Suns News: 2019 Off-Season

[Split T]

It’s hard to envision major growth without major changes. We sucked last year and didn’t add any major game changers, much easier to assume only minor improvement.

I think we underperformed last year. We had enough talent to win 30 games but we didn’t for a few reasons:

1. Vets that mailed it in from day 1(Ariza, Chandler, Anderson)
2. Injuries
3. No leadership
4. Incompetent nba players in important positions (pg)

I think our team solved all of those problems. Except injuries, which we don’t have a lot of control over.

Our core is Booker/Ayton/Oubre/Bridges. We’ve added Rubio/Jerome/Johnson/Saric/Baynes to that core. I think the pieces we added fit well in theory. Our team is almost all exclusively high iq, high character, strong work ethic players. I think we’re going to look significantly better.

Compare us talent wise with a team like the Kings, do they have more talent than us?

Fox/Hield/Barnes/Bagley/Dedmon
Joseph/Bogdonavic/Ariza/Bjelica/Giles

That’s a good team, I wouldn’t say it’s obviously more talented than ours though.

Do you want Fox/Hield/Bagley or Booker/Oubre/Ayton?

They’ve got a few more vet role players, but I think we’re close to them.

[Democritus]

I like our off season so far. Great basketball IQ at every position. Not a single player would make dumb decisions on the court except JJ who may be gone soon.
My only concern really is Monty, I hope he lives up to the expectation we have. I'm curios about our game style/plan.
Nontheless I cannot wait till October which is a rare thing in this miserable decade.

[Superbone]

If things come together like I think they might, we're going to have a lot of fun this year. The basketball IQ alone has grown exponentially since the start of last season. I can't wait to see what Monty does with this group. I think a lot of our resident pessimists might be eating a healthy amount of crow this season. I could be wrong but I look forward to watching how it plays out.

[Superbone]

Looks like Demo and myself are on similar wavelengths. We wrote our posts almost simultaneously. Between Anatolia and the States, we've got it covered!

[ShelC]

[Democritus]

Looks like Demo and myself are on similar wavelengths. We wrote our posts almost simultaneously. Between Anatolia and the States, we've got it covered!

Hahaha.That was really something Bone. Psychic intervention from the Dark Phoenix indeed. Let us arise from our ashes at least.

[Shabazz]

This makes sense.

[da_suns_fan]

He's gone (Oubre). Classic case of Sarver.

Fun fact: Sarver has given out exactly two max offers during his tenure as owner.

1) Amare Stoudemire (2005)
2) Devon Booker(2018)

They were never going to consider giving someone named D'Angelo Russel a max offer. They wont be able to bring back Oubre. He'll get his money somewhere else.

[ShelC]

Which teams have enough to make an offer we wouldn't match/give him what he wants?

[Drewsprocket]

We kinda need Oubre. Maybe sign and trade if not. They better not lose that trade though.

[ShelC]

He could also play out the year and become unrestricted.

[Cap]

How much worse is Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton than Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid? What's the big difference there?

The Conference.

Last season, Philly finished just 3 games ahead of the West’s #8, despite playing a much easier schedule. While it was good enough for #3 in the East, they arguably would have been a lottery team in the West.

[Split T]

He's gone (Oubre). Classic case of Sarver.

Fun fact: Sarver has given out exactly two max offers during his tenure as owner.

1) Amare Stoudemire (2005)
2) Devon Booker(2018)

They were never going to consider giving someone named D'Angelo Russel a max offer. They wont be able to bring back Oubre. He'll get his money somewhere else.

Who is gonna sign him. I think Clips and Lakers are only teams with the space left to do it. He’ll be back.

[O_Gardino]

He's gone (Oubre). Classic case of Sarver.

Fun fact: Sarver has given out exactly two max offers during his tenure as owner.

1) Amare Stoudemire (2005)
2) Devon Booker(2018)

They were never going to consider giving someone named D'Angelo Russel a max offer. They wont be able to bring back Oubre. He'll get his money somewhere else.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was scared for a minute that we would max Oubre.

