The Official 2024 Offseason Thread Part 2

[Mulhollanddrive]

Great get, but we are celebrating having 1 point guard in the 15 it is weird, surely we need another

[Mulhollanddrive]

Beal, Booker, O'Neale, Durant, Nurkic
Morris, Allen, Bol, Plumlee

Cautiously ok with it

vs last year

Beal, Booker, Okogie, Durant, Nurkic
Goodwin, Allen, Watanabe, Bates-Diop, Eubanks

[BobbieL]

Great get, but we are celebrating having 1 point guard in the 15 it is weird, surely we need another

Exactly! Why I think the next signing should be Cam Payne and forget about Okogie and Lee

[sunsfan1o1]

We need a BETTER point guard

[Ghost of Kleine]

I'll take Monte Morris. He has an incredibly low turnovers per game stat while also yielding a decent number of assists, particularly in his 2021-22 season and 2022-23 season. His FG% was great too. This is definitely a low-risk high-reward type of play IMO.

PG: Beal / Morris / Gillespie
SG: Booker / Little / Bridges
SF: Allen / Royce / Roddy
PF: Durant / Bol / Dunn
C: Nurkic / Plumlee / Ighodaro

Does the above look correct so far?

Close! It's either that above or:

PG- Beal/ Morris/ Gillespie.
SG- Booker/Allen/ D Lee.
SF- Covington/O'neale/ Dunn.
PF- Durant/ Theiss /Bol.
C- Nurkic/ Plumlee/ Ighodaro.

FAs' signed *** Still unsigned!!
- Plumlee (backup Center).
- Monte Morris (backup Guard).
-*** Robert Covington (Starting Small Forward).
- *** Daniel Theiss or Vlatko Cancar (Power Forward).

We've done really well so far! But we need to finish strong with adding............... Covington at the starting small-forward and Daniel Theiss or Vlatko Cancar as the backup power Forward to Durant. So let's finish strong by adding these last two big names for supreme depth, AND I also really like the potential versatility of adding Covington, and Theiss in the frontcourt as BOTH Covington and Theiss are established vets that can play multiple positions interchangeably with Conigton as a 3/4 and possibly a small ball 5. And I'm intrigued by the idea of a Theiss/Plumlee bench frontcourt too with B{OTH being strong, athletic, rugged/ physical, and able to defend/block shots and hit threes.

[sunskerr]

Wow Morris is kind of a huge pick up for us

[Ghost of Kleine]

Well I don't know about you guys but I feel like a title run is a lock after these huge free agent pickups...

I feel like this was a very solid offseason! Maybe even a B+. BUT not quite a title contender yet though. Maybe I'm being greedy, but give me Robert Covington to be our starting small forward. And Daniel Theiss is to be our backup 4 (Plumlee- clippers connection). Then we can move Allen to the bench for more scoring punch and greater depth! Again, I'm greedy, but I don't really care! I want to finish free agency with:

Beal/ Booker/ Covington /Durant / Nurkic.
Morris /Allen /O'neale /Theiss /Plumlee.
D Smith Jr / D Lee / Dunn / Bol/ Ighodaro.

I think IF we can just sign those last two vet min names (Covington and Theiss), will be significantly deep enough to compete with anybody, maybe even Boston and New York, or OKC. I really think that we can turn this current B+ into an A+ still.

[Qwigglez]

Looks like a YMCA championship-level team to me.

To compete for a title, I feel like we need perfect health, Beal to have an MVP-caliber season, Morris to regin form, Bol to be a 6MOY candidate, Dunn to have an Herbert Jones-like rookie season... and even then, I don't think I'd be confident. My eyes just can't unsee last season.

Anyone here optimistic about our chances this season? I could use some hopium.

I like our chances as good as anyone else in the West.

