2024 Suns Offseason: Where do we go from here?

[In2ition]

I just don’t share the same defensive concerns as you. We were 13th in defense this year. The defense wasn’t the problem against Minny…the offense sucked and when we started to slip we let go of the rope and let Minny go crazy.

LeBron plays defense in the playoffs. The Lakers held the nuggets to well below their regular season offensive efficiency. I can’t believe I’m having to argue why LeBron James at the vet min would be good for this team.

The defense wasn't a problem against Minny?! Are you freakin' kidding me?! They scored every time down the court.

Wasn’t the problem. Of course it was a problem. Everything was a problem. But the offense had a 110 offensive rating for the series. It doesn’t matter how good your defense is, you’re not beating anyone with that level of offense.

Our pace dropped, turnovers went up, 3pt attempt rate dropped(lowest in the playoffs), our efg% dropped big time, and so did our offensive rebound %. We got less possessions, took worse shots, and made them at a much lower rate than the regular season. The only good thing we did was get to the ft line.

The defense wasn’t good either, but we knew the defense wasn’t good coming in. Still, Minny actually had a more efg% against us than they did in the regular season. Their offense was buoyed by an insane orb%(they got almost 40% of their own misses) and they also got to the ft line a bunch.

Rebounding I think can be considered the problem, we got obliterated 185-130 on the boards for the series. Other big problems were increased turnovers, not shooting 3s, not making shots, and spiraling out of control once the game started to slip away.

I don’t lump rebounding into defense. I thought our defense was to be expected in defending the first action. We could have won the series defending like we did if we rebounded the ball, didn’t turn it over, and took more 3s.

In a weird way, this could be a reason for the positivity that Ishbia and Jones displayed in their press conference. Even though there are a lot of things that need to be fixed, fixing them is not impossible. And, it's good to have an opponent expose every flaw that you have so you have a clear idea what needs to be addressed.

[Scarecrow33]

The notion that playing a point guard means taking the ball out of the scorers' hands is ridiculous on it's face. Getting the ball to scorers in position to score is the job description of a point guard. Some teams manage effective ball distribution without a specific player being the floor general.

How did that work out for us?

How much did we all enjoy watching Book stop his advance just past 1/2 court and wait for the double team, KD dribbling through traffic?

If my wife hadn't epoxied the remote to the coffee table I'm sure I would have heaved it through the TV more than once this season.

I understand needing a point guard does not mean one is available under the circumstances. Needing defenders and rebounders does not cause trade assets or cap space to appear either. And of course, you can't put 2 or 3 great defenders/rebounders out there without taking the ball out of the hands of your shooters. Frankly, the thought of watching this all again next season with a little tweaking at the edges, a 5 to 10 % improvement due to familiarity is nauseating.

So there's basically 2 approaches. Get your current players to play better or go get better players. I haven't seen much improvement since January when the Big 3 were healthy together so I'm not optimistic about the first approach. We already know how difficult the second approach will be.

[TOO]

Who do we trade our first for and how do they fit in with the cap restraints?

Need size and wing defense.

Caruso/Drummond lol?

[Carno]

I hope you’re right…I think we’re gonna try and attach it to Nurk or Little to get a better player.

I'd like an upgrade over Nurk, but I don't know who that is. The type of player I want, a defensive rim runner like Jarrett Allen or Mitchel Robinson, is unavailable or out of reach. I also think the Suns value Nurk's playmaking, which was one of the few bright spots of the season and is not easily replaceable.

[Split T]

Who do we trade our first for and how do they fit in with the cap restraints?

Need size and wing defense.

Caruso/Drummond lol?

Here’s the guys that make less than Nurk that we could trade for by attaching the pick:

Rui Hachimura - LA won’t be interested
Mitchell Robinson - don’t think NY would be interested
Lu Dort - OKC probably not interested, but maybe if Jokic kills their lack of size?
Luke Kennard - he’s another Grayson Allen
Max Strus - meh
Dorian Finney-Smith - hmmm
Wendell Carter Jr - yes please
Steven Adams - is he better than Nurk?
Brandon Clarke - hmmm
Grant Williams - would be funny
Dennis Schroeder
Bobby Portis - hmmm
Larry Nance Jr - interesting
Alex Caruso
Trey Lyles/Davion Mitchell

I don’t think there’s a great market tbh

[Split T]

Who says no?

