CP3 news and discussion

[bwgood77]

We can't go far with a 37 year old who will be 38 years old come playoffs for 2023. It might be time to trade CP3 if there is an opportunity out there.

It's super unlikely, but Dame would be my choice. I know he's loyal to Portland, but holy crap they need a shakeup, and so does Lillard.

Seriously, why in God's name would Portland even think one second about trading Dame for CP3? That would be like us trading Booker for a 38 year old CP3 after he got worked in 5 playoff games.

I feared he would decline before his contract was over and obviously it's inevitable.

I still think he will be a solid player and leader but it appears he has been exposed and gets tired more easily. It is weird though if it's him being tired because we've been playing him between 35-40 mpg. If it's stamina then take some more rest time...I know we didn't have much for bench options but better to have rested CP3 for 30 minutes than tired CP3 for 40, even if Shamet has to play more.

[bwgood77]

We can't go far with a 37 year old who will be 38 years old come playoffs for 2023. It might be time to trade CP3 if there is an opportunity out there.

It's super unlikely, but Dame would be my choice. I know he's loyal to Portland, but holy crap they need a shakeup, and so does Lillard.

I actually think CP3 and Lebron want to play with each other. So figure out a way where the Blazers are okay to take on Westbrook since he only has a player option next season, give up Cam Johnson, 3 picks 3 pick swaps for Lillard. Even still, is Lillard a huge gap up from CP3?

Spoiler:

Trade proposal I'm thinking of:
Suns get - Lillard
Blazers get - Westbrook, Cam Jo, 3 picks 3 pick swaps with Suns
Lakers get - Chris Paul, Josh Hart

I think we'd have to take Westbrook. I think CP3 will want to stay in Phx and Phx will want him here, though I guess being near his family could be appealing.

One thing about Westbrook if we kept Ayton...he likes to rebound and get those triple doubles. Not that I want Westbrook.

[Qwigglez]

Why would the Blazers trade McCollum for Josh Hart?
They also traded Gary Trent Jr for Powell, and then ended up trading Powell and Covington for Eric Bledsoe. So it's not completely against the realm of possibility that the Blazers trade Lillard for expiring contracts, future picks, and a player with upside like Cam Johnson. Blazers are full-on the Simons train too BTW. I'd assume they let Nurkic play out his contract expire because he's been garbage the last few years with inconsistency and injury.

Also, I'm not completely sold on the idea of Lillard anyway. He had a huge down year to start, and is probably one of the PG's in the league that relies on athleticism.

[bwgood77]

Why would the Blazers trade McCollum for Josh Hart?
They also traded Gary Trent Jr for Powell, and then ended up trading Powell and Covington for Eric Bledsoe. So it's not completely against the realm of possibility that the Blazers trade Lillard for expiring contracts, future picks, and a player with upside like Cam Johnson. Blazers are full-on the Simons train too BTW. I'd assume they let Nurkic play out his contract expire because he's been garbage the last few years with inconsistency and injury.

Also, I'm not completely sold on the idea of Lillard anyway. He had a huge down year to start, and is probably one of the PG's in the league that relies on athleticism.

The upside of Cam Johnson? I like Cam but I won't be surprised if he just had his best year. He is 26 years old.

[Qwigglez]

The upside of Cam Johnson? I like Cam but I won't be surprised if he just had his best year. He is 26 years old.

Agree to disagree on Cam then. He came off the bench, only played 26 minutes a game. Doesn't always get the green light it seems to shoot unless he is completely wide open. Give him an opportunity to be more than just a catch and shoot player. Regardless I feel you are missing the point with the Blazers. They already traded everything around Lillard, I assume they are looking to deal him this summer. I know you think any offer the Suns make has to include one of Booker, Bridges, or Ayton, but I don't see it. They'll take expiring contracts, future picks, and/or players still on their rookie deal IMO.

[bwgood77]

The upside of Cam Johnson? I like Cam but I won't be surprised if he just had his best year. He is 26 years old.

Agree to disagree on Cam then. He came off the bench, only played 26 minutes a game. Doesn't always get the green light it seems to shoot unless he is completely wide open. Give him an opportunity to be more than just a catch and shoot player. Regardless I feel you are missing the point with the Blazers. They already traded everything around Lillard, I assume they are looking to deal him this summer. I know you think any offer the Suns make has to include one of Booker, Bridges, or Ayton, but I don't see it. They'll take expiring contracts, future picks, and/or players still on their rookie deal IMO.

