Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.
Each week, the Fantable — a round table of Bright Siders — gives their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.
Fantable Questions of the Week
Q1 - What is your opinion of the Suns’ process of selecting a new head coach and of the hiring of Jordan Ott?
Ashton: This question goes straight for the jugular and is currently being panned on national, local, and this site articles and comments (over 100 comments – woot!). I am sure most of you have read all about it, so I will not recap.
Ott has genuine coaching bona fides. I respect that. Anyone who works their way up from the ground floor to HC deserves a chance. Unlike a certain GM who seems like he went from the mailroom delivery boy to GM in some badly written Hollywood script.
Jordan Ott’s real calling card is in “player development”. This is what I have been waiting for in the visionary direction for the future Suns roster. Say bye-bye to the veterans and rebuild around a young, talented roster. Though it would be hilarious if Booker were traded after giving his stamp of approval to the coach.
Let’s get to the real meat (or vegan meat) and potatoes of a two-part question that questions “The Process”. Where have we seen this fail before? Ishbia is biting off more than he can chew. From internal memos stating that he will be more involved, basically makes him the de facto GM, HC, and not a de facto owner, as he is in fact the owner. I appreciate the ambition, but last I checked, Ishbia still has a mortgage company to run. I even read of his interest in acquiring a minority stake in the Minnesota Twins some time back.
This is what needs to be monitored by the fans. Micromanaging will burn you out, and let’s see if Matt can handle it while running what was a successful basketball franchise, while a successful mortgage franchise.
For all of the twists and sub-plots involving how the coaching decision was made, Costco has 1000 ft of aluminum foil for $34.99.
The winner in all of this is Michigan State recruiting.
OldAz: I know I have made a number of negative comments and bought into the innuendo of the problematic “Michigan connection” becoming pervasive in the front office. I am a fan of diversity of opinion driving organizations to the best outcomes and this has the smell of the exact opposite. My fear is that “alignment” will give way to an incestuous inability have an original thought.
That being said, Ott may very well be a great hire. I simply have trouble getting there right away when he was not even the lead assistant on the same team as another of the finalists. I personally (from a very uninformed seat) would have preferred Quinn only because of his pedigree of working under Spoelstra for the last decade. I don’t think Spoelstra gets enough recognition for how good a coach he is, and that is a model organization if you are leaning into player development going forward. Again, Ott may be a great selection, but I will have to see it on the floor before I can really buy in. If I see organized offense and defense, along with player accountability and hustle I will be loudly singing his praises.
Rod: I know very little of the man other than what I’ve read and mostly what I’ve read was good. He has a nice coaching resume, lots of experience and the only “bad” thing I’ve read was the Michigan State “connection” to Ishbia. That doesn’t really concern me. I wasn’t a supporter of him for the job in the beginning but I really didn’t strongly support any of the candidates so I’m content to just wait and see how well he actually performs his job before passing any sort of judgement. Right now I’m more concerned about what sort of roster the front office assembles for him to work with than anything else.
Q2 - There are rumors that the Suns are specifically seeking a center as part of the return in trade offers for KD. What are your thoughts on this?
Ashton: I feel like I am being baited into the DA arguments all over again. I had thought this was in the rearview mirror, but here we go again. Suns should have never traded DA in the first place. Are we all good?
What this question is specifically referring to is an SI article that brings up Gobert or Naz Reid as potential trade partners with the Minnesota Timberwolves. I am trying to make Rod’s life easier by not embedding links, but you are all smart fellows, you can find it. (Author’s Note: Actually it was in reference to a tweet I read that brought up this subject. I have not seen/read that SI article.)
The trend is to draft Centers. There is more control on rookie contracts and such. And I see a few good ones in the mock drafts in late lottery (8 – 14 picks and some PGs too).
I say pass. I realize that the KAT for KD rumors are out there with a currently dysfunctional Knickerbockers organization (Why fire Thibs? Why?) but I would draft one. Unless OKC wants to part with Isaiah Hartenstein.
OldAz: I said for a long time before DA was finally moved that the Suns would spend a long time (many seasons) searching for exactly what they gave up by moving on from him. Yes, his contract was too much for his production but that contract is way more palatable than the albatross of Beal’s $50M+ and NTC. Many people were down on DA and call him a bust, but I am sure the Suns would be happy to find a walking double-double on high efficiency that could be counted on for 30+ minutes a game, play good defense and couldn’t be played/schemed off the floor by the other team. They certainly need more players who are actually big and long with NBA front-court type bodies. Now they will continue to search for that Center through this offseason and I fear for many offseasons to come.
Rod: Well, I think that it’s fine for them to let other teams know that this is something that they’re looking for as long as it’s not a deal breaker on any trade proposals. I won’t get into specifics, but I did see a trade idea a few days ago that didn’t include a center but did include a pretty good young SG, which the Suns definitely don’t really need if the plan is to hang on to Book. But who says that trade couldn’t be expanded into a 3-team trade with that SG going to another team that sends a center back to the Suns? Or that player could be immediately flipped and traded to another team in a separate trade.
