Welcome Cam Johnson

[ASUCHRIS]

What is the point in putting them out there unprepared? They are both smart players who will prosper in a team environment where their roles are well-defined. Throwing them out there in summer league with no prep will just serve to give media fodder to rip the team and fans to panic.

What is the point of putting them out there?!? It's summer league! These guys are expected to be contributors, and they need to be playing every minute they can against credible competition. What do they need to prepare for?

It's ridiculous that they're wasting an opportunity to get these guys minutes.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

What is the point in putting them out there unprepared? They are both smart players who will prosper in a team environment where their roles are well-defined. Throwing them out there in summer league with no prep will just serve to give media fodder to rip the team and fans to panic.

What is the point of putting them out there?!? It's summer league! These guys are expected to be contributors, and they need to be playing every minute they can against credible competition. What do they need to prepare for?

It's ridiculous that they're wasting an opportunity to get these guys minutes.

 

[Chaplin]

What is the point of putting them out there?!? It's summer league! These guys are expected to be contributors, and they need to be playing every minute they can against credible competition. What do they need to prepare for?

It's ridiculous that they're wasting an opportunity to get these guys minutes.

THat's pretty much my feeling, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it. If they come out the gate awful, I'm not sure that, "They should have played in Summer League!" is a very good excuse.

 

[Phrazbit]

THat's pretty much my feeling, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it. If they come out the gate awful, I'm not sure that, "They should have played in Summer League!" is a very good excuse.

Unless a player gets injured in Summer League, Summer League never seems to matter or be remembered within a day of it ending.

 

[SunsTzu]

Except every other player in the same situation is playing.

Jarrett Culver isn't playing either.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Jarrett Culver isn't playing either.

Per the article I quoted, he will play this summer.

 

[SunsTzu]

Per the article I quoted, he will play this summer.

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[Mainstreet]

It's not a matter of whether they can or not. They absolutely could if they wanted to, but with them getting no practice time or any time with the training staff they decided it would be better to just hold them out of SL. Those circumstances aren't exactly making it more likely for those guys to go out there and perform well and with the way people overreact to everything that happens in SL it makes sense why they wouldn't want to put those guys in that position.

Could you imagine the type of crap that the team and Cam would have to endure on social media if he went out there and looked unprepared and played like crap? Or if those guys weren't in great shape and got injured or something? They are better off due to the entire situation to just hold them out and have them focus on preparing to play in training camp. The league needs to fix the schedule so these things don't keep happening in the future.

I'm not terribly concerned if players do not live up to expectations in summer league.

No doubt, the NBA should not have scheduled summer league before free agent and trade signings can be consummated.

I think summer league loses some of it's luster when first round picks do not participate. It definitely needs to be fixed if the NBA wants summer league to have a purpose and an attraction.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I assume this article was posted earlier in this thread, but just in case it wasn't, it is a pretty thorough evaluation.

https://www.thestepien.com/2019/06/04/case-cam-johnson/

 

[Mainstreet]

I assume this article was posted earlier in this thread, but just in case it wasn't, it is a pretty thorough evaluation.

https://www.thestepien.com/2019/06/04/case-cam-johnson/

I like how Cam shoots contested jumpers with ease.

 

[1Sun]

I assume this article was posted earlier in this thread, but just in case it wasn't, it is a pretty thorough evaluation.

https://www.thestepien.com/2019/06/04/case-cam-johnson/

And even that rosiest of evaluations still had Cam projected as a potential Top 20 pick, not a lottery pick.

 

[SirStefan32]

I've only seen random clips and highlights but what impresses me is that his shot looks exactly the same every time. Doesn't matter if he is spotting up, running off a screen, shooting in transition, his form is always the same, and his release is always the same

 

[Ronin]

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[Chaplin]

I was taking to someone today about Cam and he asked an interesting question: Which 11 players did you have on your board that were better than Cam? I’m not sure I could really answer that question. That leads me to believe that he actually wasn’t over-drafted.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I was taking to someone today about Cam and he asked an interesting question: Which 11 players did you have on your board that were better than Cam? I’m not sure I could really answer that question. That leads me to believe that he actually wasn’t over-drafted.

I love these after-the-draft posts. I almost guarantee you that if asked that question before the suns took him you would’ve named 20 players before him. Imo (and just my opinion) this is classic “he’s ours and we will begin overrating him” syndrome.

My counter is, look at every predraft mock you can find and try to locate a single one that had him as high as 11. Heck, as high as 17!

And mind you, I fully recognize his valuable skill if his shooting translates.

 

[Chaplin]

I love these after-the-draft posts. I almost guarantee you that if asked that question before the suns took him you would’ve named 20 players before him. Imo (and just my opinion) this is classic “he’s ours and we will begin overrating him” syndrome.

My counter is, look at every predraft mock you can find and try to locate a single one that had him as high as 11. Heck, as high as 17!

And mind you, I fully recognize his valuable skill if his shooting translates.

Thanks for the criticism. Sorry I interrupted your day.

 

[Evil Ash]

I love these after-the-draft posts. I almost guarantee you that if asked that question before the suns took him you would’ve named 20 players before him. Imo (and just my opinion) this is classic “he’s ours and we will begin overrating him” syndrome.

My counter is, look at every predraft mock you can find and try to locate a single one that had him as high as 11. Heck, as high as 17!

