NBA PLAYOFFS: Game 6: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Thursday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN leads series 3-2

[garrick]

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Anyone with half a brain knows that you move DA.

Don't look back just move the **** on from him.

Did you see how bad Jock looked through huge stretches of the season? Jock isn't the answer no matter how hard he played in the 2nd round. He's at best a good 3rd string center that hustles but if you ask him to do that over the course of the season he will wear out and also have to play a bit more cautiously to manage his fouls.

Centers like him and Bismack are good in short stretches but you can't ask them to be your starting center and expect to get good results.

[grumpysaddle]

Well, Tatis is back the Padres are still a contender so you never know what can happen in late October.

I’m proud of the D-Backs so far they have exceeded expectations in their first quarter of the season. They were ranked 25th I believe a month ago and now are top 10 in power rankings.

Padres just keep finding new ways to lose. It's real fun coupled with the great Phoenix Suns.

Just HAD to drag my slumping Padres into the conversation and make the sports day worse, eh?

I see you, dude. I see you.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

What is wrong with us?

[RayLight]

I don`t want to protect JJ and Monty, but I will remember this season with so many injuries - during the regular season (which led to a worse seed for the playoffs) and the postseason (Paul, DA).
Durant himself was hurt a lot and couldn`t mesh with the team and be ready for the playoffs.
In 2021 we had the luck with many star players from other teams injured. This year it was us.

This is the reason I stick to my point that the best chance for a title was last year with the super team (best in almost all categories during the regular season). The Dallas meltdown was because of Monty (50%). and I believe Ayton`s attitude and effort (50%).

Back to this year:

Booker was injured this last game (confirmed by Monty) but he did everything during the postseason and we are past the Clippers and into 6 games with the Nuggets because of him.

The team needs a restart, an entire offseason, lots of trades, and maybe a new GM. I would talk to Monty to move him to an assistant role and hire Nick Nurse or Chris Quinn.

Ayton should definitely be traded to a team like Charlotte or Detroit.
I would take Capella and Collins if possible and move KD to the SF position.

I know it sounds crazy but CP3 should retire and try to help the team as an assistant coach. It would be a shame to throw him into a trade after all he did for the revival of the franchise and the Finals run.

[SunsRback4Good]

Padres just keep finding new ways to lose. It's real fun coupled with the great Phoenix Suns.

Just HAD to drag my slumping Padres into the conversation and make the sports day worse, eh?

I see you, dude. I see you.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

What is wrong with us?

This isn’t your fault this isn’t your fault my child.

C. Arnholt Smith,Ray Kroc, Joan Kroc, Tom Werner, John Moores, Ron Fowler those six names are at fault.

[DirtyDez]

The new CBA adds injury to insult. We must’ve done something horribly wrong in our past lives.

[garrick]

So we definitely need specific positional upgrades currently missing from our roster this season. Off the top of my head, the quickest free agency additions we need to add:
1- A strong, long, athletic lockdown defensive Wing/Forward that can lockdown opposing team's scorers.
2- Multiple knockdown snipers (shooters) that can open up the floor for us.
3- A skilled ballhandler/ Iso scorer that can get to the rim and generate free throws for us.
4- A strong, physical 4/5 that has a high motor and is non-stop aggressive and a great rebounder.
5- A very poised playmaking guard that can play strong POA defense AND has a very good assist-to-turnover ratio.

I've actually identified some pretty solid value options for each of these needs in both free agency AND/OR via the draft (2nd round to undrafted range) with respect to our limited flexibility and lack of assets. If curious about any positional needs 1-5, Just ask and we can discuss who I've been tracking this whole time. Also now that we have significant free time in our offseason, people should check out my draft pages to see all the low-cost steals that could turn things around for us and perfectly address our positional concerns.

Oh, that's so easy because all of these players are easily available, not coveted by other teams, and only want minimum salaries. Perfect!

Of course, it doesn't need to be easy, as with anything of worth, there's a level of planning and investment required. But obviously, you have to start somewhere to begin making progress. And for every coveted prospect, I've identified a range of three potential options due to your astute and accurate observation that some might get plucked from us. So basically still offering a very similar option of plan B and plan C (If necessary).

The thing is all these points were made known after the 2021 season and JJ had 2 years to work on the deficiencies but he only chose to go after NBA rejects like Ish, D.Lee, Jock and Okogie hoping they would be part of the answer for our imbalanced roster.

Now with the new CBA rules it's going to be pretty difficult to make any sort of deal when we are out of draft picks to deal and being so horribly over the cap we won't even be able to sign anyone even with the MLE. We'll have to go bargain hunting and see if someone wants to sign here for the vet min but those kind of guys are few and far between.

