I dont anticipate the Suns making any big or even medium trades this season. Can we get better through a trade? Probably, but we are on a roll and i dont think we will mess with the chemistry at all. Making a trade this year would be a huge gamble. JJ already pieced this team together with players that he wanted. Look at how many moves he already made since the bubble. Adding CP3, Crowder, Galloway, More, Nader, thats roughly a third of the team that is new.
Only thing i see us doing is grabbing another battle-tested vet for the playoffs.
Cousins cleared waivers and can be had for cheap. He would have a reduced workload coming off the bench behind Ayton.
In 25 games with the Rockets, including 11 starts due to Christian Wood’s absences, Cousins averaged 9.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in just 20.2 minutes per contest. Though those are easily the lowest counting stats of his 11-year career, Boogie Cousins is still averaging 13.6 rebounds per-36 minutes, the best tally he’s ever had. A few glaring issues arise when analyzing his numbers, though. Cousins is only shooting 37.6 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three. For the first-time in his NBA tenure, more than half of Cousins’ field goal attempts have come from behind the three-point line, which is generally a sign that someone is at the end of the line, especially at 6-foot-10 and around 270 pounds. Cousins’ player efficiency rating is also just 15.1, which is just above league-average (15.00) but ranks far below his career-average PER of 22.2.
In his favor are some landmark moments he’s had, particularly while stepping in for Wood. Cousins averaged 13.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in his 11 starts, averaging around 28 minutes per contest. He’s also put forth some peak Boogie-like games, like his 28 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and four threes against the Dallas Mavericks, along with his 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four threes against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers in his final game before being granted his release.
McGee could be an option if bought out as well. We need a PF/C. We have enough guards and guys who can play SF. If we grab a PF we can move Dario or Frank to be Aytons primary back-up. If we grab a C, we can continue playing as we have, but with added C depth. I dont know whats the best route to take as it seems like Ayton has trouble going against smaller quicker guys that some teams are employing at C. Like tonight against the Lakers, they went small and it caused issues for Ayton, so we used Dario at C, and he did fine (Except for Dudley shutting him down). I think Ayton will do fine against guys like Jokic and even Gobert, but he will have issues with the smaller quicker C's that the Lakers/Spurs/Warriors/Blazers have on deck. Harrell was an issue. Blazers have been playing Covington minutes at C, which will be a huge issue. Warriors use Looney/Greene (Wiseman only gets 20 MPG). Aldridge will give Ayton fits.
I still think our best bet very well could be PJ Tucker. Since the Rockets blow up he has severely under preformed. Talks are that he could be bought out. let him once again receive sweet passes from the Point God and resurect his 3 point shooting while preforming solid defense against guys almost a foot taller and girthier than him.
