What if Suns took Tyrese Haliburton?

[Yuma]

It seems to be the in vogue talking point by a few commentators I have heard lately, including Bill Simmons, that the Suns would be their favorites in the Western Conference if they would have taken Tyrese Haliburton in the draft. I know one of the guys on TNT said this, too.

Do you agree with this?

My thinking is that is why would the Suns take Haliburton when they already have Cameron Payne? Remember, Payne had some really good games in the bubble. We still had Ricky Rubio, so it was not like we were hurting at PG. In fact it looked like we were set.

Isn't it kind of disrespect to Cameron Payne that people think Haliburton would give us the edge?

 

[Chaplin]

Considering this is mentioned in every thread, especially if Cam doesn't play well, yes, this has been a major talking point on this board.

He sure would be better than Jalen Smith right now. But would he be that much better than Cam Payne? No, I don't think so. Not at this point.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I would be shocked if Haliburton didn’t outproduce Payne on the suns. It was just a blatant gaff by jones imo passing on him for Jalen smith.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

According to multiple sources he only wanted to be drafted by the Kings, and his agent informed teams in front of SAC to pass on him, which seemingly led to his fall in the draft.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think we’d be a better team right now and set up well to transition to the future post-Paul.

but it didn’t happen and I’m having too much fun this season to dwell on it.

that said... good gravy Stix sux so far!

 

[GatorAZ]

It was a terrible pick in both hindsight and retrospect. We’re lucky for the CP3 trade making most people forget about it.

With Haliburton we’d be slightly better in the short term and much better in the long run.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Why does this keep getting brought up? Halliburton made it clear that he didn't want to go anywhere but to the Kings and as a team with a starting and backup PG at the time it made no sense for us to take him and potentially mess with team chemistry in the process.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Why does this keep getting brought up? Halliburton made it clear that he didn't want to go anywhere but to the Kings and as a team with a starting and backup PG at the time it made no sense for us to take him and potentially mess with team chemistry in the process.

uh... no to your second part. We apparently weren’t happy enough with our starting PG and backup PG that we didn’t immediately go out post draft and make a MASSIVE trade to effect that position.

Rubio shouldn’t have been looked at as anything more than a band-aid by anyone with realistic basketball sense. And the idea that we “had” our backup PG because someone played well for eight games is beyond short sighted... as we have seen this year where Payne hasn’t been nearly as good this year as he was in the bubble.

this team needed and STILL needs a PG Of the future. The idea that getting a potential stud at that position would ruin team chemistry is beyond unfounded. That argument is really silly.

more importantly, if they believed as you do apparently that there was no need for a Halliburton PG of the future they were idiots and made up for that decision in the present wisely by grabbing CP3.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think most posters on the forum agreed Tyrese Haliburton should have been the Suns choice at #10 if he fell that far. Nothing has changed that opinion. IMO, he was BPA when the Suns drafted.

There were rumors he would only play for the Kings. This was offered as an explanation as to why he fell in the draft. I don't know the validity of these rumors.

With all due respect, Cam Payne is a backup point guard. Haliburton would have been PGOTF.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

According to multiple sources he only wanted to be drafted by the Kings, and his agent informed teams in front of SAC to pass on him, which seemingly led to his fall in the draft.

Yeah we’ve all heard and discussed that. You still draft him. What’s he going to do refuse to sign? No way. And once the suns got rolling he’d have been stoked to be Paul’s heir apparent on a talented team.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yeah we’ve all heard and discussed that. You still draft him. What’s he going to do refuse to sign? No way. And once the suns got rolling he’d have been stoked to be Paul’s heir apparent on a talented team.

I disagree. If you're not even allowed to interview him or work him out, drafting him is just too risky IMO. If they were confident he was going to be a good player and they were comfortable with what they knew about him then maybe take the risk and draft him even with his refusal but that wasn't the case.

