Is this 2021/22 Suns team the best Suns team ever?

[Frank Lee]

Ha …. Lock this thread as the question has been emphatically answered

[bwgood77]

It's a shame they went out like they did. Completely choked in the playoffs. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and wants me to see drastic changes to the roster. Great regular season team that didn't amount to squat. Not even top 5 of best Suns teams ever.

Yeah, I can't even fathom the KJ or Nash teams having a crucial game go like this. AT ALL.

[handsome salary]

It's a shame they went out like they did. Completely choked in the playoffs. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and wants me to see drastic changes to the roster. Great regular season team that didn't amount to squat. Not even top 5 of best Suns teams ever.

Yeah, I can't even fathom the KJ or Nash teams having a crucial game go like this. AT ALL.

Had the same thought this morning with there's no way Nash or Barkley would have let their team get utterly destroyed in a Game 7 at home. Loss sure (cause it happened Mario Elie) but not destroyed.

[handsome salary]

"No one's afraid of Phoenix, we wanted them," Beverley said. "We wanted them, no one's afraid of Phoenix."

But then again other than being hurt who is afraid of any Beverly team.

[DoItALL9]

Difficult to process this. Last year's playoff run had so many incredible moments that I associate with this team - Lakers taunting us and then us punching them back, Booker's closeout game against them, Booker's triple double in Game 1 of the WCF, Ayton's valley-oop, Cam Payne's feisty 29 points in Chris Paul's absence, Chris Paul's magical closeout game agains the Clippers in game 6, those fantastic Valley jerseys.

All those memories have now been sullied by this utterly embarrassing meltdown. Can't see how can I ever look back at this team fondly again.

It's difficult to find a reason for why we folded as badly as we did and that's because the truth is there were a multitude of reasons which were simply papered over by an amazing regular season record.

We need to take a good, long hard look at this. Particularly James Jones and Monty Williams - they need to have a fundamental relook at the way they approach things.

With Jones - I just don't trust his talent evaluation or asset management ability. I trust his character evaluation completely. But Jones doesn't seem to even believe that the former matter. That needs to change.

Monty too needs to understand that spontaneity and creativity are as important as meticulous preparation. We don't see enough of that from him.

Why do you not like Jones' talent evaluation?
What miss(es) stands out to you?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

Difficult to process this. Last year's playoff run had so many incredible moments that I associate with this team - Lakers taunting us and then us punching them back, Booker's closeout game against them, Booker's triple double in Game 1 of the WCF, Ayton's valley-oop, Cam Payne's feisty 29 points in Chris Paul's absence, Chris Paul's magical closeout game agains the Clippers in game 6, those fantastic Valley jerseys.

All those memories have now been sullied by this utterly embarrassing meltdown. Can't see how can I ever look back at this team fondly again.

It's difficult to find a reason for why we folded as badly as we did and that's because the truth is there were a multitude of reasons which were simply papered over by an amazing regular season record.

We need to take a good, long hard look at this. Particularly James Jones and Monty Williams - they need to have a fundamental relook at the way they approach things.

With Jones - I just don't trust his talent evaluation or asset management ability. I trust his character evaluation completely. But Jones doesn't seem to even believe that the former matter. That needs to change.

Monty too needs to understand that spontaneity and creativity are as important as meticulous preparation. We don't see enough of that from him.

Why do you not like Jones' talent evaluation?
What misses stands out to you?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

I would give Jones an F for this season. (edit below, a D)

Trade a first for Shamet
Sign Shamet to $43 million extension (only $20 million guaranteed but still $10 million a year the next two years if WAY too much)
Didn't address lack of depth, though I can understand not expecting the Payne regression...I guess the positive at the time was that the Payne contract looked like a bit of a steal. In hindsight not good.
Not addressing depth properly at trade deadline

I guess the only good thing is getting us depth at C.

So maybe more like a D.

Monty had problems with rotations but at the same time didn't have a whole lot of options with our depth.

This is all after taking Jalen Smith over Haliburtion in the previous draft when it was obvious we need a PG to take over long term.

[IamBBAnalysis]

Difficult to process this. Last year's playoff run had so many incredible moments that I associate with this team - Lakers taunting us and then us punching them back, Booker's closeout game against them, Booker's triple double in Game 1 of the WCF, Ayton's valley-oop, Cam Payne's feisty 29 points in Chris Paul's absence, Chris Paul's magical closeout game agains the Clippers in game 6, those fantastic Valley jerseys.

