Suns Offseason Thread 4: Where's Terrence Williams?

[letsgosuns]

Tucker is never going to get any better than he is. He has maxed out his potential. Warren has the potential be a 20+ point scorer this year. His offensive repertoire is on a different level than Tucker. He was awesome in the Summer League. It is pointless to hold him back. I think a Bledsoe, Knight, and Warren lineup has far more potential than a Bledsoe, Knight, and Tucker lineup.

I have watched Tucker on the Suns for three years now. He is a bad offensive player. The last two years as a starter he averaged 9 points a game on less than 44% fg. He is never going to be a scorer. Warren reminds me so much of Cedric Ceballos. You put him in the starting lineup and I think he averages 15 ppg easy. If he does really well, he could be at 18-20 ppg. He is the best cutter on the team by far. It is not even close. The Suns want to be a fast paced team and Warren is perfect for that too.

Tucker is the one player in the starting lineup that the Suns already have an internal upgrade for. Tucker does not need to start. People might say Warren is not ready defensively but I disagree. He needs to be out there as much as possible. Who cares if Tucker is a better defender right now. It is not like Tucker is some DPOY candidate or something. He was just the best defender on a bad defensive team the last couple of years. Amare Stoudemire was never a good defender but he was an unstoppable scoring machine. Would you want to sit Amare in favor of some player that sucks at scoring but plays a little better on defense? No way.

[sunstrooper]

Warren's best quality in my opinion is his off the ball play. Very active and often makes cuts that would be easy baskets if exploited by his teammates. But i agree he should not start at this point. For intimidating opponents right out of the locker room and setting the tone and the energy for the team i think PJ is the best.

[thamadkant]

I think people boil stuff like this down to ppg and other stats per game. The more important thing is shooting percentages from both 2 and 3, getting to the FT line and hitting at a high rate, rebounding well and playing good D.

It doesn't matter who scores the points if we can do the above things.

In the first half of last season suns had 3 PGs who could score 15+ and have Morris and the bench provide some points.

In the second half with Knight and Bledsoe main scorers the suns struggled to score 100.

Suns are built for multiple scorers to be competitive.

In the second half of the season we failed to play defense ... Len was out with an injury. Because of the piss poor defense we didn't rebound well, giving up hordes of offensive rebounds, nor did we get very many fast break opportunities. Knight was out much of the time too and really never a chance to mesh on the offensive side. I expect a full training camp will make a very big difference in our offense. I also think people are really underestimating the defensive chops our team will have. Bledsoe, Tucker, Chandler, and Len are the real deal on defense. Weems is supposedly a very good defender. Kief isn't bad if he sticks around. We could easily be a top defensive team.

Also Bwgood is absolutely correct that our 3 point shooting was miserable last year. We have definitely added more long distance shooters and hopefully we see serious improvement.

3pt shooting in the SECOND half...

And I didn't disagree with BW, I added to it.

Suns don't have a 25ppg scorer who can put up 30+ when the team goes through him.

Hence my comment that the Suns need bench contribution... Which doesn't disagree with any notion that the Suns 3pt shooting also needs a boost.

[NTB]

Knight, Booker, Weems, Teletovic, Leuer are good 3pt shooters. So we definitely adressed that problem.

Also, Knight's 11 game is totally fluke. You can't expect a guy coming to team in February and mesh with players that he doesn't know anything about. I watched most of the games this season and when Knight came to team, he couldn't even get passes when he was free, waiting at 3pt line. He couldn't communicate with the team. It's normal.

Also remember that Bledsoe-Dragic combo worked out since day 1 because of training camp. Both players said that. They built the chemistry in training camp and they were ready when the season started. So yeah, I think Knight will mesh with Bledsoe very well and we will have a better 3pt shooting team.

[Qwigglez]

For the suns to win over 50 games, they need Bledsoe and Knight to be both above 15ppg. And the bench to be top 5 in the league.

Goodwin, Booker, Weems, Warren will need to combine for 35-40 points a game.

