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I'll start.

It's early, I know, but it's pretty clear I was wrong on many things, so the faster I admit it, the more I can enjoy the season.

I underestimated several of our players, starting by Booker's willingness to adjust his role, to Ayton's improvement on defense, and including new signings Saric, Carter and Kaminksy (two on the defensive side, where I expected them to be liabilities, one on the offensive side, where I expected... well, I didn't expect anything, really). Poor Rubio, I remember feeling disgusted by the news we had signed him, when my view of what we needed was totally different.

Then I doubted Monty could do much. I liked him, as I think everybody does, but doubted he would be able to make a difference in the horror show that this organization has been for the past decade, almost. I assumed he would improve us, but would most likely be out of the job at the end of the season.

I SEVERELY doubted ALL of James Jones moves. The trades, the picks, his speeches. His lack of experience to me pointed towards another cheap hire by Sarver that would bust. His moves where perplexing, I disliked most of them, and although I understood and respected what he was trying to do, I thought he was taking a huge risk by gambling all assets on this lane.

And yet, here we are. 3 games in, and I haven't had this much fun watching basketball in....maybe ever? Because it's so surprising. Because expectations were so low. Because we are playing such a beautiful brand of basketball.

What happens with the season is secondary, honestly. I can watch us lose all the time and I won't get tired of it, because every game I'll feel we'll have the chance to beat the other team.

So, I am sorry Booker. I am sorry Ayton. I am sorry Monty. I am sorry, JJ. I am sorry Saric, Kaminsky, Cam, Rubio. I am sorry Sarv...not not you. You suck.

Congrats to all those who believed in the vision that we would be competitive, although I doubt even your wildest dreams matched what this team is showing now.

Serve me my crow, please. I'll eat it gladly.

They are far better than I expected, despite projecting almost a 70% win improvement. I was always the optimistic guy several seasons ago, but it was very hard to be watching this team the last few years. Kaminsky is especially a very nice surprise so far and Booker and Ayton look much improved. Just the intensity on defense is the most unexpected. What a nice surprise. The coaching and mindset is crazy good...lets hope it continues, but I see no reason to doubt it. The next man up is awesome too. Ayton out, no problem. Rubio out, no problem.

The only move I questioned was Jevon Carter. I didn't think he looked like an NBA player last year but he's clearly improved his shot. He shot 30% last year.

I feel like i was the only one who talked highly of our team and the depth. Think i said 38 wins this year earlier as well

I didn’t think Kaminsky was going to be anything but the whipping boy where I would yell at my stream because he’s making the incorrect passes/reads/plays. He’s been so fun to watch so far.
Carter I didn’t really know he even existed. I thought he would try too hard offensively and make bad decisions or chuck up bad shots. He’s been a joy to watch as well, and unlike someone like Beverly who has an **** personality, Carter seems like a high character good guy. His mom posts in the Suns FB group and she was very happy he was going to start against the Clippers. I believe she also mentioned she was hoping he would get drafted by the Suns because he would fit with us. Glad to see him doing well.

Rubio My very first thought was feeling disappointed, only because we didn’t get DLo. A few hours later I liked the signing.

Didn’t think anything of Baynes really, I did like Holmes last year but I wasn’t upset when we weren’t looking to keep him around. I didn’t expect Baynes to be this tough of a player.

Because I’m always optimistic I pegged the Suns being a playoff team but I didn’t expect it to be because of the way we are playing with tough defense and all around good ball movement. I thought it would be because we somehow were just shooting lights out from 3 and Booker was going to carry us like Harden carried the Rockets. Realistically I didn’t envision this at all.

for me, I was actually high on Rubio right from the start. it's the other signings that i didnt show total support for at the time, but only because i didnt know enough about baynes, kaminsky and saric. so glad with how things are turning out. should have had more faith in Jones.

looking back it makes sense that he had a LOT to do in a very short amount of time, first cleaning house and then getting the right guys.

spanishninja wrote:for me, I was actually high on Rubio right from the start. it's the other signings that i didnt show total support for at the time, but only because i didnt know enough about baynes, kaminsky and saric. so glad with how things are turning out. should have had more faith in Jones.

looking back it makes sense that he had a LOT to do in a very short amount of time, first cleaning house and then getting the right guys.

I am a Rubio guy - so no surprise. SAric - I thought was a good move. Baynes - I didn't think he was that good but I knew he was different than say Holmes which is what Ayton need. Kaminsky is the guy. Maybe a better system. Maybe he is more mature. But has been a very good player.

I thought the Suns were going to be better. I thought 36-38 wins on the season. Maybe that was aggressive. But I really saw a vision from James Jones (and staff): get the PG in Rubio to help Booker and Ayton; get some more shooters like Kaminsky, DArio and CAm. Add some toughness and depth with Baynes to add to Bridges, Oubre and Tyler Johnson. Jevon Carter has been a surprise

Too early for this thread- but all of us doubters will happily eat crow.

But kudos to the believers regardless how the season turns out. It's easy being a negative nancy.

A bit early for this. I guess Jevon Carter is the easy pick here. There was no way to reasonably expect getting high-level backup minutes through 3 games, let alone spot starting, from his body of work last season. I have no clue how it’ll translate in January and in lineups with Ayton but so far, so good.

Saric is a little better defensively than expected. And to be fair, most smart bigs can be good defensively when rolling in lineups with connected perimeter defenders. Which I guess is saying the Suns perimeter defense thus far is better than expected, too.

