Suns updates and discussion for the 2022-23 season

[AzStevenCal]

Hachimura > Crowder and the Suns rejected it

Hardly. Between all his injuries and his horrible defense, I'd rather have the ghost of Crowder than move him for Rui.

 

[Mainstreet]

Is it too late to tank for a Draft pick?

Nah. Hopefully we are thinking championship again with the new owners.

 

[Mainstreet]

Hachimura > Crowder and the Suns rejected it

I'm wondering if the Suns have another Wizards player in mind like Kuzma or perhaps a player from another team.

I am curious as to who else the Wizards wanted to include. The Suns do have an open roster spot which they likely want to use later.

 

[Muggz]

I'm wondering if the Suns have another Wizards player in mind like Kuzma or perhaps a player from another team.

I am curious as to who else the Wizards wanted to include. The Suns do have an open roster spot which they likely want to use later.

Probably trying to trade Crowder AND, to at least improve a little, Hachimura would be ok but Kuzma might be a way to move on from Crowder AND Shamet and/or some pesky 2nd round picks. Or maybe we just need some bench space for the Blockbuster deal the new owner makes on day 1

 

[Mainstreet]

Probably trying to trade Crowder AND, to at least improve a little, Hachimura would be ok but Kuzma might be a way to move on from Crowder AND Shamet and/or some pesky 2nd round picks. Or maybe we just need some bench space for the Blockbuster deal the new owner makes on day 1

I can't see the Wizards wanting to keep Crowder. They would probably trade him to a contending team for assets.

Agree, the Suns probably want Kuzma and the Wizards are trying to trade Rui instead.

 

[Finito]

I really wish the Kuzma talk would stop. He’s an empty calorie player and always has been.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Ayton's recent progress makes me suppose that his basketball IQ is somewhat higher than Amare Stoudemire's. (I've been mentally drawing comparisons, because they both have/had histories of being boneheads on the court.) However, perhaps I should consider that Ayton has better influences than Amare Stoudemire: a point guard in Chris Paul who demands defense; a coach who seems more committed to defense than Mike D'Antoni; and a shooting guard who, while no Raja Bell on defense, is known to be committed to defense and to have steadily improved.

What kind of player might Amare Stoudemire have been had his coach been Tom Thibodeau?

I just don't get the Thibs love when he's discussed here, never did. As an Assistant Coach, responsible for the defense, he's great but as a Head Coach he leaves much to be be desired IMO. He uses up players, clashes with the front office and his teams underperform more often than not.

In 11 seasons as a Head Coach, despite having some terrific talent, he's only coached in 61 playoff games with an unimpressive winning percentage of .410. For comparison, Dantoni has a .491% playoff win percentage and Monty has a .511% postseason win percentage (.600 with the Suns) and that's two Suns coaches that most of the board talks poorly about.

 

[AzStevenCal]

[sigh] This is interesting, but obviously ignores the actual point of the comment. Thibodeau as avatar of "defensive-minded coach" was a throwaway remark and I'll avoid that mistake in the future.

Why avoid it, it's just conversation? Thibs would have changed Amare as a player, he'd have been miserable or he'd have focused on defense. Given that Amare's primary focus seemed to be getting highlight time on ESPN, I suspect it would have just made him miserable because defense rarely shines like offense does. But that's just my opinion, doesn't mean you can't state and support an opposing position.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'd like to hear more about Amare Stoudemire's focus on gratifying his ego. Back in the day, I didn't realize his ego was that big. I'm figuring out myself that reports back then of AS having a great work ethic, which I believed, may have been somewhat exaggerated. It wasn't good enough to motivate him to play defense, or to rebound as much as his physical gifts allowed. (I again note that he was physically superior to Charles Barkley in some ways.)

My impression of Amare is that he made an effort to play defense early on but kept getting in foul trouble when he did. Foul trouble put him on the bench and kept him off of sportscenter. I don't believe he had a real ego problem though, anymore than anyone does that's driven to succeed in something like pro sports. And as far as I know, he did have a strong work ethic but maybe I just bought into the hype too.