And mind you, I fully recognize his valuable skill if his shooting translates.

To be fair I love the after-the-draft posts overrating this draft. It was considered by many to be EXTREMELY top heavy well before the draft and that after the top 3 teams were largely taking chances on players.

Cam has the looks to be a good role player and often that's the best you can hope for in a bad draft

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

To be fair I love the after-the-draft posts overrating this draft. It was considered by many to be EXTREMELY top heavy well before the draft and that after the top 3 teams were largely taking chances on players.

Cam has the looks to be a good role player and often that's the best you can hope for in a bad draft

I can’t argue with this being a weak draft. It absolutely was. I don’t think we can say anything like “cam has the look of . . . “ anything at this point. He’s tall. He was a really good shooter in college. His selection was widely panned. That’s all he has the look of as of today . . . at least to me.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Thanks for the criticism. Sorry I interrupted your day.

Sorry if it seemed snippy. It just feels like a change of position to me. I don’t recall you (or anyone on this board) even mentioning Cam as a possibility . . . even when the board discussed trade downs, prior to the draft. So at that time virtually everyone in this board would’ve likely listed 16-28 players above him. But now that he’s ours some posters revise their redraft position on him. If we wouldn’t have drafted him and he went 12th I’ll bet this whole board would’ve been hollering about him being a reach and would’ve still listed 16-28 players above him.

I mean you can take it as a criticism, but it’s more an observation about how this bird operates once a player is a sun.

 

[Chaplin]

Sorry if it seemed snippy. It just feels like a change of position to me. I don’t recall you (or anyone on this board) even mentioning Cam as a possibility . . . even when the board discussed trade downs, prior to the draft. So at that time virtually everyone in this board would’ve likely listed 16-28 players above him. But now that he’s ours some posters revise their redraft position on him. If we wouldn’t have drafted him and he went 12th I’ll bet this whole board would’ve been hollering about him being a reach and would’ve still listed 16-28 players above him.

I mean you can take it as a criticism, but it’s more an observation about how this bird operates once a player is a sun.

That’s a fine point, but we also know a lot more about most of these picks than we did before the draft, no? Honestly I don’t know if Cam will be any good, but after looking at him and seeing some of the other guys in front of him in action, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be cautiously optimistic that we made the right call.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That’s a fine point, but we also know a lot more about most of these picks than we did before the draft, no? Honestly I don’t know if Cam will be any good, but after looking at him and seeing some of the other guys in front of him in action, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be cautiously optimistic that we made the right call.

Huh? How do we know more about them? Cam didn’t even play in summer league. And the guy everyone wanted before the draft, that everyone now points to as the poster child for overvaluing players - Brandon Clarke - did play and had the best summer league, so why would anyone now change their ranking . . . other than cam is now a sun? Again not being snarky, I just don’t get it.

 

[Yuma]

So @Ouchie-Z-Clown and @Chaplin they had an interesting discussion on the radio today about when we drafted Booker. He was drafted 13, and by many post draft he was seen as a stretch. Heck most criticized the Suns because he was a reach, and he didn't even start on his team in college! That sounds remarkably like this discussion. No one had him as high as the Suns drafted Booker. Then they went through all the guys drafted ahead of Booker. Wow, were there some misses! We now have one of the players drafted ahead of Booker in Frank Kaminsky!

Assuming he shoots similar to his percentages in college, he has a chance to prove he is in the top 15 in this draft.

 

[Cheesebeef]

So @Ouchie-Z-Clown and @Chaplin they had an interesting discussion on the radio today about when we drafted Booker. He was drafted 13, and by many post draft he was seen as a stretch. Heck most criticized the Suns because he was a reach, and he didn't even start on his team in college! That sounds remarkably like this discussion. No one had him as high as the Suns drafted Booker. Then they went through all the guys drafted ahead of Booker. Wow, were there some misses! We now have one of the players drafted ahead of Booker in Frank Kaminsky!

this is completely revisionist history by whoever had that convo on the radio. Most commended the pick.

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/...ay-hangover-how-do-the-phoenix-suns-grade-out

The Suns got As and Bs on down the line with the Booker pick, with almost everyone from Chris Mannix at SI to Yahoo... to CBS... to Woj and Chad Ford saying it was a good pick, a couple of them saying he had Klay Thompson-type ability, literally NONE of them saying he was a reach or a stretch.

then, there's more from
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2506389-2015-nba-draft-grades-full-team-by-team-report-cards

gave us a B+

and

https://valleyofthesuns.com/2015/06/25/phoenix-suns-2015-nba-draft-grades-devin-booker/

gave us a B+

Besides the fact that Booker was the youngest player ever drafted (I think) which means he had room to grow s a player as opposed to a 23 year old 5th year player.

The talk about Booker and Johnson as far as being a reach and limited ceiling couldn't be further from the truth.

 

[Covert Rain]

I was taking to someone today about Cam and he asked an interesting question: Which 11 players did you have on your board that were better than Cam? I’m not sure I could really answer that question. That leads me to believe that he actually wasn’t over-drafted.

That could also mean there wasn’t much difference after the first pick or two.

 

[Johninromania]

Maybe a taller Craig Hodges. If he develops that way we lucked out. Someone who is North Carolina fan mentioned that.