Maybe. I thought it was to retool around him, but maybe they want to tank. So in your scenario we trade CP3 and Cam. Do we keep Ayton?

Do we have depth? What is our rotation? Lillard, Booker, Bridges, Crowder? and then we are out a bunch of firsts? It would be worth it for Lillard as long as this year's Lillard wasn't who we were getting....or was it last year? The last time he played he looked really bad.

I just don't know if we have enough. What CP3 did for our team for the whole season up until game 3 of this series was probably more than Lillard would give us...maybe not on individual talent but the overall package, but obviously we need to move on for the future too.

[lilfishi22]

I don't know what the deal with Cam is. Maybe he never quite came back fully from the thigh contusion but he looked a step or two slower on both ends of the court since coming back. Didn't have quite the explosion with his drives and finishes and he isn't nearly as quick laterally on defense. Not going to say he's peaked yet but he's had a very disappointing showing since his highlight of the season which was the game against NY

[Qwigglez]

The upside of Cam Johnson? I like Cam but I won't be surprised if he just had his best year. He is 26 years old.

Agree to disagree on Cam then. He came off the bench, only played 26 minutes a game. Doesn't always get the green light it seems to shoot unless he is completely wide open. Give him an opportunity to be more than just a catch and shoot player. Regardless I feel you are missing the point with the Blazers. They already traded everything around Lillard, I assume they are looking to deal him this summer. I know you think any offer the Suns make has to include one of Booker, Bridges, or Ayton, but I don't see it. They'll take expiring contracts, future picks, and/or players still on their rookie deal IMO.

s
Maybe. I thought it was to retool around him, but maybe they want to tank. So in your scenario we trade CP3 and Cam. Do we keep Ayton?

Do we have depth? What is our rotation? Lillard, Booker, Bridges, Crowder? and then we are out a bunch of firsts? It would be worth it for Lillard as long as this year's Lillard wasn't who we were getting....or was it last year? The last time he played he looked really bad.

I just don't know if we have enough. What CP3 did for our team for the whole season up until game 3 of this series was probably more than Lillard would give us...maybe not on individual talent but the overall package, but obviously we need to move on for the future too.

I'm not really into trading for Lillard personally. Again, he had a really bad year, which I think was mostly because the Blazers hired a crap coach in Chauncy Billups. It reminds me of when the Suns hired Terry Porter. Anyhow, I don't think Lillard is much of a difference than Paul, but he has the pedigree of hitting shots in the clutch in the playoffs, whereas I feel Paul does too, but he's too injury prone in May which has been such a pivotal factor IMO on how far the Suns can go.

Anyway I was just going off the idea that Lillard was available, and if he was, my input was it would take CP3, Cam Johnson, and picks/pick swaps to make it work. And then the other idea is that CP3 wouldn't want to play in Portland and given how bad the fit of Westbrook and Lebron is, the Lakers would be happy to entertain CP3 to LA to play with Bron. I know Westbrook in Portland isn't favorable for Portland but his contract expires after next season.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Saberestar]

Chris Paul said if he could've played, he would have, but doesn't see the sore right heel as a prolonged thing.

"I'm not that worried about it."

When asked if this was just a matter of being cautious, Paul said, "Yep."

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[bwgood77]

Chris Paul said if he could've played, he would have, but doesn't see the sore right heel as a prolonged thing.

"I'm not that worried about it."

When asked if this was just a matter of being cautious, Paul said, "Yep."

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Hopefully this isn't him pretending it's better than he is so he comes back and plays "to not let his team down" when he is injured and sitting more time to heal would be the long term better option.

[lilfishi22]

Chris Paul said if he could've played, he would have, but doesn't see the sore right heel as a prolonged thing.

"I'm not that worried about it."

When asked if this was just a matter of being cautious, Paul said, "Yep."

Read on Twitter

Hopefully this isn't him pretending it's better than he is so he comes back and plays "to not let his team down" when he is injured and sitting more time to heal would be the long term better option.

