But seriously, folks.

[1tinsoldier]

i think those numbers help explain being 25-25 but they also don't show our first half vs second half - second half seems to be a rougher go

excellent. now your thinking analyticaly, Bird. The reason the turnovers are more significant than the number is that they happen too often in crunch-time when the intensified defense is disrupting our two iso players.

our best crunch-time results are with a great pg, CP3, running the show. Worst crunch-time results with Booker and Durant doing their own thing.

but take the analysis one step further.
Why are the Suns 1 and 10 without Durant, but have won 6 games this season without Booker?

 

[SirStefan32]

Durant is individually great but he plays apart from the team. He doesn’t elevate his teammates, he doesn’t make their jobs easier and his laissez-faire, passive aggressive personality is the fairest thing from leadership.

He is pretty plain about it when he talks about the game. He wants to “hoop”, play one on one like he’s in the park.

The rare times when he has a long stretch where he buys into the offense and plays fast and moves off the ball we do look like a great offense, but it never lasts.

And the turnovers, good Lord, I’ve never seen a superstar that is as sloppy with the ball as he is. Lazy dumb passes abound.

This is true. The ball just stops. It is bizarre, because he is not selfish, but he stops the offense and then tries to drive and make a difficult pass.
Last night's first half was a good example of the Suns offense working because they were moving the ball. They got destroyed in the third quarter, but the first half was outstanding.

That said, even with that, I still don't get it. You have three amazing scorers with one additional three-point shooter on the floor... HOW do you not score 120 points even if you are playing isolation basketball? OK, the opposing team may have one or two outstanding defenders, but the third guy should have a huge advantage. There is no team that has the third defender who can guard one of the three main scorers on the Suns.

 

[Bufalay]

Book is not great. The whole reason we are in this mess is because we built around him thinking he was the next Kobe. That was wrong. Should have traded him instead of giving him the super max. That was dumber than Dallas trading Luka

I agree with this. It seems like the team mistakenly concluded that he was the best player on the team that went to the finals. Paul was clearly the best player. Bridges and Ayton also had better advanced stats (although advanced stats favor big guys; ayton sucks).

 

[Azjose86]

Booker is a great player, but he's not elite. He will never elevate this team to be a championship team. It's time to move on from him.

KD is elite, but he can't do it alone at this point if his career. They need to unload that contract.

Beal, well that was just a really stupid contract. Get rid of him as soon as you can.

 

[elindholm]

I agree with this. It seems like the team mistakenly concluded that he was the best player on the team that went to the finals. Paul was clearly the best player. Bridges and Ayton also had better advanced stats (although advanced stats favor big guys; ayton sucks).

I think the issue was more the meltdown against Dallas in 2022, which made it clear that the Paul/Booker/Ayton Big 3 was doomed. If the Suns win that game, the trajectory of the franchise is much different.

 

[Bufalay]

I think the issue was more the meltdown against Dallas in 2022, which made it clear that the Paul/Booker/Ayton Big 3 was doomed. If the Suns win that game, the trajectory of the franchise is much different.

I think they lost that series because that's when Paul's decline started and Booker couldn't carry the team.

 

[SirStefan32]

The worst part was that CP3 basically forgot how to play basketball around his birthday that year. I have never seen someone go from amazing to unplayable in the span on a week or so. I've seen players have a major injury and never looking the same again, but I've never seen anything like what happened with CP3.

 

[elindholm]

I think they lost that series because that's when Paul's decline started and Booker couldn't carry the team.

They went 64-18 in the regular season, eight games better than any other team in the league. I don't think Paul lost all of his skills overnight. It was a psychological collapse.

 

[Carolinacacti]

The sky is always falling on this board. If the Suns get healthy and win six in a row everyone will be on the wagon again. I'm to old for the up and downs, I'll wait for the playoffs to get excited. What do they half to do to make the playoffs? Win half the games 60 percent, they know what needs to be done.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The sky is always falling on this board.

I always chuckle at this... as if the Suns have been a successful franchise for a long run. Outside of one Covid run, this franchise has won 3 playoff series in the last 14 years, only been to the playoffs 4 out of 14 years and have been spectacularly embarrassed out of those playoffs 3 of the 4 years.

Truth is the sky isn’t falling… it’s mostly fallen for the better part of 15 years with brief rays of light here and there.

 

[Yuma]

This team is going nowhere. I have been a Suns’ fan since 68. We are not winning anything with this team. Nothing. Not even the play in. Time to blow it up and start over. No one is untouchable. Not Book, KD, Beal etc. we are dead meat for 5-10 years. No future, no picks. It is over. Convince me otherwise. Just look at the younger athletic teams out there with draft capital. It’s over.

I am in the same boat as you. Been watching the Suns the same amount of time. We have two more seasons of this possibly. Until Beal decides to go somewhere, we are stuck on being able to do a full blow up of the team. Gambo and others say the KD extension for two more seasons will happen. Suns won't let him walk, and there's still a lot of interest in him as an asset around the league. We have to wait out Beal. I think what happens is we can waive three non guaranteed contracts, possibly get a good center, and dabble around the edges again. Arguably if we get a good defensive center, that helps our bottom third rated defense. Should make us a solid lower playoff team, maybe 5-6 spot. We have two draft picks, so watch them, because we could be drafting for someone else with one or both of those, and that may give a clue as who we are going to trade with.

 

[Yuma]

I always chuckle at this... as if the Suns have been a successful franchise for a long run. Outside of one Covid run, this franchise has won 3 playoff series in the last 14 years, only been to the playoffs 4 out of 14 years and have been spectacularly embarrassed out of those playoffs 3 of the 4 years.

Truth is the sky isn’t falling… it’s mostly fallen for the better part of 15 years with brief rays of light here and there.

To me, it was when the Sarver era began, because he decided he was too smart to get advice from Jerry. Those early days Jerry always seemed to have the team improving on a steady upward arc.

 

[boisesuns]

I always chuckle at this... as if the Suns have been a successful franchise for a long run. Outside of one Covid run, this franchise has won 3 playoff series in the last 14 years, only been to the playoffs 4 out of 14 years and have been spectacularly embarrassed out of those playoffs 3 of the 4 years.

Truth is the sky isn’t falling… it’s mostly fallen for the better part of 15 years with brief rays of light here and there.

The glass is actually full, but it has a leak, and dirty water

 

[Cheesebeef]

The glass is actually full, but it has a leak, and dirty water

Lol… good way of looking at it.

 

[CardNots]

If the Suns get healthy and win six in a row everyone will be on the wagon again.

Win 15 in a row with one third against projected playoff teams and just maybe I start recording games again which certainly wouldn’t qualify for riding a bandwagon

 

[Bufalay]

They went 64-18 in the regular season, eight games better than any other team in the league. I don't think Paul lost all of his skills overnight. It was a psychological collapse.

Maybe, but he was never really good again after that series. I just assumed it was an accumulation of injuries.