2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation - Free Agency Begins

[lilfishi22]

yall think DA is soft. KAT is a cupcake and the most overrated player in the league. Dude is A$%%

Not really a DA vs KAT comparison on who's "TUFF" lol

Just saying 25/12 isn't some cake walk and that a superior offensive player in KAT could only manage it once.

Players who averaged 25/12:
2022-2023: Anthony Davis (Giannis, Jokic on the verge)
2021-2022: Jokic (Embiid/Giannis on the verge)
2020-2021: No one (Vuc, Westbrook, Giannis on the verge)
2019-2020: Giannis (Embiid on the verge)
2018-2019: Embiid, Giannis, Anthony Davis (KAT on the verge)

So we're talking majority MVPs or MVP level players.

Where the F did I say 25/12. I said 25 ppg. As a 2nd option on the OKC Thunder he can easily do 25 points.

Run the numbers on who has avg 25/10

Where did I say you said 25/12?

[Slim Charless]

Have a hard time seeing DA average 25/12 even on a garbage team where he gets all the shots. Even KAT only managed that once he's a far superior offensive player to DA.

He'd be like the 5th option on that Thunder team, too...just people who dont know anything about the Thunder talking about them.

Anyway, I like this Obaji guy on the Blazers SL team. Good activity, 7'1", moves pretty well, and already has a bit of muscle at 20 years old.

That's hilarious. If you actually believe he's the 5th option as the only inside presence on that Thunder team then that makes me think you're the one that doesn't watch them enough.

3rd option at worst. He'd be behind SGA and maybe Giddey-who btw loves to pass. He's not getting jumped by Jalen Williams despite how good he is. Chet will be brought along slowly and used as a defensive presence if played next to Ayton. Chet also would play PF and as such wouldn’t be inside.

All of those players including Chet will ve bombing away from 3 more as well. Ayton all by himself in the paint. He'd easily average 20+ a game.

[garrick]

Oh I see we've gotten back to the bash DA topic which has been beaten to death already...

[sunskerr]

All of those players including Chet will ve bombing away from 3 more as well. Ayton all by himself in the paint. He'd easily average 20+ a game.

Yeah I dont think youre taking into account the skill set these guys have shown and how the Thunder would actually want to develop them.

But again its people who dont follow the Thunder talking about the Thunder. Is what it is.

[Sunsdeuce]

Oh I see we've gotten back to the bash DA topic which has been beaten to death already...

It’s a crazy civil war.

[Iceman36]

Once again DA. Come on guys…

[lilfishi22]

Was thinking about the shooters we now have on the team and the idea of bombing away from 3 in an uptempo offense again. Decided to go back to see when was the last time the Suns were top 5 in 3PA and had to go all the way back to that magical 2013-2014 season where we won 48 games with Dragic/Bledsoe leading the team and just missing the playoffs by one W.

That season we were ranked #4 in 3PA. That ranking was on 25.1 attempts a game with the Rockets leading the league with 26.6 attempts. If we were the put those number of attempts into the context of this past season, neither teams would be within 2 attempts of the 30th ranked Chicago Bulls who took 28.9 attempts.

My worry is whether Vogel would embrace the 3-ball given we have so many shooters and shot creators on the team that can create those 3PT opportunities. None of Vogel's teams have been in the top 10 of 3PA's so I do worry if we'll see us getting buried again because we're not able to match the volume of 3's from opposing teams

[sunsbum]

and no one who can work inside like DA.

Oh you do stand up?

[sunsbum]

I literally have no worries right now. On paper and talent wise we are the best team in the NBA. Putting it together is another avenue but as far as the roster goes, I'm pretty content. Unless we sign that 17th man that I don't like.................................

[sunsbum]

I agree, but his touches are about to go down, not up.

I think OKC is the move as we can probably get roughly 5-7 picks from them along with some young players. That can in turn be used to get more young guys here or as stuff to use for another player if we need it. The Thunder have to do something, they can't keep all of those picks and players. We should try and cash them out and bleed some XT value out of an over-leveraged team.

