This Team is About To Be Broken Up!

[Cheesebeef]

You think the league wouldn't want Doncic in the Finals? You must have been dipping into Ayton's stash.

They definitely want Curry and the splash brothers in the Finals more than the Mavs. There’s a reason the Warriors kept getting extended breaks… it was to make sure their games got the prime weekend spots on ABC.

 

[DJ Tabooh]

I don't suppose anyone thinks the Mud would win one game against the Warriors, much less defeat them four times. Pity. Some viewers get angry at the opposing team, and want to feel avenged by seeing the team's next opponent defeat it. Me? Not usually. I'd rather see the Mud give the league the finger by going to the Finals. I can't even imagine it going on to defeat the league's more favored team (Celtics or Heat), as the franchise did in 2011.

A 2022 NBA champion...Dallas Mud?? It can't be called a we-believe team--nobody does believe in them. It would therefore win as a we-don't-believe-it team. That's arguably stranger than a record-breaking Suns team that decided it no longer cared about winning. Here's a literary comparison to the idea. In eighth grade, I had to read some short story--sorry, I don't remember the title or author--that satirized the public adulation of Charles Lindbergh for flying around the world. Some other guy subsequently flies around the world, but he's a crude sleazebag that nobody likes.

The Mavs (can we stop calling them mud…..) won 3/4 in the regular season against GS and they play great defensively. If it’s a half court series, they can definitely win it if Luka plays like he did tonight.

Also, that series will go 6-7 games. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dallas won. GS is the favorite but it’ll be competitive. The worst thing you can do is give a team confidence and house money and they have that.

As a Bengals fan, that was us this year lol. Are we better than KC if we played 10 times? Probably not. But we had confidence. Luka’s a special player. Like might be top 10 all time when it’s said and done. Only Giannis and KD I would take over him but those guys are both out and can’t distribute like he can.

 

[somethingshesaid]

You think the league wouldn't want Doncic in the Finals? You must have been dipping into Ayton's stash.

At first I thought your accusation that Ayton uses drugs was uncalled for; then I remembered--he did once get into trouble for some sort of drug use, didn't he? Anyway, I agree with that other person here who believed the league would prefer a Warriors-Celtics final. That between Stephen Curry and the historic glamor of the Celtics franchise, the league thinks the two of them would earn it higher ratings and mo' money than Luka Doncic would. (We surely know that it doesn't give a rat's * about anything else...)

 

[somethingshesaid]

The Mavs (can we stop calling them mud…..) won 3/4 in the regular season against GS and they play great defensively. If it’s a half court series, they can definitely win it if Luka plays like he did tonight.

Also, that series will go 6-7 games. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dallas won. GS is the favorite but it’ll be competitive. The worst thing you can do is give a team confidence and house money and they have that.

As a Bengals fan, that was us this year lol. Are we better than KC if we played 10 times? Probably not. But we had confidence. Luka’s a special player. Like might be top 10 all time when it’s said and done. Only Giannis and KD I would take over him but those guys are both out and can’t distribute like he can.

Yeah, I knew I'd be asked eventually to dispense with my personal nickname for the Mavericks. They did earn "Mavericks," didn't they; so I guess I'll quit. (And why do I call them the "Mud"? Because until about the late nineties before they had Nowitzki and Nash, the Mavericks used to lose all the time. When I watched my first full NBA season in 1993-94, my first experience of the Mavericks--I mean, I had never heard of them--was their being the worst team in the league for the second consecutive year. I first called them the "Mud Mavs," then just "Mud," because I find the word "mud" amusing.)

 

[Hoop Head]

Yeah, I knew I'd be asked eventually to dispense with my personal nickname for the Mavericks. They did earn "Mavericks," didn't they; so I guess I'll quit. (And why do I call them the "Mud"? Because until about the late nineties before they had Nowitzki and Nash, the Mavericks used to lose all the time. When I watched my first full NBA season in 1993-94, my first experience of the Mavericks--I mean, I had never heard of them--was their being the worst team in the league for the second consecutive year. I first called them the "Mud Mavs," then just "Mud," because I find the word "mud" amusing.)

