What Could the Phoenix Suns Have Up Their Sleeve After Stretching Bradley Beal?

What Could the Phoenix Suns Have Up Their Sleeve After Stretching Bradley Beal?

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns, the Beal rumors will not go away. Do the Suns have something we’re not expecting up their sleeves. Let’s go. You are Locked On Suns, your daily Phoenix Suns podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back into the locked on Phoenix Suns podcast. I’m Brennan Clean, a staff writer at Awful Announcing and a credentialed Suns media member. Thank you for making Locked on Suns first listen here on this Monday to kick off your week. Don’t forget locked on Suns and available on all platforms including YouTube. Just click that follow subscribe button. Do what thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an everydayer. Get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Hey, today’s episode brought to you by the FanDuel Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. We’ve got some surprise news looking backward in free agency, plus a big picture conversation about Devin Booker. But first, we’ve got the neverending Bradley Beal news and we will try to expect what the unexpected move there might be. joining me to do it as always from the Wild West Valley, my fellow Suns Credential media member. How are we feeling, Ben Garcia?
We’ll get into it, man. But it was only two weeks ago to the day where we woke up on a Sunday morning and we had a Kevin Durant deal and now we’ve got potentially something going on with Brad. I am a little surprised. It looks like um with all the reporting that he’s going to take less money and my you know, we’ll figure out how long it stretch tell. I mean, there’s a way where you and I could both be like, “Okay, we get And I feel like there’s both the way where you and I are like, why did you do that? So, I’m excited to see what it is, man. But there’s a lot of different avenues that the Suns can go down.
Well, the one that I think we would understand and where both of us are kind of assuming this might or must be going is that they have a next move that they’re itching to make because John Gamidoro reported on Sunday morning that he expects a resolution on Bradley Beal’s situation in the next 24 to 48 hours. That was about at about 9:00 a.m. Phoenix time on Sunday. And so you just think, Ben, like if they are so urgent and eager and aggressive about eating up their cap sheet, which I laid out again for everybody on Friday’s episode, to stretch him, which would be somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, 19 to 22 million get, you know, whatever it ends up being. per year for five years. They must be wanting the freedom that comes with getting under those second uh that second apron urgently. That could be a variety of things. Obviously, the taxpayer mid level is one little bit of it, but that doesn’t feel like enough of a reason. So you kind of go down the list and you’re like, “Okay.” One other thing that teams are able to do when they get under that apron is aggregate salaries, combine players together in a trade, which they have not been able to do since the second apron went into effect in 2023. And that must be one of the things that they’re trying to unlock. So, if they’re going to do that, Ben, then they have to have a trade that features combined salaries. Otherwise, this all feels like a gigantic waste of time. It’s exactly what it feels like. I mean, we can go through the names in just a second because there’s there’s a few different names that you and I have talked about pre-show that I think, yeah, I would want those guys. And I totally get the aggregation of salaries where you and I are both saying, “Okay, you could pair Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen up and go get this other player.” However, how are you going to get that done without giving up more picks and that’s something that you don’t really have right now? right now on the surface, unless they got a steel of a buyout and over the next two seasons and it’s the same thing and you’re getting Bradley Beal out of here, man. I just don’t understand just buying out Bradley Beal. They must have already had a conversation with them about like would you be willing to stay home? We’ll pay you to stay home or they’re really is something big waiting. I mean, before I get to some of the names, if the Suns just bought out Beal and signed someone to a mid-level exception, I don’t know who that would be right now. I I look at some of the names. I’m like, is that guy really worth 14.1 million? Would you be It would be the taxpayer mid-level. So, it’ be about $5.7 million.
Okay. Okay. Well, there you go. Either way, the 14.1 mid-level exception and the 5.2 mid-level exception, what’s the difference to me? There’s there’s really no one out there that that gets me. There’s not a lot of players open regardless. There’s not exactly say it’s Malcolm Brogden, you know, like a guy we’ve thrown out there before. But
is that worth it?
It’s really hard. No, no, I’m not saying it’s worth it. I I set it up by saying it’s not worth it.
I just think for the sake of playing it out, I’m just helping you out.
