Wiz trade Oubre and Rivers for Ariza [DEAL FINALIZED]

[I_Like_Dirt]

Phoenix is 29th in defense and 27th in offense. I assure you, Ja Morant (or any player not named Giannis/Lebron/Harden) is not turning that team around anytime soon.

The team as a whole still has poor depth and no shooting . Booker and Ayton are talented centerpieces, but they've got a lot of work to do still.

It's going to take more than a single player but they aren't as bad as their record suggests, either. They've been getting gradually better over the course of the season. I don't think Booker is a future superstar but he can still score and is solid on the wing. Mikal Bridges is the kind of do-it-all utility player who doesn't need to score to be effective that every team needs. Oubre and Warren add even more wing depth. Ayton is alright and Holmes is solid off the bench. They hustle, they're improving by the day and really do need a PG to tie them together. I'm not sure they need to rush to draft Morant, though, depending on where they're drafting but he'd certainly be alright. They won't be a playoff team next season but they could push for 30-35 wins if they do things right - I'm not optimistic they're going to because it's still a Sarver-owned team but they're in a decent spot.

[Illmatic12]

Phoenix is 29th in defense and 27th in offense. I assure you, Ja Morant (or any player not named Giannis/Lebron/Harden) is not turning that team around anytime soon.

The team as a whole still has poor depth and no shooting . Booker and Ayton are talented centerpieces, but they've got a lot of work to do still.

It's going to take more than a single player but they aren't as bad as their record suggests, either. They've been getting gradually better over the course of the season. I don't think Booker is a future superstar but he can still score and is solid on the wing. Mikal Bridges is the kind of do-it-all utility player who doesn't need to score to be effective that every team needs. Oubre and Warren add even more wing depth. Ayton is alright and Holmes is solid off the bench. They hustle, they're improving by the day and really do need a PG to tie them together. I'm not sure they need to rush to draft Morant, though, depending on where they're drafting but he'd certainly be alright. They won't be a playoff team next season but they could push for 30-35 wins if they do things right - I'm not optimistic they're going to because it's still a Sarver-owned team but they're in a decent spot.

I didn't even bring up their record ! Lol they are 27th in offense, 29th in offense, 29th out of 30 in point differential, 28th out of 30 in SRS, 30th in reb rate, 30th in 3pt%.. put record aside, all the vital numbers suggest this is a team that lacks talent and doesn't play cohesive basketball on either end of the court.

Even if they got a new PG, unless it's prime Gary Payton their defense will still be terrible.

I like Booker, Ayton, Bridges as potential pieces on a winning team. Every other player on the roster from 4-15 needs to be re-evaluated, if you ask me. They aren't one player away, probably 5 rotation players + new head coach away.

If they get Zion that will go a long way towards improving their defense and rebounding , but anything short of that type of talent infusion and it's hard to see the path forward . Keep in mind Booker just signed a max extension upwards of $30M/yr, it's not like this is ground zero of their rebuild.

[I_Like_Dirt]

I didn't even bring up their record ! Lol they are 27th in offense, 29th in offense, 29th out of 30 in point differential, 28th out of 30 in SRS, 30th in reb rate, 30th in 3pt%.. put record aside, all the vital numbers suggest this is a team that lacks talent and doesn't play cohesive basketball on either end of the court.

Even if they got a new PG, unless it's prime Gary Payton their defense will still be terrible.

I like Booker, Ayton, Bridges as potential pieces on a winning team. Every other player on the roster from 4-15 needs to be re-evaluated, if you ask me. They aren't one player away, probably 5 rotation players + new head coach away.

If they get Zion that will go a long way towards improving their defense and rebounding , but anything short of that type of talent infusion and it's hard to see the path forward . Keep in mind Booker just signed a max extension upwards of $30M/yr, it's not like this is ground zero of their rebuild.

Well, yeah. They were getting absolutely blown out to start the season. After beating Dallas to start the season they went 3-24 and were blown out pretty consistently. They've been better since then, though. Not good but better. They still have their down stretches but they don't get blown out as much and they've had a couple of better stretches overall. They've been better since the allstar break, too, including 5-2 in their last 7. That doesn't make them a good team because they aren't but they've actually been better as they've cleared vets like Chandler and Ariza off their roster. Those guys were loafing around and setting a horrible example. They're still not good but I don't think weighing all those blowouts from the start of the season equal to their more recent play is particularly representative of how good they are as a team. Add a quality draft pick (Zion or otherwise) along with some improvement from their rookies and other assorted young players and they should be able to jump from the level they're currently playing at, which isn't as bad as it gets made out to be.

