Shabazz and C.J. McCullom in the first round

[CardsSunsDbacks]

So we are going to have 3 first rounders and I am curious as to what some of you would be looking to do with those picks assuming they are something like #8, #20 and #30? With that first pick maybe we could package something like the #30 and next years first to move up to try and get Shabazz, but it seems like a long shot.

As you can likely tell by the title of this thread I am a pretty big fan of C.J. McCullom of Lehigh. He reminds me a little of Damien Lillard in a few different areas. Obviously they are both from small schools, both are 6'3" 190ish point guards, both were great scorers in college and both are athletic guys that can finish at the rim. Not sure that C.J. is as good of a passer as Damien, but I would be delighted if we could pick him up with that pick that is around 20, but we might have to move to get him.

Anyways what do you guys think about my ideas and what would you do assuming that we have those three first rounders that I mentioned?

 

[overseascardfan]

I think PHX has to be looking at front court players in the 1st round. Gortat, Scola, O'Neal may not be with the club beyond this season and Morris is not starting material.

I would be looking at Alex Len or Jeff Withey, Michael McAdoo & LeBryan Nash in Round 1 (if we get 3 picks but I think PHX only gets 2 this year). Ray McCollum & Michael Snaer in Round 2.

 

[slinslin]

How are we going to get Bazz if he we continue trying to scrape for every and each meaningless little win?

I'll be very very happy with McLemore or Goodwin though. Most likely McLemore, Goodwin, Bazz and also Smart will be taken just before we pick just like last year!

I think PHX has to be looking at front court players in the 1st round. Gortat, Scola, O'Neal may not be with the club beyond this season and Morris is not starting material.

I would be looking at Alex Len or Jeff Withey, Michael McAdoo & LeBryan Nash in Round 1 (if we get 3 picks but I think PHX only gets 2 this year). Ray McCollum & Michael Snaer in Round 2.

Oh please lord no... we have no worthy SG on the entire roster and you want us to pass on potentially 4 great prospects to pick a high risk bust like Alex Len, a very low ceiling Whitey, an undersized PF like McAdoo (hello Beasley, Scola, Morris) and LeBryan Nash is a mid to late first maybe even early 2nd.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I think PHX has to be looking at front court players in the 1st round. Gortat, Scola, O'Neal may not be with the club beyond this season and Morris is not starting material.

I would be looking at Alex Len or Jeff Withey, Michael McAdoo & LeBryan Nash in Round 1 (if we get 3 picks but I think PHX only gets 2 this year). Ray McCollum & Michael Snaer in Round 2.

They should have 3 first rounders. Their own pick, the pick from Minnesota and the pick from the Lakers. The Minnesota pick is the least favorable between Minnesota's and Memphis' picks and the Lakers pick is ours if they miss the playoffs otherwise we get the least favorable of the Laker's, Cavs, Kings or Miami picks. Which they would likely end up with the Memphis and Miami picks unless by some miracle LA misses the playoffs.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

How are we going to get Bazz if he we continue trying to scrape for every and each meaningless little win?

I'll be very very happy with McLemore or Goodwin though. Most likely McLemore, Goodwin, Bazz and also Smart will be taken just before we pick just like last year!

I agree that we would have to trade way up in the draft to get Shabazz, but that being said I would be cool with either McLemore or Goodwin if Bazz is out of reach. McLemore and especially Goodwin are very good at attacking the rim and McLemore is a very good 3 point shooter. That being said I would prefer Goodwin if possible because he is a good passer, he gets to the foul line 7.5 times per game and he has the ability to score from anywhere on the floor while creating his own shot or while playing off the ball.

 

[SunsTzu]

Given the range the Suns picks could potentially land in I'll just list the prospects I'd look for in a given range.

Top half of Lottery: Shabazz, Goodwin, McLemore and Adams(if he comes out). Possibly Len though I haven't seen a lot of him(other than dominating Noel).

Bottom half of Lottery: Bennett, Proythess, Otto Porter, Tony Mitchell(assuming he's willing to develop as PF).

Late 1st early 2nd: Dario Saric, Sergey Karasev, Jamaal Franklin, Reggie Bullock, Patric Young and Gorgui Deing.

 

[slinslin]

Pretty sure Bazz will go top 3, McLemore will go and Goodwin will go top 7 or something like that.

We will get neither.

McLemore might be an easier fit to Dragic although Goodwin seems to be the better individual player with playmaking skills and defense.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Pretty sure Bazz will go top 3, McLemore will go and Goodwin will go top 7 or something like that.

We will get neither.

McLemore might be an easier fit to Dragic although Goodwin seems to be the better individual player with playmaking skills and defense.

