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Thoughts after watching a CP3-less win

bigfoot wrote:Thoughts after watching a CP3-less win

Big, but I was thinking earlier that next year will be tough if teams are healthier. LeBron will be on a major mission as will Kawhi and the 3 Nets.

Of course without CP3 I don't think we get through the Lakers series this year if they were healthyor the Clips with Kawhi or a healthy Nets team, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

And it could be that way for a few years...moreso for the Clips and Nets. So this year is our best chance...but who knows with the rapid improvement of our main 3 future core and also Cam.

Other teams knocking too though..will be interesting to see how Dallas retools...Philly and then the Hawks have themselves a window..a lot of depth and young players/talent on that team. If Zion was traded and would go there they might have the best trade assets to get him with guys like Collins, Okongwu, Hunter and picks.

Barring injury or ego this core of Booker/Ayton/Bridges should be playoff caliber through the roaring 20's. Plug in good role players as we chug along like Jae this year, hopefully the Cams stick around. Haliburton would have been nice but hoping Jalen puts in the work to take over for Jae and Dario soon.

I dont trust cam as the long term starter. If we can somehow get Fox from sactown or some other point I'm not thinking of at the moment it would cement this decade of success.

bigfoot wrote:Thoughts after watching a CP3-less win

Signing CP3, I think everyone understood its a 2-3 year window, assuming he resigns/extends this Summer.

EDIT: To be clear, I mean with CP3. Obviously, the PG situation becomes a pretty big deal with CP3 leaving or retiring.

bwgood77 wrote:

bigfoot wrote:Thoughts after watching a CP3-less win

Big, but I was thinking earlier that next year will be tough if teams are healthier. LeBron will be on a major mission as will Kawhi and the 3 Nets.

Of course without CP3 I don't think we get through the Lakers series this year if they were healthyor the Clips with Kawhi or a healthy Nets team, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

And it could be that way for a few years...moreso for the Clips and Nets. So this year is our best chance...but who knows with the rapid improvement of our main 3 future core and also Cam.

Other teams knocking too though..will be interesting to see how Dallas retools...Philly and then the Hawks have themselves a window..a lot of depth and young players/talent on that team. If Zion was traded and would go there they might have the best trade assets to get him with guys like Collins, Okongwu, Hunter and picks.

On top of Lebrons/AD mission to prove their worth, Both Mavs and Warriors will be a headache to deal with. Cuban will finally put a winning product in front of Luka I cant see dallas squander another first round exist. The Warriors with Dray/Curry/Klay/Wiggins/1st pick guy and whoever they add will be a tough out. Jazz might be one player away from really excelling further. Nuggets with a healthy murray... the west will be three times tougher than even this year.

I agree with you that this season is our best chance to win a ring cause things will get tougher moving forward.

SunsRback4Good wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:

bigfoot wrote:Thoughts after watching a CP3-less win

Big, but I was thinking earlier that next year will be tough if teams are healthier. LeBron will be on a major mission as will Kawhi and the 3 Nets.

Of course without CP3 I don't think we get through the Lakers series this year if they were healthyor the Clips with Kawhi or a healthy Nets team, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

And it could be that way for a few years...moreso for the Clips and Nets. So this year is our best chance...but who knows with the rapid improvement of our main 3 future core and also Cam.

Other teams knocking too though..will be interesting to see how Dallas retools...Philly and then the Hawks have themselves a window..a lot of depth and young players/talent on that team. If Zion was traded and would go there they might have the best trade assets to get him with guys like Collins, Okongwu, Hunter and picks.

On top of Lebrons/AD mission to prove their worth, Both Mavs and Warriors will be a headache to deal with. Cuban will finally put a winning product in front of Luka I cant see dallas squander another first round exist. The Warriors will Dray/Curry/Klay/Wiggins/1st pick guy and whoever they add will be a tough out. Jazz might be one player away from really excelling further. Nuggets with a healthy murray... the west will be three times tougher than even this year.

I agree with you that this season is our best chance to win a ring cause things will get tougher moving forward.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Warriors. They have Minnesota's pick this year (if it's not top 3), their own lotto pick and then Wiseman getting better and Klay coming back.

Doncic will be super determined to get to the 2nd round but with the LA teams, Utah, Denver, Dallas, GS, it will be tough to get to the 2nd round...heck it will be tough to make the playoffs. I think we for sure will be right there in the thick of it, and maybe top 2 or 3 again, or even 1st, but it will be a very tough field if teams are healthy. We were fortunate with health too.

we need to win this year.

