Game 65: Phoenix Suns (35-29) @ Dallas Mavericks (33-31) l Sunday l 11:00am l ABC

sashaturiaf · Post #361 » by **sashaturiaf** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 12:22 pm

To me we will comfortably handle the Mavs in a series in 6 or less.

Put simply there's simply too many guys we can throw on Luka in a series while they've got no answer to Durant at all.

handsome salary · Post #362 » by **handsome salary** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 2:21 pm

What an exciting game. Didn't feel like a fluke win. Mavs played as tough as they could. It was a playoff game on the road. This new Suns took the win. Calmly, relentlessly.
Gotta go grab some shades cause this future looks very bright.

That General Board is full of Suns hate this morning. Book, CP3, KD. It's nice.

KdoubleDees23 · Post #363 » by **KdoubleDees23** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 2:48 pm

MrMiyagi wrote:
Mulhollanddrive wrote:Anyone want those role players and picks back? 3 games from Durant is all it took.
Mikal looks **** good, bro. Cam's struggled a bit, but I'm probably not going to feel good about the trade until after next season (if it goes well).

Any NBA player can go to a team and be 3-6 in first 9 games and score 30 points. Doesnt convert to winning.

Dude is a role player and for the nets to be a problem, he needs to be 3rd option

enigmatics · Post #364 » by **enigmatics** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 3:48 pm

Imagine still talking about Mikal. LOL

enigmatics · Post #365 » by **enigmatics** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 3:49 pm

King4Day wrote:Nit picking right now and it doesn't matter since we won but Ayton has to control himself in the future where he got that tech. Game was wayyyy too tight to pull that.
In fairness, it's rare for him to get T'd, but I hope Monty talks to him about it

He deserved to be benched for that BS. Tight game in the waning minutes and not only did he put his guy on the charity stripe he also decided it would be wise to mouth off to the ref? This dude just doesn't get it.

Revived · Post #366 » by **Revived** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 4:16 pm

KdoubleDees23 wrote:
MrMiyagi wrote:
Mulhollanddrive wrote:Anyone want those role players and picks back? 3 games from Durant is all it took.
Mikal looks **** good, bro. Cam's struggled a bit, but I'm probably not going to feel good about the trade until after next season (if it goes well).

Any NBA player can go to a team and be 3-6 in first 9 games and score 30 points. Doesnt convert to winning.

Dude is a role player and for the nets to be a problem, he needs to be 3rd option

Any NBA player can do it efficiently? Interesting. I’d love to see idk Torrey Craig get traded somewhere and average same or more pts on same or better efficiency…all while being the main focal point of the offense.

Bridges is in the Booker yrs 1-4 phrase of his career where the team sucks around him but he’s still balling out and playing. The same way Booker was putting up pts and leading the Suns to 19-20 win seasons because of mostly garbage teammates, Bridges is basically doing the same for the Nets now except he’s on a better win rate.

We can enjoy KD without having to trash former Suns players fellas. And yes, the reason we are even talking about Mikal Bridges in this thread is because someone here tried to trash him.

Revived · Post #367 » by **Revived** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 4:17 pm

Mentioned this on the GB thread too but man if you showed this photo to someone who didn’t watch the game yesterdag (and didn’t hear anything about what happened during it) or to someone who doesn’t really follow basketball much, what do you think their reaction would be?

It feels like some wholesome content between two buddies cracking a joke and laughing about it.

Probably the only NBA altercation that I can ever remember where both guys were smiling so much during most of it haha. Both guys being good looking and having nice smiles are another part of it lol.

handsome salary · Post #368 » by **handsome salary** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 4:24 pm

Nice blueprint going forward:
Option 1A a lot of the game - Booker. He's got the youth, piss and vinegar to play high energy ball for many minutes.
Option 1B- Durant. Keep his shot attempts up without forcing him to be ball dominant. Save his energy for crunch time. He can create his own shot better than Booker or Paul.
Option 3-Paul or Ayton. Don't force either one or feel bad they aren't a focus for long stretches because one is old and the other not aggressive. Against certain teams the players and coaches will practice getting Ayton more touches.
Option 4- The rest of the team find their spots around 1A and 1B.

