Suns Future

The Suns are in a fantastic position. For a team that many picked to bottom 3 all year long to come out swinging and be in the playoff picture all year long is nothing short of amazing. They need to lock Bledsoe up to a long deal deal at all costs. Dragic and Bledsoe proved they can play together and they need to keep them together as long as possible. I hope they hang on and make the playoffs, but either the Suns, Dallas, or the Grizzlies are going to end up missing the playoffs which is INSANE. The Grizzlies are 1.5 games back of the Suns for the 7th spot, but if any of those teams were in the Eastern conference they would be a 3 seed right now. But if I were the Suns I would try to package those picks and move up in the draft and try to get a top 10 pick. Right now they are going to get the 18th, 21st, and 30th pick but they do not need 3 young rookies on this team. But all they need to do is grow as a team, sign Bledsoe, and trade up in the draft for a young stud. 

The Suns are in a fantastic position. For a team that many picked to bottom 3 all year long to come out swinging and be in the playoff picture all year long is nothing short of amazing. They need to lock Bledsoe up to a long deal deal at all costs. Dragic and Bledsoe proved they can play together and they need to keep them together as long as possible. I hope they hang on and make the playoffs, but either the Suns, Dallas, or the Grizzlies are going to end up missing the playoffs which is INSANE. The Grizzlies are 1.5 games back of the Suns for the 7th spot, but if any of those teams were in the Eastern conference they would be a 3 seed right now. But if I were the Suns I would try to package those picks and move up in the draft and try to get a top 10 pick. Right now they are going to get the 18th, 21st, and 30th pick but they do not need 3 young rookies on this team. But all they need to do is grow as a team, sign Bledsoe, and trade up in the draft for a young stud. 

The Suns are very good drafters and I think that they could find gems in the mid late first round or get players whose stock plummets. For example, concerning the gems, I think about  a kid like Clint Capela, who’s destroying the French championship (pretty tough European league) at the tender age of 19. Then imagine a kid like Lavine dropping in the draft he could end up being available with the 18th pick and being interesting as a combo back up. You also got interesting point forwards like Anderson or Saric who also could be available and bring even more creativity and variety compared to players like Tucker or Green

The Suns are very good drafters and I think that they could find gems in the mid late first round or get players whose stock plummets. For example, concerning the gems, I think about  a kid like Clint Capela, who’s destroying the French championship (pretty tough European league) at the tender age of 19. Then imagine a kid like Lavine dropping in the draft he could end up being available with the 18th pick and being interesting as a combo back up. You also got interesting point forwards like Anderson or Saric who also could be available and bring even more creativity and variety compared to players like Tucker or Green

dragic, green, len, morris twins, plumlee, goodwin, ishe are under contract.  frye will probably opt in and i’m guessing they’ll re-sign bledsoe (even though dragic is playing out of bounds right now).

they are looking at something like this right now.

starters: bledsoe, dragic, green, frye, plumlee

reserves: smith, goodwin, morris twins and len

that’s pretty solid right now.  

i envision them adding another guard to the mix: clarkson, young, stauskas, seldon, payton, christon would all work.  add another big: saric, gordon, cauley-stein, payne, harrell, mcadoo, walker.  and a euro: capela, micic, nurkic, bogdanovic.  i think this is a great 2nd round draft this year too.  even at 50+, there are a lot of options that could make the squad.

love phoenix’s position right now.

dragic, green, len, morris twins, plumlee, goodwin, ishe are under contract.  frye will probably opt in and i’m guessing they’ll re-sign bledsoe (even though dragic is playing out of bounds right now).

they are looking at something like this right now.

starters: bledsoe, dragic, green, frye, plumlee

reserves: smith, goodwin, morris twins and len

that’s pretty solid right now.  

i envision them adding another guard to the mix: clarkson, young, stauskas, seldon, payton, christon would all work.  add another big: saric, gordon, cauley-stein, payne, harrell, mcadoo, walker.  and a euro: capela, micic, nurkic, bogdanovic.  i think this is a great 2nd round draft this year too.  even at 50+, there are a lot of options that could make the squad.

love phoenix’s position right now.

 As a Suns fan, I more than most have been amazed how well they have done this season. Jeff Hornacek must surely be a front runner for coach of the year. Also our top draft pick Alex Len has only had limited playing time but with a team of solid role players we are maybe 15 wins ahead of where we thought we might be.