Beal missed a majority of his games the beginning of last season. Since 12-29-2023, he only missed 5 games (6 if you count the game he only played 5 minutes against Kings on February 13th).
During this span of 47 games he averaged 18.6 points per game, 5.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1 steal, shooting 52% FG%, 43% 3P%, 83% FT%. If you actually discount that game he only played 5 minutes, those numbers are slightly higher (18.9 points, 5.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds).

Grayson Allen had a career year offensively despite being under Vogel who I think is a terrible offensive head coach. I think Plumlee is a better fit than Eubanks and a higher-IQ player. I think Bol Bol could easily have a career year and if there was any reason to hold him back this past season, there shouldn't be any this year since the Suns can offer him more than just the vet minimum.

I also think just having another year of continuity with the starting five is good for chemistry.

Plus... as of now, I don't think the Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, Kings, Warriors have improved.
OKC and Pelicans are the clear-cut teams that have improved this off-season IMO, but Pelicans will come down to the health of their players. Rockets possibly improve organically. Grizzlies should improve, but I'm not convinced just yet that they are out of the woods.
I'd say Wolves also could improve organically, but that all depends on Anthony Edwards and possibly Jaden McDaniels. I could see the Wolves trading KAT possibly for more roster balance.
The Mavs I could see being a top team or middle of the pack still. Kyrie is still the x-factor, and getting Klay should improve them, but they did lose some role players that accepted their role. We will see if Klay is okay with his new role.

[SkyBill40]

I think we'll be lucky if we can claw our way to sixth in the west again this season.

[sunskerr]

Zero expectations

[mkot]

We need a BETTER point guard

No money

[darealjuice]

If you're looking for reasons to be optimistic:

We were the 6th seed last year despite a completely new roster and early injury issues for Beal disrupting chemistry. We should be a better team right away just by returning all of our starters, having Royce for the entire season, and adding a solid back-up point guard that has starting experience and isn't old as dirt in Monte Morris. Plumlee will be a solid backup for Nurkic, and losing Eubanks and Gordon is addition by subtraction. We're not going to be spending half the season wondering which career end of the bench wing will turn into a starter for us. Nuggets and the Clippers also look like they could be taking a step back next season.

Replacing Vogel will definitely make a difference. He should have never been hired in the first place. Anecdotal, but I heard that players did not respect Vogel or take him seriously. They said KD wouldn't even look at Vogel and would pretty much actively ignore him by the end of the season (I definitely sound like Stephen A and it doesn't help his coach killer accusations, but it's coming straight from a player on the team lol). Budenholzer is just a much better coach, especially for this roster.

Is that enough to make us contenders? I doubt it, unless we get All-NBA seasons from Booker, Beal, and KD with good showings from all of our role players along with a surprise impact rotation player, but maybe it will be more fun to watch than last year's painful slog.

[bigfoot]

Sitting at 13 rostered players

1. Book (G)
2. Beal (G)
3. Grayson (G)
4. Morris (G)
5. Durant (F)
6. O'Neale (F)
7. Bol (F)
8. Little (F)
9. Dunn (F)
10. Roddy (F)
11. Nurk (C)
12. Plumlee (C)
13. Ighodaro (C)

Plus two-ways

1. Gillespie (G)
2. Bridges (F)

Still some room to grow

[Blonde]

Sitting at 13 rostered players

1. Book (G)
2. Beal (G)
3. Grayson (G)
4. Morris (G)
5. Dunn (G)
6. Durant (F)
7. O'Neale (F)
8. Bol (F)
9. Little (F)
10. Roddy (F)
11. Ighodaro (F)
12. Nurk (C)
13. Plumlee (C)

Plus two-ways

1. Gillespie (G)
2. Bridges (F)

Still some room to grow

I think you can pretty safely label Dunn as a forward and Ighodaro as a C.

[Qwigglez]

Read on Twitter

[bwgood77]

I feel like that lady in back 2 the future where she runs up to marty and yells SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER... SAVE OUR FUTURE, TRADE KD.

We could have a time traveler come back from 2032 to Ishbia and say "I've been to the future...trade KD NOW! I'm warning you!"

Ishbia would call him in an idiot.

