2023 Phoenix Suns Offseason

GatorAZ

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Less than a year ago KD was still one of the best players in the world. Before the knee injury in Brooklyn he was 2nd in the MVP latter averaging nearly 30/7/6 on 56% shooting. If you watch his Nets highlights vs his Suns highlights you can tell he just wasn’t moving the same and settling for jumpers. We’ll see if a fully healthy off-season with no team USA ball can get him back to that pre-knee injury caliber of play. Of course you have to hold your breathe every time he plays or is going up for a dunk in the layup line. Like most times in Suns’ history it will come down to luck.
 

BirdGangThing

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I don't believe anyone would say his drive for a championship is the same as it was in OKC or that first year in Golden State. Achieving that goal lessens the desire, whether he acknowledges that or not. That's another reason it's rare to see teams win run off multiple titles in a row, like the Spurs for example. They would grow complacent and it'd take some new blood to get their drive back. Once they'd win they sort of take a backseat for a couple of years.
I'm saying it

I think the reason he came here was to win a ring somewhere other than Golden State

Why do you think he's literally one of the hardest workers in the League? Never stops training. Because he's already happy with what he's accomplished? Winning just makes some people want to win more - people like Kevin Durant - who absolutely still has something to prove

If you want to question his will to win be my guest - I personally think the desire is still there and that he knows the iron won't be hot forever - and that this could be his last chance to strike it

And you know me, you can name 800 different cats or teams that grew complacent after winning and I'll tell you none of them are named Kevin Durant or the Phoenix Suns for that matter
 

Yuma

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I think this is the trap with KD. He makes all these incredible, difficult shots… and it does show an exceptional amount of individual talent. But are these shots he should even be taking?

In the playoffs this year, absolutely not, his shot selection was dog crap. Is he doing anything to make the guys around him better? In terms of playmaking… no, he was a turnover machine. He does have gravity as a shooter that draws defenders but he is more likely to take the contested shot than to pass to the open man.

If this team is going to win a title we need a significant improvement from Durant.

He needs to be active off the ball and a passer who doesn’t only pass when forced to.
On the flip side, he's been the most efficient scorer in the NBA. It's widely known it takes KD less shots to get to 30 points than other NBA shooters.
 

Yuma

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I'm not worried about Durant or Booker or even Beal
All of Beal's recent interviews, you can see he is hungry. He's also excited that he's got a shot with this team. Beal is ALL in. We know Book's not happy without a ring. KD knows all the talk about him. He knows everyone thinks he can't win without Steph. Do you think that makes KD less hungry, or more hungry? KD has as much to prove as Book or Beal.
 

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I'm saying it

I think the reason he came here was to win a ring somewhere other than Golden State

Why do you think he's literally one of the hardest workers in the League? Never stops training. Because he's already happy with what he's accomplished? Winning just makes some people want to win more - people like Kevin Durant - who absolutely still has something to prove

If you want to question his will to win be my guest - I personally think the desire is still there and that he knows the iron won't be hot forever - and that this could be his last chance to strike it

And you know me, you can name 800 different cats or teams that grew complacent after winning and I'll tell you none of them are named Kevin Durant or the Phoenix Suns for that matter

I don't recall KD being called one of the hardest workers in the NBA by any reputable insider, analyst, or commentators. I've heard that about Booker a lot and I believe that to be true. I believe we need Booker, and to a lesser extent Beal, to step up if we hope to win a championship. I believe Booker can, hopefully Beal does. Hitching our wagon to KD, especially at this stage of his career, isn't likely to produce a championship. I believe we need someone else to be the #1 to get to that level, which we saw briefly in this last postseason but behind them there was no one. Booker produced much more than KD and more efficiently as well while working within the confines of the team while KD seemed to force his shots and looked like he did the year prior in Brooklyn, like he was no longer a top 3 player in the league and father time had begun to knock on his door.

Feel free to think he's driven but I'd like to see some reports from those close to him that say something like that because I haven't seen anything of that sort. All I've seen is him talk about how he reached out to Adam Silver to remove marijuana from the banned substances list. That isn't refining or working on your game. If he had the work ethic you seemed to describe I wouldn't see his defense questioned somewhat regularly when analysts talk about the Suns chances next year as well as how they talked about the Nets the last 4 years.
 