I think it's way too early to count us out of a top 7 pick. Regardless, we should be able to pick up someone like Bennett and maybe Patric Young who would both help us tremendously.

Steve

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

If we can't find a way to get Bazz I would be all for Goodwin. He is a better all around player than McLemore and is also a more versatile scorer while also being a good play-maker. Play-making is a big reason why I like Goodwin on the Suns, because Dragic obviously doesn't seem to be comfortable with being the play-maker all the time so having a guy like Goodwin to go with him would be a good fit. Also Goodwin is the type of guy that can be a go to guy late in games because he can create his own shot and he is very good at getting to the foul line which is huge for a guy to be a consistent scorer.

 

[SunsTzu]

The Suns currently pick 8th and are more likely to get passed by teams with worse records than they are to pass anyone with a better record. There isn't as much of a drop in talent from the top 3 picks this year than the mid lottery. 2014 and 2015 are the drafts you really want the top picks.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Anthony Bennett from UNLV would be a nice consolation prize

 

[slinslin]

But he is a 6'7 PF in the pros.. we have 3 undersized PFs already, don't need a 4th..

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I've watched Bennett in person a couple times and think he could actually be a pretty good SF

 

[Phrazbit]

We'll be picking 7th or sooner. I'm not worried about that.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm going to continue to say as a huge UCLA fan I think McLemore is a better pro prospect than Bazz.

Bazz HAS improved his outside shot but it's still a very low release and he is still living by getting into the lane and going through people or drawing contact. He is not a guard, he's playing more Power Forward than anything for UCLA offensively.

He's a scorer, his defense is terrible, in the Fresno State game he got lit up by 3 different kids including a kid who had 6 points in his last 3 games, combined. that kid put up 19 on UCLA and he had 8 in about 2 minutes before they pulled Bazz off him.

The other thing about Bazz is he's a blackhole, he won't pass the ball. He's getting in better shape and he's awfully good at his size in the midrange and low block but he's just playing for stats. last game 7 boards, all offensive.

He's got a LONG ways to go to be an NBA 2 guard IMO, much prefer McLemore.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I've watched Bennett in person a couple times and think he could actually be a pretty good SF

Yeah, I think he needs to slim down a bit but he has a lot of the skills necessary to play on the wing. Having a power game to complement your outside game is a good thing so I'm all for adding him especially if we bring in a true 6'10 bruiser for PF. I like Patric Young a lot and I never hear his name thrown around for the top spots so it's possible we could grab them both. Find a HOF level shooting guard to go along with them and we'd be right back in the mix of things. Of course finding a HOF anything isn't as easy as it's cracked up to be.

Steve

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I'm going to continue to say as a huge UCLA fan I think McLemore is a better pro prospect than Bazz.

Bazz HAS improved his outside shot but it's still a very low release and he is still living by getting into the lane and going through people or drawing contact. He is not a guard, he's playing more Power Forward than anything for UCLA offensively.

He's a scorer, his defense is terrible, in the Fresno State game he got lit up by 3 different kids including a kid who had 6 points in his last 3 games, combined. that kid put up 19 on UCLA and he had 8 in about 2 minutes before they pulled Bazz off him.

The other thing about Bazz is he's a blackhole, he won't pass the ball. He's getting in better shape and he's awfully good at his size in the midrange and low block but he's just playing for stats. last game 7 boards, all offensive.

He's got a LONG ways to go to be an NBA 2 guard IMO, much prefer McLemore.

On that note, I would prefer Goodwin to McLemore.

 

[HooverDam]

Kinda early to be speculating on where the Suns will draft. Sure what has been said here about the possible picking slots is true if the Suns stick to this current moronic 'plan'.

But Im still holding out hope that at the trade deadline the Suns are clearly out of it and they trade useful pieces like Gortat and Dudley to contenders for picks that are down the line (potentially way down the line). Then just play young guys and rack up the L's.

Not that it matters if the Suns do have a higher pick, who was the last decent pick that the Suns made (and actually kept)? Barbosa? Bleck.

 

[BC867]

But Im still holding out hope that at the trade deadline the Suns are clearly out of it and they trade useful pieces like Gortat and Dudley to contenders for picks that are down the line (potentially way down the line). Then just play young guys and rack up the L's.

Not that it matters if the Suns do have a higher pick, who was the last decent pick that the Suns made (and actually kept)? Barbosa? Bleck.

So if it really doesn't matter if the Suns have a higher pick, why should we have the choice of either . . .

(a) being depressed watching Suns games for a number of years, or

(b) abandoning our hometown team?

I choose . . .