With 3 draft picks I’d assume we might look to package at least two of them especially if the T-Wolves pick comes our way but the mathematics are that it likely stays 13th and so with the T-Wolves. Actually if we did miss out on the play offs it would not be a disaster as it gives us an outside shot at the lottery and at worse a 14th pick whereby in the play offs we’d likely face 1st or 2nd seed with them having homecourt advantage.

Plus if the T-Wolves pick doesn’t come over this year then it will likely come over in 2015 along with the pick from the Lakers. So we will likely have 3 first rounders in 2015 as well. The cynical side in me so much wishes we had the pick due from Lakers this year, if that had come in at 6 or 7, it would have been very nice.

The Suns also have a fair bit of cap space assuming that Frye opts in and even if we resign Bledsoe. If Bledsoe moves on then we have major cap space if we choose to try and land a top FA. 

 As a Suns fan, I more than most have been amazed how well they have done this season. Jeff Hornacek must surely be a front runner for coach of the year. Also our top draft pick Alex Len has only had limited playing time but with a team of solid role players we are maybe 15 wins ahead of where we thought we might be.

With 3 draft picks I’d assume we might look to package at least two of them especially if the T-Wolves pick comes our way but the mathematics are that it likely stays 13th and so with the T-Wolves. Actually if we did miss out on the play offs it would not be a disaster as it gives us an outside shot at the lottery and at worse a 14th pick whereby in the play offs we’d likely face 1st or 2nd seed with them having homecourt advantage.

Plus if the T-Wolves pick doesn’t come over this year then it will likely come over in 2015 along with the pick from the Lakers. So we will likely have 3 first rounders in 2015 as well. The cynical side in me so much wishes we had the pick due from Lakers this year, if that had come in at 6 or 7, it would have been very nice.

The Suns also have a fair bit of cap space assuming that Frye opts in and even if we resign Bledsoe. If Bledsoe moves on then we have major cap space if we choose to try and land a top FA. 

Love the guard rotation they have esp with Bledsoe coming back.  Looking toward the draft they should either capture one big who can rebound and play their style or find an athletic sf who can really play defense.  Also, Suns can be major players in a trade or free agency with trump cards of Lakers pick in 2015 top 5 protected, Morris bros, Goodwin and three picks this year and a total of three next year.  Hoping with drafting and trading their 2015 lineup looks something like this

PF  Love, Fry

SF Tucker, Saric 

C Plumlee, Len, Randolph

SG Bledsoe, Green, Barbosa

PG Dragic, Smith

D. League, a few late good picks

Love the guard rotation they have esp with Bledsoe coming back.  Looking toward the draft they should either capture one big who can rebound and play their style or find an athletic sf who can really play defense.  Also, Suns can be major players in a trade or free agency with trump cards of Lakers pick in 2015 top 5 protected, Morris bros, Goodwin and three picks this year and a total of three next year.  Hoping with drafting and trading their 2015 lineup looks something like this

PF  Love, Fry

SF Tucker, Saric 

C Plumlee, Len, Randolph

SG Bledsoe, Green, Barbosa

PG Dragic, Smith

D. League, a few late good picks

As a Suns fan I’m terrified Sarver is going to blow this one somehow.

As a Suns fan I’m terrified Sarver is going to blow this one somehow.

 Suns gotta be one of the fastest team ever in the NBA

Ish Smith

Eric Bledsoe 

Leandro Barbosa

Goran Dragic

Thats an extremley fast backcourt,I cant think of one faster.

 Suns gotta be one of the fastest team ever in the NBA

Ish Smith

Eric Bledsoe 

Leandro Barbosa

Goran Dragic

Thats an extremley fast backcourt,I cant think of one faster.

They are good, but they do need a trade and bring in a star player in that front court to make them absolutely scary. A guy that would fit is obviously Kevin Love as be has they range and could be a similar yet upgraded version of Frye in terms of scoring and obviously rebounding.

If they didn’t want to throw their hat in the K-Love ring a guy they could look at is Ryan Anderson, the Pelicans traded there pick and I am sure would be happy to get another and Anderson fits there system.

I am pleasantly surprised with Plumlee, but again they could look at Asik as an upgrade defensive presence in the post.

Their back court to me is set with Bledsoe and Dragic, personally I start Gerald Green at SF as long as he commits defensively.

