That's a better bet. At some point though, we'll need to trade most of the picks for an upgrade. We're too good to develop multiple new, young players. We've been too good to develop Whitmore and Reed this season. We'll be too good next season to incorporate another yet another rookie. At some point we need to acknowledge that bringing in another 19-year old player actually impairs the further of guys like Sengun, Amen, Jalen and Jabari. We'll need to use those picks on an upgrade. Jalen's position is probably the easiest to upgrade. Booker makes the most sense.
Hell no! Smart teams don't do this. I don't think you have thought this through. Players take time to develop and you need a deep bench. You are going to lose some of those players eventually because of the cap and contracts. You have to have REAL resources to keep the team going. 2027 PHX and Nets and 2029 PHX and DAL may be some of the best picks in the draft and almost certainly high lottery picks. You don't waste that on Devin Booker in a one shot deal on a player that is not better than Jalen Green when you factor the player and contract. Keeping the team young with assets is what attracts players like Durant or other stars that have gone to teams and found out what happens when you deplete the cupboard. PHX sucks because they had a team like ours and GAVE IT AWAY like you want to do.
You make some good points. I'll concede that you're right about much of this. I do think we are not at a place where we can develop another project next season. I also don't think we'd have to include all our draft equity for Devin Booker. I think a couple of the Phoenix picks and Jalen Green would probably be fair value for Booker. If we don't go all-in on a star like Booker, I hope we'll at least add some proven shooting. I think trading for an established shooter is wiser than drafting one. College shooting doesn't seem to translate that well to the pros as we've seen with Reed.
The roster is a continuing concern. You always need young guys and rookie contracts on the cheap. Saying Booker makes the most sense its just not true when you consider the increased salary of Booker, his age and all the assets we will give up for him. I would rather wait for Giannis, Ant or Trae Young.
Tyus Jones should be the no 1 target. Getting him makes the Suns weaker and he fills a huge hole in terms of giving the Rox a consistent shooter and playmaker. His defense isnt the best but we have a lot of great defenders on the team.
Booker is shooting worse than Green from 3. On our team shooting from 3 is more important than shooting from midrange aka worst shot in basketball. Booker shoots well from mid range because he doesnt waste energy on defense and he has spacing from Tyus Jones, Bolbol and Kevin freaking Durant. On our team we lack spacing already everyone is in the paint where would Booker have space to shoot his mid range shots? Thats already where Sengun and Amen operate Booker will have to drive less and shoot more 3s exactly what Green is doing now. The discussion between Jalen and Booker doesnt just involve their current playing ability. It involves other factors like age and salary. Booker will be 30 next year, why do you think he fits playing with 23 yr old Sengun and 21 yr old Amen? He is making the super max and also 7 yrs older than Jalen Green, he should be better but the question is how much better? I dont think he is a substantial upgrade he is more of a sidegrade because his cons of increased age and super max salary lower his value. If you add the fact you will need to give up a king's ransom to get him that would just be a massive mistake.
Booker is making much more than Jalen's salary I dont think 0.2 BPM and .2 VORP is worth paying 40% more. This is a false argument to begin with we are paying Jalen Derrick White money, and Dwhite is the 4rth option on the Celtics. Booker though is making Jokic, SGA, Ant and Giannis money while clearly being inferior and even older than some of those guys. I dont mind trading away Jalen and all the picks but the replacement has to be worth it. 10% better but much older player at 140% the cost and you need to give up 4 picks and salary filler on top? How is that a good move? This reminds me of the Wolves when they traded away Kessler for Gobert or even Suns themselves when they traded Cp3 and all their swaps for Beal. Very little upgrade for mich higher cost and as a result they tanked their team.
He is not a replacement he is an addition. Blaming Tyus Jones for the Suns failures when he signed a vet min contract is just super dumb. If he is really so bad why doesnt the coach just give him a DNP? He is making vet min on that team they can cut him and not feel it. This is like if the Rox blamed Jeenathan Williams for every loss this season.
