we have nothing to lose by doing this.

Steve

 

[Absolute Zero]

Redd looked good last night, just saying

 

[dodie53]

no harm in trying

 

[JCSunsfan]

Why don't we just amnesty Childress?

It can only be done in the off-season. There was a deadline before this season started that it had to be done. I suppose that there was still hope that Childress could contribute at that time. We did not need the cap space at that moment. It is actually a pretty smart move. Go through the season and see what pans out. Maybe Childress starts to contribute and we want to amesty Warrick instead. Or maybe someone has some sort of devastating injury and we need to amnesty them. Right now, Childress, Warrick, and Frye might candidates for amnesty. Certainly Childress looks the most likely, but things could change in the blink of an eye.

I have no problem with mgmt keeping the amnesty option open until the cap space is absolutely necessary.