Durant traded to Rockets

[ShelC]

One thing's for sure, we fixed the paint tonight.

[Superbone]

How's everything folks ? Long time, no see. Hope everything has been good with all of you. Now for Gene's 2¢. I know I'm a few days late.

For what the Suns got back in the Durant deal, I can't complain too much. The best offensive player and arguably the best defensive player from the 2nd seed in the West (Green and Brooks) came back in return. A 1st rounder and five 2nd round picks I think is decent for a man that is still a great player and will be 37 years old in September.

Jalen Green it's crazy athletic, can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. Suns could definitely use a player like that. Dillon Brooks is the defensive player Suns need on the wing.

We all know the roster isn't complete and there's more moves to be made. However, the sports analysts giving the Suns grades of C- and D- is crazy. There just weren't that many offers out there, plain and simple.

I wish things would have worked out with that squad, but there was too much roster imbalance and changes needed to be made. Can't wait till Monday when the free agent period opens up. It's going to be very interesting and I'm ready for the next chapter of Suns basketball.

I was thinking about you just today, Gene. When the Suns "fixed the paint" in a matter of minutes with Maluach and Williams.

[Mori Chu]

Good to see you, Gene! Paint: fixed???

[Superbone]

[INFORMER]

Interesting thing is that this guy was just Jalen's strength and conditioning trainer. Jamal "Dash" Lovell does the on court skills training (referenced in the video). There is a training video with Dashletics working with Jalen (video posted two months ago, don't know exactly when the training occurred). There is some troll who left this comment:

"Hopefully this playoff exposure shows you y’all are training THE WRONG WAY and THE WRONG THINGS."

It's probably just some competitor, but I still chuckled.

[INFORMER]

Houston media has just been celebrating over adding Durant for what they essentially deem "nothing," so there hasn't been a lot of discussion about Jalen Green. But here is a good article that focuses on Green, and the decision of either running it back with him or moving on:

Feel free to dismiss Green's often-disastrous two years under former coach Stephen Silas if you'd like. Year 2 for Green under current coach Ime Udoka wasn't significantly better than Year 1, with Green showing similar oscillation between strong performances and games of noticeable absence. Green excelled in December and January, then delivered a more average February and March. He shot an impressive 44.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three during Houston wins. Those numbers dropped to 38.1 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from three in Houston losses. Green was among the 23 players to score 1,500 points last season. He finished No. 21 in field-goal percentage in that group, only making modest strides as a playmaker.

Maybe Green jumps to around 25 points per game in 2025-26, either alongside Phoenix star Devin Booker or a yet-to-be-revealed cast in another location. Ultimately, unless proven otherwise, I suspect Green's scoring ability is more akin to shooting guards described as fringe All-Stars rather than playoff-caliber leading men. Green's scoring thus far resembles a large bag of chips. Considerable in volume, but ultimately empty calories.

Green, despite the aforementioned warts, could still notch an All-Star appearance or two this decade, and he is athletic enough to potentially lead a multi-round playoff team if he refines his shot selection and three-point stroke.

https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/ar ... 388585.php

[Charlie Smithy!]

Houston media has just been celebrating over adding Durant for what they essentially deem "nothing," so there hasn't been a lot of discussion about Jalen Green. But here is a good article that focuses on Green, and the decision of either running it back with him or moving on:

Feel free to dismiss Green's often-disastrous two years under former coach Stephen Silas if you'd like. Year 2 for Green under current coach Ime Udoka wasn't significantly better than Year 1, with Green showing similar oscillation between strong performances and games of noticeable absence. Green excelled in December and January, then delivered a more average February and March. He shot an impressive 44.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three during Houston wins. Those numbers dropped to 38.1 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from three in Houston losses. Green was among the 23 players to score 1,500 points last season. He finished No. 21 in field-goal percentage in that group, only making modest strides as a playmaker.

