Who will be the Suns second best player 2018/2019

[leclerc]

Saw this on r/suns and thought it was interesting.

 

[GatorAZ]

Ariza will be the most impactful because he’s a two way guy and strong shooter. I’d probably go with Warren among the choices.

 

[JCSunsfan]

It better be Ayton.

 

[AzStevenCal]

What, no Devin Booker option?

 

[SirStefan32]

What a great question!

I'm gonna go by the process of elimination initially. Ayton is not gonna make any impact this year. I will be thrilled if he averages 12 and 7 and manages to stay on the floor for 24 minutes due to foul trouble. Bender's not gonna find his balls overnight, and Chriss is beyond hopeless. With his level of defensive effort, he won't stay on the floor for Igor much.

I think it depends on who gets the minutes between Warren, Ariza, Jackson, Bridges. The one with the most minutes will probably be the second best player. Bridges and Ariza will be far less flashy, but probably more impactful since they probably won't do stupid stuff (unlike Jackson) and can defend and shoot (unlike Warren.) So, I suppose it depends on the criteria we use for the second-best player. Warren can outscore them all, Jackson can be in more highlights than the other three combined, but Ariza and Bridges are smart, can shoot threes, and defend. I'm gonna go with Ariza as my choice.

Knight is the wild card, I suppose. I don't think he will be good, but I could be wrong. He has been a borderline all-star player in the past, so who knows? Or I could be wrong about Ayton, and he may actually contribute in his first year, but I don't think so. Even AD only averaged 13.5 and 8. KAT did manage to average over 18 and 10, so who know?

 

[Mainstreet]

I will go with Ariza as well.

Josh Jackson should have been the second best player but his play in summer league put doubts in my mind.

 

[BC867]

2018-19 means over the course of the season.

Will Ayton be our second best player in Game 1? Probably not. Will he be by the end of the season? I believe so. With steady progress throughout the season.

I think the only thing that can ruin that is not having skilled Point Guards to distribute the ball to him skillfully. Hell, he was double-teamed from the opening minutes of the four exhibition games he played. Our opponents evidently thought so.

 

[SirStefan32]

2018-19 means over the course of the season.

Will Ayton be our second best player in Game 1? Probably not. Will he be by the end of the season? I believe so. With steady progress throughout the season.

I think the only thing that can ruin that is not having skilled Point Guards to distribute the ball to him skillfully. Hell, he was double-teamed from the opening minutes of the four exhibition games he played. Our opponents evidently thought so.

He was double-teamed by Dallas. Nobody else doubled him. I think we all want him to be really good right away, but we need to be realistic. If Ayton is the second-best player this year, it will be one crappy team. Worse than last year.

 

[AzStevenCal]

He was double-teamed by Dallas. Nobody else doubled him. I think we all want him to be really good right away, but we need to be realistic. If Ayton is the second-best player this year, it will be one crappy team. Worse than last year.

If we stay healthy I just don't see how we can be worse than last year even if Ayton is clearly our second best player. I know he's very much a work in progress but we were a special kind of bad last season, I don't see us approaching that level of bad anytime soon. JMO.

 

[elindholm]

He was double-teamed by Dallas. Nobody else doubled him. I think we all want him to be really good right away, but we need to be realistic. If Ayton is the second-best player this year, it will be one crappy team. Worse than last year.

It's mind-boggling to me that you've given Bender every possible benefit of the doubt for 2 1/2 years and yet have already decided that Ayton won't make an impact in his rookie season.

 

[Phrazbit]

I think Ayton will, at worst, put up something like 12-8 with good efficiency. Which, depending on how much Warren plays, will certainly put him in the running for 2nd best player on offense.

Once he and Booker develop some timing and chemistry I think they're going to be a devastating pick combo. Fighting through and trying to push through Ayton? Fronting him and sagging off Booker? Good luck. They're going to do some harm to teams.

 

[Carolinacacti]

ayton? I think your all drinking to much koolaid.

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[Phrazbit]

ayton? I think your all drinking to much koolaid.

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It's pretty common for #1 picks to produce quickly. Ayton put up better college stats than recent top drafted bigs, better summer league stats too. It stands to reason he could equal the numbers those guys put up early.

Warren is good but often injured and I suspect is on the trade block.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Booker , Knight, Warren if you want to win. anyton will be used, but he better learn how to pick.

 

[JerkFace]

I actually misread the post but it brought up an interesting thought/question. Who do you think will be the Suns second leading scorer this year?

 

[Phrazbit]

Booker , Knight, Warren if you want to win. anyton will be used, but he better learn how to pick.

If Ayton getting minutes and touches isn't a "want to win" strategy (especially vs what else we've got on the roster) then I will be drastically disappointed.