There's a thin line in the NBA between a team that wins consistently and having players that get stats. The NBA has a lot of talent who can "hoop" but still not be one of the ones at the finish line. Booker used to be on those teams.

spanishninja · Post #369 » by **spanishninja** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 7:43 pm

handsome salary wrote:Nice blueprint going forward:
Option 1A a lot of the game - Booker. He's got the youth, piss and vinegar to play high energy ball for many minutes.
Option 1B- Durant. Keep his shot attempts up without forcing him to be ball dominant. Save his energy for crunch time. He can create his own shot better than Booker or Paul.
Option 3-Paul or Ayton. Don't force either one or feel bad they aren't a focus for long stretches because one is old and the other not aggressive. Against certain teams the players and coaches will practice getting Ayton more touches.
Option 4- The rest of the team find their spots around 1A and 1B.

There's a thin line in the NBA between a team that wins consistently and having players that get stats. The NBA has a lot of talent who can "hoop" but still not be one of the ones at the finish line. Booker used to be on those teams.

I think 4 is what we really need to solidify. the game yesterday would not have been close if we hit a few more of those open 3s available for Craig and Okogie, though Ish kind of balanced it out later on. Having Book keep us in the game for most of the game and letting KD be the man in the 4th seems to work better for both guys.

bigfoot · Post #370 » by **bigfoot** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 7:56 pm

KdoubleDees23 wrote:
MrMiyagi wrote:
Mulhollanddrive wrote:Anyone want those role players and picks back? 3 games from Durant is all it took.
Mikal looks **** good, bro. Cam's struggled a bit, but I'm probably not going to feel good about the trade until after next season (if it goes well).

Any NBA player can go to a team and be 3-6 in first 9 games and score 30 points. Doesnt convert to winning.

Dude is a role player and for the nets to be a problem, he needs to be 3rd option

If you don't want Bridges we'd be happy to send a role player back to you for Mikal.

OneZilion · Post #371 » by **OneZilion** » Mon Mar 6, 2023 11:35 pm

People here didnt follow so closely durant for years… he is kind of player which when it is kind of easier game take back seat to other stars… it was very often in OKC with RW, or in GSW he took less shots and with KI in Nets… it is even more logical now to be kind of scoring menthor to Book…

but dont make a question who takes final shots in playoffs when game is on the line in potential long series vs denver, bucks, boston… etc… in that moment ball will be in Kd hands…

MrMiyagi · Post #372 » by **MrMiyagi** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 1:08 am

OneZilion wrote:People here didnt follow so closely durant for years… he is kind of player which when it is kind of easier game take back seat to other stars… it was very often in OKC with RW, or in GSW he took less shots and with KI in Nets… it is even more logical now to be kind of scoring menthor to Book…

but dont make a question who takes final shots in playoffs when game is on the line in potential long series vs denver, bucks, boston… etc… in that moment ball will be in Kd hands…

I have no idea what you're talking about. It seems like everyone understands that. We literally just saw it against the Mavs.

Post #373 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 5:39 am

MrMiyagi wrote:
Mulhollanddrive wrote:Anyone want those role players and picks back? 3 games from Durant is all it took.
Mikal looks **** good, bro. Cam's struggled a bit, but I'm probably not going to feel good about the trade until after next season (if it goes well).

You knew many would be saying this after a few games. I think we all know we are better after the trade if we stay healthy, but also that many underestimated how much Mikal was improving and the upside he still had and has. He isn't a role player in Brooklyn and he was breaking out of that mold here. Heck, even talked about how he wasn't some 3&D player on a pod, that he can do a lot more.

The key thing about the trade aside from losing fan favorite great humans and players in Mikal and Cam who were much younger and probably were career Suns if we wanted them to be, was the fact that we will be very lucky if we stay healthy, adding an even more injury prone player to our team than all of the ones we already have. And our likely fairly short window in the grand scheme as well as not making a bunch of draft picks over the next 7 years (though I know there are people who don't care about building through the draft and only care about winning the championship this year, and this gave us a better chance at that if we are healthy). But yeah, I'd take them back, and I'd take them back if we win a championship.

sunsbum · Post #374 » by **sunsbum** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 5:52 am

enigmatics wrote:Imagine still talking about Mikal. LOL

ok, i agree with you on pretty much everything but dont you dare talk about our son like that again.

Ryu · Post #375 » by **Ryu** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 10:10 am

enigmatics wrote:
King4Day wrote:Nit picking right now and it doesn't matter since we won but Ayton has to control himself in the future where he got that tech. Game was wayyyy too tight to pull that.
In fairness, it's rare for him to get T'd, but I hope Monty talks to him about it

He deserved to be benched for that BS. Tight game in the waning minutes and not only did he put his guy on the charity stripe he also decided it would be wise to mouth off to the ref? This dude just doesn't get it.

