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When do you see the Phoenix Suns making the playoffs?

oligo wrote:When do you see the Phoenix Suns making the playoffs?

Im the only one that said next year but I believeeeeeeee.

For the first time we have kinda a big 3. Booker, Oubre, and Ayton...

Booker will pick off where he left off this season....healthy and doing what it takes to win.

Oubre is going to be the second scoring option taking pressure off booker. (Oubre can create for himself unlike Warren) Also I think Oubre is going to make the most of this off-season. I feel like he is loving it here in Phoenix and wants to take his game to the next level. Oubre and Booker seem to really like each other and are going to strive to make each other better headed into next season.

Ayton will come into his own next year. He has a psasion for the game that some dont see.

Out of the big 3 we got guys like....

Tyler Johnson who was meshing well with "our" big 3

Bridges who feels like a guy that will be around this team for a very long time. Not a starter or a super star but a real solid rotaion player that change the course of a game with defense alone.

Holmes is a perfect back-up to Ayton. I love that we have him because we have a high energy impact center that feels like we dont miss a beat if Ayton goes out.

Outisde of that we have:

Warren one of the best scores in the league that doesnt need the ball could be the best 6th man in the league...But I dont know whats going to happen with him, whether we trade him or he takes the 6th man role. We could get a really good trade for him or role into next season as a 6th man... Either way I wouldnt mind but no more SFS at PF!

JJ the obvious trade piece. He can play well or play terrible...Mostly terrible. But if we can find a decent trade partner Id be all for it. He has potential.

We have the draft and trades that are going to go down.... But I am super optomistic about the core of our team heading into next season...


Tyler/? - Ja? Garland? trade?
Booker/Bridges
Oubre/Warren(trade?)
?/? Clarke? Trade?
Ayton/Holmes


Theres alot of options heading into next season. BUT WE ACTUALLY HAVE SOMEWHAT OF A CORE NOW! As long as our FO doesnt **** up and we draft and make the right trades there is no reason why we wont smash it next season.

Just booker and Oubre playing together gets me going. Something we havent had is that second option next to booker. A guy that can do it on his own... Warren can get his but wasnt a full-time scorer next to Booker. Id love to keep him as a 6th man if we dont trade him for a PF....

Theres so much that can happen in the off-season its making my head hurt. But atleast we actually have a solid core going into next season for the first time in a long time.. We have the talent...we have pieces to trade...Anything is possible... And Even if we dont trade...just the draft alone will help... I dont think we need a large amount of help....

Id say Booker, Oubre, Ayton make us 2/3 of a playoff team.

Guys like Tyler, Warren, Holmes, and Bridges put us at the threshhold. But we really need some PFS and some kind of PG that looks like the future.

Forget zion and Ja for now lets say we draft Garland and Clarke and make no trades and re-sign current players...

Tyler/Garland
Booker/Bridges
Oubre/Warren
Clarke/Bender
Ayton/Holmes

Is that playoff worthy? I think so...And thats not really doing to much to our current roster.

I think we are going to make a big step next year...But also see some new faces. So its hard to say right now what our roster are will be til we draft and make trades...

But we making the playoffs next year...

Weird rant but I LOVE the suns!

I can see us competing for a spot in two years.

SlovenianDragon wrote:For the first time we have kinda a big 3. Booker, Oubre, and Ayton...

I'm seeing the Suns more like a 2-headed dragon right now. You have dBook/Ayton combo, but out of that, there is not really much to see. Of course, I'm talking about play-off material.
IMO, Oubre is a good 1st unit guy on 20-30 wins teams, 2nd unit guy on 30-45 wins teams and a 3rd stringer on 45+ wins teams. I like the guy, don't get me wrong, but currently, I don't see much upside for him.
There are some guys in the NBA, for who I say they possess a "Kosta Koufos" syndrome. These guys always perform the same, so no matter what happened, you should never be too excited or too angry about their performance.

SlovenianDragon wrote:Booker will pick off where he left off this season....healthy and doing what it takes to win.

His mamba mentality has never been questionable, but I think next season is going to be some kind of a turning point for him. He will hit his first year of a max contract and I don't believe he will be the same as he was before. His ego might rise, and he will not be prepared to play with a "bunch of kids" on a losing team anymore.

I would try to surround this core with some semi-veteran players (guys with 5-6 years exp), somebody like Bogdan Bogdanovic. I know there has been written some trash about this guy on the forum, but I honestly believe he just needs a fresh start somewhere else. He has been on a slump on the Kings this season, also missing some games because of injury at the beginning. Suns should try to trade for him if you ask me, because they can get him for cheap. So besides picking the right guy on a 2019 Draft, I would try to sign some experienced players too.

SlovenianDragon wrote:Holmes is a perfect back-up to Ayton. I love that we have him because we have a high energy impact center that feels like we dont miss a beat if Ayton goes out.

