2023 Phoenix Suns Offseason

[AzStevenCal]

You must have been on hiatus from the suns board . . .

Yeah I certainly didn't think we could add much talent, the Beal trade shocked me. And it opened the door for a lot of the lesser players we've added since then.

 

[Joe Mama]

Eh, it’s still a gross overpay. We’re going to see Lillard move for a fraction of KDs cost and Dame should be worth more.

In hindsight I can't argue too much that the Phoenix Suns overpaid, but IMO that's mostly because of how well Bridges played in Brooklyn. I know there were some people here that believed bridges was being underutilized, but no one thought that he would play THAT WELL.

What do we actually feel would have been a fair deal for Kevin Durant and TJ Warren last February?

Joe

 

[elindholm]

What do we actually feel would have been a fair deal for Kevin Durant and TJ Warren last February?

Bridges, Johnson, and two first-round picks, no swaps.

 

[clyde2tw]

In hindsight I can't argue too much that the Phoenix Suns overpaid, but IMO that's mostly because of how well Bridges played in Brooklyn. I know there were some people here that believed bridges was being underutilized, but no one thought that he would play THAT WELL.

What do we actually feel would have been a fair deal for Kevin Durant and TJ Warren last February?

Joe

In true hindsight, JJ screwed up one crucial thing, to trade Crowder for Rui Hachimura. If done, either Saric or Craig would have replaced Jae in the KD deal. And maybe Watanabe would have been included in place of TJ. I believe these minor modification wouldn't have jeopardized the KD deal. But, then we might have had the right personnel to fight the Nuggets, with Rui on AD, and Watanabe shooting 3s instead of Shamet, Ross and Okogie.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Obviously I agree with your first paragraph but I'm not sure I buy the second part of your post. To me, the only reason we got Beal was because of his no trade clause and Beal's desire to play in Phoenix. Whether that was due to KD or Booker doesn't matter, if you take KD off this roster I'm not sure he'd have pushed himself towards us. There were still many ways to improve us had we not given away so much in the KD trade but we've made smart moves since then that quite possibly don't get made without the addition of Durant.

This is totally fair.

 

[Cheesebeef]

This assumes Portland would not have demanded Bridges to be included in the trade package. Maybe they wouldn't have, but I'm not sure that's a safe assumption considering the value he reportedly has across the league.

In my post I was assuming Beal does not come here.

I think a Booker, Lillard, Bridges core is just as strong as what we've got right now and also projects much better down the road. And I 100% think we could have pulled it off. Lillard is either going to end up in Miami for a pittance of what we paid or in Brooklyn, with a deal largely surrounding our draft picks.

I heavily disagree with the ideas that we could have a) gotten Dame without Bridges being moved and b) that Booker/Dame/Bridges is a better 3 some than Booker/KD/Beal.

Guys… Bridges was ALWAYS going to be the centerpiece for ANY KD/Dame type player we needed to trade for to put us over the top. You don’t get one of those guys with just Cam Johnson and picks. The Suns wouldn’t have been the only ones going after those type of players

Also, Booker/Dame/Bridges doesn’t make us a FA destination. Or have you not noticed that NO ONE ever went to go play with Dame the way guys have continually either wanted KD on their team or went to Brooklyn?

 

[Phrazbit]

I heavily disagree with the ideas that we could have a) gotten Dame without Bridges being moved and b) that Booker/Dame/Bridges is a better 3 some than Booker/KD/Beal.

Guys… Bridges was ALWAYS going to be the centerpiece for ANY KD/Dame type player we needed to trade for to put us over the top. You don’t get one of those guys with just Cam Johnson and picks. The Suns wouldn’t have been the only ones going after those type of players

Also, Booker/Dame/Bridges doesn’t make us a FA destination. Or have you not noticed that NO ONE ever went to go play with Dame the way guys have continually either wanted KD on their team or went to Brooklyn?

We were already a destination... hence KD forcing his way here.