Imagine after that kind of win someone decided to put some your usual hate to DA. SMH

Saberestar · Post #376 » by **Saberestar** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 10:51 am

Monty Williams and Jason Kidd make fun of Booker and Luka

Read on Twitter

POLI · Post #377 » by **POLI** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 1:50 pm

sashaturiaf wrote:To me we will comfortably handle the Mavs in a series in 6 or less.

Put simply there's simply too many guys we can throw on Luka in a series while they've got no answer to Durant at all.

Be careful with that.
Luka was injured (he is fat as hell, although they all said he was in the best shape of his life prior to the season and can only play in one gear).

The thing I miss the most for this roster is that we lack a big PF who still can add some off abilities and be able to defend and ger rebounds. Someone just like Jeff Green of the Nuggets would be incredible for us. He could defend Luka for stretches and then offer some athletic abilities and shoot from outside.
Craig is nice, but too short.
Okogie is great, but way tooo small.
KD is nice, but way tooo thin.
Anyway, I believe KD will defend Luka when the moment arrives. Too big of an asset to let it without use.

NapoleonII · Post #378 » by **NapoleonII** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 3:09 pm

I think KD's game is still growing (which is absurd) and besides the 2017-2019 Warriors (who play very different than us) he's never had a team this talented.

I've been surprised with his defense and passing. His bounce passes off the pick have been money, and his blocks/contests have been nasty.

If he can lock into those aspects of his game, we're really, really tough and it'll make up for losing Mikal.

SunsRback4Good · Post #379 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 3:19 pm

NapoleonII wrote:I think KD's game is still growing (which is absurd) and besides the 2017-2019 Warriors (who play very different than us) he's never had a team this talented.

I've been surprised with his defense and passing. His bounce passes off the pick have been money, and his blocks/contests have been nasty.

If he can lock into those aspects of his game, we're really, really tough and it'll make up for losing Mikal.

Plus Okogie already is a great replacement for Crowder. He’s 8 years younger, plays tough nosed defense, can hit corner threes and is much cheaper ( although, will cost more after season over). 3-4 good years by KD should make up missing Bridges for next 7-8 years. Just look at what Lebron is doing at 38, yeah, KD has his Achilles injury so that’s something to monitor in the future. But if he doesn’t get injured, he can play another 4 years. Losing CamJ hurts, but he’s too injury prone so that trade made sense. Also, Losing Bridges reminds me of when we lost Joe Johnson back in 06 and he became a 5 or 6 time all star putting up 20-25 points with ease.

irish22022 · Post #380 » by **irish22022** » Tue Mar 7, 2023 3:54 pm

SunsRback4Good wrote:
NapoleonII wrote:I think KD's game is still growing (which is absurd) and besides the 2017-2019 Warriors (who play very different than us) he's never had a team this talented.

I've been surprised with his defense and passing. His bounce passes off the pick have been money, and his blocks/contests have been nasty.

If he can lock into those aspects of his game, we're really, really tough and it'll make up for losing Mikal.

Plus Okogie already is a great replacement for Crowder. He’s 8 years younger, plays tough nosed defense, can hit corner threes and is much cheaper ( although, will cost more after season over). 3-4 good years by KD should make up missing Bridges for next 7-8 years. Just look at what Lebron is doing at 38, yeah, KD has his Achilles injury so that’s something to monitor in the future. But if he doesn’t get injured, he can play another 4 years. Losing CamJ hurts, but he’s too injury prone so that trade made sense. Also, Losing Bridges reminds me of when we lost Joe Johnson back in 06 and he became a 5 or 6 time all star putting up 20-25 points with ease.

Joe Johnson good comp, hadn't thought of that. Also a guy that became the focal point of teams that in retrospect definitely should not have been.

But people seem to forget we're operating over the cap now intentionally. The warriors traded KD (he was leaving anyway I know) for DLo. Then DLo for Wiggins. Then won another ring. The KD trade isn't just bridges for KD. It's bridges for KDs contract too. So we have KD for a couple high quality years hopefully and then we have a fat ass expiring contract that will bring us more guys when we move it. So it's bridges for those guys too. I expect ishbia to use the same over the cap model as the warriors and the Lakers do. We all figured Westbrook was the worst contract ever. You can always move those contracts for other players. Always. KD could be trash when he's 37, but he'll get us something when the time comes.