2021 Playoff and Offseason Speculation - the playoffs. PLAYOFFS????

[bwgood77]

I really don't see Jones doing anything to shake up this roster. I'm also not concerned about the fact they are streaky right now and having a hard time gelling together. They are still learning how to play with each other and Crowder is the only guy who has had success in a conference finals or any finals experience. Most of these Suns don't really know how to "win" yet and they will get a good dose of that this year. I'm not happy with the record because it could be better, of course, but I do think they will make the playoffs this year and I do think everyone will know their role sooner than later.

Yeah, blow it up after 12 games when we are 7-5 with big roster changes? At the most important position in PG who has to learn teammates?

As usual overreactions based on a few games, based on roster, Ayton, Booker, Paul, etc. Excitement was high after beating Dallas, Utah and Denver (on a very tough high altitude b2b), Indy, crushed the Pelicans, etc.

Yes, some bad losses but we do currently hold some important tiebreakers for now against some WC playoff teams mentioned above.

[lilfishi22]

I really don't see Jones doing anything to shake up this roster. I'm also not concerned about the fact they are streaky right now and having a hard time gelling together. They are still learning how to play with each other and Crowder is the only guy who has had success in a conference finals or any finals experience. Most of these Suns don't really know how to "win" yet and they will get a good dose of that this year. I'm not happy with the record because it could be better, of course, but I do think they will make the playoffs this year and I do think everyone will know their role sooner than later.

I agree. We're still only a dozen games in with a bunch of B2B early on and then a week long lay off where we couldn't even practice. We just haven't had the stability to gel properly and the guys (including coaching staff) are trying to learn and make changes on the fly which at the NBA level just isn't ideal.

In spurts, I've liked what I've seen from the guys. Even Booker has had spurts off star level play but like with most of the guys, consistency has been a big issue. My boy Mikal's offensive production and 3's shooting has been up and down, we all know the story around Ayton so I won't prosecute that again, CP3 hadn't been clutch after the first games and those CP3 to Ayton connection hasn't really been there much at all despite efforts to find each other, Saric had missed almost half of our games and Carter and Cam have been super streaky from the arc.

We need to find consistency and if I was a betting man, I'd bet on CP3 and Booker to become consistent and bringing that to the team.

[nevetsov]

Let's say this season doesn't work out and we barely make the playoffs or even miss.
Let's say Booker and Paul just don't fit together.

What player do you see fitting better instead of Booker? Is there a player who would gel with the team we currently have, sans Book?

Oladipo? They could then get their young star by flipping Book to MIN for Edwards+.

I'd try to move CP3 before moving Book, though. Maybe try for Wall if he stays healthy. At least he's a bit more uptempo.

I won't go near Oladipo unless he committed to an extension since all signs point to him wanting Miami this summer.
Wall for Paul could be interesting. Might have to expand it though as I don't expect Houston to want Paul there for his final year. Unless they simply cut him but that wouldn't make sense either.

Yeah it would have to be something like:

Wall to PHX
Paul to UTA (good fit but bad money)
Conley to HOU (expiring)

[Djedefre]

Let's be real, WASH & MEM losses are simply scandalous. This team is obviously limited and unbalanced, but spilling games like this is just unacceptable.

[Frank Lee]

This (CP3) deal is one you eat. Can’t trade out of it and expect an immediate improvement. This team has talent, or at least perceived talent to be competitive. Its on them to get their stiff together. The Front Office took a big swing. Jones entered into second guess hindsight land with these off season moves. One can’t help but imagining Rubio, Haliburton, Oob, maybe CWood, and a few others instead, at least I can’t for a while.The old ain’t broke don’t fix it lesson.


And now, there’s enough game play in the books to have concern this current bunch just isn’t functioning up to par. Come game 25 or so, the crystal should be clear if they will this yr or not, as well as the apparent cause. If it’s sour enough to require a trade to fix, we are screwed. I just don’t see much room for improvement by swapping out. Who do we move? Crowder or Carter? Can’t see much interest in CP, heck he had to orchestrate this deal. Book or Ayton seems panicky... other GMs will be be barking for Bridges and CamJo, at least a draft pick. There is just not a lot we can do that won’t seem desperate. May be the best hope for us is rook Smith surprising with some real production...for Monty to coach it up a notch, and Book and CP to get their heads out their asses.

[King4Day]

More please

https://streamable.com/s6ighq

[SuperSunsFan]

Watch on YouTube

wish Ayton is as passionate about the real game as 2K and punishes his opponents as hard as his ps4

[Bogyo]

This (CP3) deal is one you eat. Can’t trade out of it and expect an immediate improvement. This team has talent, or at least perceived talent to be competitive. Its on them to get their stiff together. The Front Office took a big swing. Jones entered into second guess hindsight land with these off season moves. One can’t help but imagining Rubio, Haliburton, Oob, maybe CWood, and a few others instead, at least I can’t for a while.The old ain’t broke don’t fix it lesson.


