Suns to pursue trade for Leonard

[pokerface]

Our rebuild is essentially complete once we add Ayton. We'll have our "Big 3" to build around with Booker, Jackson, and Ayton. Every team needs a core of 3 solid players with All-Star potential if they hope to compete for the playoffs and we'll have that. Playoffs may be out of reach but that's only because our core needs time to gel and gain experience. We still have 2 young PF's to develop and we have 2 vet's of sorts at PG that should be servicable in the short term, if nothing else. We have TJ as our potential 6th man as well, or we could use him as our small ball PF with Ayton, Jackson, Booker, and Knight/Payton. We could even use those 5 in a small run and gun lineup.

At PG, Payton and Knight are servicable for 1 season, if we can't upgrade either PG or PF in free agency or by trade significantly. It's not ideal but Kawhi doesn't solve our PG problems either. If we went all in on Leonard we'd also still need a Center as well. It's nice getting attention but just because we've been out of the playoffs for 8 years doesn't mean we want to give up the #1 pick to pay Kawhi $200 million in an extension in hopes he can help us get the 8th seed. I'd rather miss the playoffs with Ayton, Booker, and Jackson but make progress with them as they build chemistry.

I like how Scott Bordow addresses big trade rumors for the Suns on Twitter. Whenever we see the Suns linked to anyone he says something, which is refreshing. I know he's not that "in" with the team, not like Gambo, but he does have sources and he hasn't reported anything notably false yet. It's refreshing to have a media member who is able to make sense of the ESPN and other trade rumors out there. If you don't follow him on Twitter, I'd recommend it, he's his link @SBordow, I know people here post his tweets pretty quickly but it's tough relying on others to pass the news along.

Yeah i'm happy moving ahead with our big three. We don't need to fast forward. I'm pretty much against any trade involving Ayton period. If they want to mess around with our other picks or trades not involving the big three then ok. I'm even a little against giving up Warren because I think he'd be a perfect sixth man.

As far as Payton or Knight playing pg for a season as a stop gap...Probably not Payton because they don't want to sign him long term or pay him any substantial money. I'm all for giving Knight a chance however. Maybe we can get his value up from zero. I think they will try to get another pg this offseason via draft or trade but I'm not certain on how successful that will be (like you are saying).

 

[Hoop Head]

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That headline doesn't quite match the article. It has Boston as the favorite, followed by the Sixers, the Suns, Lakers, Clippers, and then Mavericks. All make interesting destinations also, with the Suns probably being the least likely IMO just based on the offers theorized there. A Kyrie for Kawhi swap would actually make sense, Irving said he wanted to go to the Spurs initially when he listed preferred teams outside of Cleveland. That would make the Celtics contenders also. Not mentioned there, they could even bring back IT to be their PG if they're not sold on Smart and Rozier. I could see IT returning and patching things up with Ainge. He won't get the max but he won't get that anywhere. If Smart costs too much to retain, more than it would to sign IT, I expect they'd go after IT if Kyrie is moved.

I found it interesting that the author noted the Bucks in the Mavericks slot also, saying Giannis did not like playing with Jabari Parker and Eric Bledsoe, which I found interesting. Not sure if there is truth to that but we'll see this year. The article is worth a read though, not just for the trade ideas, but because that headline is very deceiving.

 

[Hoop Head]

Yeah i'm happy moving ahead with our big three. We don't need to fast forward. I'm pretty much against any trade involving Ayton period. If they want to mess around with our other picks or trades not involving the big three then ok. I'm even a little against giving up Warren because I think he'd be a perfect sixth man.

As far as Payton or Knight playing pg for a season as a stop gap...Probably not Payton because they don't want to sign him long term or pay him any substantial money. I'm all for giving Knight a chance however. Maybe we can get his value up from zero. I think they will try to get another pg this offseason via draft or trade but I'm not certain on how successful that will be (like you are saying).

So long as Payton doesn't cost more than the MLE to sign for a few years, which is $8.2 million annually, then I could see him being kept. I doubt he gets that but that's the max I'd pay him, maybe a 2 year deal with a 3rd year as a team option, $8-9 million per, call it $25 for all 3 years. I could live with that. If he's more than that, then maybe just keeping him on the qualifying offer wouldn't hurt really. It spends the cap space so we don't do anything stupid with it and it's available again next offseason when Dudley and Chandler expire. I'm fine with that also. If Knight can be rehabilitated under Kokoskov, I'd be ecstatic.

