2021 Playoff and Offseason Speculation - the playoffs. PLAYOFFS????

[SlovenianDragon]

Live look at Ryan McDonough after the suns start 6-2

[NapoleonII]

Chris Paul's anal attention to detail, verbal orchestrating both our offense and defense, and the way he slows down the game will benefit us in the playoffs.

Rubio was fun, smooth, played great D, and had a free-flowing energy that was contagious.

But CP3 is a player who imposes his will on the game. We just need him to be healthy and keep racking up these wins.

I don't give a damn about aesthetics or players' counting stats.

50 wins or bust.

[bwgood77]

I can definitely see that side, but it's something tough to navigate with two young studs. It will be interesting to see where they are...538 has them right in the 4-8 range in their projections (at least before this game).....which is basically where we are in the west (3-8).

I just don't know what you are looking for if you trade a guy like Pascal. He seems like the kind of player you want today unless he just really continues to regress, which, in that case, he might not be tradeable for much given the contract. But if he just gets back to where he was a couple of years ago and the beginning of last year, he was way up there...even finishing the year in the 2nd Team All NBA is impressive (though not sure he should have been that high..but the people who watch a lot closer than I do felt that way).

Lowry is a tough one. He has been such a cornerstone..I think the only way you can trade him is if you bite the bullet and roll the dice on a guy like Wiggins...GS could use a huge expiring and some help this year until Klay gets back next year...and they clear a ton of space.

I don't think that happens, but I just don't know what they can do with him. Ideally if they don't re-sign him again, and he's getting old, it might be worth re-signing him or trying to do a S&T.

One thing they could do to address their frontcourt is trade him for Horford. They shouldn't have to give up extra to OKC since they would be taking salary and giving OKC cap relief and a better player....maybe even try and get back George Hill.

I wonder if they'd be better with a Hill/FVV/Anunoby/Siakam/Horford lineup.

I just don't see Siakam and FVV being a duo that takes you deep in the playoffs, but bringing back Lowry would hamstring their cap assuming he gets paid well. I don't know if they'd feel like it's necessary to blow up a 4-8 seed though, even if the ceiling is capped.

Siakam for a good rookie contract, a couple picks, and filler contracts would make sense to me. They're probably not getting a high lottery pick unless they wait until the offseason and hope for a bad team to try making a jump, but I'm sure a mid-tier team would be interested at the deadline. FVV would probably be a similar scenario with less value. Lowry's tough because he makes a lot of money and contenders will be the only ones to give up value for him, but they should still be able to get value from his expiring.

I think that line-up would be interesting because it'd open up the paint for Siakam a lot, but I don't think Lowry's impact can be understated. He's a huge part of that team staying competitive.

I just don't see trading guys like that for picks. Fine if they let Lowry go unless he will take a small contract...they just signed those guys. Even if we just had, say, Booker and Bridges, who we figured limited our cap, would you trade for a couple picks and a decent you guy?

I wasn't going to include Book, because I'm sure most here put him a level higher than Pascal, but Pascal being an all star and 2nd team all nba, makes it hard to argue too much that Book is THAT much better, but does have the age thing...and Pascal has struggled (though so has Book). Pascal might be better comparison to Ayton, but Ayton has the age thing too.

FVV even harder..probably better comparison play wise to Booker, but maybe value is more similar to Bridges.

Those two on big contracts though, without Lowry, Gasol, Serge, make their cap situation fine.

I don't think quality GMs have to tank completely to rebuild their teams...I think they can rebuild/retool and be competitive during that process like Utah/Denver....there is a risk in completely going young to being stuck down at the bottom for years.

Then again, I HATE this "must win championship" or "completely tank to try and get top pick" mentality so many fans have today.

First, with the lottery it's harder to get lucky...at least for the really bad teams, and easier if you are semi competitive and are slotted 7th-10th. Then it's even WAY harder for anyone to be competitive, but having very good teams that compete in the playoffs but may not win it all is fun for the fans. Look at our 88-95 years or 05-10 years.....today people would call those playoff treadmill teams...or some would, though most think of treadmill as first round and out or barely out of playoffs for years.

But, treadmill definition is really staying in the same place, which most of those teams did...somewhat contenders who usually got to 2nd/3rd round of playoffs like Toronto did before Kawhi...and now they are more of a probable 1st round or maybe barely miss like we were in 08 and 09, before getting back to WCF with a largely different roster.