Maybe KD can convince Westbrook to take a 1 year vet min deal to join us or something but why would he come here when he can get more money and playing time on a contender? I just don't see many free agents knocking on the Suns doors just to hitch their NBA dreams to Book and KD on a championship run

[POLI]

It's going to be a very interesting offseason. There is no way that Monty can come back after the way the team performed tonight. I'm curious to see who they interview and who is ultimately hired. Do you go with a former coach like Vogel, Stotts, Atkinson, Joerger or Nurse ? . Do you go with a assistant coach who many feel is ready to become a head coach (Quinn, Lee, Griffin, Cassell) or do you go with an out of the box hire (Redick) no one saw coming.

I would go with Budenholzer or Nurse, but the way Nurse managed the performance of a loaded Raptors roster scares me.

[Slim Charless]

The new CBA adds injury to insult. We must’ve done something horribly wrong in our past lives.

That's the underrated **** part about this. Ish would spend like the Warriors and Clippers too, if given the chance. This stupid addition to the CBA makes it impossible for him to do so.

[POLI]

So we definitely need specific positional upgrades currently missing from our roster this season. Off the top of my head, the quickest free agency additions we need to add:
1- A strong, long, athletic lockdown defensive Wing/Forward that can lockdown opposing team's scorers.
2- Multiple knockdown snipers (shooters) that can open up the floor for us.
3- A skilled ballhandler/ Iso scorer that can get to the rim and generate free throws for us.
4- A strong, physical 4/5 that has a high motor and is non-stop aggressive and a great rebounder.
5- A very poised playmaking guard that can play strong POA defense AND has a very good assist-to-turnover ratio.

I've actually identified some pretty solid value options for each of these needs in both free agency AND/OR via the draft (2nd round to undrafted range) with respect to our limited flexibility and lack of assets. If curious about any positional needs 1-5, Just ask and we can discuss who I've been tracking this whole time. Also now that we have significant free time in our offseason, people should check out my draft pages to see all the low-cost steals that could turn things around for us and perfectly address our positional concerns.

Number 1 could be Craig, although he is not long and then he can struggle by being long on the court.
Number 3 is Booker, only that he strongly needs to work on his selling fouls.
I do not know whether we need shooters when our main weapon are two players who will get into or near the paint for a long two most of the time. Two super players who does not make the most of today's game, as they just ocassionaly get FTs to their side.
Number 4 is a must and has been for a long while. Smith could have been that player. But indeed we need a PF who can play like you say.
Number 5 is the most needed position we need to cover. WE cannot depend on Paul, sadly, any longer.

[grumpysaddle]

The only solace I have is that hopefully I never have to see Ayton/Shamet/Wainright in a Suns uniform again, and hopefully have a coach(ing staff) who can come up with an actual system on offense and defense next season.

[Ghost of Kleine]

The new CBA adds injury to insult. We must’ve done something horribly wrong in our past lives.

Great points!
I believe we're currently sitting at around 173 million or approximately 13 million over the 2nd tax line with a hard cap and severe restrictions under the new CBA? But If we happen to somehow lose Paul's 30 million, Ayton's 32 million, and Shamet's 10 million, in the next two summers or miraculously via trades? Then we'll have just drastically reduced around 70 million towards getting back in line with the cap or at least much closer to it and back under the tax. This is why I've been suggesting (for a while now) along with a few others, trades like:

1- Ayton to Houston for Eason/ Martin Jr/ Washington/ 20th pick in the 2023 draft.
(In this trade, we'd only be taking back around 10-12 million plus the 20th pick that represents cost-controlled young positional talent that we can add to our core
.
2- Ayton to Detroit for Wiseman/ Burks/ Hayes/ Detroit 31st pick.
(All three players are TO's) and could be kept for the season or traded by the deadline as expiring. OR we could pick and choose which ones we might keep or decline if we like)? But we could lose all three AND Paul coming off the books in 2024. And Shamet can be declined in 24' as well for a 70 million reduction in cap commitment.

3- Ayton to Charlotte for Rozier/ Bouknight/ Williams or Richards/ 27th pick /39th pick.
(This trade doesn't offer nearly as much cap reduction as the first two because of Rozier, But he still could serve as a very solid Bench leader for us replacing Payne, And thusly allowing us to cut/waive Payne for 6 million more in savings. And with moving or stretching Shamet as well, we could recoup another 16 million, reducing Rozier's salary commitment from 222 million to around only 6 million difference. And Bouknight has a To we could decline or trade as a 5 million expiring. And both Richards or Williams are cost-controlled contracts at only 3-5 million and are perfect archetype centers we're currently prioritizing. Lastly, the picks would offer us young, talented cost controlled depth options with legit upside! That'd be a solid start for us in correcting some mistakes of this trade.