Apart from that I think some back court depth wouldn’t hurt them.

They are good, but they do need a trade and bring in a star player in that front court to make them absolutely scary. A guy that would fit is obviously Kevin Love as be has they range and could be a similar yet upgraded version of Frye in terms of scoring and obviously rebounding.

If they didn’t want to throw their hat in the K-Love ring a guy they could look at is Ryan Anderson, the Pelicans traded there pick and I am sure would be happy to get another and Anderson fits there system.

I am pleasantly surprised with Plumlee, but again they could look at Asik as an upgrade defensive presence in the post.

Their back court to me is set with Bledsoe and Dragic, personally I start Gerald Green at SF as long as he commits defensively.

Apart from that I think some back court depth wouldn’t hurt them.

There were rumbles about the Suns taking a look at Rudy Gay. I really hope they don’t even consider Gay. Draft wise they won’t have a lottery pick but would like to see them get WCS since they lack a rim protector and possibly TJ Warren or James Young on the wing.

There were rumbles about the Suns taking a look at Rudy Gay. I really hope they don’t even consider Gay. Draft wise they won’t have a lottery pick but would like to see them get WCS since they lack a rim protector and possibly TJ Warren or James Young on the wing.

One team i think the Suns could compare to soon is the Spurs.  Dragics game is pretty comparible to Ginobili.  Bledsoe is driving to the basket ala Tony Parker  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtaluLIK__E.  Other supporting roles like Green and Tucker are the further offensive and defensive punch the team has had like Horry, Bowen and Finley.  The missing piece is someone like Duncun which of course is hard to find.  Alex Len was advertised as a possible dominant force but looks a little lost and weak against competition so far.  Plumlee is a surprise so far with some defense and athletic moves.  Just from descriptions from nbadraft.net Dario Saric has game the Suns could use in a big.  Passing, rebounding and low post threat is part of his described game and would be good in a half court set.  Unknowns are expected since he is foreign but he is near the Suns destined pick slots and would fit in nicely with Dragic.  He def. isnt comparing to Duncan with defense but could play a similar role like Vlade Divac or Boris Diaw played in the past.  

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One team i think the Suns could compare to soon is the Spurs.  Dragics game is pretty comparible to Ginobili.  Bledsoe is driving to the basket ala Tony Parker  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtaluLIK__E.  Other supporting roles like Green and Tucker are the further offensive and defensive punch the team has had like Horry, Bowen and Finley.  The missing piece is someone like Duncun which of course is hard to find.  Alex Len was advertised as a possible dominant force but looks a little lost and weak against competition so far.  Plumlee is a surprise so far with some defense and athletic moves.  Just from descriptions from nbadraft.net Dario Saric has game the Suns could use in a big.  Passing, rebounding and low post threat is part of his described game and would be good in a half court set.  Unknowns are expected since he is foreign but he is near the Suns destined pick slots and would fit in nicely with Dragic.  He def. isnt comparing to Duncan with defense but could play a similar role like Vlade Divac or Boris Diaw played in the past.  

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 I am a Suns fan and Saric is my favorite player in the draft but he will be gone before the Suns’ first pick if he declares in 2014. With the three picks we could potentially trade our first pick + pacers first to move up and draft someone like Saric which I would love. If we hold all three picks (two 15-22 picks & 28-30 pick) I’m hoping we can scoop Micic/Young then Payne/Capela and hopefully Bogdanovic or Nurkic are available (for the Suns’ sake we should root for Miami and San Antonio in the playoffs because they are likely teams to scoop those foreign players.) I’m loving the way the roster shaped out, I thought it would take years but if they could pull some quality rotation guys in this draft they could be set for years.

 I am a Suns fan and Saric is my favorite player in the draft but he will be gone before the Suns’ first pick if he declares in 2014. With the three picks we could potentially trade our first pick + pacers first to move up and draft someone like Saric which I would love. If we hold all three picks (two 15-22 picks & 28-30 pick) I’m hoping we can scoop Micic/Young then Payne/Capela and hopefully Bogdanovic or Nurkic are available (for the Suns’ sake we should root for Miami and San Antonio in the playoffs because they are likely teams to scoop those foreign players.) I’m loving the way the roster shaped out, I thought it would take years but if they could pull some quality rotation guys in this draft they could be set for years.