I was really thinking they both need to be 18ppg players. Ideally, one of them make the jump to 20 a game.
(Just gonna do a stats per game breakdown.)
Bledsoe-18 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Knight-18 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Tucker-8 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 SPG
Kieff-16 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1 SPG
Chandler 9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Weems-8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG
Warren-8 PPG, 3 RPG,
Mirza-6 PPG, 3 RPG
Len-7 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.8 BPG
Goodwin- 6.5 PPG, 2 APG, 2 RPG
Booker-5 PPG

[NTB]

For the suns to win over 50 games, they need Bledsoe and Knight to be both above 15ppg. And the bench to be top 5 in the league.

Goodwin, Booker, Weems, Warren will need to combine for 35-40 points a game.

I was really thinking they both need to be 18ppg players. Ideally, one of them make the jump to 20 a game.
(Just gonna do a stats per game breakdown.)
Bledsoe-18 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Knight-18 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Tucker-8 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 SPG
Kieff-16 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1 SPG
Chandler 9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Weems-8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG
Warren-8 PPG, 3 RPG,
Mirza-6 PPG, 3 RPG
Len-7 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.8 BPG
Goodwin- 6.5 PPG, 2 APG, 2 RPG
Booker-5 PPG

My guess:

Bledsoe - 15-6-6
Knight - 16-4-4
Tucker - 7-6-1
Kieff - 14-5-2(ast)
Chandler - 12-10-1.2

Weems - 12-3-3
Warren - 12-5-2
Teletovic - 10-5
Len - 8-7-2
Goodwin - 5-2-1
Booker - 6-2-2

[batsmasher]

I think PJ deserves to start but wouldn't be surprised if Weems proves to be a better version of him a steals the starters spot. TJ's defense isn't where it needs to be, especially out of the PnR.

[Qwigglez]

Spoiler:

I was really thinking they both need to be 18ppg players. Ideally, one of them make the jump to 20 a game.
(Just gonna do a stats per game breakdown.)
Bledsoe-18 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Knight-18 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Tucker-8 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 SPG
Kieff-16 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1 SPG
Chandler 9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Weems-8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG
Warren-8 PPG, 3 RPG,
Mirza-6 PPG, 3 RPG
Len-7 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.8 BPG
Goodwin- 6.5 PPG, 2 APG, 2 RPG
Booker-5 PPG

My guess:

Bledsoe - 15-6-6
Knight - 16-4-4
Tucker - 7-6-1
Kieff - 14-5-2(ast)
Chandler - 12-10-1.2

Weems - 12-3-3
Warren - 12-5-2
Teletovic - 10-5
Len - 8-7-2
Goodwin - 5-2-1
Booker - 6-2-2

You really feel like Bledsoe/Knight/Kieff will regress? I think Chandler will certainly not have the same stats as last year because we will probably have him playing 28 minutes a game, giving Len 20 minutes as center back-up, plus Len should also be given minutes with Chandler, I'd say maybe 6-8 minutes per game.
Tucker stats shouldn't be as good as last year since we are all hoping Warren will start to outplay him, so Tucker getting 7ppg isn't unrealistic.
I'm not entirely sold on Weems yet, and Warren still needs to find some three point range before I give him more than 10 points a game. Not because I expect him to be drilling two or three threes a game, but it would open up his mid-range game and driving to the basket for sure.
I think Booker will eventually earn backup shooting guard minutes by early January, and we'll end up trading Goodwin unless he breaks out beginning of the year, but I doubt it.

[NTB]

Spoiler:

I was really thinking they both need to be 18ppg players. Ideally, one of them make the jump to 20 a game.
(Just gonna do a stats per game breakdown.)
Bledsoe-18 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Knight-18 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Tucker-8 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 SPG
Kieff-16 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1 SPG
Chandler 9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Weems-8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG
Warren-8 PPG, 3 RPG,
Mirza-6 PPG, 3 RPG
Len-7 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.8 BPG
Goodwin- 6.5 PPG, 2 APG, 2 RPG
Booker-5 PPG

My guess:

Bledsoe - 15-6-6
Knight - 16-4-4
Tucker - 7-6-1
Kieff - 14-5-2(ast)
Chandler - 12-10-1.2

Weems - 12-3-3
Warren - 12-5-2
Teletovic - 10-5
Len - 8-7-2
Goodwin - 5-2-1
Booker - 6-2-2

You really feel like Bledsoe/Knight/Kieff will regress? I think Chandler will certainly not have the same stats as last year because we will probably have him playing 28 minutes a game, giving Len 20 minutes as center back-up, plus Len should also be given minutes with Chandler, I'd say maybe 6-8 minutes per game.
Tucker stats shouldn't be as good as last year since we are all hoping Warren will start to outplay him, so Tucker getting 7ppg isn't unrealistic.
I'm not entirely sold on Weems yet, and Warren still needs to find some three point range before I give him more than 10 points a game. Not because I expect him to be drilling two or three threes a game, but it would open up his mid-range game and driving to the basket for sure.
I think Booker will eventually earn backup shooting guard minutes by early January, and we'll end up trading Goodwin unless he breaks out beginning of the year, but I doubt it.