No, no, I agree with you. That’s the point of like I just don’t understand. So, here are the names that I I was pulling up thinking, okay, Grayson Allen and Nick Richards make 21.875 million. Here are some of those names. Marcus Smart, Norman Pal, Malik Monk, Ruamora, Kell Johnson. Those are some of the names that pop out. But a lot of those guys, you’re like, I already have Marcus Smart, uh, Norman Pal, Malik Monk. Marcus Smart isn’t even the same player that he used to be. So, you have to go up a tier because even then, it’s it’s Royce. It’s uh Royce O’Neal and Nick Richards and there’s not a lot of stuff there. These are the names that I think the Suns maybe have an eye on. Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neal, $27 million. Those are the two contracts they compare. Devin Bell, Draymond Green, Nick Claxton, uh Trey Murphy, Muel Bridges, Jaden McDaniels. A lot of those guys tickle my fancy, Brendan. However, how are you going to get that deal done? So any of those names kind of bring you into some sort of fascination over this deal? Well, so let’s narrow it down, right? Like I think to me, uh, you’re you’re looking you have to be looking at playmakers. Like I think that that’s really or maybe if you were able to get a really good wing, then I could I could see it. But, you know, the other part of this is like this this seven team trade that’s that had been percolating and coming together since the KD deal, which was the beginning of it, got finalized on Sunday morning as well. And so that means that one, Jaylen Green can’t be included in a flip of any kind for a little while. And or I guess I think that the rule is he can’t be aggregated with another contract for a certain amount of time. is the exact thing, but that is exactly what we’re talking about. So, for this conversation, he can’t be included in in this type of thing. And it tells us that the Suns did get an extra second out of this deal versus what we thought. And they also got an extra one from Charlotte. So, I believe they’re at a total of 3 seconds, but that’s not a lot. It’s not exactly much of anything to trade there. 3 seconds and uh these players we’re talking about m maybe Oso Gadaro, maybe Ryan Dunn if you really want to get creative. It’s just hard to find somebody that is a difference maker that’s going to make the team enough better to to really really empty the canister of assets here. So yeah, I mean is there a favorite playmaker or wing? Like I think Nick Claxton’s probably the most getable guy on the on the list you just read. then he’s not needed anymore because they just got two centers and and dedicated a lot of assets, so to speak, to go get those two guys. So, they’re not going to go get Nick Claxton for more. And I don’t didn’t really hear a playmaker I loved there. So, I’m I am struggling to find exactly what they’re thinking here myself. I don’t hear a name that I could say, “Oh, that’s what they’re doing this for.”
Well, even like Devin Vel, you and I talked about in the Kevin Durant deal. were like, I mean, all right, like that’s a good piece to add in to a Kevin Durant deal, but the two guys on this list from the ones that I was looking at before, Trey Murphy and Jaden McDaniels, like even Male Bridges, I I’m I’m just out. I don’t I like good player. I don’t need him here.
Both Murphy and McDaniels, you’re talking about multiple firsts to get a trade. You’re talking about four Suns aren’t even close. Yeah. Now you’re talking about four first round picks for a guy like Trey Murphy or Jaden McDaniels. So that turns your attention to I I’m the restricted free agency market, man. Like I I don’t know. Like even you look at those names, they don’t need a Jonathan Kaminga. The Bulls just got Josh Giddy. I think we’re looking at the Suns letting go of Bradley Beiel. They they’re buying him out and bringing in someone like CP3 who maybe doesn’t want to play for the vet minimum or uh Malcolm Brogden who you mentioned before the show. To me,
it can’t you can’t be there. There is no way that they would clog and demolish their cap sheet for five seasons just to pay Chris Paul who will play 12 minutes a game a little more money and be nice to him. That that would be absolutely crazy. I mean, I know you’re just you’re just running through the possibilities here, and I don’t necessarily think that you’re wrong to come down on that side of it. I hate to be the, you know, like our job is to try to make sense of this stuff, and that’s what the everydayers rely upon us for, but I tend to come down on this one right now, Ben, of I just don’t know what the hell is going on. I don’t I don’t have a guess. And I can’t even come down and say my guess is that they just pay Chris Paul more money cuz that would be so stupid that I can’t even like imagine that like obviously we should say though too like it’s not just this summer but I think as far as the benefits go to to getting under the second apron or to buying out be in general. One thing that I’ve thought about is what if so if you could trade, you know, and I I don’t I don’t have everybody’s contracts, you know, up in front of me over multi-year that you just threw out there, but
