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2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - the calm before the storm

Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22

Who will get the 7/8 seeds?

Pelicans/Lakers
2
13%
Pelicans/Warriors
2
13%
Pelicans/Kings
0
No votes
Lakers/Pelicans
4
25%
Lakers/Warriors
5
31%
Lakers/Kings
3
19%
 
Total votes: 16

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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1721 » by Sunsdeuce » Wed Apr 10, 2024 4:07 pm

HOLY $&@

Doesn’t this child sexual predator have a realgm account?

Read on Twitter
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1722 » by LV-Suns » Wed Apr 10, 2024 4:41 pm

Sunsdeuce wrote:HOLY $&@

Doesn’t this child sexual predator have a realgm account?

Read on Twitter

Oh wow, I remember reading that some members are friends with him.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1723 » by SunsRback4Good » Wed Apr 10, 2024 4:51 pm

Sunsdeuce wrote:HOLY $&@

Doesn’t this child sexual predator have a realgm account?

Read on Twitter


Looks like such an outstanding citizen.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1724 » by Ghost of Kleine » Wed Apr 10, 2024 6:22 pm

Typical news as a suns fan that somehow things around this team somehow add to the implosion of dissapointment! The optics for this team now getting worse both on the court and in the stands too it seems. Horrible and disgusting to hear regardless!
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1725 » by sunskerr » Wed Apr 10, 2024 6:23 pm

never liked fans that try to elevate themselves. people like that are just fame seekers. so i guess he's getting the fame and twitter mentions he wanted now :lol:
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1726 » by Ghost of Kleine » Wed Apr 10, 2024 6:40 pm

The perfect representation of what being a suns fan for this season (and most decades) has been like:

Final Destination 3 (2006) - Roller Coaster Massacre Scene | Movieclips

https://youtu.be/-03Ze8teqoQ?si=phkeisooc5zwv-Ab

As a fan, you're on this rollercoaster that you already have an uneasy feeling about, and possibly internally dreading from countless past PTSD situations. BUT............. You convince yourselves to still stay on this ride and at times start to relax and enjoy the ride, all the while absurdly anomalous situations are unfolding that'll lead to horrific outcomes and the demise (emotionally) for anyone invcolved that stays on the ride and convinces themselves that "everything will be ok"!!!

My point is that the Phoenix suns are the NBA basketball version of the final destination movie calamity experience. Complete with disbelief and delusion that everything will be ok! ..............................Until it isn't!! :-?
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1727 » by BurningHeart » Wed Apr 10, 2024 6:50 pm

This team has no soul, which is no surprise considering how it's built. No team anything. A bunch of mercenary garbage and an always- shrinking "megastar" that idolizes the biggest scumbag on our biggest historical rival that neither has the drive, will, or desire to be great.

We should not be surprised. I've warned about this type of **** for how long now?

This team needs to be stripped down. Again. And next time, build a **** actual team.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1728 » by bwgood77 » Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:21 pm

sunskerr wrote:


Barkley's kind of right but funny thing is, he took us to the finals in year 1 and we lost in 6, then we blew a 2-0 and 3-1 leads in the 2nd round the next two years and in his last 4th year, we squeezed into the playoffs (worse record than this team) and lost in the first round.

So the last 4 years have been a mirror of his years with the team.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1729 » by bwgood77 » Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:21 pm

phnart wrote:Here's a serious question: Do the Suns win another game this year?


Well they should win tonight. If they don't, they definitely don't deserve to make the playoffs. No Kawhi, George, Harden and Westbrook and Zubac are questionable.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1730 » by Djedefre » Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:38 pm

Inexcusably bad performances. Complete disgrace this team is. I'm totally open to trading literally every single player.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1731 » by Qwigglez » Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:41 pm

Wow... this reporter has the details about Mr Orange...
https://twitter.com/BrianaWhitney

This is nuts.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1732 » by SunsRback4Good » Wed Apr 10, 2024 8:22 pm

Qwigglez wrote:Wow... this reporter has the details about Mr Orange...
https://twitter.com/BrianaWhitney

This is nuts.