I know so he needs to know his role. But these idiots saying if he went to another team and couldn’t get mid 20s as a better option. They are dumb and just haters

Dude avg 18/10 getting under 20% usage

Target numbers for Ayton should be 22 and 12, he can get that on the same or lower touches by just chasing more rebounds and put backs this year going to be a lot of open space with teams trying to close out on everyone else.

Again, I will bet my signature for a YEAR if anyone wants to step up that ayton can Avg 22 or 12 or 2. I've already had one person back off that "easy money" claim.

[Mulhollanddrive]

I have question marks over our offensive system, will our shot quality offset our talent?

We go from Chris Paul to unproven PGs and Vogel with 1 top 10 offense in 10 years.

[irish22022]

Man this board **** sucks lately. Y'all need to just chil out with the DA stuff. Talking about where he ranks on OKC? Who cares. That's not happening. I know it's July but like, anything other than Ayton???

[MrMiyagi]

I have question marks over our offensive system, will our shot quality offset our talent?

We go from Chris Paul to unproven PGs and Vogel with 1 top 10 offense in 10 years.

I think Kevin Young is seen as someone who is very knowledgable offensively and is likely to be our "offensive coordinator." We'll find out how true that is.

[MrMiyagi]

Was thinking about the shooters we now have on the team and the idea of bombing away from 3 in an uptempo offense again. Decided to go back to see when was the last time the Suns were top 5 in 3PA and had to go all the way back to that magical 2013-2014 season where we won 48 games with Dragic/Bledsoe leading the team and just missing the playoffs by one W.

That season we were ranked #4 in 3PA. That ranking was on 25.1 attempts a game with the Rockets leading the league with 26.6 attempts. If we were the put those number of attempts into the context of this past season, neither teams would be within 2 attempts of the 30th ranked Chicago Bulls who took 28.9 attempts.

My worry is whether Vogel would embrace the 3-ball given we have so many shooters and shot creators on the team that can create those 3PT opportunities. None of Vogel's teams have been in the top 10 of 3PA's so I do worry if we'll see us getting buried again because we're not able to match the volume of 3's from opposing teams

Also, between 2019-2021 we were one of the better teams in transition, but last two seasons we've really dropped off. Last season we were bottom 5 in almost every relevant category (attempts, points, FG%, etc.)

[lilfishi22]

I have question marks over our offensive system, will our shot quality offset our talent?

We go from Chris Paul to unproven PGs and Vogel with 1 top 10 offense in 10 years.

Agree. It's one thing to have the elite offensive talent but it's another to maximise them in an offense where their play are complemented each other. On a team with 3 guys who could legitimately be the focal point of an offense, balancing touches and shots between them is going to be half the puzzle. With the Lakers, it's clear who the focal point is and it's like having a 6'8 260lb athletic Chris Paul out there who can just run your offense, you don't need to overthink things too much.

Even on the Nets, Harden was the clear go to guy who's going to initiate your offense because he's an elite playmaker. We have 3 elite shot creators/makers but they are just good playmakers. It may not matter as much because of the overwhelming offensive talent we do have but it's certainly something I think and worry about. It is putting a lot on Kevin Young's shoulders as the lead offensive coach

[lilfishi22]

Was thinking about the shooters we now have on the team and the idea of bombing away from 3 in an uptempo offense again. Decided to go back to see when was the last time the Suns were top 5 in 3PA and had to go all the way back to that magical 2013-2014 season where we won 48 games with Dragic/Bledsoe leading the team and just missing the playoffs by one W.

That season we were ranked #4 in 3PA. That ranking was on 25.1 attempts a game with the Rockets leading the league with 26.6 attempts. If we were the put those number of attempts into the context of this past season, neither teams would be within 2 attempts of the 30th ranked Chicago Bulls who took 28.9 attempts.

