Suns 2024-2025 Season Discussions

Ronin

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Gerald Bourguet

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Ryan Dunn (6.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 18.2 MPG, 41.1 FG%, 31.4 3P%) was nominated for Western Conference Rookie of the month for October/November.Grizzlies rookie Jaylen Wells (12.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.9 APG, 45.4 FG%, 39.4 3P%) won it
 

Ronin

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Suns Are Better

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Last season, it seemed like we learned Book may not be built to be a PG, but now it looks like it just prepared him to take the leap.Devin Booker (averaging 6.6 AST) has an AST:TOV of 3.2, which leads all SGs this season.(Even with Tyus Jones beside him) Point Book is here.
 

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Hoop Head

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Suns Are Better
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Last season, it seemed like we learned Book may not be built to be a PG, but now it looks like it just prepared him to take the leap.Devin Booker (averaging 6.6 AST) has an AST:TOV of 3.2, which leads all SGs this season.(Even with Tyus Jones beside him) Point Book is here.

I was afraid this idea would gain ground when his assist to turnover ratio was discussed recently. Booker is not a PG. He's an excellent SG, let him be an excellent SG. Trying to force him into a full time PG role is a recipe for mediocrity.
 

Germz249

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We can all pretend we drafted Bender, Chriss, Jackson, etc every year until 2031. :biglaugh:

Lol I was so excited for those picks.

I remember I couldn’t decided between Chriss and Bender but got excited we got both.

Then Jackson was suppose to go before Tatum. I thought the Celtics for sure were going with Jackson but he didn’t want to meet with them. Thought we had a steal.

sigh..
 

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Lol I was so excited for those picks.

I remember I couldn’t decided between Chriss and Bender but got excited we got both.

Then Jackson was suppose to go before Tatum. I thought the Celtics for sure were going with Jackson but he didn’t want to meet with them. Thought we had a steal.

sigh..

I didn't like Chriss. I thought Bender had potential but was 2-3 years from showing that regularly. I was a bit dumbfounded when we started Chriss his rookie season when there's zero chance he earned it. That seemed to cause issues later when we wanted to bring him off the bench. The entitlement was already entrenched in his character.

Bender never showed more than a basic understanding of basketball. He excelled at absolutely nothing and I can't even think of anything he was capable of doing even above average. He would probably dominate a pick up game at a gym based on his physical traits but that's his ceiling. Against any one who is 6'6" or taller that understands the fundamentals of basketball would be able to neutralize him. I will give credit to Bender's agent/manager. They earned every penny they got.

Josh Jackson still stings. I was aboard that hype train. He had some character issues to overlook but based on his potentials, they weren't that damning. He was supposed to be a combo of can't miss prospect and unrecognized athletic potential. When he was on, and he was a few times, you could see why he was a highly touted prospect. He was quite literally going to Booker's Pippen and when he had it going it looked like he would be. When he didn't have it going though he was almost invisible. He was invisible a lot. He had all the tools except a brain.

We actually did draft somewhat smart when we were in the middle of the round. As much as I've grown to dislike the Morrii, Markieff was a good pick, TJ Warren was also a good pick, and Booker was a franchise defining pick. All of those made in the teens. I blame drafting for need over BPA being our issue. We were devoid of talent so we didn't worry about grabbing multiple guys at one position before. Once we tried filling holes, we struck out more and more expectations were put on the draftees.
 
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AzStevenCal

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Lol I was so excited for those picks.

I remember I couldn’t decided between Chriss and Bender but got excited we got both.

Then Jackson was suppose to go before Tatum. I thought the Celtics for sure were going with Jackson but he didn’t want to meet with them. Thought we had a steal.

sigh..
Like all of us, I've missed on my share of prospects through the years but I was adamantly opposed to drafting Chriss and Jackson. I didn't like Jackson's off court behavior and never really saw anything great about his college game other than his effort. He showed me a little in summer ball after we drafted him so I could finally see why we took him but I still wanted Tatum (even though I tend to downgrade any Duke player).

Chriss was a mess, anyone that actually watched him play entire games knew that. Clearly, we scouted him solely by his impressive highlight reels and ignored the huge warning signs that appeared in every game I saw him play. Bender was the worst pick of the bunch but I bought into the front offense nonsense only to discover (after the draft) that we never really got to see him play. That's three ridiculous and unjustifiable draft decisions in a very short period of time. And keep in mind, it's even worse than that because we had to trade away additional value in order to draft Chriss in the first place.

I explained away or excused away a lot of drafting mistakes during the Sarver era because of our interfering owner and because every team screws up a pick now and then. Plus, I really thought that McD was a front office savant after he practically robbed the Clippers blind to get us a young combo guard with off the chart athleticism. But after awhile it became apparent even to us Bledsoe fans that he wasn't as good as his physical talent suggested, so even that move turned out to be no better than neutral. So all told I'd say the Sarver was maybe the second worst owner in the league at the time but McD was at the absolute top of the horrible GM list.
 
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