Are The Suns Cursed? Book it!

[Mori Chu]

yes, Krypt, but there are only 2 NBA players impactful enough to make a duo with Booker competitive and one just went to LA and the other isn't leaving Denver. If Book wasn't a super-max player you might have room to add enough talent at each position but even Ishbia can't afford to sustain that.

This seems silly to me. I can think of several players who would be competitive next to Booker:

- Giannis
- SGA
- Luka
- Jokic
- Embiid (if healthy)
- Tatum
- AD
- Wemby
- Lebron
- Mikal Bridges
- CP3 from a few years ago
- ...

There are probably more. You can dislike Booker if you want, but the idea that nobody can play with him and be good is just wrong IMO.

[1tinsoldier]

hmmm. what a surprise. The reports are indeed that Durant feels dissed. And what a surprise this thread is, shifting the blame to him. Meanwhile, outside the local fan's Booker bubble, these players live and breath basketball. They know the deal.

* they see the local media's relentless hype around Booker -- with their careers and family's lives on the trading block -- while the Prince of Paradise Valley is immune!

* they know Booker takes over and doesn't deliver in the clutch while they're standing there wide open -- having been elite basketball stars most of their lives!

* they must resent that it's always them being accused of not putting in the effort, while the anointed one is often unfocused and is the worst rated defender in Suns history!

evidence of the eyes:

1. Durant started the year focused on leading the Suns. And he did -- to a 10 and 2 start. 1 and 10 without him.
2. Booker started in a funk. Probably because Jones was hired to replace Point Book and Durant became the de-facto "man" on the team.
3. Booker came to life amidst the hype and his desire to break the Suns scoring title (most points and most shot attempts). The game after, he had 6 turnovers in the first half and the Suns lost by 31.
4. Nurkic played reasonably well until the fans turned on him, then fell apart, and was alienated.
5. Durant, suddenly, started looking his age, coincidentally, as soon as the rumors started that the "Suns were taking calls on moving him."

What's "the problem in the locker room?" that Wolf on sports radio keeps talking about? Durant? Nurkic? Beal? Team defense? CP3's age? Ayton? Monty? Igor? the 5 other coaches and 50 other Suns players the team went through the past decade? What are you most comfortable with?

[Cap]

yes, Krypt, but there are only 2 NBA players impactful enough to make a duo with Booker competitive and one just went to LA and the other isn't leaving Denver. If Book wasn't a super-max player you might have room to add enough talent at each position but even Ishbia can't afford to sustain that.

This seems silly to me. I can think of several players who would be competitive next to Booker:

- Giannis
- SGA
- Luka
- Jokic
- Embiid (if healthy)
- Tatum
- AD
- Wemby
- Lebron
- Mikal Bridges
- CP3 from a few years ago
- ...

There are probably more. You can dislike Booker if you want, but the idea that nobody can play with him and be good is just wrong IMO.

I can think of a couple of $50M players conspicuously absent from that list.

[1tinsoldier]

yes, Krypt, but there are only 2 NBA players impactful enough to make a duo with Booker competitive and one just went to LA and the other isn't leaving Denver. If Book wasn't a super-max player you might have room to add enough talent at each position but even Ishbia can't afford to sustain that.

This seems silly to me. I can think of several players who would be competitive next to Booker:

- Giannis
- SGA
- Luka
- Jokic
- Embiid (if healthy)
- Tatum
- AD
- Wemby
- Lebron
- Mikal Bridges
- CP3 from a few years ago
- ...

There are probably more. You can dislike Booker if you want, but the idea that nobody can play with him and be good is just wrong IMO.

I can think of a couple of $50M players conspicuously absent from that list.

i considered Giannis on the border line. But decided, no. They beat us with Middleton and a great, defensive point guard, role players, and a coach, who, at the time called the shots, before he was fired and re-hired by a team with a new philosophy -- to not rock the boat- the stars call the shots.

