2020 Preseason Speculation - Lineup battles underway

[NTB]

Walking abomination for this franchise.

What's so difficult in informing players befittingly about their status? Like, you're in the final phase of negotiating a deal with some other team: wouldn't it be just elementary decency to inform a player x that he'll likely be traded. They simply can not find such things out on social media. That is unacceptable. So basic things, ffs. If (as a FO) you're not capable of communicating with your players, maybe you should step down and let someone else do the job. Players are not commodity, never were and never will be. This malpractice is a serious tarnishment on the franchise's name.

Almost everyone learns they are getting traded on social media. It is how it is. Maybe their agents should be faster than Woj/Shams to tell their players about the move.

Weird because i have been keeping rather up-to-date with all the trade news and stories, and cant recall ANY other players saying they found out via twitter or social media in general....except for Oubre and Rubio. And honestly, putting it all on the agents is dumb. Yes the agents should keep their client up to date on what is being talked about and said, but to not have the respect or dignity as an Front Office or an Owner to make a simple phonecall to one of your players (Now Ex) is simply inexcusable. There is a reason that damn near EVERY Suns player trashes Sarver when he leaves. People call them Moody millionaires, spoiled rich athletes, and other names, yet you dont really see that happen with other players in the same situation with other franchises. It may happen occasionally, but at nowhere near the rate that it happens here. Its a problem. Sarver is a problem.

That's just not how things are done. Not at any company. You don't tell someone they are likely going to get laid off at the end of the week. We are just working on the final details.

No one is going to be happy about it unless they wanted to leave.

And this isn't even nearly as bad as being laid off. They are just moving to a new team with their contract making millions still intact.

[bwgood77]

Also, I have a question but don't want to get killed:

What did everyone dislike so much about Okobo? He seemed pretty competent and seemed to have improved his ability to get to the rim. I didn't think he was good enough to start or get super heavy minutes off the bench, but he seems like the kind of guy who could have at least turned into a pretty good bench scorer. I dunno, perhaps I'm just terrible at evaluating players, but I just think another team may be able to turn him into a useful rotational piece. Perhaps not

I think it was because he would make a bad mistake, and then he would obviously let it get into his head, and then he would compound it by making another really bad one, and sometimes a third one, so to a viewer, that really adds up quickly in your head while watching a game in real time and you get real frustrated watching a player make one mistake after another and it sticks in your mind.

The thing is, he played really well to begin the season and he does have a lot of good qualities, getting to the rim, can shoot, can stick with his man on defense, has a good ast/to ratio.

I believe he will probably make it somewhere, at least as a backup..he is still young and works hard and has some nice skills to build on.

With him it's all mental though. If you can't move on to the next play and not let a mistake bother you going forward, you will never be able to play a professional sport well, or at a minimum, you will have some very bad stretches and games.

[sunsbg]

If all players diss your organization when leaving than it's a problem. It's a business - then try to keep a good image. With supposedly players feeling like a stock, you would think the league will have some rules, so that players don't learn such news from social media.

Okobo - not good enough. With Galloway at least you know what you get (3PT shooting).

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

?s=09

Not that he would have gotten another FO job, but I guess he doesn't really want one.

[NTB]

Read on Twitter

[Kerrsed]

The thing about Okobo that annoyed me the most was his Goodwin-like approach when it came to attacking the rim, head down trying to barrel into defenders to draw contact and getting a horrible shot up as a result. I can recall a handful of time watching him do that, no foul called and the ball hitting the BOTTOM of the rim.

And just like BW said, he might play decent, but after one mistake it would snowball into 2, then 3, then 4 if we didnt pull him out quick enough. It was a mental thing. In my eyes he looked up to Booker and wanted to be Booker. When Booker changed up his hairstyle, Okobo got a very similar one, when Booker added the lines to his hair, Okobo did too. That extended to the court, the more time he spent on the team with Booker, the more it was like he was trying to mimic his style and play, but he isnt Booker.

As a rookie i remember Okobo coming in and playing the point. He was decent and looked like a PG. Instead of constantly attacking the rim he would go at the rim and kick the ball out to an open man. I feel he kind of lost that aspect of his game, making plays to help facilitate others, and instead tried to transition into more of a combo guard that was more concerned with getting his own buckets at the detriment to others.

[lonea]

Okobo is a blackhole. He holds the ball for 20 seconds then jack up a 3.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

?s=09

[bwgood77]

Playoff experience

Chris Paul - 109 games
Jae Crowder - 72 games
E'Twaun Moore - 29 games
Abdel Nader - 17 games
Damian Jones - 12 games
Cameron Payne - 11 games
Dario Saric - 10 games
Langston Galloway - 4 games

0 games - Booker, Johnson, Bridges, Ayton, Smith, Carter

This is impressive! An a much anticipated improvement. Cautious optimism is well deserved here.