[oddity]

The lottery is just as much of a lottery for the players as it is for the teams. If your team has incompetent coaching and an awful culture, it will hurt your young players' careers. Think about all the players that benefited by getting drafted to San Antonio, as much as I hate them

[bwgood77]

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[bwgood77]

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[Bogyo]

I've said BEFORE the season that our 2nd unit will win us games. I didn't think that they'll actually be better than our starters, but it seems to be the case. I'm not a 100% sure what it is (got a couple of ideas though), but it has to be some kind of chemistry issue within our "big 3", as Mikal and Crowder have been damn near perfect with their performances for their roles.

[nevetsov]

Wasn't our starting lineup last year one of the best with respect to net Rating? And that was with either Oubre or Cam J at the 4?

How entirely Suns of us, if we had the starting formula sorted, with Rubio being the key to maximising the talents of our 3 young cornerstones in the uptempo style they need.

Then the Cam Payne signing for the bubble was the secret to unlocking our bench (hence the 8-0).

Buuut then we grind the starters to a halt and start pounding the rock by jettisoning fit for talent.

[sunskerr]

is it too late to sign van vleet

[SideSwipe]

It seems Booker may be a little too respectful of Paul, and Paul just hasn't been great running the offense, yet. Those late game situations mimic the playoffs the most, so this is our time to tinker and figure it out.

We really need to figure out the pick and roll off of Paul/Ayton, Booker/Ayton, then another combo to foil it, and options off of it. We need to adapt the .5 offense to determining p&r scenarios Pick and roll is great in the half court, and we have one of the most elite guys in history to help run it. I hope we try it in 5 on 5 situations 100 times per practice, because it will help save us if we can learn to do it effectively. We can't bring in Chris Paul and then not figure out how to run p&r- he's made for it.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

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It's funny. I feel like our early-season success and the expectations that have come with it have caused a lot of Suns fans to take notice of Book's flaws for what seems like the first time. Yeah, he does turn the ball over a lot. Yeah, he does take a lot of bad shots. It ain't new, guys!!

The good thing is, he's playing the best defense of his career so far. He's still probably the worst defender on the team - the guy least likely to go make hustle plays on D. But then, Deandre never seems to make any high-energy plays on offense, which would probably be much more useful, to be frank.

Paul's been off to a very slow start, too, we must note. I worry we'll really miss Payne against the Pacers tonight. Would love to see DA step up on offense but so many of my wishes for our young players have gone unfulfilled over the years, so, you know. Won't be surprised if, like last year, we fall down to earth a little bit.

I think we're a playoff team, but we haven't looked like a contender so far, at least not to me.

[bwgood77]

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It's funny. I feel like our early-season success and the expectations that have come with it have caused a lot of Suns fans to take notice of Book's flaws for what seems like the first time. Yeah, he does turn the ball over a lot. Yeah, he does take a lot of bad shots. It ain't new, guys!!

The good thing is, he's playing the best defense of his career so far. He's still probably the worst defender on the team - the guy least likely to go make hustle plays on D. But then, Deandre never seems to make any high-energy plays on offense, which would probably be much more useful, to be frank.

Paul's been off to a very slow start, too, we must note. I worry we'll really miss Payne against the Pacers tonight. Would love to see DA step up on offense but so many of my wishes for our young players have gone unfulfilled over the years, so, you know. Won't be surprised if, like last year, we fall down to earth a little bit.

I think we're a playoff team, but we haven't looked like a contender so far, at least not to me.

DA had at least one high energy offensive play against the Pistons last night, running in from it seemed like outside the paint for a big offensive rebound and slam.

[alamin330]

Reason our starters are so bad is cuz of Chris Paul and bridges. For some reason bridges thinks he’s now the go to player on the team and doesn’t pass and Chris paul doesn’t believe in points in the paint anymore. Plus the fact that Booker is playing like a role player

[matt131]

Reason our starters are so bad is cuz of Chris Paul and bridges. For some reason bridges thinks he’s now the go to player on the team and doesn’t pass and Chris paul doesn’t believe in points in the paint anymore. Plus the fact that Booker is playing like a role player

When Bridges scores 13 or more points, we're 7-0. When he scores fewer than 13 points, we're 0-3.

A lot can be said about this team, but the aggressiveness of Mikal doesn't exactly seem like it's the thing holding us back.