And just watch what Dame gets moved for... it ain't going to include a player on Bridges caliber.

Again... you don't have to meet their demands, you have to beat the next highest bidder. We bid against ourselves and met a demand they made months earlier despite how much worse of a position they were in.

That last part is the most important. Meeting their demands was a total failure of negotiation.

I am excited for the season, I think we're a real contender, I still think we could have and should have done a far better job negotiating the Durant trade. Which will STILL be an all-time stinker if this team doesn't win a title.

 

[SeattleCardinal]

Not a bad grade.

NBA free agency grades: Heat, Suns, Cavs and Pacers earn top marks, while Bulls and Raptors lag behind

Four teams earned "A" grades in free agency

www.cbssports.com

 

[Proximo]

Bridges, Johnson, and two first-round picks, no swaps.

shamet, Johnson, Dario, crowder and the same picks

 

[Yuma]

Really? I just feel like we need scorers in every position but then again I am not as knowledgeable as you guys.

I would say Ayton IS the scorer of the three "centers" we have.

 

[Yuma]

Not a bad grade.

NBA free agency grades: Heat, Suns, Cavs and Pacers earn top marks, while Bulls and Raptors lag behind

Four teams earned "A" grades in free agency

www.cbssports.com

we worked with CP3 and Shammet and some trade swaps, and second round picks. We turned that into Bradley Beal, Eric Gordon, and 5 more guys that add up to a better team than we had last year. For bonus points we upgraded the coaching staff, too!

 

[Cheesebeef]

We were already a destination... hence KD forcing his way here.

If you think Booker/Bridges is the draw Booker/KD is, I don’t know what to tell you.

And just watch what Dame gets moved for... it ain't going to include a player on Bridges caliber.

Again... you don't have to meet their demands, you have to beat the next highest bidder. We bid against ourselves and met a demand they made months earlier despite how much worse of a position they were in.

You have made this claim over and over and over again but the Nets could have sat on him and then there would have been a feeding frenzy this off-season where the Miami, Memphis, Philly and Boston’s of the world would have been lining up to trade for him with good assets to do so.

That last part is the most important. Meeting their demands was a total failure of negotiation.

I am excited for the season, I think we're a real contender, I still think we could have and should have done a far better job negotiating the Durant trade. Which will STILL be an all-time stinker if this team doesn't win a title.

A title or bust makes this an all time stinker… for a team that had just gotten HELLACIOUSLY embarassed in the playoffs and was a 4 seed, staring at being a 4 seed from here to kingdom come if they didn’t make a major change.

Sorry… if this team gets to multiple WCF and a Finals it’s a winner. Why? Because it continues to mold the organization into a legit title contender, not some 2 year flash in the pan who went south from contention to also ran the moment CP3 crapped out. Which is what we had become regarded as not just by a lot of us on this board, but more importantly, in the media. Perception is reality and… well, reality was reality. You can go ahead and drop that 13-5 record with Cam Johnson healthy rap you love to do, but the reality was that was also with half of Chris Paul, who by season’s end couldn’t even be depended on for that.

 

[Yuma]

In hindsight I can't argue too much that the Phoenix Suns overpaid, but IMO that's mostly because of how well Bridges played in Brooklyn. I know there were some people here that believed bridges was being underutilized, but no one thought that he would play THAT WELL.

What do we actually feel would have been a fair deal for Kevin Durant and TJ Warren last February?

Joe

So how would have felt dealing those same assets we did for Rudy Gobert, instead of KD? Plus KD came back to earth in the playoffs. His shooting percentage came back down. He learned what Booker already learned, it's different when the other team can double you and puts their best resources to stop you.

 

[Yuma]

We were already a destination... hence KD forcing his way here.

And just watch what Dame gets moved for... it ain't going to include a player on Bridges caliber.

Again... you don't have to meet their demands, you have to beat the next highest bidder. We bid against ourselves and met a demand they made months earlier despite how much worse of a position they were in.

That last part is the most important. Meeting their demands was a total failure of negotiation.