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I don’t think Durant is title driven.

He reminds me of Kobe. He knows his craft and skills. He has nothing to prove to anyone.

I remember watching him in college. it was evident he soon would be the best player in the NBA regardless of the team he played for. I really think he has a lot of respect for book‘s game and wanted to ball with him.

I don’t get the feel that he was ever chasing titles.
 

BirdGangThing

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I don't recall KD being called one of the hardest workers in the NBA by any reputable insider, analyst, or commentators. I've heard that about Booker a lot and I believe that to be true. I believe we need Booker, and to a lesser extent Beal, to step up if we hope to win a championship. I believe Booker can, hopefully Beal does. Hitching our wagon to KD, especially at this stage of his career, isn't likely to produce a championship. I believe we need someone else to be the #1 to get to that level, which we saw briefly in this last postseason but behind them there was no one. Booker produced much more than KD and more efficiently as well while working within the confines of the team while KD seemed to force his shots and looked like he did the year prior in Brooklyn, like he was no longer a top 3 player in the league and father time had begun to knock on his door.

Feel free to think he's driven but I'd like to see some reports from those close to him that say something like that because I haven't seen anything of that sort. All I've seen is him talk about how he reached out to Adam Silver to remove marijuana from the banned substances list. That isn't refining or working on your game. If he had the work ethic you seemed to describe I wouldn't see his defense questioned somewhat regularly when analysts talk about the Suns chances next year as well as how they talked about the Nets the last 4 years.
I've heard that about KD being a training fanatic in a lot of places, including from Booker and other Suns directly after the trade. As far as Booker out producing KD in their (very limited) time last year I'd say that was somewhat to be expected with KD being the new guy and trying to find his way. Not to mention KD had some poor shooting nights but he always kept shooting or found other ways to score. KD also took the last shot on more than one occasion in that same time span. KD's always been vocal about issues, from the League to politics. I will say he's super sensitive but it's never stopped him from being productive.
 

AzStevenCal

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All of Beal's recent interviews, you can see he is hungry. He's also excited that he's got a shot with this team. Beal is ALL in. We know Book's not happy without a ring. KD knows all the talk about him. He knows everyone thinks he can't win without Steph. Do you think that makes KD less hungry, or more hungry? KD has as much to prove as Book or Beal.
Yeah I think that some players (maybe most players) get a little complacent after winning a title but I doubt that complacency lasts more than a season or two. And with KD's big ears we all know he hears every single expert and fan when they say he only won a ring by joining a super team that had already won it all. That coupled with the fact he is rushing towards the end of his career and I expect him to be very motivated.
 

Germz249

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I did a Germz spread awhile back..
It's Michael Jordan isn't it? Were getting Michael Jordan!

Muggz my good friend.. I can't say if it was me that got them in contact together but I am just going to leave this here..


You must be registered for see images attach
 

GatorAZ

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I don't recall KD being called one of the hardest workers in the NBA by any reputable insider, analyst, or commentators. I've heard that about Booker a lot and I believe that to be true. I believe we need Booker, and to a lesser extent Beal, to step up if we hope to win a championship. I believe Booker can, hopefully Beal does. Hitching our wagon to KD, especially at this stage of his career, isn't likely to produce a championship. I believe we need someone else to be the #1 to get to that level, which we saw briefly in this last postseason but behind them there was no one. Booker produced much more than KD and more efficiently as well while working within the confines of the team while KD seemed to force his shots and looked like he did the year prior in Brooklyn, like he was no longer a top 3 player in the league and father time had begun to knock on his door.

Feel free to think he's driven but I'd like to see some reports from those close to him that say something like that because I haven't seen anything of that sort. All I've seen is him talk about how he reached out to Adam Silver to remove marijuana from the banned substances list. That isn't refining or working on your game. If he had the work ethic you seemed to describe I wouldn't see his defense questioned somewhat regularly when analysts talk about the Suns chances next year as well as how they talked about the Nets the last 4 years.

