KD to the Suns

[sunsbg]

It's not on him, clearly but people like to point fingers and obviously those who thought we overpaid will bring it up again and again and again and again

Even Saberestar thinks Suns overpaid. That says a lot.

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

We are in the same boat. I hope Suns can build a roster with fitting players around KD and Booker, but it won't be easy. With the new CBA a lot of people say deals like KD's are over.

[sashaturiaf]

Even Saberestar thinks Suns overpaid. That says a lot.

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

We are in the same boat. I hope Suns can build a roster with fitting players around KD and Booker, but it won't be easy. With the new CBA a lot of people say deals like KD's are over.

Which makes it imperative than Ayton is gone this offseason. The new CBA starts getting very restrictive once you're over the second luxury tax apron, but KD and Booker's salaries won't get us to that level by themselves and it's not even close (Booker's deal right now is a bargain he's barely on more than Jordan Poole).

However we can't be wasting $30m on people like Ayton. Let's find us a sucker this offseason!

[Darthlukey]

I am truly heartbroken and on the verge of giving up on this team for the first time since I became a fan in '92.
The biggest strength of this team was the chemistry, the joy from playing basketball and the joy from playing with each other and Mikal and Cam were the core guys who brought this attitude and chemistry. An they were traded for what?!?! For a guy, who I actually like, but who is hurt 80% of the time in TJ, and *** KD - a former "star", now a whining diva who cares only for himself (who btw also spends more time in street clothes than on the court). I give it a month before everyone on the team starts caring only for himself and his stats and we will see an epic fail in the playoffs.

You guys absolutely got better for this season. But management did trade away pretty much the only likeable players that were on the team

Sure about that?

I stand by it, injuries really didn't help. But I dont mind kd losing again

[AtheJ415]

I know it's venting time but this loss and this season isn't on Durant. He had 10 games to gel with the team on what is a very flawed roster in the first place, then the CP3 injury happened along with Ayton giving up. This season wasn't ending any other way but elimination.

A title run this year was only going to happen if everything went right and it didn't. Now the real work begins, with a full offseason and title hopes we have to build a much better and deeper roster than we had this year.

It is not on him alone but it is absolutely a lot on him. You cannot shoot that poorly, turn it over that much, and fall over THAT often leading to numbers the other way while you try to draw fouls. He was our most underperforming player in this series and he absolutely killed us.

Ayton is to blame too, as is Monty. But I expect Ayton to be inconsistent. I expect Monty to play his favorites and adjust slowly and watch teams go on 20-0 runs without a timeout and to play all bench players randomly in the stupidest of times. I expect a top 10 player of all time who is still in somewhat prime condition to at least make good decisions with the ball.

[SunsRback4Good]

You guys absolutely got better for this season. But management did trade away pretty much the only likeable players that were on the team

Sure about that?

I stand by it, injuries really didn't help. But I dont mind kd losing again

Why don’t you guys trade Horford, Smart, Grant, Williams for Kyrie and Dinwiddie and see how happy you will be in the playoffs. Let’s gut the entire team just to appease a few superstars. Yeah, makes a ton of sense. It don’t matter how great KD is to lose team chemistry that we build in past 3-4 years is tough to swallow. We hardly recognized our team any longer even if we suddenly made the finals I would be rooting for Celtics/76ers to finish us off.

[AtheJ415]

It's not on him, clearly but people like to point fingers and obviously those who thought we overpaid will bring it up again and again and again and again

Even Saberestar thinks Suns overpaid. That says a lot.

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

[Maf]

Wow you guys... I am totally shocked by your reactions to this trade. Like every fan of the teams that might be thinking "this could be our year, we could have a shot" are now thinking "how the hell we could beat THAT!"

Yet you are complaining about losing your favourite role players? Sorry, didn´t come here to start any fights but like noone ever thought "oh, we are playing the Suns, I am afraid what Bridges can do to us."


I tried to express my shock that rest of the league is scared **** by your team right now and yet you are unhappy.

So scared!

As Nuggets fan I am obviously pretty happy right now. I admit, I believed your team would be stronger after the trade. But who knew back than CP3 is going to get injured (ok maybe that is not a shocker), DA will chicken out of deciding game (ok maybe that is not a shocker, too) or that your bench will be so bad (you know what? I got it. I was wrong all the way ). On the other side, combination of Booker, KD and nice weather could still get you some pretty interesting ring chasers in summer and you´ll come back as a great team for next season. Good luck.

[sashaturiaf]

Even Saberestar thinks Suns overpaid. That says a lot.

