Suns 2024-2025 Season Discussions

Hoop Head

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I don't think its a homer narrative. My understanding is that a wing player is the 2-3 position in the modern NBA, and they are often interchangeable. These are usually players in the 6-4 to 6-9 height range that can run the floor, play on the wing, score, and in a ideal world they are also good defenders.

This is not about Booker, its about the nature of the position.

I called it a "homer position" because he blindly supports any moves the team makes until they don't work, essentially buying into the narrative pushed by the Suns PR team.

Besides that, I think wings can be interchangeable if you're talking average talent players but notice how no one is saying Beal will play SF? He's a SG like Booker, albeit 2" shorter. So why has Booker being moved dominated the narrative? No one talks about sliding KD, a natural SF, to SG either. The Suns keep trying play folks out of position and I'm tired of it. It's never just 1 guy or situational either, it's a domino effect. The most conventional lineup we've had in the last 25 years took us to the finals and then won a franchise record of games. I'd course some felt it had to be blown up since they lost to a team 2 years from making the finals themselves, with the greatest Euro prospect of all time. So 2 years was all that team got before someone tried finding the next 7SOL, which has failed.

There's always some versatility for a stretch, like Devin playing some PG, but this front office seems deadset on keeping him from playing his usual spot. It doesn't give us an advantage to play him elsewhere. I know he was great in the Olympics but is he going to defer to Royce O'Neale and Tyus Jones like they're Lebron and Steph? Big difference there when your teammates are MVP's and 1st ballot HOF'ers vs guys who earn as much throughout their career as stars do in a year.
 

Chaplin

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I called it a "homer position" because he blindly supports any moves the team makes until they don't work, essentially buying into the narrative pushed by the Suns PR team.
You have no idea what you're talking about as usual. See? I can throw out unfounded accusations simply because you disagree.

I simply said that Beal won't come off the bench. I don't see anywhere where Suns PR said anything about it yet.
 

GatorAZ

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Book proved in the Olympics what kind of all-around player he can be when he is not called upon to carry the team offensively. Would this team be better served by Book filling that role and having Beale take more of a scoring role?

Only thing that transfers from the Olympics back to the NBA are good vibes from winning and Book playing well which I do think is important after the way the season ended.
 
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I forgot about Jordan Goodwin. Does anyone want to explain why he didn't work out? I thought he was generally similar to Josh Okogie.
 

JCSunsfan

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Well if we look up the top 10 rebounders for the last 20 seasons I guess the average height is taller than 6-6, 6-8, so these guys don't come around that often.
The average height of the leading rebounder in the NBA since the 1991-92 season is 207.84 cm.
 

Cheesebeef

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Book proved in the Olympics what kind of all-around player he can be when he is not called upon to carry the team offensively. Would this team be better served by Book filling that role and having Beale take more of a scoring role?
No way. The reason that Book could excel as a glue guy is because everyone on the court was better than him so he fit the role. Beale isn’t anywhere near the player Book is and neither is anyone else on the court save KD.
 

Chaplin

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No way. The reason that Book could excel as a glue guy is because everyone on the court was better than him so he fit the role. Beale isn’t anywhere near the player Book is and neither is anyone else on the court save KD.
Do you think guys like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Edwards are better than Book? Do you think he is the least talented of the players on the Olympic team? Or at least one of the least talented?
 

Cheesebeef

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Do you think guys like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Edwards are better than Book? Do you think he is the least talented of the players on the Olympic team? Or at least one of the least talented?
No. I meant when he was playing with the big boys on the team like Bron, Curry, Embiid and KD. It’s easy to see why him deferring to the generational talents made sense/was so effective on the Olympic team. But he’s arguably the best player on the Suns who don’t have those guys on the team which is why I disagree with JC’s suggestion to use Book the same way here.

Out of the above, I definitely think Edwards is better than Book, but Book’s much better than all the others you listed.
 

Chaplin

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No. I meant when he was playing with the big boys on the team like Bron, Curry, Embiid and KD. It’s easy to see why him deferring to the generational talents made sense/was so effective on the Olympic team. But he’s arguably the best player on the Suns who don’t have those guys on the team which is why I disagree with JC’s suggestion to use Book the same way here.

Out of the above, I definitely think Edwards is better than Book, but Book’s much better than all the others you listed.
Fair.

