Mat Ishbia doesn't sound very bright

[BobbyPortisEyes]

Watch on YouTube

https://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id/40066112/mat-ishbia-says-phoenix-suns-great-position-declines-address-frank-vogel-status

"I feel like the narrative around [here is] the house is burning, it's incorrect," Ishbia said. "... Fans like to look in the future and say, 'Hey, I really like that 2031 draft pick because maybe that seventh grader is going to be really good and we're going to draft him and one day he's going to be a player.'"

What the hell is he talking about? Fans are definitely not looking ahead to 2031. Fans in general are short-sighted and stupid and would do the exact same kind of video game trades that Mat has made.

"Five in the next eight years, we have a first-round draft pick. I know that's not a cool thing to say out there because people like to say their narratives that we have no draft picks, but we have five in the next eight years and we can trade two of 'em next month if we want. So it is not like people say we have no flexibility."

Is he going to trade literally every first round pick he can now? Thank god for the Stepien rule I guess.

[Wallace_Wallace]

I mean I respect his all in approach instead of saving pennies and luxury tax all the time (perfect if he had a young Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka core), but he needs to let his front office do their job.

[_jin]

They have draft picks but they'll probably lose them in 2 years considering their horrible cap situation so they'll be worth a 2nd round pick. And that's not even the worst quote from that article. He thinks they're in a great position. The delusion is off the charts.

"Let's be real -- ask the other 29 GMs [in the NBA], 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks as is," Ishbia said. "The house is not on fire. We're in a great position. It's not hard to fix. We have enough talent to win a championship."

[UcanUwill]

I doubt he believes that, he just need to sell his snake oil to all those fans somehow. A lot of fans arent following the league as close, if owner comes out with lines like that, maybe they could be sold.

[Archx]

When playing NBA 2K GM mode in real life "Goes wrong edition".

[Saints14]

I mean I respect his all in approach instead of saving pennies and luxury tax all the time (perfect if he had a young Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka core), but he needs to let his front office do their job.

James Jones has the same vision though. He was throwing draft picks away before Ishbia got there.

I don't really mind Ishbia's remarks here, obviously they're going to spin it in a positive light and not say "wow we really screwed up" but if you truly believe the Suns are in good shape moving forward you're delusional

[Godymas]

if you've worked in corporate America you know exactly who Ishbia is, all style no substance, his father gave him the company he runs today. Probably got a lot of success through pure confidence.

[HotelVitale]

^Yeah, sounds like you guys don't spend enough time around corporate folks. The whole culture is set up to encourage blind confidence and sheer will and no-excuses type thinking, that's what 'leadership' is. Always win at all costs, never show any weakness and always take credit for success (and blame someone else or divert attention when you obviously lost).

The substance here isn't that bad, though, it's tone deaf of course because he's an unlikeable corporate dude but he's really just saying 'we've got good players and more options than people are giving us credit for.' Which is true.

He skipped the part where his superteam flopped and doens't look viable, and they have at best a crazy contract situation and at worst a meltdown on their hands. He's also right that from a management position all they can do is keep tinkering around and give the big 3 the best chance to click better or whatever next year. It's not the end of the road for them even if it was a big ol flop.

[mcfly1204]

Dan Gilbert supports this thread.

[God Squad]

[TwitterFingers]

I think he’s making the point that fans overrate the value of draft picks, to which he’s right

[dhsilv2]

I can't listen to 25 minutes of this...but he's hardly dumb. He's doing the classic things are fine speech and trying to highlight where he sees strengths beyond what other see. And he did fine with that.

[hauntedcomputer]

All easily explainable by cognitive biases

Endowment effect- "I own the team and I made these moves and I'm a genius so we're golden"
Confirmation bias- "We made the playoffs and have three superstars and some draft picks and we're on the right path we were already on"
Expedience Bias- "We made bold moves while everyone else is standing still"
Dunning-Krueger Effect- "I've already owned this team for two years! And I'm going to own it for 50."
The Rich Rule- "I'm a multibillionaire and you're not so suck it."

