2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 3 - Post Free Agency Discussion

[Saberestar]

Watch on YouTube

[Sunlight]

Bulls aqcuired Rodman, Mavs acquired Chandler and Suns blowout the whole team.

[matt131]

From Sham’s article in The Athletic:

“League sources say the Suns, with their sights set on Nurkić and other roster depth, were planning to be a part of trades with the Bucks, Nets or Heat.

The Blazers began discussing the framework of the Suns’ involvement with the Ayton-for-Nurkić swap in mid-July but needed two months to find the third team for Lillard and ensure that they wouldn’t be entering the luxury tax given Ayton is on a max salary.

For the Trail Blazers, Phoenix was an essential component to any Lillard trade. Portland valued Ayton, 25, as a foundational piece to anchor a roster headed by Henderson and Sharpe, and the talented big man is sure to be a 20-and-10 threat in his new home. In terms of Holiday, the expectation around the league is that the Blazers will work on finding the two-time All-Star a new home, with several playoff contenders squarely in the mix.

In Phoenix, Nurkić was seen as a better fit for the Suns’ style of play and culture, and his contract (three years, $54.4 million), compared to Ayton’s deal (three years, $102.1 million), is able to give the franchise additional flexibility moving forward on a roster with three max salaries in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

After their lackluster finish in the Western Conference semifinals last season, indications from the Suns organization were that they would be open to moving Ayton in a trade that made sense — and general manager James Jones, CEO Josh Bartelstein and owner Mat Ishbia found one with the Blazers.”

[Calvin Klein]

if this team played in any other city i would absolutely hate them and root adamantly against them, they have some of the least likeable players in the league for me, from KD's hyper sensitivity and immaturity that leads to him fighting with teenage fans on social media, Nurkic who was clowning the suns for being the nets 2.0, to now the most unlikeable player in the league in Allen. furthermore it does nothing for me to build like this, its had a lot to do with why i hated the Lakers, Warriors, and Yankees, just outspend, no need to develop players and let them grow, just go shopping every year...

whatever though, most of you will be fine with it as long as they win, me it will feel hollow even if they do and i am less excited for this team then any in recent memory

You're not alone.

21 team was great and we should have been able to see them grow together, with CP maybe taking a back seat or maybe even traded eventually.

Trading Ayton was a must. It was over for both sides. But this return feels like another failure in the Ayton Suns story. Even his trade is disappointing.

I will be rooting for this team because it's the Suns...but they've butchered what was a fun and complete team to root for. And in my opinion a better TEAM than this collection of players. We'll see...

[Qwigglez]

From Sham’s article in The Athletic:

“League sources say the Suns, with their sights set on Nurkić and other roster depth, were planning to be a part of trades with the Bucks, Nets or Heat.

The Blazers began discussing the framework of the Suns’ involvement with the Ayton-for-Nurkić swap in mid-July but needed two months to find the third team for Lillard and ensure that they wouldn’t be entering the luxury tax given Ayton is on a max salary.

Interesting to hear who the Suns would have gotten from the Nets had a Nets deal went through. Fairly confident the Suns would have gotten Caleb Martin from the Heat as opposed to getting Grayson Allen. Perhaps Royce O'Neal from the Nets? Finney-Smith would have been a dream, but I doubt the Nets would have given him up. Kind of annoyed the Nets didn't pull the trigger for Lillard, as I think that would have been a very fun team to watch.

[Djedefre]

From Sham’s article in The Athletic:

“League sources say the Suns, with their sights set on Nurkić and other roster depth, were planning to be a part of trades with the Bucks, Nets or Heat.

The Blazers began discussing the framework of the Suns’ involvement with the Ayton-for-Nurkić swap in mid-July but needed two months to find the third team for Lillard and ensure that they wouldn’t be entering the luxury tax given Ayton is on a max salary.

For the Trail Blazers, Phoenix was an essential component to any Lillard trade. Portland valued Ayton, 25, as a foundational piece to anchor a roster headed by Henderson and Sharpe, and the talented big man is sure to be a 20-and-10 threat in his new home. In terms of Holiday, the expectation around the league is that the Blazers will work on finding the two-time All-Star a new home, with several playoff contenders squarely in the mix.

In Phoenix, Nurkić was seen as a better fit for the Suns’ style of play and culture, and his contract (three years, $54.4 million), compared to Ayton’s deal (three years, $102.1 million), is able to give the franchise additional flexibility moving forward on a roster with three max salaries in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

After their lackluster finish in the Western Conference semifinals last season, indications from the Suns organization were that they would be open to moving Ayton in a trade that made sense — and general manager James Jones, CEO Josh Bartelstein and owner Mat Ishbia found one with the Blazers.”

If this trade made sense to them, then what should we hope for in the future? Nurkic is a shell of his fomer self and not exactly the highest profile character (didn't we just dump that geezer Ayton 'cause of that?), Little is trash and Allen is painfully limited and like the dirtiest mf in the league. Bowen kind of dirty.

