KD to the Suns

[Jdiddy701]

People keep comparing KD to Mikal and Cam saying he's better. Of course he is. In a straight up swap obviously, but for a rebuilding team, would they prefer him to those two, 4 unprotected firsts, one unprotected swap and 5 seconds? Probably not.

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

OK, when I say rebuild I mean they went away from all in now mode to replenish picks they have traded to build their big 3 like we did. So they got a ton from us, some from Dallas, etc.

Who knows how good those picks will be? No one knows. Our team is likely on the decline while most of the west is on the incline. We are one of the older teams along with the LA teams and GS.

Even with our stars playing lights out we are barely pulling out wins.

I hope we improve but I don't know where it comes from. Beal will help if he ever plays but defense might be our biggest problem. This isn't like our team a couple years ago that started 19-3 or something, rolling over people.

In response to your last sentence (don’t know how to bold). Rolling over people in the regular season doesn’t mean anything. Having multiple players that can create and get their shot is the most important thing to win a title imo. The Suns may very well start to roll over teams as they get more familiar with each other. Y’all so impatient and expect everything to be perfect from the start. Give it time.

Health is the only thing that worries me with this team.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bwgood77]

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

OK, when I say rebuild I mean they went away from all in now mode to replenish picks they have traded to build their big 3 like we did. So they got a ton from us, some from Dallas, etc.

Who knows how good those picks will be? No one knows. Our team is likely on the decline while most of the west is on the incline. We are one of the older teams along with the LA teams and GS.

Even with our stars playing lights out we are barely pulling out wins.

I hope we improve but I don't know where it comes from. Beal will help if he ever plays but defense might be our biggest problem. This isn't like our team a couple years ago that started 19-3 or something, rolling over people.

In response to your last sentence (don’t know how to bold). Rolling over people in the regular season doesn’t mean anything. Having multiple players that can create and get their shot is the most important thing to win a title imo. The Suns may very well start to roll over teams as they get more familiar with each other. Y’all so impatient and expect everything to be perfect from the start. Give it time.

Health is the only thing that worries me about this team.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not really impatient...when KD and Book play we win. I know "regular season doesn't matter" argument but it does to some extent. We need to get to the playoffs and hopefully not have to go on the road every round.

But it is nice to be pulling out these wins that come down to the last shot, rather than losing to the Spurs and stuff. Now we get Portland so should be able to have a comfortable big win finally.

But yeah, health and age were my biggest fears with the team. I think if we are healthy, we should be very tough. Health has hurt us so far as I've said so you can't judge most of the games outside of looking at the Utah wins...which were nice, even if a bit close for comfort.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think that any Nets fan would love to have KD back on their team.

Mikal and Cam Johnson are nice/OK players but they can't be compared with this unbelievable monster.

And Jae Crowder + some low FRPs... those are nothing. That trade is looking better and better because on every game we can appreciate and enjoy his game with a Suns jersey, KD playing ball is a **** piece of art.

People keep comparing KD to Mikal and Cam saying he's better. Of course he is. In a straight up swap obviously, but for a rebuilding team, would they prefer him to those two, 4 unprotected firsts, one unprotected swap and 5 seconds? Probably not.

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

People keep comparing KD to Mikal and Cam saying he's better. Of course he is. In a straight up swap obviously, but for a rebuilding team, would they prefer him to those two, 4 unprotected firsts, one unprotected swap and 5 seconds? Probably not.

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I just think it can be quite risky to trade away a bunch of unprotected 1sts for an aging star, like the Nets did to Boston when they traded for Pierce and KG and ended up giving them Jaylen Brown.

But mostly, I liked our team in the first place and the fact that we had all our picks. I thought we had a nice young core and were set for years with one of the biggest stars and some great young role players around him.

But yeah, I do think KD is better than Bridges right now. When you are over the cap like we were/are and don't have assets to trade, your best avenue to get better is through the draft..as well as secure your future.

But I do suppose that as long as James Jones is making our picks, I won't feel too terrible about not having them. Even if we would have moved up in the lottery in 27, 28 or 29, he would have probably found a way to screw it up.

I don't think it's as simple as spending money necessarily either. You have to have a way to get talent and there is a ton of young talent out there in the west with a ton of upside. Even a team like the Rockets, a young frontcourt of Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr (they got through the draft) may end up one of the best frontcourts. They are already pretty good with Jalen Green and having FVV there now has helped them compete a bit more.

