The Durant Sweepstakes

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I get why you would do that, but how do you fill out the rest of the roster?

With a starting 5 of

Paul
Book
Cam
KD
Ayton

And bench of

Bojan
Lee
Okogie
Biz
Londale

I’m not concerned we can’t find a backup pg, which is what we would really be seeking.

That starting five is going crush other teams and there’s enough talent there to stagger so that there’s multiple legitimate offensive threats on the floor at all times.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Basically you sign Dennis Shroeder and the best G-leaguers and international players you can.

But if we have a lineup of
Ayton
Bogdanovich
KD
Booker
CP3

With our backups as
Cam Johnson
Biz
Craig
Lee
Schroeder

Okogie
Landale
Wainright

That is only 2 spots to fill and that looks like a really good team if we can stay mostly healthy

Forgot we have Craig under contract too.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The suns have consistently said they aren’t gutting the team. What from that trade ISN’T gutting the team?

Keeping cam Johnson.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Basically you sign Dennis Shroeder and the best G-leaguers and international players you can.

But if we have a lineup of
Ayton
Bogdanovich
KD
Booker
CP3

With our backups as
Cam Johnson
Biz
Craig
Lee
Schroeder

Okogie
Landale
Wainright

That is only 2 spots to fill and that looks like a really good team if we can stay mostly healthy

I would not value Bog over Cam.

 

[Chaplin]

Keeping cam Johnson.

LOL OK

 

[Cheesebeef]

LOL OK

Keeping CP3/Booker/Ayton/Cam = not gutting the team, IMO. All the other guys sans Bridges just aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things, especially if we can sign a Schroeder as backup PG and get a piece like Bogdanovich in the deal.

 

[Chaplin]

Keeping CP3/Booker/Ayton/Cam = not gutting the team, IMO. All the other guys sans Bridges just aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things, especially if we can sign a Schroeder as backup PG and get a piece like Bogdanovich in the deal.

I hope you're right, I really do. The waiting is unbearable.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I hope you're right, I really do. The waiting is unbearable.

I’ve moved on. A team built around CP3/Booker/KD AND Ayton is just too good to be true.

 

[Proximo]

The suns have consistently said they aren’t gutting the team. What from that trade ISN’T gutting the team?

How is that gutting the team?

Mikal replaced by KD
Crowder replaced by Bogdanovich

Both upgrades

We lose Dario - who is a below average player who you really don't want to play
Shamet - another below average player
Payne - That's a loss but not a big one

Really it's just the draft picks - which are worth it for those 2 upgrades if you ask me.

 

[AzStevenCal]

How is that gutting the team?

Mikal replaced by KD
Crowder replaced by Bogdanovich

Both upgrades

We lose Dario - who is a below average player who you really don't want to play
Shamet - another below average player
Payne - That's a loss but not a big one

Really it's just the draft picks - which are worth it for those 2 upgrades if you ask me.

You know, career wise Bojan and Dario don't look all that different. They are both efficient scorers, Bojan has a decent lead. Neither put up big assist or rebound numbers but Saric leads by a solid margin. Neither is a great defender but the edge goes to Dario.

They each have a career PER of 14.0. Bojan leads in Win Shares which makes sense since he plays a lot more minutes but WS per 48 are almost the same. It's a small sample size but Dario has a big WS/48 edge in postseason play.

Also, Dario cost less than half of what Bojan makes and is 5 years younger. And yet, for you, Bojan is a huge upgrade (over Crowder, who has started for two finals squads over the past 3 seasons) while Saric is not worth playing?

 

[AZ Native]

I'm kinda ambivalent about this whole thing. Last years team was an excellent team. Not sure what happened against Dallas but the age of the core means it has room to grow. I get that Durant has been a top three talent, but I am not sure about blowing everything up to get him.

It might be great but I hate to give all that up.

Agreed.

 

[AZ Native]

I’ve moved on. A team built around CP3/Booker/KD AND Ayton is just too good to be true.

It looks good on paper but CP3 is fading fast. And how many games will KD play in, 30,40, 50, 60,70? That is the question.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It looks good on paper but CP3 is fading fast. And how many games will KD play in, 30,40, 50, 60,70? That is the question.

I’m guessing 60. Also guessing if KD is here we’re the prime team to get buyout guys to help buoy the bench.

 

[capologist]

Giving them 4 picks and fillers is sufficient value for Durant and for assuming that contract IMO.

If you return the starting 5 just swapping out Crowder for KD seriously who stops that team.