There were a lot of questions about how he'd adapt to being guarded by the other team's fastest player (pairing him with Fox works to his advantage in a way that few teams could match). And we weren't the only team to pass on him, the Spurs were also expected to grab him and they passed for the same reason we and other teams did.

 

[Hoop Head]

According to multiple sources he only wanted to be drafted by the Kings, and his agent informed teams in front of SAC to pass on him, which seemingly led to his fall in the draft.

We've all heard that rumor but one thing I haven't heard is how that could simply be damage control by his agent.

He was viewed as the top PG in the draft and easily a top 10 pick, maybe even top 5 and he fell pretty far on draft night. The next day word comes out that he "forced" his way to Sacramento. The Kings have a longer playoff drought than the Suns. They also have a good young backcourt locked in with De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, both of whom are signed to big money deals for the next 4 years since that's when Hield's contract expires. Hield is on year 1 of a 4 year $94 million dollar deal and Fox signed a max extension this past offseason for 5 years and $160 million. Those 4 years align with the only guaranteed rookie years Halliburton contract has so his chances of getting a big extension are lower since he'd be backup for a while to them. So where does Haliburton really factor in? He doesn't.

Plus falling to #12 in the draft cost him millions of dollars already. He lost roughly $650 thousand by falling from #10 to #12 in just his first 2 guaranteed years and that is before factoring in California's higher state tax. Seems very odd. There were other teams rumored to be interested, like the Knicks at 8, where he could have received more guaranteed money annually and the ability to start in the NBA's largest market. He gave that up to play backup for the team with the longest playoff drought in the league? Seems odd, especially since he wasn't refusing to work out for any teams prior to the draft.

 

[Carolinacacti]

What if the Suns drafted Precious? anybody but Styx who I haven't given up on.

 

[AzStevenCal]

We've all heard that rumor but one thing I haven't heard is how that could simply be damage control by his agent.

He was viewed as the top PG in the draft and easily a top 10 pick, maybe even top 5 and he fell pretty far on draft night. The next day word comes out that he "forced" his way to Sacramento. The Kings have a longer playoff drought than the Suns. They also have a good young backcourt locked in with De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, both of whom are signed to big money deals for the next 4 years since that's when Hield's contract expires. Hield is on year 1 of a 4 year $94 million dollar deal and Fox signed a max extension this past offseason for 5 years and $160 million. Those 4 years align with the only guaranteed rookie years Halliburton contract has so his chances of getting a big extension are lower since he'd be backup for a while to them. So where does Haliburton really factor in? He doesn't.

Plus falling to #12 in the draft cost him millions of dollars already. He lost roughly $650 thousand by falling from #10 to #12 in just his first 2 guaranteed years and that is before factoring in California's higher state tax. Seems very odd. There were other teams rumored to be interested, like the Knicks at 8, where he could have received more guaranteed money annually and the ability to start in the NBA's largest market. He gave that up to play backup for the team with the longest playoff drought in the league? Seems odd, especially since he wasn't refusing to work out for any teams prior to the draft.

I'm too lazy to search for evidence but I really thought it was out there before the draft, at a minimum it was talked about as Haliburton dropped. And I'm also pretty sure it came from reputable sources, not just an internet rumor.

 

[Chaplin]

I'm too lazy to search for evidence but I really thought it was out there before the draft, at a minimum it was talked about as Haliburton dropped. And I'm also pretty sure it came from reputable sources, not just an internet rumor.

I vaguely remember discussions about there being something mental about him as well. But I don't remember what it was. Other teams backed off, and the one team that didn't already had a starting point guard for the future. Haliburton isn't even a PGOTF for the Kings.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I vaguely remember discussions about there being something mental about him as well. But I don't remember what it was. Other teams backed off, and the one team that didn't already had a starting point guard for the future. Haliburton isn't even a PGOTF for the Kings.

Yeah, I remember those too. Plus he missed the end of the season for an injury (broken wrist, broken hand?) and his agent refused to provide medical information to most teams. We did the right thing.

