Suns News: Week 22 (3/17 - 3/23)

[Split T]

I guess count me in the minority that liked the 1 for 3 draft pick trade. The draft is often a crapshoot and I’d rather have picks in 25/27/29 than 1 in 31. We have 6 years to be good before that pick conveys.

I mean I feel like we were talking about doing a deal like this last summer. I know I was. I thought it was a fantastic idea.

Did we trade a $20 bill for three $5 bills? Maybe…but we were at a farmers market trying to buy something for $5 and no one would break a $20. We could’ve kept the $20, but then we can’t buy anything.

Now I disagreed with spending one of those $5 bills to dump Nurk(though Martin has the chance to soften that blow a bit), but that’s a separate thing.

I think it’s also possible we traded a $10 bill for 3 $5 bills…I mean 2029 is a long ways out…we could get a lottery pick in 2029(very unlikely, but possible) and the 2031 pick could end up 32nd.

I think some of you are just assuming the worst possible outcome for any move we make.

We could trade KD for all our picks back plus 3 young guys and we’d still on the trade.

[Superbone]

Why the fuck did we trade our 2031 pick for three shitty much-worse picks?

That's a good question. I would like to know the thinking behind that. I assumed it was for a trade deadline deal but that was not the case. Did the FO ever give an explanation?

[Superbone]

Why the fuck did we trade our 2031 pick for three shitty much-worse picks?

Because only crazy people enjoy holding future draft picks.

3 for 1, dude!

[Superbone]

More fuel for Saucy's burn pit:

[Cap]

Our +/- leaders on the season: Monte, Oso, Plum, CG

Also on the top side of the daisies: Lee, Martin, Micic, KD

                     Scoring Statistics
   Player            Min  Pts  Tnd/48  TC  PF  DQ STA   +/- PTS/48
 1 durant,kevin     2105 1503   32.42   0  96   0  57    9  34.27
 2 booker,devin     2393 1660   30.44   0 170   2  64  -71  33.30
 3 beal,bradley     1541  832   23.69   0 123   1  33 -236  25.92
 4 allen,grayson    1318  568   21.00   0  81   0   3  -11  20.69
 5 jones,tyus       1928  716   23.65   0  59   0  57  -53  17.83
 6 richards,nick     635  287   29.26   0  72   0  27  -81  21.69
 7 o'neale,royce    1624  597   21.50   0 130   0  19  -37  17.65
 8 nurkic,jusuf      590  215   23.22   0  78   0  23  -69  17.49
 9 bol,bol           428  229   28.27   0  20   0  10  -32  25.68
10 dunn,ryan        1094  395   16.16   0 131   0  32 -103  17.33
11 okogie,josh       352  150   22.07   0  28   0   1  -22  20.45
12 morris,monte      529  206   20.00   0  21   0   0   64  18.69
13 plumlee,mason    1205  305   25.27   0 145   1  20   54  12.15
14 martin,cody        44   12   23.62   0   9   0   0   22  13.09
15 ighodaro,oso      737  179   18.42   0  78   0   2   55  11.66
16 gillespie,colli   186   71   26.18   0  19   0   2   41  18.32
17 lee,damion        111   60   16.84   0   5   0   0   26  25.95
18 washington,tyty   103   31   13.68   0   4   0   0   -7  14.45
19 bridges,jalen      25    4   -4.99   0   0   0   0    0   7.68
20 micic,vasilije      8    0    9.60   0   0   0   0   11   0.00

[Split T]

We’d win by 66 if Micic played all 48

[ShelC]

I'm honestly sick of all the numbers and stats when this one plays or that one plays. It's been going on for two years and means nothing without the right context. Who were the opponents? Who else was on the court or not playing that game? We know what we've seen and the difference makers for us have been Dunn and Oso with CG and Richards chipping in. KD drops his usual stats but it's the younger players who have been the gamechangers.

[Superbone]

Stats just for the sake of stats are just...stats. Obviously they mean nothing if you really think Lee and Micic is the answer.

[JeremyG]

I guess count me in the minority that liked the 1 for 3 draft pick trade. The draft is often a crapshoot and I’d rather have picks in 25/27/29 than 1 in 31. We have 6 years to be good before that pick conveys.

I mean I feel like we were talking about doing a deal like this last summer. I know I was. I thought it was a fantastic idea.