We are like 5-8 wins worse instantly after this horrid doing.

[Qwigglez]

if this team played in any other city i would absolutely hate them and root adamantly against them, they have some of the least likeable players in the league for me, from KD's hyper sensitivity and immaturity that leads to him fighting with teenage fans on social media, Nurkic who was clowning the suns for being the nets 2.0, to now the most unlikeable player in the league in Allen. furthermore it does nothing for me to build like this, its had a lot to do with why i hated the Lakers, Warriors, and Yankees, just outspend, no need to develop players and let them grow, just go shopping every year...

whatever though, most of you will be fine with it as long as they win, me it will feel hollow even if they do and i am less excited for this team then any in recent memory

You're not alone.

21 team was great and we should have been able to see them grow together, with CP maybe taking a back seat or maybe even traded eventually.

Trading Ayton was a must. It was over for both sides. But this return feels like another failure in the Ayton Suns story. Even his trade is disappointing.

I will be rooting for this team because it's the Suns...but they've butchered what was a fun and complete team to root for. And in my opinion a better TEAM than this collection of players. We'll see...

You could even take a step back from CP3 getting here, and I would have thoroughly enjoyed the Ricky Rubio-led teams because we likely would have seen far more offensive progression from Bridges, Ayton, and even Cam Johnson. Unfortunately, this is the timeline we are in, and if it wasn't for Booker I'd probably have stopped being a fan of this team a long time ago.

Also... I wasn't a fan of CP3 before getting to the Suns either. He was one of the most unlikeable players for me. I know KD has been overly sensitive on social media, but he's just a weird guy IMO.

[Frank Lee]

DA sealed his fate when he stiffed book and KD on their island visit. They didn’t go down there for sancocho and cigars.

Pretty marginal return, but it appears Ayton’s trade value was low… And likely to decrease more once the internal friction boiled over….looks like a knee-jerker ‘ let’s get this guy off the team before preseason’ move.

Wishbia has an itchy trigger finger.

[matt131]

if this team played in any other city i would absolutely hate them and root adamantly against them, they have some of the least likeable players in the league for me, from KD's hyper sensitivity and immaturity that leads to him fighting with teenage fans on social media, Nurkic who was clowning the suns for being the nets 2.0, to now the most unlikeable player in the league in Allen. furthermore it does nothing for me to build like this, its had a lot to do with why i hated the Lakers, Warriors, and Yankees, just outspend, no need to develop players and let them grow, just go shopping every year...

whatever though, most of you will be fine with it as long as they win, me it will feel hollow even if they do and i am less excited for this team then any in recent memory

You're not alone.

21 team was great and we should have been able to see them grow together, with CP maybe taking a back seat or maybe even traded eventually.

Trading Ayton was a must. It was over for both sides. But this return feels like another failure in the Ayton Suns story. Even his trade is disappointing.

I will be rooting for this team because it's the Suns...but they've butchered what was a fun and complete team to root for. And in my opinion a better TEAM than this collection of players. We'll see...

You could even take a step back from CP3 getting here, and I would have thoroughly enjoyed the Ricky Rubio-led teams because we likely would have seen far more offensive progression from Bridges, Ayton, and even Cam Johnson. Unfortunately, this is the timeline we are in, and if it wasn't for Booker I'd probably have stopped being a fan of this team a long time ago.

Also... I wasn't a fan of CP3 before getting to the Suns either. He was one of the most unlikeable players for me. I know KD has been overly sensitive on social media, but he's just a weird guy IMO.

Yeah KD is very strange. Some of his takes on podcasts from 5 years ago or so are INSANELY out of touch. I remember with Bill Simmons he was talking about how he doesn’t care what fans think of his decision to play with the warriors because he makes more money than those fans and therefore their opinions don’t matter.

He’s also waaaaaaaayyyyyy overboard on smoking weed. If you do, fine. Whatever. But it’s the dude’s whole personality outside of basketball. Showed up to his Suns public press conference high. Is constantly high at other sporting events like the US Open. Just strange. Forced Adam Silver to allow it for NBA players (not necessarily a bad thing, just again - whole personality)

Anyway, go suns! I’ve started coping by watching Nurkic passing highlights. Pretty fun.

[Mulhollanddrive]

So I'm going through the rotations and this is the weakest 5 I can find - Beal, Gordon, Allen, Watanabe, Eubanks.

Wow we are stacked for every minute.

Question marks still exist - Do we need a point guard, do we have a shut down wing defender, are our bigs good enough.