 

[Ronin]

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[Cheesebeef]

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So, it’s been almost 7 weeks since the injury and 6 weeks since the surgery.

Original estimate was a 6-8 week recovery after surgery. Hopefully that puts him back on the court second week of January.

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Carolinacacti]

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Need to get Bridges over their.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Need to get Bridges over their.

This

 

[Finito]

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

So, it’s been almost 7 weeks since the injury and 6 weeks since the surgery.

Original estimate was a 6-8 week recovery after surgery. Hopefully that puts him back on the court second week of January.

Doesn’t sound like he’s even close right now. I am expecting nothing until last week of February, early March.

 

[boisesuns]

Doesn’t sound like he’s even close right now. I am expecting nothing until last week of February, early March.

The team could look different by then!

 

[Cheesebeef]

The team could look different by then!

I don’t know why anyone expects this. Jae’s value appears to be next to nothing and if the Suns think about our roster the way most of this board does, apparently the only major piece we could use to upgrade (Bridges) is basically untouchable even if it means getting back one of the greatest players of all time still kicking ass or an all purpose perfect 4, who’s an ALL-NBA player that can do everything and has NBA championship experience.

 

[boisesuns]

I don’t know why anyone expects this. Jae’s value appears to be next to nothing and if the Suns think about our roster the way most of this board does, apparently the only major piece we could use to upgrade (Bridges) is basically untouchable even if it means getting back one of the greatest players of all time still kicking ass or an all purpose perfect 4, who’s an ALL-NBA player that can do everything and has NBA championship experience.

Still feel like they will at least listen to ayton offers when hes eligible.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I don’t know why anyone expects this. Jae’s value appears to be next to nothing and if the Suns think about our roster the way most of this board does, apparently the only major piece we could use to upgrade (Bridges) is basically untouchable even if it means getting back one of the greatest players of all time still kicking ass or an all purpose perfect 4, who’s an ALL-NBA player that can do everything and has NBA championship experience.

I think you're misrepresenting "most of this board". I'm pretty sure far more posters were pro-Durant trade than against it. And for the few of us that were against it, it was never just about Bridges for most of us.

Would you consider giving up Durant for Bridges and trade fodder (or maybe Siakam for Bridges and fodder)? I'm sure you wouldn't, same goes for the Nets now and preseason. But right now, with the way Kevin has played this season, I'm not even sure that a package of Ayton, Bridges, Crowder, CamJ, all of our picks and pick swaps gets us a call back. Maybe it works with Siakam but I don't see how we build around Devin and Pascal with so many holes to fill.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think you're misrepresenting "most of this board". I'm pretty sure far more posters were pro-Durant trade than against it. And for the few of us that were against it, it was never just about Bridges for most of us.

Would you consider giving up Durant for Bridges and trade fodder (or maybe Siakam for Bridges and fodder)? I'm sure you wouldn't, same goes for the Nets now and preseason. But right now, with the way Kevin has played this season, I'm not even sure that a package of Ayton, Bridges, Crowder, CamJ, all of our picks and pick swaps gets us a call back. Maybe it works with Siakam but I don't see how we build around Devin and Pascal with so many holes to fill.

I don’t see how we build around Booker/Ayton/Bridges. At least with Booker/Siakam you have two legit All-NBA players to build around.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I don’t see how we build around Booker/Ayton/Bridges. At least with Booker/Siakam you have two legit All-NBA players to build around.

I get that but with the Booker, Ayton and Bridges group, we'd still have our picks. Or are you suggesting we can get Siakam for just Bridges and Ayton? If so, yeah, that we could re-tool with.

 

[Matt L]

I don’t see how we build around Booker/Ayton/Bridges. At least with Booker/Siakam you have two legit All-NBA players to build around.

I don't see Toronto trading Siakim any time soon

 

[Phrazbit]

I don't see Toronto trading Siakim any time soon

They're in a **** or get off the pot moment. They either need to go all in, or they need to rebuild. I think they're going to end up rebuilding. Might not happen during the season... I hope it does, but, unless they get extremely lucky in the draft lotto, I expect them to tear things down over the summer.