Maybe Green jumps to around 25 points per game in 2025-26, either alongside Phoenix star Devin Booker or a yet-to-be-revealed cast in another location. Ultimately, unless proven otherwise, I suspect Green's scoring ability is more akin to shooting guards described as fringe All-Stars rather than playoff-caliber leading men. Green's scoring thus far resembles a large bag of chips. Considerable in volume, but ultimately empty calories.

Green, despite the aforementioned warts, could still notch an All-Star appearance or two this decade, and he is athletic enough to potentially lead a multi-round playoff team if he refines his shot selection and three-point stroke.

https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/ar ... 388585.php

Do you feel that there's any reason for us to hope that Jalen Green unlocks something / grows as a player while he's here.... perhaps enough to live up to his draft status?

[Superbone]

I think it's the Houston media's job to downplay Green's value after the KD trade. It was interesting reading the comments on the trainer video. Quite a few Houston fans were supporting him. Anyway, it's going to be addition by subtraction for the Suns. Durant just wasn't a fit here and the play style was abysmal. Hopefully, Green will mature here and continue to improve. It is nice to have a supreme athlete on the roster. Even if it doesn't result in more wins, it's going to be a heck of a lot more fun.

[INFORMER]

Do you feel that there's any reason for us to hope that Jalen Green unlocks something / grows as a player while he's here.... perhaps enough to live up to his draft status?

I don't think putting him in a backcourt with another shooting guard does him any favors, but the x-factor is Jordan Ott. Does he turn Green into a player he's never been before? We'll see.

[INFORMER]

I think it's the Houston media's job to downplay Green's value after the KD trade.

Not really. Green's performance in the playoffs did that. The overall narrative after the Rockets lost was: successful season, bright future, Amen Thompson is a revelation, Green probably isn't the guy to lead this team. Stone publicly lauded the virtues of continuity and keeping the team together. And apparently behind the scenes, it was Udoka who pushed for Durant.

[Superbone]

I think it's the Houston media's job to downplay Green's value after the KD trade.

Not really. Green's performance in the playoffs did that. The overall narrative after the Rockets lost was: successful season, bright future, Amen Thompson is a revelation, Green probably isn't the guy to lead this team. Stone publicly lauded the virtues of continuity and keeping the team together. And apparently behind the scenes, it was Udoka who pushed for Durant.

We can agree to disagree. Green's performance has nothing to do with the media's job. Maybe he helped make it easier because of his uneven playoff performance, but I've seen it time and again, in all markets. Talk up how great the new guy is and downplay the outgoing one.

[Superbone]

Do you feel that there's any reason for us to hope that Jalen Green unlocks something / grows as a player while he's here.... perhaps enough to live up to his draft status?

I don't think putting him in a backcourt with another shooting guard does him any favors, but the x-factor is Jordan Ott. Does he turn Green into a player he's never been before? We'll see.

I do have hope here. It will be interesting to see for sure.

[Mori Chu]

I really hated/hate the KD trade despite the nice moves and draft picks we have made since. So I just have to ask the question. Seems like most folks here are excited about the draft and trades we've made so far. Could we have essentially put this same team together without making the KD trade, minus Maluach of course? I know some of the 2nd round picks we made were done using 2nds we got by trading Durant. But could we maybe have traded another asset, like Grayson Allen or Royce O'Neale, for 2nds and made the same moves? I'm just asking. Couldn't we have run out the following lineup next year? Doesn't the following lineup (or something like this) look better than the (fun but likely very bad) team we now have?

C: Williams, Richards
PF: Durant, Oso, Fleming
SF: Dunn, O'Neale
SG: Booker, Beal, Brea
PG: Beal, Gillespie, free agent

To be clear, I didn't really want to keep Durant. But I don't really see how the assets we got for Durant are actually very helpful in the new team we've been assembling. Maluach is nice but I can kind of take or leave him as an asset, since he won't be ready for years. Brooks and Green are not players I really want to watch or have in my rotation. I think I would rather have the above team, warts and all, than what we have now. The above team is basically last year's team but with a hopefully much better coach, much better starting C, much better backup PF, and a young rookie SG who's a great shooter. And whatever other moves we would have been able to make, like signing a PG free agent. I wanted to trade Durant, but given the pitiful assets we got, I think I would rather have the above than what we got.

