2025-26 Season News & Discussion

[Sane]

I knew this season was going to be ugly, but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad this quickly. Yikes.

Not sure if you are watching the games but we lost just in OT @ Jazz without two starters. Close to 2W-2L playing 3 games on the road.

The start of the season has been OK and we need a couple things: Jalen Green on the court and some improvement on defense.

Found time to watch the game and it's not bad other than the horrible start. Gillespie more impactful than Booker in first half is weird. No idea why Ott is starting Oso, Richards has looked better in preseason and already swatted 3 shots in first half when we are talking about defensive improvements. Williams should be starting. There is no sense in bringing him off the bench. Then either Richards or Maluach should come in. Oso is more of a PF, but lack of shooting should take him out of the rotation. Starting him is a lunacy.

I've been wondering why they're starting Dunn and Oso. It's neither the best option for the future nor the best option for the present. Maluach and Fleming are obviously the future at PF/C. Williams and Brooks would be the best PF/C duo.

Oso and Ryan are talented guys but most of their work is their free throws and jumpers in practice. That will take 1-2 years. They can certainly develop that with 20 minutes off the bench.

Developing Fleming and Maluach asap is most important imo.

[KdoubleDees23]

Man what we should have done is grabbed Giddey! He would have been the perfect fit for this team

[lilfishi22]

Man what we should have done is grabbed Giddey! He would have been the perfect fit for this team

A S&T would've been the only pathway to getting him with some assets going back to Chicago but I'm pretty sure Chicago was always going to resign him. They just wanted to sweat him to get him to sign a smaller deal which they eventually got so good for them

He was very high on my wish list, especially when we were contemplating throwing a S&T offer for Kuminga (who I am very low on) but I always knew Chicago would make it near impossible to get him because they would just match almost any offer.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[MrMiyagi]

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Now that's the face of a man who would become entitled if he actually got minutes.

[lilfishi22]

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Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

[sunsbg]

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Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

Nobody wants 30 mins for Maluach though. Nr10 pick should be taking minutes from 2nd year Nr40 pick as soon as possible. Let's see when this happens.

[sunsfan1o1]

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Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

Nobody wants 30 mins for Maluach though. Nr10 pick should be taking minutes from 2nd year Nr40 pick as soon as possible. Let's see when this happens.

At this point I’d like to see what KM can do cuz Oso and Richards ain’t it. I don’t understand the obsession with Oso he does nothing. He needs to earn his minutes just like KM. Nick should be the sole backup.
Also stop playing Hayes.

[Saberestar]

Gambo:

Suns guard Jalen Green did not suffer a setback from what I was told last night. It's just that hamstring injuries are tricky and they take time to heal.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

Of course context is important man, I agree!

Like the context of Maluach being able to hit threes which neither Richards or Williams or even Ighodaro can do. He is also very solid defensively which Ighodaro hasn't been.


I'm not asking for him to start, but when rotations aren't working, a reasonable consideration might just be to actually try something different this early in the season to know what you have in a player.

When it's all said and done, you don't get better without in game experience. How has not playing Makuach worked out for us in these 4 games? How has the rebounding, paint protection and 2nd chance points by the opposition affected us?

What does Maluach provide in skillset and stature? It's just not rocket science that he as well as flemming getting minutes over Ighodaro should be a thing. The point of the tweet above is to illustrate the variance between investment of those teams in their future vs. Our franchise continuing to kick the can down the road with vets while losing regardless.

What if playing those two ( Maluach and Flemming) actually energizes certain aspects for thos team? But even beyond that possibility. Maluach offers more length for rebounding and rim protection with were factors ( outside of Williams) in our losses.

Size disparity too. Fleming is more versatile defensively than either Ighodaro or Hayes at the 4, offers better size, and can actually hit shots and score better than any of Ighodaro, Hayes or Dunn. So why not play him some when O'neale sits?

All contextual factors contributing to our losses ( if the plan is to win)! There's no rational reason why either player shouldn't be getting more opportunities given our projections, weaknesses and how both players skillsets actually address those weaknesses that clearly contributed to losses.