Funny response....I had looked at that and thought "wow, we don't have much playoff experience."

[bwgood77]

Walking abomination for this franchise.

What's so difficult in informing players befittingly about their status? Like, you're in the final phase of negotiating a deal with some other team: wouldn't it be just elementary decency to inform a player x that he'll likely be traded. They simply can not find such things out on social media. That is unacceptable. So basic things, ffs. If (as a FO) you're not capable of communicating with your players, maybe you should step down and let someone else do the job. Players are not commodity, never were and never will be. This malpractice is a serious tarnishment on the franchise's name.

Almost everyone learns they are getting traded on social media. It is how it is. Maybe their agents should be faster than Woj/Shams to tell their players about the move.

Weird because i have been keeping rather up-to-date with all the trade news and stories, and cant recall ANY other players saying they found out via twitter or social media in general....except for Oubre and Rubio. And honestly, putting it all on the agents is dumb. Yes the agents should keep their client up to date on what is being talked about and said, but to not have the respect or dignity as an Front Office or an Owner to make a simple phonecall to one of your players (Now Ex) is simply inexcusable. There is a reason that damn near EVERY Suns player trashes Sarver when he leaves. People call them Moody millionaires, spoiled rich athletes, and other names, yet you dont really see that happen with other players in the same situation with other franchises. It may happen occasionally, but at nowhere near the rate that it happens here. Its a problem. Sarver is a problem.

Who are all these players that bash him though? I know Bledsoe and Dragic wanted out...both of those had more to do with McD. McD bashes him. Amin Elhassan bashes him. The Morris Brothers bashed McD I think.

Just going through players leaving in my head, I can't think of many. I guess Joe Johnson didn't want to be matched.

Oubre was kind of led into the question, and basically bashed both of his previous owners when you listen to the way the question was asked. Anyway, Rubio didn't bash Sarver and I can't really think off the top of my head what other player bashed Sarver. I don't really remember anyone from the SSOL days, and going through each era after that, I just can't think of much except all the players that seemed to hate McD, and then McD, Oubre and Amin Elhassan bashing Sarver.

I'm sure there are some I am not thinking about, but it can't be THAT many..it sure isn't every player that leaves.

I always read about players from many teams in sports finding out they were traded via twitter.

[bigfoot]

Playoff experience

Chris Paul - 109 games
Jae Crowder - 72 games
E'Twaun Moore - 29 games
Abdel Nader - 17 games
Damian Jones - 12 games
Cameron Payne - 11 games
Dario Saric - 10 games
Langston Galloway - 4 games

0 games - Booker, Johnson, Bridges, Ayton, Smith, Carter

This is impressive! An a much anticipated improvement. Cautious optimism is well deserved here.

Funny response....I had looked at that and thought "wow, we don't have much playoff experience."

No, we sure don't have much experience. This is what we lost with our outgoing players ... we have more than last year, fortunately.

Baynes 58
Oubre 18
Rubio 11
Kaminsky 7
Diallo 7

[Slim Charless]

Read on Twitter

?s=09

For what it's worth with Oubre, I believe that (speculation only) back when he signed his " prove it" deal, Both the Suns and Oubre ( and agent) had other differing perspectives on overall value and length of contract. The suns opted for the two yr deal, To see if he was worth paying significantly more money for in 2021 free agency. But to his credit, Oubre did improve and ultimately changed our culture a bit. However, upon further discussion between both parties, recently prior to the bubble, Oubre and his agent settled on a number beyond what the suns front office/ ownership ( Sarver) felt was palatable.


Therefore, They both understood more or less that a parting was imminent. Hence why Oubre " chose" not to play in the bubble and potentially risk reinjury, Thusly diminishing his projected market value. I believe the suns had hope that he would play, But again, He chose not to ( don't fault him for protecting his own business interests by the way) ! But in doing so, More friction and animosity was created. Still, Oubre also had creative business/ marketing investments in the Suns ( Valley Boys). So in getting traded, He lost that personal marketing investment opportunity, Adding additional salt to the wound in his ego of not only getting paid below what he and his agent deemed his value was at. But also the slight of now being traded after more or less proving his increased value this past season, And expecting an increased payday ( poor timing in this current financial environment)

And in understanding that both parties were far apart on percieved value, The Suns began quietly shopping Oubre. Jones reached out to all his connections to guage potential interest ( value) and found the Thunder willing to move Chris Paul! This worked out better for the Suns than what they originally anticipated. So they jumped on the deal. Oubre feeling somewhat slighted and salty as a result is natural. However, As many have pointed out, The NBA is a business and sports players are ultimately assets and commodities, regardless of how much attachment they foster between fans and their city. That's specifically why they get paid such an outrageous amount of money. Because it's common knowledge to all parties involved that they'll likely be moving along at some point. It's just an unfortunate nature of the business. I for my part actually really liked Oubre, Contrary to popular opinion. However, I saw this coming for awhile now. Sometimes the puzzle pieces just add up. It's really not the first time that things have played out this way in sports, And it likely won't be the last.


