The Official 2024 Offseason Thread

[TeamTragic]

Simmons on the vet min would actually fit the team as a small ball PF/PG that can defend and needs zero shots. Would need a C that can shot 3s though. Would be a way to get off Beal's contract if the Suns could convince him to waive the NTC. Beal would work in BKN as we know Booker was great with the twins.

I love that you can see the Beal for Simmons/ Schroder (change) type exchange with Brooklyn too. Like I mentioned earlier, it's basically a really bad (perceived) contract for contract exchange. The incentive for Brooklyn is that at least Beal could offer significant production for his $13 million more salary difference, and would actually play sometimes and is somewhat of a star-level player looking for a bigger role anyways, which actually makes him a good fit in Brooklyn alongside Cam Thomas because they're hungry to be more competitive and make the playoffs to offset the value exchange of the picks they gave up to Houston in the Harden deal. So the incentive is definitely there! And with Beal, they'd have a very potent offensive backcourt of Beal/Thomas that Bridges and Johnson could easily play off of. Then if they just resign Claxton, they'd have a very productive and potent balanced roster to compliment there offensive backcourt of Beal and Thomas with their solid defensive wings in Bridges/ Finney Smith, and solid defensive forwards in Claxton and Clowney too.

Lastly, with them having our picks, the idea of them swapping out Beal as a legit star-level contributor, for Simmons would be a very enticing premise as we'd be swapping a player with actual impact/production, for a player that might not even play again. escalating the potential value of our picks they hold. These factors seem much more appealing than alternatively just letting Simmons expire and trying to use the cap space to target players in free agency with no guarantees. I do however envision Simmons more in a Draymond Green type of role to mitigate his lack of shooting, and try to maximize his elite defense and playmaking at the 3/4 possibly even 5 position. I wonder if you see the possibilities in such a role as defensive/playmaking jumbo wing/forward with multipositional defensive and playmaking potential. Unconventional, but possibly very effective in giving Simmons a role in which he'd be comfortable in not having offensive pressure on him.

** And during that role term, he'd increase the size of our frontline playing alongside KD at 6'11 similar to a role that Mcdaniels played for Minnesota, but with less shooting prominence. At absolute worst, I think value could be pulled having him operate as a 6'11 jumbo defensive wing that also could help handle the ball competently and pass too.

That's exactly what I'm thinking, Simmons just fits a lot of the holes the team has and doesnt need to shot which the team has plenty off. And if it doesnt work? Well he is a giant expiring contract and the team will need to rebuild anyways. Its as good as we will get.

Ben Simmons and Lonzo Ball are both going to be medically retired within a season

[Kyler Murray]

Are we seriously talking about Ben freaking Simmons?

[SunsRback4Good]

Are we seriously talking about Ben freaking Simmons?

If I was in the same room with hitler, bin Laden and Ben Simmons and only had two bullets remaining, I’d shoot Ben twice.

No thank you!

[BurningHeart]

Harden? So we might just add arguably (there's so many contenders) the most unlikable person of them all to this **** disaster?

Good grief.

GOOD GRIEF.

[lilfishi22]

The reason Vogel hasn’t been fired is because the Suns don’t know who could possibility replace him. It sounds like Ty Lue will be extended with the Clippers, so who else is available? I FEEL like JJ Reddick will be a good coach, but it could turn out so bad if he’s not. We might just stick with Vogel honestly. The Suns are screwed with Vogel if so. I have always got a fake vibe from Vogel, when I read the players thought the same, I was laughing so hard.

We should have never let go of Monty honestly. One thing I respect the hell outta Monty is that he held his players accountable. This team desperately needs that. I think JJ Reddick would do the same.

For those saying blow it up, you can’t do that when you don’t control your picks. The Suns are not going to blow it up and they shouldn’t.

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Monty was absolute dog **** JD

Every coach is dog ish according to you guys.


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Monty needed to go but I agree with this sentiment.

If Coach Spo became the Suns coach, there would be comments about what a bum he is and it's exactly why he's never won coach of the year by All Star weekend

[lilfishi22]

Draymond Green, just like most NBA fans, was perplexed by Phoenix Suns president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones claiming no team has ever maximized Kevin Durant's talent.

The Warriors forward addressed Jones' comments during the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show."

"James Jones said 'A constant focus for us is to continue to figure out and maximize Kevin Durant. No one has done it yet,' " Green said. "I was baffled when I watched James Jones make this comment because, and I get like, you got to see the whole interview, but sometimes when we go down those rabbit holes, we go a little too far."