[lilfishi22]

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Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

Nobody wants 30 mins for Maluach though. Nr10 pick should be taking minutes from 2nd year Nr40 pick as soon as possible. Let's see when this happens.

Oso is getting early minutes because it's essentially contract year for him and he's already 23, he should be ready to contribute more. He showed some consistency and promise in the final two months of last season and with a full off season of work, this is a prime opportunity to see what he's able to turn that into impact and production while we've been ramping up Williams. Williams is also getting more and more minutes and is now starting whereas Oso has been scaled back to 12-13mpg the last two games. And for better or for worse, it's also contract year for Williams so he's going to be our starter this year, likely/hopefully playing good minutes at the 5. Richards also needs to get reps as a vet who you now what you're getting from him off the bench so he's been getting about 10-15mpg off the bench and I expect as our rotations settle, he'll get a more consistent 15-20mpg as the first big off the bench. Again, he's also in contract year so I expect we'll also give him decent minutes as a showcase to move him before the trade deadline this year.

The one guy we can have patience in is Maluach. He's under team control for half a decade unlike the other 3, he's one of the younger guys in the draft at around 19 years and 2 months and he might have the least basketball experience of the top 10 in that draft just based on when he first picked up a basketball. And quite frankly, he has the least ability to do things with the ball in his hands at this point compared to the others in the lottery.

Ultimately, we have a bit of a log jam at the 5 with no one in that C rotation really having the skillset or quickness to play any other position. Might have an argument for Oso at the 4 but he's still pretty limited to just passing the ball. I think the plan to bring KM along slowly isn't a bad idea. Again, I'm just not going to overreact to ANYTHING this early in the season. Whether we're 1-4 or 4-1 or whether KM is getting good minutes or not, I'm not gonna make a fuss out of it

[lilfishi22]

Context is important. How multi-positional is the player? How many players are in front of them on the depth chart? How ready and/or deserving are they for minutes right away?

As much as I like to see Maluach play more minutes, he's extremely one dimensional which means he can only play one position, he has 3 guys with more experience in front of him and with one who we kinda need to be playing decent minutes for us to be competitive (Williams). Guys like VJ and Cooper have multidimensional skills so there's just more minutes you can find for them at different positions.

At the end of the day I see these urge from the fans every year to want to see rooks/young guys player more minutes right away, whether it's the 28th pick in the draft of the 10th pick in the draft, whether we're competitive or rebuilding, whether we have a rookie coach or an experienced championship calibre coach, they all have dealt with rookies much the same way, with patience.

Nobody wants 30 mins for Maluach though. Nr10 pick should be taking minutes from 2nd year Nr40 pick as soon as possible. Let's see when this happens.

At this point I’d like to see what KM can do cuz Oso and Richards ain’t it. I don’t understand the obsession with Oso he does nothing. He needs to earn his minutes just like KM. Nick should be the sole backup.
Also stop playing Hayes.

Oso has earned an opportunity to start of the season ahead of someone with no NBA experience, a mid-tier back up and a starting level C working on his conditioning. He played well in the last 17 games of last season when he averaged about 7/5 in 25mpg mostly off the bench while being efficient and logging a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. So he's earned that look but it doesn't means he's cemented his position on the depth chart either. He hasn't looked good to start the season and we've already started to taper off his minutes with him playing about 21mpg in the first 3 games and now just under 13mpg in the last two. I expect that downward trend to continue unless he earns more.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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How much cap space should we theoretically have to sign an impact offensive option? Even if that free agent is only decent but not great!

[Ghost of Kleine]

Nobody wants 30 mins for Maluach though. Nr10 pick should be taking minutes from 2nd year Nr40 pick as soon as possible. Let's see when this happens.

At this point I’d like to see what KM can do cuz Oso and Richards ain’t it. I don’t understand the obsession with Oso he does nothing. He needs to earn his minutes just like KM. Nick should be the sole backup.
Also stop playing Hayes.

Oso has earned an opportunity to start of the season ahead of someone with no NBA experience, a mid-tier back up and a starting level C working on his conditioning. He played well in the last 17 games of last season when he averaged about 7/5 in 25mpg mostly off the bench while being efficient and logging a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. So he's earned that look but it doesn't means he's cemented his position on the depth chart either. He hasn't looked good to start the season and we've already started to taper off his minutes with him playing about 21mpg in the first 3 games and now just under 13mpg in the last two. I expect that downward trend to continue unless he earns more.