[Illmatic12]

I didn't even bring up their record ! Lol they are 27th in offense, 29th in offense, 29th out of 30 in point differential, 28th out of 30 in SRS, 30th in reb rate, 30th in 3pt%.. put record aside, all the vital numbers suggest this is a team that lacks talent and doesn't play cohesive basketball on either end of the court.

Even if they got a new PG, unless it's prime Gary Payton their defense will still be terrible.

I like Booker, Ayton, Bridges as potential pieces on a winning team. Every other player on the roster from 4-15 needs to be re-evaluated, if you ask me. They aren't one player away, probably 5 rotation players + new head coach away.

If they get Zion that will go a long way towards improving their defense and rebounding , but anything short of that type of talent infusion and it's hard to see the path forward . Keep in mind Booker just signed a max extension upwards of $30M/yr, it's not like this is ground zero of their rebuild.

Well, yeah. They were getting absolutely blown out to start the season. After beating Dallas to start the season they went 3-24 and were blown out pretty consistently. They've been better since then, though. Not good but better. They still have their down stretches but they don't get blown out as much and they've had a couple of better stretches overall. They've been better since the allstar break, too, including 5-2 in their last 7. That doesn't make them a good team because they aren't but they've actually been better as they've cleared vets like Chandler and Ariza off their roster. Those guys were loafing around and setting a horrible example. They're still not good but I don't think weighing all those blowouts from the start of the season equal to their more recent play is particularly representative of how good they are as a team. Add a quality draft pick (Zion or otherwise) along with some improvement from their rookies and other assorted young players and they should be able to jump from the level they're currently playing at, which isn't as bad as it gets made out to be.

Suns were literally losing games by 40-50 pts early in the season bc they were completely giving up, I guess the bar is so low that actually playing like a professional basketball team for 3 or 4 quarters is an improvement.

What happened prior to the last 7 games? PHX are literally coming off of a 17-game losing streak , and that was AFTER the Ariza trade so those "loafing vets" were long gone by then. These same players were here during that losing streak, other than Tyler Johnson who came in at the deadline .

I'll share a tweet that pretty much sums it up:

Read on Twitter

The Suns players are unprofessional spoiled kids who have been loafing around and collecting their paychecks all season, they only started playing harder because they were embarrassed by the negative attention of their losing streak. I'm not convinced one bit that any of this will carry over into next season. Now if they get Zion (who plays hard all the time) then they will have a real culture changer on their hands. None of the other potential top draft picks will have a remotely similar impact.

[DCZards]

The Suns players are unprofessional spoiled kids who have been loafing around and collecting their paychecks all season, they only started playing harder because they were embarrassed by the negative attention of their losing streak. I'm not convinced one bit that any of this will carry over into next season. Now if they get Zion (who plays hard all the time) then they will have a real culture changer on their hands. None of the other potential top draft picks will have a remotely similar impact.

Phoenix may be a flawed team but I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that its players are unprofessional and spoiled and only started playing hard because of negative attention.

[I_Like_Dirt]

The Suns players are unprofessional spoiled kids who have been loafing around and collecting their paychecks all season, they only started playing harder because they were embarrassed by the negative attention of their losing streak. I'm not convinced one bit that any of this will carry over into next season. Now if they get Zion (who plays hard all the time) then they will have a real culture changer on their hands. None of the other potential top draft picks will have a remotely similar impact.

Phoenix may be a flawed team but I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that its players are unprofessional and spoiled and only started playing hard because of negative attention.

Yeah, I don't see any evidence of that, either. In fact, if you look at net rtgs, their main guys all fair reasonably well - Bridges, Ayton, Booker, Holmes, Warren, and now Oubre. They aren't a good team but they're a competitive team that absolutely plays hard. Where things start falling apart is once other guys hit the floor, and their PG situation is an absolute disaster. Those aren't unfixable problems. They can get a new bench this offseason and can find a PG. If they do things right, they could very easily set themselves down the right path. We will see, though.

And I very much think Mikal Bridges is highly underrated. He's their variation of Draymond Green/Pascal Siakam. He's not going to be a superstar (unless he played for the Raptors at which point his name would be everywhere on these forums) but he's the kind of egoless player who plays on both ends and does a lot of the little things teams need that tends to give a certain degree of float to a team's position in the standings as he develops. I'd like their future potential a lot less if he weren't on the team.

[itlnsunsfan]

Didn't have KO last night. Was not pretty. Thanks again guys.

[closg00]

Didn't have KO last night. Was not pretty. Thanks again guys.

Our GM loves the losing end of trades for rental players, enjoy.