But we are right on their tail in the standings so hopefully can pass them up soon.

[Saberestar]

Season Leaders in points per game:

1. Joel Embiid - 31.9 ppg.
2. Kevin Durant - 31.4 ppg.
3. Luka Doncic - 30.6 ppg.

[SunsRback4Good]

Season Leaders in points per game:

1. Joel Embiid - 31.9 ppg.
2. Kevin Durant - 31.4 ppg.
3. Luka Doncic - 30.6 ppg.

When are fans going to start chanting “MVP” for KD?

[Saberestar]

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I just think it can be quite risky to trade away a bunch of unprotected 1sts for an aging star, like the Nets did to Boston when they traded for Pierce and KG and ended up giving them Jaylen Brown.

But mostly, I liked our team in the first place and the fact that we had all our picks. I thought we had a nice young core and were set for years with one of the biggest stars and some great young role players around him.

But yeah, I do think KD is better than Bridges right now. When you are over the cap like we were/are and don't have assets to trade, your best avenue to get better is through the draft..as well as secure your future.

But I do suppose that as long as James Jones is making our picks, I won't feel too terrible about not having them. Even if we would have moved up in the lottery in 27, 28 or 29, he would have probably found a way to screw it up.

I don't think it's as simple as spending money necessarily either. You have to have a way to get talent and there is a ton of young talent out there in the west with a ton of upside. Even a team like the Rockets, a young frontcourt of Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr (they got through the draft) may end up one of the best frontcourts. They are already pretty good with Jalen Green and having FVV there now has helped them compete a bit more.

But we are right on their tail in the standings so hopefully can pass them up soon.

The Nets are on a terrible position IMO. They are mediocre and without stars or high picks. Nice floor but superlow ceiling.

That’s why I think they would love to have KD back on their team for the package that we gave them.

Look at what LeBron is doing close to 39 years old. KD is just 35, he is gonna be better than Mikal not only "right now"...most probably forever.

[WeekapaugGroove]

They aren't a rebuilding team, they are playing too many veteran players and trying to compete now. They aren't the Pistons or the Blazers.

With Ishbia on board those picks will never be too valuable. And those 2nds are nothing in the big picture. We have plenty of those.

Mikal and Cam Johnson were clearly the biggest assets in the trade and that's why the trade look great for the Suns IMO.

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I just think it can be quite risky to trade away a bunch of unprotected 1sts for an aging star, like the Nets did to Boston when they traded for Pierce and KG and ended up giving them Jaylen Brown.

But mostly, I liked our team in the first place and the fact that we had all our picks. I thought we had a nice young core and were set for years with one of the biggest stars and some great young role players around him.

But yeah, I do think KD is better than Bridges right now. When you are over the cap like we were/are and don't have assets to trade, your best avenue to get better is through the draft..as well as secure your future.

But I do suppose that as long as James Jones is making our picks, I won't feel too terrible about not having them. Even if we would have moved up in the lottery in 27, 28 or 29, he would have probably found a way to screw it up.

I don't think it's as simple as spending money necessarily either. You have to have a way to get talent and there is a ton of young talent out there in the west with a ton of upside. Even a team like the Rockets, a young frontcourt of Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr (they got through the draft) may end up one of the best frontcourts. They are already pretty good with Jalen Green and having FVV there now has helped them compete a bit more.

But we are right on their tail in the standings so hopefully can pass them up soon.

The Brooklyn situation is the extreme example of what can go wrong (also accelerated by the fact their Russian owner stopped spending) but there are several other examples where teams traded a bunch of future picks and it turned out fine. Hell the Lakers and Bucks won chips because they traded a bunch of future picks for AD and Holliday.

It would be like me pointing at the Kings decade of draft failures or the McD era and saying 'dont ever draft it will just fail'

Like however you build your team there are ways it can fail miserably.

I would just hope fans enjoy the present and not get too consumed with the idea that some pain 'might' be coming years down the line. Since the KD trade I see some of your posts and legit wonder if you even like the team anymore.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I just think it can be quite risky to trade away a bunch of unprotected 1sts for an aging star, like the Nets did to Boston when they traded for Pierce and KG and ended up giving them Jaylen Brown.

But mostly, I liked our team in the first place and the fact that we had all our picks. I thought we had a nice young core and were set for years with one of the biggest stars and some great young role players around him.

