Game Day (Playoffs Round 1): Suns (0-0) @ Thunder (0-0), Sun 4/19/26

[Superbone]

I hate Doris Burke. She's a fucking idiot.

Was she rooting for the Thunder or what?!

[Superbone]

Let’s all be honest, if you match our best guy against theirs, our 2nd vs their 2nd, all the way down to 15th vs 15th, they win the matchup every time. We’re not in the same class as the Thunder.

This is an interesting exercise. Can we list their/our top 7-8 guys in this way?

1) SGA vs Booker - Shai wins
2) Jalen Williams vs Jalen Green - Williams wins
3) Chet Holmgren vs Dillon Brooks - Chet wins
4) Hartenstein vs Jordan Goodwin - Hartenstein wins
5) Lu Dort vs Collin Gillespie - debatable, but Dort probably wins
6) Ajay Mitchell vs Oso Ighodaro - ?
7) Isaiah Joe vs Royce O'Neale - ?
8) Alex Caruso vs Rasheer Fleming - ?
9) ...

I don't know exactly how to order each team's players, and I left out a few of ours like Williams / Grayson Allen who were hurt last night. I think it's pretty fair to say that they have a better top 3-4 than we do by a considerable margin, not only in individual talent but in terms of how well they complement each other to make a winning lineup. I think you could make a case that some of our 6th-10th men might be better than some of theirs, but only marginally so.

Our third string crushed their third string to end the season so there's that.

[Superbone]

At least we get the pleasure of making it to the dance and getting slaughtered.

They get playoff experience against the best team in the NBA. Even if it's only four games, it is invaluable.

[Split T]

We are truly an off-brand Thunder. We play like them, just worse.

Shai is a better Booker

I guess Jalen Williams is their Brooks and he’s way better

They’ve got 3 Jordan Goodwin’s and all might be better(Wallace, Caruso, Dort)

I guess Ajay Mitchell is their Green

Jared McCain is their better Gillespie and he doesn’t even play.

Grayson Allen might be better than Isaiah Joe…that’s our one win.

Chet/Hartenstein is way better than any C combo we have.

Jaylin Williams is better than Fleming

Kenrich Williams is better than Dunn or Highsmith

We really have no advantage here.

[TOO]

We are truly an off-brand Thunder. We play like them, just worse.

Shai is a better Booker

I guess Jalen Williams is their Brooks and he’s way better

They’ve got 3 Jordan Goodwin’s and all might be better(Wallace, Caruso, Dort)

I guess Ajay Mitchell is their Green

Jared McCain is their better Gillespie and he doesn’t even play.

Grayson Allen might be better than Isaiah Joe…that’s our one win.

Chet/Hartenstein is way better than any C combo we have.

Jaylin Williams is better than Fleming

Kenrich Williams is better than Dunn or Highsmith

We really have no advantage here.

The advantage is the friends we made along the way.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

The biggest win for me in making the playoffs is to get out of the lottery...knowing the Suns luck, they'd win the lotto in a generational year and then ship that pick off. They'll be lucky to stay within double digits in the series that will be an easy sweep, and I am totally fine with that.

There’s a big gap between both teams, but not enough to merit a triple digits difference.

[In2ition]

[Superbone]

The biggest win for me in making the playoffs is to get out of the lottery...knowing the Suns luck, they'd win the lotto in a generational year and then ship that pick off. They'll be lucky to stay within double digits in the series that will be an easy sweep, and I am totally fine with that.

There’s a big gap between both teams, but not enough to merit a triple digits difference.

The differences are logarithmic. So, yes. Yes they are.

[Mori Chu]

[TOO]

Tall guys good, short guys bad.

[AmareIsGod]

I don't want us to overspend on Williams. He's too injury prone. Can't even rely on him to play in our playoff games. I appreciate the good games he had this season but his availability kills us.

[Superbone]

It's going to be a veeeerrrryyy interesting off-season.

[The Bobster]

I don't want us to overspend on Williams. He's too injury prone. Can't even rely on him to play in our playoff games. I appreciate the good games he had this season but his availability kills us.

I think you'd have to say the same for this year's version of Grayson Allen too.

[virtual9mm]

With the injury, Williams has low value right now. See what the offers look like. Match a reasonable one. Let him go if otherwise.

Grayson Allen is a trade chip.

[Split T]

I don’t think there will be much offers for Williams..I think we can get him cheap

[Aztec Sunsfan]

With the injury, Williams has low value right now. See what the offers look like. Match a reasonable one. Let him go if otherwise.

Grayson Allen is a trade chip.

Williams and Gillespie cost themselves a lot of money during the last month or so. No need to lowballing them, but let’s not break the bank either.

Grayson looked like a bargain but I agree that he should be used as a trade chip to get a real PF on board. Hopefully the gathering for rebounding guards that play bigger than they are but still smaller than needed is over.

[virtual9mm]

With the injury, Williams has low value right now. See what the offers look like. Match a reasonable one. Let him go if otherwise.

Grayson Allen is a trade chip.

Williams and Gillespie cost themselves a lot of money during the last month or so. No need to lowballing them, but let’s not break the bank either.

Grayson looked like a bargain but I agree that he should be used as a trade chip to get a real PF on board. Hopefully the gathering for rebounding guards that play bigger than they are but still smaller than needed is over.

MLE for Gillespie. Smaller contract for Williams or give him a bonus tied to games played.

[The Bobster]

Williams made $6.3 million and the average NBA starter made $21 million, so I would guess they'll be looking at around $15-20 million so they should be able to work something out. If they give Gillespie the full MLE that would be about $15 which feels like the upper limit of what I'd pay him.

Allen is scheduled to make $18 million next year and O'Neal is scheduled to make $11 million. I'd be fine with letting either go. The thing is, with so many of their picks traded away they have to get something useful in return in order to improve.

[The Bobster]

Games played this season by select centers -

Wendell Carter Jr. - 78
Rudy Gobert - 76
Karl-Anthony Towns - 75
Onyeka Okongwu - 74
Bam Adebayo - 73
DeAndre Ayton - 72
Myles Turner - 71
Jalen Duren - 70
Nick Claxton - 69
Chet Holmgren - 69
Nikola Jokic - 65
Victor Wembanyama - 64
MARK WILLIAMS - 60
Jarrett Allen - 56
Jaren Jackson Jr. - 48
Ivica Zubac - 48
Jakob Poeltl - 46
Joel Embiid - 38
Kristaps Porzingis - 32
Anthony Davis - 20
Domantas Sabonis - 19

[Wally_West]

I don’t think Mark comes back, mainly because Man Man is too good to be a 3rd stringer again. I think they sign and trade him for a few 2nds and then reroute the money to retain Goodwin.

Unless they do something crazy, like using Man Man to get Giannis, I think Mark is gone in a sign and trade.