2022-23 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The KD era begins

[Ghost of Kleine]

Buyout Market Offensive Rating:

Beverley 112
Ross 104
Jackson 103
Wall 102
Barton 101
Westbrook 101
Green 77

If we're not getting Beverley there's really no reliable player there, maybe could get Danny Green for defensive depth.

I'm not at all worried about offense honestly! But instead now do defensive ratings?

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[sunsbum]

Read on Twitter

Monty talks about Jalen Smith and how he acknowledges that he didn't give him a fair shake!

Jalen Smith is not a good basketball player at this point in his career. This is why he's not a Sun and why hes racking DNPs on a really bad team.

[matt131]

Read on Twitter

Monty talks about Jalen Smith and how he acknowledges that he didn't give him a fair shake!

Jalen Smith is not a good basketball player at this point in his career. This is why he's not a Sun and why hes racking DNPs on a really bad team.

Jones must be ecstatic that we just got rid of so many of our first rounders. Can't be bad at drafting if you have no draft picks to use.

[Crives]

Do we know what’s going on with Shamet? I’m worried it’s his Achilles… he was playing so well too

[sunsbum]

Do we know what’s going on with Shamet? I’m worried it’s his Achilles… he was playing so well too

I hope so, I never wanna see shamet jack up another 2-9 game again. ever. it's like watching chuck chowder in a different skin

[bwgood77]

The warriors had to give up key cogs in 2016 to make space for Durant. The result? The best team of all time who easily dispatched of the Cavs, another historically great team, in 5. We aren't as good as the Warriors, but you can see the Durant impact.

The way people talk about Bridges kind of reminds me of how Bulls fans considered Luol Deng untradeable, even for Kobe Bryant. You gotta ask what kind of team you want, a nice team to root for, or a team with real championship chances, possibly as outright favorites.

It's true that with the way the league is, every single team has major issues, and it looked like we had a decent chance even if we made no moves. But that game 7 loss to the Mavs was incredibly alarming, and the biggest factor wasn't what the Mavs did to us. If you listen to Bridges interview with JJ Redick, it was a complete mental breakdown. They buckled under pressure completely. Even though the league looks down overall, it's inevitable to have those high pressure moments.

Love the twins, everything about them, no nonsense play hard, great attitude guys, and it's weird not seeing them on the floor, but getting a talent like Durant is such a rare opportunity, and if it leads to a championship it's definitely worth 3-5 years of mediocrity, sometime in the future, in my view.

That's not a very good comparison. The Warriors signed him in FA. They didn't have to trade picks or key players. They also already had the best record of all time and had won a championship. They just signed him to upgrade from Barnes. There was no future sacrific. He was also 28. 4 unprotected picks, a pick swap, a 26 year old who was 2nd in DPOY who just took a huge leap offensively and another team offered 4 1sts for, another 26 year old solid 2 way player and premier shooter, and a 3rd player we could have traded for someone else. The Warriors were already the heavy favorites and just signed him in his prime at 28 to yes, become invincible until he tore his achilles. This is 6 years later. He is still great when he is healthy, but the situations really couldn't be more different.

[sunsbum]

If Mikal ended up in a grizzlies uniform I'd probably just stop watching basketball.

[Qwigglez]

If Mikal ended up in a grizzlies uniform I'd probably just stop watching basketball.

I would have to see how good Durant looks first. But yeah that isn't something I ever want to see. I think I hate them over any other team in the league right now.

[bwgood77]

Do we know what’s going on with Shamet? I’m worried it’s his Achilles… he was playing so well too

I hope so, I never wanna see shamet jack up another 2-9 game again. ever. it's like watching chuck chowder in a different skin

I haven't been a fan of his, but before he got injured he scored 31 in 2 of his last 3 games. 10/21 with 9 3s and 10/20 with 7 3s. Would be nice to see some games like that off the bench. Of course just when he starts having games like that he gets injured.

[sunsbum]

Do we know what’s going on with Shamet? I’m worried it’s his Achilles… he was playing so well too

I hope so, I never wanna see shamet jack up another 2-9 game again. ever. it's like watching chuck chowder in a different skin

I haven't been a fan of his, but before he got injured he scored 31 in 2 of his last 3 games. 10/21 with 9 3s and 10/20 with 7 3s. Would be nice to see some games like that off the bench. Of course just when he starts having games like that he gets injured.