All those memories have now been sullied by this utterly embarrassing meltdown. Can't see how can I ever look back at this team fondly again.

It's difficult to find a reason for why we folded as badly as we did and that's because the truth is there were a multitude of reasons which were simply papered over by an amazing regular season record.

We need to take a good, long hard look at this. Particularly James Jones and Monty Williams - they need to have a fundamental relook at the way they approach things.

With Jones - I just don't trust his talent evaluation or asset management ability. I trust his character evaluation completely. But Jones doesn't seem to even believe that the former matter. That needs to change.

Monty too needs to understand that spontaneity and creativity are as important as meticulous preparation. We don't see enough of that from him.

Why do you not like Jones' talent evaluation?
What misses stands out to you?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

I would give Jones an F for this season. (edit below, a D)

Trade a first for Shamet
Sign Shamet to $43 million extension (only $20 million guaranteed but still $10 million a year the next two years if WAY too much)
Didn't address lack of depth, though I can understand not expecting the Payne regression...I guess the positive at the time was that the Payne contract looked like a bit of a steal. In hindsight not good.
Not addressing depth properly at trade deadline

I guess the only good thing is getting us depth at C.

So maybe more like a D.

Monty had problems with rotations but at the same time didn't have a whole lot of options with our depth.

This is all after taking Jalen Smith over Haliburtion in the previous draft when it was obvious we need a PG to take over long term.

Not signing Smith and then trading him for Craig were very questionable also. And we will see about not doing "anything" regarding Ayton if that ends up meaning if you just lose the guy for nothing...because that started this off-season.

[enigmatics]

A resounding no.

It's easy to treadmill in the regular season these days with other teams "load managing" and whatnot.

[IamBBAnalysis]

A resounding no.

It's easy to treadmill in the regular season these days with other teams "load managing" and whatnot.

Well, lets not just say things that don't relate to reality though, distorting what actually took place this season. The Suns were a great team this season but near the end of the season and into the playoffs something changed. I think it is very important to keep this in mind. I'm not saying they would have won the title this year if they "stayed the same" but they could have. But there were flaws on the team that were exploited in the playoffs also. It is definitely NOT as simple as they are just a regular-season team though. They should have been a better team than last year and looked like it but they ended up being much worse come playoff time. It was all very strange. That should be the narrative of the team. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

[DoItALL9]

Difficult to process this. Last year's playoff run had so many incredible moments that I associate with this team - Lakers taunting us and then us punching them back, Booker's closeout game against them, Booker's triple double in Game 1 of the WCF, Ayton's valley-oop, Cam Payne's feisty 29 points in Chris Paul's absence, Chris Paul's magical closeout game agains the Clippers in game 6, those fantastic Valley jerseys.

All those memories have now been sullied by this utterly embarrassing meltdown. Can't see how can I ever look back at this team fondly again.

It's difficult to find a reason for why we folded as badly as we did and that's because the truth is there were a multitude of reasons which were simply papered over by an amazing regular season record.

We need to take a good, long hard look at this. Particularly James Jones and Monty Williams - they need to have a fundamental relook at the way they approach things.

With Jones - I just don't trust his talent evaluation or asset management ability. I trust his character evaluation completely. But Jones doesn't seem to even believe that the former matter. That needs to change.

Monty too needs to understand that spontaneity and creativity are as important as meticulous preparation. We don't see enough of that from him.

Why do you not like Jones' talent evaluation?
What miss(es) stands out to you?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

I would give Jones an F for this season. (edit below, a D)

Trade a first for Shamet
Sign Shamet to $43 million extension (only $20 million guaranteed but still $10 million a year the next two years if WAY too much)
Didn't address lack of depth, though I can understand not expecting the Payne regression...I guess the positive at the time was that the Payne contract looked like a bit of a steal. In hindsight not good.
Not addressing depth properly at trade deadline

I guess the only good thing is getting us depth at C.

So maybe more like a D.

Monty had problems with rotations but at the same time didn't have a whole lot of options with our depth.

This is all after taking Jalen Smith over Haliburtion in the previous draft when it was obvious we need a PG to take over long term.

What should Jones have done with Jalen Smith this season in your opinion? We saw the Monty want going to use him in the playoffs. T. Craig was presumably good pickup for depth even if it didn't turn out that way this year. Holiday and Elfrid Payton were also supposed to help with guard depth. I'm not sure why Monty didn't use them. Maybe he didn't trust them. I thought it was a mistake not trying them once in the last series.

