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I think you miss my point. I don't believe it's a matter of philosophy on their part, it's a failure to properly evaluate talent. They didn't draft Earl Clark because he was a high scoring wing that fit their system, they drafted him because they thought his potential made him the best player available. They were wrong, Lawson would have been a far superior choice but we weren't the only team scared off by his 5'11 size.
I agree the Suns are definitely poor at evaluating talent. The pool of quality talent in the 2009 draft was at PG when the Suns were drafting. They chose to chase after a big man (Clark) instead.
http://www.nba.com/draft2009/
You mentioned Lopez. Why do you think that was a case of drafting for need? He'd shown some defensive flashes but he was a waste of space on offense. Does that sound like the Suns were drafting him on a "need" basis. They just screwed up. If they had drafted for BPA with an eye on need they could have grabbed someone like Roy Hibbert who would have been a huge upgrade at the same position.
I don't think most posters on this board did not want the Suns to draft Robin Lopez. Big man was a need but they chose the wrong big man. I'm not seeing where Lopez was a better big man that Hibbert, McGee or Ibaka in that draft. Hopefully Lopez still has time to improve. Lopez just wasn't the BPA to the Suns.
http://www.nba.com/draft2008/board.html
I think, for the most part, they draft the same way the other teams do. Over the past several years, even once we stopped giving away our picks, we've failed to find that diamond in the rough because we haven't put enough money and effort into developing our scouting department. We're not alone in this but we're in the bottom half of the league when it comes to knowing how to identify those players that might significantly outplay their draft slot. Regardless, we can't draft the BPA until we do a better job of identifying him.
We're back to the Suns not identifying the best player where they are picking in the draft. In the 2011 draft the Suns selected Markieff Morris when Kawhi Leonard was considered by many to be the best player where the Suns were drafting.
http://www.nba.com/draft/2011/
In summary the Suns had a failed a strategy of going after big men in the 2008, 2009 and the 2011 draft where (IMO) they felt a need. They had no first round pick in 2010. The idea of thinking of Lopez, Clark and Morris were the BPAs available to the Suns is absurd to me in all three drafts.
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