[1tinsoldier]

KD's brush with Bud last night wasn't good communication, but it was communication which continued more respectfully later and it does indicate they are somewhat open with each other

imo, it's more telling that you never see Booker argue with his coach yet Bud will be the 7th to lose his job working for Booker (yes, i said working for Booker, because an important part of their job is to keep Booker happy)

and, clearly, Booker is not happy

this timed Bud-Booker controversy had to be leaked by him and his agent and it's probably indicative of how things have worked this whole decade. His agent gives the signals behind the scenes, while Booker keeps saying the right things on camera -- or nothing

but the camera picks up things
-- no joy on Booker's face during games
-- no celebrating with teammates like Durant did with the new kid last night
-- or when Allen's heroics saved that other game

what more of an indication do you need that Booker's head isn't right than seeing the 90% free-throw shooter brick 2 that could have cost the franchise their record-breaking come-back?

there's only one person common to the mysterious dysfunction that keeps resurfacing in the phx suns locker-room the past decade.

and the people bowed and prayed
to the neon god they made
"Fools" said I, "You do not know
silence like a cancer grows
but my words, like silent raindrops fell
and echoed down the halls of silence

[Superbone]

Ha ha. Booker is the root of all evil in your world. Love your cherry picking moments. You are to anti-Booker as Jeremy is to pro-Ayton.

[Mori Chu]

there's only one person common to the mysterious dysfunction that keeps resurfacing in the phx suns locker-room the past decade.

^ Booker's the problem!

[JeremyG]

Does nobody else feel a sense of panic that we could be stuck with Booker for a quarter century? Just because he wants to be Mr. Sun.

[TOO]

Does nobody else feel a sense of panic that we could be stuck with Booker for a quarter century? Just because he wants to be Mr. Sun.

Nope, just you.

[1tinsoldier]

there's only one person common to the mysterious dysfunction that keeps resurfacing in the phx suns locker-room the past decade.

^ Booker's the problem!

there's only one red dot still on that plane AND IT KEEPS GOING DOWN

time to bail on the pilot
(and i'm not talking management -- those have all been switched out too)

[1tinsoldier]

Ha ha. Booker is the root of all evil in your world. Love your cherry picking moments. You are to anti-Booker as Jeremy is to pro-Ayton.

his weaknesses are the root of the worst decade in Sun's history. What does evil have to do with it? (unless you count him throwing Bud under the bus, though he stuck by Sarver)

and Superbone, as a member of 2 forums, you know better than anyone else i've been pointing out these uncorrected, recurring problems for 7 years. I don't need to "cherry pick."

[1tinsoldier]

Does nobody else feel a sense of panic that we could be stuck with Booker for a quarter century? Just because he wants to be Mr. Sun.

Nope, just you.

and me.

and, based on the last poll, i suspect that number is close to half the fans here

as for wanting to be Mr. Sun for another 10 years, why wouldn't he? He's always been given ever dollar he wanted, every new coach, and revolving players -- and despite playoff humiliations, he knows fans like you keep coming back for his smiling face on the relentless Arizona Sports promos

if only we'd see that smiling face on the court with his teammates, i might have at least a little more patience left

[Superbone]

Ha ha. Booker is the root of all evil in your world. Love your cherry picking moments. You are to anti-Booker as Jeremy is to pro-Ayton.

his weaknesses are the root of the worst decade in Sun's history. What does evil have to do with it?

and Superbone, as a member of 2 forums, you know better than anyone else i've been pointing out these uncorrected, recurring problems for 7 years. I don't need to "cherry pick."

Maybe you don’t need to but you do. Like clockwork after every bad Booker game. Like you said, I know better than anyone else.

[Mori Chu]

there's only one red dot still on that plane AND IT KEEPS GOING DOWN

time to bail on the pilot
(and i'm not talking management -- those have all been switched out too)

*whoosh*

[TOO]

Does nobody else feel a sense of panic that we could be stuck with Booker for a quarter century? Just because he wants to be Mr. Sun.

Nope, just you.

and me.

and, based on the last poll, i suspect that number is close to half the fans here

as for wanting to be Mr. Sun for another 10 years, why wouldn't he? He's always been given ever dollar he wanted, every new coach, and revolving players -- and despite playoff humiliations, he knows fans like you keep coming back for his smiling face on the relentless Arizona Sports promos

if only we'd see that smiling face on the court with his teammates, i might have at least a little more patience left

Fans like me? I've been on the trade Booker bandwagon for longer than most, I don't however feel some weird sense of dread because he's still very good. He's not why this didn't work, he was the best player on a team that went to the finals. He has his problems, all players do, but he's not the problem.

[1tinsoldier]

Ha ha. Booker is the root of all evil in your world. Love your cherry picking moments. You are to anti-Booker as Jeremy is to pro-Ayton.

his weaknesses are the root of the worst decade in Sun's history. What does evil have to do with it?

and Superbone, as a member of 2 forums, you know better than anyone else i've been pointing out these uncorrected, recurring problems for 7 years. I don't need to "cherry pick."