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

I get you miss Mikal, but we are not contending with Mikal. The small differences in players get more pronounced in the playoffs, unfortunately tonight the gulf in talent between the teams was so great that those small differences ended up not mattering at all. You could have had prime Jordan instead of KD and we still lose that game.

Is it KD's fault we gave up a 17-0 run in 3 minutes when he went to have a rest? There was no coming back from that period. The Nuggets are a great team who has had the same starting lineup all season, and we were starting Jock, Payne and Shamet. That game was not there to be won no matter what KD did. It's a testament to Book and KD that we even won 2 games this series. This shoukd have been a sweep the minute CP3 got hurt and Ayton decided he didn't want to play anymore.

[SunsRback4Good]

Wow you guys... I am totally shocked by your reactions to this trade. Like every fan of the teams that might be thinking "this could be our year, we could have a shot" are now thinking "how the hell we could beat THAT!"

Yet you are complaining about losing your favourite role players? Sorry, didn´t come here to start any fights but like noone ever thought "oh, we are playing the Suns, I am afraid what Bridges can do to us."


I tried to express my shock that rest of the league is scared **** by your team right now and yet you are unhappy.

So scared!

As Nuggets fan I am obviously pretty happy right now. I admit, I believed your team would be stronger after the trade. But who knew back than CP3 is going to get injured (ok maybe that is not a shocker), DA will chicken out of deciding game (ok maybe that is not a shocker, too) or that your bench will be so bad (you know what? I got it. I was wrong all the way ). On the other side, combination of Booker, KD and nice weather could still get you some pretty interesting ring chasers in summer and you´ll come back as a great team for next season. Good luck.

Our team can’t F—— be stronger after losing Bridges, CamJ, Crowder, Saric, those four players were a huge part of our success in 21 when we swept your silly azz team. That team fought every single game and never gave up. You expect us to root for a team that we hardly even recognize just because we f—- got a big name superstar in KD? Are you out of your mind? Maybe trade KCP, Gordon, Porter, Brown and see how well Murray & Jokic play with a bunch of role players they have nothing in common with. Like seriously how are people so blind in not understanding how important “ team chemistry” is? There is a reason the 11 Heat lost in their first year to Dirk Mavs. It’s not because the Mavs were much better but because the Heat barely had a year to polish their game against Dirk’s team who had Barea, Terry, Dirk and few others more then a season to gel together. Again, do people have low IQ that it’s impossible for them to understand how basketball works or are they trolling at this point? Please enlighten me?

Maf I bet anything you are younger than 25 and unable to understand building a team organically >>> bringing in superstars. Us Suns fans prefer organic team where you build through the draft we are not the Lakers and never will be. Matt Ishbia just got reckless and made an idiotic trade during midnight. Imagine if your owner gutted an entire team just to bring KD to play with Jokic. You’d be excited at first but once playoff roles around you would be sick of your team and demand a refund.

[Paradise]

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

I get you miss Mikal, but we are not contending with Mikal. The small differences in players get more pronounced in the playoffs, unfortunately tonight the gulf in talent between the teams was so great that those small differences ended up not mattering at all. You could have had prime Jordan instead of KD and we still lose that game.

Is it KD's fault we gave up a 17-0 run in 3 minutes when he went to have a rest? There was no coming back from that period. The Nuggets are a great team who has had the same starting lineup all season, and we were starting Jock, Payne and Shamet. That game was not there to be won no matter what KD did. It's a testament to Book and KD that we even won 2 games this series. This shoukd have been a sweep the minute CP3 got hurt and Ayton decided he didn't want to play anymore.

I’ve followed KD since Texas. I’ve watched every game in Brooklyn. He doesn’t look the same this season since the MCL tear. He looks like he’s already slowly showing decline and we noticed since last season.

I’m sorry but KD isn’t a lock to be an MVP caliber guy next season. He’s struggling getting his shot off the most I’ve ever seen at times during the game. Boston was supposed to be a fluke series but he looks really old once again against an elite team WITH another star.

Kyrie was right there when we got swept by Boston and Booker was right there tonight. No excuse for him to be that terrible unless it’s decline. He does not whatsoever look like the same guy who dropped 49 points and 17 rebounds on Giannis.

[SunsRback4Good]

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

I get you miss Mikal, but we are not contending with Mikal. The small differences in players get more pronounced in the playoffs, unfortunately tonight the gulf in talent between the teams was so great that those small differences ended up not mattering at all. You could have had prime Jordan instead of KD and we still lose that game.