Very sickening! You know how it’s said an average person will walk past 36 murderers in their lifetime. I never believed that but now I do. Too many sickos in this world.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1733 » by SunsRback4Good » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:03 pm

Read on Twitter



He’s still wearing orange he must be very committed to the franchise.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1734 » by sunsbum » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:22 pm

This timeline sucks. Next thing that’s going to come out is that the Gorilla is Albino and a race war breaks out amongst suns fans fracturing us into a thousand houses. Not even kings fans will take us in.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch 

Post#1735 » by spanishninja » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:24 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
spanishninja wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
What? A bunch of teams build for 5+ years out. Just in the last year or so, you had the Spurs trade Murrray for 3 first rounders. Houston, after competing for a number of years, rebuilt with 3-4 young players in Green, Jabari Smith, Sengun, etc....that started 3-4 years ago. Then yes, they wanted to add a couple of vets. Utah just traded Gobert for 5 firsts and then Mitchell for Markkanen, Sexton, etc. The Pelicans traded AD for a ton of picks, a very young Ingram, Ball, etc, and then had a few high picks for Zion, Jones, etc. The Raptors are doing it now. Of course OKC did it trading Westbrook and then George for a ton of picks, then Paul, Horford, etc. In 2021, the Magic, after a couple years in the playoffs, traded Aaron Gordon, Vucevic, Fournier, Payton, etc, for picks and young players to get high draft picks for a few years. The Pacers did it trading Sabonis for a young player (of course they may not have expected him to become a top 10 player, especially so quickly), Buddy Hield, Brogdon, LeVert and Craig to us to get a top 10 pick to get young players like Toppin, Mathurin, Jalen Smith...they also were trying to trade Myles Turner for awhile. They did a fast rebuild considering how good Haliburton is and keeping Turner, but Haliburton, Toppin, Mathurin, etc, are guys they will certainly have 5+ years out. The Grizzlies did it getting rid of Gasol 4-5 years back along with Conley, then later to build around JJJ and get a high pick in Morant and then Bane, etc, to build for 5+ years out.

Any time you are going to a COMPLETE rebuild and going for even 1 or 2 really high picks, even if only for 2-3 years and hope you start getting better then, because those teams that traded stars typically have other teams' picks and maybe for 5-7 years, like the Pelicans, Thunder, Utah, SA, etc, did, that is building for 5+ years out, because you will have the rights to those players for 8-9 years. Just because they try to add vets 3 years into it to add a vet or two after 3 high picks to be your future, doesn't mean you are not trying to build for 5+ years out...those rookies you got typically don't hit their peak for 5-8 years when they get into their 2nd contract. Most non huge market good teams have to do it unless they are superb at drafting like the Nuggets.


All of the teams you listed are treadmill teams at best. If you are ok with not contending for at least 5 years, sure you can build that way. but are you ok with that?


If I know we are improving every year, yes. Right now we are struggling to avoid the play in and the oldest team in the NBA with only a couple firsts in the next 6-7 years.


our record is already better than last year's and this is against a much tougher western conference.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1736 » by Ghost of Kleine » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:25 pm

https://valleyofthesuns.com/posts/nba-personality-thinks-devin-booker-could-leave-phoenix-suns

NBA personality thinks Devin Booker could leave Phoenix Suns

Devin Booker is the cornerstone of the Phoenix Suns franchise, yet one NBA personality would not be surprised to see him leave for the New York Knicks.

By Luke Duffy | 12:00 PM MST

But is there any way Booker could be gone from The Valley sooner than we think? According to one NBA personality, there absolutely is.

We need to preface this by saying the personality in question, Bill Simmons, is about as polarizing as it gets in the world of NBA media. Quite often he just says what is on his mind despite demonstrating a lack of understanding for cap situations league wide, or clearly having failed to watch enough of a player or team to make the kind of sweeping judgements that he routinely does.

Yet in making the point that Booker could somehow land with the New York Knicks, Simmons does spell out the kind of scenario that is - unfortunately for Suns fans - not that hard to see happening. Especially at a time when players like Stephen Curry are the outlier and not the norm, in sticking with one organization for their entire time in the league.