And now, there’s enough game play in the books to have concern this current bunch just isn’t functioning up to par. Come game 25 or so, the crystal should be clear if they will this yr or not, as well as the apparent cause. If it’s sour enough to require a trade to fix, we are screwed. I just don’t see much room for improvement by swapping out. Who do we move? Crowder or Carter? Can’t see much interest in CP, heck he had to orchestrate this deal. Book or Ayton seems panicky... other GMs will be be barking for Bridges and CamJo, at least a draft pick. There is just not a lot we can do that won’t seem desperate. May be the best hope for us is rook Smith surprising with some real production...for Monty to coach it up a notch, and Book and CP to get their heads out their asses.

Exactley. I wasn't a big fan of the CP trade to begin with, and what I'm seeing now reinforces it. Dude is good, and a bona fide HoF PG. However, point guards with his stature, age and mileage do not last in the league. Their FG% starts dropping and it never really stops afterwards. It's not a huge thing either in the begining, you barley notice it, becouse it's like he is at 85% of what he used to be and that is still very good. But we have (almost) 2 years of this decline at 42 mill/year - next year will not be pretty. But hey, Jones raised our floor and got his guy.

And I'm not saying we are bad or anything, we have enough talented players to make the playoffs comfortably, even without a play-in. I've said many times after our first 5 games or so that we'll be a 4th-6th seed in the West, but those places will be decidec by 2 games or so. I still stick to that for this season, for now. Although now I feel like it's more likely to become 6th than 4th - becouse the games we dropped against some weak-azz teams. I could be wrong, if sht really hits the fan or we have an injury or 2.

I just do not like most of JJs moves or drafts I guess, and have fundamental problems with CP by now (age mostly, refusal to run at all), and Ayton since... well, forever. Ayton has time to correct them (but I'm not really optimistic about this at all), but CP will decline slowly but surley, and there is not much we can do with that contract, or in FA while we got that contract. Or after he expires, b/c we'll have Bridges and Ayton on new contracts by then. So we raised our floor, but our ceiling leaves a lot to be desired. And the floor raising could have been done by my dog b/c we were so low.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Record is tracking eerily similar to last season: 5-2 then 7-4 then 7-5.

Rubio and Paul similar stats, winning games until teams started scoring 110+.

My projection is we'll go as Chris Paul goes, we're tracking for under .500 unless he lifts our ceiling with star impact.

[Bogyo]

Record is tracking eerily similar to last season: 5-2 then 7-4 then 7-5.

Rubio and Paul similar stats, winning games until teams started scoring 110+.

My projection is we'll go as Chris Paul goes, we're tracking for under .500 unless he lifts our ceiling with star impact.

This, and the connection (PnR play) will be the key to our season outcome. If all goes well (better than I expect) we have a slight possibility to slip into the WCF. If it goes worse, we are first round fodder, and not in a pretty way. I think we end up somewhere in the middle. Especially if/when (more of a when actually) Book gets rid of whatever STD he got from the Kardashians that is making him play like poo.

[lilfishi22]

Let's be real, WASH & MEM losses are simply scandalous. This team is obviously limited and unbalanced, but spilling games like this is just unacceptable.

I think that's overly dramatic. It's still early in the season and to label a team obviously limited, unbalanced, unacceptable and scandalous is simply premature. There's a lot of kinks to work out for sure, players have to be better and more consistent and we certainly need to figure out our identity but it's only 12 games into the season. If this was a regular year, it would mid-Nov right now. Far too early to call it a day, give this team those labels and give this team no chance to improve.

[GoodBehavior]

This (CP3) deal is one you eat. Can’t trade out of it and expect an immediate improvement. This team has talent, or at least perceived talent to be competitive. Its on them to get their stiff together. The Front Office took a big swing. Jones entered into second guess hindsight land with these off season moves. One can’t help but imagining Rubio, Haliburton, Oob, maybe CWood, and a few others instead, at least I can’t for a while.The old ain’t broke don’t fix it lesson.


And now, there’s enough game play in the books to have concern this current bunch just isn’t functioning up to par. Come game 25 or so, the crystal should be clear if they will this yr or not, as well as the apparent cause. If it’s sour enough to require a trade to fix, we are screwed. I just don’t see much room for improvement by swapping out. Who do we move? Crowder or Carter? Can’t see much interest in CP, heck he had to orchestrate this deal. Book or Ayton seems panicky... other GMs will be be barking for Bridges and CamJo, at least a draft pick. There is just not a lot we can do that won’t seem desperate. May be the best hope for us is rook Smith surprising with some real production...for Monty to coach it up a notch, and Book and CP to get their heads out their asses.

