James Jones is a different kind of GM

[Yuma]

some our best picks in Suns history have been panned by all, pundits included.

 

[Chaplin]

Well, that's all I've heard but for all I know, maybe that other poster was right and every other GM actually has voted no on JJ's drafts. If that's so, we have a problem. If he's just going against the group think of fans and pseudo experts, well maybe the pseudo experts are the idiots instead.

It's been 2 drafts. 2. And one half of his first one has turned out pretty well. His second draft is this one. Do you really care about 2 drafts and three players, only one of which we know is a dud?

 

[AzStevenCal]

It's been 2 drafts. 2. And one half of his first one has turned out pretty well. His second draft is this one. Do you really care about 2 drafts and three players, only one of which we know is a dud?

To coin a phrase, what we've got here is...failure to communicate. Or, again off the top of my head and to put it another way, the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place. And with crossed fingers behind my back I can assure you I did not steal the first line from a movie nor the second line from George Bernard Shaw.

 

[Chaplin]

To coin a phrase, what we've got here is...failure to communicate. Or, again off the top of my head and to put it another way, the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place. And with crossed fingers behind my back I can assure you I did not steal the first line from a movie nor the second line from George Bernard Shaw.

Don't talk down to me like I'm a child Steve, you're above that. You are concerned that GMs don't like JJs drafts. There were 2. And as I said Cam has turned out well. So what are they not liking? The Ty Jerome pick and Jalen Smith? And you're worried about that?

 

[AzStevenCal]

Don't talk down to me like I'm a child Steve, you're above that. You are concerned that GMs don't like JJs drafts. There were 2. And as I said Cam has turned out well. So what are they not liking? The Ty Jerome pick and Jalen Smith? And you're worried about that?

I haven't talked down to you yet. I stand by my last post, we are not communicating.

 

[Carolinacacti]

The Big question is if Savor and Monty had Jones ear.

 

[Chaplin]

I haven't talked down to you yet. I stand by my last post, we are not communicating.

Really I’m asking you to confirm what you said. Your response is that we’re not communicating.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Really I’m asking you to confirm what you said. Your response is that we’re not communicating.

I was hoping that you'd actually re-read what I had said when I mentioned we weren't communicating. I was trying to challenge the idea that every other GM is against JJ's drafts without calling out a poster directly. I believe in the picks he's made, Jerome notwithstanding, even though I would not have made either of his lottery choices at the time they were made.

 

[Chaplin]

I was hoping that you'd actually re-read what I had said when I mentioned we weren't communicating. I was trying to challenge the idea that every other GM is against JJ's drafts without calling out a poster directly. I believe in the picks he's made, Jerome notwithstanding, even though I would not have made either of his lottery choices at the time they were made.

And that is understandable, I would not either. But what I read is that you were concerned, if true, that all other GMs are against James Jones's previous drafts. I know you were challenging the validity of that statement on its own, but even if it is true, my question is why would it concern you so much?

If that is not what you were questioning, then I apologize. I'm just wondering why you didn't just come out and say that in the first place.

 

[Raze]

With a little hindsight at our disposal, it is interesting to relook at ALL the speculated picks that JJ was supposedly going to make at #10: Terry, Bane, Riller, Bey, Vassell, Nesmith, and Lewis. Smith was by far the least talked about by pundits INCLUDING Gambo (His source is officially gagged). That makes two years in a row that NO ONE, I mean NO ONE outside of the organization has any clue who they are going to take.

It seems that JJ is an expert at subterfuge when targeting his guy. This is another plus for our trendsetting GM.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Another component of the Smith pick: Jones seems to have a lot of confidence in our player development staff. Even though Cam was an older player, he also needed a lot of work in his strength and lateral quickness and angle taking on defense. He made a huge improvement throughout the year defensively. I chalk that up to player development staff. They knew they had a tall shooter with some sneaky athleticism and smarts (a valuable NBA mold), the question was could he defend NBA wings? The answer to that hinged on whether he could develop physically. He did.

I see Smith as another highly skilled and useful mold (tall shooter and rim protector) that has some potentially fixable physical issues: strength and improved lateral agility and learning angles and what have you.

Ayton and Book both got a lot better last year at subtle defensive things and they both improved strength.

I think Jones thinks his staff can iron out wrinkles of his valuable clay.

 

[1Sun]

Another component of the Smith pick: Jones seems to have a lot of confidence in our player development staff. Even though Cam was an older player, he also needed a lot of work in his strength and lateral quickness and angle taking on defense. He made a huge improvement throughout the year defensively. I chalk that up to player development staff. They knew they had a tall shooter with some sneaky athleticism and smarts (a valuable NBA mold), the question was could he defend NBA wings? The answer to that hinged on whether he could develop physically. He did.

I see Smith as another highly skilled and useful mold (tall shooter and rim protector) that has some potentially fixable physical issues: strength and improved lateral agility and learning angles and what have you.

Ayton and Book both got a lot better last year at subtle defensive things and they both improved strength.

I think Jones thinks his staff can iron out wrinkles of his valuable clay.

That's a misstatement on Cam. He still can't defend wings, or generate offense against them, which is why Monty converted him to a stretch 4. He is still too slow and unathletic to play the 3, but his gain in strength has at least enabled him to get by at the 4, though he will never be starter quality there. And his defense is still weak overall due to his physical limitations.