You can’t have the peak, longevity or consistency of return from injury that KD has without having an elite work ethic. By all accounts he’s a gym rat of all gym rats.
 

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I don’t think Durant is title driven.

He reminds me of Kobe. He knows his craft and skills. He has nothing to prove to anyone.

I remember watching him in college. it was evident he soon would be the best player in the NBA regardless of the team he played for. I really think he has a lot of respect for book‘s game and wanted to ball with him.

I don’t get the feel that he was ever chasing titles.

Durant and Kobe aren’t similar IMO. Kobe is pretty much an alpha of all alpha’s (a lot of times to his detriment). Kobe wouldn’t have cared less about trolls if his prime coincided with the twitter era. While there were some external motivators for him like Shaq and Lebron, he was mostly internally driven.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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And for those who want to say KD will increase his legacy delivering the Suns a title, of course but it's not a matter of retiring without a ring and having his impact and greatness questioned or not. He's already a top 5 player from the last 15 years. Winning, or losing, as a Sun doesn't change that. He doesn't seem to care how he's viewed either so I don't see people counting him giving him a chip on his shoulder.
Anyone who gets in Twitter wars 100% cares how he’s viewed. It’s literally why he tweets back. If he didn’t care, he would let it go.

I also think it’s weird questioning the drive of a guy who clearly wants to play on the best teams.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I don't recall KD being called one of the hardest workers in the NBA by any reputable insider, analyst, or commentators. I've heard that about Booker a lot and I believe that to be true. I believe we need Booker, and to a lesser extent Beal, to step up if we hope to win a championship. I believe Booker can, hopefully Beal does. Hitching our wagon to KD, especially at this stage of his career, isn't likely to produce a championship. I believe we need someone else to be the #1 to get to that level, which we saw briefly in this last postseason but behind them there was no one. Booker produced much more than KD and more efficiently as well while working within the confines of the team while KD seemed to force his shots and looked like he did the year prior in Brooklyn, like he was no longer a top 3 player in the league and father time had begun to knock on his door.

Feel free to think he's driven but I'd like to see some reports from those close to him that say something like that because I haven't seen anything of that sort. All I've seen is him talk about how he reached out to Adam Silver to remove marijuana from the banned substances list. That isn't refining or working on your game. If he had the work ethic you seemed to describe I wouldn't see his defense questioned somewhat regularly when analysts talk about the Suns chances next year as well as how they talked about the Nets the last 4 years.
The craziest thing about your theory that ring winners lose their drive is the number of teams that were multiple time winners. Were the 80s lakers and Celtics complacent? The back to back pistons? The spurs? The warriors? Thems a lot of ring winners that didn’t get complacent.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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And of course, Durant and Curry kept completing their daily workouts after practice. No wonder Kerr said, "Kevin’s work ethic was off the charts."

"To watch them both work on their craft, it was really amazing," Kerr said. "I would frequently have our young players pay attention to both Steph and Kevin. There’s a passion and a work ethic that is mesmerizing when you combine that with the pattern of their routine and the work that they put in day after day after day. They’re both so dialed in when they get their workouts in. It’s almost a zone. It explains a lot about their respective success

 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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“I tried to shoot with him every day. But he didn’t miss one workout, one routine. Every day he got in the gym, he had the same workout after practice. He shot after every day. He came early to the gym. His work ethic is second to none. I just tried to attach to that

 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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"I don't think a lot of people understand," Popovich said. "They just think he's talented and he's really good, he can get his shot off, and so on and so forth. "When practices were over, not just the other players, but coaching staff, we'd go and be mesmerized by watching him go through this individual workout.

"He'd go over at one of the baskets and usually Will Hardy (former San Antonio assistant coach, current Utah Jazz head coach) will com over there, and he'd bust Will Hardy's butt for, like, 45 minutes chasing balls and throwing his back to him as he did his workout. Starting inside, going outside, making moves, pivoting, doing the whole deal.
"And it was just his way. I don't think other players from other teams knew that he did those sorts of things or that he loved the game in that way, through really working on all the basics and the fundamentals. It was special

 
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