Suns 2024-2025 Season Discussions

Mainstreet

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Saban Lee signs with a Turkish team.

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This is a question I thought of after my latest view of the James Jones quotation displayed by Mainstreet. You know, about 50 skeletons being tied to that swing for the star [Devin Booker, of course].

How much star potential did we see in Devin Booker before the Suns drafted him? Did we have any inkling that he would be a star?

I personally am skeptical of whether we seriously suspected it. We fans and followers outside the organization say these things about a lot of players. So we saw Kobe Bryant potential in Booker? Yeah, but I know fans (if not ones here, I assure you) who saw Kobe Bryant in Archie Goodwin! And, as you know, Archie Goodwin is nothing and nowhere today. Nothing, that is, other than a puzzling failure whom I can only suppose possessed too much arrogance and too little basketball IQ.

I wonder how much the front office back then knew Booker would be a star. Whether they really knew who they were watching before they drafted him.
 

JCSunsfan

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This is a question I thought of after my latest view of the James Jones quotation displayed by Mainstreet. You know, about 50 skeletons being tied to that swing for the star [Devin Booker, of course].

How much star potential did we see in Devin Booker before the Suns drafted him? Did we have any inkling that he would be a star?

I personally am skeptical of whether we seriously suspected it. We fans and followers outside the organization say these things about a lot of players. So we saw Kobe Bryant potential in Booker? Yeah, but I know fans (if not ones here, I assure you) who saw Kobe Bryant in Archie Goodwin! And, as you know, Archie Goodwin is nothing and nowhere today. Nothing, that is, other than a puzzling failure whom I can only suppose possessed too much arrogance and too little basketball IQ.

I wonder how much the front office back then knew Booker would be a star. Whether they really knew who they were watching before they drafted him.
Cmon. No one. However, he was the best shooter in the draft and the logical pick at the moment.
 
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Cmon. No one. However, he was the best shooter in the draft and the logical pick at the moment.
Well, I did say I was skeptical of anyone really expecting him to be a star. No one was making excessive noise about him like they did about Goodwin. Man, we got fooled about both of them. We didn't know Booker would be a star, and we didn't know Goodwin would be a nothing.
 
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AzStevenCal

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Well, I did say I was skeptical of anyone really expecting him to be a star. No one was making excessive noise about Booker like they did about Goodwin. Man, we got fooled about both of them. We didn't know Booker would be a star, and we didn't know Goodwin would be a nothing.
A few here predicted stardom for Booker, Chris Sanders for example. But I think most of us just considered him a solid pick with low risk. That really wasn't the case with Archie. He had some tantalizing physical gifts but he was always a long shot.
 

Mainstreet

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This is a question I thought of after my latest view of the James Jones quotation displayed by Mainstreet. You know, about 50 skeletons being tied to that swing for the star [Devin Booker, of course].

How much star potential did we see in Devin Booker before the Suns drafted him? Did we have any inkling that he would be a star?

I personally am skeptical of whether we seriously suspected it. We fans and followers outside the organization say these things about a lot of players. So we saw Kobe Bryant potential in Booker? Yeah, but I know fans (if not ones here, I assure you) who saw Kobe Bryant in Archie Goodwin! And, as you know, Archie Goodwin is nothing and nowhere today. Nothing, that is, other than a puzzling failure whom I can only suppose possessed too much arrogance and too little basketball IQ.

I wonder how much the front office back then knew Booker would be a star. Whether they really knew who they were watching before they drafted him.

If we could predict which players become stars, they would all be gone in the first ten picks. However, I think skills, basketball IQ, work ethic and athleticism tend to give a player a better chance.
 
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A few here predicted stardom for Booker, Chris Sanders for example. But I think most of us just considered him a solid pick with low risk. That really wasn't the case with Archie. He had some tantalizing physical gifts but he was always a long shot.
He turned out way better than I thought. I was on board with getting the best shooter in the draft. Let's be honest, it's what Booker did AFTER he was drafted and still to this day. His work ethic and constant work on skills, his physical strength (remember he could hardly dunk when we got him), and his mental game. He isn't perfect, but every season he improves. He's making the most of the talent he has. Watching him in the Olympics, he is stretching his abilities.
 

Mainstreet

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He turned out way better than I thought. I was on board with getting the best shooter in the draft. Let's be honest, it's what Booker did AFTER he was drafted and still to this day. His work ethic and constant work on skills, his physical strength (remember he could hardly dunk when we got him), and his mental game. He isn't perfect, but every season he improves. He's making the most of the talent he has. Watching him in the Olympics, he is stretching his abilities.

