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TroubleS0me wrote:

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That defensive effort is beautiful.

For a guy who has a reputation of "The most malleable great player of all time" his teams always play super heavy ISO offense. He even disrupted Dub's motion a little

If they lose in round 1 have to imagine one of Booker or Durant is traded in the offseason. Who would be takers?

I think Durant is the obvious guy they have to look at moving, he's the oldest and yet probably still worth the most on the market. I think there would be a lot of suitors for him and teams wouldn't be so adverse to brining him in. You can still rebuild on the fly and put a good team around Booker next year, doesn't make any sense to trade him unless he wants out.

The follow up to Durant and Booker combo being trading for another 46 million PPG guard was a ghastly noob move.

ardee wrote:If they lose in round 1 have to imagine one of Booker or Durant is traded in the offseason. Who would be takers?

Knicks are the obvious team as they have no good offensive creation other than Brunson.

I think Durant would want to go to OKC, but I hate that fit...

Grizzlies make a lot of sense, but I don't know if they'll go for Durant.

Lakers are a horrible fit with Durant, but I could see LeBron getting desperate.

The Heat are obvious in terms of need, but the Heat's cap situation is awful and requires a lot of salary dumping to get under the second apron to trade for Durant.

I like the idea of Durant and Morant (epic rant?) playing together whether it's in Memphis or Phoenix and recreating Durant + mega athletic PG. The best thing for Durant's reputation would be going to OKC but I don't think they'll bite.

well now...THey are down 0-3. I thought they would go far.

TroubleS0me wrote:well now...THey are down 0-3. I thought they would go far.

Why?

If anything this season went better than I expected, with credit due to Vogel for putting together a reasonably competent regular season defence.

AEnigma wrote:

TroubleS0me wrote:well now...THey are down 0-3. I thought they would go far.

Why?

If anything this season went better than I expected, with credit due to Vogel for putting together a reasonably competent regular season defence.

I don't do sports betting, but betting the Suns wouldn't get past the second round would have been the freest bet of my life.

This team has no pg, rim protection/defense, bench or really anything outside of 3 scorers. They're cannon fodder at best, always have been.

capfan33 wrote:

AEnigma wrote:

TroubleS0me wrote:well now...THey are down 0-3. I thought they would go far.

Why?

If anything this season went better than I expected, with credit due to Vogel for putting together a reasonably competent regular season defence.

I don't do sports betting, but betting the Suns wouldn't get past the second round would have been the freest bet of my life.

This team has no pg, rim protection/defense, bench or really anything outside of 3 scorers. They're cannon fodder at best, always have been.

They're a team built to be a overrated by casuals and Bag Twitter™

KD & Booker showed up. Beal was average. I think Beal will be traded...

TroubleS0me wrote:

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KD & Booker showed up. Beal was average. I think Beal will be traded...

Beal has a no trade clause

Durant have stopped to be an impact player ever since his last season with Golden State. He's similar to Lebron in that sense. The numbers are still good on the paper but they don't translate to winning basketball. At least Leroid made the conference finals last season. Durant is the total failure season after season.

Mickey8 wrote:Durant have stopped to be an impact player ever since his last season with Golden State. He's similar to Lebron in that sense. The numbers are still good on the paper but they don't translate to winning basketball. At least Leroid made the conference finals last season. Durant is the total failure season after season.

This isn't actually true.

KD has been basically the same level of impact since 2017, until this year, leastwise in the RS. He tailed off starting in 2022 during the playoffs. He rocked the hell out of Boston in 2021 and beat the crap out of Milwaukee in a 7-game loss. Dude dropped 35/10.5/5.5 on like 59% TS against them in 2022. And in Game 7, he went out like a boss with 48/9/6. But Harden was an oxygen thief, the bench did nothing and Joe Harris sucked. But the Bucks brutalized them on the offensive glass and Giannis went HAM as well.

So yeah, it's worth remembering that he's actually been pretty awesome until very, very recently, and that even in the RS he was high-impact until this season.

The Suns' awful defense is the reason they got dominated.

Djoker wrote:

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The Suns' awful defense is the reason they got dominated.

The suns were built solely for offensive purposes and to outscore teams 125-120. The fact their offense could only muster up a 111 Ortg means the offense didn't live up to its hype. We all knew the Suns couldn't defend anyone and we all knew their defense would give up points.

At the end of the day, you aren't winning a playoff series when you are getting outshot from 3 by 8 3PA/G.

tsherkin wrote:

Mickey8 wrote:Durant have stopped to be an impact player ever since his last season with Golden State. He's similar to Lebron in that sense. The numbers are still good on the paper but they don't translate to winning basketball. At least Leroid made the conference finals last season. Durant is the total failure season after season.

This isn't actually true.

KD has been basically the same level of impact since 2017, until this year, leastwise in the RS. He tailed off starting in 2022 during the playoffs. He rocked the hell out of Boston in 2021 and beat the crap out of Milwaukee in a 7-game loss. Dude dropped 35/10.5/5.5 on like 59% TS against them in 2022. And in Game 7, he went out like a boss with 48/9/6. But Harden was an oxygen thief, the bench did nothing and Joe Harris sucked. But the Bucks brutalized them on the offensive glass and Giannis went HAM as well.

So yeah, it's worth remembering that he's actually been pretty awesome until very, very recently, and that even in the RS he was high-impact until this season.

Metrics shmetrics. He’s gotten sonned 3 playoffs in a row at this point, he still gets his efficiency and high 20s but a high impact Durant is not getting swept by two teams in 3 years. His rim pressure is nonexistent and he doesn’t force the defense to commit extra defenders to him, and his passing is still frustratingly average.

EmpireFalls wrote:Metrics shmetrics. He’s gotten sonned 3 playoffs in a row at this point,

Team basketball is a bitch on individuals.

he still gets his efficiency and high 20s but a high impact Durant is not getting swept by two teams in 3 years.

No, that's historically inaccurate as well. Happened to Jordan, and even Shaq.

Yes, Durant isn't at his peak anymore, that's obvious enough, but his impact change is more this specific season than in the past few years. He's been fairly similar for more than half a decade at this point. The team chemistry/health issues around him these past few years have been far more at fault than him for postseason losses other than him crapping himself against Boston in 2022... but that's also quite similar to what happened to Kobe against Boston, FWIW. Not the same Boston, but a similar elite-D squad.

Food for thought.

Colbinii wrote:

Djoker wrote:

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The Suns' awful defense is the reason they got dominated.

The suns were built solely for offensive purposes and to outscore teams 125-120. The fact their offense could only muster up a 111 Ortg means the offense didn't live up to its hype. We all knew the Suns couldn't defend anyone and we all knew their defense would give up points.

At the end of the day, you aren't winning a playoff series when you are getting outshot from 3 by 8 3PA/G.

The Wolves are a historically great defense that allows 109.0 DRtg so 111.8 ORtg vs. them is quite solid. OTOH Wolves are a plainly average offensive team that put up a 128.1 ORtg on the Suns. That's a way bigger problem.