 

[Mainstreet]

With a little hindsight at our disposal, it is interesting to relook at ALL the speculated picks that JJ was supposedly going to make at #10: Terry, Bane, Riller, Bey, Vassell, Nesmith, and Lewis. Smith was by far the least talked about by pundits INCLUDING Gambo (His source is officially gagged). That makes two years in a row that NO ONE, I mean NO ONE outside of the organization has any clue who they are going to take.

It seems that JJ is an expert at subterfuge when targeting his guy. This is another plus for our trendsetting GM.

I'm inclined to believe the local media didn't have much much of a handle on the thinking of James Jones. The days of inside information on the Suns seem to be over. Most of it seems to be speculation.

 

[JerkFace]

I didn’t see Smith as a reach at all. As the draft approached there were a clear 3 tiers. You had the top 3, then you had the next 8 (Toppin, Okongwu, Okoro, Advija, Williams, Vassell, Haliburton, Hayes), and then in tier 3 was a large group that included Smith. I think if Smith would have gone 12 (after Vassell and Haliburton) then no one would of batted an eye or criticized the pick. It was just that he was taken with 2 of the Tier 2 players still on the board. I can understand Jones not wanting to trade back since there was a reasonable chance Smith could of been selected at #12 or shortly after.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Out of Vassell/Haliburton/Smith, Smith is the guy most likely to make the starting line-up for us this year or next.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I didn’t see Smith as a reach at all. As the draft approached there were a clear 3 tiers. You had the top 3, then you had the next 8 (Toppin, Okongwu, Okoro, Advija, Williams, Vassell, Haliburton, Hayes), and then in tier 3 was a large group that included Smith. I think if Smith would have gone 12 (after Vassell and Haliburton) then no one would of batted an eye or criticized the pick. It was just that he was taken with 2 of the Tier 2 players still on the board. I can understand Jones not wanting to trade back since there was a reasonable chance Smith could of been selected at #12 or shortly after.

Uh by stating there were two tier 2 guys still available I think you made the exact case as to why smith was a reach. Btw, despite smiths shortcomings I’m okay with this pick.

 

[JerkFace]

Uh by stating there were two tier 2 guys still available I think you made the exact case as to why smith was a reach. Btw, despite smiths shortcomings I’m okay with this pick.

It’s probably just semantics, but no, I don’t consider a two player jump an egregious “reach”. But like I said, it is probably just a case of semantics. My main point was that the so called “experts” who gave the pick a bad grade were probably reacting more to the two players still on the board (Vassell/Haliburton) as opposed to the player that was picked (Smith)

 

[perivolaki]

Which says something about Haliburton.

I follow Iowa State closely and have heard that he told several teams he didn't want to play for them and that is the reason he fell.

Don't know if that's accurate but that's what I've heard.

 

[Raindog]

some our best picks in Suns history have been panned by all, pundits included.

This is very true. To be honest, going back through history, at the time I really thought Larry Nance, Dan Majerle, Steve Nash, and Shawn Marion were all bad picks. Obviously, very, very wrong on all counts there.

On the other hand, I was right about Ed Pinckney... so there's that.

For the record, I do really like the Smith pick... not to jinx it.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I follow Iowa State closely and have heard that he told several teams he didn't want to play for them and that is the reason he fell.

Don't know if that's accurate but that's what I've heard.

Ha. Maybe he was the player that was trying to get to the Suns per rumor and it backfired.

 

[Proximo]

With a little hindsight at our disposal, it is interesting to relook at ALL the speculated picks that JJ was supposedly going to make at #10: Terry, Bane, Riller, Bey, Vassell, Nesmith, and Lewis. Smith was by far the least talked about by pundits INCLUDING Gambo (His source is officially gagged). That makes two years in a row that NO ONE, I mean NO ONE outside of the organization has any clue who they are going to take.

It seems that JJ is an expert at subterfuge when targeting his guy. This is another plus for our trendsetting GM.

Gambo did say he was one of the 7 possibilities at 10. That's better than anyone else.

Tells me Suns did give him an accurate list of 7 - that's still a pipeline.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Gambo did say he was one of the 7 possibilities at 10. That's better than anyone else.

Tells me Suns did give him an accurate list of 7 - that's still a pipeline.

Gambo gave us a list of 9 guys the Suns might pick at 10 and he was still more accurate than anyone else. Ha.

 

[Yuma]

Gambo gave us a list of 9 guys the Suns might pick at 10 and he was still more accurate than anyone else. Ha.

I kept saying I wanted a big. I was less specific than Gambo and I was right, too!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

It’s probably just semantics, but no, I don’t consider a two player jump an egregious “reach”. But like I said, it is probably just a case of semantics. My main point was that the so called “experts” who gave the pick a bad grade were probably reacting more to the two players still on the board (Vassell/Haliburton) as opposed to the player that was picked (Smith)

What makes it a reach isn’t the “two player jump.” It’s the disparity in talent. It can be a one player difference, but if the perceived drop off is Dwayne wade to Chris kaman and you take kaman bc you need a center, that’s an enormous reach. And yea, they were drafted back-to-back.

 

[GatorAZ]

If the Suns only signing is Saric we should’ve traded back to build some depth. Of course it’s easy to say without knowing if it was possible. I don’t trust Gamble.