The Brandon Knight Dilemma

[Errntknght]

I'd defintely start Knight for two reasons - first to showcase him as AsSteve suggested and secondly, Bledsoe's greatest value is coming off the bench, so I'd move him there forthwith. Naturally, I'd draft a point guard at least as good as Ulis at running an offense, who can be developing while we are sorting this mess out. I don't see Knight as salvageable - he's delusional about being a PG and intransigent and that spells trouble as long as he's here. We have some time but we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot - if McD is stubborn about two combo guards running the offense, then dump him, too.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

Knight would be a great fit in Philly. And they have too many bigs.

Any of those Philly bigs would be a great addition. I know many fan opinions (including mine) are questionable at best, so take it with a grain of salt, but...

This comment inspired me to read an article about the pairing of Embiid and Okafor, and in the comments section the first name a fan speculated to trade for was...Brandon Knight. He wanted to get Knight for Noel "and picks." I'm hoping the poster was secretly Bryan Colangelo.

 

[leclerc]

Bledsoe: "part of something special"...?

What's he on about? Fighting for a playoff spot? Erm, guess he's right. It would be special to end the draught and return to mediocrity of early playoff exit and mid teen pick. Go Bled!

 

[JCSunsfan]

Any of those Philly bigs would be a great addition. I know many fan opinions (including mine) are questionable at best, so take it with a grain of salt, but...

This comment inspired me to read an article about the pairing of Embiid and Okafor, and in the comments section the first name a fan speculated to trade for was...Brandon Knight. He wanted to get Knight for Noel "and picks." I'm hoping the poster was secretly Bryan Colangelo.

If it is Jerry calling the shots, Okafor will be the one traded. Not sure what Bryan would do.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

If it is Jerry calling the shots, Okafor will be the one traded. Not sure what Bryan would do.

Getting Okafor would be amazing. Not sure what he would cost though. I am assuming it would take a lot more than Knight, but if Jerry sees him as an off-the-court issue, who knows?

 

[devilalum]

This is not a problem, history tells us that one of them will be injured by the 3rd week of the season.

Nothing to see here move along.

 

[Mainstreet]

Yes, and that's precisely why he should start. He is more mature at the age of 19 than Knight.

To me, the situation is really simple. This is Booker's team now. Knight and Bledsoe need to come to terms with that. Both of the are replaceable, and Knight more so than Bledsoe. Knight does not look anything like a point guard. Bledsoe isn't ideal either, but he at least looks like something that resembles a point guard. While I think Bledsoe's defense is grossly overrated on this board, he is at least a competent defender, and while I love Booker, he is really not a good defender at this stage of his career, so it is very important to have good defenders at other positions.

Booker, Warren, and Len need to start next year, with the top-two rookies needing to get some playing time. McD sounds like he really wants to bring Bogdanovic in this summer, so it's fairly obvious Knight is going bye-bye this summer. Problem with Knight is that he sucks as a point guard, and is not particularly effective as a shooting guard either. He is very inefficient, and he just doesn't fit.

I just want the guard situation to work. If Booker is willing to come off the bench short term, I'd do it until until Knight can be traded. I want the Suns to return to a more traditional backcourt in the future that looks something like this.

PG: Bledsoe, (Draft, FA or trade for a PG), then Price.

SG: Knight (trade possibility), Booker and Bogdanovic

This is the way I see it for the future. In the meanwhile, it will probably look like a rotation of Bledsoe, Knight and Booker off the bench.

 

[Mainstreet]

Getting Okafor would be amazing. Not sure what he would cost though. I am assuming it would take a lot more than Knight, but if Jerry sees him as an off-the-court issue, who knows?

On paper, Okafor would solve the Suns problems at PF and he play some center if needed. This would be an amazing fix for the Suns. Maybe Knight and the Suns 1st round pick would do it.

 

[JCSunsfan]

On paper, Okafor would solve the Suns problems at PF and he play some center if needed. This would be an amazing fix for the Suns.

Okafor is a dinosaur. His game is not going to readily translate to the NBA of the future. The Warriors were most effective with a 6' 7" passing, rebounding center. The 1990's NBA was about specialists. Scorers, shooters, defenders, rebounders, distributors. Today's NBA demands players be good at multiple things.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...Like-NBAs-2nd-Best-Player-When-Playing-Center

 

[Mainstreet]

Okafor is a dinosaur. His game is not going to readily translate to the NBA of the future. The Warriors were most effective with a 6' 7" passing, rebounding center. The 1990's NBA was about specialists. Scorers, shooters, defenders, rebounders, distributors. Today's NBA demands players be good at multiple things.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...Like-NBAs-2nd-Best-Player-When-Playing-Center

I read the article, however, that does not mean a more traditional lineup can't work. It's all about match-ups. I believe the Warriors have a unique blend of players triggered by Curry. Looking back, maybe the Suns should have started Shawn Marion at center.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I read the article, however, that does not mean a more traditional lineup can't work. It's all about match-ups. I believe the Warriors have a unique blend of players triggered by Curry. Looking back, maybe the Suns should have started Shawn Marion at center.

They were at their best when Amare played center and Marion played pf.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I read the article, however, that does not mean a more traditional lineup can't work. It's all about match-ups. I believe the Warriors have a unique blend of players triggered by Curry. Looking back, maybe the Suns should have started Shawn Marion at center.

