2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation Part V

[thamadkant]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

Yes, 2nd best in the west when we started the season 9-2 in first couple of weeks. But after that we been playing like garbage, but kind of picked it up last few weeks chasing for the final play-in spot.

Suns have not picked it up.

Cavs are on a losing streak and likely playing at 3rd gear.

Biggest change for the suns is Dunn is getting minutes again and he's producing.

But the team still sucks compared to the legit contenders. Stats and eye test shows it. You can't rely on KD averaging 40ppg

[thamadkant]

Speaking of Mitchell, didn’t all the “experts” say last year he was gone? That him and Garland hated each other and couldn’t play with each other? He wanted to play with his bff Bam in Miami? Not only did he resign with Cleveland, him and Garland learned to play with each other, he’s sacrificed his stats and took a backseat to Mobley and Garland and now the Cavs are the number one team in the league. So I don’t think it’s a done deal KD will be traded in the off season. Especially if Philly comes knocking about a PG & picks for Beal swap.

Mitchell has not really taken a back seat.. he's just less selfish and allowing Garland amd Mobley to thrive more. Mitchell is in his prime and leading the team.

[KLEON]

Beal should do the right thing and tell Bud not to play him for the rest of the season. The team chemistry is up and I don't want to disrupt that

[Sunsdeuce]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

Yes, 2nd best in the west when we started the season 9-2 in first couple of weeks. But after that we been playing like garbage, but kind of picked it up last few weeks chasing for the final play-in spot.

Suns have not picked it up.

Cavs are on a losing streak and likely playing at 3rd gear.

Biggest change for the suns is Dunn is getting minutes again and he's producing.

But the team still sucks compared to the legit contenders. Stats and eye test shows it. You can't rely on KD averaging 40ppg

Thank you for pointing that out. Cavs have been playing like trash the last 4 games and their record over those last 4 games prove it. Yes they have a fantastic record but they are going through a rough spell right now. Hard to crown the Suns as “back” when the wins have come from either slumping teams or bad teams.

Hard for me to take away anything from the last 5 games the suns played. Suns lost to the lakers without Lebron. And beat a bunch a scrubs and a slumping team. Not smart to judge or come to a conclusion about this team over the last 5 games.

Come back to me after the next four games (Bucks, especially the Celtics, Wolves, Rockets). If the suns sweep or even give 3-1 over the next four, let’s all talk about this team and talk about stats with and without players in the rotation.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

Yes, 2nd best in the west when we started the season 9-2 in first couple of weeks. But after that we been playing like garbage, but kind of picked it up last few weeks chasing for the final play-in spot.

Suns have not picked it up.

Cavs are on a losing streak and likely playing at 3rd gear.

Biggest change for the suns is Dunn is getting minutes again and he's producing.

But the team still sucks compared to the legit contenders. Stats and eye test shows it. You can't rely on KD averaging 40ppg

This!! The when was fun and much needed. But it hasn't really changed our end of season outcome projection. It's funny that some Suns fans choose to look at a very small 3 game sample and delude themselves into believing that everything has somehow changed while intentionally ignoring the context involved contributing to our win streak.

But just like every other season, reality will swiftly kick us in the nuts in embarassing fashion and we'll all get snapped back to reality soon enough. Our full season record to this point being the much larger sample size illustrates what this team truly is. And this summer will fall back in place accordingly.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Yes, 2nd best in the west when we started the season 9-2 in first couple of weeks. But after that we been playing like garbage, but kind of picked it up last few weeks chasing for the final play-in spot.

Suns have not picked it up.

Cavs are on a losing streak and likely playing at 3rd gear.

Biggest change for the suns is Dunn is getting minutes again and he's producing.

But the team still sucks compared to the legit contenders. Stats and eye test shows it. You can't rely on KD averaging 40ppg

Thank you for pointing that out. Cavs have been playing like trash the last 4 games and their record over those last 4 games prove it. Yes they have a fantastic record but they are going through a rough spell right now. Hard to crown the Suns as “back” when the wins have come from either slumping teams or bad teams.

Hard for me to take away anything from the last 5 games the suns played. Suns lost to the lakers without Lebron. And beat a bunch a scrubs and a slumping team. Not smart to judge or come to a conclusion about this team over the last 5 games.

Come back to me after the next four games (Bucks, especially the Celtics, Wolves, Rockets). If the suns sweep or even give 3-1 over the next four, let’s all talk about this team and talk about stats with and without players in the rotation.

The sad reality of things that some are ignoring. Context matters, and some are deluding themselves into a blissful ignorance scenario over 3 wins when we have a 71 game sample of our true competitive projection:



Some fans when you ask them to look at the situation contextually and also our full record.

[Qwigglez]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

I think this team is capable of going on runs. But the mental fortitude of this team is very fragile. It could very well be that a couple of good locker room guys is what keeps this team able to play at a higher level. CP3 on this team over Beal would do wonders, and Suns could likely have a record similar to the Lakers.

[thamadkant]

Beal should do the right thing and tell Bud not to play him for the rest of the season. The team chemistry is up and I don't want to disrupt that

This is revisionist take.

Suns have a bad record (losing record) with or without Beal, or whether KD and Booker play. Look it up.

The main difference between the last week or so is that Dunn has taken Grayson Allen's minutes and doing a better job.

