A place for fans of the Phoenix Suns
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Lol. Not a translation of SG is 2. SF is 3. PF is 4. But forward sounds like the number 4, sort off, and I was just going off my poor memory of what he said, with small forward (focus on the word forward) = 4 and why I put that in my quote, incorrectly.
Didn’t see it, but I’ll take your words for it. Nice to have players for a change who don’t mind putting in the time at the hair salon.AmareIsGod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:28 amEdit 2: Those Rubio highlights are dazzling. Wow!
Edit 3: Those Oubre highlights are dazzling. Wow!
1994 & 1995 were the years for me. We had Barkley and there was no Jordan to contend with.Ring_Wanted wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:13 am2006 was the year to me too.JeremyG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:54 pmThat’s what devastated me about all the injuries in 2006. Knowing that we would have destroyed the Heat in the Finals.
The 1979 game 7 home loss to the Sonics in the Western Conference Finals.SunsRIt wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:39 pm1994 & 1995 were the years for me. We had Barkley and there was no Jordan to contend with.Ring_Wanted wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:13 am2006 was the year to me too.JeremyG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:54 pmThat’s what devastated me about all the injuries in 2006. Knowing that we would have destroyed the Heat in the Finals.
But Jones stands by the moves: Arguably it was addition by subtraction.
Jones said he could have done a better job communicating the team’s goals. Maybe that would have softened the criticism.
Phoenix viewed the losses this way: It used the open salary cap space to sign free agent point guard Ricky Rubio and re-sign forward Kelly Oubre Jr. to round out a starting unit around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
“Every decision that we make, right or wrong, we have to make it with those two guys in mind, knowing the players they play with have to complement or help them or push them to be better,” Jones said.
Trading Warren and Jackson opened more nearly $18 million in salary next year alone.
“Our goal was to get a good player, a point guard. It was to preserve financial flexibility for the next few years, it was to increase the maturity of our team,” Jones said. “If you look at that (trade), Josh is a great talent, but he’s a young guy. If you look at T.J., T.J. is at a different place in his career. And at the small forward position, we have a lot of depth.
“We have Mikal (Bridges), we have Kelly, we have Cam, and whether or not (Warren would) be able to play and provide the punch that we need for him to feel appreciated and to excel, versus the opportunity for growth for the rest of our guys, it was a decision we had to make,” Jones added. “And when you couple that with the future money, it just became a decision we needed to make in the best interest of the team. That’s taking away nothing from those guys as players, but as a team those are the best transactions for us.”
Jones clearly didn’t agree with the McDonough-led front office.
McDonough pulled a quick rebuild after one summer on the job, trading for athleticism and talent by landing Eric Bledsoe, among others, to set Phoenix up for a 48-win season in 2014-15. But after that, from the Isaiah Thomas acquisition that caused a point guard squeeze to targeting talented-but-volatile personalities in the draft like Josh Jackson, things didn’t go the Suns’ way on the court.
Now, it’s clear Jones will sacrifice talent, athleticism and skill for fit. Based on the Suns’ records the past four years, he has a right to reevaluate how his team values basketball players.
“I think a lot of times people overemphasize talent,” Jones said. “They view talent in a bubble. I think we’ve had individual talent (in the past).
“I think for the first time in awhile we have collective talent, where the talent of our guys complements each other seamlessly.”
Sucks to think that with a little of luck here and there, PHX could be looking at 3-5 titles.The Bobster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:59 pmThe 1979 game 7 home loss to the Sonics in the Western Conference Finals.SunsRIt wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:39 pm1994 & 1995 were the years for me. We had Barkley and there was no Jordan to contend with.Ring_Wanted wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:13 am2006 was the year to me too.
Everybody knew the winner of the West was going to win the title against the depleted Bullets.
I can appreciate focusing more on fit--I just wish it wasn't such an extreme view, where talent appears to no matter at all in comparison to fit.ShelC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:13 amCaught the presser which was actually encouraging to me. Whether or not you agree with the moves, there's a plan in place to add certain kinds of players that fit together to play a certain way. I've said for years that we always had a bunch of talent that never fit together, which Jones mentioned specifically. That's why as much as was made about giving TJ away, we added (or Jones thinks so) players who were better fits overall.
And it was refreshing to hear a guy like Monty talk basketball clearly and logically. No grandiose inspirational speeches, no general philosophies or motivational quotes, no "first, we gotta turn these boys into men" nonsense. I think Monty will do well with this team early on.
"We’re fully committed to their development," McDonough said. "They’re two of the youngest players in the draft, two of the three youngest guys in this year’s draft class, so we’ll be patient with them. But they have some unique skills and I think they may be ready to make an impact sooner than some people think.”