No but it's a real challenge making it work. I haven't read the article yet but I suspect I'll agree with much of it, if it's suggesting the traditional big man role has gone the way of the dodo.

If you can't spread the court, modern NBA zone defenses will lock you up. If your power forward is on the blocks, your center has to play 20 feet from the hoop. The Pistons of last season would have been a dynasty in the making, every star wing in the league would have been salivating at a chance to sign with them. But they let Monroe walk for nothing because you just can't win playing that style any longer.

It's the same reason Memphis fired Hollins, they knew their twin towers version was a dinosaur and amatuer astronomy clubs had already spotted the Chicxulub rock. Hollins was married to the grind it out at both ends of the court style that used to pay dividends in the postseason but now it doesn't. Look at Milwaukee. They were on cloud nine when they signed Monroe and he's put up stellar numbers for them. But their team suffered because of his presence and that's without a second lane clogging big man next to him.

I think you can still build around a player like Okafor but it's like trying to build around small ball 15 years ago. You have to get lucky and you have a very small margin of error. Better to roll with the times. If you're going to go a different way, be a trend setter. But re-hashing an antiquated style of basketball is rarely the way to set a trend IMO.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

While I'm complaining about Suns guards, I wouldn't mind ending the Archie Goodwin experiment either. If we got anything of value, I would move on.

My fiancee saw this on Instagram today and sent it to me:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEPLj3as1gM/

I'm not saying he shouldn't be friends with Markieff, but it's just another sign of where his loyalties lie.

Also, I don't think he's the type of player you want on a competitive team. Even when he hit that game-winner against Atlanta, he commented that the only reason he got to shoot it was because he ignored Hornacek's play call. Call me a hater, but I don't see it with Archie.

 

[Sunburn]

While I'm complaining about Suns guards, I wouldn't mind ending the Archie Goodwin experiment either. If we got anything of value, I would move on.

My fiancee saw this on Instagram today and sent it to me:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEPLj3as1gM/

I'm not saying he shouldn't be friends with Markieff, but it's just another sign of where his loyalties lie.

Also, I don't think he's the type of player you want on a competitive team. Even when he hit that game-winner against Atlanta, he commented that the only reason he got to shoot it was because he ignored Hornacek's play call. Call me a hater, but I don't see it with Archie.

I agree. I know he's still very young, but this was his third season. This was his prove it year to me. He didn't. He's still the same one dimensional player he was coming in. His jumper is still broken. If he hasn't developed one by now, it's not going to happen.

 

[sunsfan88]

And I'm Chairman of the Oversight Committee with principal responsibility for determining viability of other committees. Your Committee is hereby dissolved. It will be reinstated once Brandon Knight has returned to full health and restored some of his trade value.

Whether we can trade him right now or not, we're not going to be getting full value out of him until he can play much better than he has so far in a Suns uniform. Hopefully he'll have a stellar first 3 months of the 16-17 season and we'll find multiple suitors bidding for his services next February. If he fails to rebuild his image by then we may have to consider forming a Panic Trade Committee shortly after that deadline.

So you want to waste more seasons trying to raise a player's values and then trading them? Like we did with IT, Kieff and now Knight?

Which player's value will be we trying to raise the the 2017-2018 season so we can trade? Bledsoe maybe?

And I'm not buying this whole "Oh but we have never seen Brandon Knight play healthy, maybe he's great when he's healthy!" thing. He was healthy and fine when he played for the Pistons and Bucks and both their front offices and fans couldn't wait to rid themselves of Knight any quicker. His numbers were actually not even bad there (hence why he got all star consideration one year) but he isn't a winning basketball player. His team and his teammates did much better when he wasn't on the court with them due to his low IQ.

I don't know if a selfish ball hog like Knight could even be a 12th man on a team like the Spurs or Warriors even if he was making the veteran minimum rather than $14 million. Those coaches would glue his ass on the bench and never play him due to his playing style.

 

[Phrazbit]

So you want to waste more seasons trying to raise a player's values and then trading them? Like we did with IT, Kieff and now Knight?

Which player's value will be we trying to raise the the 2017-2018 season so we can trade? Bledsoe maybe?

And I'm not buying this whole "Oh but we have never seen Brandon Knight play healthy, maybe he's great when he's healthy!" thing. He was healthy and fine when he played for the Pistons and Bucks and both their front offices and fans couldn't wait to rid themselves of Knight any quicker. His numbers were actually not even bad there (hence why he got all star consideration one year) but he isn't a winning basketball player. His team and his teammates did much better when he wasn't on the court with them due to his low IQ.

I don't know if a selfish ball hog like Knight could even be a 12th man on a team like the Spurs or Warriors even if he was making the veteran minimum rather than $14 million. Those coaches would glue his ass on the bench and never play him due to his playing style.

I'm not a Knight fan but the Bucks went into the tubes after they traded Knight last year. They CLEARLY missed him.

As to the rest, your posts would get ignored less if you were not prone to gross exaggerations and hyperbole.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think Knight has all the talent in the world to be an effective guard in this league. I am just waiting for the coach that will hold him accountable for his play and not encourage his hero ball.