Did we trade a $20 bill for three $5 bills? Maybe…but we were at a farmers market trying to buy something for $5 and no one would break a $20. We could’ve kept the $20, but then we can’t buy anything.

Now I disagreed with spending one of those $5 bills to dump Nurk(though Martin has the chance to soften that blow a bit), but that’s a separate thing.

We didn’t trade one of them to dump Nurkic, we traded our 2026 pick.

[Split T]

I guess count me in the minority that liked the 1 for 3 draft pick trade. The draft is often a crapshoot and I’d rather have picks in 25/27/29 than 1 in 31. We have 6 years to be good before that pick conveys.

I mean I feel like we were talking about doing a deal like this last summer. I know I was. I thought it was a fantastic idea.

Did we trade a $20 bill for three $5 bills? Maybe…but we were at a farmers market trying to buy something for $5 and no one would break a $20. We could’ve kept the $20, but then we can’t buy anything.

Now I disagreed with spending one of those $5 bills to dump Nurk(though Martin has the chance to soften that blow a bit), but that’s a separate thing.

We didn’t trade one of them to dump Nurkic, we traded our 2026 pick.

Yes I’m aware…but the only way that pick was tradable was because we acquired the 3 other picks.

[ShelC]

[TOO]

Cool, gimme Sheppard, the picks, Smith, Whitmore and the Aussie. Thanks.

[Split T]

Going to have to involve Brooks or Green I’d think

[Split T]

[Split T]

I do think Houston is the best case scenario. I’d guess it’s Dillon Brooks, Jock Landale, a young player and 2 of our picks…not sure if it would be 2025/2027 or 27/29.

[TOO]

Going to have to involve Brooks or Green I’d think

At least Brooks offers some defensive ability, too bad he thinks he can shoot like prime Ray Allen

[Split T]

He has been a lot better for Houston as a shooter…here’s his career numbers:

3pt%
Memphis - 34.2%
Houston - 37.8%

TS%
Memphis - 51.2%
Houston - 54.8%

Also on midrange(10-16 feet):
Memphis - 41% and took 17% of shots from here
Houston - 39% and took 11% of shots from here

Long 2s(16-3P):
Memphis - 37% and 10% of his shots
Houston - 46% and 4.5% of his shots.

So better 3 point shooting and better shot selection. 50% of his shots come from 3 in Houston.

[Mori Chu]

Don't we want Jalen Green back in any KD-to-HOU trade? Not that he's my most favorite NBA player or anything, but he makes a fairly large salary and we need salary ballast coming back in any KD deal. And I don't really want the other high-salaried Houston players like VanVleet or Brooks. And Houston seems lukewarm on his future there and probably willing to include him in a deal.

Jalen Green has some flaws but he is still very young and may still improve as he goes along. This season he is averaging a tidy 21.4 ppg on .425 / .355 / .826 splits, along with 3.4 ast, 4.6 reb, 0.9 stl, 2.6 to. Those shooting numbers are pretty rough, and the turnovers are high. And I don't think he is a great defender. But the rebounding and scoring numbers are pretty good, and we are going to need some scoring if we lose KD.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... nja05.html

EDIT: I guess even if Green is in the deal, we'll still have to take back more salary ballast since KD makes so much. So it might be both Green and Brooks along with picks. Overall HOU has a lot of assets I'd want, mainly our own 1st round picks but also some of their young guys like Sheppard or Jabari or Green.

[Split T]

Houston will be able to make the deal without matching salaries…how much extra they can take depends on what they do with FVV(I don’t see them picking up his 44 million dollar option, but maybe they re-sign him on a cheaper deal).

I think Jalen Green is a pretty bad fit with Booker. Undersized 2 guard…not a pg, doesn’t defend…inefficient shooter. Yes he’s only 23, but not sure how he helps us right now. If we managed to move Beal too, then sure…I’d let Green be our 6th man. I have my doubts that he develops into a great player though.

I don’t like Brooks at all, but I think if you’re trying to win next year, he’s a much better option than Green next to Booker.

If Houston restructures FVV at like 30-35 million a year, a Brooks plus 2 contracts deal works. The nice thing with Houston is they drafted a few of those guys pretty high and even though they are on rookie contracts, they still add up. Smith makes 12 million, Sheppard will be at 10.

[ShelC]