I just am not sure he wants to eat crow 18 months after making the trade for Durant.

But this is the offseason at least for one more year - if not two until Beal is done
no flexibility cap wise
no real trades
missing draft picks
signing vet minimum players
roster keeps getting older

I don't mind keeping him or whatever. I mean they are all in. It would be hard for him to swallow to pivot.

I haven't talked a lot lately about trading KD...

but will say that I think his value is still pretty high. I feel like it would be as high as when we traded for him if he had the same remaining years on his contract as he did then, even though he's older.

Because when we traded for him, he had played 90 games total in the 3 years prior, which was crazy, AND he was injured WHEN we traded for him. Sounds even crazier typing it thinking of what we traded. But after getting injured AGAIN on return and then coming back for the final 8 games and playoffs, he played his first healthy season since 18-19 (and playing as many games as he did then, immediately led to injury)...he hadn't played that many (78) since 13-14.

So he's only played more games in a season than last season once in the past decade. That was great for us that he was healthy and it allowed us to get into the playoffs, but I don't know that we should assume that's just the norm now. After 2014 he only played more than 75 once...the year he tore his achilles at the end of it. I can't imagine how we'd look had that happened in the playoffs.

Anyway, I think we could get a pretty nice haul for him right now, but there is a chance that next year it plummets if he faces injury. He has had A LOT of serious injuries over the years.

As for Beal, he's not really tradeable, and is worth more, and he had a fairly significant injury the year after he won the scoring title, which impacted the next two seasons, but since then most of his missed games are either due to tanking or from fluke injuries like last year where he landed on someone awkwardly and when he got elbowed in the nose hard. The back thing was worrisome but that ended up not being something that appears chronic after he finally got past it.

Beal only has two years after this one as you noted. He just turned 31, so I think he can play at a high level certainly through this contract. It's not like 38 year old Lowry or 39 year old Paul.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Two remaining spots left to sign Covington and Theiss for added size, defensive versatility, and positional switchability, and to add more physicality and rugged play/depth for the postseason. Ishbia and Jones have done a very impressive job so far! Let's finish very strong!!!! sign these two players (Covington) for starting small forward and (Theiss) for backup Power Forward. Theiss is strong, athletic, mobile, and physical. He shot 36% from three AND has familiarity playing with Plumlee from his time with the paper clips.

[SlovenianDragon]

Two remaining spots left to sign Covington and Theiss for added size, defensive versatility, and positional switchability, and to add more physicality and rugged play/depth for the postseason. Ishbia and Jones have done a very impressive job so far! Let's finish very strong!!!! sign these two players (Covington) for starting small forward and (Theiss) for backup Power Forward. Theiss is strong, athletic, mobile, and physical. He shot 36% from three AND has familiarity playing with Plumlee from his time with the paper clips.

Covington blows.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Two remaining spots left to sign Covington and Theiss for added size, defensive versatility, and positional switchability, and to add more physicality and rugged play/depth for the postseason. Ishbia and Jones have done a very impressive job so far! Let's finish very strong!!!! sign these two players (Covington) for starting small forward and (Theiss) for backup Power Forward. Theiss is strong, athletic, mobile, and physical. He shot 36% from three AND has familiarity playing with Plumlee from his time with the paper clips.

Covington blows.

Maybe, but I really think he could be good in our lineup playing with our big three, and also not sure there are any better options remaining in free agency for the vet minimum man. I mean our options are obviously pretty severely limited. And under those conditions, and considering what's realistically available to us (outside of trades), Cington in a simplified type of PJ Tucker role could still be very solid if even on a 1 yr deal. We'v done a very good job so far. But at this point it'll mostly be about adding quality vet depth for our last two spots

[SkyBill40]

I'd be surprised if Theiss took a minimum deal. I'd figured he would get more than that. He would certainly be a nice get, but I doubt we can swing that one. I'd love to pilfer DayRon Sharpe from BKN, but I don't think they're going to give him up easy.