Most exciting offseason ever??

[Sparky16]

As good as Luka has been I don't think he is a player you can build around and win. He's too ball dominant. Maybe it will change, but I don't think it will. I see him as another James Harden type.

It's true he has a lot more trade value, but we would not have the team we have right now if he was selected, because he would still be the focus of it. As crazy as it sounds, I don't think we would necessarily be better off if we had taken him.

I dislike DA very much, but Dallas will struggle to get players to play at discounted rates like the Suns just did. Luka will launch 30 shots a game easy. The big 3 in Phx will actually pass the ball when double teamed.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I dislike DA very much, but Dallas will struggle to get players to play at discounted rates like the Suns just did. Luka will launch 30 shots a game easy. The big 3 in Phx will actually pass the ball when double teamed.

Yep.

 

[SeattleCardinal]

Not Suns-related, but before looking again at the 2018 draft, I had forgotten how high Mo Bamba went. No. 6 overall.

 

[AZ Native]

Thread titles you won't see on the Cardinals board.

 

[Raindog]

I think few people thought Luka would be an elite player.

I think that was because all the hype we heard about Doncic emphasized the wrong aspects of his game. He was alleged going to be Magic, or Steve Nash in a bigger body, an unselfish, superior ball handler who would elevate the game of everyone who played with him.

Where, in fact, that has turned out to be a lot of baloney. He does have good handles and above average passing skills for a player his size. But his supposedly masterful skills at quarterbacking a team were far overstated, and he doesn't even particularly have the physique or stamina to fit that fast break/open court style of offense if he was on a team that tried to run such a thing. I spotted that from the get go with him, and that in particular was why I thought his play would fall short of what the hype was projecting.

On the other hand, what I (and in my opinion, the media hype) missed was that he genuinely had a scorer's mentality and skills. That, paired with his also unexpected strong rebounding, has made him a very effective half court force that I don't know many people recognized he would be.

So he has certainly emerged as a "superstar" stat stuffer. Whether he accomplishes anything beyond that, I'm not sure. It seems he has gotten quite a big head with his early success, and there is room for doubt as to how much of a "team first" guy he will ever be.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think that was because all the hype we heard about Doncic emphasized the wrong aspects of his game. He was alleged going to be Magic, or Steve Nash in a bigger body, an unselfish, superior ball handler who would elevate the game of everyone who played with him.

Where, in fact, that has turned out to be a lot of baloney. He does have good handles and above average passing skills for a player his size. But his supposedly masterful skills at quarterbacking a team were far overstated, and he doesn't even particularly have the physique or stamina to fit that fast break/open court style of offense if he was on a team that tried to run such a thing. I spotted that from the get go with him, and that in particular was why I thought his play would fall short of what the hype was projecting.

On the other hand, what I (and in my opinion, the media hype) missed was that he genuinely had a scorer's mentality and skills. That, paired with his also unexpected strong rebounding, has made him a very effective half court force that I don't know many people recognized he would be.

So he has certainly emerged as a "superstar" stat stuffer. Whether he accomplishes anything beyond that, I'm not sure. It seems he has gotten quite a big head with his early success, and there is room for doubt as to how much of a "team first" guy he will ever be.

I think Luka has the skills to be elite but I'm waiting to see if there is a player he can be paired with to win a championship.

For me, the verdict is still out.

 

[Yuma]

I think Luka has the skills to be elite but I'm waiting to see if there is a player he can be paired with to win a championship.

For me, the verdict is still out.

I think it's the same thing as Booker. Early on Book was just a scorer. Now many of the NBA shows I watch the retired NBA players tout he has point guard skills now, and under rated passing skills. They all talk about how he has raised his defense, and is now considered one of the best two way guards in the league. One show I watched recently thinks Vogel can help him raise his defense even higher.

