Suns News: Week 16 (1/31 to 2/5)

[Mori Chu]

speaking of who to follow, does anyone on here have a good Twitter List for Suns and NBA news?

I like @theIVpointplay a lot. I also follow @KellanOlson, @DaveKingNBA, @esidery, and a few others. I tend not to follow "official" accounts like the Suns team account since they kind of spam out a lot of tweets each day.

If you want a great summary of what the Suns did 4 days ago, you can follow the team on Facebook.

[Indy]

Oh I follow plenty of Suns twitter and NBA twitter. I was talking about an actual Twitter List that you can subscribe to.

[The Bobster]

I see Klay looked like his old self last night

Or.....

"Warriors did not gain much ground during their winning streak"

[Drewsprocket]

so glad i don't follow that guy

I have followed and unfollowed him multiple times. Idk. Is there anything being said at this point than just vague bombs?

[Mori Chu]

so glad i don't follow that guy

I have followed and unfollowed him multiple times. Idk. Is there anything being said at this point than just vague bombs?

He seems to be friends with CP3 or CP3's agent. So he occasionally hears rumors that way. That's all he has. He isn't some insider like Woj or Shams or whomever. He's just a guy who has had 1-2 tips over the years that have made people wrongly think he's more connected than he is. We've talked him to death; I find him dull and uninteresting.

[Superbone]

so glad i don't follow that guy

You just did.

[Shabazz]

Already covering bases

Way to go out on a limb, Flexy.

[specialsauce]

Already covering bases

Way to go out on a limb, Flexy.

Clown show

[Drewsprocket]

I dunno but DA and Cam Johnson are off limits. I guess Crowder is expendable even though I love what he brings.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I'm pretty sure the entire league is having conversations with the Pacers about Sabonis right now.

[Drewsprocket]

I'm pretty sure the entire league is having conversations with the Pacers about Sabonis right now.

Just get Craig back for a 2nd and change.

[MightyMoog]

I don’t really see a trade for Sabonis without Ayton being involved. Anything else doesn’t have enough salary or talent involved.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Ayton and Saric are enough to get Sabonis from a salary perspective, but I think the Suns would need to come away with a future 1st round pick in that deal.

[Gladiator]

Absolutely no to a deal with Ayton for Sabonis at its centre. Sabonis is a fine player but poor defender from what I can see - we would really missed Ayton’s d, especially in the playoffs.

[virtual9mm]

Really? What kind of nonsense would Ayton for Sabonis be?

[Split T]

Oof, I know I’ve been more pro-trade on Ayton than most, but don’t think Sabonis is the answer. Offensively he’d be a nice change of pace from our other bigs, but how much does he hurt our defense?

He’d slip into the Saric role very nicely, but I don’t think you bring in Sabonis to play him off the bench. I don’t buy this rumor at all. Maybe we’re involved as the 3rd team to take on Craig for nothing again to make the salaries work.

[ShelC]

I can't really wrap my head around a Sabonis deal.

DA/Saric for Sabonis
DA/Stix for Sabonis
Crowder/Saric/Stix for Sabonis
DA/Saric/Stix for Sabonis and Craig or Lamb or Holiday

If Sabonis and Turner couldn't work together, how could Sabonis and DA/JaVale/Biyombo work in terms of spacing?

If we're sending out DA, is Sabonis our center with Jae at PF and then we slide Sabonis to the 4 next to JaVale or Biyombo? Or, are we starting Sabonis at the 4 and rotating JaVale and Biyombo at center. Either way, our defense takes a hit.

Sabonis might give us more versatility and flexibility with lineups since we can go big or small in the frontcourt. But again, defense and spacing. He is locked into a 4 year, 74mil deal which is reasonable at about $19mil per. That might be a driving factor if it allows more money to make sure Cam Johnson is locked up while maintaining the center spot with cheaper guys like JaVale and Biyombo the next few years.

I don't think we'll see a major shakeup. We've supposedly called the Pacers before about Sabonis before and while his skillset fits and he's locked in on a good salary, I'd imagine making a major move with DA and/or Crowder would be a shock to the team in the middle of the season. There's adjusting to a new player, maybe adjusting the offense and defense- seems like too much in the middle of the year for a team that's rolling like ours has been. Could just as easily be the FO talking Sabonis but really feeling things out for guys like Lamb, Holiday or Craig. Or trying to see if there's a multi team deal that can we jump in on for salary purposes while nabbing one of their cheaper swings.

There's also the off chance that DA and the FO can't get on the same page for an extension and they may not be interested in matching a potential max offer sheet.

[MightyMoog]

Was just pointing out how ridiculous a trade for Sabonis is. He can’t play the 4. If he’s bad on defense at the 5. He’s going to be worse at the 4. You’re not trading for him to be your backup 5.

Only thing that is a remote possibility is that the Suns don’t value the 5 position enough to be paying anyone the Max. And they see this as a way to make a slight downgrade to a good player at a lower salary that is already on a contract. This is if they really don’t want to max Ayton.

Indiana is not going to trade Sabonis for Saric, Crowder, Smith and a couple of first rounders. And neither are we.

[Split T]

If it’s true at all, I bet Indy called and asked about Ayton. We probably counter offered Saric/Smith/Nader/1st…that’s honestly the most I’d offer for him. Clearly Indy would say no

[ShelC]

Indy also still has Turner who could space the floor next to DA but has only played the 5 spot and probably can't defend fulltime on the perimeter. He's out with an ankle injury but was supposedly on the block so they'd have to figure him out if/when he gets back or look to move him later on at some point.