Around the NBA-Playoffs: 2022-23 season

[BobbieL]

If Nuggets had their best regular season EVER this season and then got historically blown out at home in a second round Game 7 (by a team who then missed the playoffs completely) after losing the Finals being up 2-0 they wouldn't be "trusting" most of the team or coaching staff.
You don't think the Celtics are thinking "we keep Tatum but everyone else is in play".

From getting blown out in Gm7 to getting blown out in Gm6 of 2nd round. Let's see how they fill the major holes in this roster during offseason otherwise nothing better is coming anytime soon.

Speaking of filling holes...Zion is available and might be moved for Scoot. That actually plays into our hands well as IF that happens, then Portland loses alot of negotiating ground as it's just Miller left-and not everyone is gonna want him. I still don't think that we can get him for Ayton-but that Simons/Nurk/#23/#41 deal for Ayton makes some sense in my mind. Also maybe getting that same package for GoK idea of pulling Chicago into the deal.

Either way, it's a good thing if CLT moves that pick for someone who wants Scoot before the draft I think.

I just hope the Suns are aggressive on draft night - buy a pick. I still remember when McDunce drafted Davon Reed and hte Warriors paid $3m to draft Jordan Reed (from Oregon). I thought he would have been perfect for the Suns - energy big man, runs the floor, etc.

[KdoubleDees23]

From getting blown out in Gm7 to getting blown out in Gm6 of 2nd round. Let's see how they fill the major holes in this roster during offseason otherwise nothing better is coming anytime soon.

Speaking of filling holes...Zion is available and might be moved for Scoot. That actually plays into our hands well as IF that happens, then Portland loses alot of negotiating ground as it's just Miller left-and not everyone is gonna want him. I still don't think that we can get him for Ayton-but that Simons/Nurk/#23/#41 deal for Ayton makes some sense in my mind. Also maybe getting that same package for GoK idea of pulling Chicago into the deal.

Either way, it's a good thing if CLT moves that pick for someone who wants Scoot before the draft I think.

I just hope the Suns are aggressive on draft night - buy a pick. I still remember when McDunce drafted Davon Reed and hte Warriors paid $3m to draft Jordan Reed (from Oregon). I thought he would have been perfect for the Suns - energy big man, runs the floor, etc.

We are win now. No rookie is going to crack the rotation next year.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Speaking of filling holes...Zion is available and might be moved for Scoot. That actually plays into our hands well as IF that happens, then Portland loses alot of negotiating ground as it's just Miller left-and not everyone is gonna want him. I still don't think that we can get him for Ayton-but that Simons/Nurk/#23/#41 deal for Ayton makes some sense in my mind. Also maybe getting that same package for GoK idea of pulling Chicago into the deal.

Either way, it's a good thing if CLT moves that pick for someone who wants Scoot before the draft I think.

I just hope the Suns are aggressive on draft night - buy a pick. I still remember when McDunce drafted Davon Reed and hte Warriors paid $3m to draft Jordan Reed (from Oregon). I thought he would have been perfect for the Suns - energy big man, runs the floor, etc.

We are win now. No rookie is going to crack the rotation next year.

I 100% agree no rookie would crack the rotation but I would love to see them grab an extra pick and try to develop some lotto tickets at the end of the bench/G-league for potential future contributions.

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[Slim Charless]

Speaking of filling holes...Zion is available and might be moved for Scoot. That actually plays into our hands well as IF that happens, then Portland loses alot of negotiating ground as it's just Miller left-and not everyone is gonna want him. I still don't think that we can get him for Ayton-but that Simons/Nurk/#23/#41 deal for Ayton makes some sense in my mind. Also maybe getting that same package for GoK idea of pulling Chicago into the deal.

Either way, it's a good thing if CLT moves that pick for someone who wants Scoot before the draft I think.

