The Official 2024 Offseason Thread

[TeamTragic]

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GOOD! Although I'm pretty skeptical on his willingness to legitimately consider this cost-effective strategy to supplement our roster, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for being there initially. It's a good step towards fixing things or at least improving in certain areas..

Jones looks miserable now that he has to do his actual job

[sunskerr]

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GOOD! Although I'm pretty skeptical on his willingness to legitimately consider this cost-effective strategy to supplement our roster, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for being there initially. It's a good step towards fixing things or at least improving in certain areas..

Jones looks miserable now that he has to do his actual job

Dudes on his phone "scouting" for a team to trade our picks to

[Ghost of Kleine]

You might as well follow another team Ghost. The die has been cast. Pishbea is trying to buy a title contender, not build one.

And frankly…. I would question any minimum wager signing here, seeing how they were discarded and marginalized last yr. Another round of flesh peddling will impact the sincerity of any signing going forward. Certainly, we won't be getting any ring chasers

Lol! You're on point about this team man, I guess it's my masochistic side that has seemingly allowed me to stick things out with this roller coaster of a franchise for close to 50 years and like many of you wonderful fellow Suns fans, consistently enduring every sort of heart-wrenching and absurdly creative collapse they could randomly come up with in key moments historically. As depressing as it can be sometimes though, and I'm sure much to the lamentations of many here, I just couldn't follow another team despite how frustrating and disappointing their decisions have been. It's almost like I'm a junkie for this satirical drama BS that our front office promotes, now just waiting for some bizarre and hopefully anticlimactic ending to the madness.

I understand that it would be a nice reprieve for many here If I left for a bit considering my oft-grating and highly controversial possibly comical perspectives ad nauseum, but again, I'm somewhat hooked on this weird bizarre reality show version of a basketball team I really just want to see figure things out and catch up with the rest of the league. In the end, things could be worse, but maybe not much! And apparently, misery loves company. So let's finish this dramedy together like true Suns fans.

[Slim Charless]

When people laugh at how Bridges and Cam don't play well as 1st and 2nd options in Brooklyn, and loved our 4 firsts, Bridges, Cam and Crowder for KD trade, look at the Knicks. You don't need a few stars and minimum guys. You need 1 star and solid role players. Look at Hart, DiVincenzo, McBride and Hartenstein. Alec Burks off the bench, beating the Pacers by 30.

Cam Thomas was the 1st option in Brooklyn. Mikal and Cam Johnson didn't play well being their 2nd and 4th options. It's what it is.

The Knicks are doing well but they are in the East (not as strong as the West) and they have one of the highest payrolls in the NBA. Randle out probably helps them, his basketball IQ and defense are really low.

We didn't have just Stars and minimum guys. We had role players. Allen, Little, O'Neale and Nurkic are role players with salaries between $6M and $18M and other than Little they did their job. That wasn't the problem.

For us Vogel and the Big 3 failed and didn't meet expectations.

They were unable to play team-ball and couldn't defend well enough. Vogel for whatever reason couldn't motivate them and communication wasn't great between him and the team.

That's why a HC's change was a must this offseason IMO.

Budenholzer fits on paper, I am excited about his addition. Hopefully we will see an improvement on the court with him and a some changes on the roster.

Thomas is just a volume scorer. Bridges is their best player and 1st option. Thomas only started 51 games and was out a lot. I think they'd prefer to trade him. Schroder is also just a 6th man type off the bench and didn't play in a ton of games either.

Bridges is their best player and main option, and Cam Johnson is probably their 2nd best.

..... which is why they're in the lottery. They're praying that Donavan Mitchell chooses them. I'm not 100% sure he will, even if he does love NYC.

[sunskerr]

Signing minimum players is like dragging a net through the bottom of the ocean. It's 99.9% garbage that people have thrown out. We're going trawling again this summer but the captain is also drilling holes in the boat.

[SunsRback4Good]

Signing minimum players is like dragging a net through the bottom of the ocean. It's 99.9% garbage that people have thrown out. We're going trawling again this summer but the captain is also drilling holes in the boat.

[TeamTragic]

What are these "huge packages" that teams will be offering for Spida?

[lilfishi22]

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GOOD! Although I'm pretty skeptical on his willingness to legitimately consider this cost-effective strategy to supplement our roster, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for being there initially. It's a good step towards fixing things or at least improving in certain areas..

Do we know Bud's views on younger players/rookies?

[kennydorglas]

So JJ stays?
Good luck Bud.

[lilfishi22]

When people laugh at how Bridges and Cam don't play well as 1st and 2nd options in Brooklyn, and loved our 4 firsts, Bridges, Cam and Crowder for KD trade, look at the Knicks. You don't need a few stars and minimum guys. You need 1 star and solid role players. Look at Hart, DiVincenzo, McBride and Hartenstein. Alec Burks off the bench, beating the Pacers by 30.

Our players weren't as tough as these Knicks are, or as smart. That was proven in both the MIL and DAL series when constant mistakes by Mikal on his lead assignment cost us too many possessions. He and Monty's refusal to adjust on Mids and Luka with giving up the switch cost us a championship.

This Knicks team is too tough and plays intelligently. If healthy, they could've beaten Boston. Way more physical then the Celtics and just tougher in general. None of our teams were remotely close to this group of guys.

While I still think Thibs is overrated, he has absoulutely earned his reputation being a very tough coach who beats the team into shape all season long and they are a team that show up tough in the post season. Jimmy might be the best graduate of Thibs school of toughness

[lilfishi22]

Or maybe great teambuilding is more complicated than broad generalizations about "stars" and "role players" and "styles" and the like. maybe it matters which stars and role players and styles and approaches and a million other aspects you deploy

I think this is right.