The worst is pretending it's nothing and then playing evidently like he's injured (not that he's playing super well right now anyway) and then be forced to sit out. No point trying to eke out wins in November if it's going to impact his longevity the rest of the season. He's no Kawhi but sometimes I do wish we load managed him more.

[bwgood77]

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Chris Paul is now a college graduate.

The Phoenix Suns guard graduated from Winston-Salem State University on Friday at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex. Paul earned a bachelor's degree in mass communications.

Paul originally attended Wake Forest, where he starred as a basketball player from 2003 to 2005 before entering the NBA draft as a sophomore. He returned to school across town at Winston-Salem State in 2020.

"I didn't want it to be about me," Paul told Andscape after the ceremony. "I was trying to make it as normal as possible. You know, all these students here have fought their butts off for a while to get their degree. And I wanted to make sure that in no way I was trying to show them up on their special day. They had a lot of family, loved ones that's here to support them and to see them. And I just wanted to be a graduate just like that."

Paul had 15 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds in 36 minutes in the Suns' 111-95 road win over the LA Clippers on Thursday. Around 11:30 p.m. PT, Paul and several family members took a private jet for the nearly 2,500-mile flight from Van Nuys, California, to Winston-Salem that took about 3 hours, 40 minutes and arrived at about 6:30 a.m. ET.

Two hours later, Paul headed to the graduation in his cap and gown.

The 11-time NBA All-Star stood in a parking lot with all the other graduating students in 38-degree weather for at least 30 minutes before the ceremony. Paul took part in the entire ceremony. An estimated 75 family members came to the graduation, and countless people took selfies with the point guard.

"When I was about to walk across the stage, there were nerves, there was an excitement, there was a feeling of completion," Paul said. "But knowing my family was there ... I played many high school games in that annex. And it was so dope to look over and see my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, my parents who had been there that whole time. And then to see my wife, my kids, it just felt normal."

Winston-Salem State is a historically Black university. At the beginning of the graduation ceremony, Paul got rousing applause when it was announced he is funding a bank account from Black-owned Greenwood for each graduate that will have $2,500 in value.

Paul left North Carolina for Phoenix at about 2:50 p.m. ET. The Suns host the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.

"How do I get ready for tomorrow's game? I'm going to get ready with my family," Paul said. "To be with my family it's crazy. I get to be with my wife and my kids for the next 10 days, and it's my happiest place. We'll take this flight back, probably try to get to the house tonight, get my body worked on, hopefully lay and watch a movie with them and just enjoy that time."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35265509/suns-chris-paul-earns-college-degree-winston-salem-st

[Saberestar]

CP3 is still orchestrating.

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[Saberestar]

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[Fo-Real]

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WTF, You mean he again showed that he isn't yet washed out?!?! This is gonna piss people off on this board.

[Calvin Klein]

Nice to watch a vintage (half) game from CP.

[lilfishi22]

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WTF, You mean he again showed that he isn't yet washed out?!?! This is gonna piss people off on this board.

He's unreliable. He's talented enough still to have great games occasionally but as a guy you can count on game in game out, that guy is cooked.

[Saberestar]

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WTF, You mean he again showed that he isn't yet washed out?!?! This is gonna piss people off on this board.

He's unreliable. He's talented enough still to have great games occasionally but as a guy you can count on game in game out, that guy is cooked.

Chris Paul’s last 4 games (3W-1L):

22 PTS | 6 REB | 11 AST | 3 STL
14 PTS | 5 REB | 11 AST
22 PTS | 6 REB | 10 AST
31 PTS | 7 REB | 11 AST | 2 BLK

[lilfishi22]

WTF, You mean he again showed that he isn't yet washed out?!?! This is gonna piss people off on this board.

He's unreliable. He's talented enough still to have great games occasionally but as a guy you can count on game in game out, that guy is cooked.

Chris Paul’s last 4 games (3W-1L):

22 PTS | 6 REB | 11 AST | 3 STL
14 PTS | 5 REB | 11 AST
22 PTS | 6 REB | 10 AST
31 PTS | 7 REB | 11 AST | 2 BLK

Good stretch

He was also 13/8 with a negative +/- before this stretch. I still don't believe it until I've seen at least a 20 game stretch. Ultimately, it's his health and play in the playoffs which is most important, not a 4 game stretch in Jan