The Official 2025 Offseason Thread #5 Dog Days

[bigfoot]

More watchable sure but better overall?

You really can't replace KD's offense and even Beal too when he was actually on the court so we took massive steps backwards offensively.

I feel we're better than a 31 win team but it's kinda hard to reconcile that with the fact that KD himself was worth at least a half dozen wins on his own and losing him means we lose that. So to go from a 36 win team and losing 6wins from KD, you're probably back below 30 wins.

I know it's a better team attitude, enthusiasm, effort and generally good vibes etc etc but does it account for the wins KD himself would be taking with him?

If we added Williams, Brooks and rookies last season then yeah we are looking at a playoff team but the new additions don't make up for the super efficient offense that KD brought to the table.

Defensively we are also better but not an elite defensive team where we can eke out wins based on defense alone.

One key is that good defense creates easy offensive opportunities. You can replace super efficient KD offense with super efficient offense created by defense/hustle (e.g., more fast breaks, offensive rebounds). Suns were bottom three in fast breaks and bottom five in offensive rebounds. The talent exists on this team with Booker, Green, and Williams. Culture change and health are the keys to this season. Same culture will result in worse results because KD is missing. However, a significant improvement in defensive and hustle culture could turn this team around.

[Puff]

Some are giving KD far too much credit. They are worried about all the games he won for us. What about the games he lost for us. He did that either due to his turnovers or due to injuries. Let us remember what he did for this franchise.

Wins without KD
20/21 - 51 - No KD or Beal
21/22 - 64 - No KD or Beal
22/23 - 45 (KD acquired at the deadline
23/24 - 49 (Beal Replaces CP3, KD healthy for most of the year)
24/25 - 36 (KD and Beal helped create an unwatchable team.

25/26 - Have we added enough talent to have a better record this year versus last year. I think so.

I think Green will more than make up for the loss of Beal. I think the front court will be dramatically improved along with our defense. We might miss KD's shooting efficiency, but we will not miss his turnovers and DNP's.

We certainly will not miss Bud. Hopefully there will be a new positive attitude throughout our team.

I can see us winning at least half of our games if coach Ott can get this group to play as a team. We seem to have the right pieces in place. We just do not have a "Big Three". What did that get us? I think both our front court and back court will be better than last years version. I will continue to take the high road until proven differently on the court not via the talking heads.

Go Suns

[bwgood77]

That's kind of a low projected win total for the poll. I mean, I don't think it's unreasonable but I did an earlier poll and put ranges and most people were I think in the 36-40 range.

Most people lose money to the bookies

Yeah, they probably set them a tad low because they know the only people that will bet on them is fans of that team (or the vast majority of bets are fans of that team) and most everyone will be the over.

[sunsbg]

More worried Booker and Green are the next pair of misfits and that the roster is just mediocre, than KD leaving. Suns will not be the worst defensive team, more like mediocre at best. Great.

[Saberestar]

Suns' Full Roster Ratings in NBA 2K26

1.Devin Booker, 91 Overall
2.Jalen Green, 83
3.Dillon Brooks, 79
4.Mark Williams, 79
5.Grayson Allen, 76
6.Nick Richards, 76
7.Royce O'Neale, 75
8.Ryan Dunn, 75
9.Khaman Maluach, 74
10.Jordan Goodwin, 73
11.Jared Butler, 72
12.Collin Gillespie, 72
13.Oso Ighodaro, 72
14.Isaiah Livers, 71
15.Rasheer Fleming, 70
16.Koby Brea, 68

[Sunsdeuce]

Suns' Full Roster Ratings in NBA 2K26

1.Devin Booker, 91 Overall
2.Jalen Green, 83
3.Dillon Brooks, 79
4.Mark Williams, 79
5.Grayson Allen, 76
6.Nick Richards, 76
7.Royce O'Neale, 75
8.Ryan Dunn, 75
9.Khaman Maluach, 74
10.Jordan Goodwin, 73
11.Jared Butler, 72
12.Collin Gillespie, 72
13.Oso Ighodaro, 72
14.Isaiah Livers, 71
15.Rasheer Fleming, 70
16.Koby Brea, 68

Yikes. Those roster numbers don’t look very good even for video game standards

[MrMiyagi]

Suns' Full Roster Ratings in NBA 2K26

1.Devin Booker, 91 Overall
2.Jalen Green, 83
3.Dillon Brooks, 79
4.Mark Williams, 79
5.Grayson Allen, 76
6.Nick Richards, 76
7.Royce O'Neale, 75
8.Ryan Dunn, 75
9.Khaman Maluach, 74
10.Jordan Goodwin, 73
11.Jared Butler, 72
12.Collin Gillespie, 72
13.Oso Ighodaro, 72
14.Isaiah Livers, 71
15.Rasheer Fleming, 70
16.Koby Brea, 68

Yikes. Those roster numbers don’t look very good even for video game standards

And yet, I feel like this is generous.