If Knight could be the player he was for Milwaukee before being traded here that first season, I think we might make the playoffs even. I doubt it happens, but that's absolute best case scenario if Knight pans out and everything else falls in place. Everything else would also include Warren takes to being our 6th man, Booker and JJ continue developing as seen last year, and Ayton is able to produce somewhere between 16-19 ppg with 9-12 rpg. We'll also need quality play from a PF, which would be Bender shooting 40% from 3 or Chriss playing like the last month of his rookie campaign, which was 13.6 ppg with 6.7 rpg while shooting 48% from the field, 32% from 3, and 1.1 bpg. That's a lot to go right, and it's ok if it doesn't. I think 35 wins will be the goal, and what they'd need to hit for it to be a "winning season" because that is a 14 win improvement. Then if we can improve by 10 the following year, we'd be a playoff team, hopefully. Again, I don't think the playoffs will happen next year unless virtually everything goes right, but I don't think that will happen, and that's ok. Steady improvement is all I want to see. If our monthly record keeps getting a little better than the month before, I'll take that as a winning season as well.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

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He's right. Would probably need to the a 3 team deal, with KL going to Eastern team that swings him back out West. That way Pop can say he didn't trade him to a Western team.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[JCSunsfan]

That headline doesn't quite match the article. It has Boston as the favorite, followed by the Sixers, the Suns, Lakers, Clippers, and then Mavericks. All make interesting destinations also, with the Suns probably being the least likely IMO just based on the offers theorized there. A Kyrie for Kawhi swap would actually make sense, Irving said he wanted to go to the Spurs initially when he listed preferred teams outside of Cleveland. That would make the Celtics contenders also. Not mentioned there, they could even bring back IT to be their PG if they're not sold on Smart and Rozier. I could see IT returning and patching things up with Ainge. He won't get the max but he won't get that anywhere. If Smart costs too much to retain, more than it would to sign IT, I expect they'd go after IT if Kyrie is moved.

I found it interesting that the author noted the Bucks in the Mavericks slot also, saying Giannis did not like playing with Jabari Parker and Eric Bledsoe, which I found interesting. Not sure if there is truth to that but we'll see this year. The article is worth a read though, not just for the trade ideas, but because that headline is very deceiving.

If Kahwi sat out on his team because he was trying to force a trade, I want no part of that crap. No integrity.

I doubt Kyrie is very interested in San Antonio if Kahwi is not there. He is sort of an introverted LeBron. I just don't see it any more.

 

[overseascardfan]

The most I would offer for Leonard is Warren, Chriss, #31 & MIL pick next year. I would keep #16 and try and get a PG. SA has no leverage and chances are PHI & BOS packages won't be great.

BOS will probably offer Rozier or Brown & picks. Irving would be a rental (I think he ends up signing with NY). Taking post injury Hayward would be scary with his contract.

PHI offering Fultz, Covington & picks is weak as well. I think Leonard is hoping to end up in LA (he is from CA).

If LAL somehow can land Leonard (Ball/Ingram + Kouzma + 2018 pick) and George signs there, I could see LeBron consider LAL assuming Ball is not included in a Leonard deal. Of course, LA would have to pretty much gut their roster (renounce Randle and Lopez) and rid themselves of Deng's contract (waive and spread balance out long term) and maybe sign remainder of roster to league minimum deals to make this happen which is a long shot but Magic Johnson is desperate to make LA a title contender again so I could see him mulling this over.

 

[leclerc]

Balk.

 

[mojorizen7]

The Suns should just stand pat, stay the course and continue to build their own. Stay out of the NBA super team travashamockery that is taking all of the suspense, competitive integrity and parity from the game.

It's mind boggling to me that the ratings are so high right now.

 

[Hoop Head]

Apparently Popovich is meeting with Leonard ahead of the draft. I imagine he'll figure out if things are salvagable or not so they can work on a draft day trade if the relationship is truly damaged beyond repair. I think they'll patch things up. A similar thing happened with Aldridge last year and while he's not the player that Kawhi is, it's still a sign that the Spurs organization and Popovich are able to do things differently than other teams.

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Here is a more detailed article about the meeting.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-flying-california-attempt-meet-kawhi-leonard

 

[devilalum]

The Suns should just stand pat, stay the course and continue to build their own. Stay out of the NBA super team travashamockery that is taking all of the suspense, competitive integrity and parity from the game.

It's mind boggling to me that the ratings are so high right now.

The ratings have always been highest when there are super teams and lowest when there is parity. I don't get it but those are the facts.

 

[overseascardfan]

The ratings have always been highest when there are super teams and lowest when there is parity. I don't get it but those are the facts.

Eventually super teams will be harder to build with the sky rocketing pay scale unless NBA increases the salary cap to accommodate super teams. Ratings would be higher if the super teams are evenly matched, CLE vs GS before Durant was entertaining, this year LeBron vs GS not so much.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Eventually super teams will be harder to build with the sky rocketing pay scale unless NBA increases the salary cap to accommodate super teams. Ratings would be higher if the super teams are evenly matched, CLE vs GS before Durant was entertaining, this year LeBron vs GS not so much.

Super teams work if there is more than one.

 

[Superbone]

Yeah, now that Durant (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.) joined the Warriors, I wouldn't mind seeing another super team put together to contend with them.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Yeah, now that Durant (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.) joined the Warriors, I wouldn't mind seeing another super team put together to contend with them.

In the East.