I was a fan of the trade when the rumor first hit the wire. But the early returns are concerning. Season is still early and there's the hope that Chris Paul can get going but that's looking a little unrealistic. He looks slow and the lift off his jumper isn't what it was before. Expecting him to "gel" with the other starters is looking more and more like a pipedream.

Because of the team's record, James Jones is getting a pass, but things are going to look pretty ugly if losses pile up. He went all in, and if the team doesn't get into the playoff, I don't see how Sarver can keep him. The harsh reality is like you said, who would want Chris Paul's contract. So we're stuck. You would have to attach picks and Bridges, and that's just not worth it.

The long-term implication is depressing. If Chris Paul doesn't turn it around, I don't see James Jones or Monty in this organization in the long run. I am really, really hoping Chris get going.

[lilfishi22]

I'm not at the concerned stage yet. I think if we're still hovering at the .500 mark 25 game in with little to no idea of how to work it out, then I'll be worried. But at this stage, it's still early. As mentioned, CP3 teams take time to gel. OKC last season sat below .500 until the 28 game mark before they started to really put together some wins and ended up with a solid 44-28 record. CP3 in his first seasons with the Rockets was a couple wins better at 9-3 at the same mark we're at now. CP3 in his first season with the Clippers was 8-4, one win better.

I just think to try and extrapolate what our team would likely end up being this early in the season with so little information will just be an exercise in disappointment. Even if we were 10-2, to extrapolate that would likely be an exercise in disappointment.

[Mulhollanddrive]

+/- while on court (minimum 50 mins)

Johnson +94
Payne +80
Saric +55
Bridges +29
Booker +22
Galloway +17
Carter +13
Paul -13
Crowder -23
Ayton -35
---
Starters -20
Bench +309

[cberry78]

+/- while on court (minimum 50 mins)

Johnson +94
Payne +80
Saric +55
Bridges +29
Booker +22
Galloway +17
Carter +13
Paul -13
Crowder -23
Ayton -35
---
Starters -20
Bench +309

Johnson & Payne for co-6MOY!

Sent from my moto e5 play using RealGM mobile app

[Barkley6]

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that we don't go a little deeper into our bench. There is high level NBA talent not getting any minutes and that is likely going to lead to some disgruntled players. Moore and Gallo were playing A LOT more minutes last year, are they going to be satisfied playing next to none on this team? I think we need to deepen the rotation slightly at this point.

[suns12345]

+/- while on court (minimum 50 mins)

Johnson +94
Payne +80
Saric +55
Bridges +29
Booker +22
Galloway +17
Carter +13
Paul -13
Crowder -23
Ayton -35
---
Starters -20
Bench +309

Johnson & Payne for co-6MOY!

Sent from my moto e5 play using RealGM mobile app

I've said this before, but the narrative around our bench being a huge plus compared to our starters is a positive story IMO. Sure you want the starters to pick it up too, but the bench having a better +/- than the starters isnt necessarily an issue.

[bigfoot]

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that we don't go a little deeper into our bench. There is high level NBA talent not getting any minutes and that is likely going to lead to some disgruntled players. Moore and Gallo were playing A LOT more minutes last year, are they going to be satisfied playing next to none on this team? I think we need to deepen the rotation slightly at this point.

So long as it has been a fair competition for minutes I don't see a problem. After all, you can't have a 12 man rotation. If Payne, Carter, Nader all bring more to the table than Galloway and Moore, so be it. Kaminsky will lose minutes to Saric

Paul/Payne
Booker/Carter
Bridges/Nader
Johnson/Crowder
Ayton/Saric

Moore/Galloway/Frank/Smith/Jones ... backup backups in the event of injury.

[SideSwipe]

+/- while on court (minimum 50 mins)

Johnson +94
Payne +80
Saric +55
Bridges +29
Booker +22
Galloway +17
Carter +13
Paul -13
Crowder -23
Ayton -35
---
Starters -20
Bench +309

Johnson & Payne for co-6MOY!

Sent from my moto e5 play using RealGM mobile app

I've said this before, but the narrative around our bench being a huge plus compared to our starters is a positive story IMO. Sure you want the starters to pick it up too, but the bench having a better +/- than the starters isnt necessarily an issue.

Not an issue, per se, but possibly an indication that we may need more balance between those different scenarios.

[cberry78]

WOJBOMB!

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So much for Kevin Porter, Jr to the Suns.