2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation

[bwgood77]

It's weird Allen is not shooting 3s. In other games he didn't touch it much, but in this one he was driving. I know his % last year is not sustainable, but I hope it wasn't a huge fluke. If so, he wasn't worth near his contract.

And if he can't hit 3s at a decent rate, I definitely agree about trying to trade him for a big.

I was wary of Buff Grayson after preseason. I know that with training, you can bulk up and retain your shooting ability, but when you're the best shooter in the league, why risk it? I'd rather have a redundant 2/3 guard who can play than a mediocre, undersized forward. Dude looks more like David Roddy than the guy we saw last season.

... Then again, he just had a baby. Might just have to give him a few months to recover the sleep he's surely lost.

I generally felt what he provided with his shooting was too important, but the way Dunn and Royce are shooting, it may not be necessary. Though we have barely pulled out some wins as well. I hope he gets back to making 3s. Even if we were to trade him, he will only have decent value if he continues to be a good shooter.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Last in offensive rebounding is an issue if Nurkic is stuck to the floor because we can't shoot much better and are still not top 10 offense

[garrick]

It's weird Allen is not shooting 3s. In other games he didn't touch it much, but in this one he was driving. I know his % last year is not sustainable, but I hope it wasn't a huge fluke. If so, he wasn't worth near his contract.

And if he can't hit 3s at a decent rate, I definitely agree about trying to trade him for a big.

Royce O'Neale is looking awesome now. I mean, he looks like a different player almost.

And overall, I think Plumlee is more consistent than Nurkic. Nurkic, I don't know. He will have a big game and then he's had a few crap games. He was ok.

Being that Nurkic only has 1 more year on his contract after this, I wouldn't mind trading him and Allen for a C, even if that C is vastly overpaid. Though if we can't trade more than one player at a time, then we could trade Allen for a C and just let Nurkic expire which would help us on the apron stuff.

Ideally we trade Nurkic. I'd love to get Steven Adams. He doesn't have as many skills as Nurkic, but always is #1 in the NBA by a long shot in offehsive rebounds and gives us physicality.

He expires, so I wonder how much he will get in the offseason, or if Houston would rather turn him into a C that is around for another season. I expect he will make more than the minimum next summer, but if we could get him for the minimum that would be nice.

Allen looks not ins shape which is understandable since he missed time with the birth of a baby so I expect him to shoot better but we really have a glut at SG right now so he's really one of our few tradable pieces.

Nurkic I think we're stuck with him sadly. We just need to bench him when he is sucking mightily like last game because he can get you in a huge hole with his turnovers and bad defense.

[Slim Charless]

What would be the motivation for the Bucks? A Dame / Booker backcourt doesn't fit IMO. If the Bucks trade Giannis it will be for a total rebuild or for a star who has less overlap with Dame than Book.

It'd be a rebuild for them. Probably need to follow it up with a Dame trade. Probably to Miami or maybe even Houston.

Book is 28, he's absolutely a win now piece, especially at $55m a year

Well, he'd be in a weaker conference, so that helps. With what the Bucks would get back from a Dame trade, I think they're still competitive. Miami/Houston would offer a decent package.

The bigger issue is him being willing to play in Wisconsin. Which, he'd probably be ok with. He from right next door in Michigan after all.

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

[dremill24]

Put down some thoughts on the games so far:

https://hoopsnexus.substack.com/p/suns-insights-week-onetwo

[lilfishi22]

Put down some thoughts on the games so far:

https://hoopsnexus.substack.com/p/suns-insights-week-onetwo

Will have a deeper read through later but only have time to read the numbers stuff at the end which is interesting.

- I'm a bit surprised by the single Big 3 line ups. With Beal out for 2 games, there must've been a decent amount of single big 3 lineups during those games and they couldn't be that bad right?
- Those Nurk minutes are insanely bad.....
- BRef has our Points per 100 as 115.6pts for 9th in the league. ORB% is 16.2% for last. Wonder why the discrepancy.

[dremill24]

Put down some thoughts on the games so far:

https://hoopsnexus.substack.com/p/suns-insights-week-onetwo

Will have a deeper read through later but only have time to read the numbers stuff at the end which is interesting.

- I'm a bit surprised by the single Big 3 line ups. With Beal out for 2 games, there must've been a decent amount of single big 3 lineups during those games and they couldn't be that bad right?
- Those Nurk minutes are insanely bad.....
- BRef has our Points per 100 as 115.6pts for 9th in the league. ORB% is 16.2% for last. Wonder why the discrepancy.

Cleaning the Glass filters out garbage time n heaves n stuff

Could also have been updated since I pulled the #s too i suppose

Lineups are just kinda nothing atm, all it takes is one stretch to change it pretty drastically. The Beal only stuff doesnt look nearly as good without that 1st quarter vs Lakers, for example.

