Suns Media Day 2022 - Monday, September 26th

[Superbone]

[Split T]

One thing I’ll say, if all that DA contract stuff pissed him off and turns him into an aggressive player who steps out of the offense a bit and does his own thing, then it was a major win. Hopefully the players(Book, CP3, and Mikal) can keep him focused and part of the game plan when we really need it, but seeing him just grab the ball and taking it upon himself to show what he can do would be a welcome sight.

[Superbone]

Cam trying to hide his guns:

[Split T]

I mentioned it before, and obviously it won’t be in the exact same role, but Ish is our Jae replacement.

I think I mentioned it when talking about a big Crowder/Saric/Shamet/CamJ/Craig deal for KD

KD is the CamJ replacement, Ish is the Crowder replacement, Lee is the Shamet replacement, Landale is the Saric replacement, Biyombo the McGee replacement, and Okogie the Craig replacement.

Most of that didn’t come to fruition, but think we could see Wainright step into a bigger role. It’s him, Craig or Saric right now if we don’t acquire another option in a Crowder trade.

[Superbone]

DA's entire presser:

[Aztec Sunsfan]

They knew media were going after any quote they could use to scream smoke and fire, also, they knew that off court stuff was going to be the focus, I do not blame them for not being all-in on a WE-ARE-SO-HAPPY-LET'S-GO-SUNS-!!! vibe.

And maybe, just maybe, they already talked among themselves about the Sarver situation and agreed to keep a low tone on media day as a way to avoid comments on how insensitive they are, talking hoops instead of thinking on Sarver's victims. If that's the case, I can see that every player had a different Sarver experience but still most likely above the average employee and now are sincerely uncomfortable/angry/sad on how everything unfolded. Not so far from how families react when they come to know they have had a dealer- addict / pedophile / scammer / sexual predator in the house for long. Most of them have known the offender from a very diferente angle that what is portrayed and suddenly all that stuff came out and build a completely different person. It's not unusual people starts to think "oh my God, I allowed Xo r Y situation happened without knowing about this."

I will not worry until the on court dynamics looks as bad as this media day. Hopefully training camp helps them to galvanize as a team.

[Split T]

Mikal is still great!

[Superbone]

Yeah, I hope this is all a result of being pissed off the way last season ended. They should be angry. And then the Sarver situation was the cherry on top. No more happy go lucky. Go out there and take care of business!

[Superbone]

And now the guys you all really wanted to hear about:

[Superbone]

Here we go again...

[Split T]

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[Split T]

So what do we got:

PG: Chris Paul, Cam Payne, Duane Washington Jr
SG: Devin Booker, Landry Shamet, Damian Lee
SF: Mikal Bridges, Torrey Craig, Josh Okogie
PF: Cam Johnson, Dario Saric, Ish Wainright
C: Deandre Ayton, Bismack Biyombo, Jock Landale

Outside the starting lineup, I think every other spot on the depth chart is up for grabs. Throw TLC and Frank Jackson into the picture as well as far as I know. None of those bench guys feels like a lock to be in the rotation. Maybe Bismack has the most set role. We’ve got a solid starting 5, but our bench has nothing but 8th/9th men and worse. Hopefully someone steps up or we are going to be crazy thin.

[Mori Chu]

Oof, these DA clips are tough to watch.

Are we in trouble? 2 of our 5 starters are pissed off, and we lost our backup center in the offseason. Our starting PG is a year older. All our FA acquisitions are end-of-the-bench guys. If CamJ starts, I don't see really anybody coming off the bench who can score a lot of points for us. Maybe 2-years-ago Cam Payne, but that player might be gone for good. It feels like we might have to ride our starters too much if the bench can't score and keep us in games.

Maybe the quadruple-gut-punch of the horrendous Game 7 collapse to Dallas, the Sarver situation, the failed KD trade (and its related effects on Crowder), and the rough Ayton free agency, combine to be too much to bear. This could be a doomed season. I have to admit that I feel pessimistic after seeing the Crowder comments this week and the general mortuary vibe of this media day.

[JeremyG]

James Jones on Sam Garvin: "He's phenomenal. A great human being."

[Split T]

Is that a real quote?

[carey]

This is on the ESPN front page: Suns in Shock as Sarver Saga Hangs Over Team

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/346 ... ing-season

[carey]

Outside the starting lineup, I think every other spot on the depth chart is up for grabs. Throw TLC and Frank Jackson into the picture as well as far as I know. None of those bench guys feels like a lock to be in the rotation. Maybe Bismack has the most set role. We’ve got a solid starting 5, but our bench has nothing but 8th/9th men and worse. Hopefully someone steps up or we are going to be crazy thin.

Inclined to agree that outside the starting line-up none of the spots are set in stone. I think Lee will give Shamet a run for backup SG minutes. Okogie for first F off the bench minutes. I've not seen Landale play much but out of all of them I think my dude, Biyombo, is the safest in his role.

[Split T]

I think Payne/Shamet/DWJ are guaranteed at least 1 guard spot. Then Shamet/Lee/DWJ will get another one.

I think we’ll see either Craig or Okogie play wing minutes.

Craig/Ish/Saric are also gonna get minutes at the 4. Then it’s probably Biyombo at the 5, but I really have no read on what Landale brings.

My best guess is Payne/Shamet/Craig/Saric/Biyombo will be our 2nd string to start the season(assuming we haven’t made any moves) But that’s mostly due to continuity. I’m not at all confident in my guess.