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Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:09 pm
by carey
OE32 wrote:With the extreme level of competition in the west this year, a lot would seem to depend on (i) other teams' having health problems, as we need to take some wins from Denver, GSW, Houston, LAC, LAL, Portland and Utah if we're going to win more than 35, (ii) Ayton stepping up, so we have the talent necessary to win series against competitive teams like Sacto, Minny, OKC, San Antonio, Dallas, and New Orleans, and to a lesser extent, (iii) Ty Jerome and/or Cam Johnson being able to contribute in year one, so we have the depth necessary to win games when our starters inevitably suffer injury.

No one can confidently say that we'll be better than all of Dallas, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, SAS and Sacto, which would seem to be the base requirement for us to nab the 8th seed, unless one of GSW, Houston, Denver, LAC, LAL, Portland or Utah somehow slip (GSW seems to be the most vulnerable to me, which doesn't bode well for our chances to move higher than #8). So even if you're a big believer in this team, projecting playoffs for this group seems foolish.

Sad to consider how good we'd look in the East. Just looking at wins for next season, I could see us plausibly getting as high as #3. It's like we have two leagues... Damn. Just look at the enormity of the disparity! Of the 16 best teams in the league, arguably 14 of them would come from the Western Conference if the schedules weren't so lopsided! Would next year's TOR, BOS or BKN make the playoffs in the west? I tend to doubt it!

Here's hoping James Jones manages to trade next year's lottery pick for multiple future firsts and continues to manage the cap wisely. Keep this team together another year or two and perhaps we'll be able to eke into Playoff Bracket A, aka, the Western Conference Playoffs.

I voted 30-34 wins, and I think that's optimistic.
I said the same thing on Twitter when some guy put Embiid and Simmons light years ahead of Booker and Ayton. Embiid who is out of shape and has to rest constantly and Simmons who can't shoot. If you put DA&DB in the East then give them Jimmy Butler, Reddick, and Tobias they'd absolutely win 50 games. Ppl are so weird sometimes.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:20 pm
by In2ition
I just want to see Devin and Deandre with a competent roster and see how it goes before I claim that they are both bad players and/or empty stat guys on bad teams.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 4:55 pm
by INFORMER
carey wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:09 pm
Embiid who is out of shape and has to rest constantly and Simmons who can't shoot.
Simmons and Embiid deserve a lot more credit than that.

Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:30 pm
by carey
INFORMER wrote:
carey wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:09 pm
Embiid who is out of shape and has to rest constantly and Simmons who can't shoot.
Simmons and Embiid deserve a lot more credit than that.
The point is the guy had them way above the Suns. It was like this...

1. Simmons/Embiid
2. Murray/Jokic
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3. Doncic/KP
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4. Booker/Ayton


Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:07 pm
by Drewsprocket
I just hope the emotional maturity and bball IQ adds to team chemistry and winning games.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 6:03 pm
by Indy
carey wrote:
Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:30 pm
INFORMER wrote:
carey wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:09 pm
Embiid who is out of shape and has to rest constantly and Simmons who can't shoot.
Simmons and Embiid deserve a lot more credit than that.
The point is the guy had them way above the Suns. It was like this...

1. Simmons/Embiid
2. Murray/Jokic
-
-
-
3. Doncic/KP
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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4. Booker/Ayton
I would take Joker and Murray ahead of any of them (especially with Embiid's injury history). And I would agree there is a huge gap between 1/2 and 3/4. Burt the 3-4 gap is probably pretty close and all depends on KP health.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:49 pm
by pickle
When my friends asked me what my projections for the team were this year, I said about 30, but as a homer fan I'm predicting 35... and then I come to the site and see 2 votes for 45-50 and 1 for 50+, and 0 votes for anything less than 25... and I know I'm in the right place.

