The cobbled together, stuff we held on to during the playoffs mega super rumor and team direction thread.

[NBASupes]

26 minutes ago, h4wkfan said:

@NBASupes

ever hear of rumblings about Jamal Murray being available? Or does Denver want to wait and see that team healthy with jokic first?

although on the smaller side for playing the 2 - he is strong and quick enough I think he’d be fine. And he’d play just fine off of trae. Assuming his knee comes back to full strength. 

None for Denver at this time. 

[kg01]

9 minutes ago, AHF said:

He definitely didn't rise to the challenge but they threw a lot of bodies at him.  If we had a wing that commanded that kind of attention, Trae would be feasting.  Part of our issue is that defenses don't pay attention like that to anyone but Trae.

*sniiif*

I smell ...

**sniiiiiiiifff**

I smell .... excuses.  Seriously though, I'm really curious to see what happens with that team.  Last year was supposedly their "heyul nawl, I had enough" moment.  You know like when the Spurs lost on Ray Allen's shot (then game 7 that no one talks about) only to come back with a vengeance the next year.  That supposedly spurred (swidt) the Suns on to have the incredible reg season they had.

Well, you fired that bullet already so what's left now?  I can see Paul's bullying leadership wearing thin.  Then, all of a sudden, Monty's not as great a coach as he's shown.  Now that Bridges got exposed a bit, is he as good a defender next season?  Ayn't not way Ayton comes back there with a bought-in mindset.

This series loss could break them.

[JTB]

11 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Portis and Collins are a bit redundant. And despite what the perception is of both in this forum, Collins is the better player overall.

[LucastheThird]

36 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Ya'll boys 'n gals out here talkin' about the Suns shoppin' Ayton.  But what about the dude that really came up schmall when it counted?  Booker look'd like he had his trip to Cancun all pre-book'd.

Sell high, suns!

He's not available at all. But I would throw the kitchen sink to get him. 

[Peoriabird]

53 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

exactly.  Dallas has 6 double digit scorers in the playoffs and 2 guys averaging >20/game.  One >30.     I'm all for more defense but not if they can't score.  We've got Trae and a bunch of role players right now.  That's not contending.   

Y’all are some of the most impatient fans ever...this team is in year 5 from a total rebuild and have been to the conference finals already.  How many fan bases wouldn't mind being in our shoes but yet all yall do is complain that we got beat by the number one seed. Yo...they were suppose to win even if we were healthy.  Never mind.

[AHF]

37 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

It's not the end all be all that y'all making it out to be otherwise the nets team would still be playing

All the teams remaining in the playoffs have both (a) a better defense than the Hawks and (b) 1-2 players who have been playing in the playoffs as a legit second option.  Every team without that quality second option or without that quality D is watching on TV at this point.  

These two things aren't mutually exclusive.  A guy like Khris Middleton, Klay Thompson, etc. give both outstanding D and legit offense.  Very valuable.  

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

All the teams remaining in the playoffs have both (a) a better defense than the Hawks and (b) 1-2 players who have been playing in the playoffs as a legit second option.  Every team without that quality second option or without that quality D is watching on TV at this point.  

These two things aren't mutually exclusive.  A guy like Khris Middleton, Klay Thompson, etc. give both outstanding D and legit offense.  Very valuable.  

Klay Thompson can't even dribble but my point is Rome wasn't built over night..let's see what happens next year with the young guys. If you think you can get something for bogi and Gallo, by all means have at it.

[AHF]

27 minutes ago, kg01 said:

*sniiif*

I smell ...

**sniiiiiiiifff**

I smell .... excuses.  Seriously though, I'm really curious to see what happens with that team.  Last year was supposedly their "heyul nawl, I had enough" moment.  You know like when the Spurs lost on Ray Allen's shot (then game 7 that no one talks about) only to come back with a vengeance the next year.  That supposedly spurred (swidt) the Suns on to have the incredible reg season they had.

Well, you fired that bullet already so what's left now?  I can see Paul's bullying leadership wearing thin.  Then, all of a sudden, Monty's not as great a coach as he's shown.  Now that Bridges got exposed a bit, is he as good a defender next season?  Ayn't not way Ayton comes back there with a bought-in mindset.

This series loss could break them.

You aren't wrong on any of that.  Suns are going to have a very challenging offseason.  Very challenging.

When you mentioned Booker, though, I just thought about it in terms of how the Hawks would look if they could switch Bogi or Huerter for Booker.  I think even if he struggled like he did in Game 7 that would still be very valuable to the Hawks because of how it would positively impact Trae.  Like here was the assessment in one article:

Quote

Booker said after he wasn't going to shoot over multiple people as the Mavericks were blitzing him, but he came out passive and didn't set the offensive tone.

If we had Booker and they blitzed him like that Trae would eat that **** up.  He would love that spacing and if they scrambled to try to get on him in time, he has the passing ability to feed open looks to his guys.  And while Paul certainly has things he does better than Trae this isn't one of them.  I don't think Phoenix will even think about letting Booker go but if they did I would be on the phone in a heartbeat even with that Game 7 struggle.

[AHF]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

Klay Thompson can't even dribble but my point is Rome wasn't built over night..let's see what happens next year with the young guys. If you think you can get something for bogi and Gallo, by all means have at it.