Maybe you don’t need to but you do. Like clockwork after every bad Booker game. Like you said, I know better than anyone else.

i do because the failures are like clockwork too.

look. I understand what it's like to have a sports hero criticized. I was pissed that CP3 was dissed and dismissed in the end. But i couldn't ignore his diminishing skills. I wish he was give a chance to resign on a reduced salary but was ok with him moving on.

i didn't like Durant and hated that we gave up too much. But, overall, he's our best player, and the most level-headed on the court. So i get irked when fans unfairly scapegoat him. Nurkic got a raw deal too. Even Beal doesn't deserve the level of disrespect he gets.

then there's the 6 coach's that have been shown the door while Booker was untouchable, and apparently, un-teachable. This coach won a championship out-coaching our coach 2 years ago. And last year's fix, was dumping another coach who had won a championship 2 years prior.

don't cry-for-me-argentina. cry for me phoenix. I am a phx suns fan first. Devin Booker has had more than a fair chance here. He needs to move on.

[Cap]

there's only one person common to the mysterious dysfunction that keeps resurfacing in the phx suns locker-room the past decade.

^ Booker's the problem!

there's only one red dot still on that plane AND IT KEEPS GOING DOWN

time to bail on the pilot
(and i'm not talking management -- those have all been switched out too)

I like people who weren’t captured.

[1tinsoldier]

Fans like me? I've been on the trade Booker bandwagon for longer than most, I don't however feel some weird sense of dread because he's still very good. He's not why this didn't work, he was the best player on a team that went to the finals. He has his problems, all players do, but he's not the problem.

sorry

it's still called BOOKER"S TEAM, Booker is THE man, and i do believe it's HIS problem. I think the players don't respect his leadership and decision making. They see management, media and fans treat him untouchable while they get the blame. They probably could deal with that if, at least, he connected with them, encouraged and inspired them. But they're just the latest rebuild and know another one's coming.

Durant started the season taking control and the team believed again. Booker seemed to be in an inconsistent funk and the mood changed. Got worse when Nurk was dumped and worse when the Suns tried to dump Durant. Booker perked up during the relentless hype around breaking the Suns record and now he seems to be losing focus again.

[1tinsoldier]

here's the logical timeline of the latest Booker Curse news:

1. two weeks before the trade deadline, Ishbia makes his decision to double down on Book. He still has a solid fan base with cross-over appeal -- young-old, men-women, black-white, he made a vid-game cover, dated a supermode, and had a good Team USA run, so he won't be moved. But there's a problem -- he's having one of his weakest seasons, the team is colossally under-achieving, he's not an All-Star and his performance is starting to be scrutinized. So PR and timing is key. And Devon's agent knows the deal.

2. Devon does promos talking about how much he loves PHX and wants to stay. AZ Sports TV runs Booker promos cherry-picking his most positive stats and performances several times during every broadcast. Suns radio's avoids criticizing his significant role in the debacle of the past couple of seasons.

3. to divert blame, they scapegoat anyone who struggles and who is not part of the Suns future plans.

4. Devin's agent leaks the story about coach Bud telling Booker to let him call the shots and it's spun as a perfect excuse for why Booker is such a poor leader -- it's because Bud is *holding him back!* Booker's 7th coach in 10 years is in the works.

5. After going 5 for the prior 14 games, a rare blowout 2nd quarter with Booker and young players on the floor is the Suns opportunity to sell their game-plan to the public before speculation about Booker can do any more damage (and before the Suns are eliminated from the playoffs). Bickley accommodates by ripping into Durant this week and follows that 2 days later with the announcement that Ishbia will never trade Booker and he'll even be getting a raise to 70 million per season.

the public strategy is
IF YOU'RE A SUNS FAN, GET ON BOARD AND DON'T ROCK THE BOOKER BOAT BECAUSE BOOKER IS THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR HOME TEAM

anyone who doubts the above is likely any of the following
* naive
* more of a fanboy than a basketball fan
* doesn't know how shrewd today's billionaire owners are (including the NBA (e.g. Luka to Lakers))
* and hasn't paid attention to the ethical collapse taking place in America.

the NBA is not exactly Pro Wrestling, but it's not exactly the NBA anymore either

[rhylek]

the NBA is not exactly Pro Wrestling, but it's not exactly the NBA anymore either

It's been like that for what? 20 years?