I trust him to put together a run of 5 good game about as much as I do ayton.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of Jones given his history and aversion to making timely decisions and lack of valuation ability. But I'm willing to give him a fresh slate and clean start under this new ownership and the new " Mid range Mafia" era he's helped orchestrate recently.

[matt131]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=OnKat9Mo8Z7hsRjapT25Nw

Lol sounds good to me. I’d love for us not to have to guard one of their starters.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

MID RANGE MAFIA!!!

[lilfishi22]

Read on Twitter

Monty talks about Jalen Smith and how he acknowledges that he didn't give him a fair shake!

Given our timeline and our title ambitions, it was always going to be tough for a rookie to get minutes. Don't blame Monty one bit

[lilfishi22]

I hope so, I never wanna see shamet jack up another 2-9 game again. ever. it's like watching chuck chowder in a different skin

I haven't been a fan of his, but before he got injured he scored 31 in 2 of his last 3 games. 10/21 with 9 3s and 10/20 with 7 3s. Would be nice to see some games like that off the bench. Of course just when he starts having games like that he gets injured.

I trust him to put together a run of 5 good game about as much as I do ayton.

He deserves criticism for bad games but the suggestion to never play a guy is just not productive in anyway. Yeah I hate seeing those 2-9 games too and when he misses wide open 3s or when he doesn't shoot and instead takes it to the rim for a turnover. I hate seeing all of those.

But if he doesn't play then we're down potentially a shooter with some ball handling abilities. If he doesn't play, he doesn't have those 30pt games. Same way if DA doesn't play because I hate seeing those 6-20 games, he'll never put up those 35/15 games.

[sunsbg]

Read on Twitter

MID RANGE MAFIA!!!

You know, Ayton loves middies too. I would like these other three to become the three point mafia in the playoffs though.

[sunsbum]

I haven't been a fan of his, but before he got injured he scored 31 in 2 of his last 3 games. 10/21 with 9 3s and 10/20 with 7 3s. Would be nice to see some games like that off the bench. Of course just when he starts having games like that he gets injured.

I trust him to put together a run of 5 good game about as much as I do ayton.

He deserves criticism for bad games but the suggestion to never play a guy is just not productive in anyway. Yeah I hate seeing those 2-9 games too and when he misses wide open 3s or when he doesn't shoot and instead takes it to the rim for a turnover. I hate seeing all of those.

But if he doesn't play then we're down potentially a shooter with some ball handling abilities. If he doesn't play, he doesn't have those 30pt games. Same way if DA doesn't play because I hate seeing those 6-20 games, he'll never put up those 35/15 games.

Eh. I like your logic but I definitely don't want to see him in the playoffs.

[Bogyo]

While I don't disagree with your analysis, Durant telling the Nets that if they couldn't find the right deal for him that he would play with the new guys and get excited about it is what really killed this for us. It needed to be "Suns or I'm sitting out." Nets had no pressure whatsoever to move him. They asked for all that they wanted and got it. Yes, we could have waited until the offseason, but at that point who knows what happens. What if the Nets are super good and make it to the ECF? Does Durant still want to leave? What if another team throws a better deal together and Durant eventually says "okay, i'll play for them."? Nets had no pressure and the Suns needed to do this now if they wanted the assurance of actually landing him. Yes, it's unfortunate that the decision process seemed a bit rash or like he made it with friends, but Jones was there when they decided to include Bridges.

If Bridges and Cam and the picks were non-negotiables, I wonder how many people here would have stopped the deal just because we thought we'd fill that fifth starter spot with the Crowder trade and didn't want to send him to the Nets? I think maybe I would have called the Nets back and said "Look, we agreed to your SUPER high demand without any negotiation or lowering of cost. You need to relent on Crowder." I would have still gone through with it had they said no, but you had to at least try.

I think when it comes to BobbieL and I, we would have not one it even without Crowder. To me, if we don't win a championship it's a complete bust. If we do win 1 championship, to me, it will depend on what happens over the next 7-10 years for me to decide if that 1 championship was worth all that we gave up. I know I am in a very small minority but I'm not a ringz/championship or bust guy. I enjoy watching teams I like, like the 88-95 teams and the SSOL Suns, largely organically grown...we did add Barkley at the tail end of our first team, and got back Nash who we had drafted. All we really have left now is Booker and Ayton. I guess you can add TJ but he's only likely here for this year.