[Fo-Real]

With a night to sleep on it, I still cant get over how much this trade sucks. Unless the trade is gonna be expanded or things added to it in the interim, this is just stupid. I barely see the Nurk hope, AND IT IS PURE HOPE that he is semi healthy. Everything else is redundant and stupid. Allen... we have Gordon off the bench ahead of him, not to mention we have better athletes to play small forward if that is the angle. And lets be real about the prospects of Little and Johnson!! Both have the heavy possibility of being out of the league the second their contracts run out and what the **** did we trade for two guys who are under contract for 4 and 2 more years?!?! You really want to tell me either of these guys is a rotation player above anyone we resigned (Okogie, Lee), or any of the guard/forwards we picked up in free-agency?!?! These two are deep on the bench players on a team that went 33-4 Fu#@%in 9!!! Im usually positive and try to find the brighter side to spin, but this is stupid.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Nurkic is also very foul prone averages 4.7 per 36.

We probably put in Azubuike (makes sense now) in that case to take a big body before Eubanks comes in.

I think there'll be some tinkering with specific needs come Feb still.

[bigfoot]

Already I'm thinking who is surplus for a trade.

I think Okogie, Little, Bol have positive value but won't play and are about $10m in salaries.

If Indiana want a couple we can get McConnell (sometime in the next 5 months) Jones likes his guys Allen was rumoured a year and McConnell recently.

But if we stay still I think we're the deepest team in the NBA and should win 60 games. A bench that potentially contains Gordon, Allen, Bates-Diop, Watanabe, Eubanks is ridiculous with Lee, Okogie, Little, Bol, Metu as backup for the bench also ridiculous and then there's 3 stars in the starting lineup.

I don't see the Suns moving Little. He's signed for a few years and if the Suns only have vet min options we need to keep a few guys under contract.

[enigmatics]

You're not alone.

21 team was great and we should have been able to see them grow together, with CP maybe taking a back seat or maybe even traded eventually.

Trading Ayton was a must. It was over for both sides. But this return feels like another failure in the Ayton Suns story. Even his trade is disappointing.

I will be rooting for this team because it's the Suns...but they've butchered what was a fun and complete team to root for. And in my opinion a better TEAM than this collection of players. We'll see...

On it's face yes the trade is kind of a failure albeit I have more optimism for Nurkic and Allen then say you do.

Essentially swapping Mikal, Cam, DA for KD and Beal - how is that not going to be fun to watch along with Booker? That 2021 squad featured the last genuinely good minutes of CP3 and it was unsustainable as we all ended up witnessing.

[enigmatics]

DA sealed his fate when he stiffed book and KD on their island visit. They didn’t go down there for sancocho and cigars.

Pretty marginal, return, but it appears Ayton’s trade value was low… And likely to decrease more once the internal friction boiled over….looks like a knee-jerker ‘ let’s get this guy off the team before preseason’ move.

Wishbia has an itchy trigger finger.

I know we talked about it when it happened - but ya it spoke volumes seeing Book/KD in the Bahamas with DA nowhere to be found. Optically it was just all bad.

[bwoolf2]

DA sealed his fate when he stiffed book and KD on their island visit. They didn’t go down there for sancocho and cigars.

Pretty marginal, return, but it appears Ayton’s trade value was low… And likely to decrease more once the internal friction boiled over….looks like a knee-jerker ‘ let’s get this guy off the team before preseason’ move.

Wishbia has an itchy trigger finger.

I know we talked about it when it happened - but ya it spoke volumes seeing Book/KD in the Bahamas with DA nowhere to be found. Optically it was just all bad.

Ya it was over but I hope Booker is ready, I think he is, but it's all on his shoulders now he has literally gotten everything he wanted and he has largely avoided any scrutiny despite collapsing in close out games himself the last few years because Ayton took the brunt of that criticism deserved or otherwise, now any failure is his.

[enigmatics]

So as it were - the Heat trade package for Dame would have definitely netted the Suns Caleb Martin and Nurkic.

It's not on the Suns that the Portlan FO is trash.

[bigfoot]

As constructed, the team revolves around Book, Durant, and Beal. The Suns did not need a center to score points. Screen, rebound, and play defense. DA was not going to sit quietly in the background and capitulate to being the fourth or fifth option.

The reality is, the Suns got rid of a player that did not consistently show up for games, was highly overpaid, and certainly caused internal team turmoil. Dumping a player like that immediately improves the team, regardless of who fills his void: Nurk, Drew, Metu, Bol, Udoka

[enigmatics]

Ya it was over but I hope Booker is ready, I think he is, but it's all on his shoulders now he has literally gotten everything he wanted and he has largely avoided any scrutiny despite collapsing in close out games himself the last few years because Ayton took the brunt of that criticism deserved or otherwise, now any failure is his.

10000000000%

[Revived]

Ya it was over but I hope Booker is ready, I think he is, but it's all on his shoulders now he has literally gotten everything he wanted and he has largely avoided any scrutiny despite collapsing in close out games himself the last few years because Ayton took the brunt of that criticism deserved or otherwise, now any failure is his.

10000000000%

Thinking Booker has avoided “any scrutiny” is crazy or yall must only browse the Suns realgm board. Because if you’re active on any social media or watch any sports outlets then you’d know that’s not true.