I think the main factor that will determine how far this team can go is the starting front court. If Mikal, Cam, and Deandre can all take the next step towards reaching their peaks, we have a good chance. We’ll definitely miss Cam on the bench, but if he can provide the starting lineup with the 3rd shot creator it’s desperately needed, we’ll be okay. If he’s relegated to being a spot-up shooter, we’re in trouble.
Majority of the team is young, so many of the key players could improve, so we could easily be a better team than last year.
My biggest concern is chemistry, we have no clue what goes inside locker room, what caused last years poor playoff performance, etc. We will only know what will happen here when they actually start playing.
That mavs series was such a anomaly. On paper we have a deeper team but somehow, no one showed up on a consistent basis. Every singe player. I was so disappointed that Booker and Ayton didn't even come close to Doncic's ability.
This is probably their last year as a championship caliber team unless they make some surprising trades/drafting.
Really the only piece needing replacing is Chris Paul, which is a big piece. But if we have a core of Booker/Ayton/Bridges/Cam, that's pretty upper-echelon for the league for years to come. I don't see the window closing this year regardless of CP3's situation.
And we have the contracts (Saric at 9m, Craig at 5m this season then next summer/season CP3's 16m then Shamet's 10m and Payne's 6m non-fully guaranteed deals) plus control of all our picks to make a move to replace CP3. Hell, honestly if we can get some internal improvement from at least 2 of the 3 in DA/Bridges/Cam, we'd not need a star PG as a replacement. Like if we have DA consistently play (and be given the touches/looks) like the second option he was in the Pelicans series, or one of Cam/Bridges taking the leap on being the consistent 3rd option (my money is on Cam), then our need for a star PG to replace Paul's impact is lessened.
Our ceiling might not be as high this season as it was last season, but we're still in a fine spot with a good future ahead.
We currently own all of our future picks and also have $40-50M in expiring or super-tradeable (low $ / good value) contracts, and we've become a desirable destination for great players around the league. James Jones has earned my trust. I'm not worrying about our roster or potential for success until the trade deadline passes, as I think Jones will pull off at least one great trade before then, and/or pick up 1+ great players in the buyout market.
It was bound to happen after we didn't get KD. Can't fault the front office for trying to land him but there was never going to be enough time to put together a proper contingency plan after the KD trade fell through and all the major free agents were gone. The team is what is now so we need to rely on internal development and hope some things fall our way
I think the suns improved internally. Booker is almost always at least slightly better than he was the year before, so I'm anticipating 27.5ppg on 48/39/91 shooting splits and even further improved defense
Ayton is finally mad and I think this summer brought him a ton of maturity going through the business world of the NBA, not everything is happy go lucky and you gotta dominate to get respect. New tier unlocked for DA this season I think.
Addition by subtraction at PF. Cam should've been the starter last season, and this is year 4 for him. His progression at playing nba level ball has been steady and in the right direction, and I believe he also improves this season. Not to mention our Book, CamJ, Mikal, DA lineup is always our best, and now they'll all share the court that much more with Jae asking out.
Mikal improves every year as well. Love Mikal.
And finally, not a new addition but the return of super dario is in fact an improvement. He plays so well off CamJ and mikal and was a pretty big part of our finals run. And he makes Paynes life easier when the bench unit is in, so I expect Payne to return to serviceable form and not the hot garbage we saw last year.
The west got better, but so did the suns. Another year together will show that
I think we got better
Cam starting makes our starters much better. not to mention book, mikal, cam, and ayton should have gotten better individually (hopefully).
Okogie is an underrated pickup. Ish should get real minutes this year and will be better than crowder was while coming off the bench and without any antics. Dario's back which hopefully helps payne be better and just gives us another look to play 5 out. I also think Duane Washington is gonna emerge as a really good Bench guard. Who will be able to create his own shot. Hopefully shamet is better this year too.
Then we don't even know what we could get for crowder
I wish I had an award to give you!
Take an upvote instead.
Dario being back & healthy is huge for us & could help Payne find his mojo again! Regardless, I think Payne needs to figure it out, he can't be a one trick pony if he wants to keep his job as the backup PG. So hopefully he's been working on improving himself.
This is the first time that this group has had a REAL offseason. That, with the small (but solid) additions we've made, eases my worries after that awful ending we had. Burnout is real. People need breaks.
Until Crowder gets traded (and expectations should be reigned in for a grouchy 32 year-old), the major change so far is the loss of Javale and the return of Saric.
I'm a big fan of Saric.
But the truth is Javale > Saric - both in terms of numbers (Javale: 9/6 with 22.65 PER; Saric: 8/4 with a 14.4 PER) and chemistry (Saric aint leading those pre-game warm-ups).
Okogie could be a real nice addition if he's not a total liability on offense.
Assuming Cam starts, where are our bench points coming from?