But yeah, I do think KD is better than Bridges right now. When you are over the cap like we were/are and don't have assets to trade, your best avenue to get better is through the draft..as well as secure your future.

But I do suppose that as long as James Jones is making our picks, I won't feel too terrible about not having them. Even if we would have moved up in the lottery in 27, 28 or 29, he would have probably found a way to screw it up.

I don't think it's as simple as spending money necessarily either. You have to have a way to get talent and there is a ton of young talent out there in the west with a ton of upside. Even a team like the Rockets, a young frontcourt of Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr (they got through the draft) may end up one of the best frontcourts. They are already pretty good with Jalen Green and having FVV there now has helped them compete a bit more.

But we are right on their tail in the standings so hopefully can pass them up soon.

The Nets are on a terrible position IMO. They are mediocre and without stars or high picks. Nice floor but superlow ceiling.

That’s why I think they would love to have KD back on their team for the package that we gave them.

Look at what LeBron is doing close to 39 years old. KD is just 35, he is gonna be better than Mikal not only "right now"...most probably forever.

Well KD wanted out, and they got one of the best trade packages in history. I know you and WG discount picks. But what if the Bucks and Nuggets traded a bunch of picks to try and stay good back in the day and never got to draft Giannis or Jokic? How good would the Celtics be if they didn't trade for a bunch of picks, giving away older stars, allowing them to draft Tatum and Brown with those picks? It's easy to say 10-12 games into the season.

What if the Spurs, with Robinson back in the day, decided to trade a bunch of firsts for support for Robinson, since they were already a contender, and missed out on Duncan the year Robinson was out?

The Nuggets and Jazz got a ton of assets for teams wanting to trade for their stars, in Melo and Deron Williams, and neither helped those teams win a championship...but they kickstarted nice rebuilds for those teams.

The best most sustainable contenders get their stars through the draft, like Duncan and Kawhi, Giannis, Jokic, Curry, etc. Now you do have some teams who signed guys in FA and won, like the Heat or Lakers (when they signed Shaq), or Toronto, who got Kawhi, but they didn't have to give up much so it's not really comparable.

The teams who traded a haul for stars have had troubles. LA did win with the AD trade, so that is one example...but have struggled since and are older, but the Clips haven't panned out with George and likely would have been better keeping SGA.

You can view things with one year in mind, but no team has a great chance to win it all, so we have a small window against a bunch of contenders. KD has not been healthy an entire season for awhile, but he has been healthy all season this year and we are still sitting in the 8th spot with an easy schedule so far, having played the Spurs twice, Jazz 3 times, the Pistons, Bulls, etc, already.

If KD goes down for an extended period, I won't be terribly shocked if we hover around the play in.

Now of course if everyone is healthy, which I don't know is likely, our chances are better, but our team doesn't seem to nearly have the chemistry it did the last few years when we had overachieved with the young team, but Paul, got injured, and we didn't have big depth in the finals...as Giannis went crazy.

Fingers crossed our team stays healthy so the trade brings us a championship or two given the risks of giving away so many picks without protections as well as young solid reliable players (Bridges, at least reliable) and lack of flexibility and no young players/assets for the future.

I hope we nail our pick this offseason and in 26...would help a lot for the future just like nailing a pick like Haliburton or Bane would likely have helped us big time. I know every team misses picks, but we'd done pretty bad with them for quite a while overall which will hurt us. But I suppose you can make the argument that since our picks never pan out to trade all of them and hope for the best.

[bwgood77]

BW loves the mystery box of what those picks could be, but it's mostly the people who love hoops enough to post here who care about that. The average fan couldn't give two **** about the potential of losing out on some dude who's currently in like 8th grade.

I personally doubt they actually end up that great because it's hard to be terrible if you spend money, you can usually at least be mediocre.

I love me some Bridges but he's come back to earth a bit this season in both counting and advanced stats.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, I just think it can be quite risky to trade away a bunch of unprotected 1sts for an aging star, like the Nets did to Boston when they traded for Pierce and KG and ended up giving them Jaylen Brown.

But mostly, I liked our team in the first place and the fact that we had all our picks. I thought we had a nice young core and were set for years with one of the biggest stars and some great young role players around him.

But yeah, I do think KD is better than Bridges right now. When you are over the cap like we were/are and don't have assets to trade, your best avenue to get better is through the draft..as well as secure your future.