Luka so far is a great offensive scorer. He needs to become an all around better player. Book has that mentality to want to be the best in all parts of his game. Not seeing Luka do that yet.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think it's the same thing as Booker. Early on Book was just a scorer. Now many of the NBA shows I watch the retired NBA players tout he has point guard skills now, and under rated passing skills. They all talk about how he has raised his defense, and is now considered one of the best two way guards in the league. One show I watched recently thinks Vogel can help him raise his defense even higher.

Luka so far is a great offensive scorer. He needs to become an all around better player. Book has that mentality to want to be the best in all parts of his game. Not seeing Luka do that yet.

Luka has to carry the Mavericks on many nights, so part of that might be he has to conserve his energy. Maybe some day we will find out if the Mavericks find the right pairing.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I swear I remember Sarver flying over to see Doncic. I thought I read a blurb on it in the AZ Republic? Weird if he did and didn't take the GM.

Yep that 100% happened and at the time I pointed out the management team was in shambles and got a ton of crap for it.

It seemed like McDonough was pushing for Doncic and then Sarver and Jones went to see what the fuss was about and passed

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I wouldn't want Doncic on my team but he was the correct pick. Both are true.

 

[SeattleCardinal]

Luka has to carry the Mavericks on many nights, so part of that might be he has to conserve his energy. Maybe some day we will find out if the Mavericks find the right pairing.

Too bad for Dallas that it lost perhaps the steal of the 2018 draft, Jalen Brunson.

 

[Mainstreet]

Too bad for Dallas that it lost perhaps the steal of the 2018 draft, Jalen Brunson.

I don't feel too bad.

 

[Muggz]

Ill give it "Most exciting owner transition ever".

 

[Mainstreet]

Ill give it "Most exciting owner transition ever".

And it hasn't even stopped.

 

[Yuma]

I still say, you have your press conference to be announced owner and not even a full day later you trade for KD, those are a set of big brass ones!

 

[GatorAZ]

Getting Chuck after the Barcelona Olympics was just different. He was an elite star in his prime and one of the biggest personalities in sports. However when we look back at this off-season in a few years I think it will be considered the greatest off-season in franchise history.

 

[Yuma]

Getting Chuck after the Barcelona Olympics was just different. He was an elite star in his prime and one of the biggest personalities in sports. However when we look back at this off-season in a few years I think it will be considered the greatest off-season in franchise history.

Chuck was like adding KD last to our team now. Chuck was the last piece, which is why Cotton told him he did nothing to build the new stadium we had, but he could be the piece that takes us over the top. This was the opposite, we had Book and KD (Ayton, too), THEN added Beal and the whole rest of the squad! It was like we had to add more pieces to the puzzle with this off season, where chuck was like the last piece to complete the puzzle. It's a bigger deal to finish the puzzle, but I am still amazed all the pieces we put into place this off season.

Plus it was the way we did it this off season. Everyone said the Suns were screwed by adding KD. Then we add Beal. Then they said we would have to add scraps. Then we added good players! And we did it fast and efficient too! Like we knew what we were doing, and everyone else was just watching while we were wheeling and dealing.

You can't really compare both off seasons because they were opposites. Plus, we don't know how this one ends yet.

 

[elindholm]

Perhaps most did? https://www.arizonasportsfans.com/forum/threads/the-suns-with-the-2018-1-overall-pick-select.265219/

Whew, that was a long read!

I vastly underestimated what Doncic would be able to do on the offensive end. (Oddly, I thought he'd be okay defensively, which he isn't.) I have the excuse that NBA officials immediately decided to elevate Doncic to star status, which makes him very difficult to guard. But, even discounting that, he has a lot more weapons in his arsenal than I gave him credit for.

A few posters were ahead of the game in questioning Ayton's motor, but the bigger surprise to me is how much we all overrated his athleticism. He's really not an exceptional athlete by the standards of NBA players, even big men.

What's more striking than anything else, though, is how much the board overrated players who were already on the roster, especially Josh Jackson. Who would have guessed that he'd be completely out of the league four years later?

 

[Yuma]

Whew, that was a long read!