I just hope the Suns are aggressive on draft night - buy a pick. I still remember when McDunce drafted Davon Reed and hte Warriors paid $3m to draft Jordan Reed (from Oregon). I thought he would have been perfect for the Suns - energy big man, runs the floor, etc.

We are win now. No rookie is going to crack the rotation next year.

Nonsense. Complete nonsense.

So you're telling me that had the Suns had gotten a hold of Braun from the Nuggets, he sits on our bench? This Suns bench? I hope you don't believe that. We need to be drafting some junior and senior players that can play now.

[garrick]

Do you know how many teams since 1990 have won a title without having a guy on the roster who had been the MVP at some point in their career?

A grand total of 2

Toronto in 2019 but they had Kawhi

The other is the 2004 Pistons who are really the true outlier champions of the modern era where they got a chip without a super duper star.


So y'all can pine for the nice little core of Booker, Bridges, and Ayton but I just don't think it was enough if the ultimate goal was a championship. Sure they would be a playoff team for the next few years but at what point does Booker get sick of the treadmill and ask out?

Personally I think this kind of sucks about the NBA, it leads to things like tanking trying to get a superstar. But the facts are the facts when it comes to winning championships, it's a star driven league.

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I think this season's Booker would have won it in 2021 but that was his first season in the playoffs and it was all a learning experience for them. It really would have been better if we hadn't made the finals because that really put pressure on the team by having unrealistic expectations for a team with such a long playoff drought.

In reality we should have been pretty stoked just to be back in the playoffs and expecting to win a ring so soon was/is an unrealistic expectation.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Do you know how many teams since 1990 have won a title without having a guy on the roster who had been the MVP at some point in their career?

A grand total of 2

Toronto in 2019 but they had Kawhi

The other is the 2004 Pistons who are really the true outlier champions of the modern era where they got a chip without a super duper star.


So y'all can pine for the nice little core of Booker, Bridges, and Ayton but I just don't think it was enough if the ultimate goal was a championship. Sure they would be a playoff team for the next few years but at what point does Booker get sick of the treadmill and ask out?

Personally I think this kind of sucks about the NBA, it leads to things like tanking trying to get a superstar. But the facts are the facts when it comes to winning championships, it's a star driven league.

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I think this season's Booker would have won it in 2021 but that was his first season in the playoffs and it was all a learning experience for them. It really would have been better if we hadn't made the finals because that really put pressure on the team by having unrealistic expectations for a team with such a long playoff drought.

In reality we should have been pretty stoked just to be back in the playoffs and expecting to win a ring so soon was/is an unrealistic expectation.

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

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[lilfishi22]

Do you know how many teams since 1990 have won a title without having a guy on the roster who had been the MVP at some point in their career?

A grand total of 2

Toronto in 2019 but they had Kawhi

The other is the 2004 Pistons who are really the true outlier champions of the modern era where they got a chip without a super duper star.


So y'all can pine for the nice little core of Booker, Bridges, and Ayton but I just don't think it was enough if the ultimate goal was a championship. Sure they would be a playoff team for the next few years but at what point does Booker get sick of the treadmill and ask out?

Personally I think this kind of sucks about the NBA, it leads to things like tanking trying to get a superstar. But the facts are the facts when it comes to winning championships, it's a star driven league.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

I think this season's Booker would have won it in 2021 but that was his first season in the playoffs and it was all a learning experience for them. It really would have been better if we hadn't made the finals because that really put pressure on the team by having unrealistic expectations for a team with such a long playoff drought.

In reality we should have been pretty stoked just to be back in the playoffs and expecting to win a ring so soon was/is an unrealistic expectation.