I'm pretty much parked right in the middle. Over the summer I thought my reaction would be insane happiness if we landed KD. I think his trade request and Chris Haynes saying he preferred Phoenix was the highlight of all this for me. But finding out we traded Cam and Mikal made me more sad that KD is making me happy at the moment. I agree with the notion of having fun watching fun teams that are organically grown.

I understand the sentiment of not being a rings/championship or bust kind of guy, but dang one would feel pretty good (I think you would have to agree being a Chargers and Suns fan like me). But I also get how it may feel different if KD brings us that ring as opposed to it being guys we drafted and loved. I'll probably fall in love with Durant quickly just as I did with CP3.

Mikal was my fiancees' and my favorite Sun. I just bought another one of his jerseys for like 70% off and will continue to wear it to games.

Hopefully KD comes back fully healthy and ready to rock. We've got basically a playoff game every night from here on out.

Yeah, I think I'm kinda right there with you. Down the middle. I still think we did not manage our assets really properly. Not "JJones asset managemet bad", but still not good. Adding Crowder after pretty much having a deal that we could have made better by some light protection on the picks - and all we would of had to do is wait for one night? Not sexy / not a good decision. At all. But we got mfing KD in the end.

If your read the reports its like Ish got too excited and had a premature tradeculation In the context, not something to be fully embarassed about on the first date, but not something to be fully proud of either. Lets see where this relationship takes us in the future. If we get a ring on it, we'll be fine. If it's a bitter two years until the breakup then it wasn't worth it.

I'd be much more relaxed and happy if we got somebody who could play a couple mins and a couple seconds for Crowder, and had some kinda protection on some of those picks. So I feel we got taken advantage of a bit... It is what it is. Lets root for this version of the Suns and enjoy the next half plus one year, and hope we get at least one ring out of it.

Also: buyout market - it will be super important. I do not care who we get, wether its a "name" or not, but I just really hope we got all the contacts fired up and get the guy here who is not cooked, buys in, and plays the role we need (more of a D and 3 than a 3D). I don't care if its Green, Holiday, Jackson, Wall, or other names floating out there, but we need to nail it. This is probably the difference in a championship and dissapointment at this point. NAIL IT JJ!!!

[Frank Lee]

not sure if this was already posted, but Book thinking the same way we all are:

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=9lr070loXA5U2BAr_hgzOQ

Read the room dude. This squad was gelling. Bridges had just come off his best month. And is clearly going to be better. CamJo in a flurry after his return from injury. Getting alternating contributions from Bench Guys… stepping up… holding the fort till we could get healthy. Even CP had youthful moments. Dare i say DA was becoming less inconsistent. We sprinkled a couple stinkers in there, but for the most part, these guys were on a bit of a roll. Primed for a good run with a rested Book…. Yeah, lacking a piece or two, but not in need of a complete and costly overhaul. Certainly not now. We deserved to ride this one out. We were surprisingly good. Make changes needed in the off season


Clearly IshBS was not a fan of the Suns before this viscerating trade. Hes not invested in any of the players. No emotional ties. Their all just pawns at this point.This was easy for him. Its his team, not yours, not mine… to do whatever he wants. But with all of twelve hrs of NBA experience, he rips the heart out of this franchise after a dinnertime discussion with NOT his GM but his ‘group’ of advisors??? Apparently a good part of the negotiating was owner to owner (per CVernon) as well??? Any bets Isiah Thomas was there? Any bets hes the GM in a year?? It feels like a hostile takeover.

Well, we got what many wanted… a rich owner… and with it the feeling of getting owned. All that feel good chemistry… all that so called ‘valued’ culture?? Its gone now. No heart, no soul. Square one. Get to work

Im not anti KD, at least not nearly as much as antiPaul who i have disliked for his floppiness and foulseeking play. I dont care too much for the way KD has navigated through the league. But I guess thats the oldscholler mentality in me. Book is loyal…you felt Bridges and Johnson too. Like they would be Suns for their duration given the chance… ala Alvin Adams. They arent ring seekers, but ring makers. They embraced the city, the fans. I feel like CP could give a ****. Just a stop over soon to be last hoorrah for him. I dont know about Durant. But he has a track record.

if this falls short of a championship, we are going to feel it for a while. Their window, is likely my window. And even if we get one, it wont feel as satisfying. It will have a bought and paid for stigma. .



Nice start Matty. but let it be known, you’re on notice. My support can go dormant any time. The big hope now is he sacks the entire ‘in game’ entertainment people and makes the arena less obnoxiously automated. Get off my lawn!

Rant over… Go Suns…