if you were able to turn Grayson and Royce into um a player whose salary is expiring, because both of those guys have three years each left on their contracts. Let’s say you were able to do that and then at that point you basically only have under contract for next season Malawatch Dunn Booker Jaylen and Brooks is it and then whatever the dead head of Beal like you know at 19 million let’s call it I wonder if there’s a chance that if you could dump Brooks after that you’re trending toward maybe having a little bit of cap space next summer like is I I I haven’t done all the math. We could obviously hit that as the summer goes on or if this be thing does come down and we obviously will talk about it more. But that crept into my mind of like what if that’s the goal 57 million for book you could maybe flip Brooks 36 for Green uh the cap hit for Beal and then done in Malawatch’s minimal salaries you know four five for Malawatch three for Dunn. That’s not a lot of money and that could allow you to be next summer a player to go get real difference makers with cap space or you know a signage you’ll just be so much more flexible at that point in time. I thought of that but in the NBA now where the CBA is set up to keep your star players I don’t know where there was a world where the Suns could get one of these guys. And these are some of the guys that are off the books next year. Obviously LeBron, he’s every single year. Bradley Beal, but then you get down to Kevin Durant, Zack Lavine, Luca Don, Trey Young, James Harden, Dear Fox, like all of these guys here, you you kind of assume like Luca is going to sign an extension this off season. Dear Fox is going to sign an extension this off season. Fred Van Vleet, uh, Muel Bridges is again, he’s there. Like, I totally agree with you in that aspect that they could just be saving their pennies for next season. But can you put all your eggs in that basket when you know
they they’re probably not going to be there?
I don’t think that they’re probably not going to be there. Not every single season is the same. The fact that teams kept or that there wasn’t a lot of free agents this summer to me wasn’t necessarily a byproduct of the CBA just so much as some years there’s not a lot of cap space. You know what I mean? Like I do think that the a byproduct of the new CBA and it being harder to retain a lot of your players will mean that sometimes guys get to free agency because their teams don’t want to clog the books and keep them, right? Like I mean somebody like Kase Wallace in Oklahoma City who we’re sort of talking about could be a you know a have to go a blue door not next season but you know what I mean like yeah sometimes those players will just get dumped but sometimes those players will actually hit free agency and I think the thing with the Suns on this side of it is a ton of teams are going to have cap space next year. So, if I’m a player, I might actually value the ability to go into free agency more next summer because I can already look and see some of the writing on the wall that there’s going to be some desirable markets with space. Uh the Lakers being one of them, right? Or or others. So, I don’t know how it’ll look, but I don’t think it’s crazy to think that some of those players you just listed off might bypass an extension and actually be somebody that the Suns could have their eye on like Adear and Fox or I mean pot like I don’t know what Luca is going to do. I I don’t know what Trey Young is necessarily going to do. Like those are decent players. I mean Draymond Green’s a lock to sign here if he hits free agency, right? I mean he’s wearing green and white. He’s got to get a deal here. So, I don’t know. I I just wanted to throw that out. I don’t think it’s a a foregone conclusion that no one’s going to be available and that can’t be what they’re doing. I just wanted to say
it at least could be an answer. It at least could be an explanation. Next, let’s get to the news we heard on Sunday morning that already happened and isn’t real, but what it could tell us about how the Suns are viewing the roster. And it starts in Minnesota next. First, today’s show brought to you by the FanDuel sports book. Summer sports are in full swing. So whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action. FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. I mean, you could do it while you’re getting sunburned at the beach, too. I mean, you you could make a lot of money on FanDuel, but also get a sunburn. There’s nothing requiring you to be in front of the TV when you’re making your bets. But let’s see what’s going on in the world of the WNBA where the big favorites tend to be the Mercury. Hey, look at that. They are minus $650 at home against the Dallas Wings. I will tell you that’s a nice favorite to put your $5 bet down on and hopefully get that $150 in bonus bets if you’re a new customer. But also, the Mercury did just lose to Dallas, so I would be a little wary there. But hey, the payoff could be even bigger with those bonus bets. So, open the FanDuel app today, visit fanuel.com, check