2018 Suns Offseason News

[UglyTruth]

Booker is about to sign the 5 year designated player max today which will have him averaging near $40M/yr.

This team can’t remain awful as it’s been and Booker will be responsible for expanding his game and leading this teams to wins. At least 40 wins should be the goal.

On a side note, $40 million dollars in one year to put the ball in a hoop....at the age of 21...man how blessed are these kids...

[Split T]

He's on the smaller max, it's 5/158, so more like 30 on average. Starts at 25 million

[Wormwood]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

[AmareIsGod]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

Full of so much positivity and optimism. Did you have sour milk with your cereal this morning?

[O_Gardino]

If someone put the over/under at 37.5 wins with this roster I'd bet the under until I ran out of money.

We have real talent now and I think the team will make a significant jump, but the West is a nightmare.

Yeah, the west is tough. Which Western team is genuinely bad?

Sacramento
Dallas
Memphis
LAClippers
Spurs? (If they go all in rebuilding after trading Kwahi)

I feel like we could be better than any of those teams.

[n4th4n]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

So you are essentially expecting no improvement from any of our young players.

[n4th4n]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

So you are essentially expecting no improvement from any of our young players.

To be fair, this could be interpreted as you projecting some development, but very little. We were on pace to be something like a 32 win team last year before we committed to the tank. I think coaching alone is going to make a huge difference this year. Not to mention the talent upgrade on the wings and at center. Of course, the west is going to be a bloodbath. I am personally hoping for 35+ but that may be optimistic.

[Mori Chu]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

I think this is about right. The West is going to be a bloodbath. It will be hard to jump up by 15-20 wins in one season. I think we'll be sub-.500 and in the 32-35 win range.

[Cap]

I think Ayton could be the first #1 pick to average 20/10 in his rookie season since Blake Griffin (9 years ago). That should be his goal at least.

Rather elite list of guys to do it: http://bkref.com/tiny/oxs1u

[Split T]

I think Ayton could be the first #1 pick to average 20/10 in his rookie season since Blake Griffin (9 years ago). That should be his goal at least.

Rather elite list of guys to do it: http://bkref.com/tiny/oxs1u

He'd become the youngest to ever do it

[In2ition]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

I am thinking the Suns are going to get a bump from Ariza, Igor's Coaching, Ayton, Bridges, Knight and improvement of Bender, Chriss, Jackson and Booker, along with not tanking any more. Even in the vaunted West, I think they will try and push for 40 wins. Of course, I see almost every team improving this year.

[Xylus]

https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/1014191344250597376 This made me laugh unreasonably hard

[TOO]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

Do you think Portland regrets paying Damian Lillard? I don't. Booker is this teams Lillard.

[The Bobster]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

Do you think Portland regrets paying Damian Lillard? I don't. Booker is this teams Lillard.

Lillard had already been Rookie of the Year, played in 2 All-Star Games, been All-NBA and taken his team to the playoffs twice before he signed his extension. Booker hasn't done any of those things yet.

[gosuns]

It’s hard to predict a win total, we could very well go back to tank mode as soon as the playoff train has left. If we can stay in contention long enough i think we win about 40 games. If we lose hope by the all star break we loose a ton of games to end the season and win around 20 Games.

[carey]

Lillard had already been Rookie of the Year, played in 2 All-Star Games, been All-NBA and taken his team to the playoffs twice before he signed his extension. Booker hasn't done any of those things yet.

That doesn't bother me. The West is stacked. Booker is an exceptional talent and deserves the money.

[specialsauce]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

You know, nobody has a gun to your head to be a Suns fan

[The Bobster]

Lillard had already been Rookie of the Year, played in 2 All-Star Games, been All-NBA and taken his team to the playoffs twice before he signed his extension. Booker hasn't done any of those things yet.

That doesn't bother me. The West is stacked. Booker is an exceptional talent and deserves the money.

There are plenty of talented players who don't help their teams win games (DeMarcus Cousins, Carmelo Anthony, etc.) - Booker has to become more efficient offensively and play better defense. He's much better-suited to be the #2 or #3 player on a contender right now.

[TOO]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

Do you think Portland regrets paying Damian Lillard? I don't. Booker is this teams Lillard.

Lillard had already been Rookie of the Year, played in 2 All-Star Games, been All-NBA and taken his team to the playoffs twice before he signed his extension. Booker hasn't done any of those things yet.

He also had much more help than Booker during that time, that matters. He had an all-NBA teammate, who at the time was the better player anyway, lets not forget that.

[Split T]

I'm calling 32 wins. Ayton and Booker play no defense. Jackson can't space the floor. Ariza is a 34% 3 point shooter, who will be playing out of position. Knight is... well... awful. SO are all our real PFs. We just have too many holes in our roster full of bad players, and the few really good ones we have on offense are defensive liabilities.

We have to pay Booker, but I think we may end up regretting it if his defense doesn't improve.

Do you think Portland regrets paying Damian Lillard? I don't. Booker is this teams Lillard.

Lillard had already been Rookie of the Year, played in 2 All-Star Games, been All-NBA and taken his team to the playoffs twice before he signed his extension. Booker hasn't done any of those things yet.

He also had much more help than Booker during that time, that matters. He had an all-NBA teammate, who at the time was the better player anyway, lets not forget that.

And he was already 22, older than Booker is now, during his rookie year. Booker will be 4 years into his next deal when he reaches the age Lillard was when he signed his current deal.