While I am not a huge fan of Rubio and felt that his shooting woes and effort were both lacking in the few FIBA games I caught, I do think that this year's team will improve from addition by subtraction, and for having Rubio to get the team to start passing the ball better. I like that core rotation of Rubio/Booker/Oubre/Bridges/Saric/Ayton and hope that Ayton can play with more aggressiveness this year; the pecking order is clear to me: Booker 1, Ayton 2, Oubre 3, and the rest of the guys are there to clean up and keep the ball moving and to take the best shot possible. If we can clean up the offense, given the state of the team we will take whatever we can get on defense based on effort alone, and then coach up the guys with the commensurate talent to focus on their defensive impacts, and plug in holes where necessary, so that next year we can make some real noise.

Not sad to see Bender and Josh go, am sad to see Melton and Holmes go, wish we could've made more of TJ. Quite happy with what Baynes brings, but want nothing to do with Kaminsky.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:00 pm
by Shabazz
I still don’t get the Kaminsky signing.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:06 am
by Indy
pickle wrote:
Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:49 pm
When my friends asked me what my projections for the team were this year, I said about 30, but as a homer fan I'm predicting 35... and then I come to the site and see 2 votes for 45-50 and 1 for 50+, and 0 votes for anything less than 25... and I know I'm in the right place.
Exactly.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:09 am
by Indy
Shabazz wrote:
Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:00 pm
I still don’t get the Kaminsky signing.
I am with you guys on that. I realize he gives you good shooting on decent volume for a big, but he seems like he won't help our team at all in any other way. Ugh.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:20 am
by 3rdside
40 - 44

Kaminsky, meh, but if he can shoot the three ball to open up the lane a bit, or be effective in a system, I'm okay taking a punt on him.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:29 am
by ShelC
I don't mind Kaminsky as a player and an outside shooting big off the bench, but he was an overpay.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:47 am
by In2ition
If you look at Frank's PER and per 36 numbers, they have improved each year. My only worry about him was the defensive fit at the time, as they needed a shot blocker who could rebound and stretch the floor. I really thought Vonleh would have been a good signing instead. Frank said that this whole off-season his focus has been on improving his defense. Maybe that's the case and we see a valuable piece to the Suns.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:49 am
by Cap
In2ition wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:47 am
Frank said that this whole off-season his focus has been on improving his defense.
Lots of players say that, and they usually come back the same as before.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:00 am
by O_Gardino
Kaminsky is fine. He's probably not going to play much, so it's hard to hate his skill set. He's our 4th big, and we are likely to go small before playing him. He can shoot and he actually rebounds a bit better than our SF gang, so maybe he gets some time at backup 4 occasionally.

I don't know how you improve your defense without actually playing, but maybe he worked on getting quicker laterally.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:10 am
by ShelC
What's the word on Diallo? He doesn't block as many shots as I thought and has played mostly at the 4. If we're relying on him and Kaminsky this year we'll be in big trouble but those two should complement each other and give us some different looks off the bench.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:55 am
by In2ition
O_Gardino wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:00 am
Kaminsky is fine. He's probably not going to play much, so it's hard to hate his skill set. He's our 4th big, and we are likely to go small before playing him. He can shoot and he actually rebounds a bit better than our SF gang, so maybe he gets some time at backup 4 occasionally.

I don't know how you improve your defense without actually playing, but maybe he worked on getting quicker laterally.
There are drills you can do to work on technique too, along with quickness.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:57 am
by In2ition
Cap wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:49 am
In2ition wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:47 am
Frank said that this whole off-season his focus has been on improving his defense.
Lots of players say that, and they usually come back the same as before.
I agree. Usually that's just lip service, but when I heard Kaminsky interviewed, it sounded like this was a focus each and every day in his off-season training that was different than what he's ever done before. I'm not getting my hopes up too much, but I'll be curious if anything comes of it.

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 9:29 am
by SDC
What's the minimum to make the playoffs in the west this year?

Re: Predict 2019-20 Suns # of wins

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 9:39 am
by Split T
ShelC wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:29 am
I don't mind Kaminsky as a player and an outside shooting big off the bench, but he was an overpay.
Meh, he was a 1 year deal at the room MLE....doesn’t impact our cap at all...literally just money out of Sarvers pocket. You could argue that we could have spent that on a better player, and I’d agree, but I’m not too worried. If Kaminsky hits some 3’s, then great! If he sucks, then just leave him on the bench.