Western Conference Round 2, Game 2: Suns (0-1) @ Nuggets (1-0), Mon 5/01/23

[Split T]

Ya he’s definitely got his work cut out for him

[Superbone]

Ya he’s definitely got his work cut out for him

Drives me crazy that we didn't go after Eric Gordon. He could have helped us a lot. Especially now.

[JeremyG]

Ya he’s definitely got his work cut out for him

Drives me crazy that we didn't go after Eric Gordon. He could have helped us a lot. Especially now.

Or Clarkson. Or Vanderbilt. Or Rui. Or even D'Lo. Look what D'Lo did last night.

[Split T]

We didn’t really have anything to get those guys after the KD trade

[wpmiller42]

We didn’t really have anything to get those guys after the KD trade

I think the mistake was not doing something with Crowder well before the KD trade. I really don't think the inclusion of Crowder would have really held up the KD trade. For all the leaked info out there, the Nets were really going to be the ones who didn't do the deal because of Crowder?

But considering how much we've played TJ and Ross, I suppose there's no guarantee they would have found a roll here anyways.

[Split T]

Ya I think we should’ve done something with Crowder and called Brooklyn’s bluff. In retrospect we should have held stronger on our deal. We weren’t getting him without Mikal, but maybe we could’ve kept CamJ. And with how Mikal blew up, we’d have a stronger offer in the summer.

This is all in retrospect obviously, but if we said, hey this is our offer now, take it or we’ll wait till summer. We can’t build a team around him this year anyways that can win a title.

[JeremyG]

Next year is too late, though. KD already seems to be aging, I don't think a year from now he'll be at a near-prime level. It was a risky move that likely had this year as the best chance, but it got screwed up by KD's second injury and now Chris Paul's injury. Which is what made it risky--knowing they are injury prone.

[JeremyG]

We didn’t really have anything to get those guys after the KD trade

I would have traded Paul for D'Lo.

[Mori Chu]

Next year is too late, though. KD already seems to be aging, I don't think a year from now he'll be at a near-prime level. It was a risky move that likely had this year as the best chance, but it got screwed up by KD's second injury and now Chris Paul's injury. Which is what made it risky--knowing they are injury prone.

I don't think next year is too late. Book and Ayton will be as good or better than they are now. KD will be fine; he's not getting any younger, but he hasn't reached his decline yet (1-2 years away). Most of the rest of the roster is young. The only player who will be appreciably worse next year is CP3, so we need to address that. But he was already pretty mediocre for most of this season, so I think we can at least find a replacement-level PG to replace some of his production.

The real spicy thing will be, is there any chance we waive and stretch him to get out of 1/2 of his contract? That's still a lot of money to flush down the drain, but maybe Ishbia would do it if it meant we had cap space to get a crucial player. I would also be okay with keeping CP3, signing the best available PG for midlevel-ish money, and then sharply reducing CP3's minutes (to 22-24 a game) to give the other PG a major role next year before CP3 exits.

[Nodack]

The Durant saga hurt the team in the preseason. They put all their eggs in the land Durant trade and then the season starts and no Durant trade. They were forced to scramble for the leftovers. I don’t blame them for trying. It did set them back. Crowder set them back. Injuries set them back. Landing Durant right at the end of the season and then him getting injured set them back. They had minimal time to develop chemistry.

The bench was totally reshuffled and it looked like by the end of the season Monty had settled on Warren and Ross off the bench only to to completely abandon that when the playoffs started. Now the bench is a complete shambles. I don’t even know if Warren has taken a shot in the playoffs yet. Monty has such a short leash on the bench. Someone like Warren will go in and get two minutes and get yanked right away once he was scored on or they miss a shot. Their confidence is shot and Monty’s ultra short leash doesn’t help.

[Superbone]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

[AmareIsGod]

It drives me insane. TJ started to get some burn and was really producing off the bench. Our biggest spark plug. And then coach abandoned him in the postseason. That's the biggest gripe I've had with his coaching this postseason. The thing we lack (4 fucking points from our bench last game) is what TJ is known for and he just rides pine.

[JeremyG]

And he's actually healthy and available for once!

[Nodack]

Easy to stay healthy when your sitting on the bench.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Or fighting for rebounds standing still and watching at the sidelines, oh, wait!

[Cap]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

Our best bet in franchise history was 1994-95, and look how that turned out.

DebbieDowner.gif

[Superbone]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

Our best bet in franchise history was 1994-95, and look how that turned out.

DebbieDowner.gif

Our best bet can't be in the past if we didn't win the championship. I wouldn't make that bet if I were you.

[Cap]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

Our best bet in franchise history was 1994-95, and look how that turned out.

DebbieDowner.gif

Our best bet can't be in the past if we didn't win the championship. I wouldn't make that bet if I were you.

OK, you win. Next season will be our best bet in franchise history. At the moment, the current season is our best bet in franchise history. Every season is, from the time it begins until the time we are eliminated, the best bet in franchise history, since all previous seasons are worthless bets.

[Superbone]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

Our best bet in franchise history was 1994-95, and look how that turned out.

DebbieDowner.gif

Our best bet can't be in the past if we didn't win the championship. I wouldn't make that bet if I were you.

OK, you win. Next season will be our best bet in franchise history. At the moment, the current season is our best bet in franchise history. Every season is, from the time it begins until the time we are eliminated, the best bet in franchise history, since all previous seasons are worthless bets.

I wouldn't call many seasons in the McD era our best bet at the start of the season. Coming off the worst record in franchise history for example.

[Cap]

I agree that it's going to be very tough to recover from all that this season. Next season may be our best bet in franchise history.

Our best bet in franchise history was 1994-95, and look how that turned out.

DebbieDowner.gif

Our best bet can't be in the past if we didn't win the championship. I wouldn't make that bet if I were you.

OK, you win. Next season will be our best bet in franchise history. At the moment, the current season is our best bet in franchise history. Every season is, from the time it begins until the time we are eliminated, the best bet in franchise history, since all previous seasons are worthless bets.

I wouldn't call many seasons in the McD era our best bet at the start of the season. Coming off the worst record in franchise history for example.

Each season was, as you pointed out above, still a better bet at the time than 1994-95 or any other prior season, given that every prior season was known at the time to have zero chance, and the current season still had a finite chance.