Who Would You Like To Steal?

[George O'Brien]

I define "stealing" a player as getting a quality guy under rookie contract his first two years in the league or for an inexpensive sign and trade deal. Diaw and Jones were effectively stolen, but not quite like when the Suns got Joe Johnson for Delk and Rogers.

What got me thinking about this is the odd situation of David Lee of the Knicks. On Larry Brown's team he has been at SF, but his minutes have been going up and down since the Knicks got Jalen Rose and Richardson has been playing more.

It is not clear that there is any way to steal Lee, since Isiah Thomas prefers to use his young players as bait for teams to take his bad contracts. Still, I think Lee would be a very nice fit on the Suns because he's a relatively big guy who is athletic and can shoot. His per minute rebounding at .28 per minute is outstanding especially considering he's been playing mostly SF.

David Lee
New York Knicks
Position: F
Height: 6-9 Weight: 249
College : Florida
Player file | Team stats

2005-06 Statistics
PPG 4.5
RPG 4.5
APG .7
SPG .28
BPG .28
FG% .595
FT% .594
3P% .000
MPG 16.1

It struck me that there are probably other guys worth stealing.

 

[MastersofCombat]

#31 Robert Swift | C
Born: December 3, 1985
Bakersfield, CA
Height: 7-0
Weight: 245 lbs. Age: 20
Pos: C
Drafted: 2004, 1st round, 12th pick by SuperSonics


Mpg 21.6
Pts 6.7
reb 5.8
Blk 1.36
Fg% .526
Robert Swift - signed for 4 years $1,764,480 $1,887,600 $2,601,112 $3,579,131

 

[hsandhu]

J.R. Smith in the offseason. New Orleans definitely will listen to offers, maybe the lakers pick, especially if they miss the playoffs, and a few other assets could get it done.

Developing under this coaching staff, he could be really good. Look at joe johnson. Boston gave up on him and it took him quite a while to play consistently well, but he did it, and listening to phil weber talk on ktar, you can sense how important the coaching staff is in developing young players with talent. JR smith no,w has a lot more ability then joe johnson did in leaving boston.

 

[jbeecham]

Jessica Alba.........oh you meant basketball players........sorry

 

[ProdigalSun]

Jessica Alba.........oh you meant basketball players........sorry

Im sure she has great looking form on her jumpshot

 

[overseascardfan]

I like both Swift and Lee, but Channing Frye is definately #1 on my list, will not happen though unless we give up a major piece to our team which I am definately against.

Steal guys like Paul Davis, Matt Harayz, Joahkim Noah, etc. in the draft.

 

[F-Dog]

It's too late IMO to get Robert Swift, or Darko Milicic for that matter.


From the last draft, I wouldn't mind getting either of the Blazers rookies, Martell Webster and Jarrett Jack. (I doubt the Blazers will abandon their youth movement, of course.) It would be nice to have Andray Blatche or Mickael Gelabale stashed away for the future.

Chris Duhon or Antonio Burks would be nice at backup PG (although I suppose Burks isn't the same player when he's not playing the Suns). Andris Biedrins would make a nice backup center.

If the Suns ever trade James Jones, Jumaine Jones would make a nice replacement.

Luke Jackson might be intriguing, if the Cavs give up on him. Brian Cook or even Sasha Vujacic might look better if they weren't in the spotlight in L.A.

I'll think of some others eventually.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

FDog already listed him, but I am sure all of you guys knew that I would want to steal Luke Jackson away

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Brian Skinner, I think would be a good fit on the Suns as a big man

 

[George O'Brien]

Brian Skinner, I think would be a good fit on the Suns as a big man

At $4.9 million, I'm not sure Skinner is what I would treat as a "steal". With the Suns cap situation, it is really hard to justify a guy of that price on the bench.

Going into next season, according to HoopsHype, their payroll includes:

Marion $15.0 million
Stoudemire $12.0 million
Nash $10.5 million
homas $7.4 million
Bell $4.2 million

Jones $2.6 million
Diaw $1.8 million
Grant $1.7 million (player option)
Barbosa $1.7 million
House $0.9 million (player option)
Tskitishvili $0.8 million

I don't think the contracts of Burke and Thompson are guaranteed, but they are both small.

In this context, even a potentially good addition like Skinner would be too expensive. This means the only kind of player the Suns can look at is someone who is very inexpensive. As it is, in couple of years they will almost certainly be paying luxury tax just to keep their their core.

 

[MastersofCombat]

Why are they trying to resign Barbosa? He is not durable and everytime he plays reckless you just waiting for next prob/injury to occur

 

[Jay Cardinal]

Why are they trying to resign Barbosa? He is not durable and everytime he plays reckless you just waiting for next prob/injury to occur

Because he is lightning quick and leading the NBA in three-point percentage.

 

[green machine]

Why are they trying to resign Barbosa? He is not durable and everytime he plays reckless you just waiting for next prob/injury to occur

I've never thought of Barbosa as injury prone, I mean, he did have a guy fall on his knee, and probably came back too soon.

But the guy has amazing physical tools, can shoot, is very coachable, and seems to be very well liked. That, and he's only going to get better.

I say keep him.

 

[George O'Brien]

I've never thought of Barbosa as injury prone, I mean, he did have a guy fall on his knee, and probably came back too soon.

But the guy has amazing physical tools, can shoot, is very coachable, and seems to be very well liked. That, and he's only going to get better.

I say keep him.

Leandro is a perfect fit for the Suns style. Bell was quoted as saying that he thought AI was the quickest player in the NBA (side to side), but that Barbosa is the fastest in a straight line. Considering he is on a team with Shawn Marion, that is not insignificant. He can make weak side help look like they are set in concrete. Add to it a near top ranked three point shot and he is a huge offensive threat who is getting better all the time.

In the long run, the Suns still hope Leandro will evolve into a true PG and hopefully a defensive stopper. Right now he's too valuable off the ball for them to be focusing on his ball handling, but he's still getting better at making assists. Working with Bell should be helpful in learning how to play defense.

In any case, I think the game he played early in the season against the Pistons where he scored 21 points in 21 minutes show what he can do.

 

[nathan]

Though not really a good fit for the Suns, I would like to see what Travis Outlaw could do with 30 minutes per game.

 

[George O'Brien]

Though not really a good fit for the Suns, I would like to see what Travis Outlaw could do with 30 minutes per game.

Considering how bad his stats are this season, it does not appear Portland would ask for much for him. Is there any reason to think he can play?

 

[PhxGametime]

A player I wouldn't mind attaining that obviously isn't a star but could play the 4 and 3 in this system... is Luke Walton. I'm not sure how he's been defensively in NBA but I always liked watching his game...


The Team full strength might not need him but losing Boris Diaw would hurt this Team IMO and while not the athlete or defender 3D is, having another Point out there isn't too shabby for a 9th-10th roster spot bench player...


Keep in mind, I am a UofA fan ... when the whole Marbury/Kidd Trade happened, I was excited for a whole day thinking the Suns had a shot at getting Jefferson in deal. Iguodala other than previous years (Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw) was mah dream Draft choice and I had hoped the Suns would've shown interest in Channing Frye (more-so than Diogu - at least the rumors of Trading up)... Terry was at least in my Top-3 choices the year Marion got Drafted and Bibby is one of my favorite PG's.


Walton may not be in the same League as some of these players but other than Frye, the Team doesn't need those type of players for the offer that would be necessary to receive one of em. I'm already starting to believe that Adams either won't be available or will be passed on lol