Wilber85 wrote:I feel like i was the only one who talked highly of our team and the depth. Think i said 38 wins this year earlier as well

Pump ya brakes, I have been positive about all of our moves during the overhaul. Warren getting the boot, jackson and melton being shown the door. The only one person I was mad out was Rubio, said i hated him but not his game. Talked about how i hated other former players before they actually played for us, and how they won me over and was hoping the same would happen, AND IT HAS!!! I did not think we would start this well but we would surely be better. THE ONLY ONE.... CMON MAN!!

Won't eat anything after 3 games, sorry.

Damkac wrote:Won't eat anything after 3 games, sorry.

Well you at least have to admit that the initial product is much better that expected.

There have been a couple of pleasant surprises which I didn't anticipate at all (or was completely off on) and it's only a few games so I'm not sure if it will continue or not but I was surprised by:

1. Booker's defense - I didn't think it would really improve much and it's still poor but an improvement from mediocre is still a pleasant surprise. What I do see more from him is the amount of effort he's showing on that end and I think playing with better defenders and being asked to do less offensively really gives him the energy and focus to be better on the defensive end.

2. Carter's overall game - I've always liked Carter since the stories of him being this feared defensive character in college but I didn't think he was this good offensively. It's still all just relative to expectations but he's been solid for us on both ends of the court which was surprising. I knew what we were gonna get from him defensively but seeing him take and make step back 3's, making great passes and being a good catch and shoot outlet has been a big asset to this team. I thought he would be a slightly smaller Melton but he's so much more.

3. Team defense - I honestly thought we would be a bottom 5 defensive team this season which would still be an improvement from last season because most of the moves we've made were focused on offense and those players who were more defensively focused came as more of an afterthought. But Baynes, Carter, Bridges, Oubre, Tyler and even Frank/Saric brings a little bit of defensive toughness that I didn't think would not only gel this well this early but actually be part of creating an identity for this team. Those guys are gritty, they want to play good defense and they almost have a we-against-the-world attitude because of the reputation the Suns have built this past decade as porous and soft on the defensive end.

Fo-Real wrote:

Wilber85 wrote:I feel like i was the only one who talked highly of our team and the depth. Think i said 38 wins this year earlier as well

Pump ya brakes, I have been positive about all of our moves during the overhaul. Warren getting the boot, jackson and melton being shown the door. The only one person I was mad out was Rubio, said i hated him but not his game. Talked about how i hated other former players before they actually played for us, and how they won me over and was hoping the same would happen, AND IT HAS!!! I did not think we would start this well but we would surely be better. THE ONLY ONE.... CMON MAN!!

TBH there was about 3-5 of us. That is it. 90% of this board was complaining on Warren, Our Drafts, Trades, etc.

Wilber85 wrote:

Fo-Real wrote:

Wilber85 wrote:I feel like i was the only one who talked highly of our team and the depth. Think i said 38 wins this year earlier as well

Pump ya brakes, I have been positive about all of our moves during the overhaul. Warren getting the boot, jackson and melton being shown the door. The only one person I was mad out was Rubio, said i hated him but not his game. Talked about how i hated other former players before they actually played for us, and how they won me over and was hoping the same would happen, AND IT HAS!!! I did not think we would start this well but we would surely be better. THE ONLY ONE.... CMON MAN!!

TBH there was about 3-5 of us. That is it. 90% of this board was complaining on Warren, Our Drafts, Trades, etc.

T.R.U.E.

So far I've been totally wrong on Carter and stubbornly I am not liking him succeeding because I really like Ty Jeromes game. He's a dog though I gotta give him that.

Fo-Real wrote:

Wilber85 wrote:

Fo-Real wrote:
Pump ya brakes, I have been positive about all of our moves during the overhaul. Warren getting the boot, jackson and melton being shown the door. The only one person I was mad out was Rubio, said i hated him but not his game. Talked about how i hated other former players before they actually played for us, and how they won me over and was hoping the same would happen, AND IT HAS!!! I did not think we would start this well but we would surely be better. THE ONLY ONE.... CMON MAN!!

TBH there was about 3-5 of us. That is it. 90% of this board was complaining on Warren, Our Drafts, Trades, etc.

T.R.U.E.

Feeling good I'm one of those. As mentioned in other posts I prefer to look at the big picture and have a glass half-full viewpoint. It's your choice.

The big picture is winning and playing like a team and it was obvious someone like Rubio will help with that more than players like Warren, Bender, Melton, etc., guys that already proved to not be very good or didn't contribute to winning.

I posted in the Jazz thread about this, but I think the best way to describe our results against Denver and the Clippers (without Ayton and Rubio), is that we're rolling out Booker and a Kelly Oubre who (at least right now) is playing like Oladipo was 2 years ago (defensive monster and 20 ppg scorer). And that these two guys are surrounded by actual role players.

Right now I'm eating hard crow about Oubre. I've been saying that Warren would be better for the last few months, but right now Kelly is playing really freaking good (he played like this last year too) and I hope he keeps it up. 20 ppg and crazy good defense is so valuable. If Kelly keeps producing like this, and Ayton gets a reduced suspension I think we can break .500. What's good is that Kelly gets to play alongside Booker (and Rubio, too), so defenses will have a hard time adjusting to Kelly's scoring because Booker soaks up most of the attention. In other words, it should be possible for him to sustain it.

Damkac wrote:Won't eat anything after 3 games, sorry.

I think you meant to post that in the stubborn thread.

Fo-Real wrote:

Damkac wrote:Won't eat anything after 3 games, sorry.

Well you at least have to admit that the initial product is much better that expected.

I expected it to be terrible so yes, it has been much better in those 3 first games.