We got a group of guys that enjoy each other, there's no egos and they enjoy doing the small stuff. I can only hope Bridges and Ayton take another leap forward in their development along with Booker. Cam Johnson can also be huge, and we haven't even seen what Jalen Smith is capable of. I hope we keep Cam Payne if he's affordable, and that is pretty much the entirety of our nucleus. CP3, Jae, and Saric are solid too. I think the Suns can continue to be a powerhouse but this year is definitely the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a championship run with all the injuries and what not.

solid question.. i think the window is big .... if we can keep the core...

but the reality right now for me....

we need to win it this year lol

CP3 can play until he's 38 ala Stockton, especially with the league's spacing and heavy PnR offenses.

His game has aged gracefully. He's not going to see a huge drop-off from 36 -> 38 as he did from 31/32 -> 35.

But eventually we have to face a prime AD and a healthy Lebron, a retooled Denver and GSW. But all of these are beatable. Our cap situation is looking dicey, but doable.

Keep this core together and enjoy the run.

ATTL wrote:Barring injury or ego this core of Booker/Ayton/Bridges should be playoff caliber through the roaring 20's. Plug in good role players as we chug along like Jae this year, hopefully the Cams stick around. Haliburton would have been nice but hoping Jalen puts in the work to take over for Jae and Dario soon.

I dont trust cam as the long term starter. If we can somehow get Fox from sactown or some other point I'm not thinking of at the moment it would cement this decade of success.

This! Booker, Ayton and Bridges should be getting better if Sarver and the team can keep them together. They are only scratching the surface. You have a guy like Cam that will get better as well. Fill in with the role players like Jae and others. Point Guard could be a thing longer term but probably have Paul for three more years

The future is bright. And yes, teams like the Lakers and Warriors will be back but also not getting younger at key positions. The Hawks are a team on the rise thats for sure and if they can get Zion - that would be stout.

It will be an interesting offseason as I can see teams like Dallas, Philly, Portland trying to do something. Would Dallas do a Simmons for Porz deal?

As of now, I'd say we have a 3 year window. Basically through Paul's (assumed) next contract.

Then it'll depend on who we get to replace him.

King4Day wrote:As of now, I'd say we have a 3 year window. Basically through Paul's (assumed) next contract.

Then it'll depend on who we get to replace him.

I think thats fair. But the Suns with a trio Booker Ayton and Bridges would probably be an attractive option in three years when Booker is 28, Ayton like 27 and Bridges 28. That group would still have a good 2-3 more years - health willing.

Qwigglez wrote:We got a group of guys that enjoy each other, there's no egos and they enjoy doing the small stuff. I can only hope Bridges and Ayton take another leap forward in their development along with Booker. Cam Johnson can also be huge, and we haven't even seen what Jalen Smith is capable of. I hope we keep Cam Payne if he's affordable, and that is pretty much the entirety of our nucleus. CP3, Jae, and Saric are solid too. I think the Suns can continue to be a powerhouse but this year is definitely the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a championship run with all the injuries and what not.

Bridges and Ayton will take leaps...particularly Ayton given his age but Bridges is also a worker. I think they are both more fine tuned better overall players than Book was in his 3rd year. Book REALLY stepped up his game and percentages in his 4th and 5th year. Even though his 4th year was his worst 3 pt shooting year at 32%, his overall efficiency jumped due to his enormous increase from inside the arc (from 46% to 53.6%). TS% up to over 58%.

But last year even another big jump, with a better 3pt% at 35.4% and a further increase from 2 to 54.9%, getting his TS% up to nearly 62%. He regressed in efficiency this year but did improve in some other areas...probably defense #1 and rebounding lately...and now in recent games making the right team ball decisions...picking his spots and getting others involved while reducing turnovers.

spanishninja wrote:we need to win this year.

Yep, our window is right now because projected windows are almost always bigger than actual windows. **** happens, we've seen in this year. Gotta capitalize on the opportunity at hand.

Absolutely, this is an incredible chance to win it. We might bring back the same core for the next 3 years, and there's a chance that we don't come close. Windows of opportunity are often about luck and circumstance also.

Like some have been saying, this is the year, i’m not sure if we could reach the same heights in the next two years

Could be a week or could be a decade. It's a weak answer but true.

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I think most people agree this is our moment. We can be a top 5 west team for 3 more years. Lakers will be a year older, we don't need to worry about them. Denver isn't a concern for me either, nor Dallas.

Don't forget if we win it we get our pick of solid vets in free agency. I'd like to see James Jones stay aggressive in free agency this off-season. I don't think it's a secret we aren't bulletproof

This is our year. We had a punchers chance and now we should capitalize on it (all the injuries).
Next 2-3 years we'll have the same punchers chance, but lady luck might not be on our side like this again. Or maybe yes, as we'we only had misfortune as a franchise in the last 50 years, be it injuries, suspensions, other shenanigans (donaghy), or just pure dumb bad luck. We are due!