It's not regressing. I predict more balanced scoring between our players.

[Qwigglez]

^I get that, but I think someone is gonna step it up and become the scoring leader and I just don't think our bench is capable of producing 50 points a game for an entire season.

[RunDogGun]

Well, I'd rather Warren start. I think he's ready.

Defensively he isn't. Currently we can put Tucker on 2-5 positions, and he does a decent job on all those. He doesn't take a lot of shots, so he doesn't take the ball out of other player's hands. Because he worked on his shot, he provides a needed spacing that Warren just doesn't, at this time.

Plus I really think Warren will do well coming off the bench, and provide scoring, while either Bledsoe or Knight rest.

I like Tucker but I would rather more of an offensive punch to start the games for us. I guess we'll see how much they're worked on their game over the summer. I just remember us struggling to score down the stretch last year.

I'm assuming Knight will be closer to his Milw scoring than his brief time with us. Unless Warren has really worked on his three point shot, but chose not to show it in the SL, we lose the spacing we need for our two guards. If the defense isn't as needed as the offense, we could always bring Warren early. I think Jeff will start Tucker.

Defensively I don't want to wait until the opposing team's best wing to get into a rhythm shooting, and then try and put PJ on him later. Getting 35 points in a quarter would be great, but giving up 36 to 40, would not.

[NavLDO]

So we are going to be the second worst team in the western conference.

http://arizonasports.com/2015/08/10/espn-writer-phoenix-suns-have-second-worst-roster-construction-in-western-conference/

A few points I agree with about this.
1)

The way Doolittle sees it, the Suns have zero elite players, zero superstars and zero upper-tier starters. What they have is three starters, four second-unit players and three deep reserves.

But But But....he is right, damn it. Nothing else I can say about that.

Spoiler:

2)

Two seasons ago, the Suns performed at a level greater than the sum of their parts. Last season, the opposite was true. This season, they need Jeff Hornacek to coax a repeat of his 2013-14 performance, as Phoenix’s roster doesn’t look as strong on paper as it did at this time a year ago.

Again I have to agree. Some people want to try and say the traded players didnt have enough time to gel. I am a firm believer of "you are what your record says you are".

My last point on this is I think Ryan Mcd is gambing on something no one should ever bet on. That is, trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Ryan is trying to be successful again with a two PG, unfortunately this is not going to work and he is going to look bad The team two years ago was "LED" by goran who had a great connection with the players around him AND he played outstanding while Bledsoe was hurt. And the players filled roles that worked (basically a lightning in a bottle situation). All those players are gone. Talk to any (knowledgable) fan (other than suns fans) and they will agree the 2 PG system is not a recipe for long term success. I may be wrong and Ryan strikes lightning twice but there is absolutely nothing about this situation and system I would bet on. I love this team and want it to succeed, I just dont think this a route that should be taken

.

I don't agree with his assessment of our roster. I haven't read the article yet, but just going off what I know of last year's starting roster and this years--

Bledsoe=Bledsoe
Knight=Dragic (IMO, of course, and this may be the crux of the entire argument)
Warren=Tucker
Morris=Morris
Chandler>2nd yr Len

Then...

Price < IT
Tucker>Green
Weems>Rookie Warren or Marcus
Teletovic>??Wright??
3rd yr Len >>>>> Plumlee

So, it depends on how you look at our depth chart, but Chandler alone gives us an edge--a BIG edge over last year's team. Warren and Len being another year experienced, and having Weems, Teletovic, and Knight also gives us a better edge over Marcus, Green, and Dragic combined--I think fans think too highly of what Dragic brought to the table, and not enough credit to Knight, but yeah, that's my opinion, and probably over "homerish" in my assessment.

