Around the League: The Off-season
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
TJ (17) Bender (17, 6 and 3) and chriss (8, 11 and 4) doing well the last couple nights, 0.5 seconds or less sounding distinctly like a gimmick, 18% from 3 vs the kings and Jarrett culver putting up 17, 5 and 3 ... I’ve gone from +40 wins on the seasons to dumpster fire over night.
I should be banned from making preseason predictions.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I should be banned from making preseason predictions.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I think Culver will be good, but I don't mind the trade, because I like Saric for this team.
I just hope we can Turn Bridges / Oubre / Cam into 3 useful players for the team through development and a trade or 2.
I just hope we can Turn Bridges / Oubre / Cam into 3 useful players for the team through development and a trade or 2.
The league needs heroes, villains... and clowns. -- Aztec Sunsfan
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Rooting hard for Bender to do well this year and stick in the league. I think he can and will. I think we should not have let him go.3rdside wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:22 amTJ (17) Bender (17, 6 and 3) and chriss (8, 11 and 4) doing well the last couple nights, 0.5 seconds or less sounding distinctly like a gimmick, 18% from 3 vs the kings and Jarrett culver putting up 17, 5 and 3 ... I’ve gone from +40 wins on the seasons to dumpster fire over night.
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Did you think we should have picked up his option? Or bring him back at the minimum? I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t want to come back.Marty [Mori Chu] wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 4:57 pmRooting hard for Bender to do well this year and stick in the league. I think he can and will. I think we should not have let him go.3rdside wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:22 amTJ (17) Bender (17, 6 and 3) and chriss (8, 11 and 4) doing well the last couple nights, 0.5 seconds or less sounding distinctly like a gimmick, 18% from 3 vs the kings and Jarrett culver putting up 17, 5 and 3 ... I’ve gone from +40 wins on the seasons to dumpster fire over night.
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Aaaand breath easy again.O_Gardino wrote:I think Culver will be good, but I don't mind the trade, because I like Saric for this team.
I just hope we can Turn Bridges / Oubre / Cam into 3 useful players for the team through development and a trade or 2.
I liked the Johnson trade (still do after last last night!); something about culver I didn’t like.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I’ve given plenty of leeway to James Jones based mainly on the fact that he’s not Ryan McDonough.Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:Rooting hard for Bender to do well this year and stick in the league. I think he can and will. I think we should not have let him go.3rdside wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:22 amTJ (17) Bender (17, 6 and 3) and chriss (8, 11 and 4) doing well the last couple nights, 0.5 seconds or less sounding distinctly like a gimmick, 18% from 3 vs the kings and Jarrett culver putting up 17, 5 and 3 ... I’ve gone from +40 wins on the seasons to dumpster fire over night.
I didn’t like Bender when we drafted him, and i didn’t like him when we let him go, but if he (or chriss or Jackson) turns out good / really good that leeway obviously takes a big hit.
That aside, Bender seems like a good kid so all the best to him.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Aztec Sunsfan
- Posts: 1880
- Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:56 pm
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Sometimes situations means the world, and a change of scenery is a real thing, so I rarely regrets whats happens to our players once they leave, I actually like when they do better, but never thinks that we lost THAT player. We suck developing players, and this dates way back the current regime. Marion, Amare Booker were special players with inner motivation to excel, so they basically flourish on their own, but people like Nash and Barbosa found their best performance on another environment. Joe J is another case on how we “develop”, of course you could argue that he was already showing signs here, but it was after two tumultuous years that almost watching him fail. Bender always strikes me as another Joe, a quiet guy relying on his coaches to tell him what to do, and an confidence dependent on the environment, so we were the worst case escenario for this kid to be in.
I was rooting real hard for us to keep him one more year and see what Monty and the new staff could do, but I won’t regret it if he explodes somewhere else, that’s another Bender, not the Bender we could get here. Different ingredients, different results, even if the main ingredient remains the same.
I was rooting real hard for us to keep him one more year and see what Monty and the new staff could do, but I won’t regret it if he explodes somewhere else, that’s another Bender, not the Bender we could get here. Different ingredients, different results, even if the main ingredient remains the same.
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I agree with you but disagree on Joe J. He developped as a stud here (he was nowhere that good in Boston). He just wanted out to be the #1 on his team.
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I dunno if he even insisted on being #1. He just wanted a fair contract. We tried to low-ball him. He made a counter, and we wouldn't up our offer to match. So we (meaning new cheapass owner Bob Saver) lost him over $5m/year. Dumb.
