OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD - July 2021

Forget Playoff P, how about Salty P?!

Paul George says team would 'be going on' if Kawhi Leonard was healthy for Western Conference finals

 

Congrats to the Suns!!

Tremendous Drafting, smart trades, good development of the young players, to put them in a place to take advantage of Home Court and any obstacles other teams might have. It's part of the game.

Well done!

 

Here’s how much defense matters

Suns defensive rank

17’ 28th
18’ 30th
19’ 29th
20’ 17th
21’ 6th

 

i mean... they had 9 lottery picks in the last 8 yrs including four top 5 picks. their drafts were a disaster actually.

#5 Alex Len
#4 Josh Jackson
#4 Dragan Bender

 

And? They have gone a lot further than we have.

 

they got lucky. they did NOT have "tremendous" drafts.

 

You can guarantee that no matter what success someone or a team has, someone will throw the 'they got lucky' card at them. There is a degree of luck in almost everything. They are in the Finals. Our team, with a player that is better than anyone they have and with more players that the GM and many fans don't want to give up.....can't get by a decimated team (Denver) that the Suns swept in the next round.

I'm not going to take anything away from what they have accomplished from being last in the West just a couple of years ago to where they are now. Congrats to them and their 'lucky' fans.

 

did i say anything about our shit team?

you said they had "tremendous drafts." They absolutely did NOT. In fact, their GM got fired over it.

 

if anthony davis is healthy, do they get past round 1? yes those are the breaks of the game, i realize.

too bad we couldn't take advantage of our opponents having injuries.

 

I'll take those Drafts their GM got fired over any day over ours as of late. The contributions Ayton, Bridges, Booker, etc have made are 'tremendous'.

I didn't say you said anything about our "shit team" did I. Just was using ours for comparison.

Can I get you a coffee? Seem a bit grumpy this morning.

 

3 hits with like 11 shots on goal in the lottery is terrible. And if they drafted Luka like they should have, they would not have traded for Paul. Meaning they prolly would not be where they are now. Things broke perfectly for them.

I just wish we can get luck like that sometime.

 

I don't think injuries are luck. Constitution and endurance are attributes, just like strength and speed. They often decline with age, just like other physical skills.

Of course, some injuries are flukes, but some players also get injured and lot and it isn't always by accident.

Then, there's also the factor that, with a salary cap, the more you invest in one, two, or three players, the less there is left to fill out your depth, and you either need those top guys to consistently perform or you need your supporting players to overperform. It's all about team building.

The Suns have gotten where they are with an aging and sometimes unavailable Chris Paul. They overcame the adversity that stalled other teams because they were built to do so. There's very little luck involved, and what luck was involved, they were constructed to be in a position to take advantage of it. They deserve their credit.

 

First it was 9 picks, now it's 11. The 'goal' line seems to be moving.

And of course no one hits on all of their picks. However, they got significant contributions from recent Draft picks. If people want to go all the way back to the Bender and Len picks, that is fine. I'm referring OBVIOUSLY to the more recent picks who are on the team and contributing.

But feel free to keep picking them apart. More important things for me to do today.

 

if neil had 9 lottery picks in 8 yrs, or 11 lottery picks in 10 years, and only HIT on 3 of them, you would be among the first ones trying to skewer him. but the Suns are "tremendous" at drafting.

alright then

 

For me, it's not really so much the past 9 years for Phoenix, but more so what they have done to build around Booker in the past couple years. They really did a fantastic job of making trades and signing free agents to take advantage of their stars. Yes, Chris Paul is a huge reason for their success this year, but it was obvious in the bubble last year that Phoenix was talented and that they were starting to put the pieces together. So the Phoenix front office recognized the potential of the team and went out and got Paul and Crowder. Unlike our front office who won't seem to take any big swings to put talent around Dame. Phoenix isn't in the Finals if they don't trade for Paul and just try to run it back this year (where have I heard that phrase before?)

I still think Dame carrying this team to the playoffs in 2015-2016 completely jacked up Neil's plan. I think he was expecting a very bad year that would put us in the lottery with potentially another star from that draft. Instead CJ take a big leap and Dame proved that he could carry the team as the #1.

 

The Suns coach is underrated..Monty Williams has been super impressive with his results in Phoenix...mad respect but I think CP3 who played under Monty in New Orleans was a perfect match to get them there....Booker is Dame's favorite player in the league by his own words..he's a superstar...CP3 opened up his game to another level...I'm happy for Monty...he's a great coach.

 

Is anyone else wondering if the Warriors are really going to pay > $100M in luxury tax next year? It seems like they want to bring back Oubre, but they're in repeater luxury tax hell right now.

I'm wondering if they're going to try to send out Wiggins for cap relief. Also curious if they go after Siakam or Simmons if we could send out CJ to a third team and find a way to bring in Draymond.

The "way too big will never happen" deal I threw together is below.

I don't think any trades that big are realistic, but Toronto's lineup looks pretty nice for a young rebuild.

Vanvleet/Trent (if re-signed)/Wiggins/Anunoby/Simmons - and that's not taking into account they'd have picks 4 and 7.