He looks great compared to who we selected (so far) but I truly believe that had we selected him we'd still be in search of a starting PG in a year or two. I don't think his ceiling is all that high. IMO his ceiling has him good enough to start but just barely, not the difference maker most contenders are searching for.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I disagree. If you're not even allowed to interview him or work him out, drafting him is just too risky IMO. If they were confident he was going to be a good player and they were comfortable with what they knew about him then maybe take the risk and draft him even with his refusal but that wasn't the case.

There were a lot of questions about how he'd adapt to being guarded by the other team's fastest player (pairing him with Fox works to his advantage in a way that few teams could match). And we weren't the only team to pass on him, the Spurs were also expected to grab him and they passed for the same reason we and other teams did.

I will disagree with your disagreement. It’s not like this was Yi jianlian where teams only got to see video of him attacking a chair. There was plenty of tape on him. And no players were working out for any teams. So all they missed out on was an interview. To my memory there weren’t any rumors of him being a problem child, in fact my recollection was that he was viewed as a leader, so how’s the interview going to make it break him?

as for questions about being guarded by a faster guy, neither book nor Paul are speed demons, so that negative seems pretty paltry in comparison to his pluses.

this was a miss by jones drafting for need. He’s got a lot of hits in his work thus far, but this was a swing and a miss.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I vaguely remember discussions about there being something mental about him as well. But I don't remember what it was. Other teams backed off, and the one team that didn't already had a starting point guard for the future. Haliburton isn't even a PGOTF for the Kings.

Man I don’t recall even a scintilla of anything about his mental makeup. Chap, I think if you’re going to throw something out there like that you should find some supporting article or statement to that effect.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Yeah, I remember those too. Plus he missed the end of the season for an injury (broken wrist, broken hand?) and his agent refused to provide medical information to most teams. We did the right thing.

He looks great compared to who we selected (so far) but I truly believe that had we selected him we'd still be in search of a starting PG in a year or two. I don't think his ceiling is all that high. IMO his ceiling has him good enough to start but just barely, not the difference maker most contenders are searching for.

I just did a quick scan of predraft write ups right before the draft and I see nothing about concern with speed players or mental makeup. I see pundits saying he needs to put on weight and needs to work on shot selection potentially. I see comments that he’s a good leader and a terrific defender.

 

[Mainstreet]

Man I don’t recall even a scintilla of anything about his mental makeup. Chap, I think if you’re going to throw something out there like that you should find some supporting article or statement to that effect.

I don't remember anything about that either. There may have been a question about the release on his shot but Tyrese was an accurate shooter in college.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don't remember anything about that either. There may have been a question about the release on his shot but Tyrese was an accurate shooter in college.

Yes definitely concern about his funky release. But it worked. And it’s held up as a pro.

 

[Chaplin]

Man I don’t recall even a scintilla of anything about his mental makeup. Chap, I think if you’re going to throw something out there like that you should find some supporting article or statement to that effect.

Just because you can't remember doesn't mean it didn't exist. I remember we speculated a lot about it, and if you are calling me a liar, then feel free. I may be wrong, but it was my recollection. I find it interesting that you don't remember the discussions we had on him.

I seem to recall something about red flags during the interview process (since they weren't doing actual workouts).

 

[AzStevenCal]

Just because you can't remember doesn't mean it didn't exist. I remember we speculated a lot about it, and if you are calling me a liar, then feel free. I may be wrong, but it was my recollection. I find it interesting that you don't remember the discussions we had on him.

I remember a discussion about it but I don't recall if it was speculation or well-sourced. I also don't remember if it was on this site or not (RGM?).

 

[Chaplin]

I remember a discussion about it but I don't recall if it was speculation or well-sourced. I also don't remember if it was on this site or not (RGM?).

I'm in the same boat. We may be 100% wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised if we were, but I don't think it was as simple as a straight pass-up on him.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I don’t remember any questions about his mental makeup. Concerns about his funky shot/some about his athleticism.