Especially when you consider stars of today, role players of today, styles and approaches of today and a bunch of other factors today, won't necessarily amount to a championship team tomorrow. A team built like the 90s-2000's Spurs team won't work now for example.

[Slim Charless]

Or maybe great teambuilding is more complicated than broad generalizations about "stars" and "role players" and "styles" and the like. maybe it matters which stars and role players and styles and approaches and a million other aspects you deploy

I think this is right.

Especially when you consider stars of today, role players of today, styles and approaches of today and a bunch of other factors today, won't necessarily amount to a championship team tomorrow. A team built like the 90s-2000's Spurs team won't work now for example.

Meh. I don't know about that.

Robinson was a very mobile big and a smart one. He could've adjusted to drop coverage and switching defenses. With the version of that team that had Rodman there beasting on the boards, while also offering legit switchability, they'd have a fearsome frontcourt. Sean Elliot can obviously hit the 3. They'd need a offensive skilled PG to run things. Dame, for example would fit like a glove on that team.

I think they'd be fine actually. They'd need Rodman to stay sane-which he wasn't for times.

[King4Day]

What are these "huge packages" that teams will be offering for Spida?

What can the Lakers offer? Reaves and a couple firsts, salary fillers? If I'm the Cavs, I'd rather take my chance to resign him the following year.

I do think the Nets can pull something off if they really want him. Expecting 1 or 2 of our picks will involved.

[TeamTragic]

What are these "huge packages" that teams will be offering for Spida?

What can the Lakers offer? Reaves and a couple firsts, salary fillers? If I'm the Cavs, I'd rather take my chance to resign him the following year.

I do think the Nets can pull something off if they really want him. Expecting 1 or 2 of our picks will involved.

So much for that "huge package" that was rumored.

[garrick]

Signing minimum players is like dragging a net through the bottom of the ocean. It's 99.9% garbage that people have thrown out. We're going trawling again this summer but the captain is also drilling holes in the boat.

What's the definition of insanity again?

Repeating the same pattern expecting different results?

JJ has tried trawling for 2 way players and none of them have actually gone on to become productive role players.

Ish Wainwright, Saben Lee, Duane Washington and a host of other trash players JJ thought were worth putting on the end of the bench . It's time to end this madness and actually try to keep our 2nd round picks which would have a much better success rate than signing trashy 2 way players.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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GOOD! Although I'm pretty skeptical on his willingness to legitimately consider this cost-effective strategy to supplement our roster, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for being there initially. It's a good step towards fixing things or at least improving in certain areas..

Do we know Bud's views on younger players/rookies?

For sure there have been some people saying he doesn't like playing his young players over vets, but I really think that it depends upon the situation, and context involved in Atlanta he showed a willingness to play and even rely on young players like John Collins, Tyler Cavanaugh, Josh Magette, Tyler Dorsey, and Isaiah Taylor. Of course, some of this was also due to the circumstance of Schroder and Cook having injuries too. But he did still give the young rookies and G league prospects minutes and opportunities. In Atlanta, coach Bud showed he also preferred to have center options that are quick and athletic rim runners, which is why he liked playing Collins at the 5. So perhaps that could influence what type of bigs we consider in the draft or in other avenues? But again, those Hawks were more or less in a rebuilding situation during that time.

A lot of people also say that he doesn't play favorites, but can be demanding at times. He once said in an initial interview with Schlenk that the perspectives he adopted and brought from his time under Pop is the importance of caring for players, But also demanding them to be competitive! So as long as a young player has a good work ethic and maintains good effort, it seems he's willing to play and develop them.

Overall, Budenholzer is kind of cryptic and reticent. But here's an article that might give some insight to his views on the importance of player development:
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/2/17/17010774/hawks-university-atlanta-player-development-mike-budenholzer

The idea of playing basketball as a unit instead of through one specific superstar is one that was perfected by Budenholzer’s mentor Gregg Popovich, who mentored Budenholzer for 18 seasons with in San Antonio. Another massively important part of building successful basketball teams is player development which, yet again, has been mastered in San Antonio, where they turn out playoff teams season after season with new players in flux every season.

It is clear that Budenholzer wanted to bring this culture into his Atlanta locker room and the results to this point have been outstanding with the Hawks making a couple of deep playoff runs that Atlanta fans have not been used to in the past. It is also very clear that Budenholzer is a defense-first coach and believes that good defense will lead to easy offense. With this mindset in Atlanta’s franchise as they begin to retool their team, fans should be very excited for what is to come and what is already happening.

Also this:
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/mike-budenholzer-quotes

To add a player in the draft is something we always look forward to.

Mike Budenholzer

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mike_budenholzer_1124111

So he's in favor of player development, and is also a DEFENSE FIRST COACH! So he'll likely be targeting quick, athletic, and disruptive defensive players that can help create easy offense? To me that sounds like Yves Missi, Ryan Dunn, maybe Devin Carter or Terrence Shannon (If in our range). He also talked briefly about how much he thought Horford was a unique player who could be the backbone of a defense for Atlanta. And it just so happens that there is a young Horford/ Ibaka archetype in the draft in Ulriche Comche who is versatile enough to play the 4 or the 5. So any of these prospects might be potential targets.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[garrick]

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JJ has a one track mind and he prefers signing/drafting 3&D finesse wings like Bridges, Cam Jo, Crowder & Jalen Smith.

While 3&D players are necessary on a team you can't keep going for these kinds of players, you absolutely need some physicality and athleticism which is a gripe I've had ever since we got JJ.

I guess JJ isn't really the GM anymore so hopefully Ishbia realizes we need more physicality on this team and tries to address it in some way although it is going to be almost impossible to fix this roster.

[TeamTragic]

Cavs firing Bickerstaff and Garland on the block.

Clearly there won't be a trade with the SUNS