[Frank Lee]

I think we'll have a stagnant offense as we try to teach a couple of combo-ers how to be PGs, while hoping one of them can guard the likes of Harden, Thompson, Kobe, up and comers Wiggins/Shabazz and about every other 6'5"+ SG out there. We are creating our own negative mismatch. And please.... don't rebut this with the Defensive Beast named Bledsoe. He isn't a shut down dude, and pads stats with gambling D. Heck, I'd almost bet half his blocks come off his own turnovers.

I think fans think too highly of what Dragic brought to the table

Yup, 'fans' and that other dude named Riley

[King4Day]

I don't quite understand how he rips our roster construction. Whether or not the team performs is one story but the roster balance has never looked better.
Him knocking the last couple seasons makes me think he just didn't watch much of the team or follow what happened. Had there not been any turmoil, there's a good chance the team AT LEAST sniffs 40 wins.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Such an emotional board...

The reason we're not particularly afraid of going small is that the mid-range post-up is no longer a very effective weapon in today's game. If teams want to post Brandon Knight up from 15, let them. We'll design our offense to get buckets at the rim and from 3. That's why my main concern with a Bled/Knight/Warren/PJ/Chandler starting line-up isn't defense but rebounding and transition. If teams decide to pound the ball inside, they could slow our transition offense a la Cleveland in the finals and bury us on the glass. On offense, however, PJ/Mirza/Leuer can all stretch the floor, while Bled/TJ/Archie/Knight can penetrate, and Knight/Booker/Weems can shoot from the wings.

For better or worse, that's the direction the league is going. Not a ton of 4's who can punish that line-up. I wouldn't mind getting an extra 5 in case we want to try to match towers with towers (I have SA in mind). I think the Rockets, with Jones and D-Mo, present a problem in any case. But I'm okay with having PJ guard Griffin or even Z-Bo.

Really, chemistry is everything. Are we passing the ball? Playing with energy? Trusting teammates? Those are the relevant questions. And that's why we should prefer going small to depending on a disgruntled Keef. Get picks, and either a back-up 1 or 5. We need mojo more than anything else.

[Sunsdeuce]

Such an emotional board...

The reason we're not particularly afraid of going small is that the mid-range post-up is no longer a very effective weapon in today's game. If teams want to post Brandon Knight up from 15, let them. We'll design our offense to get buckets at the rim and from 3. That's why my main concern with a Bled/Knight/Warren/PJ/Chandler starting line-up isn't defense but rebounding and transition. If teams decide to pound the ball inside, they could slow our transition offense a la Cleveland in the finals and bury us on the glass. On offense, however, PJ/Mirza/Leuer can all stretch the floor, while Bled/TJ/Archie/Knight can penetrate, and Knight/Booker/Weems can shoot from the wings.

For better or worse, that's the direction the league is going. Not a ton of 4's who can punish that line-up. I wouldn't mind getting an extra 5 in case we want to try to match towers with towers (I have SA in mind). I think the Rockets, with Jones and D-Mo, present a problem in any case. But I'm okay with having PJ guard Griffin or even Z-Bo.

Really, chemistry is everything. Are we passing the ball? Playing with energy? Trusting teammates? Those are the relevant questions. And that's why we should prefer going small to depending on a disgruntled Keef. Get picks, and either a back-up 1 or 5. We need mojo more than anything else.

Two things I disagree with you on.

The reason the post-up game is not effective in today's game is because only a hand full of players actually know how to post up. Duncan is still bringing the Spurs championships and its largely due to his post game and post presence. Memphis is a great low post team and they can be very dominate at times. The post game is a lost art. It opens up SOOOO much for other players, if you have an effective post player. An effective post player causes double teams which opens up easy shots for other players. The NBA is a cycle league. It goes in cycles, once players get back to the basics (the post game) it will go back to a slow down tempo. Again its not that the post game isnt effective, its that players are not taught to post anymore. Amare is a perfect example, he was cluesless in the post game. Even if the post player is 10-15 feet away from the basket, it opens so much if he has to be double teamed. Everyone wants to do face-up jumpers and cross overs now and shoot.

The post game is a lost art due to a combination of things, the euro-trash influence, the one and down college kids, the straight from high school kids, and lack of basketball experience.