At that point, Green brings up the fact that Jones was on the 2016-17 Cleveland Cavaliers team that lost the NBA Finals to Durant and Warriors.

"James Jones was on a team in 2017 that lost in the NBA Finals to Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant averaged 35 [points] 8 rebounds and five assists on 55 percent from the field, 47 [percent] from three and 93 percent [free-throw] shooting," Green said. "And when you got your ass bust, like the Cavs got their ass bust, I have a hard time believing that James Jones could then come out and say 'No one has been able to maximize Kevin Durant.' "

"You've been on the wrong side of Kevin Durant being maximized"

Green proceeded to rip the Jones and the Suns, who were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"When your team does not have plays to get Kevin Durant coming off a pin down, get Kevin Durant catching the ball at the elbow with a live dribble, getting Kevin Durant to the spots that Kevin Durant want to get to and like to score from, when you're a team is set up that way," Green said. "I'm sorry. But you didn't maximize Kevin Durant but don't say nobody has maximized Kevin Durant because you've been on the wrong side of Kevin Durant being maximized."

Durant joined the Warriors in 2016 and immediately helped them win back-to-back NBA championships in 2017 and 2018. They reached the NBA Finals in 2019, but Golden State wasn't able to overcome major leg injuries sustained by Durant and Klay Thompson, losing to the Toronto Raptors in six games.

During Durant's three-year Warriors tenure, they arguably played some of the best basketball in recent memory. He averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.4 percent from 3-point range.

Durant left the Warriors in the summer of 2019 for the Brooklyn Nets before forcing a trade to the Suns in Feb. 2023.

Since leaving Golden State, Durant hasn't found the same postseason success, failing to make it past the conference semifinals the last four seasons.

With the Suns' playoff run over earlier than they expected, there has been speculation that Durant might force his way out of Phoenix, with Golden State -- the only place he has won a championship -- being a possible landing spot.

Durant left the Bay Area unhappy with his role, but as NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole wrote, a reunion between the two-time NBA Finals MVP and the Warriors isn't as far-fetched as it seems.

After all, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and Green certainly know how to maximize Durant's abilities.

https://sports.yahoo.com/draymond-rips-suns-gm-saying-212454503.html

This comment stuck out to me the most in that press conference. JJ was completely delusional with that comment

[sunsbg]

The 7th grader, 26/29, yet to unleash KD, etc..Impressive to come with so much BS/meme worthy quotes from a single press conf. The one about Ishbia planning to run the organization for 50 years is also worth a mention. No titles anytime soon. I was enthusiastic about him when he bought the team. Not anymore. Fully expecting mediocrity to be the norm for this franchise in the future.

[Saberestar]

Harden? So we might just add arguably (there's so many contenders) the most unlikable person of them all to this **** disaster?

Good grief.

GOOD GRIEF.

Who would you like to play for the Suns?

Serious question because I have seen from you that you like (something along the lines) hard workers and unselfish players with no ego. Who can fit that mold?

[dremill24]

Harden is not happening... he is a free agent. Suns have no cap space, no mid level, and cannot receive a player in a Sign and Trade (if it keeps them over the apron). So unless he's signing for the minimum, it's not a thing.

Edit: I dont know what his timelines are for a contract extension or being traded after that (depending on the salary). Im operating under the assumption he wont be able to 'extend-and-trade' either.

[Djedefre]

And you summed up our 'options' in the offseason. We can only bring trash, old-ass players, like we did last summer. So getting rid of our pick ASAP makes perfect sense. Oh wait, no, it's completely the opposite... Nevermind, let our two masterminds do their job, they're really GREAT at it. What do we peasants know, after all...

[Desertfox]

Ya'll have a better and doable idea of how to get out of Beal's contract?

[Ghost of Kleine]

I love that you can see the Beal for Simmons/ Schroder (change) type exchange with Brooklyn too. Like I mentioned earlier, it's basically a really bad (perceived) contract for contract exchange. The incentive for Brooklyn is that at least Beal could offer significant production for his $13 million more salary difference, and would actually play sometimes and is somewhat of a star-level player looking for a bigger role anyways, which actually makes him a good fit in Brooklyn alongside Cam Thomas because they're hungry to be more competitive and make the playoffs to offset the value exchange of the picks they gave up to Houston in the Harden deal. So the incentive is definitely there! And with Beal, they'd have a very potent offensive backcourt of Beal/Thomas that Bridges and Johnson could easily play off of. Then if they just resign Claxton, they'd have a very productive and potent balanced roster to compliment there offensive backcourt of Beal and Thomas with their solid defensive wings in Bridges/ Finney Smith, and solid defensive forwards in Claxton and Clowney too.