I'm glad a couple of those Kentucky players were drafted in the wrong order.

Both Willie Cauley-Stein (6) and Trey Lyles (12) were drafted before Devin Booker at #13. Of course, Karl-Anthony Towns was drafted #1.

Playing for Kentucky was a huge plus in helping to identify talent.
 

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A few here predicted stardom for Booker, Chris Sanders for example. But I think most of us just considered him a solid pick with low risk. That really wasn't the case with Archie. He had some tantalizing physical gifts but he was always a long shot.

Agreed. Archie was a shot in the dark for a team in the cellar. He had athleticism, but he didn't have much actual talent... unfortunately, it stayed that way. My only annoyance at the Archie pick was having to read people hype him up when he'd long ago shown he wasn't an NBA player.
 

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When Booker was drafted I started following the Suns again. After enjoying the Suns during the 90s I literally dumped them not to long after King Sarver took ownership. Sarver being from the finance world I felt we were in big trouble. After screwing over Joe the only question for me was how long would it take for Sarver to completely destroy what Colangelo and his partners had created.

When we picked a very young player from Kentucky I watched some of his college highlights and there was something special about his sweet jump shot not unlike Wesley Person back in the day. For some reason I felt I needed to follow his career although I hated the team’s owner.

I’ve enjoyed watching Book’s career and pleased with how he developed as a NBA player. He’s a player hard to not like. Represents his profession as good as one can.

Reach for the gold young man!
 
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When Booker was drafted I started following the Suns again. After enjoying the Suns during the 90s I literally dumped them not to long after King Sarver took ownership. Sarver being from the finance world I felt we were in big trouble. After screwing over Joe the only question for me was how long would it take for Sarver to completely destroy what Colangelo and his partners had created.

When we picked a very young player from Kentucky I watched some of his college highlights and there was something special about his sweet jump shot not unlike Wesley Person back in the day. For some reason I felt I needed to follow his career although I hated the team’s owner.

I’ve enjoyed watching Book’s career and pleased with how he developed as a NBA player. He’s a player hard to not like. Represents his profession as good as one can.

Reach for the gold young man!
Agreed! Also, what other NBA player have you seen here in the Valley, riding with a low rider club, handing out his new shoes, helping with handicapped youth, etc? For such a young man, he is becoming part of the community, not just a great basketball player.
 

Mainstreet

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Agreed. Archie was a shot in the dark for a team in the cellar. He had athleticism, but he didn't have much actual talent... unfortunately, it stayed that way. My only annoyance at the Archie pick was having to read people hype him up when he'd long ago shown he wasn't an NBA player.

Archie Goodwin had so much athleticism, I thought he might eventually figure it out. He was well worth the risk at #29 contrasted with picking Josh Jackson at #4.

The Suns let so many good point guards slip through their pocket in Fox, possibly Shai and Haliburton.
 

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Archie Goodwin had so much athleticism, I thought he might eventually figure it out. He was well worth the risk at #29 contrasted with picking Josh Jackson at #4.

The Suns let so many good point guards slip through their pocket in Fox, possibly Shai and Haliburton.

Goodwin would’ve been a top-10 pick if he went back to college for another year. They say the best development for the NBA is the NBA but he wasn’t ready to be a pro. He had flashes as a teenager his rookie year though.
 

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Suns aren't going to make a $50m player come off the bench.
they probably aren't, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.

He could be a killer, Ginobli-type weapon off the bench, who still likely ends up with starter minutes and finishes games.
 

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Suns aren't going to make a $50m player come off the bench.

What does money have to do with basketball fit? If Beal can’t handle the ego part of it then he’s not right for this team anyway. Besides he’d be on the court in crunch time anyway.
 

Mainstreet

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I am so glad he is gone. Don't have to see that horrible flat jumpshot again.

I'd lay the Suns point guard woes in 2023-24 where it belongs, at the feet of the James Jones.

It's not like Saban Lee was taking time from anyone. Isaiah Thomas and Theo Maledon were not any better.
 

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I'd lay the Suns point guard woes in 2023-24 where it belongs, at the feet of the James Jones.

It's not like Saban Lee was taking time from anyone. Isaiah Thomas and Theo Maledon were not any better.
I wonder how much of it was Vogel. He seemed totally resistant to Isaiah even being on the team. Now with Bud all of a sudden we have a plethora of PGs.
 

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