[Ambrose]

They have draft picks but they'll probably lose them in 2 years considering their horrible cap situation so they'll be worth a 2nd round pick. And that's not even the worst quote from that article. He thinks they're in a great position. The delusion is off the charts.

"Let's be real -- ask the other 29 GMs [in the NBA], 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks as is," Ishbia said. "The house is not on fire. We're in a great position. It's not hard to fix. We have enough talent to win a championship."

I'm not sure 15 teams would trade situations. Let alone 26.

[HotelVitale]

I think he’s making the point that fans overrate the value of draft picks, to which he’s right

He's also correctly pointing out that Stepien rule means they do have picks a majority of the next 6 years.

I don't want to defend him cuz douche, but realgm in general does exaggerate the consequences of aggressive moves. There's so much 'they're screwing their future!' talk every time a team makes a star trade or at least when it start to go a little badly. Feels like it's not enough to accurately lay out the risks of trades involving 2-3 picks and like people have to embellish and seem to want teams to suffer badly for making those moves. Ishbia to some extent is responding to that kind of talk and just saying 'trading picks for 3 of the next 7 years means we still have 4 picks, it's not the end of the world.'

Also it's not like the Suns would auction everything off and rebuild right away if they did own all their picks. That inability to tear down is not the hard part of their current situation, it's that the big 3 they put together couldn't get out of the 1st round and doesn't just need some tweaks and role player adjustments to be a legit contender. Having fewer picks to trade makes that more challenging but it's not the problem per se, and having those picks back wouldn't fix it either.

[DrModesty]

They have draft picks but they'll probably lose them in 2 years considering their horrible cap situation so they'll be worth a 2nd round pick. And that's not even the worst quote from that article. He thinks they're in a great position. The delusion is off the charts.

"Let's be real -- ask the other 29 GMs [in the NBA], 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks as is," Ishbia said. "The house is not on fire. We're in a great position. It's not hard to fix. We have enough talent to win a championship."

I'm not sure 15 teams would trade situations. Let alone 26.

I'm not sure 5 would.

[KembaWalker]

I think he’s making the point that fans overrate the value of draft picks, to which he’s right

He's also correctly pointing out that Stepien rule means they do have picks a majority of the next 6 years.

I don't want to defend him cuz douche, but realgm in general does exaggerate the consequences of aggressive moves. There's so much 'they're screwing their future!' talk every time a team makes a star trade or at least when it start to go a little badly. Feels like it's not enough to accurately lay out the risks of trades involving 2-3 picks and like people have to embellish and seem to want teams to suffer badly for making those moves. Ishbia to some extent is responding to that kind of talk and just saying 'trading picks for 3 of the next 7 years means we still have 4 picks, it's not the end of the world.'

Also it's not like the Suns would auction everything off and rebuild right away if they did own all their picks. That inability to tear down is not the hard part of their current situation, it's that the big 3 they put together couldn't get out of the 1st round and doesn't just need some tweaks and role player adjustments to be a legit contender. Having fewer picks to trade makes that more challenging but it's not the problem per se, and having those picks back wouldn't fix it either.

It’s funny watching the same teams absolutely screw their future in the eyes of realgm going all in like 4-5 different times in the same time period while I watch my team sit there making mediocre signings and draft picks trying to “build”

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I mean I respect his all in approach instead of saving pennies and luxury tax all the time (perfect if he had a young Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka core), but he needs to let his front office do their job.

there's not much to respect there

[Woodsanity]

I think he’s making the point that fans overrate the value of draft picks, to which he’s right

Draft picks are extremely valuable. Mortgaging your future for an old Durant can be ok but then following it up with an empty stat padder in Beal who doesn't even fit the deal ruined everything.

Now they have no future or present.

[ForeverTFC]

Fans like us over-rate near term draft picks for sure, but to say ones that are more than 2-3 years out are overrated? That's an insane thing to say as an owner of a team.