Also, chemistry is not that important and in fact is highly overrated. Kobe and shaq had horrible chemistry. Talent wins games. As long as players have talent and can get along on the court and know their roles thats really all that matters. You know what "great chemistry" gets you with an average roster? It gets you 45-48 wins. It gets you a feel good story, while teams with great talent get championships.

[tdjm]

Also, chemistry is not that important and in fact is highly overrated. Kobe and shaq had horrible chemistry. Talent wins games. As long as players have talent and can get along on the court and know their roles thats really all that matters. You know what "great chemistry" gets you with an average roster? It gets you 45-48 wins. It gets you a feel good story, while teams with great talent get championships.

1000000000000000000000000000%.

Good chemistry can make a terrible roster bad, a bad roster mediocre, a mediocre roster good, and a good roster great (and bad chemistry can do all of that in reverse). To win championships, you have to be either truly great or at the very least really good and harmonize into greatness.

First step is getting good players. Leadership and chemistry are secondary and seriously don't matter until your roster matters. Nothing makes good chemistry like winning, anyways - and to win you need good players.

[thamadkant]

For the suns to win over 50 games, they need Bledsoe and Knight to be both above 15ppg. And the bench to be top 5 in the league.

Goodwin, Booker, Weems, Warren will need to combine for 35-40 points a game.

I was really thinking they both need to be 18ppg players. Ideally, one of them make the jump to 20 a game.
(Just gonna do a stats per game breakdown.)
Bledsoe-18 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Knight-18 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Tucker-8 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 SPG
Kieff-16 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1 SPG
Chandler 9 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Weems-8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.5 RPG
Warren-8 PPG, 3 RPG,
Mirza-6 PPG, 3 RPG
Len-7 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.8 BPG
Goodwin- 6.5 PPG, 2 APG, 2 RPG
Booker-5 PPG

My guess:

Bledsoe - 15-6-6
Knight - 16-4-4
Tucker - 7-6-1
Kieff - 14-5-2(ast)
Chandler - 12-10-1.2

Weems - 12-3-3
Warren - 12-5-2
Teletovic - 10-5
Len - 8-7-2
Goodwin - 5-2-1
Booker - 6-2-2

Suns have a glut of wing players and Hornacek and McD will use the D-league to develop Booker some more until he sees minutes in the NBA.

With Teletovic, Knight, Weems... Booker's shooting is not desperately needed.

Warren, Goodwin, Len will get a chance to earn more minutes too as these guys adapted to the system and are more ready.

Booker is not ready for the NBA yet. He was drafted as the youngest player in the draft and McD also factored that age to why he was selected. I really thought Portis should of been the man, especially with the Kieff issue at hand.

But Booker is a player 2 years away. He can shoot but he won't be able to launch shots against the defenders honed to stop the Currys Klay Thompsons, Korvers, Beals etc.
Not without a more nature body and a better understanding of NBA level wing defense.

[NavLDO]

I think we'll have a stagnant offense as we try to teach a couple of combo-ers how to be PGs, while hoping one of them can guard the likes of Harden, Thompson, Kobe, up and comers Wiggins/Shabazz and about every other 6'5"+ SG out there. We are creating our own negative mismatch. And please.... don't rebut this with the Defensive Beast named Bledsoe. He isn't a shut down dude, and pads stats with gambling D. Heck, I'd almost bet half his blocks come off his own turnovers.

I think fans think too highly of what Dragic brought to the table

Yup, 'fans' and that other dude named Riley

OK, I'll 'rebut' his with (height/name/length/reach):
6'5.5" Weems 6'10"/8'8"
6'6" Tucker 7'/??
6'5" Goodwin 6'10"/8'6", and to a lesser degree...
6'6" Booker 6'8"/8'6.5".

And yes, Knight gives up a couple of inches (6'3"/6'7"/8'2.5"), but I honestly don't think we'll see as much of the Bledsoe/Knight duo on the floor as often as many believe. But yes, Bledsoe has demonstrated very good defensive ability for his size (6'1.5"/6'7.5"/8'2"), so just because you say not to rebut your statement with 'Bledsoe on D blah, blah, blah," doesn't mean that it's not true and can be disregarded out of hand, because both Knight and Bledsoe have longer arms than average for guys of their height, especially when you consider Klay, as you brought up, at 6'7", only has a 6'9" Wingspan/8'7.5" Reach--so what's more important, the height? Or Wingspan/Reach? So yes, Kobe's at 6'5" is 6'11"/8'9", and Harden's at 6.5.5"/6'11"/8'7.5" has better length than Knight/Bledsoe, our other SGs match up rather favorably, and even more so next year with Bogdanovic at 6'6"/6'11'/8'8.5".