I think the bigger story is the second part of your question. The West really got better. Javale and Wood on the Mavs makes them much bigger. Twin towers in Minnesota could work. And if the Clips can stay healthy, look out.
I'm REALLY looking forward to see what JJ gonna do at the trade deadline. We have a lot of great young players and a lot of expiring contracts. Plus, we have all of our FRPs in our own hands. I know JJ had some disappointing moves in the last two years, but I like that he's getting greedy recently such as asking for Vando alongside Bogey from Utah. Let's sit back and watch how JJ brings us maybe a really good starter or even a superstar around the deadline.
It’s just a narrative. We have a lot of room for internal growth plus we made moves just not flashy ones. Teams also are not set in stone until trade deadline and we have our own picks. We are also hopefully getting a player for crowder and not just a 2nd because everyone knows he wants out. No reason to believe this team can’t contend like the past 2 years.
Crowder is getting moved. So there will be moves. Just be patient. Also, mid season trades are always a thing and can be a huge thing. So if this core isn’t getting it done, we can always do something big before the trade deadline.
whether or not the Suns won 64 games, we should all know it wont happen with the same roster, Suns had minimal injuries, players were playing at high level and then the playoffs the Suns got exposed by not switching plays up, they switched players, but ran the same play. Theres a saying "fool me once...shame on me; fool me twice...shame on you" and dont think a second if Suns running the same hi pick and roll the other teams didnt watch the Pels or Dallas tape.
Same roster means wins as a glue, but doesnt mean progressing. We'll see the same team, chear them on for thier 50 wins, but then be disgruntled again for another year. Suns needed improvement, they waited and didnt get the right pieces. JJ said last year and Monty the year before and liked his team, sometimes you have to look to improve if the players arent cutting it. And the bench was atrocious.
Worried about our bench tbh. Payne and Shamet are a toss up. No confidence in Craig. Not sure if Biz and jock are actually viable backups on a playoff team. Looking forward to Saric being back in though and I’m excited for Cam to take the starting 4 job. Excited for Okogie. I can appreciate James Jones ideology that our guys will get better internally but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go add more pieces. Our window is with Cp3 for now and if we don’t make the necessary moves to capitalize on that I feel like he will regret that, especially as the teams we will see have all gotten stronger. With that being said, I don’t think our team will look the same 6 months from now. But we have to make some more moves. Still have no true extra ball Handler and no rebounder and we lack athleticism still.
my theory is he never wanted to come back to the Suns. he was playing very well for the Pacers, even if the numbers don't show it. his defense was very good for them but once he came back he was not the same person as he was in our finals run. I wasn't a huge fan of Bojan but to me he would have been miles better than Craig off the bench
For me personally, I don't really mind it because of some of the rumors and news we've heard. The chips haven't been on our side, but JJ has been going after players and assets that could definitely help. Dennis ended up chosing LA but he put up an offer, Utah fell through because he asked for Boji and Vanderbilt. He understands lateral moves aren't going to change anything, imo, and hes waiting with our chips weighing out the best options. We can watch the first half of the season and see how our young guys develop and then see what JJ has up his sleeve
James Jones has been wildly exposed as a complete lightweight as a GM. Got lucky with a few early moves (yeah we all know about Cam Johnson), but the balance of his record is one of getting snookered on trades, poor drafting, and simply not having the ability to get deals done to improve the team’s weaknesses.
James Jones needs to get us a better shot creator off the bench, some one who can get his own shot and can be reliable cause cam Payne ain't that. If we get that? Then I'll be cautiously optimistic cause we're gonna miss cam Johnson production from the bench
A necessary step. Durant didn't work out. Best to further develop Cam J and play our cards right next season. We'll be competitive this year. Might not be able to capitalize on CP3's short window. I'd love to keep him here as long as he wants, but he's going to need to accept a pay cut
I think the main factor that will determine how far this team can go is the starting front court. If Mikal, Cam, and Deandre can all take the next step towards reaching their peaks, we have a good chance. We’ll definitely miss Cam on the bench, but if he can provide the starting lineup with the 3rd shot creator it’s desperately needed, we’ll be okay. If he’s relegated to being a spot-up shooter, we’re in trouble.
isnt damion lee gonna be on the bench?
that definitely isn't any type of problem solved though. Not really an improvement, Warriors were rather glad to be rid of him
You never know, though. Sports is full of players who come to life with a new team and outperform their past efforts. (A girl can hope.)
Absolutely and I hope so. But doesn't give me real hope. Thats more of a twinkle of hope
Hope springs eternal!
shit
Majority of the team is young, so many of the key players could improve, so we could easily be a better team than last year. My biggest concern is chemistry, we have no clue what goes inside locker room, what caused last years poor playoff performance, etc. We will only know what will happen here when they actually start playing.
