Would you trade the #3 pick +? for Bradley Beal?
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I'm not worried the distributing part so much as the concern for having two dominant scorers playing beside each.
That said, if the Suns can get an All-Star for something within reason, they have to think about it.
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Sunburn
ASFN Lifer
Why can't a shooting guard have these? Harden, Doncic, Simmons, and Lebron have these.
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Sunburn
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No one is saying Wilt Chamberlain was a point guard, but you don't have to be a "point guard" to be an effective offensive initiator. Is Steph Curry really that much better a distributor than Booker or Beal?
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And Booker and Beal do not.
In terms of decision making, passing and facilitating offense for others (assist numbers or not)?
Absolutely.
Booker and Beal are both closer to Klay Thompson offensively than Curry.
Sunburn
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Are you sure? Curry averages 5.3 assists and 2.8 turnovers, for a 1.89 A/TO ratio. Beal averages 5.5 and 2.8, for a 1.96 ratio. Booker averages 6.8 and 4.1, for a 1.65 ratio. Thompson averages 2.4 and 1.5, for a 1.6 ratio. By these numbers, I would say Beal and Booker are closer to Curry than Thompson. What are you basing your opinion on?
BC867
Long time Phoenician!
Saying that Beal is a good distributor is a generalization.
There is a big difference between a Shooting Guard or Forward who is a good distributor and having a "quarterback" on offense. And one to guard the opponents' one on defense.
Again I give the example, has there ever been a (successful) football team who divided the quarterback responsibilities between two backcourt players on the field at the same time?
And the don't even have to play defense.
Sharing Point Guard responsibilities disrupts team chemistry. Just look at the results. How many last place finishes do the Suns have to experience (whether it is 3 lead Point Guards
or no lead Point Guards -- they've tried both) to realize that it doesn't work. Not then. Not since then. Not now. Not next season.
Sunburn
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This is not true. One simply needs to look at the Golden State Warriors for an example of shared responsibilities. Your football analogy does not work in that only one player in football makes passes, whereas in basketball all players on the court do.
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How? It's been done for as long as I can remember and at one time sharing PG responsibilities was easily the norm.
Do you think we'd have been remarkably better if you removed Booker from the team and replaced him with a solid traditional point guard? If so, I just don't see it. For the past several years we've been dominated at most of our starting positions and most of our backup positions too. That's not a problem that can be solved by any one player. And judging Booker as a PG with virtually no help is equally unreasonable IMO. You can pass all day long but if the guy you're throwing to can't hold his position, can't shoot, doesn't fight for the pass, doesn't come back to the pass, doesn't make himself available for the pass and so on, you're going to look pretty bad at times. An so would Chris Paul or Steve Nash.
And I'd maintain that the 3 point guard problem had little to do with the number and everything to do with the situation. You had Bledsoe trying to prove he deserved his recent contract, Thomas trying to prove he should start and Dragic trying to earn a big payday. The politics destroyed us, not the fact we had 3 combo guards. There have been a lot of teams since then that have made it work.
BC867
Long time Phoenician!
I hope you're right! What about the point that 3 lead Point Guards or no lead Point Guards have resulted in failure for the Suns all decade?
"That's the fact, Jack." Team leadership is Sarver and revolving General Managers and Head Coaches. We are not the Golden State Warriors.
The Suns are a team whose players must succeed in spite of that. And one which has been overloaded with young, inexperienced players as well.
Sunburn
ASFN Lifer
The Dragic/Bledsoe backcourt was actually quite effective. Problems arose when IT was brought in and Dragic was moved off ball, but that wouldn't be a problem in this case, as both Beal and Booker excel off ball.
BC867
Long time Phoenician!
'Bad example, Steve! Of course removing Booker from the team would hurt the team tremendously. No one has advocated that.
It has been about removing Booker from (close to being) an All Star Shooting Guard, while he is also our best distributor (by default).
Right up to the present, Book has had to decide, game by game, whether he will be a Point Guard or Shooting Guard that night.
We need both. Booker as the go-to Shooting Guard and a Point Guard to go to him. Both with good backups off the bench.
And if your answer would be that we need two tweener Guards, I maintain it would degrade both positions, especially
on this young team.
If we were to add two legitimate Power Forwards and solid backups for Book and his backcourt partner, with a Coach
who is a whiz at making it work, it could work. But we are far short of team balance for that. We are a last place team.
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And that team was actually very effective when they played all 3 together, it was by far their best lineup.
overseascardfan
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Barrett would be a cornerstone piece for them along with additional pieces PHX may add so it wouldn’t be a rebuild especially since Dinwiddie will be back. Having to spend minimum of $35M on two PG’s when they could use that money on guys like Leonard & Durant to go with Barrett and Dinwiddie sounds illogical.
Who shares the point responsibilities with Curry?
Sunburn
ASFN Lifer
That is true. You're right that problems were more political than production.
Sunburn
ASFN Lifer
Green and Durant, both of whom average more assists than Curry.
Neither of them take the ball up the court, initiate the offense or guard opposing point guards.
And we don't have a Green or Durant, anyway (and neither Beal nor Booker is at their level as a passer, distributor, facilitator or decision-maker...just look at their relative efficiency numbers, not just the assists and assist-to-turnover ratios)...AND we don't have anyone anywhere near Curry's level there (and neither Booker nor Beal will EVER get to that level).
Steph Curry, while not a prototypical "pass-first" point guard, just happens to be one of the best point guards of all time. By comparison, we have...nobody.
Nice try.
Sunburn
ASFN Lifer
One, I've seen them both take the ball up court and initiate the offense. Two, who cares that they don't guard point guards. Needless to say, one team's backcourt generally guards the opposing team's backcourt. In this case, Beal is a good defender capable of guarding the 1 or 2.
The point is Green and Durant are not point guards but share in "point guard" responsibilities. Yes, we don't have them, but we do have Booker, who has shown he is capable of sharing in these responsibilities. Why not use that ability? Add another player who is also capable and you have the makings of a dynamic, multi faceted offense.
Yes, Steph Curry is one of the best point guards of all time, and distribution isn't his focus.
Actually, if this year is any indication, particularly regarding performance down the stretch of games, Booker has shown he is NOT capable in sharing in point guard responsibilities. What's more, his game as a shooting guard empirically suffers when he tries to share in such responsibilities.
If you want to neutralize both the team and Booker himself, the surest way to do that has proved to be to play someone other than a true point guard in the backcourt with Booker.
Sunburn
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Tyler Johnson is not a true point guard. Booker seemed to play just fine with him. And your definition of capable must differ greatly from mine.
The last game with Tyler Johnson at the point, the Suns lost by 17 at home against a mediocre Jazz squad. I wouldn't call that "just fine".
Sunburn
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Ya and Booker had 27 points on 9/20 shooting to go along with 6 assists and 4 rebounds. You said Booker would be neutralized playing with someone other than a true point guard. He wasn't. As for the team, we played our best ball this season with Tyler Johnson starting. Do we need an upgrade there? Sure. Would Beal be an upgrade? Absolutely.
9 for 20 shooting with 4 turnovers to go with those 6 assists is a below average and highly inefficient game for Booker. Plus he was thoroughly outplayed by Donovan Mitchell, and, oh yeah, we lost by 17 at home.