What do you think of Book vs. Embiid? You obviously think Embiid is better than Book, but how much better do you think he is? I'm on the fence about that comparison.
 

Cheesebeef

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Fair.

What do you think of Book vs. Embiid? You obviously think Embiid is better than Book, but how much better do you think he is? I'm on the fence about that comparison.
I’d rather have Book simply for health reasons. When Embiid is healthy, he can dominate on both ends, but dude is never healthy when it matters.
 

Hoop Head

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You have no idea what you're talking about as usual. See? I can throw out unfounded accusations simply because you disagree.

I simply said that Beal won't come off the bench. I don't see anywhere where Suns PR said anything about it yet.

You know Suns PR isn't just what the team officially says, right? PR is so much more than that nowadays. Guys like Gerald Bourguet, Kellen Olsen, and the PHNX Suns Podcast with Lindsey Smith, Flex, and others. You toe the company line so when you're wrong you can throw others under the bus with you. That's fine but it's funny how you try and deny it.

Now you're saying Booker is equal to, or better than, Embiid in terms of talent. A guy who is a recent MVP and been top 3 for the last 5 years. Definitely not a homer though.
 

Proximo

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I forgot about Jordan Goodwin. Does anyone want to explain why he didn't work out? I thought he was generally similar to Josh Okogie.
I don't know. I thought he had a lot of promise. He reminds of De'Anthony Melton, just needs a bit more work on his jumper.

Guess he is on Memphis now.
 

Chaplin

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You know Suns PR isn't just what the team officially says, right? PR is so much more than that nowadays. Guys like Gerald Bourguet, Kellen Olsen, and the PHNX Suns Podcast with Lindsey Smith, Flex, and others. You toe the company line so when you're wrong you can throw others under the bus with you. That's fine but it's funny how you try and deny it.

Now you're saying Booker is equal to, or better than, Embiid in terms of talent. A guy who is a recent MVP and been top 3 for the last 5 years. Definitely not a homer though.
Where did I say that? I said I was on the fence, but haven't committed to either side. At what point does "when healthy" become more important in the discussion?

If you have a problem with me, then simply ignore me. Jesus, get over yourself.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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It is just my belief that there is some hidden directive from the league to allow players to become stars in the league.
Nah. I think there’s star treatment, but it’s only once they’ve proven they’re stars they get it. I don’t think the league looked at skinny no-skill Giannis and said “hey refs, make calls that make that kid a star.”
 

Mainstreet

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This was Flex from Jersey's last day working full-time at PHNX Sports, but I suspect he will be around.

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clyde2tw

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I forgot about Jordan Goodwin. Does anyone want to explain why he didn't work out? I thought he was generally similar to Josh Okogie.
Their only similarity was being scrappy at intercepting and disrupting on D. Okogie is a far better on-man defender. Goodwin didn't pan out because he was a worse PG than Saben Lee, and actually no better on D either. Suns wasted half season trying to work in Goodwin, Yuta and KBD, all failures. In hindsight, relocating their playing time to Okogie, Little, Saben, Bol may have served team much better.
 

Covert Rain

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This was Flex from Jersey's last day working full-time at PHNX Sports, but I suspect he will be around.

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That was short lived. Maybe they found out how full of crap he is?
 

Covert Rain

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I’ve only listened to PHNX Suns a few times and he’s not good. He should stick to bamboozling ppl on twitter.
I listened to him once by accident. I was following another link for one of the other guys. I agree it was not good. He was definitely not in the same class as the other talent. Plus again, he is full of crap.
 

Proximo

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My guess is Flex preferred the spotlight and he was not the focal point at PHNX.
My guess is PHNX cannot afford to pay 4 people full time salaries with the meager amount of views they get, and he was the last person in, so the first to be let go.
 

Covert Rain

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My guess is PHNX cannot afford to pay 4 people full time salaries with the meager amount of views they get, and he was the last person in, so the first to be let go.
If he brought value he would have brought in more views.
 

Mainstreet

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My guess is PHNX cannot afford to pay 4 people full time salaries with the meager amount of views they get, and he was the last person in, so the first to be let go.

It could be, but who is to know for sure.

I enjoyed it more when Flex went out on a limb making predictions whether right or wrong.
 
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