Suns Off-season Thread

[Covert Rain]

If the Nets trade KD it appears some think the Suns are the favorite to land him according to odds makers. Not that it really means anything. However, Durant and Booker like each other. If the Suns can pull this off I say JUMP. It's not likely though. Chris Paul would more than likely have to be part of the deal to make salaries work. You can bet they would demand more too.

Kevin Durant trade odds: Phoenix Suns favored to land NBA star if traded from Brooklyn Nets

Speculation has swirled about Kevin Durant potentially being traded to the Phoenix Suns. There are now odds that support that speculation.

www.azcentral.com

 

[Chaplin]

Seeing Jalen Smith’s name get brought up in the other thread has me thinking. If there was any sliver of doubt in their minds that DA would be here long term then why decline Smith’s option? The cost of his option would’ve been the same as Craig’s so it’s not like it saved any money. The declined option and trade are two separate mistakes considering the way things are trending with DA. Strange but maybe it goes over JJ’s head.

I always thought it was obvious that JJ didn't like Stix and that was why he was shipped out.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I always thought it was obvious that JJ didn't like Stix and that was why he was shipped out.

Why? JJ drafted him, Monty glued him to the bench. If anyone disliked him I'd think it was Monty.

 

[Mainstreet]

I always thought it was obvious that JJ didn't like Stix and that was why he was shipped out.

Also Monty did not like to play Stix unless he could play power forward.

As it turns out the Suns could use another forward/center.

 

[Ronin]

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[Chaplin]

Why? JJ drafted him, Monty glued him to the bench. If anyone disliked him I'd think it was Monty.

So what? What does JJ drafting him have to do with it? It can easily have been JJ thinking he made a mistake and rectifying it.

 

[AzStevenCal]

So what? What does JJ drafting him have to do with it? It can easily have been JJ thinking he made a mistake and rectifying it.

It's just a statement of fact, make of it what you will. You offered your opinion, I told you why I held a different one. But who knows what really happened? Not me, that's for sure.

 

[GatorAZ]

I always thought it was obvious that JJ didn't like Stix and that was why he was shipped out.

But why decline his option? All it does is hurt his trade value.

 

[Mainstreet]

But why decline his option? All it does is hurt his trade value.

This always leaves me asking why.

How could the Suns escape seeing Stix's improvement from summer league. I would have traded the earlier version in a millisecond.

 

[Chaplin]

This always leaves me asking why.

How could the Suns escape seeing Stix's improvement from summer league. I would have traded the earlier version in a millisecond.

He hadn’t shown any improvement by the time the deadline came around. Perhaps that’s why they declined it. There are certainly a lot of other GMs that would have picked it up regardless of what he was showing at that moment. It was a big mistake, but It wasn’t a job or franchise-killing one.

 

[Mainstreet]

He hadn’t shown any improvement by the time the deadline came around. Perhaps that’s why they declined it. There are certainly a lot of other GMs that would have picked it up regardless of what he was showing at that moment. It was a big mistake, but It wasn’t a job or franchise-killing one.

We agree the Suns should have picked up the option on Stix. The problem in not picking up his option as I view it, it leaves the Suns with a couple of holes to fill instead of one. The Suns might have had their power forward of the future. Now they still need a PGOTHF and PFOTF.

 

[Cheesebeef]

He hadn’t shown any improvement by the time the deadline came around. Perhaps that’s why they declined it. There are certainly a lot of other GMs that would have picked it up regardless of what he was showing at that moment. It was a big mistake, but It wasn’t a job or franchise-killing one.

It’s just such a head scratcher considering they also weren’t sold on Ayton either, not offering him the Max. Doing that and letting the option go on a young big man you just drafted in the lottery, who was raw and supposed to be somewhat of a project coming out, who also could have been a cheap flier at insurance on Ayton in case things didn’t work out, was just odd.

And then they compounded those decisions by throwing 10 mill per for 3 years for a guy passed around like a joint a Dead concert.

Javale was a good get though. And Payne’s contract made sense at the time. But a pretty uneven off-season post Finals run that could have long-lasting effects moving forward.