I agree, but I don't know if Holmes should be 2nd unit or 3rd stringer? I also belive that Ayton has been developing a bit slowly because he didn't have enough competition under the rim on that Suns team. He was always a primary center and no matter what happened, nobody of the Suns' bigs has shown enough to put Ayton on a bench. Anyway, Suns should seek to sign some experienced vet C to teach Ayton center techniques. Ayton is a traditional center and outside rim-rolling abilities and a decent half-distance shooting he is weak on other areas, especially defense.

Hopefully next year. I like Booker, Ayton, Bridges core. I especially like if we bring back Oubre below $14M a season. I’m just tired of being the laughing stock of the Western Conference. At least last year we had the Mavs/Kings to keep us company, this year we are on an island to ourself.

I like the optimism, but realistically it's as likely a 20 wins team makes the playoffs next season in the tough West, as having another disaster of a season like this one. Just competing for the playoffs will be a huge success.

As for the future who knows. It depends on player development, management's ability to bring impactful players, team chemistry, a system that utilizes the players properly.

Idk. We suck. Maybe two years unless we get Zion or some major player.

sunsbg wrote:I like the optimism, but realistically it's as likely a 20 wins team makes the playoffs next season in the tough West, as having another disaster of a season like this one. Just competing for the playoffs will be a huge success.

I try to stay real too. Suns added #1 pick this season and it looks like they might finish with an even worse record than last season.
I think after the 2019 NBA Draft, Suns should start building a team around experienced players, otherwise, there will be too many rookies here and dBook might lose his mind while orchestrating this school bus.

oligo wrote:

sunsbg wrote:I like the optimism, but realistically it's as likely a 20 wins team makes the playoffs next season in the tough West, as having another disaster of a season like this one. Just competing for the playoffs will be a huge success.

I try to stay real too. Suns added #1 pick this season and it looks like they might finish with an even worse record than last season.
I think after the 2019 NBA Draft, Suns should start building a team around experienced players, otherwise, there will be too many rookies here and dBook might lose his mind while orchestrating this school bus.

He's a part of the youth though and yet to show any leadership abilities.

Btw you are way off calling Oubre a 3rd stringer. Many see him as a big part of the team's future. I'm not sure about that, but he's a good backup at the worst.

I really think we get in next year if Book stays healthy and we make the right moves this summer.

2 years. I think they will win high 30s next year and get in the following season.

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sunsbg wrote:

oligo wrote:

sunsbg wrote:I like the optimism, but realistically it's as likely a 20 wins team makes the playoffs next season in the tough West, as having another disaster of a season like this one. Just competing for the playoffs will be a huge success.

I try to stay real too. Suns added #1 pick this season and it looks like they might finish with an even worse record than last season.
I think after the 2019 NBA Draft, Suns should start building a team around experienced players, otherwise, there will be too many rookies here and dBook might lose his mind while orchestrating this school bus.

He's a part of the youth though and yet to show any leadership abilities.

Btw you are way off calling Oubre a 3rd stringer. Many see him as a big part of the team's future. I'm not sure about that, but he's a good backup at the worst.

I think I was clear enough about Oubre. If you put Oubre right now to most of the 45+ wins teams on the west (OKC, POR, HOU,..) he would be a third stringer. And that's it. It was not a shot on him, just a realistic description of his current capabilities. But I agree, he can and should improve in future.

It really depends on our offseason and health as to how much better we are next year. The playoffs is obviously a tall order given the state of the west and what we've seen so far out of this team. I'm not sure which teams I would guess we may finish ahead of next year. Probably and hopefully at least 3-4 teams.

I just really hope we can be competitive night in and night out. I'll be legitimately happy to just watch an NBA caliber team all season and a healthy one.

I think the guys if they work hard can all take major steps forward next season.

I just vaguely chose 3yrs from now

lilfishi22 wrote:I just vaguely chose 3yrs from now

That's what I chose, but it's hard. I was thinking maybe we are pretty competitive this next year hopefully and maybe get to 35 wins, and then the next year are battling for a spot but fall just short, so really lock in the following year and hopefully make it.

bwgood77 wrote:

lilfishi22 wrote:I just vaguely chose 3yrs from now

That's what I chose, but it's hard. I was thinking maybe we are pretty competitive this next year hopefully and maybe get to 35 wins, and then the next year are battling for a spot but fall just short, so really lock in the following year and hopefully make it.

I don't want to get too optimistic considering this was the year we were suppose to really be pushing that 30-win mark with Ayton and a better Booker. I think competitive basketball 3yrs from now when Booker is in his prime, Ayton has had a few more years under his wings and guys like Bridges, Oubre (assuming he's still around) and (INSERT PG) are all productive players is probably.

After the Kings and Knicks do.

Where's the "When Sarver sells the team" option?

handsome salary wrote:After the Kings and Knicks do.

Which could be as soon as next season if everything falls in line for the Knicks and Kings make smart moves to add to their improving young core.