I vastly underestimated what Doncic would be able to do on the offensive end. (Oddly, I thought he'd be okay defensively, which he isn't.) I have the excuse that NBA officials immediately decided to elevate Doncic to star status, which makes him very difficult to guard. But, even discounting that, he has a lot more weapons in his arsenal than I gave him credit for.

A few posters were ahead of the game in questioning Ayton's motor, but the bigger surprise to me is how much we all overrated his athleticism. He's really not an exceptional athlete by the standards of NBA players, even big men.

What's more striking than anything else, though, is how much the board overrated players who were already on the roster, especially Josh Jackson. Who would have guessed that he'd be completely out of the league four years later?

Yeah, Josh had some 30 point games for us, but if you look at the efficiencies, they really weren't good games. It was hard not to overestimate him, because he did have the NBA athleticism, etc. He was mentally not and NBA player. He blew his chance to stick in the NBA just due to attitude, imho.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Not really. Ayton is rarely engaged and the gap offensively between the two is far greater than the gap between them defensively. So Luka is 3-4 times better than Ayton offensively while Ayton is a better defender than Luka is, sometimes, he's maybe twice as impactful at his best on defense.

Luka is almost as good of a rebounder despite being 5-6 inches shorter also. That shouldn't be as close as it is either but Ayton isn't a great rebounder. He gets the majority of his boards due to his height and playing inside on D but when others challenge for a rebound he often comes up lacking.

Please all Luka does on D is stand under the basket. Watch him in the fourth quarter he is gassed and Dallas will only get to the playoffs if Irving plays.

 

[Hoop Head]

Please all Luka does on D is stand under the basket. Watch him in the fourth quarter he is gassed and Dallas will only get to the playoffs if Irving plays.

Not saying Luka is a good defender at all. He's a generational talent on the offensive end who has led his team to the playoffs multiple times because of his offense. Dallas likely would have made the playoffs last year if they didn't make the Irving trade and/or sat everyone to tank so they'd keep their pick.

Ayton has never led this team to the postseason on his own, not even close, and he doesn't have the talent to do so. I know that's not asked of him but this team struggled the most when he was the focal point on offense when Booker and Paul were out.

There isn't a GM in the league who would trade Luka for Ayton, even if Ayton could be cloned and we'd give up 2 of him there isn't anyone who would do that. Luka is far more valuable than Ayton ever has been. Whether Luka fits on this team or not, if that deal were available today then it'd take a fool to turn it down simply because we could turn around and move Luka for far more down the line.

 

[Germz249]

I still wouldn’t have drafted Luka. I would have gone with Ayton because of who we had on the team.

With the knowledge we have now, I still wouldn’t draft Luka to be on the team. I would trade him away or trade down. SGA and Mikal would be my targets

Gosh.. imagine SGA, Book and Mikal..

 

[Hoop Head]

I still wouldn’t have drafted Luka. I would have gone with Ayton because of who we had on the team.

With the knowledge we have now, I still wouldn’t draft Luka to be on the team. I would trade him away or trade down. SGA and Mikal would be my targets

Gosh.. imagine SGA, Book and Mikal..

I would have traded down and got JJJ. I liked him the most of the top picks. Not enough to go #1 but if we could have traded down to 3-4 then absolutely.

I liked Trae Young a lot as well and might have taken him, if I'm honest. I remember like Young a lot also but we needed a big.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I would have traded down and got JJJ. I liked him the most of the top picks. Not enough to go #1 but if we could have traded down to 3-4 then absolutely.

I liked Trae Young a lot as well and might have taken him, if I'm honest. I remember like Young a lot also but we needed a big.

I wanted to trade the pick and take Trae and JJJ but that was more a fantasy than a plan. And it wasn't because I didn't like DA, I really thought he'd be pretty good if not great - I just thought JJJ would be almost as good and that Trae would fix our PG problems for a decade plus.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I dislike DA very much, but Dallas will struggle to get players to play at discounted rates like the Suns just did. Luka will launch 30 shots a game easy. The big 3 in Phx will actually pass the ball when double teamed.

You do know that book and doncic average within 2 shots per game of each other for their careers, right?