As a Bengals fan, perhaps you would enjoy hearing this. When your team upset the Griefs, I saw that the Griefs had someone named Patrick Mahomes (no, I don't follow the NFL); so I thought of a taunt. "Yo, where Mahomes at?"

It's not about the Mavericks earning the right to their name, it's that ridiculous nicknames like the Dallas Mud, Miami Cold, or the Kansas City Griefs are not funny, amusing, and are immature. It says more about you than it does anything else and it doesn't say anything good. It's akin to playground name calling.

No one else is in on your personal reasons, whether they exist or not. You're not entertaining anyone by doing that and if you knew you'd be asked sooner than later, why continue? That's rhetorical, I'm sure you know but you don't need to share the reason.

 

[JerkFace]

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Not sure why it was deleted by Evan Sidery. Basically just said that Bill Simmons said in his podcast that rumors were that Indiana was going to come after Ayton hot and heavy.

 

[unseenaz]

No it won’t.

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ya sure, nothing to see here. not to mention it's floating around that DA refused to enter later in the game.

 

[unseenaz]

You can't roll out there with this team again. They lack mental toughness you need to win a title. This loss is the type of soul sucking loss that will haunt these guys forever. That is two major collapses two consecutive years in the playoffs.

People talk about our culture. Guess what? That is now part of our culture.

you know who fixes that mental toughness issue? Damian Lillard

 

[Hoop Head]

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Tweet is unavailable.

 

[AzStevenCal]

you know who fixes that mental toughness issue? Damian Lillard

I don't think so. If Chris Paul can't fix it, I don't know why Damian would be able to.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think so. If Chris Paul can't fix it, I don't know why Damian would be able to.

He doesn't fit what the Suns do either he's not really a ball movement and defense guy. Great player but he'll be 32 in 2 months coming off serious injuries.

 

[Russ Smith]

The guy who I think would put the Suns over teh top, depending on what you have to give up to get him would be DeAaron Fox but based on what's said in Sac they don't want to trade him and doesn't want to be traded. They have an interesting situation they had 3 NBA starters at PG, they moved Haliburton but they still have Fox and Davion Mitchell. My guess is they don't want to trade Mitchell either he'd be good in Phoenix too, great defender, but I think everyone assumed Fox was going to get moved before the deadline and instead they moved Haliburton

 

[TigToad]

I think we are too lose to the collapse to remember how good we are. They will find out why we struggled and tweak, but to think we are suddenly bad is reactionary.

 

[JerkFace]

Tweet is unavailable.

Basically said that Indiana was rumored to be very interested at making a run at signing Ayton.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I think we are too lose to the collapse to remember how good we are. They will find out why we struggled and tweak, but to think we are suddenly bad is reactionary.

I don't think we're bad at all. But I don't believe we lost to an inferior team. And I don't believe there were anywhere near as many teams inferior to us this season as our record would indicate.

We hid a lot of our shortcomings behind the stellar 4th quarter play of Chris Paul, so anything that takes Paul down just a little takes way down. That's not a survivable situation because players at this time of year are almost always playing at less than full health.

 

[Peter Sheldon]

I don't think we're bad at all. But I don't believe we lost to an inferior team. And I don't believe there were anywhere near as many teams inferior to us this season as our record would indicate.

We hid a lot of our shortcomings behind the stellar 4th quarter play of Chris Paul, so anything that takes Paul down just a little takes way down. That's not a survivable situation because players at this time of year are almost always playing at less than full health.

very well put!

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think we're bad at all. But I don't believe we lost to an inferior team. And I don't believe there were anywhere near as many teams inferior to us this season as our record would indicate.

We hid a lot of our shortcomings behind the stellar 4th quarter play of Chris Paul, so anything that takes Paul down just a little takes way down. That's not a survivable situation because players at this time of year are almost always playing at less than full health.

Kind of my opinion too and it's why it surprises me when I see guys ripping Monty for not being this or that. I think you have a very good team but I don't think you won the most games because you had the best talent I think he did a good job of winning close games all year. CP3 being the primary reason why.