So, I don't think its accurate to claim that we'll have consistent mismatches, when we have 4 other 'standard sized' SGs that will get minutes, along with 'standard size' length and reach SFs in Warren and Weems (6'10"/8'8") for both, I think it's fair to say that we won't be too awfully undersized for the majority of the game. I personally don't expect to see EB and Knight duo for more than an average of 18-20 minutes per game.

And just curious, were you this concerned last year when we started Dragic/Bledsoe combo when Dragic was one inch taller, yet had the same 6'7" Wingspan? And what about now having Chandler at 7'1"/7'3"/9'2" as our starter vice Plumlee at 6'11.5"/7'0.5"/8'9.5" as our starting Center, and our first option back-up Guard as the mighty 5'10" Isiaih Thomas?

We were in far worse 'shape' last season as far as mismatches go in total and starter roster heights. Wouldn't you agree? And Dragic was not really known for his D--at least no more so than Knight, and IT CERTAINLY wasn't a defensive specialist, yet our 3rd option this year for Guard will have at least 6" on IT, regardless of measurement. So, no, I'm not of the mindset that we are somehow worse off starting this season than we were last season. And even if you think Dragic was a huge loss for us, and think he's better than Knight, I'll take the difference in talent level between Chandler and Plumlee well over the delta in talent level between Dragic and Knight.

[Damkac]

So we are going to be the second worst team in the western conference.

Spoiler:

http://arizonasports.com/2015/08/10/espn-writer-phoenix-suns-have-second-worst-roster-construction-in-western-conference/

A few points I agree with about this.
1)

The way Doolittle sees it, the Suns have zero elite players, zero superstars and zero upper-tier starters. What they have is three starters, four second-unit players and three deep reserves.

But But But....he is right, damn it. Nothing else I can say about that.

2)

Two seasons ago, the Suns performed at a level greater than the sum of their parts. Last season, the opposite was true. This season, they need Jeff Hornacek to coax a repeat of his 2013-14 performance, as Phoenix’s roster doesn’t look as strong on paper as it did at this time a year ago.

Again I have to agree. Some people want to try and say the traded players didnt have enough time to gel. I am a firm believer of "you are what your record says you are".

My last point on this is I think Ryan Mcd is gambing on something no one should ever bet on. That is, trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Ryan is trying to be successful again with a two PG, unfortunately this is not going to work and he is going to look bad The team two years ago was "LED" by goran who had a great connection with the players around him AND he played outstanding while Bledsoe was hurt. And the players filled roles that worked (basically a lightning in a bottle situation). All those players are gone. Talk to any (knowledgable) fan (other than suns fans) and they will agree the 2 PG system is not a recipe for long term success. I may be wrong and Ryan strikes lightning twice but there is absolutely nothing about this situation and system I would bet on. I love this team and want it to succeed, I just dont think this a route that should be taken.

No way!
Nuggets will tank.
Portland lost 4 starters.
Lakers sucks.
Wolves was the worst team last season. I know they have great talent but they will not make such a big leap so fast.
Kings will screw everything up like they always do.

Don't belive any of these teams will end above Suns. Then we got:
Dallas has experience and great coach but every important player is either way past his prime or after serious injury.
Pelicans are better as long as Davis is healthy.
Utah also looks better but I don't know how important was Exum for them.


I'm hopeful about the coming season. There is no way Suns will not end with a better record than last year. That roster was a mess with 3 best player on the same position and just 1 true PF. Current team is much more balanced and hopefully Markieff will soon be traded for other PF and team chemistry will be healed. I'm excited about having 7'1 mobile rim protector on the floor for 48 minutes every game. With Chandler as a mentor Len could become one of the best defenders in the league. Suns also added more shooters to help with spacing. The bench looks good imo if one of Bledsoe and Knight will be on the floor all the time with Warren, Weems and Len.

The future is bright