What a bright future the Suns have Options

[eddog2]

Okay. So the Suns are already have one of the most lethal teams in the NBA.

They have several great young players in Barbosa, Amare, Diaw, Marion (29). They also have the soon to be 3 time MVP (Nash). Marion and Nash can be traded later in their career to get young talent back so the future is bright for the Suns.

What this whole post is about is the fact that they are going to get Atlanta's 1st round pick in the draft (although Atlanta does get a pick of their own from Boston). It all has to do with the Joe Johnson trade. The Suns will also have their own late 1st round (29th) pick.

I truly believe that the Suns would like to win a championship or 2 or 3 while Nash is still capable. That's why I think they are going to trade away their pick if it is not a top 2 pick. As it stands now, the Suns are probably going to get a somewhere in the 3-5 range unless the balls go the Suns way.

If that's happens I really think the Suns are going to make a big trade that sends the pick and any combination of Bell/Barbosa/Diaw and possibly even Marion to clear cap space to a team for some real top grade talent that will help them win a title next year and in the 2 seasons immediately thereafter.

That led me to think that the Bulls seam like the most likely team to deal with since the Bulls have quality players that could make the Suns even more dangerous.

I could see the Suns trading the 3-5 pick, some future picks, Barbosa, and Bell to the Bulls for Deng, Gordon & Duhon.

A starting lineup of

Amare
Marion
Deng
Gordon
Nash

would have to be the favorite to win a title in the 2007-2008 season. That's like an all-star team lineup. Not to mention you have the best distributor in the world setting them up. Nobody gets you more open looks than Nash. Gordon and Deng would be lethal as they are great jump shooters.

The Bulls would be better defensively with Bell replacing Ben Gordon. That 3-5 pick could get us a great young big man or SF (Brandon Wright). We'd then have other lottery pick to either draft a PF/C a SF depending on what we did with the 1st pick. Barbosa would be our sixth man of the year and would give us a lot of flexibility in the the style of basketball we play.

Getting rid of Deng and Gordon means we can play Tyrus at the 3 or 4 or we could sign a stud like Rashard Lewis to a big contract and have a superstar go to player.

[ZoomSlowik]

The pick is top-3 protected, which really hurts it's value a bit. It's not quite as interesting if you can't get Oden, Durant, or Wright.

I don't know, the team doesn't really have any glaring needs right now. Does Deng and Gordon instead of Barbosa and Bell really make them much better? I mean they do have 56 wins already, and though talent-wise it's better they'd still be a bit lax defensively and thin inside. If they were going to do something like that I think they'd try to go after someone like Garnett instead. I could see them exploring something like that, but they're also in a position where they can draft a couple of projects and work them in slowly, kind of like San Antonio did with Parker and Ginobili. Someone out of the Horford/Yianlian/Noah trio would be a great fit giving them some size and athleticism off the bench, that'd be just a great fit, and at 29 they can probably add another athlete. Unless someone blows me away with an offer involving a big man that'd probably be the route I'd go.

[eddog2]

Rumor has it they really like Yi.

Is there any way that Wright isn't the 3rd pick. Does Yi or someone have the potential or the hype to be the 3rd overall pick. I didn't expect Bargnani to go that high last year. Could it happen that a team really needs a big and decides to leave Wright alone?

http://www.nbadraft.net/ has the Suns taking Horford at 4. Yi to Charlotte at 5. What if Charlotte gets the 3rd pick? They won't want Wright unless they plan on moving Morrison/Wallace. They have too many PF's.

Maybe they'd trade down or just draft Yi anyway at 3.

[ZoomSlowik]

The consensus top 3 is clearly Oden, Durant, and Wright. No way anyone passes on either Oden or Durant for anyone but the other, and Wright is such a physically gifted big man (basically a Tyrus Thomas clone, although more offensive-minded) that teams aren't too likely to pass on him either. I have a hard time seeing Yi passing any of those guys, he has some ground to make up and would have to dominate in his workouts to move up, and might need Wright to slip up somehow as well. Those 3 guys in front of him have ridiculous potential and are more known commodities. He's also probably behind Horford (that seems to be the consensus, though it's more likely that he can pass him).

Should someone that has 2 decent big men (mainly Milwaukee, possibly Charlotte or Portland) get #3 I would imagine they'd trade down, someone would probably pay through the nose to get their hands on Wright.

[eddog2]

The consensus top 3 is clearly Oden, Durant, and Wright. No way anyone passes on either Oden or Durant for anyone but the other, and Wright is such a physically gifted big man (basically a Tyrus Thomas clone, although more offensive-minded) that teams aren't too likely to pass on him either. I have a hard time seeing Yi passing any of those guys, he has some ground to make up and would have to dominate in his workouts to move up, and might need Wright to slip up somehow as well. Those 3 guys in front of him have ridiculous potential and are more known commodities. He's also probably behind Horford (that seems to be the consensus, though it's more likely that he can pass him).

Should someone that has 2 decent big men (mainly Milwaukee, possibly Charlotte or Portland) get #3 I would imagine they'd trade down, someone would probably pay through the nose to get their hands on Wright.

I don't have the site with me but I've read a couple articles that said that if the Bucks get a chance they likely are going to take Horford to have someone play next to Bogut. They want a physical offensive minded PF.

That would give them a lineup of

Bogut
Horford
Villanueva
Redd
Williams

Horford would really compliment the Buck's offense. Charlie V. and Redd like to stay out at the arc and Bogut and Horford like to play down low although Horford is definately capable of creating his own shot and hitting the 18 footer. I think they would be a much improved offense if they got Horford and everyone stayed healthy next year. Hopefully, that all is for not and the Bulls get Horford (unless of course the Bulls get Oden or Durant).