Suns updates and discussion for the 2023-24 season

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[CardNots]

Don't be impressed by the shiny numbers, look beyond them. But if you must look at the numbers, ask yourself why his PER this season is the lowest it's been in almost 15 years. So far his PER is 21.3 and that's the first time it's been below 24 since early in his career. Again, he's not washed up, but at 35 he's just not the same player he used to be.

Just saying the 35 year version of Durant is pretty valuable.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Just saying the 35 year version of Durant is pretty valuable.

Agreed. He's incredible when you consider his age and his Achilles repair.

 

[95pro]

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Not good and promising.

Look at the toes. How they drag.

 

[Raindog]

Not good and promising.

Look at the toes. How they drag.

Indeed... that's some serious lack of elevation on a jump shot.

 

[GatorAZ]

Who performed the physical on this guy? Dr Vinnie Boombatz?

 

[Cheesebeef]

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As someone who’s had three back surgeries, my thought is that guy is moving as little as humanly possible and probably shouldn’t be doing anything on the court yet.

 

[Muggz]

As someone who’s had three back surgeries, my thought is that guy is moving as little as humanly possible and probably shouldn’t be doing anything on the court yet.

He's fine! He tweaked his back in preseason. Vogel is trying to solidify the DEEP bench. He already knows what we have with Booker and Beal.
KD would be resting as well but he wants to prove to the dimwits that hes still KD.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Don't be impressed by the shiny numbers, look beyond them. But if you must look at the numbers, ask yourself why his PER this season is the lowest it's been in almost 15 years. So far his PER is 21.3 and that's the first time it's been below 24 since early in his career. Again, he's not washed up, but at 35 he's just not the same player he used to be.

Come on man. We are all of 3 games into the season and he had one poor performance that is weighing down his stats. Yet you are going to talk about his PER as if it is a meaningful sample size. SMDH...

 

[Ronin]

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[Chaplin]

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People on message boards are saying he looks bad and they are afraid his back thing is catestrophic. I'm wondering why would he be shooting basketballs at all if his back is that bad?

I'm a little peeved at the lack of transparency by the team, but that is also James Jones' MO, and has been since he became GM.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Come on man. We are all of 3 games into the season and he had one poor performance that is weighing down his stats. Yet you are going to talk about his PER as if it is a meaningful sample size. SMDH...

The shiny stats were from 3 games, how else could I argue to put them into perspective other than to focus on those 3 games? And my opinion of Durant, which is highly positive despite the way you're reacting, is that he is still very valuable.

But the KD that played in the postseason two years ago, the KD that played last season for us and for Brooklyn, and the KD we've seen in these 3 games just isn't the same player he was prior to the Achilles. I don't think that's a shock, I usually point it out to people arguing that he's "washed". He's just not the same threat offensively or defensively as he used to be but that doesn't mean he's not a threat on both ends.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think the nonsense about him being one of the favorites for MVP last season has created unreal expectations of him. When you're not digging deep, just looking at the points he scores, those numbers can really impress. Same as with Lebron who is also still a very good player and can still put up big numbers. But he's just nowhere near the Lebron of 5 years ago.

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[95pro]

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Every clip of him shows him just shooting from 10-15. And he's never part of any other team activity.

 

[Ronin]

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[Cheesebeef]

The shiny stats were from 3 games, how else could I argue to put them into perspective other than to focus on those 3 games? And my opinion of Durant, which is highly positive despite the way you're reacting, is that he is still very valuable.

But the KD that played in the postseason two years ago, the KD that played last season for us and for Brooklyn, and the KD we've seen in these 3 games just isn't the same player he was prior to the Achilles.

no. In the 2020-2021 season Dude still looked like the best player in the game when he almost singlehandedly beat a healthy Bucks team, dropping 50 on them in a Game 7 he would have won if his feet were one inch shorter.

But since last season's knee injury, ankle injury and probably 2 more years of tread on those 35 year old tires, he just isn't as explosive as he was. But to say that was the case in 2021 is ignoring reality and sticking to the narrative you created that he'd never recover from the Achilles.

I don't think that's a shock, I usually point it out to people arguing that he's "washed". He's just not the same threat offensively or defensively as he used to be but that doesn't mean he's not a threat on both ends.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think the nonsense about him being one of the favorites for MVP last season has created unreal expectations of him. When you're not digging deep, just looking at the points he scores, those numbers can really impress.

No again. It wasn't just numbers. He was also putting up ridiculous numbers on a 20-1 win streak, where he was pushing everything. The idea that it was "nonsense" that he was in the running for MVP for a Nets team without Harden and with crazy Kyrie, after putting up eye-popping numbers in the midst of an incredible win streak is just more fuel for the fire for the nonsense argument that he could never recover to what he was post Achiles. He did in his first season back and then looked like it again last season before injury befelled him again.

Now it just looks like time and multiple injuries have taken that pop out of his game. But he had regained it after the Achilles and anyone trying to argue otherwise is doing to so to back up their own argument, IMO.

Same as with Lebron who is also still a very good player and can still put up big numbers. But he's just nowhere near the Lebron of 5 years ago.

 

[AzStevenCal]

no. In the 2020-2021 season Dude still looked like the best player in the game when he almost singlehandedly beat a healthy Bucks team, dropping 50 on them in a Game 7 he would have won if his feet were one inch shorter.

But since last season's knee injury, ankle injury and probably 2 more years of tread on those 35 year old tires, he just isn't as explosive as he was. But to say that was the case in 2021 is ignoring reality and sticking to the narrative you created that he'd never recover from the Achilles.

No again. It wasn't just numbers. He was also putting up ridiculous numbers on a 20-1 win streak, where he was pushing everything. The idea that it was "nonsense" that he was in the running for MVP for a Nets team without Harden and with crazy Kyrie, after putting up eye-popping numbers in the midst of an incredible win streak is just more fuel for the fire for the nonsense argument that he could never recover to what he was post Achiles. He did in his first season back and then looked like it again last season before injury befelled him again.

Now it just looks like time and multiple injuries have taken that pop out of his game. But he had regained it after the Achilles and anyone trying to argue otherwise is doing to so to back up their own argument, IMO.

For someone with such a great memory you sure do distort the past, at least when you're talking about me. I never said Durant wouldn't recover from the Achilles injury. I made the point, time and again, that statistically, players that have that injury have shortened careers and suffer more lower leg injuries as a result of the injury/repair. And to be clear, that wasn't my opinion, that was me quoting from medical studies on athletes with achilles repair surgery. Those same studies showed that pro athletes often return to their prior level but tend to decline quicker as a result of the increased lower leg injuries.

 

[Ronin]

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[95pro]

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I'm not even hoping to hear anything.

Book will back in a week or two.

Beal is done until December.

 

[Cheesebeef]

For someone with such a great memory you sure do distort the past, at least when you're talking about me. I never said Durant wouldn't recover from the Achilles injury. I made the point, time and again, that statistically, players that have that injury have shortened careers and suffer more lower leg injuries as a result of the injury/repair. And to be clear, that wasn't my opinion, that was me quoting from medical studies on athletes with achilles repair surgery. Those same studies showed that pro athletes often return to their prior level but tend to decline quicker as a result of the increased lower leg injuries.

I didn’t distort anything, but I ain’t getting into one of these pissing matches with you again.