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
https://www.espn.com/nba/columns/story? ... id=2120105According to sources close to the situation, Johnson is also unhappy with what he perceives as his standing as a "fourth wheel" behind the All-Star trio of Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Marion. Besides the opportunity to be the star man on its youthful roster, Atlanta is offering as much as the rules allow without holding Johnson's Larry Bird rights -- a frontloaded five-year deal worth an estimated $70 million, with an up-front payment as high as $20 million in Year 1.
Of course, lowballing him didn't help...
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I am willing to bet the "sources" there were coming from the Suns as a way to save face when we wouldn't match.rhylek wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:45 pmhttps://www.espn.com/nba/columns/story? ... id=2120105According to sources close to the situation, Johnson is also unhappy with what he perceives as his standing as a "fourth wheel" behind the All-Star trio of Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Marion. Besides the opportunity to be the star man on its youthful roster, Atlanta is offering as much as the rules allow without holding Johnson's Larry Bird rights -- a frontloaded five-year deal worth an estimated $70 million, with an up-front payment as high as $20 million in Year 1.
Of course, lowballing him didn't help...
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
It wouldn't be a Suns offseason if we didn't rehash the Joe Johnson saga.
I take your point, rhylek, but not wanting to be the "fourth wheel" is different than insisting on being #1. I'm sure he wanted more money and a bigger role, but that doesn't mean he was a prima donna who demanded superstar treatment. The contract he asked for was more than fair.
I take your point, rhylek, but not wanting to be the "fourth wheel" is different than insisting on being #1. I'm sure he wanted more money and a bigger role, but that doesn't mean he was a prima donna who demanded superstar treatment. The contract he asked for was more than fair.
Online
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
It wouldn't be a Suns offseason if we didn't rehash the Joe Johnson saga.
- Drewsprocket
- Posts: 1911
- Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 9:44 pm
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
I accept sometimes you just can’t see talent immediately - kawhi Leonard out of college for example - and I also accept it may take longer to become apparent ... but as identifying it is about the most important thing a club can do, letting it go for nothing after a few years of working with it is just about the most unforgivable thing.Aztec Sunsfan wrote:Sometimes situations means the world, and a change of scenery is a real thing, so I rarely regrets whats happens to our players once they leave, I actually like when they do better, but never thinks that we lost THAT player. We suck developing players, and this dates way back the current regime. Marion, Amare Booker were special players with inner motivation to excel, so they basically flourish on their own, but people like Nash and Barbosa found their best performance on another environment. Joe J is another case on how we “develop”, of course you could argue that he was already showing signs here, but it was after two tumultuous years that almost watching him fail. Bender always strikes me as another Joe, a quiet guy relying on his coaches to tell him what to do, and an confidence dependent on the environment, so we were the worst case escenario for this kid to be in.
I was rooting real hard for us to keep him one more year and see what Monty and the new staff could do, but I won’t regret it if he explodes somewhere else, that’s another Bender, not the Bender we could get here. Different ingredients, different results, even if the main ingredient remains the same.
Anyway, it’s early days and there’s also the issue of roster construction; “does a player fit”, which Bender’s quieter demeanour possibly didn’t.
That last point is a sore one for me because I’ve been overlooked before for not being vocal enough, like it’s some fault of mine or I’m not talented enough (where the louder, less talented guy gets the spot).
Frustrating, and a potential serious flaw of management.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Zach Lowe ranks all 30 teams in terms of how fun they are to watch on League Pass. (The Suns are #24. Lowe shows his pro-Knicks bias a bit here.)
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/278 ... kings-pt-1
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/278 ... kings-pt-1
Online
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Pelicans #1?Marty [Mori Chu] wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:37 amZach Lowe ranks all 30 teams in terms of how fun they are to watch on League Pass. (The Suns are #24. Lowe shows his pro-Knicks bias a bit here.)
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/278 ... kings-pt-1
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
"Be Legendary."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
"Be Legendary."
-
- Posts: 803
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:09 am
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Never actually said by Joe or his agent. Only thing he ever did say was:
https://www.espn.com/nba/columns/story? ... id=2120105In town for Steve Nash's charity game at Air Canada Centre, Johnson revealed that he directly informed Phoenix managing partner Robert Sarver earlier this week that he would prefer to continue his career as a Hawk.
"We had a discussion," Johnson said in his first extended interview about his future since free agency began July 1.
"I did tell them that."
Asked why he wants to leave the Suns after a breakthrough season, for himself and the team, Johnson said: "It's a lot of things. How things were handled [with Johnson's contract] last summer, how things have been handled this summer. There's been some things going on that aren't great."
.....................
"I would come back and work as hard as I ever have," Johnson said. "If they match, all this stuff is behind me from that minute on. I hope everybody [in Phoenix] puts everything behind them, too."
Online
Re: Around the League: The Off-season
Let it go!
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
"Be Legendary."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
"Be Legendary."