If CP3 were 30 the argument would be you need a coach to get you over that last hurdle, but he's not so I think the next step has to be the PG. You guys have to find another PG that's good enough to start next year.

 

[Peter Sheldon]

I'd much rather have a team who struggles early in the year then puts it all together in time for the playoffs, than a team who coasts all year with close wins then is not ready when adversity arises.

I like Ayton and think he could be a great player. I just don't think he wants it. Way too laid back. And this set of coaches won't demand it. I want him traded for a servicable center like Valančiūnas and a quality PG. And trade for some defense rebounding beef. I like Cam Johnson, but he doesn't help you much in the playoffs and he's gonna want to get paid this off-season. Is he worth it?

And for the love of God, can we get a couple guys who can hit an open 3? Every team in the league has 2-3 of those players!

 

[Russ Smith]

ONe name I'd throw in there because he's about to be a FA is Tyus Jones. he showed this last year that he's capable of being a pretty good NBA pg. He's not an all star, he has warts, but he's a terrific defender and he runs the show on offense.

No idea what he's going to do but there's speculation it's unlikely he returns to Memphis they have a weird situation where they're going to Max Ja Morant with obvious reason but the team was statistically better with Jones as the PG.

 

[Mainstreet]

Paul originally signed a new contract with the Suns for about 4 years at $120 million but not all of the money was guaranteed.

I reexamined Chris Paul's salary thanks to @AzStevenCal.

It is much better than I originally thought because I wasn't counting the 2021-22 season. Chris Paul's approximate $90 million in guaranteed salary included this season's salary of about $30,800,000.

So this means he is only guaranteed about $28,400,000 for the 2022-23 season and $15,800,000 for 2023-24 season.
A total of about of about $45 million of future guaranteed salary if my math is correct.

Still a financial burden but not nearly as much as it could have been.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'd much rather have a team who struggles early in the year then puts it all together in time for the playoffs, than a team who coasts all year with close wins then is not ready when adversity arises.

I like Ayton and think he could be a great player. I just don't think he wants it. Way too laid back. And this set of coaches won't demand it. I want him traded for a servicable center like Valančiūnas and a quality PG. And trade for some defense rebounding beef. I like Cam Johnson, but he doesn't help you much in the playoffs and he's gonna want to get paid this off-season. Is he worth it?

And for the love of God, can we get a couple guys who can hit an open 3? Every team in the league has 2-3 of those players!

Unless Cam Johnson is willing to accept a salary that is likely below market value we may see the Suns let him enter restricted free agency.

I can't see the Suns paying him a larger salary this summer without roster moves to compensate.

 

[unseenaz]

He doesn't fit what the Suns do either he's not really a ball movement and defense guy. Great player but he'll be 32 in 2 months coming off serious injuries.

that's what we need though, a legit scoring option next to booker. suns have no killer instinct, lillard brings both those things.

32 is a lot better than 38, which cp3 (also not known for defense) turns next year

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

that's what we need though, a legit scoring option next to booker. suns have no killer instinct, lillard brings both those things.

32 is a lot better than 38, which cp3 (also not known for defense) turns next year

That’s what lilliard brought. He was terrible this year prior to injury.

 

[Russ Smith]

that's what we need though, a legit scoring option next to booker. suns have no killer instinct, lillard brings both those things.

32 is a lot better than 38, which cp3 (also not known for defense) turns next year

he's old yes but CP3 has always been a pretty good defender. Just not at 38.

I like Lillard mind you I just don't think he fits the current Suns system, unless the system is going to change

 

[AzStevenCal]

he's old yes but CP3 has always been a pretty good defender. Just not at 38.

I like Lillard mind you I just don't think he fits the current Suns system, unless the system is going to change

Yeah at one time Chris was very much known for his defense, Lillard has never been known for that side of the ball. But at this stage of his game, CP3 is more liability than asset on defense except that (when healthy) he's beeen able to turn back the clock for some killer 4th quarter stretches.