Lastly, with them having our picks, the idea of them swapping out Beal as a legit star-level contributor, for Simmons would be a very enticing premise as we'd be swapping a player with actual impact/production, for a player that might not even play again. escalating the potential value of our picks they hold. These factors seem much more appealing than alternatively just letting Simmons expire and trying to use the cap space to target players in free agency with no guarantees. I do however envision Simmons more in a Draymond Green type of role to mitigate his lack of shooting, and try to maximize his elite defense and playmaking at the 3/4 possibly even 5 position. I wonder if you see the possibilities in such a role as defensive/playmaking jumbo wing/forward with multipositional defensive and playmaking potential. Unconventional, but possibly very effective in giving Simmons a role in which he'd be comfortable in not having offensive pressure on him.

** And during that role term, he'd increase the size of our frontline playing alongside KD at 6'11 similar to a role that Mcdaniels played for Minnesota, but with less shooting prominence. At absolute worst, I think value could be pulled having him operate as a 6'11 jumbo defensive wing that also could help handle the ball competently and pass too.

That's exactly what I'm thinking, Simmons just fits a lot of the holes the team has and doesnt need to shot which the team has plenty off. And if it doesnt work? Well he is a giant expiring contract and the team will need to rebuild anyways. Its as good as we will get.

Ben Simmons and Lonzo Ball are both going to be medically retired within a season.

Absolutely insane

When evaluating our team and its lack of flexibility, It's important to consider all alternatives that can give us an opportunity to restore a range of flexibility to address depth. Right now with Beal, and going forward, we obviously have NONE! like zero options and are stuck due to his no-trade clause. Now I'm well aware of Simmon's warts (negatives) and the obvious concerns around him with his severe struggles both on the court and mentally and emotionally. HOWEVER, with Simmons, It's important to keep in mind that he also represents a 40 million expiring contract. So he's a mechanism for us to be able to actually get off of Beals' salary and get below the 2nd apron much quicker while we'd still have Book and KD. Or upon acquisition, we could also choose to flip him to another tax-paying contender that has underperformed this season and like us is out of the playoffs early!

Maybe one of the Lakers, Bucks, 76ers, Heat, Hawks, maybe Golden State? If any of those teams decide it might be time to start trying to reduce payroll and try something different? Or maybe we just ride out next season with Simmons and let him expire so we can drop 40 million off our tax line to get under the 2nd apron and try to start pivoting to more of a 2-star and depth method? But none of these possibilities is really available with Beal unless he would actually agree to it because of his "no trade clause" and his outrageous salary wherein his contract is currently considered the most toxic in the entire NBA due to that clause. I'm intrigued by the idea of using his expiring to get multiple depth pieces in a trade exchange or his ability to help us drastically reduce our cap if we ride out next season with him, and let him expire!

And aside from these clear positive possibilities for us, IF Simmons can even play in a small capacity as a ball handler that can take pressure off of Booker and Durant and possibly do some playmaking, also operate as a 6'11 jumbo defensive wing/forward with size (because we seriously lack size anyways) with his role implied role being simplistic as a ball handler, passer, defender, and we don't demand/expect anything more from him for that single season, then he could be more than passable until he expires or we flip him and his expiring salary for critical depth pieces. I can say this because we don't really need more offense anyways if we only get a decent offensive coach or assistant seeing as Kevin Young clearly wasn't it. But we do need size, defensive ability, ballhandling, playmaking. All things Simmons could still do in a simplified role WITHOUT the pressures' of helping carry an offense that broke him mentally. It's in these considerations that there is value for us. And a way out of our hopeless situation too!

[Ghost of Kleine]

Are we seriously talking about Ben freaking Simmons?

I'm talking about him for his ability to give us a 40 million expiring contract next season!!! which would help us not only get out of Beals' 50+ million salary as early as next season but could also give us a valuable trade chip to use at/around the trade deadline to flip to another tax-paying contender that fell short of championship goals and might want to reduce tax. And we could then flip his 40 million for multiple depth pieces. So yes, in that value context BOTH Desertfox and myself are discussing him as a viable mechanism to free ourselves from Beals' toxic 50+ million "No trade clause" as quickly as possible and EITHER have one of two choices:

1- ride out next season with him in a simplified ballhandling, defensive, and playmaking role (for one season), and then when he expires, fall back under the 2nd apron hopefully.