 

[AzStevenCal]

But why decline his option? All it does is hurt his trade value.

At the time it didn't look like he had any trade value at all. I think people forget how poorly he played until this past season when he finally got some game minutes at the center position.

He was so bad his rookie year that he even stunk it up in the G League. He showed glimpses of rebounding ability just prior to our declining his extension but that was the first glimmer of hope for him and even then, it was just summer league.

In hindsight it was a bad decision simply because you don't give up on a young big man that quickly. But they had plenty of reasons to make that bad decision.

 

[Muggz]

Stix was a Center had ALWAYS been a center.
Few players could have made that transition, add stepping up to an NBA lvl ... good luck.
As soon as they realized Stix was a Center they shipped him out, because after DA they knew they had no freaking clue how to actually use a center and got scared.

 

[Finito]

This always leaves me asking why.

How could the Suns escape seeing Stix's improvement from summer league. I would have traded the earlier version in a millisecond.

You drafted a guy nicknamed “Stix” who everybody on earth said wasn’t physically ready for the NBA and needed to put on weight. Projects for take time to develop, I know shocking right.

The whole he never showed anything or he looked bad in practice that’s why Monty isn’t playing him thing is just guys taking up for Monty. He clearly looked good in summer league that tells me he was putting in the work then when he did get a chance to play he balled out. You don’t go from sucking in practice to just playing great in game and then he looked really good Indy

He had clearly been working hard.

He’s a center he’s not a stretch 4 but Monty wanted him camped out at the three point line. It’s Monty not knowing what to do with talent. Stix and Ayton are two really talented big men and we might lose both cause Monty and I think this is going to be Monty’s last year in Phoenix.

Man if you said Stix was going to be our center this year and we’re gonna trade Ayton for a great PF I’d be all over it, but nope here we are.

 

[Chaplin]

You drafted a guy nicknamed “Stix” who everybody on earth said wasn’t physically ready for the NBA and needed to put on weight. Projects for take time to develop, I know shocking right.

The whole he never showed anything or he looked bad in practice that’s why Monty isn’t playing him thing is just guys taking up for Monty. He clearly looked good in summer league that tells me he was putting in the work then when he did get a chance to play he balled out. You don’t go from sucking in practice to just playing great in game and then he looked really good Indy

He had clearly been working hard.

He’s a center he’s not a stretch 4 but Monty wanted him camped out at the three point line. It’s Monty not knowing what to do with talent. Stix and Ayton are two really talented big men and we might lose both cause Monty and I think this is going to be Monty’s last year in Phoenix.

Man if you said Stix was going to be our center this year and we’re gonna trade Ayton for a great PF I’d be all over it, but nope here we are.

I don’t think we should have declined his option, but he didn’t look “good” in summer league. His play during the season was a big surprise and is the main reason why people are upset. We didn’t give him enough time. But he looked at best average at summer league when you expect guys like him to be better than average vs that competition.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Stix was a Center had ALWAYS been a center.
Few players could have made that transition, add stepping up to an NBA lvl ... good luck.
As soon as they realized Stix was a Center they shipped him out, because after DA they knew they had no freaking clue how to actually use a center and got scared.

I know you're playing around here a bit but B/R listed Stix as a Forward in college and his build suggest he's better equipped to play the power forward spot. And most scouting reports that I read suggested that would be his position in the pros.

Back when we were using him only at the 4, apparently he wasn't putting in much work - I say apparently because we only have one short comment about it and that was from DA. Anyway, maybe his work ethic improved and that's why we saw him take off but OTOH, once they started playing him at the 5, maybe he no longer needed to work as hard to adapt to the pro center spot.

 

[Fumats20]

It would look even more stupid to sign Stix after you declined DA. How does anybody expect the Suns to treat a rookie better than their double double anchor.

DA is killed everyday by fans and he produced, he anchored the team to win tough games that the Sun otherwise would not have won....an his character & ability is assassinated constantly. Yet...This dude will get paid by multiple "other" teams.

What's funny is Stix too will get paid mostly like more than where the Suns picked him by multiple "other" teams based on his small sample size performance. Like DA, the Suns didn't want him but Indiana who says they are going after Stix may not be able to keep him.

