Phx-Suns.Net

da_suns_fan wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:55 pm

Indy wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:20 pm

The Bobster wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:08 pm

Indy wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:39 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:03 pm

They added 8 1st round picks in the last week...that’s crazy. Real curious to see how they use them.

with that many swings at the fence, you could probably just go with a consensus pick each time and do well. the problem is they are in OKC and nobody wants to live there. I think it is probably the least desirable NBA city.

There or Salt Lake City.

Yeah, but at least SLC is pretty. And a lot closer to LA, where nearly everyone goes on breaks/off-season. I am not sure what redeeming quality OKC has, especially for 20-something millionaire people of color.

They couldnt keep Gordon Hayward.

if the money is the same, why play for 25 teams in the league over Boston? It isn't as much about location as it is limelight/history.

da_suns_fan wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:54 pm

Its really a terrible problem for the league.

Teams like Utah, Toronto, Milwaukee, Denver, Detroit etc are never going to be free agent destinations. They have to draft or either trade for talent and hope their best talent doesnt leave (they always do).

Toronto just won a title, Milwaukee is the favorite in the East, Denver and Utah will probably be fighting for the 1 seed out west.

Yes those teams are never going to be in the market for the Lebron level FA, but they are all very successful franchises with really great teams right now. Hard to see how this is a “terrible” problem for the league.

It's not terrible for the league, but it's really bad for those franchises. OKC and Cleveland are probably the least desirable places for most players in the league. Others like Utah, Orlando, Charlotte, (Phoenix) have it a little better, but they're very unlikely to sign a max level star as a free agent. They have to get their stars through the draft or a trade, and trades for stars lately have been at the highest that we've ever seen.

There's nothing the league can or should do to stop players from wanting to play wherever they desire per the CBA rules negotiated by both sides.

Phoenix/Scottsdale is probably one of the 6 or 7 most desirable locations in the league. If there's anything that's holding free agents from coming here it rhymes with Shmobert Shmarver.

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:45 pm

Phoenix/Scottsdale is probably one of the 6 or 7 most desirable locations in the league. If there's anything that's holding free agents from coming here it rhymes with Shmobert Shmarver.

Winning games makes a lot of places more desirable.

And Phoenix has one of the best winter climates in the league.

They just need to get their shit together.

I don't see the move for HOU, but Morey is certainly not afraid of pulling a trigger and talent is talent.

Anyway, who could take Paul without demanding (a ton of) assets?

MIA has lota of crap on two year contracts, like James Johnson, Meyers Leonard and Dion Waiters.

DET has Reggie and Galloway expirings, plus Snell.

ORL has Fournier, Fultz and Augustine.

Dallas has THJ and Lee.

MIN has Wiggins and Teague, but I doubt Presti takes Wiggins' max the next four years.

This article pretty well sums up how I feel about the Westbrook trade. I think it's a desperate move by Houston. He is way less efficient than Paul and will want to hold the ball. Bad fit.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/ ... t-end-well

westbrook and harden are a bad fit. during the OKC days, harden came off the bench and he ran the second unit.

to make it work, harden will have to play off the ball more since he is the better outside shooter.

It's the Bledsoe/Dragic duo on steroids.

carey wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:14 am

It's the Bledsoe/Dragic duo on steroids.

they actually played well together. their usage rate were pretty much equal in 2014.

carey wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:14 am

It's the Bledsoe/Dragic duo on steroids.

haha now all they need to do next year to truly become those Suns in roids is getting Kyrie Irving to play the IT3 role.

It seem Westbrook actually wanted to reunite with Harden, though. We'll see what kind of sacrifices are made.

Westbrook and Harden will be fine for a season. Maybe two if it works out well this next year.

It's a really interesting trade for many reasons, but my favorite is that neither Westbrook or CP3 have a reputation for being a "fun" guy to play with(for different reasons), despite being widely considered top 5 point guards.

Now I think D'Antoni is in some hot water. There was already a weird dynamic between him, Morey and the owner, and I think this move by Morey pulls the rug out from under D'Antoni a bit. In a vacuum, D'Antoni could make it work really well similar to the way we saw him use Nash(Harden) and Barbosa(Westbrook) together. Getting those guys to not take a combined 45 shots a game is probably going to be an impossible challenge, but it will be needed if they really want to win a title.

It would probably work better if Westbrook wasn't a .308 career 3-PT shooter or was used to playing off the ball.

I wouldn't be surprised if Morey were looking at RW as an asset to flip. No way he thinks RW and Harden can work together successfully.

Marty [Mori Chu] wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:05 am

This article pretty well sums up how I feel about the Westbrook trade. I think it's a desperate move by Houston. He is way less efficient than Paul and will want to hold the ball. Bad fit.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/ ... t-end-well

I know you hate Westbrook as much as you love Rubio, but Paul will be 34 and hasn't played a full season in several years. Houston isn't looking for someone to give them 50-60 games and be broken down by May. Westbrook is a much better defender to pair with Harden due to his strength compared to Paul, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets his 3P% back up to where it was when he had other threats on his team to take some of the load. 34% isn't great, but it is something you still have to guard. It isn't like Draymond this year who couldn't crack 30%.

Is it crazy to wonder if OKC will just stretch CP3? If my math is right, it still leaves 17.7 million on the books the next 7 years in dead money, but that seems a lot better than an average of 41.4M on the books over the next 3.

That's still an awful lot of salary. I think a Miami trade could work with Dragic and some of their smaller contracts. NY has all of those one year deals and young guards in DSJ, Elf and Frank but the FAs can't be traded until December. Still, I doubt NY will want Paul and his money given they're going the "development" route. But in NY, anything can happen.

Indy wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:52 am

Is it crazy to wonder if OKC will just stretch CP3? If my math is right, it still leaves 17.7 million on the books the next 7 years in dead money, but that seems a lot better than an average of 41.4M on the books over the next 3.

Easier to eat 40M when you're rebuilding than 17M when you want to be good.

ShelC wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:05 am

I wouldn't be surprised if Morey were looking at RW as an asset to flip. No way he thinks RW and Harden can work together successfully.

I will be surprised if they get back more than they gave away.

That's true. Maybe he'll look to move Harden. Let's do Harden for Book!