Jones isn't a "terrible defender", he's been on two terrible defensive teams where everyone has taken a hit statistically - Tanking Washington & this PHX squad that couldn't cover a baby with a blanket. His D-rtg jumped 10 points on those two teams from ~111-121. He's had positive defensive stats every year other than his rookie year and these last two, again with terrible teams and the worst offenders with PHX are it's stars, Beal, Booker & Durant. That 111 D-rtg is about where FVV is right now and as good as anything FVV has posted in the last 5 years The difference is that Jones can shoot a hell of a lot better from just about everywhere that matters .... .824 at the rim to .529 .465 (3-10ft) .420 .420 (3pt range) .353 Having a guard that can hit the 3 at a high rate and threaten the rim would make a hell of a difference in this offense.
I like Reed, but he didn't flash any of the so called basketball IQ you speak of. He looked like a rookie. Now next year he will hopefully improve. But I'm convinced you simply looked at his appearance and determined his basketball IQ
I totally disagree with those analogies. This is far more like when the Cavs traded for Mitchell. We have a very good team that is lacking a 25+ ppg player. A 10% upgrade often is the difference between a really good team and a contender.
I compltely disagree. That and his activity with deflections are his 2 highest attributes that I saw. His timidness with shooting and missing shots were his biggest detriments. He looked great within playing smart with the ball setting teammates up. When to push when to slow things down. Movement into open areas etc.
10% UPGRADE means just that, an upgrade. When a guy makes 40% more salary then sorry thats not an upgrade thats a salary inefficiency increase or a downgrade. For example going from Jalen to Tyler Herro is an upgrade, because Herro is better in all aspects including salary. Herro is better from 3, better inside, better playmaker and also only makes 25M a year for the next 4 yrs. Thats an upgrade, and I would be ok giving up Jalen, Cam and picks for Herro. OTH, going from Jalen to Booker is actually a DOWNGRADE, because Booker is only 10% better but costs 40% more. If the salary cap and 2nd apron doesnt exist, you can make the argument 10% is worth it. But as it is that 40% cap hit is gonna mean less depth and less talent somewhere else. Thats why I compared it to Gobert and Beal. Cp3 to Beal ok Beal is slightly better than Cp3, BUT he is so much more expensive and thats why their roster sucked. Gobert is the same, because he costs too much it torpedoed the wolves and they had to trade KAT cuz they couldnt afford him. The Cavs situation is funny because that team is a glass tiger, nobody even considers them true contenders cuz they know that team has zero depth they are extremely top heavy and too reliant on Mitchell's health. You know by next year Booker will only have 2 yrs left on his deal? After that his new super max will cost 70M a year. 70M for a 32 yr old Booker lmao thats such a bad deal. People who keep asking for Booker just have surface level analysis and dont consider factors other than Booker is slightly better than Jalen.
Looking at EPM, his defensive EPM is generally negative. Sure, teams with good rim protection or defensive schemes can mitigate his defense, but overall he is not a driver for good defense. Relative to someone like FVV, he is piss poor. What's funny is his TS% is typically lower than FVV's when he isn't on a well spaced team like the Suns. Sure, he's a better shooter, but he would likely drag down the Rockets TS% as he is less efficient than FVV in a crowd or even with one guy within 5 feet.
For one, I don't agree that Booker is a "10 percent upgrade." That's what you think. I think he would be a massive upgrade. Going from 21 ppg on a .54 - .55 TS% with 3.5 apg to 26 ppg on a .6 TS% with 7 apg is a major, major upgrade, the difference between a top 75 - 100 player and a top 15, true #1 offensive option player. The cost, from a salary cap perspective, is easily worth it. It's whether all the other cost involved would be worth it.
My post was in response to another poster saying Tyus Jones would be a discount replacement for FVV. My post states that Tyus Jones would be an inadequate replacement for FVV. If your suggestion is that we replace Aaron Holiday for Tyus Jones, that would be fine. If the proposition is replacing FVV with Tyus Jones, that is a terrible idea.