Try to imagine that the Suns get KD for late picks and filler, and you’re in Nets PR trying to sell fans on the new season. Ugh. What do you even say?

At least if you get Bridges it’s something. A young player, DPOY runner up, possibly marginal All-Star potential, on a team-friendly contract. Without that, how can you possibly sell the trade to the fans?

 

[AZ Native]

60? I would take 60 in a heartbeat. If that’s the case, I say go for it. But I’m not convinced that is happening. We shall see.

 

[Proximo]

You know, career wise Bojan and Dario don't look all that different. They are both efficient scorers, Bojan has a decent lead. Neither put up big assist or rebound numbers but Saric leads by a solid margin. Neither is a great defender but the edge goes to Dario.

They each have a career PER of 14.0. Bojan leads in Win Shares which makes sense since he plays a lot more minutes but WS per 48 are almost the same. It's a small sample size but Dario has a big WS/48 edge in postseason play.

Also, Dario cost less than half of what Bojan makes and is 5 years younger. And yet, for you, Bojan is a huge upgrade (over Crowder, who has started for two finals squads over the past 3 seasons) while Saric is not worth playing?

Bojan is a career .392 3pt shooter, Dario is .357

Bojan's VORP is a positive 1 - Dario is basically a 0 - which essentially means he is dead average.

Statistically the only thing Dario has over him is rebounding. That's what the stats say.

What my eyes say is, Bojan is clutch - he was often time's the Jazz go to player in the clutch. Dario on the other hand is totally hit and miss and completely inconsistent. Ever since he has been a Sun he goes through periods where he is horrific and unplayable, and then stretchs where he was good. I don't like that kind of inconsistency.

The age thing is irrelevant because we are in a short window, and we are not resigning Dario to big money anyway after this season.

Then you have the fact Dario is coming off a major injury and was already a liability movement wise. He is not a player that can afford to lose a step at all.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

 

[Chaplin]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

I have a feeling this is partly aimed at me. Im on record as being in favor, heavily, of aquiring Kevin Durant. However, the Suns did say they won’t hit the team and pretty much losing your entire playable bench outside of MAYBE Cam Johnson, who wouldn’t even be a bench player anymore, could be interpreted as hitting the team.

We don’t really know how much Payne, Crowder and Shamet mean to the organization, but there is definitely an argument to me made that the front office would actually consider sending them off as gutting the team. Let alone sending 4 first rounders. Us armchair GMs might thinks it is worth it, but does James Jones and Monty think that? I don’t think any of us ca n answer that question.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

Bingo.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I have a feeling this is partly aimed at me. Im on record as being in favor, heavily, of aquiring Kevin Durant. However, the Suns did say they won’t hit the team and pretty much losing your entire playable bench outside of MAYBE Cam Johnson, who wouldn’t even be a bench player anymore, could be interpreted as hitting the team.

We don’t really know how much Payne, Crowder and Shamet mean to the organization, but there is definitely an argument to me made that the front office would actually consider sending them off as gutting the team. Let alone sending 4 first rounders. Us armchair GMs might thinks it is worth it, but does James Jones and Monty think that? I don’t think any of us ca n answer that question.

It absolutely was not aimed at you. I generally agree with you

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

Exactly. We get to try to go all out to win one now and still have two foundational pieces in Ayton and book to pull great players when those old big contracts are gone. Win-win.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

I think that's a misinterpretation of what's going on here. I'm probably the most outspoken AND I'm a huge fan of Bridges but for me, the reason I'm against this deal is all on the Durant side.

I believe many of you are overrating KD because he played well in 55 games and assume that means the Achilles repair is a non-issue going forward. From everything I've read on it, there's a very good chance that's not the case

It's not unusual for athletes to immediately return to a high level after recovery but they play increasingly fewer games and have shortened careers as a result of that repair. Knowing he's 34 and likely to have a shortened career, how can we not be concerned about not just his 4th year with us but his 1st year too?

 

[JerkFace]

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[TJ]

The wild overvaluing of our role players is hilarious but yet par for this board. Remember the hand wringing over Kelly freaking Oubre? The abject love for TJ Warren?

Booker and Ayton are both in their mid 20s. You can go all in for 2 years and not mortgage the two foundational pieces? That's extremely unlikely in the NBA. I mean 28 year old Booker is still going to recruit especially if they win anything.

Sell the picks. Give up the bench. Be the destination for mid-year buy outs.

Nobody loves role players more than Suns fans

 

[TJ]

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Shams saying we’re effectively out