Crives's Offseason Grade:
Phoenix Suns transactions
Front office
none.
Draft
none.
Trades
Traded Jevon Carter and pick #29 to Brooklyn for Landry Shamet.
Free agency
Re-signed Chris Paul, 4/$120M (3rd year $15.8M guaranteed, 4th year TO).
Re-signed Cameron Payne, 3/$19M.
Re-signed Abdel Nader, 2/$4M.
Re-signed Frank Kaminsky, 1/min.
Signed Elfrid Payton, 1/min.
Signed Javale McGee, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
As phx made it deeper and deeper into the playoffs, a big portion of many suns fans happiness was offset by the realization that Cam Payne was outplaying what phx could offer and would likely be starting for a different team next year. If you ask most suns fans on this board who their favorite suns are.. most have Bridges and Payne in their top 2. If you put a gun to my head, I probably would have preferred to keep Payne over CP3 if I had to choose only one. When Cam Payne signed for ~6m per year I was shocked, I think this will go down as the best deal this offseason. I do think Payne if phx long term starting pg as CP3 ages.
Rest of the offseason was about keeping the band together. Resigning CP3 was expected, Jones did a good job keeping 3/8 of the deal unguranteed to avoid CP3 killing our cap space in case of injury. I think Ayton max deal is already agreed, I think they are still working on Bridges deal, and out of respect for Bridges making less then Ayton, they will wait to announce the deals together. After seeing Payne take a big team discount, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ayton and Bridges come in lower then expected.
There is a heavy rumor that a Dario + Jalen for Thad young deal is in the works. I don’t love Thads fit, but it’s a clear talent upgrade.
Grade
A on Payne and CP3 deals. But grade still tbd until we get Bridges and Ayton extensions.
2022 Prediction
I expect phx to be fighting Utah for the 1st seed out West in the regular season. I think phx is a bit underrated right now as I see many attributing phx success last year due to opponents injuries, even though phx was dominat in the regular season against elite teams. Bridges/Booker/Johnson/Ayton have all showed solid improvements each year. I expect further improvements + additional continuity improvements as phx is bringing back the same squad.
If healthy, I expect phx to be the third best team behind Milwaukee and Brooklyn. I think phx has the most well balanced team in the league, I think they are the only team elite in all of the key areas below.
Dynamic Ballhandlers
Shooting + Spacing
Interior Defense
Perimeter Defense
Depth
Would not bet on getting back to the finals, that always requires a ton of luck. Winning a chip will be this teams goal.
Offseason in gif form
K_Chile22's Grade:
Phoenix Suns transactions
Front office
none.
Draft
none.
Trades
Traded Jevon Carter and pick #29 to Brooklyn for Landry Shamet.
Free agency
Re-signed Chris Paul, 4/$120M (3rd year $15.8M guaranteed, 4th year TO).
Re-signed Cameron Payne, 3/$19M.
Re-signed Abdel Nader, 2/$4M.
Re-signed Frank Kaminsky, 1/min.
Signed Elfrid Payton, 1/min.
Signed Javale McGee, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
Don't love the Shamet trade for them, feels like a bit of an overpay but apparently Monty really pushed for his guy, so I won't knock them much for it, especially because I don't really consider Carter a rotation player.
Did better on the CP deal than I thought they would when you step back and look at guarantees, managed to keep Payne on a fair deal, I actually like Nadar alright. Not sure I would have used a roster spot on Frank but it's whatever. JaVale should help in the regular season.
Overall think they did well in FA, mostly in keeping their guys. Not much opportunity for them to do anything fancy.
Grade
B+. Given lack of flexibility to do anything else, they get a high grade for keeping their two most important Free Agents on team friendly deals.
2022 Prediction
Top 3 in the west
Offseason in gif form
Mamba4Goat's Grade:
Phoenix Suns transactions
Front office
none.
Draft
none.
Trades
Traded Jevon Carter and pick #29 to Brooklyn for Landry Shamet.
Free agency
Re-signed Chris Paul, 4/$120M (3rd year $15.8M guaranteed, 4th year TO).
Re-signed Cameron Payne, 3/$19M.
Re-signed Abdel Nader, 2/$4M.
Re-signed Frank Kaminsky, 1/min.
Signed Elfrid Payton, 1/min.
Signed Javale McGee, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
I don't care for the Shamet trade. Call me ignorant but I don't get how he keeps getting traded for 1sts. I'm also not sure how Frank the tank keeps getting signed. That being said, they're basically running it back and swapping Craig out for Elfrid Payton, another creator which was needed.
Grade
B+
I've gone back and forth a bit with this grade. Getting Cam Payne on the deal they got him in was great. That CP3 deal is also pretty good. Improving on the margins with Elf, Mcgee, and Shamet is also nice, But...if the goal is to fight for a title, they needed a louder move. If they land Thad Young (who they're rumored to be interested in) for say, Jalen Smith, Saric, and some form of pick compensation all will be forgiven and my grade will be an A.
2022 Prediction
1-4 seed. They could very well make the finals again but it'll be heavily health dependant.
Offseason in gif form
Bondom34's Grade:
Phoenix Suns transactions
Front office
none.
Draft
none.
Trades
Traded Jevon Carter and pick #29 to Brooklyn for Landry Shamet.
Free agency
Re-signed Chris Paul, 4/$120M (3rd year $15.8M guaranteed, 4th year TO).
Re-signed Cameron Payne, 3/$19M.
Re-signed Abdel Nader, 2/$4M.
Re-signed Frank Kaminsky, 1/min.
Signed Elfrid Payton, 1/min.
Signed Javale McGee, 1/min.
Offseason Thoughts
After a pretty major move a year ago the Suns made what most feel was an unexpected finals run, and for the most part ran it back with minor tweaks which felt pretty logical. The only question was how would they do in terms of value and in that regard I think they did pretty well.
Will start with the one move I didn't care a ton for which is the trade. I'm not terribly high on Shamet and moving a pick for him and his RFA rights just isn't something I'd have been interested in. Its not huge and nothing I'm penalizing much for but a note.
On to free agency a lot were shocked at Paul's deal but having the last season entirely non-guaranteed and the 3rd half guaranteed is fantastic value for a player who really helped this team make a leap last year. To add to it getting Payne after he's become a bit of a breakout player at that number was one of the better value deals of the offseason if he keeps up his current level of play and a move that off the top of my head was one of the better value signings with that assumption. The rest of free agency was quiet, running it back and getting another rim runner type in McGee on a min deal was sensible too. Overall mostly quiet but solid.
Grade
Had this as a B+ but thinking of changing to A- last minute, the only negative was the Carter/29 trade.
2022 Prediction
Top 4 in the West
Offseason in gif form