2- Acquire him, and then flip him elsewhere to another taxed-out contender that underperformed and that now wishes to reduce their payroll. And in return, for his 40 million expiring, we'd get back actual multiple legit depth pieces from the exchange.

Neither of these two options or really any options we'd have stuck with beal in our current situation. It's simply about creating some options to fix things as opposed to having none in our current situation.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I love how Ish brags about having 5 picks in 8 years. You literally couldn't have any fewer picks due to the stepien rule. Then he talks about trading 2 of them as soon as he's able. Then we will have 3 picks (double swapped to the end of rounds) in the next 8 years. I wonder if he will brag about that too.

Presti probably reads his quotes and gets a good belly laugh.

And now with the Clippers situation those picks they hold will really look valuable too! Presti looks like he's in a whole other stratosphere compared to our "hate the draft" GM.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Watch on YouTube

[Saberestar]

Any interest in a 6'4 PG who averaged this season 11.1 points, 4.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals?

Yeah....I am talking about Westbrook. I know about his TOs and lack of shooting BUT he plays with incredible high motor all the time, loves the game and has a good all-around game yet.

He played great next to Beal in Washington and obviously has a history next to KD. I think he could be open to play for us on a minimum deal.

[bwgood77]

Are we seriously talking about Ben freaking Simmons?

What we really need is the opposite of a leader who is more injured than anyone who chokes in big games. What does he average? 10 games a season the last 5-7 years?

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

What is he going to play for the minimum? He is not a leader either? I really am not a Harden fan. I used to be in his very early Houston days and OKC days but then he became way too full of himself. We have enough of that already.

[sunsbg]

Any interest in a 6'4 PG who averaged this season 11.1 points, 4.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals?

Yeah....I am talking about Westbrook. I know about his TOs and lack of shooting BUT he plays with incredible high motor all the time, loves the game and has a good all-around game yet.

He played great next to Beal in Washington and obviously has a history next to KD. I think he could be open to play for us on a minimum deal.

Are we trying to win a title or become the undisputed laughing stock of the league ? Mavs fans were joking Westbrick is their best player. 25% from the field and same number of TOs as assists in the playoffs like this team needs more TO prone players.

[bwgood77]

Kolek would be a great addition to this team. Pass 1st PG is our biggest need. It'd be better if he was a little more able to hold up defensively, but still. Great fit.

No it's not. That is unless you move Booker or Beal. He probably will help us in the future but our biggest priority by far is another nasty big that wants to rebound and play defense.

A new head coach could solve the point guard issue.

If we have a legit big available to us as a free agent, I am all for Kolek.

We cannot go into next season with Nurkic and Drew as our bigs. Bol Bol is either a SG or SF.

The real problem is having these three guys in the starting lineup

Booker
Beal
Allen

We are far too small.

We could not get a rebound to save our soul last year when really needed to.

I agree with both. Kolek would be awesome...he has the same draft profile Nash did with better shooting and passing, but a great defensive big would be nice. However, I don't see any real impact bigs in our range who would be more than likely a 3rd stringer.

You also can't expect Kolek to start. Beal comes out at like the 5 minute mark. That's when you would bring him in. It will be MUCH easier for a good shooting/passing/crafty PG to excel with so many scoring and shooting weapons.

Best case for me is drafting Kolek and trading Nurk and something else for a younger defensive big. I have no idea who that could be though..I really wouldn't want to add our 31 pick but not sure what else we would want to add that a team would value. We have Little but don't see a team valuing that.

I would rather have Capela, who is a great defensive, rebounding, finishing big, but he expires before Nurk...and is better...though they have Okongwu.

I know it's not popular to bring up Ayton but thinking about things, I would have loved to have D'Antoni with our last team run and gun with Ayton, Bridges and that crew, and even with our crew now and Ayton instead of Nurk. Ayton was in like the 95th percentile on fast breaks as was Booker and if we tried to get shots up in 7 seconds or less, Ayton wouldn't have time to hesitate and overthing things. He would just be a finisher and attract gravity to open up shooters. He would have looked infinitely better in a D'Antoni offense..that's the kind of style that would have maximized his play. But Paul wanted to slow things down, let the defense set, and make things tougher for us offensively, even though him and Book were good clutch players. But on this team without a leader, it would have been better without our ball pounding, taking turns mentality.