Suns News: Week 17 (2/6 - 2/12)

[Split T]

Okogie is a savvy cutter at times and crashes the glass well. He’ll be ignored with that starting lineup and he’s the type that can take advantage. Craig can too and I think he’d be good with the starters as well…I just think we’d need Okogie’s point of attack defense over Craig’s size and shooting.

[Wally_West]

I think we like to think that if we held out just a little bit longer maybe we could’ve held onto Bridges….I really think that’s not true.. I believe Brooklyn was fully prepared to keep KD if we didn’t offer Mikal. I don’t think there was even a negotiation without Mikal. They literally turned down a 4 1sts offer for him.

Now is it possible Ishbia got worked a bit and had to include Crowder instead of Saric? Ya I can believe that..I don’t think Brooklyn is blowing up the deal over Crowder…in fact they just moved him for a bunch of 2nds anyways. We could’ve said, no Crowder, but we’ll include a couple 2nds and I bet Brooklyn says yes.

It does make you wonder what our Crowder deal was… maybe Connaughton? Not gonna lie, he’d look decent as our 5th starter.

I could be wrong but I don’t think the deal technically works if Saric replaces Crowder financially. That’s why I don’t believe it. We need 36 million for the bare minimum salary that we could trade, and Saric instead of Crowder is just under that. That 900k extra Jae makes is the difference maker to make the deal barely work. Adding Saric to the deal actually makes it nearly even money but with the nets paying little under million more. If Tsai worked Ishbia is convincing him to eat the 40 million tax deal lol

This is exactly why I think JJ waited so long to trade Crowder…IN CASE THEY COULD GET KD AT THE DEADLINE. His salary makes any KD deal easier.

I’m sure they was a bunch of little things they had to negotiate but I just think the main thing was trying to keep Mikal bridges, and because this was exclusive between us and the nets, that means we couldn’t try to get a 3rd team to to help facilitate a trade where we kept Mikal. Trying to bring a 3rd team brought too much risk of leaks that could ultimately blew up any deal.

So in the end, we gave up Mikal.

[Shabazz]

This would have been AWFUL.

[Split T]

Here’s some per-100 possession stats for the 4 most frequent discussed buyout guys: Jackson, Barton, Ross, Holiday.

A. 19/7/6 with 1.1/.6 stl/Blk shooting 39/38/78 and a .505 TS%

B. 15/3/3 with .6/1.2 stl/Blk shooting 38/35/00 and a .504 TS%

C. 21/4/7 with 1.4/.2 stl/Blk shooting 42/35/92 and a .523 TS%

D. 17/4/3 with a 1.3/.4 stl/Blk shooting 43/38/75 and a .543 TS%

Catch and shoot 3pt%

A is 45.5%
B is 34.7%
C is 42.1%
D is 39.5%

Defensive advanced stats:

A is a -4.09 DRPM
B is a -3.61 DRPM
C is a 1.13 DRPM
D is a -3.09 DRPM

Players in spoilers

Spoiler: show/hide

A is Will Barton
B is Justin Holiday
C is Reggie Jackson
D is Terrence Ross

[TOO]

Just based on the eye test and history, Jackson is probably the best player listed, playoff tested, can play with or without the ball, best defender of whats listed.

[JeremyG]

Ya but they kinda had the leverage…they had the best player and KD wasn’t actually causing problems anymore. He requested to be traded to the suns but he understood they weren’t trading him if we didn’t meet the asking price. We need KD…

That being said, it would have felt a little better if we got one concession…like a top 4 protection on that 2029 pick…or Saric instead of Crowder…or getting Royce O’Neale back

If only KD didn’t like playing basketball so much and had threatened to sit out.

[JeremyG]

It would have been cool to see Stix get more of an opportunity here and was always curious to why. I thought he had a lot of potential.

At least Monty’s admitting it.

[JeremyG]

This would have been AWFUL.

The Suns could have rejected it. It was too late for it to be a separate trade.

[djy2j]

Fair but he didn't really need to it seems either. Hasn't done much for the Pacers either. Buried on the bench at the moment on a team that's lost 18-20. Terrible picks by Jones and the Suns as some of us saw coming.

[djy2j]

Really wish the Suns could have moved Shamet. His contract is guaranteed next season also. Was hoping it wasn't. Cap hit of 10 mil for a guy who offers little to no consistent production and is now seeming to be injury prone.

[carey]

Really wish the Suns could have moved Shamet. His contract is guaranteed next season also. Was hoping it wasn't. Cap hit of 10 mil for a guy who offers little to no consistent production and is now seeming to be injury prone.

He's missed 28 of 58 games so far. So almost half the season. No major injury but lots of little things. Seems to be the type that won't play if he has a bruise.

[MightyMoog]

I actually think Shamet might be fine enough with this roster. He’s a decent spot up shooter. It’s his shooting in motion that isn’t great. I felt we were pushing him to develop that because that’s what we needed and we had plenty of spot up and catch and shoot guys. Now he can simplify his game a bit. Last chance for him, or gets used as salary for a trade next year.

[Mori Chu]

At least Monty’s admitting it.

He probably should have played Stix more. But for most of his time here, Stix was hard to leave on the court. He made a lot of mistakes and often disappeared during games. It wasn't like he was some All-NBA player stuck on our bench. The point where he started to "get it" and started to really contribute positively happened right at the end of his time on the Suns. Coach probably should have seen that and played him more, but given what we were trying to do as a team and given the very mediocre to poor play of Stix up to that point, I get it.

