Durant to Suns

[GatorAZ]

Supposedly today it was reported we were in a three team trade for John Collins, when Ishbia asked if we could get Durant. Also, supposedly the Suns were the only team the Nets worked with to trade KD.

Based on the Woj article Ishbia pulled off the deal working directly with Joe Tsai. James Jones and Sean Marks will be looking for new jobs soon.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Man! I sure hope we can defend someone, otherwise we are going to see some high scoring games. Can you imagine Paul and Booker defending Kyrie and Luka? Steph, Klay or Poole? Young and Murray? Morant?

Seems to me Booker is going to have to sacrifice some offense.

I like the trade but we no longer matchup as well with some teams.

I imagine we will give up similar numbers to what they were getting on Bridges. Luka pretty much gets whatever he wants against anyone and that includes Mikal. He is a very good defender, but he is no Kawhi or Butler when it comes to one on one defense.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I mentioned four 1st round picks, Cam Johnson and expiring contracts was the limit.

For one of the best players of all time, still playing at or near his peak.

You guys can be so unrealistic.

 

[TJ]

My only gripe is losing BOTH Cam and Mikal at the same time. Wish we could’ve packaged Dario or Shamet.

 

[Yuma]

This is almost exactly what I had started thinking about Bridges. The only difference is, I thought Bridges was a better team defender than one-on-one defender. He's not really the Famous [insert superstar name] Stopper."

It's been a minute but there used to be videos of KD stopping LeBron in the playoffs on LeBron iso plays.

 

[Proximo]

Irrelevant and you know it. As if Mikal not missing games makes him better than Durant. Come on.

It's very relevant if KD is hurt in the playoffs.

 

[TJ]

This is almost exactly what I had started thinking about Bridges. The only difference is, I thought Bridges was a better team defender than one-on-one defender. He's not really the Famous [insert superstar name] Stopper."

I’d rather have a Tony Allen/Bruce Bowen type of player on this team than Mikal. I don’t need him to shut down Luka, Steph, etc, but I want them to work hard at it

 

[Yuma]

WOJ "There's a new Super Team born in Phoenix."

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

No. He was not on the level of Booker, he was a 20 point scorer, not 27.

We are talking about Mikal who averages 17 and Hornacek who averaged 20. 7 > 3

Now compare assists. They were pretty close to equivalents in terms of point generation and whose team it was.

But also if you’re just comparing points, KD 30 and Barkley 23 at time of trade. 7=7

 

[Yuma]

Brooklyn may be trying to move wing players today. Possibly another move with the Nets?

 

[Yuma]

Legler "Phoenix wil be the team representing the West in the NBA Finals."

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

My point had nothing to do with them. It was that for what we gave up, we should have gotten a superstar who could nearly alone lead a team into the finals, and if surrounded by Westbrook and Hardin, win.

But I've said my piece. Mark me down as this is not just a bad move, it's a terrible move esp when all those missing draft picks aren't there.

There is literally no one in the nba that can do that.

 

[Mainstreet]

For one of the best players of all time, still playing at or near his peak.

You guys can be so unrealistic.

When does Kevin Durant return from injury, after the All-Star break?

He has missed the last 14 games.

 

[Proximo]

This deal is the ultimate gamble, but I mean that stricttly as a neutral observation, because Jerry Colangelo was a gambler himself. What do you think the Charles Barkley trade was if not a gamble?

A robbery.

No way in hell could that trade have gone badly for the suns.

 

[Yuma]

When does Kevin Durant return from injury, after the All-Star break?

He has missed the last 14 games.

Yes. They are saying Feb 19th on ESPN

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I agree, you're rolling the dice on "now." But Paul is aging fast. His shooting from 3 has improved. Why? Because he's not able to get to his 18 footers as easily as in the previous years. Yes, we get more starting firepower. But now who is the scorer off the bench? Who is the lockdown guy on the other team's best scorer? I get the give up a lot to get a lot mentality. I think they gave up way too much.

We'll see. My prediction is we exit at or before the same point as last year.

You know our depth is literally the same as it was before the trade, right? We swapped two forwards for two forwards. One a HUGE upgrade and the other a small downgrade (if he stays healthy - the kicker with that comment is you don’t know who that qualifier applies to, cam or warren). Crowder, for an intents and purposes, was not on this team.

 

[Yuma]

This deal is the ultimate gamble, but I mean that stricttly as a neutral observation, because Jerry Colangelo was a gambler himself. What do you think the Charles Barkley trade was if not a gamble?

It was a gamble. Barkley played his best ball AFTER the trade. He wasn't a KD before the trade.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

How do we know they won't be great picks?

Considering the hit rate of draft picks the odds favor failure.

 

[GatorAZ]

Considering the hit rate of draft picks the odds favor failure.

Besides, as long as Book was here and the Suns were serious about keeping him those picks were eventually getting traded. I’m guessing they would’ve been going to LA for Lebron this summer had the Suns not gotten KD.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Well, I never said that. Sure I'd like a banner. I've been here longer than anyone, sitting through the Alcindor flip and the 2 seasons of missing the playoffs with the THIRD best record in the NBA and the Ritchie Powers non-call that cost us the 76 championship.

But it was still a bad trade. Any team with a couple of stars (i.e., Toronto) can get hot and win it all. Then never be heard from again. We traded a chance to be in the championship fight every single year for one, maybe two playoffs.

But that's my view. Won't mind being wrong, but I still think it was a bad trade.

You undersell what Toronto did. Kawhi was one of the top 3 players in the league, not just a “star.” KD is that level.

 

[Mainstreet]

Yes. They are saying Feb 19th on ESPN

I guess that was my attempt at sarcasm. It needs work.

 

[SirStefan32]

Considering the hit rate of draft picks the odds favor failure.

We might miss out on the next Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, or Marquese Chriss.

 

[Pokinmik]

A robbery.

No way in hell could that trade have gone badly for the suns.

It could have gone bad for the same reason people here are worried about it going bad. He could’ve been hurt somehow, but he didn’t. Just worrying for worries sake. Anyone can get injured.

 

[Cheesebeef]

for everyone calling this the Shaq trade, you are both right and wrong. This is the Shaq trade… TO MIAMI.

It’s giving us a legit two year championship window. Something WE DID NOT HAVE with the current team.

Or did you guys forget that a BETTER Suns team got annihilated by the end of last season? Or were you watching when we were a mediocre 18-11 before Book went out, which was built on the strength of an insanely easy early season schedule?

AND end of day, we STILL have Booker/Ayton to rebuild around once KD is done.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Yeah. They are skeletons but some of those skeletons will become stars like Devin Booker.

Or like bender, or chriss, or Jackson, or Len. The boomers are far outnumbered in the opposite direction. I like draft picks. They’re fun to talk about because they don’t suck yet. But odds favor them sucking. It’s literally math.