2024 Suns General Offseason News

[Cap]

How do we see the backup PF situation? The only players on the roster who played more than 30% of their minutes at PF last year are KD and Bol. (Last year, Young, Metu, Yuta, KBD, Roddy and Wainright all did it.) This of course does not include Oso, but if the second-round pick turns out to be a rotation player as a rookie, we did really well in the draft.

Unless we have confidence in Bol or Oso, we’ll have to go with a wing at PF when KD’s off the floor. Who’s best suited?

I assumed Bol was our backup PF and Plumlee was our backup C.

When I posted my example minutes distribution, I got a lot of pushback on Bol being such a key figure (a whopping 12 minutes). I’m wondering what the alternatives are.

And what the hell are we going to do when KD’s out of the lineup? Can we trade one of our excess wings (Lee, O’Neale, Okogie) for some help at PF? We’ve already got Book, Beal and Allen. Barring an injury-plagued season, we can’t use all six of them.

Okogie and O’Neale won’t be trade eligible for a while because they recently resigned, but I think they can be moved before the trade deadline. Lee probably has little if any trade value. And Okogie is a BYC player IINM, which complicates trading him. So I guess Royce is the only real option.

PF is our biggest weakness and there's no close second. Hopefully we'll pick up someone at the trade deadline.

In the meantime I guess we’ll have to use Royce at PF, unless one of the rookies can play.

[Superbone]

How do we see the backup PF situation? The only players on the roster who played more than 30% of their minutes at PF last year are KD and Bol. (Last year, Young, Metu, Yuta, KBD, Roddy and Wainright all did it.) This of course does not include Oso, but if the second-round pick turns out to be a rotation player as a rookie, we did really well in the draft.

Unless we have confidence in Bol or Oso, we’ll have to go with a wing at PF when KD’s off the floor. Who’s best suited?

I assumed Bol was our backup PF and Plumlee was our backup C.

When I posted my example minutes distribution, I got a lot of pushback on Bol being such a key figure (a whopping 12 minutes). I’m wondering what the alternatives are.

And what the hell are we going to do when KD’s out of the lineup? Can we trade one of our excess wings (Lee, O’Neale, Okogie) for some help at PF? We’ve already got Book, Beal and Allen. Barring an injury-plagued season, we can’t use all six of them.

Okogie and O’Neale won’t be trade eligible for a while because they recently resigned, but I think they can be moved before the trade deadline. Lee probably has little if any trade value. And Okogie is a BYC player IINM, which complicates trading him. So I guess Royce is the only real option.

PF is our biggest weakness and there's no close second. Hopefully we'll pick up someone at the trade deadline.

In the meantime I guess we’ll have to use Royce at PF, unless one of the rookies can play.

Yep, and Bol. Might be a good chance for Oso to learn on the job too.

[Split T]

How do we see the backup PF situation? The only players on the roster who played more than 30% of their minutes at PF last year are KD and Bol. (Last year, Young, Metu, Yuta, KBD, Roddy and Wainright all did it.) This of course does not include Oso, but if the second-round pick turns out to be a rotation player as a rookie, we did really well in the draft.

Unless we have confidence in Bol or Oso, we’ll have to go with a wing at PF when KD’s off the floor. Who’s best suited?

I assumed Bol was our backup PF and Plumlee was our backup C.

When I posted my example minutes distribution, I got a lot of pushback on Bol being such a key figure (a whopping 12 minutes). I’m wondering what the alternatives are.

And what the hell are we going to do when KD’s out of the lineup? Can we trade one of our excess wings (Lee, O’Neale, Okogie) for some help at PF? We’ve already got Book, Beal and Allen. Barring an injury-plagued season, we can’t use all six of them.

Okogie and O’Neale won’t be trade eligible for a while because they recently resigned, but I think they can be moved before the trade deadline. Lee probably has little if any trade value. And Okogie is a BYC player IINM, which complicates trading him. So I guess Royce is the only real option.

I don’t expect Okogie or Lee to play if we’re healthy. Also, I don’t believe BYC rules apply beyond sign and trades anymore, but I’m not certain. I think Okogie can be traded no problem(once his restriction passes on 12/15).

[Split T]

I think we’ll see a 10-11 man rotation…those last couple spots might be changing a lot too.

Jones/Morris/Gillespie
Beal/Allen/Lee
Booker/O’Neale/Okogie
Durant/Bol/Dunn
Nurk/Plumlee/Oso

We’ve got TyTy and Bridges too. There’s 7 guys I’m certain will be in the rotation(starters + Grayson and Royce). I’d expect Plumlee and Morris to be in the rotation most nights, but I can see that fluctuating depending on matchups a bit. The last couple rotation spots will be a fight between Bol, Dunn, Oso, Okogie, Bridges, Lee.

[Superbone]

How do we see the backup PF situation? The only players on the roster who played more than 30% of their minutes at PF last year are KD and Bol. (Last year, Young, Metu, Yuta, KBD, Roddy and Wainright all did it.) This of course does not include Oso, but if the second-round pick turns out to be a rotation player as a rookie, we did really well in the draft.