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

If Giannis was just subpar (for his standard) as like 99.999% players would be after a pretty rough hyperextended knee and not have like 40+ in half of that series, it would've been a lot tougher for them. Credit to them for playing great defense as well because we also had a couple of stinkers offensively which helped them push ahead but we really lost that series in a close one at home for G5. Giannis going supernova in G6 at home was obviously the nail in the coffin but while our trio matched up well statistically in G5, we came up short with some underwhelming bench production and poor execution in the 4th. The margin of error was incredibly small throughout the series and it was a matter of a few extra points from the bench and slightly better execution in the 4th and we would've been going to close out at home with a W on the road in our pocket. Had we played better in G5, we may still have lost G6 but the momentum would've been on our side instead of the Bucks going back to to Milwaukee to close out in front of their fans with 3W's in a row

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think this season's Booker would have won it in 2021 but that was his first season in the playoffs and it was all a learning experience for them. It really would have been better if we hadn't made the finals because that really put pressure on the team by having unrealistic expectations for a team with such a long playoff drought.

In reality we should have been pretty stoked just to be back in the playoffs and expecting to win a ring so soon was/is an unrealistic expectation.

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

If Giannis was just subpar (for his standard) as like 99.999% players would be after a pretty rough hyperextended knee and not have like 40+ in half of that series, it would've been a lot tougher for them. Credit to them for playing great defense as well because we also had a couple of stinkers offensively which helped them push ahead but we really lost that series in a close one at home for G5. Giannis going supernova in G6 at home was obviously the nail in the coffin but while our trio matched up well statistically in G5, we came up short with some underwhelming bench production and poor execution in the 4th. The margin of error was incredibly small throughout the series and it was a matter of a few extra points from the bench and slightly better execution in the 4th and we would've been going to close out at home with a W on the road in our pocket. Had we played better in G5, we may still have lost G6 but the momentum would've been on our side instead of the Bucks going back to to Milwaukee to close out in front of their fans with 3W's in a row

That series is such a good example how a couple plays or bounces of the ball can completely change the legacy of players. It's logically kind of silly when you think about but that's sports.

I'll always view that series as one the Bucks went out and won more than the suns lost it.

The Dallas series is one to view as one the suns lost/blew. Although their pants pooping in game 7 overshadowed just how good Dallas shot that game. Not sure if Phoenix wins even if they played well. But that's why you don't **** around and let a team you're better than take you to game 7.

The Denver loss was the simple didn't have the horses to keep up series. Like if Denver would have somehow lost their fans would have been right to be crushed worse than us last year.

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[garrick]

I think this season's Booker would have won it in 2021 but that was his first season in the playoffs and it was all a learning experience for them. It really would have been better if we hadn't made the finals because that really put pressure on the team by having unrealistic expectations for a team with such a long playoff drought.

In reality we should have been pretty stoked just to be back in the playoffs and expecting to win a ring so soon was/is an unrealistic expectation.

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

If Giannis was just subpar (for his standard) as like 99.999% players would be after a pretty rough hyperextended knee and not have like 40+ in half of that series, it would've been a lot tougher for them. Credit to them for playing great defense as well because we also had a couple of stinkers offensively which helped them push ahead but we really lost that series in a close one at home for G5. Giannis going supernova in G6 at home was obviously the nail in the coffin but while our trio matched up well statistically in G5, we came up short with some underwhelming bench production and poor execution in the 4th. The margin of error was incredibly small throughout the series and it was a matter of a few extra points from the bench and slightly better execution in the 4th and we would've been going to close out at home with a W on the road in our pocket. Had we played better in G5, we may still have lost G6 but the momentum would've been on our side instead of the Bucks going back to to Milwaukee to close out in front of their fans with 3W's in a row

Also Giannis hitting a much higher FT rate was super huge for the Bucks and I think that when fans started counting down was stupid and helped him because he was forced to quickly put up a shot and got his motion in rhythm.

I don't see any other explanation because he's come back to earth since then and has gone back to bricking free throws since the finals.

