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I concur that Bledsoe is presently Phoenix's best player, but the Suns are far below mediocrity right now and are unlikely to ever be better than mediocre so long as Bledsoe remains the team's best player. So there is a reasonable debate to be had ...

Booker's current ranking in Defensive Real Plus-Minus: NBA Real Plus-Minus - National Basketball Association - ESPN That is not to say that the metric is perfect, and I do not know why Avery Bradley and Klay Thompson currently rank so low, but I do believe that the gauge is pretty accurate in...

I agree that the Suns should look to trade Bledsoe—if not at the trading deadline, then next summer. He has not progressed much (if at all) as a playmaker, and he is certainly not a franchise point guard. Ulis is easily the best playmaker on this team, and the Suns will need to see if his lack...

That cannot happen, though—you can never get ejected while you are at the free throw line, regardless of the circumstances. Booker is good, and he knows it, but he needs to engage with opponents and officials less and focus on his defense more.

The only reason why I would trade Bledsoe instead of Knight would be to potentially receive a greater return while avoiding the risk of future knee surgeries. Neither is stellar offensively, but Bledsoe goes to the basket more, whereas Knight is more prone to settling for tough threes and is...

... Gasol, perhaps, but he would only have made sense if the Suns had shed Chandler, and he would not have considered Phoenix anyway, because he wants to compete for a title.

The contract is cheap and Barbosa is the kind of player who can be easily assimilated, but his addition means that some guard has to go ... either Goodwin or Knight. There is not enough playing time for six guards; without three-guard lineups, there is barely enough time for four guards.

... key phrase there is "at best" ... For what it is worth, Dudley will play better defense and pass better than Teletovic while also providing the three-point shooting.

... from the current vantage point, I would consider this draft excellent. The Suns did what they needed to do, which was to give themselves a chance to redeem the disastrous '15-'16 season by potentially having it pay off in a needed influx of young talent. Phoenix badly needed an infusion of...

I thought that you meant Phil Jackson ...

... that is what I mean. I cannot imagine that the Lakers' front office was playing for anything other than Kobe-based publicity and revenue this year. For the front office to then, in effect, blame Scott for wins and losses seems like a case of classic scapegoating. But there may be more to...

Given that rational people had to understand that the Lakers' record would be awful and that Los Angeles was basically playing for the lottery until the Kobe Tour ended, what was the negativity based on? The defense and the soap opera stuff regarding Young and Russell? Why did Scott's history...

What I mean is that Scott did not necessarily have a choice in the matter. He had an albatross on his hands, and I imagine that his expectation was to just tolerate it for a year, let the Lakers draft as highly as possible, and then get back to business the next season once the circus had passed.

So did Scott receive a raw deal or is his firing warranted? I am not sure if Scott could be fairly judged until Kobe Bryant was out of the way. When you have a player putting up 16.9 field goal attempts per game (in just 28.2 minutes) and shooting .358 from the field, including 7.1 three-point...

Well, the Suns will certainly defend Hornacek's firing now as having allowed them to learn that Earl Watson would be a worthwhile choice as their next official head coach. But to quote Charles Barkley from January 1996, "No matter who your jockey is, you have to have the horse."

The Suns really need to question the wisdom of whatever they did to lose their top-three position heading into the lottery; one might start with the belated firing of Hornacek. And if Phoenix fails to retain Earl Watson as head coach, firing Hornacek during the middle of the season will appear...

... especially given that Bryant, while perhaps the best pure scorer since Jordan and one of the five greatest shooting guards in history, did not exactly represent the game with the grace and class of, say, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Julius Erving ...

Well, the Grizzlies are certainly not the same with Marc Gasol done for the year ... as evidenced by losing to Phoenix twice. Tony Allen also did not play in either game, and Zach Randolph seems to be past his prime.

How could Sarver resist? He would sell out the arena again ...

The Suns' chances of finishing with the worst record overall were always very slim. However, keep in mind that that the worst record certainly does not guarantee the first pick. As long as Phoenix finishes with one of the three worst records, the Suns will possess a fair chance of winning the...

What I never understood is why people thought that Markieff Morris constituted some kind of cornerstone who could push this team over the top. He was a decent player before this season—quite good when he was on his game—but his level of play proved erratic and he failed to excel in any area...

Marcus Morris:

Subplot: does Joe Johnson return and help the Suns by playing well or hurt the Suns by playing poorly?

The issue moving forward is whether the Suns feature anyone who makes the guys around him better. If Eric Bledsoe or Brandon Knight could pass like Phil Pressey, for example, Phoenix would be in much better shape moving forward, and younger players such as Alex Len and Devin Booker would be more...

Actually, the Suns might have fired Hornacek in part to ensure that Morris would see the court in a last-ditch effort to boost his trade value. Then again, the front office could have just issued that edict to Hornacek, with the assurance that Morris would be moved at the deadline.