[matt131]

https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2020-21-week-4?cid=nba_articles_socialowned_youtubecommunity_powerrankings&_branch_match_id=736848810538386683

[alamin330]

Suns as a team are currently dead last in the NBA for dunk attempts and it’s not even close. 2nd to last in layup attempts. We are almost 50-50 in 3pt fga and 2pt fga. We only avg about 6-7 more 2 pt fga per game than 3 pointers. That’s top 5 in league but we shoot 9th best in 3 pt percentage.
Suns are also 1st in league in distance meaning of all 30 teams they take the longest shots. 2nd to last in FTA only to the Grizzlies who don’t have Ja or JJJ but we have Booker, Ayton and CP3 healthy. 28th place is a full 1 FTA per game ahead of us. If JJJ and Ja are healthy we are dead last in another very important category. So after 10 games this team looks like a ridiculously 3pt heavy shooting team that is really a little better than middle of the pack in 3pt made.
Suns are 23rd in total FGA per game but top 5 in total 3 pt fga per game. That doesn’t seem like a championship model.

[Bogyo]

Reason our starters are so bad is cuz of Chris Paul and bridges. For some reason bridges thinks he’s now the go to player on the team and doesn’t pass and Chris paul doesn’t believe in points in the paint anymore. Plus the fact that Booker is playing like a role player

When Bridges scores 13 or more points, we're 7-0. When he scores fewer than 13 points, we're 0-3.

A lot can be said about this team, but the aggressiveness of Mikal doesn't exactly seem like it's the thing holding us back.

Bridges? What the actual f? He is our best player this year, by a country mile, and making himself MIP talk. Has the highest PER from the starters, the most efficent scorer (aside the Galloway-anomaly ), leads the team in blocks, etc... I could go on.
The problem this team has is within the big 3. Book got off to a slow start - but he is getting there. Paul and Ayton have no chemistry whatsoever for sure (yet?) and I think we are too slow becouse of Paul. A team this young should run more - that would make scoring easier in the transition situation, make our offense more balanced - but Paul is an old control freak, with all the good and bad that comes with it. Mostly it's been good this year, as the results speak for themselves, but what we see a lot of times ain't that pretty, that is for sure - and I didn't think I'd say this when we signed him.

[spanishninja]

Suns as a team are currently dead last in the NBA for dunk attempts and it’s not even close. 2nd to last in layup attempts. We are almost 50-50 in 3pt fga and 2pt fga. We only avg about 6-7 more 2 pt fga per game than 3 pointers. That’s top 5 in league but we shoot 9th best in 3 pt percentage.
Suns are also 1st in league in distance meaning of all 30 teams they take the longest shots. 2nd to last in FTA only to the Grizzlies who don’t have Ja or JJJ but we have Booker, Ayton and CP3 healthy. 28th place is a full 1 FTA per game ahead of us. If JJJ and Ja are healthy we are dead last in another very important category. So after 10 games this team looks like a ridiculously 3pt heavy shooting team that is really a little better than middle of the pack in 3pt made.
Suns are 23rd in total FGA per game but top 5 in total 3 pt fga per game. That doesn’t seem like a championship model.

what if you take a look at this in the context of our defense? we're not just trying to outscore opponents by jacking up a ton of jump shots.

[Bogyo]

Suns as a team are currently dead last in the NBA for dunk attempts and it’s not even close. 2nd to last in layup attempts. We are almost 50-50 in 3pt fga and 2pt fga. We only avg about 6-7 more 2 pt fga per game than 3 pointers. That’s top 5 in league but we shoot 9th best in 3 pt percentage.
Suns are also 1st in league in distance meaning of all 30 teams they take the longest shots. 2nd to last in FTA only to the Grizzlies who don’t have Ja or JJJ but we have Booker, Ayton and CP3 healthy. 28th place is a full 1 FTA per game ahead of us. If JJJ and Ja are healthy we are dead last in another very important category. So after 10 games this team looks like a ridiculously 3pt heavy shooting team that is really a little better than middle of the pack in 3pt made.
Suns are 23rd in total FGA per game but top 5 in total 3 pt fga per game. That doesn’t seem like a championship model.

Need to pick up the tempo a bit, we ain't almost never running becouse of CP. Transition will lead to more dunks, layups and even a bit more fouls. Ayton needs to lear to play the PnR with CP, and grow a pair to do some damage in the paint - where he is 2nd in touches in the whole league.

[NTB]

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