[SunsRback4Good]

For a second I forgot Craig and Okogie was apart of our team. The Suns have tested both those players out the last quarter of the season and it felt all for nothing. None of them made a difference maybe if we had Mikal and CamJ they would play more due to defense but since we desperately needed points on the board they never stood a chance. Once again thanks Matt. ,,l,,

Also, one fantastic game by Payne doesn’t mean much. I know most here want to give him another chance but how many more does he need? Last time he played well was in 2021 season but next two were pretty bad and inconsistent.

[garrick]

The new CBA adds injury to insult. We must’ve done something horribly wrong in our past lives.

Great points!
I believe we're currently sitting at around 173 million or approximately 13 million over the 2nd tax line with a hard cap and severe restrictions under the new CBA? But If we happen to somehow lose Paul's 30 million, Ayton's 32 million, and Shamet's 10 million, in the next two summers or miraculously via trades? Then we'll have just drastically reduced around 70 million towards getting back in line with the cap or at least much closer to it and back under the tax. This is why I've been suggesting (for a while now) along with a few others, trades like:

1- Ayton to Houston for Eason/ Martin Jr/ Washington/ 20th pick in the 2023 draft.
(In this trade, we'd only be taking back around 10-12 million plus the 20th pick that represents cost-controlled young positional talent that we can add to our core
.
2- Ayton to Detroit for Wiseman/ Burks/ Hayes/ Detroit 31st pick.
(All three players are TO's) and could be kept for the season or traded by the deadline as expiring. OR we could pick and choose which ones we might keep or decline if we like)? But we could lose all three AND Paul coming off the books in 2024. And Shamet can be declined in 24' as well for a 70 million reduction in cap commitment.

3- Ayton to Charlotte for Rozier/ Bouknight/ Williams or Richards/ 27th pick /39th pick.
(This trade doesn't offer nearly as much cap reduction as the first two because of Rozier, But he still could serve as a very solid Bench leader for us replacing Payne, And thusly allowing us to cut/waive Payne for 6 million more in savings. And with moving or stretching Shamet as well, we could recoup another 16 million, reducing Rozier's salary commitment from 222 million to around only 6 million difference. And Bouknight has a To we could decline or trade as a 5 million expiring. And both Richards or Williams are cost-controlled contracts at only 3-5 million and are perfect archetype centers we're currently prioritizing. Lastly, the picks would offer us young, talented cost controlled depth options with legit upside! That'd be a solid start for us in correcting some mistakes of this trade.

Trades

You didn't think that we were done with the second apron, did you? Oh no. Here's where the restrictions get really draconian. Teams above the second apron will face the three following trade limitations:

They cannot send out cash in trades. Teams are ordinarily allowed to include a certain amount of cash in trades per season, with this season's figuring coming in at around $6 million. Teams frequently use this tool when they make unbalanced trades or need another team to take on a player to clear a roster spot.
They cannot trade first-round picks that are more than six years into the future. The NBA allows teams to trade draft picks up to seven years into the future, but that last season will be restricted to these teams.
They cannot make trades in which they take back more salary than they send out.

It would take all day to list all of the blockbusters these rules would restrict. James Harden never would have become a Brooklyn Net with these restrictions. Kevin Durant wouldn't be a Phoenix Sun. Steve Ballmer won't be able to use his immense wealth to make trades like the 2022 deadline deal he swung for Norman Powell and Robert Covington anymore. These teams aren't even going to be able to pay off rivals to take players from them for the sake of tax savings. These rules are going to fundamentally change how NBA trades are made.

Unfortunately we won't be able to do a salary dump so you're going to have to take on equal amount of salary in a trade so you won't even be able to make a move that significantly gets us under the salary cap.

I guess the clause exists for teams in the second apron so a team under the cap could still take on more incoming salary but why would they just take on more salary just for the sake of it? The only trade pieces are DA, Shamet and CP3 and the only player of value is Ayton so some team will have to really want him to make any trade attractive to us.

[AtheJ415]

I repeat the same sentiments from the past 2 days. This was no surprise. It is who we are under our pansy of a coach. We were doomed to get blown out. When Monty went to the Book + 4 bench player lineup and watched them go on a 17-0 run to end the 1st and put us down 16 without even using a timeout to break up momentum, we were toast. He finished the game with double the timeouts as Malone. When we were the team getting blown out. Monty has to go. Vegas is not wrong. We were favored for the series and favored in this game by 3. Same as against Dallas last year. The team is overwhelmingly unprepared in the biggest of games / stages. Booker playing at above MJ levels is the only reason this series was respectable.

My worry is KD wanted Phx to play here with Monty. Will he demand Monty stay?

I would like to see DA under a different coach also before dumping him.

If this is the version of KD we have going forward we are absolutely screwed and have made a near Gobert-level mistake. He was an epic disaster. I would feel better if he was just missing shots, but the decision making was just awful. I am very, very concerned about him.

Book is a beast. He deserves better.

I hope there is a way to get Kyrie, despite him being a complete idiot of a person and an anti-semite, we just need overwhelming talent to overcome Monty and maybe even KD at this point.