Beal to Miami for Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson

[TOO]

Who says no?

Beal to Miami for Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson

I think the Suns do. Neither of the 2 Miami guys have been very good

[Carno]

Here’s the guys that make less than Nurk that we could trade for by attaching the pick:

Rui Hachimura - LA won’t be interested
Mitchell Robinson - don’t think NY would be interested
Lu Dort - OKC probably not interested, but maybe if Jokic kills their lack of size?
Luke Kennard - he’s another Grayson Allen
Max Strus - meh
Dorian Finney-Smith - hmmm
Wendell Carter Jr - yes please
Steven Adams - is he better than Nurk?
Brandon Clarke - hmmm
Grant Williams - would be funny
Dennis Schroeder
Bobby Portis - hmmm
Larry Nance Jr - interesting
Alex Caruso
Trey Lyles/Davion Mitchell

I don’t think there’s a great market tbh

Yeah, they aren't good options, at least not as an upgrade to Nurk. I won't say there isn't a trade somewhere, but it seems very unlikely.

[Wally_West]

Some more Nurk trades


Pels: Nurk, 22 and ‘31 1st (1-5 protected)


Suns: Larry Nance, Alvarado, 21.

Suns get one of the better back up bigs in Nance, and defensive pest “pg” in Alvarado and move up 1 spot to hopefully get a Nurk replacement.

Pels get to move on from JV and can draft their future starting C at 17 or 22 or another wing that can help once they trade BI and either Herb or Trey for a star in the Summer with additional ammo in our ‘31 1st.



This one is just purely to get off salary.

Hornets: Nurk

Suns: Bertans, 42, future 2nd.

Hornets now have a very good big man rotation now with Nurk and Mark Williams and still keep their cap space for free agency this year.

This lets the Suns still draft their Nurk replacement 22 and get an extra piece at 42(KJ Simpson?). Bertans might be decent in a limited role but an Expiring 16 million and our ‘31 1st might actually get us something good at the deadline.

[Split T]

I think that’s too much to give up for Nance in the 1st one…the ‘31 1st needs to be considered a major asset.

Can we also flip Little for Nick Richards in the 2nd one?

[Superbone]

I wouldn't be surprised if we moved the pick or any picks we have, I just hate that we'll do it. I think Camara could've been a help to us and would like to see more picks like him, Cam and Mikal. Doesn't make sense that just because we have a 2-3 year window that we can't draft anyone to help now and later.

Look at Denver.

[Superbone]

If my wife hadn't epoxied the remote to the coffee table I'm sure I would have heaved it through the TV more than once this season.

[SunsSince92]

Who says no?

Beal to Miami for Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson

No.

[SunsSince92]

I feel like Beal is being used as the scapegoat here which feels unfair. Yes he's on a big contract but the guy had an injury plagued first season in a new city playing with new teammates in a role that he wasn't accustomed to playing. I feel like we at least need to give him one more season before trying to dump him for Miami's (or another team's) dross.

[Split T]

I think Rozier and Robinson would both be helpful.

[Drewsprocket]

Yeah, defense and rebounding were clearly the Suns biggest issues to me.

Yup. 100%

Not to be a contrarian but do you both mean their consistent offense meltdowns didn’t stand out as a bigger issue than D and rebounding? They were 13th in the league on D. They performed better on D than I expected. That they kept turning over the ball made their defense worse.

We are talking specifically about the Suns/Wolves playoff series. 16 teams make the playoffs so 13th isn't so hot (not to mention that it is a regular season stat) and they couldn't stop the Wolves to save their lives. On the rare occasions they did stop them, the Wolves would get an offensive rebound, or two, and score anyway. So, those two things stood out as our biggest two issues. We scored at a decent clip in spite of the Wolves excellent defense.

Ahh my bad. Yeah makes sense. I still can’t get passed that this team couldn’t score anything easy.

[Split T]

We definitely trading 2031

[Cap]

In 2031, are you still going to be glad that you didn’t care about 2031 in 2024?

[In2ition]

I would hope that they actually draft a player this year, because I don't think that this year and future 1st is going to get a "great" player. Besides, they need to infuse the team with some young talent. It's starting to smell like moth balls.

[Split T]

In 2031, are you still going to be glad that you didn’t care about 2031 in 2024?

Well in 2031 we’ll trade our 2038 pick haha