"See when I think about the Knicks big picture, I think of (Mikal) Bridges, and I think of Booker. And I know, "oh yeah, Booker's never leaving Phoenix", I just don't believe people are in the same place ever in the NBA anymore. We've been burned so many different times."
- Bill Simmons on Devin Booker

That first part is worrying enough in itself, because Simmons is correct. Did we ever think Kevin Durant would leave a fringe contender in the Oklahoma City Thunder, and go and join the best team in the league at the time in the Golden State Warriors? Or ditch that situation for the Brooklyn Nets, where he somehow teamed up with James Harden and Kyrie Irving? Harden - who himself had a pitstop in Philadelphia with the 76ers and Joel Embiid - and who now plays with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. What about Bradley Beal, who owns one of the largest contracts in the league, somehow joining a Suns team that already had two max players in Booker and Durant. So it is certainly not impossible, and it gets worse from there with Simmons saying;

"And if I'm the Knicks, who is going to be unhappy end of April, because we have so many good teams now, there's going to be a couple of teams that are like holy ****, we just lost in the first round in five games. Or oh my God, we didn't even get out of the play-in. We just spent $250 million on our roster, and I think Phoenix is a good candidate for that."

- Bill Simmons on Devin Booker
This scenario looks altogether possible for the Suns right now - because even if they get out of the play-in spots or tournament itself - it is hard to see them beating one of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets in a first round series. With a lack of flexibility because of the Beal contract and wanting to bring back Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale, what then? Suns fans won't want to admit it, but Booker isn't any different to any other star in the league who fails to break through and then eventually looks elsewhere to try and get over the hump. The Knicks are the example Simmons used, and the prospect of teaming up with Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and maybe even Julius Randle could be a tempting one.

None are as good individually as Durant, but they're all younger and their championship window playing in the weaker Eastern Conference would remain open for years longer than this current one in Phoenix is going to. That truly would be the ultimate disaster for the Suns and their owner Mat Ishbia, but Simmons had one more, just as depressing, point to make on the matter.


"Like I thought the Phoenix vs Cleveland game was like the unhappy All-Star game. At various times I was worried about the state of mind of both teams. Then there's the Durant piece we have to mention... he does that interview podcast with Rich Kleiman, which I thought was hilarious to do a podcast with your manager and he's like "I told you we should have done the Knicks" and KD's like "I know, you were right". So the door is open now for the Knicks."

- Bill Simmons on the Suns

Durant bouncing for New York wouldn't be as bad, but the fact both Booker and Durant had questionable demeanours in the aftermath of the Clippers loss is not a good sign. We haven't yet hit the point where Booker even looks like he wants out of Phoenix, but this theoretical scenario is frightening because it does not seem impossible when you spell it out.


As for the possibility and the recent discussion around KD possibly leaving Phoenix, This podcast interview (one month ago)!!

https://youtu.be/QYLCftMDbJw?si=sAWQV76z_4Ok9d8g


at around 58 minutes in has him discussing the above statement about New York! Feel free to make your own assumptions on his interests here?? And if you watch his seeming disconnect with his teammates when on the bench either sitting by himself or just not even talking to anyone, it doesn't really seem that far fetched anymore given the circumstances.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1737 » by SunsRback4Good » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:28 pm

sunsbum wrote:This timeline sucks. Next thing that’s going to come out is that the Gorilla is Albino and a race war breaks out amongst suns fans fracturing us into a thousand houses. Not even kings fans will take us in.


https://youtu.be/jBkT5oLtFy4?si=33BbAh9D0-BZoYLC
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1738 » by RaisingArizona » Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:55 pm

What a **** week for us, AZ sports fans. Maybe Ish can save the Yotes, otherwise I hate this week.
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Re: 2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The final stretch & battle for the 6 seed 

Post#1740 » by SunsRback4Good » Wed Apr 10, 2024 10:02 pm

RaisingArizona wrote:What a **** week for us, AZ sports fans. Maybe Ish can save the Yotes, otherwise I hate this week.


Yotes seem to make the playoffs once a decade it seems. I don’t want them moving to Utah but at this point maybe it’s the best idea. The governors don’t want a hockey team in our town so what is left to do?

I’m gonna miss the white out if they get relocated to a different state.

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