Think about that for a minute. This all sounds crazy. But the question is who is the crazy one?

We can talk about what used to be or what we think all we want, but why is nobody talking about what's about to happen with these two. Is this happening with 2 other players from the same team?

 

[Finito]

I don’t think we should have declined his option, but he didn’t look “good” in summer league. His play during the season was a big surprise and is the main reason why people are upset. We didn’t give him enough time. But he looked at best average at summer league when you expect guys like him to be better than average vs that competition.

He made 1st team all summer league and led it in rebounding

Yeah he did look good.

 

[Fumats20]

He made 1st team all summer league and led it in rebounding

Yeah he did look good.

Continued on to looked good in the preseason...when he got real playing time with the Suns...then that time Monty was out (I often wondered how the assistant coaches had the notion to play Stix like that. Monty would have never and played anybody but Stix)....then goes to Indiana continue what you saw....basically continues to improve when gifted the opportunity.

Now other teams are trying to pay him more for nothing according to those who don't question Monty unwillingness to budge on how he views a young rookie. Well how I see it if Monty does DA the way he does, DA score 20+ & Monty says to the media that's not our style, then there no way I see Monty treating Stix better (even after Monty said Stix earned playing time in his absense).

Its probably best both move on and Monty brings in the players he wants (and he did but didn't play Bismark either).

 

[AzStevenCal]

He made 1st team all summer league and led it in rebounding

Yeah he did look good.

He didn't look good. He didn't look as inept 1Sun kept insisting nor did he look as bad as he had during the season but he did not look "good". He rebounded very well but there's more to the game than just rebounding. I suspect he made the all summer league team because there isn't much analysis going on there, it's just stats.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Continued on to looked good in the preseason...when he got real playing time with the Suns...then that time Monty was out (I often wondered how the assistant coaches had the notion to play Stix like that. Monty would have never and played anybody but Stix)....then goes to Indiana continue what you saw.

Now other teams are trying to pay him more for nothing according to those who don't question Monty unwillingness to budge on how he views a young rookie. Well how I see it if Monty that's DA the way he does, DA score 20+ & Monty says to the media that's not our style, then there no way I see Monty treating Stix better (even after Monty said Stix earned playing time in his absense).

Its probably best both move on and Monty brings in the players he wants (and he did but didn't play Bismark either).

Once we declined his extenstion there was no way we'd have been able to keep him. So playing him anytime after the start of last season was solely to benefit the team, there was no value in trying to develop him. He finally got another chance with us but it wasn't because Monty was out, it was because DA and Javale were.

Our problem with Stix stems from Jalen's rookie year where the pandemic eliminated our summer league and shortened our preseason - two essential periods for acclimating and developing a young player. And then Jalen got injured and came down with Covid, all of which kept him from learning his job like he could have in a normal season.

Throw in the questions about his perhaps less than ideal effort and it's no wonder that he played so poorly initially. And it's no wonder we made such a bad decision when it came time to extend him.

 

[Fumats20]

I respectfully call that nonsense because Monty beliefs factor in there too as was on full display with his constant unwavering inability to adjust.

There were plenty of times Monty didn't Stix and played whoever on the bench instead when he could have played Stix. He did it alot. It was weird. He played Nader more than he ever played Stix..even babying Nader through his struggles. So it's crazy when Monty says it's his fault Stix didn't get his option picked up he should have played him, earned minutes, says he works hard, gets emotional when he learns of the trade, says he watches him at Indy looking to see if Stix plays hard like he knows he can (why was he expecting Stix to, he didn't play him .Did he see this in practice? Expectations come when things are shown).... but never played him. Crazy.

But it may all be true look at DA. Clearly something is just wrong with him too. DA produced and is bring treated the way he is. Yeah, it's all DA.

 

[Yuma]

I just read an article about Stix that ripped the Suns for giving up on him too early since he is putting up solid numbers in Indiana......

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

He made 1st team all summer league and led it in rebounding

Yeah he did look good.

Not offensively he didn’t. I watched those games. He wasn’t impressive. His rebounding was good. That was about it.