I didn't disagree with you on looking forward to seeing how the young guys come back next year - especially with a full offseason for both Hunter and OO.  (Everyone needs to go to work this offseason but they have not had the same chances due to their frequent injuries).

My point was that nobody has made that leap yet which is a big part of our struggles over the regular season.

[Peoriabird]

4 minutes ago, AHF said:

I didn't disagree with you on looking forward to seeing how the young guys come back next year - especially with a full offseason for both Hunter and OO.  (Everyone needs to go to work this offseason but they have not had the same chances due to their frequent injuries).

My point was that nobody has made that leap yet which is a big part of our struggles over the regular season.

Now we are both sounding like fans who believe in this roster unlike others. Good post!

[kg01]

13 minutes ago, AHF said:

You aren't wrong on any of that.  Suns are going to have a very challenging offseason.  Very challenging.

When you mentioned Booker, though, I just thought about it in terms of how the Hawks would look if they could switch Bogi or Huerter for Booker.  I think even if he struggled like he did in Game 7 that would still be very valuable to the Hawks because of how it would positively impact Trae.  Like here was the assessment in one article:

If we had Booker and they blitzed him like that Trae would eat that **** up.  He would love that spacing and if they scrambled to try to get on him in time, he has the passing ability to feed open looks to his guys.  And while Paul certainly has things he does better than Trae this isn't one of them.  I don't think Phoenix will even think about letting Booker go but if they did I would be on the phone in a heartbeat even with that Game 7 struggle.

Agreed.

And, just so I'm clear, you're the one saying Trae >>>> Paul.

[warcore]

20 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Klay Thompson can't even dribble but

Oh yea... I remember that saying now... "everything in a sentence before the word but is a lie"

[NBASupes]

22 minutes ago, AHF said:

You aren't wrong on any of that.  Suns are going to have a very challenging offseason.  Very challenging.

When you mentioned Booker, though, I just thought about it in terms of how the Hawks would look if they could switch Bogi or Huerter for Booker.  I think even if he struggled like he did in Game 7 that would still be very valuable to the Hawks because of how it would positively impact Trae.  Like here was the assessment in one article:

If we had Booker and they blitzed him like that Trae would eat that **** up.  He would love that spacing and if they scrambled to try to get on him in time, he has the passing ability to feed open looks to his guys.  And while Paul certainly has things he does better than Trae this isn't one of them.  I don't think Phoenix will even think about letting Booker go but if they did I would be on the phone in a heartbeat even with that Game 7 struggle.

Like he did against Miami. I sware, if Booker was available, yall would be shooting at the moon for him 

[Peoriabird]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Like he did against Miami. I sware, if Booker was available, yall would be shooting at the moon for him 

Let me guess...Trae would make him better too! That seems to be the narrative here. Every player in the league needs to be rescued by Trae so he could unlock such player's unlimited potential.

[Atlantaholic]

1 hour ago, JTB said:

9.9 points 9rebounds on 39% shooting 27 mins a game against Boston. Imagine if a healthy Collins had that type of performance in a seven game series.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

Y’all are some of the most impatient fans ever...this team is in year 5 from a total rebuild and have been to the conference finals already.  How many fan bases wouldn't mind being in our shoes but yet all yall do is complain that we got beat by the number one seed. Yo...they were suppose to win even if we were healthy.  Never mind.

Exactly.  Although i can't keep track of what point everyone is even trying to make.  lol.   

The way i look at it.  PHX was Atlanta last year except Booker didn't get undercut by a ref and turn his ankle.   PHX has weaknesses that got exposed this year just like Atlanta.   But when you're best players are still under 25 then you still have great options.   

[kg01]

49 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Like he did against Miami. I sware, if Booker was available, yall would be shooting at the moon for him 

What are you talking about?  He's saying Booker would be valuable in that scenario.

You're too eager to go at people that you're not reading what people are saying.

He's literally saying we should want Booker.  Literally!

[Sothron]

This could be a great way of how things panned out for us. Let's hope the Suns are frustrated with Ayton and the Nets are fed up with Simmons. What an offseason that would be for us.

[JayBirdHawk]

3 hours ago, Q45T said:

This is just my opinion but I’m not hot on Gobert or Ayton. They both just got bodied by a team that doesn’t even have a real center. Ayton does not have a passion for basketball which was discussed during predraft and is why the Suns don’t wanna max him. Gobert is just too whiny but a lot of his issues come from having to clean up messes from Utah’s trash perimeter defense. I’m honestly cool with Capela for now granted he gets healthy. I think we should prioritize getting another ball handling guard who can actually play defense… not that there’s a lot of those out there anyway.

I'm looking at the remaining centers in the final 4:  Al, Bam, Powell and Green....I'm good with not overpaying the center position.

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

exactly.  Dallas has 6 double digit scorers in the playoffs and 2 guys averaging >20/game.  One >30.     I'm all for more defense but not if they can't score.  We've got Trae and a bunch of role players right now.  That's not contending.   

[macdaddy]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

I'm looking at the remaining centers in the final 4:  Al, Bam, Powell and Green....I'm good with not overpaying the center position.

And isn't that every year?