out all of the odds, and get started. All right, Ben, let’s keep it rolling here. So, uh, Nas Reed came up in relation to the Suns. Not exactly something that I think you or I expected to see, but courtesy of the Steinline newsletter from Jake Fischer and uh Mark Stein, they reported that prior to and this would speak to the you know restricted free agency sign and trade pool that you were talking about uh in that last segment as it relates to the flexibility that they want from Beal. They apparently were in conversations or at least trying to be for Nas Reed in a sign and trade before he signed his new contract for what it was about 25 plus million dollars to return to Minnesota. What did you think of that report and what it kind of tells us in the wider context of all the craziness the Suns have been up to this summer? Yeah, I think one of the things immediately to me is like, oh, what worries me a little bit is that Mark Williams maybe wasn’t their first option and kind of pushed them towards the okay, like let’s go here. We got a good deal on what we think could be of Mark Williams, but even they maybe worried about his ability to stay healthy as well. Um, so Nas Reed would have been awesome here. here. I mean, it’s the guy we’ve talked about for a long time with Devin Booker potentially having a stretch five come here. He’s a little bit smaller, so maybe this maybe that also went against the Suns idea of wanting to get bigger. So, like I like the Nause Reed stuff, but what ultimately to me told me about this is maybe the Suns have already been in contact with the Wolves multiple times and maybe could go back down that well of hey, I know we couldn’t get a deal done with KD. I know we couldn’t get get a deal done with Nas Reed. What about Jaden McDaniels? That’s kind of where my mind went to it is that maybe they’re going to continue to go back to that well and we talked about Royce Royce O’Neal and Grace Nen and maybe that’s the well they’re trying to go back to. I think this is where these conversations start. You start with Nas Reed, you get to someone like Jaden McDaniels. I know we’re talking about maybe fairy tales a little bit today on the show, but I don’t think that that is insane.
You know, you know, I love McDaniels as much as you do. If if the Suns had any chance in a million years of getting him, of course, I would be all in on pursuing that. He is on one of the best contracts in the NBA for four more seasons and is one of the absolute best role players in the NBA. I just we have to put it into perspective that that is one of the primo assets in the entire league if you’re really and he’s still only 25 years old. So the offensive chops that you would hope might still be there that he flashed that made him one of the top recruits coming out of high school when he went to Washington all those years ago with Isaiah Stewart could still come back or not come back but but develop at a pro level. And so I just think it’s it’s a long shot. But I like where your head’s at. I don’t I don’t think that you’re like crazy and there’s obviously been a lot of smoke there between these two teams. So I don’t think it’s like impossible and and whatever. Yeah. I mean, so what it tells me is too to to jump on the first part of what you were saying, which is more where my head went. Like I think it tells me that the Suns, you know, it’s it’s more evidence that they know they need a stretch option in that front court. Now, part of me wonders though, like did they actually think of him as a center or based on how they’ve looked at the roster since then with Rasheir Fleming, with Nigel Hayes Davis, who could potentially place him for um with the CJ Huntley Appstate prospect that they signed to a two-way. There’s multiple signs that they are wanting that kind of throwback big four. Obviously with the new updated model of the modern NBA where they all need to be able to shoot and I think they they might have just been looking at at Nas as a four all along and and wanted him to just plug that hole. Maybe they don’t draft Fleming. They don’t have the picks to do any of that if they somehow were to have pulled this off. But you know he would have just been their solution there. So um and of course has the flexibility to go to the five as needed. But I I what I think it tells us is the Suns probably know that their roster as is does not have enough shooting. Like that that’s probably the most basic way I would put it.
I thought that same thing as well. And so again, that took me back to which is why we stacked the order of the show this way. Okay. Well, fine. They don’t have a stretch five. Who’s the stretch five on the market that the Suns could go to? And I’m looking down the list, man. Nicole Vuchich. He makes $20 million a year. and you’re like, “Okay, maybe they have their eyes on that guy.” So, that was the second part of what I thought of this Sun’s team potentially going after another player. But then if you, let’s say they go get a stretch five, let’s say they go get Vuch. Let’s say they go get like whoever, right? We’re not even big fans of that guy, I’m sure.
Yeah.