Is it KD's fault we gave up a 17-0 run in 3 minutes when he went to have a rest? There was no coming back from that period. The Nuggets are a great team who has had the same starting lineup all season, and we were starting Jock, Payne and Shamet. That game was not there to be won no matter what KD did. It's a testament to Book and KD that we even won 2 games this series. This shoukd have been a sweep the minute CP3 got hurt and Ayton decided he didn't want to play anymore.

I’ve followed KD since Texas. I’ve watched every game in Brooklyn. He doesn’t look the same this season since the MCL tear. He looks like he’s already slowly showing decline and we noticed since last season.

I’m sorry but KD isn’t a lock to be an MVP caliber guy next season. He’s struggling getting his shot off the most I’ve ever seen at times during the game. Boston was supposed to be a fluke series but he looks really old once again against an elite team WITH another star.


Kyrie was right there when we got swept by Boston and Booker was right there tonight. No excuse for him to be that terrible unless it’s decline.

F—- Kyrie ruined many good teams cause of his drama queen actions. Cause of him both Mavs & Suns will struggle moving forward. I hate that mofo with passion he ruins everything he touches.

[Darthlukey]

Sure about that?

I stand by it, injuries really didn't help. But I dont mind kd losing again

Why don’t you guys trade Horford, Smart, Grant, Williams for Kyrie and Dinwiddie and see how happy you will be in the playoffs. Let’s gut the entire team just to appease a few superstars. Yeah, makes a ton of sense. It don’t matter how great KD is to lose team chemistry that we build in past 3-4 years is tough to swallow. We hardly recognized our team any longer even if we suddenly made the finals I would be rooting for Celtics/76ers to finish us off.

We already did that ride and paid the price. All I'm trying to say is that you weren't winning a title prior to the trade and kd lifted your ceiling but also lowered the floor. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. Again, Boston knows all about it

[AtheJ415]

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

I get you miss Mikal, but we are not contending with Mikal. The small differences in players get more pronounced in the playoffs, unfortunately tonight the gulf in talent between the teams was so great that those small differences ended up not mattering at all. You could have had prime Jordan instead of KD and we still lose that game.

Is it KD's fault we gave up a 17-0 run in 3 minutes when he went to have a rest? There was no coming back from that period. The Nuggets are a great team who has had the same starting lineup all season, and we were starting Jock, Payne and Shamet. That game was not there to be won no matter what KD did. It's a testament to Book and KD that we even won 2 games this series. This shoukd have been a sweep the minute CP3 got hurt and Ayton decided he didn't want to play anymore.

With Mikal on his salary we have 10 years to add somebody around hm to contend. We have a better chance of contending with him than we do winning a lightning in a bottle title with KD next year before age declines him further

[lilfishi22]

Even Saberestar thinks Suns overpaid. That says a lot.

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

We are in the same boat. I hope Suns can build a roster with fitting players around KD and Booker, but it won't be easy. With the new CBA a lot of people say deals like KD's are over.

I think we overpaid but you have to overpay for a guy of KDs calibre. I also think the only overpay was in the lack of pick protection/swaps, not so much the outgoing players.

FTR Mikal isy favourite NBA player and still continues to be but I understand you have to give up something of value to get back something of value. CamJo I really liked as well but I thought it was 50/50 we retained him.

[sashaturiaf]

Mikal is a top 5 defender in basketball and an efficient high volume scorer who is 26 years old. That is a useful, championship level piece that we gave away along with 5 draft picks and an elite shooter with size in Cam. We gave up a boatload--basically everything our terrible GMs have done right in the past decade, for KD, who played like a worse version of Monta Ellis in this series. That should be concerning. And he damn well better be better next season. That is the worst I have ever seen KD play over an extended timeframe, including college. He was AWFUL in this series.

I get you miss Mikal, but we are not contending with Mikal. The small differences in players get more pronounced in the playoffs, unfortunately tonight the gulf in talent between the teams was so great that those small differences ended up not mattering at all. You could have had prime Jordan instead of KD and we still lose that game.

Is it KD's fault we gave up a 17-0 run in 3 minutes when he went to have a rest? There was no coming back from that period. The Nuggets are a great team who has had the same starting lineup all season, and we were starting Jock, Payne and Shamet. That game was not there to be won no matter what KD did. It's a testament to Book and KD that we even won 2 games this series. This shoukd have been a sweep the minute CP3 got hurt and Ayton decided he didn't want to play anymore.

I’ve followed KD since Texas. I’ve watched every game in Brooklyn. He doesn’t look the same this season since the MCL tear. He looks like he’s already slowly showing decline and we noticed since last season.

I’m sorry but KD isn’t a lock to be an MVP caliber guy next season. He’s struggling getting his shot off the most I’ve ever seen at times during the game. Boston was supposed to be a fluke series but he looks really old once again against an elite team WITH another star.