I am excited for the season, I think we're a real contender, I still think we could have and should have done a far better job negotiating the Durant trade. Which will STILL be an all-time stinker if this team doesn't win a title.

Yeah. IDK. likely those picks will be late round firsts and not as valuable as people think. We probably couldn't have used them ourselves even. It's hard to develop guys when you are in a win now with vets taking all the time in a lineup.

 

[Phrazbit]

If you think Booker/Bridges is the draw Booker/KD is, I don’t know what to tell you.

Didn't say it was the same level of draw, I said we were already a destination... hence, KD forcing his way here in the first place.

You have made this claim over and over and over again but the Nets could have sat on him and then there would have been a feeding frenzy this off-season where the Miami, Memphis, Philly and Boston’s of the world would have been lining up to trade for him with good assets to do so.

We have the test example right now with Lillard... let's see if there is a "feeding frenzy".

And the idea that KD, either sitting out injured or stinking it up in the playoffs again sees his value rise makes zero sense.

A title or bust makes this an all time stinker… for a team that had just gotten HELLACIOUSLY embarassed in the playoffs and was a 4 seed, staring at being a 4 seed from here to kingdom come if they didn’t make a major change.

How did this last season end for us?

... hmm... gotta check my notes.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yeah. IDK. likely those picks will be late round firsts and not as valuable as people think. We probably couldn't have used them ourselves even. It's hard to develop guys when you are in a win now with vets taking all the time in a lineup.

Beal changes the outlook quite a bit IMO. Prior to adding him, our picks 5 and 7 years out looked to have a lot of value. Now, those picks plus the pick swaps probably won't be the loss some of us expected them to be. If I'm Brooklyn I'm sending hate mail to the Wizards for giving us an all star for chump change.

 

[elindholm]

shamet, Johnson, Dario, crowder and the same picks

That's ridiculous. Shamet and Saric each had negative value, and Crowder's value was barely above zero. Aside from salary matching, there's no reason the Nets would have preferred that offer to simply Johnson and the picks -- which they never would have done.

 

[Phrazbit]

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Not the most reliable reporter but Mainstreet might get his wish of adding another point guard.

Although, I think it's more likely we sign a wing player.

 

[Yuma]

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Not the most reliable reporter but Mainstreet might get his wish of adding another point guard.

Although, I think it's more likely we sign a wing player.

I wonder if Gordon changes that.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I wonder if Gordon changes that.

Yeah I just can't imagine Collison has much of anything left in the tank at this point.

 

[Proximo]

That's ridiculous. Shamet and Saric each had negative value, and Crowder's value was barely above zero. Aside from salary matching, there's no reason the Nets would have preferred that offer to simply Johnson and the picks -- which they never would have done.

Not true they were expiring, same with crowder.

 

[elindholm]

Not true they were expiring, same with crowder.

So hypothetically the Nets could have paid $30-something million for players they wouldn't use, or zero for players they wouldn't use. Which do you think they would have preferred?

 

[elindholm]

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Not the most reliable reporter but Mainstreet might get his wish of adding another point guard.

Although, I think it's more likely we sign a wing player.

He's worth a look, but Collison has played a grand total of 37 minutes over the past three seasons, scoring four points and committing five fouls. Not very promising.

 

[Phrazbit]

He's worth a look, but Collison has played a grand total of 37 minutes over the past three seasons, scoring four points and committing five fouls. Not very promising.

I remember him retiring years ago, we had been rumored to want him the summer we ended up with Rubio but Collison decided to hang em up.

I had no idea that 3 game return took place.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Eh.. the who’s right, who’s wrong is stuff is stupid.

My bad for pushing the convo that way.

We’re having a GREAT off-season that everyone loves. Let’s just happy happy joy together and start talking about how this team matches up, different lineups and look forward to what hopefully will be a killer season!

Like, we can just talk and imagine the season with all of us pretty much on the same page.

That’s a rarity. I’ll try to enjoy it with no pissing matches.