 

[Mainstreet]

2018-19 means over the course of the season.

Will Ayton be our second best player in Game 1? Probably not. Will he be by the end of the season? I believe so. With steady progress throughout the season.

I think the only thing that can ruin that is not having skilled Point Guards to distribute the ball to him skillfully. Hell, he was double-teamed from the opening minutes of the four exhibition games he played. Our opponents evidently thought so.

I think you touched on why the Suns second best player might not be Ayton... the PG position.

If the Suns can spread the court with their shooting and have a PG that can get the ball to Ayon, he should be able to be very effective. It works both ways. He should be able to get the Suns shooters more open looks from outside. This is why the Suns should not wait a another season to address the PG position if one becomes available.

 

[SirStefan32]

It's mind-boggling to me that you've given Bender every possible benefit of the doubt for 2 1/2 years and yet have already decided that Ayton won't make an impact in his rookie season.

I am not sure what you mean. What is your point? Giving big men the benefit of the doubt in their first couple of years is something very reasonable. Expecting any young big to contribute in his first year is the ultimate recipe for disappointment. I know that Ayton is the most hyped prospect since who knows when, especially on this board, but if we set homerism aside and look at historical data, big men who are 18 or 19 simply don't contribute that much in their first season.

Also, the two players are not comparable. I don't think any sane person is expecting anything from Bender beyond being a role-playing 3 and D stretch 4. Not one person expects him to be a star. Ayton is expected to be a Superstar.

I honestly have no idea what your point is.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I am not sure what you mean. What is your point? Giving big men the benefit of the doubt in their first couple of years is something very reasonable. Expecting any young big to contribute in his first year is the ultimate recipe for disappointment. I know that Ayton is the most hyped prospect since who knows when, especially on this board, but if we set homerism aside and look at historical data, big men who are 18 or 19 simply don't contribute that much in their first season.

Also, the two players are not comparable. I don't think any sane person is expecting anything from Bender beyond being a role-playing 3 and D stretch 4. Not one person expects him to be a star. Ayton is expected to be a Superstar.

I honestly have no idea what your point is.

I usually say the same thing but in this case I guess it depends on what you mean by contribute. I certainly expect him to give us better center play than we've had here in several years. AFAIC, that's a very low bar and there's no reason he shouldn't clear it even as a sometimes confused rookie. I don't know that he'll have a huge impact in the win column but we've added Ariza and Bridges too. All 3 additions should log positive minutes. I don't know if Deandre will ever be a superstar but he seems ready to impact straight out of the gate IMO.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

I usually say the same thing but in this case I guess it depends on what you mean by contribute. I certainly expect him to give us better center play than we've had here in several years. AFAIC, that's a very low bar and there's no reason he shouldn't clear it even as a sometimes confused rookie. I don't know that he'll have a huge impact in the win column but we've added Ariza and Bridges too. All 3 additions should log positive minutes. I don't know if Deandre will ever be a superstar but he seems ready to impact straight out of the gate IMO.

Not only have the Suns added Bridges, Ariza and Ayton, but their point guard situation should be better as well. I'm obviously no Knight fan, and Harrison and Okobo are very unproven...but they almost have to be better than what the Suns got out of the point guard position last year.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Not only have the Suns added Bridges, Ariza and Ayton, but their point guard situation should be better as well. I'm obviously no Knight fan, and Harrison and Okobo are very unproven...but they almost have to be better than what the Suns got out of the point guard position last year.

Not to mention, hopefully full healthy seasons from Booker and Warren (if he's still here).

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Not to mention, hopefully full healthy seasons from Booker and Warren (if he's still here).

And continued steps forward from our young guys (JJ, bender, Chriss and even booker). Getting reed back fully healthy. And better coaching.

The west is really tough and there are a lot of young teams that are getting better. But there are a lot of elements that should contribute to the subs improving measurably over last year:

Not tanking +2
Healthier seasons from booker, Warren, reed +3
Addition of rookies (Ayton, bridges and okobo) +4
Addition of ariza +1
Improvement from young guys (JJ, Chriss and bender) +2
Superior coaching +3

So I see us winning 15 more games this year, conservatively. That places us at 36, right? That seems about right. Upside of 40 but Ayton will have to exceed my expectations and a lot of youth will have to have developed and come through immediately. But this was a huge offseason for this club so I’m excited to see what happens.

 

[Hoop Head]

What, no Devin Booker option?

Do you think Booker will be our 2nd best player? In a year or two there might be someone better than him on the team but not this season.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Do you think Booker will be our 2nd best player? In a year or two there might be someone better than him on the team but not this season.

I certainly don't think we have a better player than Booker but there are a lot of fans that think Warren is/has been our best.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I'd like to know who will own up to voting for Josh Jackson?