[Saberestar]

2025/26 Phoenix Suns Statement Edition shorts.

And here is the new Statement jersey.



This clean jersey next to those shorts makes a beautiful equipment.

[garrick]

Double post...

[garrick]

I feel we're better than a 31 win team but it's kinda hard to reconcile that with the fact that KD himself was worth at least a half dozen wins on his own and losing him means we lose that. So to go from a 36 win team and losing 6wins from KD, you're probably back below 30 wins.

I know it's a better team attitude, enthusiasm, effort and generally good vibes etc etc but does it account for the wins KD himself would be taking with him?

If we added Williams, Brooks and rookies last season then yeah we are looking at a playoff team but the new additions don't make up for the super efficient offense that KD brought to the table.

Defensively we are also better but not an elite defensive team where we can eke out wins based on defense alone.

Adding Williams and Brooks will improve defense as we had the 3rd worst defense in the league last season but that's still contingent on Williams playing enough games and Brooks playing enough minutes too. I think overall, we should have a better defense (tough not to get better than 3rd worst) but I don't know how much better we would be and how many wins that would translate into. It's probably still a net decrease in wins as we're losing more games not having KD than we'll win playing better defense imo.

Once again, I think it basically comes down to coaching. The last couple of seasons, we obviously had world class talent but neither Vogel nor Bud had the formula to get it to work. This season, we don't have that top tier talent, so how Ott will coach this team so it's better than the sum of its parts will be the bigger x-factor.

Yeah going from a bottom of the league worst defense to average isn't going to net us that many more wins and we would really need to be an elite defense to make up for the lack of offense from Beal and KD.

You are right we will get better effort without KD and Beal hopefully that can translate into more wins.

[Mr Puddles]

Suns' Full Roster Ratings in NBA 2K26

1.Devin Booker, 91 Overall
2.Jalen Green, 83
3.Dillon Brooks, 79
4.Mark Williams, 79
5.Grayson Allen, 76
6.Nick Richards, 76
7.Royce O'Neale, 75
8.Ryan Dunn, 75
9.Khaman Maluach, 74
10.Jordan Goodwin, 73
11.Jared Butler, 72
12.Collin Gillespie, 72
13.Oso Ighodaro, 72
14.Isaiah Livers, 71
15.Rasheer Fleming, 70
16.Koby Brea, 68

Am I the only one who just now discovered we have a guy named Isaiah Livers on our team?

[sunsbg]

Suns' Full Roster Ratings in NBA 2K26

1.Devin Booker, 91 Overall
2.Jalen Green, 83
3.Dillon Brooks, 79
4.Mark Williams, 79
5.Grayson Allen, 76
6.Nick Richards, 76
7.Royce O'Neale, 75
8.Ryan Dunn, 75
9.Khaman Maluach, 74
10.Jordan Goodwin, 73
11.Jared Butler, 72
12.Collin Gillespie, 72
13.Oso Ighodaro, 72
14.Isaiah Livers, 71
15.Rasheer Fleming, 70
16.Koby Brea, 68

Am I the only one who just now discovered we have a guy named Isaiah Livers on our team?

No. That's our secret weapon it seems.

There was some guy in SL with Nr 22 who had similar appearance to Fleming and was signed to a 2-way IIRC. Can't remember the name but think it wasn't Livers.

[Saberestar]

C.J. Huntley.

[NapoleonII]

Ouch, Koby Brea.

Besides being an elite shooter he must move like a granny and his arms must be T-Rex thangs on 2k26 to justify that rating.

[NapoleonII]

Dunn and Flemming are way too low.

Hopefully we'll see a bump midseason when we turn some heads and capture that much-vaulted 10th seed.

[King4Day]

I'm surprised Maluach is only 5pts behind Williams. I get Williams has injury issues, but I can't imagine that is taken into account. He should be higher, or Khaman should be lower.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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I really wish that we had an extra roster spot for Jackson, at 6'6 210 lbs with top tier elite explosive athleticism ( 40 inch vertical) , a strong build and defensive acumen and innate playmaking skills, he's very much so a budget version of Stephon Castle.

And as much as I like the idea of Goodwin and/ or Butler, I'd waive them in an instant for this much higher caliber young talent. He'd be an absolute steal as a premium developmental asset!!

https://nbadraftroom.com/andre-jackson/
- Andre Iguodala.

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/andre-jackson/
- Matisse Thybulle. But with much greater athleticism and impressive playmaking.

https://www.nba.com/draft/2023/prospects/andre-jackson-jr
- Dalen Terry/ Josh Green.


We should look to be capitalizing on as much young talent as we can pick up, so we can develop, showcase and flip some of those players for draft picks, etc.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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I'm still intrigued by the idea of playing Bidatze at the 4 on occasion as a potential trade target that'd fit well with us defensively.

And now that he's establishing his floor spacing/ shooting capabilities, he should be a serious consideration via trade or even as a free agent in 27' perhaps?? Especially if we can generate some more cap space by then.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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