Bogyo wrote:garrick wrote:Interesting talk from Gerald Bourguet and Sean Highkin.
Some interesting insights on Nurkic and what he can bring to the team as well as his personality etc.
Anyone has the time (and cares enough) to sum up the 3-5 most important thoughts in this? I am intrested, but not 55 minutes intrested... tx
It's been about half a day since I listened so a lot of the Nurk/Little stuff didn't really stick but the DA stuff did.
- DA began to sour on the Suns because he felt he did enough (and what was asked) to get paid that summer following the Finals run.
- Apparently Monty shouted "You freakin quit on the team!" after DA refused to reenter the game in the G7 of the Mavs series.
- DA felt after he did enough of what was asked, he should become more of the focal point of the offense. Not so much #1 option but #2 above CP3. Gerald mentioned Mikal was probably higher on the hierarchy than DA on offense which made sense given his skillset.
- Mentioned DA lacked some of that maturity you ideally want on a contender. He mentioned what DA wanted his role to be was in conflict with what everyone else on the Suns wanted.
- Mentioned DA wanted to do a bunch of stuff on offense but just didn't have the requisite skill set to actually pull it off during games so naturally, his role on offense was limited to what we saw. Never developed a handle, never developed post moves outside of the hook shot and settles for mid rangers too often.
- Mentioned it was maybe a bit unfair in that DA never got the opportunity to fully develop his offensive skillset but our timeline was fast forward when CP3 was brought in and we were going for a championship almost immediately. We maximised him the way we thought we should in order to compete.
- Gerald heard conflicting info on whether DA did indeed ask for a trade or not but said either way, a trade was the natural conclusion.
- Mentioned there were some faults on both sides with regards to the previous summer where DA and Monty didn't talk but if DA just played better more often, it would've been something that could've been nipped in the bud. But when Book/CP3/Monty are all cutthroat competitors and DA is not of that mindset, it really stood out.
- Following the point above, mentioned DA is a really great guy but him not being locked in mentally, ie he doesn't live and breath basketball like Book/KD, that created a clash of personalities.
There's a bunch more and it's only the first 20min or so. It's definitely worth a listen. Essentially, the reason for the Suns and DA parting ways could probably be summarised by 3 points:
1. DA wasn't happy with his role and the fact that we didn't pay him until he got the Indy offer despite doing what he was asked.
2. DA never developed some key skills that would've allowed him to have a bigger role on the offense and his inconsistency and maturity made his faults harder to overlook.
3. All the key people on the team over the last few years like CP3, Book, KD, are all hoopers and they didn't vibe with DA because he's not that. That likely extends to Jones, Monty and probably Ishbia too.
Anyone else that listened can correct me if I got any points wrong. Mostly going by memory