I ordered it poorly.
Blake got outhustled by a feisty Thad when it was perhaps a 12 point game.
My down 30 comments were why on earth Blake was still in. Save his knees. Imagine if he got injured. Gotta be smart. Also, let the bench get more burn. Who knows maybe they could make some dent in the lead. But sometimes you just gotta throw in the towel and live to fight another day.
Re Josh Jax. I saw an earlier game where he rebounded and defended well. This game he just looked kind of lost. But it's a poorly constructed Suns team, without any real PG play. Also TJ & Bridges play more or less the same position. So hard to evaluate.
But the Suns help make the Draft For Need argument. Jax is stuck behind Bridges and TJ. PHX could have drafted De'Aaron Fox as their PG (instead of Jax). And then last draft they could have gone with Gorgeous Alexander instead of Bridges.
Instead they loaded up on another 6'8" F.
(they also have Richuan Holmes and had Ariza).
Desperate for a PG, PHX went with two F's instead.
I think they blew it twice.
And when you draft the guy you think is the best player on the board regardless of position, you risk the guy getting stuck in a crowded rotation and not getting minutes and possibly losing confidence, developing slowly, etc. It would be as if the Knix drafted an SG instead of Knox while we already had Tim and Courtly. (which we did with oru 2nd rounder, which is different). Last year Knix needed a PG and drafted one. this year we needed an SF and drafted one.
I think context matters a lot. It depends on who is left on the board. And depends on what the team needs are. If you need everything, you take the best player. If you don't need a starter, you do the same probably. But if you have an obvious gap, you try to fill it if a solid candidate is available. Suns needed and still need a PG. They had B2B drafts where a solid PG candidate was there (both times went the pick after PHX), and instead they went with a 6'8" F of which they had some already. they'd be a better team with a brighter future of they picked Fox over Jackson, or Shia G-A over Bridges (even if, for argument's sake, Bridges is a slightly better player).
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