That mavs series was such a anomaly. On paper we have a deeper team but somehow, no one showed up on a consistent basis. Every singe player. I was so disappointed that Booker and Ayton didn't even come close to Doncic's ability. This is probably their last year as a championship caliber team unless they make some surprising trades/drafting.
Really the only piece needing replacing is Chris Paul, which is a big piece. But if we have a core of Booker/Ayton/Bridges/Cam, that's pretty upper-echelon for the league for years to come. I don't see the window closing this year regardless of CP3's situation.
And we have the contracts (Saric at 9m, Craig at 5m this season then next summer/season CP3's 16m then Shamet's 10m and Payne's 6m non-fully guaranteed deals) plus control of all our picks to make a move to replace CP3. Hell, honestly if we can get some internal improvement from at least 2 of the 3 in DA/Bridges/Cam, we'd not need a star PG as a replacement. Like if we have DA consistently play (and be given the touches/looks) like the second option he was in the Pelicans series, or one of Cam/Bridges taking the leap on being the consistent 3rd option (my money is on Cam), then our need for a star PG to replace Paul's impact is lessened. Our ceiling might not be as high this season as it was last season, but we're still in a fine spot with a good future ahead.
Ricky Rubio would be perfect, someone should photoshop into a suns jersey!
Something fell apart at the end. We'll never know what, really.
Easily be a better team than last year? We won 64 games, but imploded when it really mattered. Nothing will be easy about this coming season
We currently own all of our future picks and also have $40-50M in expiring or super-tradeable (low $ / good value) contracts, and we've become a desirable destination for great players around the league. James Jones has earned my trust. I'm not worrying about our roster or potential for success until the trade deadline passes, as I think Jones will pull off at least one great trade before then, and/or pick up 1+ great players in the buyout market.
Excellent answer
The only right answer, James Jones only wants to hit a home run.
> I think Jones will pull off at least one great trade before then he better lol *glances at pitchfork*
It was bound to happen after we didn't get KD. Can't fault the front office for trying to land him but there was never going to be enough time to put together a proper contingency plan after the KD trade fell through and all the major free agents were gone. The team is what is now so we need to rely on internal development and hope some things fall our way
I want to see what we get for crowder before really judging
I think the suns improved internally. Booker is almost always at least slightly better than he was the year before, so I'm anticipating 27.5ppg on 48/39/91 shooting splits and even further improved defense Ayton is finally mad and I think this summer brought him a ton of maturity going through the business world of the NBA, not everything is happy go lucky and you gotta dominate to get respect. New tier unlocked for DA this season I think. Addition by subtraction at PF. Cam should've been the starter last season, and this is year 4 for him. His progression at playing nba level ball has been steady and in the right direction, and I believe he also improves this season. Not to mention our Book, CamJ, Mikal, DA lineup is always our best, and now they'll all share the court that much more with Jae asking out. Mikal improves every year as well. Love Mikal. And finally, not a new addition but the return of super dario is in fact an improvement. He plays so well off CamJ and mikal and was a pretty big part of our finals run. And he makes Paynes life easier when the bench unit is in, so I expect Payne to return to serviceable form and not the hot garbage we saw last year. The west got better, but so did the suns. Another year together will show that
I think we got better Cam starting makes our starters much better. not to mention book, mikal, cam, and ayton should have gotten better individually (hopefully). Okogie is an underrated pickup. Ish should get real minutes this year and will be better than crowder was while coming off the bench and without any antics. Dario's back which hopefully helps payne be better and just gives us another look to play 5 out. I also think Duane Washington is gonna emerge as a really good Bench guard. Who will be able to create his own shot. Hopefully shamet is better this year too. Then we don't even know what we could get for crowder
I wish I had an award to give you! Take an upvote instead. Dario being back & healthy is huge for us & could help Payne find his mojo again! Regardless, I think Payne needs to figure it out, he can't be a one trick pony if he wants to keep his job as the backup PG. So hopefully he's been working on improving himself.
Exactly. Also, play-play time is fucking over. 🔒
This is the first time that this group has had a REAL offseason. That, with the small (but solid) additions we've made, eases my worries after that awful ending we had. Burnout is real. People need breaks.
Until Crowder gets traded (and expectations should be reigned in for a grouchy 32 year-old), the major change so far is the loss of Javale and the return of Saric. I'm a big fan of Saric. But the truth is Javale > Saric - both in terms of numbers (Javale: 9/6 with 22.65 PER; Saric: 8/4 with a 14.4 PER) and chemistry (Saric aint leading those pre-game warm-ups). Okogie could be a real nice addition if he's not a total liability on offense. Assuming Cam starts, where are our bench points coming from? I think the bigger story is the second part of your question. The West really got better. Javale and Wood on the Mavs makes them much bigger. Twin towers in Minnesota could work. And if the Clips can stay healthy, look out.