(c) spend 2 1/2 hours three or four times a week rooting for our team to win and hoping that free agent signings for a number of years lift us higher and higher.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

How are we going to get Bazz if he we continue trying to scrape for every and each meaningless little win?

I'll be very very happy with McLemore or Goodwin though. Most likely McLemore, Goodwin, Bazz and also Smart will be taken just before we pick just like last year!



Oh please lord no... we have no worthy SG on the entire roster and you want us to pass on potentially 4 great prospects to pick a high risk bust like Alex Len, a very low ceiling Whitey, an undersized PF like McAdoo (hello Beasley, Scola, Morris) and LeBryan Nash is a mid to late first maybe even early 2nd.

Not to say that Goodwin will be this good, but he reminds me quite a bit of Dwayne Wade on both ends of the floor. Not saying he looks like him out there, but that his skill set is very similar. I guess time will tell just how good Goodwin will become.

 

[SirStefan32]

I'm going to continue to say as a huge UCLA fan I think McLemore is a better pro prospect than Bazz.

Bazz HAS improved his outside shot but it's still a very low release and he is still living by getting into the lane and going through people or drawing contact. He is not a guard, he's playing more Power Forward than anything for UCLA offensively.

He's a scorer, his defense is terrible, in the Fresno State game he got lit up by 3 different kids including a kid who had 6 points in his last 3 games, combined. that kid put up 19 on UCLA and he had 8 in about 2 minutes before they pulled Bazz off him.

The other thing about Bazz is he's a blackhole, he won't pass the ball. He's getting in better shape and he's awfully good at his size in the midrange and low block but he's just playing for stats. last game 7 boards, all offensive.

He's got a LONG ways to go to be an NBA 2 guard IMO, much prefer McLemore.

I couldn't agree more! Shabazz is Michael Beasley waiting to happen.

I really like McLemore, but I think he will be a top 3 pick. Archie would be my second choice.

We'll see where the three pics end up being. I'd like Caldwell-Pope with a late first-rounder, and Young or Dedmond in the second round.
If by some miracle we end up with two lottery pics, one of them has to be for a PF/C- Mcadoo, Plumlee, or Len. Gobert looks interesting, but I haven't seen him play, other than some youtube videos.

 

[HooverDam]

So if it really doesn't matter if the Suns have a higher pick, why should we have the choice of either . . .

(a) being depressed watching Suns games for a number of years, or

(b) abandoning our hometown team?

I choose . . .

(c) spend 2 1/2 hours three or four times a week rooting for our team to win and hoping that free agent signings for a number of years lift us higher and higher.

Nope, you've created a false scenario. And sure, hope for #3, but thats an extreme long shot, so I wouldn't want to put my hopes there.

My hope is the Suns get a high enough draft pick that even they can't botch it. The higher you pick, the more likely it is that the player will pan out. I don't know if there are even any franchise players in this years draft, but even if they get a guy who's ceiling is a #2 guy on a good team, that would be fine. Then next year, hope to win the lottery or get close, and maybe get a franchise guy then.

 

[SirStefan32]

Then next year, hope to win the lottery or get close, and maybe get a franchise guy then.

I don't see that happening. Suns are not going to be worse next year than they are this season. Not sure if they will draft well, go after some free agents (not many are available), or if they will trade, but there is no way they will not be better.

EDIT:
Just to clarify- I am not arguing about the best way to rebuild here- I am simply saying that the Suns will be better next year.

 

[Errntknght]

I don't see that happening. Suns are not going to be worse next year than they are this season. Not sure if they will draft well, go after some free agents (not many are available), or if they will trade, but there is no way they will not be better.

EDIT:
Just to clarify- I am not arguing about the best way to rebuild here- I am simply saying that the Suns will be better next year.

With our FO, I would say there is a reasonably good chance the team will be worse next year. I'd say it was about a 50-50 deal. For one thing it looks like they intend to can Gentry and I don't see them spending big bucks to get a proven good coach. Our draft team, if you can call it that, has demonstrated it's ceiling is mediocrity. Free agent dealing was a mixed bag, and got bailed out of its worst move in signing Gordon. Gortat is giving indications he'll jump ship - though I don't know if his contract runs out with this season.

 

[Mainstreet]

With our FO, I would say there is a reasonably good chance the team will be worse next year. I'd say it was about a 50-50 deal. For one thing it looks like they intend to can Gentry and I don't see them spending big bucks to get a proven good coach. Our draft team, if you can call it that, has demonstrated it's ceiling is mediocrity. Free agent dealing was a mixed bag, and got bailed out of its worst move in signing Gordon. Gortat is giving indications he'll jump ship - though I don't know if his contract runs out with this season.

Gortat is under contract for another season. Trade him now.