It’s good to let other teams know what you want back but a really good deal that doesn’t give you everything you really want could lead to another deal that does accomplish that thing. As long as the Suns’ FO remains flexible and takes the best deal they can get, I’m good with that, whether it brings back the center they want or not.
Q3 - What are your thoughts on Devin Booker possibly getting a 2-year $150 million contract extension this summer?
Ashton: I think it is pretty much obvious at this point that Book is being asked to be the leader of the team. Why invite him for input on the coaching search if he was not going to be a future foundation of the team’s makeup?
So, you do it. Pay the man his money, or potentially lose ticket sales and fan involvement. It is basically fait accompli at this point. In the worst-case scenario, Book’s value should hold in a trade in the future if he regresses.
OldAz: That’s a lot of money for any single player under the current CBA. We will have to see how the inexperienced GM navigates around that, as we have very few examples this season of teams with those huge salaries making their way deep into the playoffs. The teams that were in the final 4 certainly had more of a balanced team dynamic to their salaries. Of course those players on the Pacers, Knicks, Wolves and Thunder are going to want to get paid too, so there is no telling what the financial landscape of the league will look like in a couple years and if it is possible to build around a couple players dominating that much of the salary cap. It would be great if Booker had the mentality of a Tom Brady and would play for less to make sure there was enough to build the best team around him, but that is rare and way too much to hope for in the current NBA.
Rod: I can understand the objections brought up by this huge salary commitment but so far it’s just a statement of intent by Ishbia. Will Book just take it and not look back? That a question we still have no answer to. I’d love to see Book volunteer to take a lesser amount to insure more future cap flexibility or perhaps even turn it down and wait another year before considering an extension (he would be eligible for pretty much the same money per year then but for 3 years instead of just 2).
I’m not quite as concerned about it as some, though, because when it would begin in 2028-29 season it would still be at most 35% of the cap then, and presently there are no players on the cap sheet for that season. The Suns would still have almost $189 mil to spend on the rest of the roster before reaching the 1st tax apron and almost $205 mil left before reaching the 2nd tax apron. There’s plenty of time between now and then to plan for that if necessary.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Suns Trivia/History
On June 10, 1977, the Suns drafted Walter Davis in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 1977 NBA Draft.
On June 11, 1993, Charles Barkley of the Suns and Michael Jordan of the Bulls each scored 42 points in Chicago’s 111-108 victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. It was the first time in NBA history that opposing players each scored 40 or more points in a Finals game.
On June 13, 1993, the Suns were down 0-2 to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals after losing Games 1 and 2 at home in America West Arena. The series moved to Chicago Stadium, where the Suns pulled off a 129-121 triple overtime win behind Dan Majerle’s team high 28 points, a 24-point, 19 rebound game by Charles Barkley, and a 25-point, 9 assist night by Kevin Johnson. Johnson also set a Finals record by playing 62 minutes, and teammate Dan Majerle set a mark that still stands by playing 59 minutes without committing a personal foul. This was only the 2nd time in NBA history that a Finals game went into three overtimes, the first was played in 1976 by the Suns and Celtics in the Suns' first trip to the NBA Finals.
On June 13, 2021, with a 125-118 win, the Suns completed a 4-0 sweep of the Denver Nuggets in their Western Conference Semifinals playoff series. It was their first playoff sweep since they swept the San Antonio Spurs 4-0 in the Western Conference Semis back in 2010. It was also only the third 7-game playoff series sweep in team history. (The Suns also had 4 more first-round series sweeps, but those were back when they were still best-of-five series.)
FYI - New CBA Rules
This is a new feature here that I thought might be helpful or at least a bit interesting. This week I decided to focus on a few new rules pertaining to trades which may have some significance for the Suns this offseason.
While 2nd tax apron teams cannot normally aggregate salaries in trades, there is one exception. They are allowed to aggregate salaries IF the trade actually results in the team’s cap total being lowered below the 2nd tax apron.
Teams under the 1st tax apron can now take back up to 200% of their outgoing salary in trades where the incoming salary is $7.5 mil or less, as much as $7.5 mil over their outgoing salary for any incoming amount between $7,500,001 and up to $29,000,000, and 125% plus $250,000 of their outgoing salary in trades where the incoming amount is above $29,000,000.
There is now a limit on how many minimum-salary players can be aggregated for salary-matching purposes during offseason trades. From July through December 15, if the number of aggregating players going out is larger than the number coming back, only one minimum contract can be included in that aggregation.
Last Week’s Poll Results
Last week’s question was “*Do you believe that Bradley Beal would agree to a buyout this summer?*”
51% - Yes.
49% - No.
A total of 221 votes were cast.
Important Future Dates
June 17, 20 or 23 (after the NBA Finals) - Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents
June 25-26 - NBA Draft
June 30 - Teams may begin negotiating with all other upcoming free agents (beginning at 6 p.m. ET)
July 6 - Teams may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET)
July 10-20 - Las Vegas Summer League
This week’s poll is...
Poll
Does the "Michigan State Connection" concern you in regard to Jordan Ott’s hiring as the Suns head coach?
0%
Yes.
(0 votes)
0%
No.
(0 votes)
0 votes total Vote Now
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