But I do suppose that as long as James Jones is making our picks, I won't feel too terrible about not having them. Even if we would have moved up in the lottery in 27, 28 or 29, he would have probably found a way to screw it up.

I don't think it's as simple as spending money necessarily either. You have to have a way to get talent and there is a ton of young talent out there in the west with a ton of upside. Even a team like the Rockets, a young frontcourt of Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr (they got through the draft) may end up one of the best frontcourts. They are already pretty good with Jalen Green and having FVV there now has helped them compete a bit more.

But we are right on their tail in the standings so hopefully can pass them up soon.

The Brooklyn situation is the extreme example of what can go wrong (also accelerated by the fact their Russian owner stopped spending) but there are several other examples where teams traded a bunch of future picks and it turned out fine. Hell the Lakers and Bucks won chips because they traded a bunch of future picks for AD and Holliday.

It would be like me pointing at the Kings decade of draft failures or the McD era and saying 'dont ever draft it will just fail'

Like however you build your team there are ways it can fail miserably.

I would just hope fans enjoy the present and not get too consumed with the idea that some pain 'might' be coming years down the line. Since the KD trade I see some of your posts and legit wonder if you even like the team anymore.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

They are my team and of course I like them and there have been some nice surprises in individual play. They are not nearly as fun or bring nearly as much enjoyment as they did the last few years though, when I enjoyed watching our young guys grow. KD is a beast but I've been watching him on other teams for years, so it sometimes just doesn't even feel like I am watching the Suns as much.

I have always said I like watching a young team grow into contenders and have never been a fan of these superteams that get thrown together because they rarely work.

[lilfishi22]

Season Leaders in points per game:

1. Joel Embiid - 31.9 ppg.
2. Kevin Durant - 31.4 ppg.
3. Luka Doncic - 30.6 ppg.

It's crazy how smooth KD is, I often don't realise he's scored 30+. It's wild we have a 30ppg+ scorer on the team because it definitely doesn't feel like it.

[bwgood77]

Season Leaders in points per game:

1. Joel Embiid - 31.9 ppg.
2. Kevin Durant - 31.4 ppg.
3. Luka Doncic - 30.6 ppg.

It's crazy how smooth KD is, I often don't realise he's scored 30+. It's wild we have a 30ppg+ scorer on the team because it definitely doesn't feel like it.

Well he just had 2 consecutive games of like 38 or 39, so that helped...and his games were hovering around 28 to 31 the few before that.

[lilfishi22]

He was already at 30ppg+ before the last two games

[Saberestar]

Have yourself a night, KD!

▪️ Played 1,000th Career Game
▪️ Moved into 11th All-Time in Scoring
▪️ Got the Victory
▪️ Received the Game Ball

Read on Twitter

[Saberestar]

Kevin Durant leads the ENTIRE NBA in secondary assists (hockey assists) per game. Been an excellent ball mover while averaging…

31.4 PPG
65.7 TS%
56.1% catch & shoot 3s
41.7% pull-up 3s
89.1 FT%—8.5 FTA/g
7.1 RPG
5.5 APG

35 & post-achilles tear, but still hooping like prime KD

Read on Twitter

[Saberestar]

Cool vid

Now 10th on the all-time scoring list: Kevin Durant

Read on Twitter

[sunskerr]

Still can't believe this guy is on our team. By far the best "2nd option" in the NBA if you can even call it that.

Like holy crap...we got Kevin Durant on the squad. Gotta pinch myself every time he scores.

[Saberestar]

Congrats, KD, on being named to the first-ever All-NBA In-Season Tournament Team!

☄️ 34.5 PTS
☄️ 7.3 REB
☄️ 6.8 AST
☄️ 60.9 FG%
☄️ 69.6 3PT%

Read on Twitter

[spanishninja]

Congrats, KD, on being named to the first-ever All-NBA In-Season Tournament Team!

☄️ 34.5 PTS
☄️ 7.3 REB
☄️ 6.8 AST
☄️ 60.9 FG%
☄️ 69.6 3PT%

Read on Twitter

that's for all the games including the qualifiers?

[Saberestar]

Congrats, KD, on being named to the first-ever All-NBA In-Season Tournament Team!

☄️ 34.5 PTS
☄️ 7.3 REB
☄️ 6.8 AST
☄️ 60.9 FG%
☄️ 69.6 3PT%

Read on Twitter

that's for all the games including the qualifiers?

Yeah.