[grumpysaddle]

KD wanted Phoenix because of Booker. Period. I don't think he'd mind getting an actual coach instead of an ineffective motivational speaker.

[PittsburghSuns]

CP3 needs to retire what a terrible extension that was.

DA is a gutless pathetic loser and should never be allowed back in the arena.

KD is past his prime and that trade looks really bad right now.

Our bench is borderline laughable.

Monty has been beaten by 400 points as a HC in two straight elimination games.

Besides that Booker is great!

[POLI]

The new CBA adds injury to insult. We must’ve done something horribly wrong in our past lives.

Great points!
I believe we're currently sitting at around 173 million or approximately 13 million over the 2nd tax line with a hard cap and severe restrictions under the new CBA? But If we happen to somehow lose Paul's 30 million, Ayton's 32 million, and Shamet's 10 million, in the next two summers or miraculously via trades? Then we'll have just drastically reduced around 70 million towards getting back in line with the cap or at least much closer to it and back under the tax. This is why I've been suggesting (for a while now) along with a few others, trades like:

1- Ayton to Houston for Eason/ Martin Jr/ Washington/ 20th pick in the 2023 draft.
(In this trade, we'd only be taking back around 10-12 million plus the 20th pick that represents cost-controlled young positional talent that we can add to our core
.
2- Ayton to Detroit for Wiseman/ Burks/ Hayes/ Detroit 31st pick.
(All three players are TO's) and could be kept for the season or traded by the deadline as expiring. OR we could pick and choose which ones we might keep or decline if we like)? But we could lose all three AND Paul coming off the books in 2024. And Shamet can be declined in 24' as well for a 70 million reduction in cap commitment.

3- Ayton to Charlotte for Rozier/ Bouknight/ Williams or Richards/ 27th pick /39th pick.
(This trade doesn't offer nearly as much cap reduction as the first two because of Rozier, But he still could serve as a very solid Bench leader for us replacing Payne, And thusly allowing us to cut/waive Payne for 6 million more in savings. And with moving or stretching Shamet as well, we could recoup another 16 million, reducing Rozier's salary commitment from 222 million to around only 6 million difference. And Bouknight has a To we could decline or trade as a 5 million expiring. And both Richards or Williams are cost-controlled contracts at only 3-5 million and are perfect archetype centers we're currently prioritizing. Lastly, the picks would offer us young, talented cost controlled depth options with legit upside! That'd be a solid start for us in correcting some mistakes of this trade.

Three good options. My congrats.
I doubt Houston would like to get DA, but their relation with big men could do us a favor. But Sengun has improved a lot this season.

The Detroit option is good and Wiseman is a serviceable solid center with some size who limits himself to doing what he can. If we get rid of some millions in the process, then it would be great.

It is clear that the KD trade has hurt us a lot. Would the trade have happened earlier in the season, we would have probably find a trade for Ayton. Turner, who was clearly playing with 3 gears less as he awaited a contract extension, would have been a great fit here (or anywhere) with his size, rim protection and ability to shoot from deep.
By this time I was expecting Ayton to shoot from three consistently.

[Frank Lee]

Read on Twitter

All of us. Hopefully soon.

Do the right thing Ishbia. Do the right thing.

I expect to start my day to this news. Suns have to eat 30 million dollars though. Another JJ special there with extending Monty after last year's failure

And himself… that was his signature move. Taking care of himself and Monty, knowing that Sarver was selling and did not care of the wasted money the new owner would absorb. Truly, the guy fumbled and bumbled his way to contention then was asleep at the wheel when it mattered the most. I mistook his ineptitude as shrewd patience. The move on from McDisaster was so welcomed, we didn’t see what an unimaginative do nothing charlatan he is. but it’s apparent… he was the driving force in the demise of our playoff runs. What mid season adjustments did he make that bore fruit? Furthermore, what off season moves have had a positive residual effect?

And we now have a new owner who in the giddiness of being the supreme leader, bankrupted our future for this. KD is not what KD was a couple years ago. He’s brittle, and aging. F, he was injured when we got him. Gawd, a rinse repeat of CP. The ‘win now by acquiring big named vets’ approach seldom works, and we are the official poster child of what happens when it doesn’t. We did it twice.

I don’t see anything positive on our horizon. Diminishing assets, very limited budget, virtually no tradable pieces with the ransacking of our picks and youth.

The only thing we have to look forward to is the sacking of Junkyard and Moronty. May be we get something for Ayton, but we certainly missed that value boat.





I didn’t finish the game last night… but please tell me the squad left the court with rousing booos

[PittsburghSuns]

If the Suns were playing shuffle board with CP and KD things would be much different for the rest of the league.

[Sunlight]

Devin Booker 14PPG in elimination games. Should trade him for future picks, need winner type players. Not stat padding.