My worry is whether Vogel would embrace the 3-ball given we have so many shooters and shot creators on the team that can create those 3PT opportunities. None of Vogel's teams have been in the top 10 of 3PA's so I do worry if we'll see us getting buried again because we're not able to match the volume of 3's from opposing teams

Also, between 2019-2021 we were one of the better teams in transition, but last two seasons we've really dropped off. Last season we were bottom 5 in almost every relevant category (attempts, points, FG%, etc.)

Last season was just a mess with so many injuries. CP3 missed 23 games, Book missed 29 games, CamJo missed 39 of a possible 56 games, our lead guard off the bench missed 34 games, KD only played 8 of 25 games and many might see it as a positive, but Shamet missed 42 games. Basically only 3 of the 8-9 guys you expect to get rotation minutes, or more were healthy enough to play most of the season (DA, Mikal and Craig).

Just based on what Vogel said about playing with pace and scrappiness, I do expect we'll be back on track in transitions, especially with more trustworthy guys off the bench now. Fact that we had to rely on Ish Wainwright playing rotation minutes in 60 games last season shows how depleted we were and on the flip side, this season we'll have a guy Eric Gordon, KBD or Yuta playing those minutes instead if need be.

[collidingNeurons]

Was thinking about the shooters we now have on the team and the idea of bombing away from 3 in an uptempo offense again. Decided to go back to see when was the last time the Suns were top 5 in 3PA and had to go all the way back to that magical 2013-2014 season where we won 48 games with Dragic/Bledsoe leading the team and just missing the playoffs by one W.

That season we were ranked #4 in 3PA. That ranking was on 25.1 attempts a game with the Rockets leading the league with 26.6 attempts. If we were the put those number of attempts into the context of this past season, neither teams would be within 2 attempts of the 30th ranked Chicago Bulls who took 28.9 attempts.

My worry is whether Vogel would embrace the 3-ball given we have so many shooters and shot creators on the team that can create those 3PT opportunities. None of Vogel's teams have been in the top 10 of 3PA's so I do worry if we'll see us getting buried again because we're not able to match the volume of 3's from opposing teams

Also, between 2019-2021 we were one of the better teams in transition, but last two seasons we've really dropped off. Last season we were bottom 5 in almost every relevant category (attempts, points, FG%, etc.)

Last season was just a mess with so many injuries. CP3 missed 23 games, Book missed 29 games, CamJo missed 39 of a possible 56 games, our lead guard off the bench missed 34 games, KD only played 8 of 25 games and many might see it as a positive, but Shamet missed 42 games. Basically only 3 of the 8-9 guys you expect to get rotation minutes, or more were healthy enough to play most of the season (DA, Mikal and Craig).

Just based on what Vogel said about playing with pace and scrappiness, I do expect we'll be back on track in transitions, especially with more trustworthy guys off the bench now. Fact that we had to rely on Ish Wainwright playing rotation minutes in 60 games last season shows how depleted we were and on the flip side, this season we'll have a guy Eric Gordon, KBD or Yuta playing those minutes instead if need be.

the issue i see is that i don't think all those missed games were an outlier but what we may very well need to expect, we have a historically very injury prone team and particularly kd, book and beal are almost certain to miss 15 to 20 games minimum if their recent history is any indication, payne is also pretty prone to missing large chunks of the season, hopefully the better depth offsets some of that but mainly just have to hope they are healthy at the end of the year and not get overly caught up in where they are seeded or push hard to chase record wins

[King4Day]

I have a feeling Bol will end up signing for a 2-way. If no other teams want him (nobody claimed him and he really doesn't have enough pull to tell other teams not to sign him), he is limited to what offers he'd get. If he was good enough, we could always move players like Payne and/or Ish, during the season to make room on the main roster if necessary.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Let's say we go through an injury hit period hypothetically with Booker, Durant, Ayton, Gordon, Watanabe all out, what would our team look like?

Goodwin, Beal, Okogie, Bates-Diop, Eubanks
Payne, Lee, Wainwright, Camara, Metu

I don't think it's terrible but Beal would have to go for 40, maybe we could go close to .500 if it's a soft schedule.

[bigfoot]

Pop getting the bag!!!