Kyrie was right there when we got swept by Boston and Booker was right there tonight. No excuse for him to be that terrible unless it’s decline. He does not whatsoever look like the same guy who dropped 49 points and 17 rebounds on Giannis.

I honestly can't see the large difference in KD's game between that Bucks series 2 seasons ago to now. Now the results may be different but I attribute it to these 2 factors

1. The way he is defended - the Boston series established the blueprint on how to defend KD with the sending of hard doubles as he picks up his dribble. I don't think KD has adjusted fully to this yet which leads to him getting rushed on his turnaround Js and passing out of the hard doubles, leading to misses and turnovers.

2. Less spacing around him - that Nets team was great shooting team with with shooters at every position which gave KD more confidence to kick out to a shooter right before the double got to him. Last season's Nets and these Suns just didn't have this level of all round spacing and reliable shooting and it leads to KD trying to do it himself which then just plays into the defense's trap.


BTW we have to remember coach Bud and the Bucks are generally pretty terrible at defending wings. KD got a lot of single coverage with PJ Tucker on him and Lopez playing drop coverage which means easy money for KD. Bucks also made Tatum last season and Butler this season look very very good, so the KD we got in that series is one we likely won't see against many other opponents.

I think these are all fixable issues and it starts with solid teambuilding, it means we can't just roll KD and Book out with 3 scrubs and say win the game for us, that is setting him up for failure.

[AtheJ415]

I don't think the Suns did, a superstar is the hardest thing to find in the game and if you need to pay over the odds to acquire one you still do it, especially when you already have a gem in Booker.

If you think we're down in the dumps now with no way out, just remember where the Lakers were a year ago when they couldn't even make the playoffs. But like us they had bad luck with injuries and made questionable personnel decisions. However they retooled in half a season and look at them now, that's all because they have Lebron and AD.


Book will still be Book, KD will still be KD. We just have to surround them with the right players and hope for better luck with injuries. Go Suns

We are in the same boat. I hope Suns can build a roster with fitting players around KD and Booker, but it won't be easy. With the new CBA a lot of people say deals like KD's are over.

I think we overpaid but you have to overpay for a guy of KDs calibre. I also think the only overpay was in the lack of pick protection/swaps, not so much the outgoing players.

FTR Mikal isy favourite NBA player and still continues to be but I understand you have to give up something of value to get back something of value. CamJo I really liked as well but I thought it was 50/50 we retained him.

5 first rounders and the DPOY runner up who is developing into an elite scorer along with a super elite role player in Cam Johnson is a **** load. It is as much as the Gobert trade. KD is much better than Gobert, but it is not something you should simply shrug off. I would struggle trading Mikal for KD straight up, and am confused as to who we were really bidding against to need to include all of that.

Who was offering better than 5 firsts and the pick swaps and Cam? We outbid ourselves to force their hand this year when KD was going to continue to force his way out over time. Just the wrong way to do it. If this trade wasn't about this season, as some suggest, then why the **** did we trade all of this instead of waiting for the offseason when the price would likely be much lower?

[kennydorglas]

Well our ALL-IN move failed.
Lets see what happens next.
I bet Booker calls for a trade in the offseason and then we're done for real.

[Maf]

So scared!

As Nuggets fan I am obviously pretty happy right now. I admit, I believed your team would be stronger after the trade. But who knew back than CP3 is going to get injured (ok maybe that is not a shocker), DA will chicken out of deciding game (ok maybe that is not a shocker, too) or that your bench will be so bad (you know what? I got it. I was wrong all the way ). On the other side, combination of Booker, KD and nice weather could still get you some pretty interesting ring chasers in summer and you´ll come back as a great team for next season. Good luck.

Our team can’t F—— be stronger after losing Bridges, CamJ, Crowder, Saric, those four players were a huge part of our success in 21 when we swept your silly azz team. That team fought every single game and never gave up. You expect us to root for a team that we hardly even recognize just because we f—- got a big name superstar in KD? Are you out of your mind? Maybe trade KCP, Gordon, Porter, Brown and see how well Murray & Jokic play with a bunch of role players they have nothing in common with. Like seriously how are people so blind in not understanding how important “ team chemistry” is? There is a reason the 11 Heat lost in their first year to Dirk Mavs. It’s not because the Mavs were much better but because the Heat barely had a year to polish their game against Dirk’s team who had Barea, Terry, Dirk and few others more then a season to gel together. Again, do people have low IQ that it’s impossible for them to understand how basketball works or are they trolling at this point? Please enlighten me?

