2022-23 Season Discussion and Review - the Blockbuster trade and playoff downfall

[bwgood77]

Man I can't tell if the Lakers are just that good or Memphis is just bad but the Lakers are blowing Memphis out badly in game 6.

Sacramento or GSW are going to have their hands full in the second round...

I don't think Memphis is nearly as good without Adams and Clarke. The Lakers are tough but they rarely shoot well. I don't see them as a problem really. I do think the bubble team was a little better. The stars were 3 years younger and their guards were great defenders and 3 pt shooters (KCP, Caruso) and Rondo was still playing well, plus Kuzma as a 6th man type.

I do think Vanderbilt is good, Russell is up and down and Reeves is pretty good.Monk is a nice guy off the bench. They were much better defensively then on the perimeter and LeBron was still in his prime.

Mailk Monk plays for the Kings.

Another good point..

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[spanishninja]

man, by far the worst weekend so far in this postseason so far. Suns get blown out, Lakers advancing, Warriors advancing.

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[Sunlight]

Monty Williams has not won any playoffs series as Suns coach where the opponent has been healthy. Lost twice and looked hopeless against Denver as well. If it's three out of three, then Ishbia has to make a decision and kick the hopeless case out and hire a top level coach in his place. The team is too good to have to pray for heaven's help every time.

[AtheJ415]

I have despised the play of Landry as much as everyone else and cannot understand why he gets plying time.

The only reason I can think of is his size to match up with the Clipper Wings along with Cam Payne not providing anything.

Does anyone have Landry's defensive stats for the Clipper series? His offense obviously sucked.

Unfortunately, I can see him getting PT in the Denver series as well.

I wish we would have added Saben Lee to out playoff roster and dropped one of the players that just sits on the bench watching. Ish would be one of the candidates.

His net rating in the series was -52 (70 ORtg / 122 DRtg)

Has Payne been given the chance to provide anything though? He should be first off the bench aside from maybe Okogie / Craig.

[PittsburghSuns]

CP3 is washed besides a random spurt here or there. Ayton doesn’t want to be here and has no heart the bench is puke and doubly so the way Monty uses it. But hey at least we have KD and that’s cool

[kennydorglas]

I have despised the play of Landry as much as everyone else and cannot understand why he gets plying time.

The only reason I can think of is his size to match up with the Clipper Wings along with Cam Payne not providing anything.

Does anyone have Landry's defensive stats for the Clipper series? His offense obviously sucked.

Unfortunately, I can see him getting PT in the Denver series as well.

I wish we would have added Saben Lee to out playoff roster and dropped one of the players that just sits on the bench watching. Ish would be one of the candidates.

His net rating in the series was -52 (70 ORtg / 122 DRtg)

Has Payne been given the chance to provide anything though? He should be first off the bench aside from maybe Okogie / Craig.

Idk wtf is happening with Monty and his playoff lineups.
Last year he kept Payne in FOREVER too when he was performing like Shamet as well.
Dude seems like he cant adjust on the fly FOR NOTHING.

[Revived]

Most times the Suns roster looks Booker, KD and whole bunch of trash.

I wonder if KD is starting to feel like his OKC days (post Harden/Ibaka) where it was just him, prime Westbrook and whole bunch of trash.

[Revived]

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This is scary bad.

Ayton wouldn’t go top 6 in a re-draft. Suns don’t deserve to ever get #1 overall pick again after blowing it the one time they did get it in such embarrassing fashion.

[King4Day]

This isn't a question because of game 1.
I want to know how people feel about a couple of things.

1. Would a center like Jarret Allen or Mitch Robinson work better with our team? I feel like these might be potentially obtainable type players in the summer in a trade for Ayton. Maybe not a 1 for 1 team trade. Perhaps multi-team.
2. Would a trade of Poetl for Ayton make sense? I'm not sure what he offers that DA doesn't but perhaps a better fit?

The key things would be that they are cheaper and reduce our tax hit going forward, meaning we can better avoid the 2nd tax apron.

[King4Day]

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This is scary bad.

Ayton wouldn’t go top 6 in a re-draft. Suns don’t deserve to ever get #1 overall pick again after blowing it the one time they did get it in such embarrassing fashion.

I'm not saying DA was the correct pick, but he was a major reason we reached the finals 2 years ago and a big part of the 64 win team.
And 3 2nd round, or better, playoff appearances. He's not #1 quality, but I don't agree we 'blew it with him in embarrassing fashion'.
It is what it is. We know what he is and just have to hope a team thinks they can use him better than we can this summer.

[WeekapaugGroove]

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This is scary bad.

Ayton wouldn’t go top 6 in a re-draft. Suns don’t deserve to ever get #1 overall pick again after blowing it the one time they did get it in such embarrassing fashion.

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Yeah not great

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[kennydorglas]

playoff performer tho

[enigmatics]

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Bro...................

[enigmatics]

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This is scary bad.

Ayton wouldn’t go top 6 in a re-draft. Suns don’t deserve to ever get #1 overall pick again after blowing it the one time they did get it in such embarrassing fashion.

Luka is at home right now - just remember that.

[Ghost of Kleine]

This isn't a question because of game 1.
I want to know how people feel about a couple of things.

1. Would a center like Jarret Allen or Mitch Robinson work better with our team? I feel like these might be potentially obtainable type players in the summer in a trade for Ayton. Maybe not a 1 for 1 team trade. Perhaps multi-team.
2. Would a trade of Poetl for Ayton make sense? I'm not sure what he offers that DA doesn't but perhaps a better fit?

The key things would be that they are cheaper and reduce our tax hit going forward, meaning we can better avoid the 2nd tax apron.