Unless we have confidence in Bol or Oso, we’ll have to go with a wing at PF when KD’s off the floor. Who’s best suited?

I assumed Bol was our backup PF and Plumlee was our backup C.

When I posted my example minutes distribution, I got a lot of pushback on Bol being such a key figure (a whopping 12 minutes). I’m wondering what the alternatives are.

And what the hell are we going to do when KD’s out of the lineup? Can we trade one of our excess wings (Lee, O’Neale, Okogie) for some help at PF? We’ve already got Book, Beal and Allen. Barring an injury-plagued season, we can’t use all six of them.

Okogie and O’Neale won’t be trade eligible for a while because they recently resigned, but I think they can be moved before the trade deadline. Lee probably has little if any trade value. And Okogie is a BYC player IINM, which complicates trading him. So I guess Royce is the only real option.

I don’t expect Okogie or Lee to play if we’re healthy. Also, I don’t believe BYC rules apply beyond sign and trades anymore, but I’m not certain. I think Okogie can be traded no problem(once his restriction passes on 12/15).

I don't know about Okogie. He's our best defensive player. (Too bad about his offense.) I can see Bud using him in defensive situations. On the other hand, I am really interested to see if KD and Book start moving their shot distribution past the three point line like Bud preaches.

[Split T]

Ya Okogie always seems to find playing time. I think it’ll depend on how well Dunn plays as he could take the Okogie roll. I also expect we won’t likely be fully healthy, so good chance Okogie plays fairly regularly.

[ShelC]

I think we need to just get Dunn or Oso out there and deal with whatever offensive limitations they have. We need the size, defensive versatility and toughness. Dunn and Oso aren't SO physically imposing, but it'll be better than Bol and and undersized Royce.

[Split T]

Bud has historically kept his guys minutes lower and played a lot of guys. I think we will see Dunn and Oso out there.

[Cap]

I think we need to just get Dunn or Oso out there and deal with whatever offensive limitations they have. We need the size, defensive versatility and toughness. Dunn and Oso aren't SO physically imposing, but it'll be better than Bol and and undersized Royce.

We’ll see how that shakes out. They will certainly be given opportunities, but we won’t keep calling their numbers if they’re not up to the task of playing meaningful NBA minutes. Neither of them has played an NBA minute yet and there are reasons they lasted as long in the draft as they did.

[Mori Chu]

You know, guys, Jae Crowder is still an un-signed free agent. Just saying ...

[Cap]

That’s the best idea I’ve heard since the last idea I heard.

[Split T]

I think that final roster spot is Jalen Bridges eventually.

[specialsauce]

Idk I think we'll keep it open in case a guy like Drew Eubanks becomes available. Maybe get in his ear, tamper a little bit to get him. Would be a huge signing

[Mori Chu]

Idk I think we'll keep it open in case a guy like Drew Eubanks becomes available. Maybe get in his ear, tamper a little bit to get him. Would be a huge signing

Can't we just trade a 1st rounder for Torrey Craig?

[pickle]

I agree with you, but it's crazy to think that last season was such a low bar when they nearly won 50 games.

True. It was the way it played out. And the 0-4 playoff sweep didn't help at all. I guess it was the most frustrating, nearly 50 win season you could possibly have.

That’s a great point. I’d take that Dragic Frye and other Plumlee 48 win season over this one any time.

[Cap]

I agree with you, but it's crazy to think that last season was such a low bar when they nearly won 50 games.

True. It was the way it played out. And the 0-4 playoff sweep didn't help at all. I guess it was the most frustrating, nearly 50 win season you could possibly have.

That’s a great point. I’d take that Dragic Frye and other Plumlee 48 win season over this one any time.

Preseason expectations matter a lot. That’s why it’s important to temper them.

[specialsauce]

We won 50 games on talent alone but there was zero illusion of a contender. It was like the colangelo suns of the Mid/late 90s who you just knew were first round fodder

[Cap]

We won 50 games on talent alone but there was zero illusion of a contender. It was like the colangelo suns of the Mid/late 90s who you just knew were first round fodder

There was also zero illusion of a contender in 2013-14, but it was still a fun season because the team exceeded expectations.

[specialsauce]

We won 50 games on talent alone but there was zero illusion of a contender. It was like the colangelo suns of the Mid/late 90s who you just knew were first round fodder

There was also zero illusion of a contender in 2013-14, but it was still a fun season because the team exceeded expectations.

Yeah that team had no win now expectations, some young talent that surprised us. This team is built to win now or we suck for 10 years

[O_Gardino]

I think Bud values ball movement over almost anything else. So I think he'll give Oso a shot at a role like Horford plays and keep Jones or Morris on the court most of the time. Allen and O'Neale will be fighting for backup minutes including time at PF if Oso and Bol aren't ready. I bet we go very small when Durant is out.

I don't think we have many lineups that can be great defensively, but I do think we should lead the league in scoring. Bud isn't going to shackle the offense to make the defense marginally better.