[Ring_Wanted]

How much worse is Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton than Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid? What's the big difference there?

If we can't compete, it's because Booker and Ayton aren't very good. And if that's the problem, then there wasn't really anything smart we could do this offseason. At least with a roster of competent NBA players around them, we'll find out sooner rather than later what these kids are capable of.

Much worse, in my opinion. Rubio vs Simmons, Oubre vs Covington and Ayton vs Embiid are all huge wins for 76rs. Obviously Booker torches Redick, but even then, the Philly guy is an elite role player who shows up on both sides of the court. Much, much worse. Then, as pointed by Cap, you have the difference in conferences.

[Split T]

How much worse is Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Saric-Ayton than Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid? What's the big difference there?

If we can't compete, it's because Booker and Ayton aren't very good. And if that's the problem, then there wasn't really anything smart we could do this offseason. At least with a roster of competent NBA players around them, we'll find out sooner rather than later what these kids are capable of.

Much worse, in my opinion. Rubio vs Simmons, Oubre vs Covington and Ayton vs Embiid are all huge wins for 76rs. Obviously Booker torches Redick, but even then, the Philly guy is an elite role player who shows up on both sides of the court. Much, much worse. Then, as pointed by Cap, you have the difference in conferences.

Look at it Booker vs Simmons, Ayton vs Embiid, Oubre vs Covington, and Rubio vs Reddick.

Booker/Simmons is pretty even
Ayton/Embiid goes to Embiid, but he only played like 34 games that year.

I don’t know why you call Oubre/Covington a huge win for sixers. I think they are pretty similar defensively with Covington getting a slight edge for being able to defend the 4 a little bit, but Oubre is a more well rounded offensive player. I think that one is close.

Rubio/Reddick is also close. Very different players, but Reddick provides the shooting, Rubio the passing.

The Embiid/Ayton one tips it to the sixers, but if Ayton makes a leap this year, that might change.

[O_Gardino]

This makes sense.

I don't question Oubre's heart, but I'd like to remind him that he still hasn't been a full time NBA starter yet. He has started a total of 44 games in his career, and shoots just 32% from 3. With Ayton and Rubio in the starting lineup, we may need Bridges to start for the spacing he will provide. Oubre has LOT to prove if he want's to be in the 20 million discussion.

[Ring_Wanted]

Look at it Booker vs Simmons, Ayton vs Embiid, Oubre vs Covington, and Rubio vs Reddick.

Uhh I don't see why I should. Simmons plays PG, so does Rubio. Reddick vs Rubio makes no sense to me. As for Oubre vs Covington, the former 76rs is the better defender and 3pt shooter. Our guy can create shots for himself, but he is not relevant enough at it to make me prefer him to Covington, or even call it a tie. The attitude Oubre brought was great, but this can't be your biggest asset if you want to justify 20M in salary.

[Split T]

Look at it Booker vs Simmons, Ayton vs Embiid, Oubre vs Covington, and Rubio vs Reddick.

Uhh I don't see why I should. Simmons plays PG, so does Rubio. Reddick vs Rubio makes no sense to me. As for Oubre vs Covington, the former 76rs is the better defender and 3pt shooter. Our guy can create shots for himself, but he is not relevant enough at it to make me prefer him to Covington, or even call it a tie. The attitude Oubre brought was great, but this can't be your biggest asset if you want to justify 20M in salary.

I think it makes more sense to compare stars to stars and not position by position. Reddick and Rubio are both complimentary. Simmons/Embiid was their foundation, just like Booker/Ayton is ours.

Of course Simmons is better than Rubio and of course booker is better than Reddick. That comparison doesn’t tell you much though because now we’re comparing whether or not the difference between Simmons/Rubio is bigger or smaller than the difference between Booker/Reddick.

And if you want to say Covington is better, that’s fine. There is an argument for that for sure, he’s just not way better like you said.

[Mori Chu]

I hope we keep Oubre. But over $20 million is tough for me. I support them if they choose to let him walk at that price. It would be a setback, but we could start Bridges and go all in on shooting and defense from that position.