Great post and questions as always man!

1- Jarrett Allen or Mitchell would absolutely help us defensively and in terms of rebounding and physicality. But we'd then we'd still need to add another scoring boost/ shot creator to offset what we lose offensively from those two respective to their skillsets/ weaknesses. So in correlation to the applied salary savings of obtaining either of those two, We'll definitely need to add more significant supplementary offense either in the way of elite perimeter shooters such as Joe Harris ( via trade) or Seth Curry ( via free agency), etc for example.

And/ or greater concentration of isolation scoring/ free throw generation like a Derrick Rose or a Jordan Clarkson, etc for example.

2- I would endorse an Ayton for Poetl trade for various reasons, but I unfortunately don't see Toronto doing this only because of salary implications due to Siakim's looming Supermax interests and also Anunoby's max or near max expectations too contractually. Toronto got a great deal for a serviceable solid starting center that fits their defensive identity. But they also prioritized this trade to reduce salary commitments for the purpose of hopefully affording resigning Siakim to his supermax deal he's seeking in 24'. And resigning Anunoby to his near max deal he's expecting as well. Poetl just represents better value for them towards that goal I believe.


So I'm not sure they'd still have interest in Ayton now brother! Unless of course they somehow were to lose Poetl in free agency??? Toronto or Chicago might become prime candidates for an Ayton trade IF they happened to lose Poetl or Vucevic? But IF Toronto was somehow to lose Poetl, then I'd aggressively pursue a trade for maybe Boucher/ Trent ( IF he take his player option)/ Koloko/ Toronto 23' 1st.

If Chicago were to somehow lose Vucevic to free agency, I'd look at an Ayton trade for Ball / P Will/ Portland 24' 1st.

Then I'd look to move Paul/ Shamet to Charlotte for Rozier/
Bouknight/ Richards or Williams/ Denver 23' 1st ( 27th pick). Employ a center by committee for a season. Then pursue Valuncias in 24-25 offseason??? He'd solve our size, physicality, rebounding issues.

[LV-Suns]

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This is scary bad.

Ayton wouldn’t go top 6 in a re-draft. Suns don’t deserve to ever get #1 overall pick again after blowing it the one time they did get it in such embarrassing fashion.

Read on Twitter

?t=cZzgAQtfWFW6LfQBr4CmNA&s=19

Yeah not great

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Ayton before each playoff game:

[schnakenpopanz]

I'd take kevon looney over syton any day of the week

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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I generally hate the idea of possibly helping a conference rival. And especially if it's a team like the Mavs. However, IF it really is the front office's intention to trade Ayton, Then two variations of an Ayton trade this summer that I'd strongly consider would be:

1- (Trade A)
Ayton/ Shamet for Tim Hardaway Jr/ Davis Bertrans/ Javale Mcgee/ Dallas 2023 first ( 10th overall pick)!! Which could give us a small chance at Wemby, Or at least return a high level core prospect (wing/ Guard/ Forward)??? Then I'd have Durant subtly talk to Irving (friends to suggest he doesn't resign and tells the Mavs that he'll only sign with Phoenix) so we can do a Paul for Irving trade! .....LOL
Davis Bertrans***

Only $5,000,000 guaranteed in 2024/25, HoopsHype has learned. Guarantee increases to full if he plays in at least 75 percent of the team's 2023/24 regular season games.

So just don't play him the full 75% of games. Which should be easy for Monty because he's an expert at not playing players off the bench anyways!

The beauty of this premise is we offload Ayton whilst taking Dallas's lotto pick (which the fans are really hyped for) and also keep them weak by taking Irving from them too and getting a top 10 lotto pick for doing it!!!

Post Trade-
Irving/ Booker/ Hardaway Jr/ Durant/ Mcgee.
Payne/ Okogie/ Craig/ Bertrans/ Biyombo.
Lotto/Lee/ Ish/ Warren/ FA (Vet min)?

2- (Trade B)-
Ayton/ Shamet for Hardaway Jr/ Kleber/ Mcgee/ Dallas 2023 first (10th pick)!!!
Then flip Paul to Toronto for Van Vleet and Porter Jr. Toronto would absolutely do this to cut cost (Paul's partial buyout at 15 million) would shave around 14 -15 million off their books a full year early and allow them to tank more as well towards their young core.
Post Paul Trade-

Van Vleet/ Booker/ Porter Jr/ Durant/ Mcgee.
Payne/ Okogie/ Hardaway Jr/ Kleber/ Biyombo.
Lotto/ Lee/ Warren/ Kaminsky/ Kleber??

*** Lotto pick ( 10th overall) could yield any of:
- Cason Wallace (Jrue Holiday).
- Nik Smith ( Jamal Murray/ McCollum lite).
- Anthony Black (Josh Giddey).
- Keyontae George ( Prime Eric Gordon/ Bane).
- Jalen Hood Schifino ( Malcolm Brogdon/ quicker point guard version of Kyle Anderson)?

Or we could keep Van Vleet a bit longer and instead add a premier wing option to replace what we lost in Bridges:
- Taylor Hendricks (Jalen Mcdaniels).
- Jett Howard ( A budget prime version of Joe Johnson).
- Kris Murray ( a better Marcus Morris).
- Maxwell Lewis ( Paul pierce archetype).
- Dariq Whitehead ( A prime Oladipo).
- Leonard Miller ( poor man's Paul George).
And just imagine what might happen IF we happened to move up!!! A chance at Wemby or Scoot? Maybe one of the Thompson twins? Maybe trade the pick for a premium vet player??

[Ghost of Kleine]

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