It's not Beal who is the causing the improved play, but Dunn taking over Allen's role. Allen looks to be having a down year probably enjoying fatherhood rather than the game.


Beal has been putting up good numbers for a 3rd option. It's his injuries that has held him back.


Dunn being benched was a head scratcher to begin with. His energy is contagious.

But still doesn't fix the suns lack or creative offense outside of Booker or KD having a huge night.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

So who should most likely get waived so we can add Gillespie to our play-in roster? And would he bee converted to a standard contract for this to happen?

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Defense will be key to improving next season! We should go back to employing a smothering disruptive defense that allows us to ruin more playing the passing lanes and getting out on the break more too! And also have our shooters flare out to the wings more for easy looks from the perimeter.

[Saberestar]

The Bucks won @ Sacramento. We are 1.5 games away from 9th.

[sunsbg]

The Bucks won @ Sacramento. We are 1.5 games away from 9th.

Wish Suns played Bucks on a b2b next. They are motivated to get home court vs Pacers I guess. Lillard and Portis didn't play, but no idea if that means they miss Suns game too. Looking at Kings schedule it's a tough one and that last game could be 'win or go fishing' game for both teams.

[sunsbg]

Bulls destroyed Lakers. Suns on a three game win streak. '93 finals repeat incoming.

[MrMiyagi]

Bulls destroyed Lakers. Suns on a three game win streak. '93 finals repeat incoming.

These Suns losing to those Bulls would be a hilarious NBA Finals.

[sunsbg]

Bulls destroyed Lakers. Suns on a three game win streak. '93 finals repeat incoming.

These Suns losing to those Bulls would be a hilarious NBA Finals.

Suns getting revenge this time.

[sunsfan1o1]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

I think this team is capable of going on runs. But the mental fortitude of this team is very fragile. It could very well be that a couple of good locker room guys is what keeps this team able to play at a higher level. CP3 on this team over Beal would do wonders, and Suns could likely have a record similar to the Lakers.

I don’t think it’s runs. I think this team is good.
What I was trying to say is that the coach panicked when we started losing games and messed with the rotation and confidence of players.
Beal, Dunn, Oso, etc.
Even if they got consistent minutes the fact that he was panicking and making rotation changes every game if they lost can affect the confidence of a player not knowing what coach is gonna do next.
I think the panick of Bud caused Beal, Jones, Allen, Royce, Dunn, Plumlee to all lose confidence.
Then it trickled to Booker and KD because of the trade rumors about Beal and then KD being mentioned in trades.
All that because coach didn’t trust his guys.
The team is playing with more energy and playing defense.
They don’t look like dead men walking anymore.
Dunn, Oso and Martin brought them back from the dead.
Hopefully Bud doesn’t kill them again by benching them when Allen and Plumlee are healthy

[sunsbum]

I think this team is 2nd or best team in the West. However we had a bad 2.5 months due to injuries and coach panicking because of early season struggles.
Took Beal out the starting lineup. Stopped playing Dunn and Oso.
Strange rotations.
Looks like coach might be figuring it out finally although it might be too late to save the season. Then we will make more roster changes and more employee turnover equals more early season struggles.
Need to keep KD and Booker.
Test the Beal waters again but keep him if teams try to disrespect.
Make small changes like trading Allen for more length and 3 and D type of player.
Add more energy/hustle players to make up for Booker and KDs laziness since they only seem to play with energy on offense they can save more of their energy for scoring.

Yes, 2nd best in the west when we started the season 9-2 in first couple of weeks. But after that we been playing like garbage, but kind of picked it up last few weeks chasing for the final play-in spot.

Suns have not picked it up.

Cavs are on a losing streak and likely playing at 3rd gear.

Biggest change for the suns is Dunn is getting minutes again and he's producing.

But the team still sucks compared to the legit contenders. Stats and eye test shows it. You can't rely on KD averaging 40ppg

funny that everyone has mentioned they are playing better….and then there’s you.

[bwgood77]

Lets see how we do for the rest of this stretch. We just finally beat a good team at home, but had to shoot over 45% from 3 and get 42, 8 and 6 from KD. We've beaten 4 good teams in our last 53 games, all at home except for one at GS before they had Butler and with Draymond Green out.

If we can keep winning, and can show we can beat good teams on the road, I'll believe we really can compete with the good teams with this group, but the Cavs were already on a 3 game losing streak so they hadn't been playing well coming in, have been on the road, and were coming off a b2b 2 days earlier.

I like seeing the young guys play, and it gives me more hope for the future, especially if we keep Book, or even if we don't, because if we can add some other young guys and picks, we could perhaps rebuild a little quicker than I figured we would if we start a rebuild. I expect us to keep Book though, at least for one more year.

[garrick]

Read on Twitter

So who should most likely get waived so we can add Gillespie to our play-in roster? And would he bee converted to a standard contract for this to happen?

Waive TyTy Washington who so far only has one thing is youth and quickness and not much else to his game or waive D.Lee who has not really looked great in any of his games so far.

[dremill24]

Read on Twitter

So who should most likely get waived so we can add Gillespie to our play-in roster? And would he bee converted to a standard contract for this to happen?

Waive TyTy Washington who so far only has one thing is youth and quickness and not much else to his game or waive D.Lee who has not really looked great in any of his games so far.

TyTy is on a two-way also so waiving him wouldnt help.