Even this season, Stix isn't exactly tearing it up. He's averaging 9.3 ppg on .463 / .277 / .765 splits, 5.7 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.8 blk in 18.7 minutes per game. Is that a crushing loss for the Suns? Meh. That 27.7% 3pt is especially rough.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... hja04.html

Also, Monty Williams isn't the one who traded Stix. Maybe he didn't play him much, but ultimately Coach isn't the one who ships him out. So I don't think you can put 100% blame on him for how that situation turned out.

Also also, I notice you routinely call our coach "Monty." I don't know if you mean anything by it, but to me it's a bit of a dig at him. You never call him "Coach" or "Coach Monty" or "Coach Williams" or even "Monty Williams." It's always "Monty." Are you on a first name basis with the guy? Or do you just not respect him as a coach?

[TOO]

At least Monty’s admitting it.

He probably should have played Stix more. But for most of his time here, Stix was hard to leave on the court. He made a lot of mistakes and often disappeared during games. It wasn't like he was some All-NBA player stuck on our bench. The point where he started to "get it" and started to really contribute positively happened right at the end of his time on the Suns. Coach probably should have seen that and played him more, but given what we were trying to do as a team and given the very mediocre to poor play of Stix up to that point, I get it.

Even this season, Stix isn't exactly tearing it up. He's averaging 9.3 ppg on .463 / .277 / .765 splits, 5.7 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.8 blk in 18.7 minutes per game. Is that a crushing loss for the Suns? Meh. That 27.7% 3pt is especially rough.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... hja04.html

Also, Monty Williams isn't the one who traded Stix. Maybe he didn't play him much, but ultimately Coach isn't the one who ships him out. So I don't think you can put 100% blame on him for how that situation turned out.

Also also, I notice you routinely call our coach "Monty." I don't know if you mean anything by it, but to me it's a bit of a dig at him. You never call him "Coach" or "Coach Monty" or "Coach Williams" or even "Monty Williams." It's always "Monty." Are you on a first name basis with the guy? Or do you just not respect him as a coach?

You already know the answer to this. He's part of the anti Ayton coalition lol.

[JeremyG]

Lol what. Everybody calls him Monty???

[bajanguy008]

For the X's and O's folks who don't mind a lil extra reading

https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ ... oenix-suns

[Superbone]

Okogie is shooting 40% from 3 since Jan 1st…16/40. He’s up to 31% on the season

Yeah, love it when he's nailing those. If he can add that to his game on a consistent basis...

[Superbone]

I don't think there was any getting around Mikal and Cam. They needed actual talent back for Durant. I just hope the Nets don't break them up.

They should put it in their contract that they are a package deal. Just don't do to them what Saver did to the Morii.

[Superbone]

Okogie is shooting 40% from 3 since Jan 1st…16/40. He’s up to 31% on the season

Yeah, I think he should our 5th starter. I know Monty will stubbornly Keep Craig too see if it works first but Okogie makes too much sense. Even if he goes back to terrible shooting and teams leave him open, so what? If teams don’t want guard Okogie at the perimeter, then so be it, just have drive hard to the basket every time then and put pressure on the rim. Slam that shit down their throats, he’ll either get fouled, miss and give Ayton the opportunity for offensive rebound, or they collapse on him, then he can pass out to an open shooter.

His defense is just too good, he can be a PJ Tucker type, a guy who just does all the dirty work gets 8-10pts a game.

Yeah, we definitely want a defensive player in the 5th slot. Warren needs to come off the bench. But yeah, I can see Monty starting Craig over Okogie. But I won't be mad at it.

[Superbone]

I think we like to think that if we held out just a little bit longer maybe we could’ve held onto Bridges….I really think that’s not true.. I believe Brooklyn was fully prepared to keep KD if we didn’t offer Mikal. I don’t think there was even a negotiation without Mikal. They literally turned down a 4 1sts offer for him.

Now is it possible Ishbia got worked a bit and had to include Crowder instead of Saric? Ya I can believe that..I don’t think Brooklyn is blowing up the deal over Crowder…in fact they just moved him for a bunch of 2nds anyways. We could’ve said, no Crowder, but we’ll include a couple 2nds and I bet Brooklyn says yes.

It does make you wonder what our Crowder deal was… maybe Connaughton? Not gonna lie, he’d look decent as our 5th starter.

I could be wrong but I don’t think the deal technically works if Saric replaces Crowder financially. That’s why I don’t believe it. We need 36 million for the bare minimum salary that we could trade, and Saric instead of Crowder is just under that. That 900k extra Jae makes is the difference maker to make the deal barely work. Adding Saric to the deal actually makes it nearly even money but with the nets paying little under million more. If Tsai worked Ishbia is convincing him to eat the 40 million tax deal lol

This is exactly why I think JJ waited so long to trade Crowder…IN CASE THEY COULD GET KD AT THE DEADLINE. His salary makes any KD deal easier.

I’m sure they was a bunch of little things they had to negotiate but I just think the main thing was trying to keep Mikal bridges, and because this was exclusive between us and the nets, that means we couldn’t try to get a 3rd team to to help facilitate a trade where we kept Mikal. Trying to bring a 3rd team brought too much risk of leaks that could ultimately blew up any deal.

So in the end, we gave up Mikal.

I think JJ needs a little bit of an apology from many here that said he was just sitting on his hands. I think a little bit of eating of crow is in order. There was a larger play all along. He was playing chess while many here were playing checkers. We ended up with one of the top players in the history of NBA basketball.