[AtheJ415]

This team is a joke. Giving up wide open 3s, turning it over left and right, not running offense.

Why the hell is it so hard for our superstars to focus down the stretch?

[Mulhollanddrive]

Is it a good sign we're 5-1 despite being so inconsistent?

Problems with no athleticism equals -

Slow offense relying on jump shots
Lack of offensive rebounds
Lack of transition points
Defense points in paint not much rim protection
Struggle defensive rebounding when opposition aggressive

[AtheJ415]

Is it a good sign we're 5-1 despite being so inconsistent?

Problems with no athleticism equals -

Slow offense relying on jump shots
Lack of offensive rebounds
Lack of transition points
Defense points in paint not much rim protection
Struggle defensive rebounding when opposition aggressive

I just want us to show maturity / leadership. Nearly blowing a 20+ point lead to probably the worst team in the West is not inspiring.

We have the best talent in the league this year. We have a coach finally. We have to do it this year. Nurkic is the clear weak spot. I really hope we try Bol Bol and Plumlee as starters at some point this season.

[Saberestar]

This team is a joke. Giving up wide open 3s, turning it over left and right, not running offense.

Why the hell is it so hard for our superstars to focus down the stretch?

This team isn't a joke at all. 5-1 so far and we have everything to win the chip.

We couldn't get the W by 20 and what? The Blazers aren't that bad, they fought and make it interesting for the last two minutes. That's all.

[sunsbg]

Talent is there but to beat the best teams a good system and players sticking to it are required. Teams which win titles don't have obvious weaknesses on either offense or defense. Fun team so far as up/down by 20 still keeps the game interesting, but I doubt OKC and BOS had as many collapses in their games combined.

[flagstaff]

This team is a joke. Giving up wide open 3s, turning it over left and right, not running offense.

Why the hell is it so hard for our superstars to focus down the stretch?

This team isn't a joke at all. 5-1 so far and we have everything to win the chip.

We couldn't get the W by 20 and what? The Blazers aren't that bad, they fought and make it interesting for the last two minutes. That's all.

I agree. They had a great third and thought they had it won. Probably started thinking about what was waiting for them at home. I'm not saying superstar stuff. Movie, popcorn, unwind started early, maybe?

[bwgood77]

Teams always blow leads in games. They will go hot shooting like in the 3rd quarters (especially the previous game vs the Clips) and have cold streaks.

It's nice to see them pull them out though. But it got scary close. That steal at the end was scary but lucky nothing happened. I'm thinking great rebound from Beal on their last possession and get rid of it because I wasn't sure about his elbow, and he got it to Tyus and then to Book, which was nice in case of a foul, and then boom, a turnover. Luckily he missed.

I still think we need more inside presence, but at least Nurkic is getting boards, and Plumlee is playing a little better except when he tried to dribble too much and got it stolen. It's funny, it seems everyone feels they can bring it up the floor, even the Cs, right after we get the two best turnover ratio PGs in the NBA. But Beal basically acting as a PG quite often...he is actually looking pretty good and creates some nice plays.

[darealjuice]

Wonder what it'd take to get Jakob Poeltl out of Toronto? His contract is pretty similar to Nurkic, and they're not exactly competing for anything right now.

[dremill24]

Wonder what it'd take to get Jakob Poeltl out of Toronto? His contract is pretty similar to Nurkic, and they're not exactly competing for anything right now.

It would take trading one of the big 3 since Poeltl makes more than Nurkic

[AtheJ415]

This team is a joke. Giving up wide open 3s, turning it over left and right, not running offense.

Why the hell is it so hard for our superstars to focus down the stretch?

This team isn't a joke at all. 5-1 so far and we have everything to win the chip.

We couldn't get the W by 20 and what? The Blazers aren't that bad, they fought and make it interesting for the last two minutes. That's all.

We left Bantam wide open for the game winner, then got trapped in back court and turned it over and Avdija blew a wide open layup. We were lucky not to blow a 20+ point lead to the worst team in the league.

Until the 4th quarter meltdowns stop, nobody can take this team seriously

[bwgood77]

Great to see Allen hitting 3s. I noticed in last night's game Book and Beal play really well together. They seem to have really good chemistry. A lot better with either of them and KD. It seems they complement each other and feed each other for great plays, whereas with KD and Book it's a bit more of your turn/my turn.

[darealjuice]

Wonder what it'd take to get Jakob Poeltl out of Toronto? His contract is pretty similar to Nurkic, and they're not exactly competing for anything right now.

It would take trading one of the big 3 since Poeltl makes more than Nurkic

Forgot the 110% rule is gone