Having said that, The Jersey situation was really handled poorly and will ultimately reflect as poorly on our franchises image. The Suns front office must really put in better efforts still to improve their public image. In time hopefully they will?

Who cares though. Kelly oubre is a millionaire from playing basketball. His “owner” who doesn’t care about the team was paying him and others millions of dollars. The boy is a spoiled entitled brat. If he wanted to stay so badly he should’ve took a discount. He’s a bit selfish no. Can’t stand to see millionaires crying over foolishness.
I think the Jersey thing was handled just fine. No trade is a sure thing until it is. Kelly probably begged to model the New Jersey because that’s what he loves to do. Again who really cares about it. Oubre is a spoiled brat like most of these guys in the nba.
I think Sarver has gotten a bad rep because of these spoiled brats and makes our franchise look unappealing to free agents.
Just kills me how these guys burn bridges so early in their careers all because it’s a trend.

What?!?!?

Sarver has gotten a bad rap? He's not a crap owner all of a sudden and it's the players who have given this awesome owner a hard time? Are you insane? So all these stories that we've heard about Sarver are all fake news then. He didn't sell picks because he was too cheap, he didn't low ball Joe Johnson, he didn't let Steve Kerr go, he didn't single-handedly destroy the SSOL suns with his stupity? Jesus, it's you completely forgot the last 10 years. I can't beleive we found a Suns fan who is a Sarver backer LMAO. Poor Bobby S. He's just an innocent victim in all of this. Wow.....just wow.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Remember all that talk the suns should wait on Booker's extension. The Bam situation is even more of a benefit to wait because they plan on chasing Giannis and other max guys. But looks like Bam said 'pay me now'. Guys never want to wait.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

Anyone have an Athletic subscription and have Seth Partnow's top 125 player rankings? Curious where he has the suns guys.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

I do and it took me a while to find this because it was done Oct 23. It's kind of a weird piece though. It is in tiers on a chart.

There is tier 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 2C, and so on

Paul is in tier 2C
Booker is in tier 3B
Ayton, Bridges and Crowder are in 5A, which is the last tier.

[bwgood77]

Remember all that talk the suns should wait on Booker's extension. The Bam situation is even more of a benefit to wait because they plan on chasing Giannis and other max guys. But looks like Bam said 'pay me now'. Guys never want to wait.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

You don't think they got wind of Giannis planning on signing the Super Max?

[Sreister]

Remember all that talk the suns should wait on Booker's extension. The Bam situation is even more of a benefit to wait because they plan on chasing Giannis and other max guys. But looks like Bam said 'pay me now'. Guys never want to wait.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

Rule of thumb, never tell anyone what to do with their money. As much as it makes sense for us (the team in question, that is) to wait and maximize the salary (ie Giannis), I don't blame Bam for wanting to get paid before playing another game. He's earned it. If he does down, you think they'll still offer that money?

EDIT: All this assuming they don't try and be able to do a S&T I suppose. That would be the case for him to wait, without playing any games. MB if that's what you meant.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Remember all that talk the suns should wait on Booker's extension. The Bam situation is even more of a benefit to wait because they plan on chasing Giannis and other max guys. But looks like Bam said 'pay me now'. Guys never want to wait.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

You don't think they got wind of Giannis planning on signing the Super Max?

Bam and Giannis have the same agent so could be in play. But also could just be Bam saying pay me now.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[WeekapaugGroove]

At some point the league should probably adjust that early extension rule and not penalize teams for taking care of their guys early. Would be as simple as making that players cap number whatever the RFA hold would have been had they not signed the extension.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[Frank Lee]

Bam getting a $lam
May be Dominatrix will perk up seeing the hay that could be comin his way. Motivation comes in many forms, but it’s very effective when it’s green

[bwgood77]

Remember all that talk the suns should wait on Booker's extension. The Bam situation is even more of a benefit to wait because they plan on chasing Giannis and other max guys. But looks like Bam said 'pay me now'. Guys never want to wait.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

You don't think they got wind of Giannis planning on signing the Super Max?

Bam and Giannis have the same agent so could be in play. But also could just be Bam saying pay me now.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

The Heat have always worked well with players on laying out why they'd like for them to wait, etc. I am guessing they know Giannis will sign, especially if they have the same agent.

But of course any player can be petrified of injury. Look at Cousins...he was up for a huge deal and tore his achilles...of course I doubt a max extension was ever on the table.