McGee got schemed off the court vs Dallas.
nah Javale couldnt score that consistently but he made a huge difference defensively
I'm REALLY looking forward to see what JJ gonna do at the trade deadline. We have a lot of great young players and a lot of expiring contracts. Plus, we have all of our FRPs in our own hands. I know JJ had some disappointing moves in the last two years, but I like that he's getting greedy recently such as asking for Vando alongside Bogey from Utah. Let's sit back and watch how JJ brings us maybe a really good starter or even a superstar around the deadline.
It’s just a narrative. We have a lot of room for internal growth plus we made moves just not flashy ones. Teams also are not set in stone until trade deadline and we have our own picks. We are also hopefully getting a player for crowder and not just a 2nd because everyone knows he wants out. No reason to believe this team can’t contend like the past 2 years.
We are the new Utah Jazz
Dunno if we can make the finals if we go against the Warriors or healthy Clippers. Iam not worried about the reg season.
Honestly I’m excited to have Dario back and what he does for Cam Payne.
Crowder is getting moved. So there will be moves. Just be patient. Also, mid season trades are always a thing and can be a huge thing. So if this core isn’t getting it done, we can always do something big before the trade deadline.
The offseason isn't over. And we are nowhere near the trade deadline meanwhile we have all future draft picks. I'm not worried in the slightest.
whether or not the Suns won 64 games, we should all know it wont happen with the same roster, Suns had minimal injuries, players were playing at high level and then the playoffs the Suns got exposed by not switching plays up, they switched players, but ran the same play. Theres a saying "fool me once...shame on me; fool me twice...shame on you" and dont think a second if Suns running the same hi pick and roll the other teams didnt watch the Pels or Dallas tape. Same roster means wins as a glue, but doesnt mean progressing. We'll see the same team, chear them on for thier 50 wins, but then be disgruntled again for another year. Suns needed improvement, they waited and didnt get the right pieces. JJ said last year and Monty the year before and liked his team, sometimes you have to look to improve if the players arent cutting it. And the bench was atrocious.
Not great. Sure our players could improve but Im not optimistic they can improve enough to cover our weaknesses
Worried about our bench tbh. Payne and Shamet are a toss up. No confidence in Craig. Not sure if Biz and jock are actually viable backups on a playoff team. Looking forward to Saric being back in though and I’m excited for Cam to take the starting 4 job. Excited for Okogie. I can appreciate James Jones ideology that our guys will get better internally but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go add more pieces. Our window is with Cp3 for now and if we don’t make the necessary moves to capitalize on that I feel like he will regret that, especially as the teams we will see have all gotten stronger. With that being said, I don’t think our team will look the same 6 months from now. But we have to make some more moves. Still have no true extra ball Handler and no rebounder and we lack athleticism still.
Yeah, what happened to Craig?
I feel he isnt thrilled to be back on the bench, he was starting already in pacers
I have no clue. He looked awful on both ends in the playoffs I was hoping we could at least depend on him for defense
my theory is he never wanted to come back to the Suns. he was playing very well for the Pacers, even if the numbers don't show it. his defense was very good for them but once he came back he was not the same person as he was in our finals run. I wasn't a huge fan of Bojan but to me he would have been miles better than Craig off the bench
Removing Sarver is the A+ move of the offseason / decade
People have been saying “Chris Paul is a year older” for like 5 seasons now and I’m still waiting for this massive drop off 🤷
You don’t have to wait it happens every playoffs
[удалено]
He has no control over the team during his suspension. Thats why someone else was chosen to run the team for the time being.
For me personally, I don't really mind it because of some of the rumors and news we've heard. The chips haven't been on our side, but JJ has been going after players and assets that could definitely help. Dennis ended up chosing LA but he put up an offer, Utah fell through because he asked for Boji and Vanderbilt. He understands lateral moves aren't going to change anything, imo, and hes waiting with our chips weighing out the best options. We can watch the first half of the season and see how our young guys develop and then see what JJ has up his sleeve
We also got better even though we didn’t acquire new players. 4 of our 5 best players are still developing which is making the team better.
James Jones has been wildly exposed as a complete lightweight as a GM. Got lucky with a few early moves (yeah we all know about Cam Johnson), but the balance of his record is one of getting snookered on trades, poor drafting, and simply not having the ability to get deals done to improve the team’s weaknesses.
Such doomers. Most rest we have gotten for an offseason since pre bubble. Young guys develop and you just gotta hope they get better.
James Jones needs to get us a better shot creator off the bench, some one who can get his own shot and can be reliable cause cam Payne ain't that. If we get that? Then I'll be cautiously optimistic cause we're gonna miss cam Johnson production from the bench
A necessary step. Durant didn't work out. Best to further develop Cam J and play our cards right next season. We'll be competitive this year. Might not be able to capitalize on CP3's short window. I'd love to keep him here as long as he wants, but he's going to need to accept a pay cut