Suns News: Week 2 (10/24-10/30)

[Flagrant Fowl]

236 days and counting. Seems like staying healthy is the biggest hurdle for him right now.

[Shabazz]

Lamelo, Terry, Hayward, Washington, Oubre and…. Blech. That is a trash roster.

That's silly. They won 43 games last season. I get they lost Bridges, but I don't think that makes their roster trash.

They lost their second best player and didn’t replace him. Their first round pick from last year is coming off of a very shaky summer and start to the season. They have talent, but every team in the league has talent. Even the tanking ones.

Which East teams can you definitively say they’re better than? Definitely not the first 10 I listed. I’ll also take the young cores in Indiana or Detroit over theirs.

Bottom line, they’re a borderline play-in team at best and could desperately use an infusion of young talent. They’re an obvious tank candidate.

[JeremyG]

There's zero chance that James Jones brings Grayson Allen onto the roster in any circumstance.

[ShelC]

[ShelC]

[Shabazz]

Sounds like Haynes knows as much as we do.

[JeremyG]

What is he talking about? He was less than 2 years old when Nash got traded.

[ShelC]

This Devin Booker guy is pretty good

[Mori Chu]

That's a cool diagram, but it's hard to make too much of it after just 4-5 games for most teams. I would love to see that chart refreshed in another 10 games or so.

[Superbone]

This Devin Booker guy is pretty good

Fits coaches "most well rounded" player narrative so far.

[INFORMER]

Lamelo, Terry, Hayward, Washington, Oubre and…. Blech. That is a trash roster.

That's silly. They won 43 games last season. I get they lost Bridges, but I don't think that makes their roster trash.

They lost their second best player and didn’t replace him. Their first round pick from last year is coming off of a very shaky summer and start to the season. They have talent, but every team in the league has talent. Even the tanking ones.

Which East teams can you definitively say they’re better than? Definitely not the first 10 I listed. I’ll also take the young cores in Indiana or Detroit over theirs.

Bottom line, they’re a borderline play-in team at best and could desperately use an infusion of young talent. They’re an obvious tank candidate.

Just about anyone could use Victor Wenbanyama.

The Hornets are an ascending team. They have potential superstar in LaMelo Ball and Rozier is the perfect complement to him. They have gone from 24 wins, to 33 wins, to 43 wins last year. They only have one bad contract on the books and that's Hayward, and his deal only has one year left. They could be a playoff team this year which would be another step forward for this current group and a breath of fresh air for a franchise that has been pretty inept.

There isn't a GM in the league that would tank that group. I get not liking the roster, but this "obvious tank candidate" take is a bad one.

[bajanguy008]

To those who like to refer to the stats



I think most of us have acknowledged that Payne been solid so far, for sure not the mess he was last season

[Vladimir_Taltos]

To those who like to refer to the stats



I think most of us have acknowledged that Payne been solid so far, for sure not the mess he was last season

I don't have tons of faith that this sticks...his history speaks to that trend.

[Flagrant Fowl]

He was dealing with a wrist injury for a large part of the season.

[Superbone]

Yeah, what history? He was fabulous in the bubble and his first full year and rough last year. There is no trend to glean from.

[Shabazz]

Lamelo, Terry, Hayward, Washington, Oubre and…. Blech. That is a trash roster.

That's silly. They won 43 games last season. I get they lost Bridges, but I don't think that makes their roster trash.

They lost their second best player and didn’t replace him. Their first round pick from last year is coming off of a very shaky summer and start to the season. They have talent, but every team in the league has talent. Even the tanking ones.

Which East teams can you definitively say they’re better than? Definitely not the first 10 I listed. I’ll also take the young cores in Indiana or Detroit over theirs.

Bottom line, they’re a borderline play-in team at best and could desperately use an infusion of young talent. They’re an obvious tank candidate.

Just about anyone could use Victor Wenbanyama.

The Hornets are an ascending team. They have potential superstar in LaMelo Ball and Rozier is the perfect complement to him. They have gone from 24 wins, to 33 wins, to 43 wins last year. They only have one bad contract on the books and that's Hayward, and his deal only has one year left. They could be a playoff team this year which would be another step forward for this current group and a breath of fresh air for a franchise that has been pretty inept.

There isn't a GM in the league that would tank that group. I get not liking the roster, but this "obvious tank candidate" take is a bad one.

Which roster in the East would you not rather have? Please answer that part. Only one I can come up with is Washington. They are not "ascending." They "ascended." Their Vegas preseason o/u for wins was 33.5. I don't know why you're stanning for them so hard.

[Split T]

Ya they were on the up with Miles Bridges, but after he turned out to be garbage, they just don’t have enough. They were already borderline short talent, but take Bridges out and they really need an infusion of talent.

Rozier is good and is a good fit with LaMelo. Hayward was a bad signing and doesn’t fit their timeline. I like PJ Washington, but they’ve never seemed to be sold on him. They’ve got talent, but LaMelo needs a running mate and no one on that team has star potential.

[INFORMER]

It's not "stanning" to think it is silly to blow up a young, borderline playoff team in hopes of tanking. They have their picks, their salary cap is in good shape, they have a high level player in Rozier that is on a great contract.

They've gotten better each season for the last three years. I don't what else to tell you. Their best player looks like he will be a superstar and still hasn't reached his ceiling. I don't think there at the point where they need to go backwards to get better, and I don't think you intentionally put LaMelo in losing situations; that won't be good for his development.

None of this requires that I love their roster. But they have enough in place to where they should be looking to build, not tear down.

[Split T]

But you’re also kinda glossing over Miles Bridges…I know you mentioned him, but he’s a big loss. He was going to get a max or near max deal this summer before his legal issues. You’re right that they probably don’t want to tear the whole thing down. No real reason to move on from Rozier, but I still think they are a likely team to tank. I think they’d sell off Hayward in a heartbeat and wouldn’t be surprised to see Oubre and Plumlee moved.

They were a 43 win team with Bridges last year…they lost in the play-in…that feels like their ceiling to me this year. They’d be better off winning 28 games than 38 games. Doesn’t have to be a tear down, but another high level piece in the lottery could do a lot for them. It doesn’t have to be Wemby… add a high level wing prospect to LaMelo/Rozier. They still have Washington and just drafted Mark Williams. That’s the makings of a solid team.

[Shabazz]

Guys, every single team in the NBA has talent. Every one. I count two teams in the whole league that would consider trading rosters with the Hornets - the Wizards and the Spurs. Even the Spurs would likely stand pay because they're trending for a top 4 pick.