Can you give some example of guys you think would fit to solve the depth issues?
Which guys on the roster do you think should've been traded or cut?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

Why do you not like Jones' talent evaluation?
What miss(es) stands out to you?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

I would give Jones an F for this season. (edit below, a D)

Trade a first for Shamet
Sign Shamet to $43 million extension (only $20 million guaranteed but still $10 million a year the next two years if WAY too much)
Didn't address lack of depth, though I can understand not expecting the Payne regression...I guess the positive at the time was that the Payne contract looked like a bit of a steal. In hindsight not good.
Not addressing depth properly at trade deadline

I guess the only good thing is getting us depth at C.

So maybe more like a D.

Monty had problems with rotations but at the same time didn't have a whole lot of options with our depth.

This is all after taking Jalen Smith over Haliburtion in the previous draft when it was obvious we need a PG to take over long term.

What should Jones have done with Jalen Smith this season in your opinion? We saw the Monty want going to use him in the playoffs. T. Craig was presumably good pickup for depth even if it didn't turn out that way this year. Holiday and Elfrid Payton were also supposed to help with guard depth. I'm not sure why Monty didn't use them. Maybe he didn't trust them. I thought it was a mistake not trying them once in the last series.

Can you give some example of guys you think would fit to solve the depth issues?
Which guys on the roster do you think should've been traded or cut?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

First, I would have picked up Smith's option before the season started. He didn't even get a season or training camp or summer league and had COVID his first season so to not pick it up was ridiculous. Then you go and sign Shamet to a big deal.

I don't know what I do knowing he is a FA..maybe his agent wanted him traded. I kind of wanted to keep him, but at a minimum I would have traded him for a useful expiring, not a guy like Craig that is owed $6 million next year on top of Shamet's money, etc, making keeping Ayton harder. Part of the reason for not paying Ayton would obviously be the tax, because the real cost is more, but paying Shamet and Craig $15 million you avoid that and paying Ayton doesn't put you far into the tax.

So, I don't trade for Shamet, make a draft pick, pick up Smith's option, play him some, play the rookie some, and hopefully you have some depth and cheap guys on rookie contracts. We have none. Teams should have at least 4 given they get 2 picks every year and rookie contracts last 4 years. Even if half the picks bust. 2nd rounders and late picks are dirt cheap, like $1 million so you have a lot more flexibility with cheap contracts and can develop them and hopefully at least one develops into a decent depth piece each year, rather than paying Shamet, Craig,etc, all this money.

At the deadline I'm not sure. I don't know what was available. They could have tried to deal Payne but again we didn't have many appealing assets due to bad roster management.

[thamadkant]

Definitely no.

Suns last year was better looked more intense as the season went on. This season suns peaked early February and was much less intense from then on. Post All Star game, suns just looked tired.

Game 7 proved to me that some suns fans calling Booker the GOAT suns player was way over their head. Can't see Barkley, Nash put up 2 points in the first half of a do or die game especially when the team is playing bad and looking for someone to carry them.

[bwgood77]

Any doubt about it?

This team is legendary. 60 wins already...and counting.

I think there is some lingering doubt.

[Saberestar]

Any doubt about it?

This team is legendary. 60 wins already...and counting.

I think there is some lingering doubt.

Yeah, at the end of the day is all about championships and this team couldn't even get to the Conference Finals BUT it was one of the greatest Suns teams ever and that's why they got the RS record with 64 wins. Not the best one, I agree now with that.

That 06/07 team was great and for some people our best team ever and they went out in the same second round against the Spurs...so there is that.

[bwgood77]

Any doubt about it?

This team is legendary. 60 wins already...and counting.

I think there is some lingering doubt.

Yeah, at the end of the day is all about championships and this team couldn't even get to the Conference Finals BUT it was one of the greatest Suns teams ever and that's why they got the RS record with 64 wins. Not the best one, I agree now with that.

That 06/07 team was great and for some people our best team ever and they went out in the same second round against the Spurs...so there is that.

Our teams that lost to eventual champs even in 2nd round, whether to Spurs or Rockets I believe were better overall, or to the Bulls in the finals. Our team lost to a 2nd round team that got beat easily in the next round and couldn't come close to making the finals.

It was a great team though. Definitely top 10.