Sure he's earned some opportunities, but if the plan is to win, and he's not contributing impactfully, it's only reasonable to make adjustments to address our weaknesses that are contributing to those negative outcomes.


Flemmings' skillset addresses those needs wherein Ighodaros' doesn't still. I'm not asking for Ighodaro to never play again, rather for coach Ott to just begin making logical adjustments. If the plan is to try and win more games. Last season's roster being different than our current iteration, they and find rotations that actually compliment our team needs is good basketball.

[lilfishi22]

At this point I’d like to see what KM can do cuz Oso and Richards ain’t it. I don’t understand the obsession with Oso he does nothing. He needs to earn his minutes just like KM. Nick should be the sole backup.
Also stop playing Hayes.

Oso has earned an opportunity to start of the season ahead of someone with no NBA experience, a mid-tier back up and a starting level C working on his conditioning. He played well in the last 17 games of last season when he averaged about 7/5 in 25mpg mostly off the bench while being efficient and logging a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. So he's earned that look but it doesn't means he's cemented his position on the depth chart either. He hasn't looked good to start the season and we've already started to taper off his minutes with him playing about 21mpg in the first 3 games and now just under 13mpg in the last two. I expect that downward trend to continue unless he earns more.

Sure he's earned some opportunities, but if the plan is to win, and he's not contributing impactfully, it's only reasonable to make adjustments to address our weaknesses that are contributing to those negative outcomes.


Flemings' skillset addresses those needs wherein Ighodaros' doesn't still. I'm not asking for Ighodaro to never play again, rather for coach Ott to just begin making logical adjustments. If the plan is to try and win more games. Last season's roster being different than our current iteration, they and find rotations that actually compliment our team needs is good basketball.

We have made adjustments. He's playing 12-13mpg when he began the season with 21mpg. As I said, he's probably going to continue to get minutes but it'll be fewer if he continues disappointing. Or it'll go up if he starts playing well again.

I’d like to see Fleming get more minutes, but at this early stage he seems more suited as a stretch-4 rather than a stretch 5. He’s younger, has less NBA seasoning, conditioning and needs more physical development compared to Oso, who at 23 already has 2 off seasons and a full NBA season under his belt and more experience at big man minutes. Oso also spent significant time playing at the five in college so the transition to an NBA 5 is more natural for him. If there's minutes to be found for Fleming, it's really at the 4 where we've been playing an undersized Dunn/Brooks there as well as an even more undersized Royce.

And if we consider the last two games and how closely contested they were, I think there's an argument to be made that going with even less experienced guys may have a detrimental effect. I'm not ready to criticise Ott and his rotations just yet, he's a rookie coach trying to implement a new system, on a team with a lot of young blood and it'll take time to figure out the "right" rotation and minutes for each guy. Again, I'm not going to overreact about 10-15mpg for one young guy over another.

[Mr Puddles]

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How much cap space should we theoretically have to sign an impact offensive option? Even if that free agent is only decent but not great!

Suns will be above cap the but below the apron, carrying a little over 23 mil in dead salary into next season between Beal, EJ, Nassir. Certainly won't be able to pursue Trae but our options during the offseason are:

• Aggregate salaries in trades​
• Use the taxpayer mid-level exception​ (about 6 mil)
• Take back more money than they send out in trades​

Suns can certainly improve the roster, but the strategy will likely be similar to this offseason, i.e. target guys with high upside who haven't panned out yet (Williams, Green, Kuminga) and then hope a change of scenery means they reach their potential.

If the Cavs don't pick up Lonzo's team option, he might be someone to target.

[KdoubleDees23]

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How much cap space should we theoretically have to sign an impact offensive option? Even if that free agent is only decent but not great!

Signing Trae Young would be the biggest waste of a player in the history of the suns. Trae isn't a winner and he is a stat padder. Guy sucks on defense as well

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Mr Puddles]

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I was really looking forward to seeing a healthy starting lineup tomorrow