[lilfishi22]

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

If Giannis was just subpar (for his standard) as like 99.999% players would be after a pretty rough hyperextended knee and not have like 40+ in half of that series, it would've been a lot tougher for them. Credit to them for playing great defense as well because we also had a couple of stinkers offensively which helped them push ahead but we really lost that series in a close one at home for G5. Giannis going supernova in G6 at home was obviously the nail in the coffin but while our trio matched up well statistically in G5, we came up short with some underwhelming bench production and poor execution in the 4th. The margin of error was incredibly small throughout the series and it was a matter of a few extra points from the bench and slightly better execution in the 4th and we would've been going to close out at home with a W on the road in our pocket. Had we played better in G5, we may still have lost G6 but the momentum would've been on our side instead of the Bucks going back to to Milwaukee to close out in front of their fans with 3W's in a row

Also Giannis hitting a much higher FT rate was super huge for the Bucks and I think that when fans started counting down was stupid and helped him because he was forced to quickly put up a shot and got his motion in rhythm.

I don't see any other explanation because he's come back to earth since then and has gone back to bricking free throws since the finals.

Oh yeah forgot about that. He was shooting just under 70% on 9.5 attempts in the regular season which went to a pretty abysmal 54% on 8 attempts and then miraculously, those attempts shot up to 14 a game. Going 17 for 19 is just ridiculous.

[lilfishi22]

I think if Giannis hadn't entered god mode that series the Suns win. They were very very close.

They would have been a bit of an outlier but both CP and Booker were playing at an all NBA level.

Once age caught up to CP I was firmly in the find another star camp because I didn't think Booker could do it alone and I didn't view Bridges or Ayton as good enough to be that second guy. It's why philosophy I agreed with the KD trade.

But yeah you're right that expectations took a crazy jump and that might not have been 100% fair. It is odd to me how some fans viewed the past 3 years as some type of failure when the rise was so unexpected.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

If Giannis was just subpar (for his standard) as like 99.999% players would be after a pretty rough hyperextended knee and not have like 40+ in half of that series, it would've been a lot tougher for them. Credit to them for playing great defense as well because we also had a couple of stinkers offensively which helped them push ahead but we really lost that series in a close one at home for G5. Giannis going supernova in G6 at home was obviously the nail in the coffin but while our trio matched up well statistically in G5, we came up short with some underwhelming bench production and poor execution in the 4th. The margin of error was incredibly small throughout the series and it was a matter of a few extra points from the bench and slightly better execution in the 4th and we would've been going to close out at home with a W on the road in our pocket. Had we played better in G5, we may still have lost G6 but the momentum would've been on our side instead of the Bucks going back to to Milwaukee to close out in front of their fans with 3W's in a row

That series is such a good example how a couple plays or bounces of the ball can completely change the legacy of players. It's logically kind of silly when you think about but that's sports.

I'll always view that series as one the Bucks went out and won more than the suns lost it.

The Dallas series is one to view as one the suns lost/blew. Although their pants pooping in game 7 overshadowed just how good Dallas shot that game. Not sure if Phoenix wins even if they played well. But that's why you don't **** around and let a team you're better than take you to game 7.

The Denver loss was the simple didn't have the horses to keep up series. Like if Denver would have somehow lost their fans would have been right to be crushed worse than us last year.

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100%

The last two games of the Dallas series were a combination of bad timing to have consecutive bad Booker games and getting nothing consistent from anyone else. DA had a decent G6 but that's not enough. Dallas played well but we absolutely crapped the bed, like just two subpar games in a row for us just won't cut it.

Unlike the Dallas series where there were just WILD swings both ways, the scores were a lot closer in the Milwaukee series. We played them well, they played us well and it was a pretty even series throughout. Like I said, while it was close, it was that pivotal G5 where they just snatched our hearts out by taking one on our home court. G6 was relatively close too (compared to the Dallas series) but aside from a short stretch late in the 1st half, we were kind of playing catch up and it just felt like every time we made some big buckets, they just kept responding. I will never forget that last Middleton bucket and the subsequent pairs of FT's that pushed their lead from 4 to 8 with less than a minute left.