Maf I bet anything you are younger than 25 and unable to understand building a team organically >>> bringing in superstars. Us Suns fans prefer organic team where you build through the draft we are not the Lakers and never will be. Matt Ishbia just got reckless and made an idiotic trade during midnight. Imagine if your owner gutted an entire team just to bring KD to play with Jokic. You’d be excited at first but once playoff roles around you would be sick of your team and demand a refund.

I am guest on your forums so I'll try to be as polite as possible altough I certainly don't appreciate calling my Nuggets "sorry ass" team. Yeah, we were swept, while being forced to start Campazzo and Rivers due to injuries. And those two are so bad noone on your team compares. Really...

First of all, your comparison hobbles on both legs. You named three our starters and sixth man. You traded (a lot of picks, sure) one starter and guy who started 1/3 of the games, otherwise sixth man. I am not saying I know your team better than you but I believe Crowder refused to suit up, so big loss this season. And Šarič? First of all, the guy played 14 minutes a game. You wrote about our starters, not someone with playing time of... DAJ or Čančar. And second, correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Dario was traded mainly to create TPE for this summer, not because of KD. So I understand you not being happy about losing favourite players, I do. I disagree that you gutted entire team. Future? Yeah that probably. But again, you lost two players for an all-time player.

You use words like low IQ, not undestanding the game etc... (By the way I hope you didn't bet much, I am close to 40) So let's have a look on same examples about talent X chemistry. Team trading (signing) TOP 50ish all-time players. KG tittle first year with Celtics, AD tittle first year with Lakers, Kawhi first year with Raptors, Barkley finals first year with Suns, Kidd finals first year with Nets... I am not saying adding superstar is always a sure thing but pretty often, it really really works. On the other side, we have what? Spurs and Warriors who build their team, sure, also drafted about TOP 10 players ever. Or at least on the edge of 10, depends on your rankings. So two great NBA dynasties, one of the greatest teams ever. Outside them? Mavericks. Outside them I'd have to search almost 30 years back for teams like Bulls, Malone's Jazz or maybe Rockets (and again, builded by drafting some of the greatest players ever).

What I want to say is chemistry is important, for sure. But without talent you'll only have bunch of happy losers (not meaning your Suns in any way). From my observation outside those three teams mentioned above every other team builded "organically" still needed that final push. It didn't have to be the best player on his team, but I doubt Bucks would win without adding Jrue, Lakers without Pau, Pistons without Rasheed (btw their core wasn't together that long) and before that I doubt they'd win without trading Dantley for Aguirre. I repeat, you traded two players from your rotation. The rest of them should have some chemistry already. And of course, we don't have to talk only about teams who made finals. You the one who said Suns prefer team build by draft. You once had pretty talented young core of Amare, Joe Johnson, Barbosa and Marion. But you needed that trade for Nash to become great team. And I of course realize Nash was younger and healthier than present KD.

I am not saying you should love that trade or disagree with your believe in growing team together. It is your right as a fan. But don't call me ignorant or stupid for saying talent matters. It is proven it does.

[MrDollarBills]

Suns fans, you all deserve better but I had a feeling when the trade happened, this was going to be the end result.

I understand that your new owner wanted to make a splash move, but I have literally seen this play out before with the Nets and it ended badly two times within a ten year period. Clippers fans are feeling the same pain.

There is no easy answer to winning a championship outside of drafting a superstar talent.

[lilfishi22]

We are in the same boat. I hope Suns can build a roster with fitting players around KD and Booker, but it won't be easy. With the new CBA a lot of people say deals like KD's are over.

I think we overpaid but you have to overpay for a guy of KDs calibre. I also think the only overpay was in the lack of pick protection/swaps, not so much the outgoing players.

FTR Mikal isy favourite NBA player and still continues to be but I understand you have to give up something of value to get back something of value. CamJo I really liked as well but I thought it was 50/50 we retained him.

5 first rounders and the DPOY runner up who is developing into an elite scorer along with a super elite role player in Cam Johnson is a **** load. It is as much as the Gobert trade. KD is much better than Gobert, but it is not something you should simply shrug off. I would struggle trading Mikal for KD straight up, and am confused as to who we were really bidding against to need to include all of that.

Who was offering better than 5 firsts and the pick swaps and Cam? We outbid ourselves to force their hand this year when KD was going to continue to force his way out over time. Just the wrong way to do it. If this trade wasn't about this season, as some suggest, then why the **** did we trade all of this instead of waiting for the offseason when the price would likely be much lower?

I did call it an over pay and I didn't shrug it off. I just understood and accepted that to take risks in the NBA requires you to risk something of value