[Superbone]

No way! I hated watching the Durant team. Thank god that's over with.

[INFORMER]

I don't think you could have brought Durant back under any condition.

Your only alternative would have been to give in to Miami's crappy offer. But I don't even know if Miami would have consummated the deal. It seems they really didn't want to be in the Durant business.

[Split T]

You could’ve got Williams without trading KD, but no you wouldn’t have gotten Fleming or Maluach.

I’m not sure why you are certain Maluach won’t be useful for a few years. That seems like a guess.

But yes you could have run back the same team with Williams if you wanted. I don’t know what that does for us though. Yay we win 42 games!

[Superbone]

You could’ve got Williams without trading KD, but no you wouldn’t have gotten Fleming or Maluach.

I’m not sure why you are certain Maluach won’t be useful for a few years. That seems like a guess.

But yes you could have run back the same team with Williams if you wanted. I don’t know what that does for us though. Yay we win 42 games!

Hey, it was so fun last year...





NOT!!!

How soon we forget! Worst. Season. Ever! I've said it many times now. It was the least fun I've ever had as a 50-year Suns fan. And 50 years is older than most of you.

[TOO]

I really hated/hate the KD trade despite the nice moves and draft picks we have made since. So I just have to ask the question. Seems like most folks here are excited about the draft and trades we've made so far. Could we have essentially put this same team together without making the KD trade, minus Maluach of course? I know some of the 2nd round picks we made were done using 2nds we got by trading Durant. But could we maybe have traded another asset, like Grayson Allen or Royce O'Neale, for 2nds and made the same moves? I'm just asking. Couldn't we have run out the following lineup next year? Doesn't the following lineup (or something like this) look better than the (fun but likely very bad) team we now have?

C: Williams, Richards
PF: Durant, Oso, Fleming
SF: Dunn, O'Neale
SG: Booker, Beal, Brea
PG: Beal, Gillespie, free agent

To be clear, I didn't really want to keep Durant. But I don't really see how the assets we got for Durant are actually very helpful in the new team we've been assembling. Maluach is nice but I can kind of take or leave him as an asset, since he won't be ready for years. Brooks and Green are not players I really want to watch or have in my rotation. I think I would rather have the above team, warts and all, than what we have now. The above team is basically last year's team but with a hopefully much better coach, much better starting C, much better backup PF, and a young rookie SG who's a great shooter. And whatever other moves we would have been able to make, like signing a PG free agent. I wanted to trade Durant, but given the pitiful assets we got, I think I would rather have the above than what we got.

[Split T]

When it comes down to it, here is the return:

Out: KD
In: Khaman Maluach, Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea

Now we wait to see what the rookies become. If one of them becomes a long term starter I think it’s a win. I’m curious what happens with Green too

[Mori Chu]

I get it with the barf emojis and the "we had to trade KD" stuff. But the fact that we might end up "hitting" on a 2nd round pick does not mean we got a good return on KD. And if we don't hit on one or more of these picks, well, we have barely any picks left for many years to improve. We just gave away two 1sts for Williams and two or three 2nds for some of the current 2nd rounders. I like most of these moves in isolation (other than the KD trade) but we continue to be very "all-in" on a team that is not going to be good. And you can say "the offseason isn't over" all you like, but I am also allowed to judge the current state of our roster today, and the state of that roster is bad. We are going to be a deep lottery team for years, and we are going to watch all those high lottery picks be made and grow and thrive on other teams. I am still very upset about that despite the fact that we have a few promising young guys on our team today.