At that point, you are stacking too many bigs. Like, at that point, you still have Richards, you still have Malawatch, and you still have uh uh Mark Williams. So, I think you were right with what you said that this order of operations was probably that this conversation happened even before the draft and before they got Williams would be my guess because there’s no need to do any of this now, especially for like that’s why I said though like may maybe Nas Reed could have been somebody who could play at the four but he’s a unicorn. There’s not really a lot of guys who can shoot and play the four or the five and are available like it. That’s why I keep talking about Isaiah Stewart for instance, right? Because he’s probably like one of the only other ones and even he you might say is really just a five at this point. So yeah, I I that’s why I kind of look ahead with it and say like to me the bottom line of this is probably just hey they they know they need that type of positional player. They took some bites at the apple of it with Fleming and with Hayes and with Huntley. They’ll they’ll see how those guys develop, but that is a top priority for them going forward is to find that type of player through the draft, through free agency, through a trade, whatever it is. Sorry, I was muted there. I was looking at another I was looking at other guys on here, too, and it’s like this Sun’s team, maybe they’re not looking for a center, man. Maybe they’re just trying to get overall shooting at the wing and power forward spot. Maybe they feel like they’re good enough at the center position now and they don’t need a Nazreed and Naz Reed isn’t even like a super big guy. I believe he’s 6’9. Maybe they’re thinking about going and getting a a Rui Hachimura or again an Isaiah Stewart. Like he’s a little bit smaller as well, but again he might be a five. I think at least this shows you that the Suns are going to go after some sort of scoring. you and I are both just struggling with how are you going to get there with the players that you have and the picks that you have, which again goes back to I I if this report would have came out uh a couple of weeks ago, you and I would have been like, “Okay, well, they have a couple of first round picks to trade. Maybe they can go get, you know, someone else.” And I I just don’t see that at this point, man. So, I’m really confused.
How about this? How about this last thing on the trade conversation? So Grayson plus Royce is um
27 point it’s actually exactly 28 when you add it together.
Oh guess I
John Collins I saw him. That guy would be on the long list of Phoenix Suns players that we’ve talked about being here for a long time and and never showed up. Uh I didn’t have his stuff. Do you have his his what he shot.5? Oh, I I don’t even really care about him as a player. It would be it would basically just fill He was awful the past couple seasons. Utah is a joke of a franchise right now. But my thing is he shot 40% from three, but he barely played because they bench all their vets. Um,
but my thing is one, he fits this mold, right? He is a 69 player who can shoot from the four and be big. That’s what they’ve been wanting. but he also checks the box of being the guy where
he expires after this season and he would clear your books and allow you to be more flexible next summer. So that could be the thing and then you you maybe move Dylan Brooks to the bench or maybe Ryan Dunn to the bench or whatever they that ends up looking like. That would be one I would look at because the Jazz have been rumored to be shopping him for a while and we know a different front office but the Suns were allegedly inches away from trading for this guy before Ishbia took over and said let’s do it for KD. So lot of
so wait a second lot
that is the could make sense.
That’s the exactly it’s the only reason we found so far that has made remote sense because at least you could say they got someone that could shoot the three ball. They got someone that could maybe score a little bit and he comes off the books next year and so we can see we’re just making up names at this point. Trey Young, Luca Donuch, maybe someone doesn’t sign and the Suns go get that guy. So, um
Fox, yeah,
Darren Fox, that’s another guy. So,
maybe the Suns are just trying to and and if that was the case, then I get why they would move on from Beal now. And so, combining those two things, that that is the only scenario we found so far where like, okay, I guess that can make a little sense. You just can’t. you’re going back to the last segment. I mean, you just can’t let be go for nothing if you’re putting that together here where they need shooting. So, um, makes sense, man. Last but not least, we know about what this roster is now, and as always, for about a decade, this team will rise and fall with what Devin Booker looks like. How will this roster change him? Can it bring the best out of him? Next. Closing out the show, we did just spend 20 minutes been talking about all the ways that this roster could continue to change, but I think within reason, we know what this is going to roughly be. We know the identity that this team wants to have. We know the things that Jordan not maybe will bring to the table. We know there’s not as we as far as we can tell and probably not going to happen any sort of elite playmaker meaning book will take that on. Kevin Durant a huge scoring burden and production gone from the team. A lot of change and yet Devin Booker remains the constant. When we when you were kind of thinking about this, what is the how do you see Book’s game changing? How do you see him having to evolve to be the number one guy on this type of roster with this group of players?
Yeah, I look back to the very last time Devin Booker did not have a reliable number two with him. That’s I So I went right back to the the bubble suns the bubble year where Booker was 26 points 91 or sorry 20 26 points 48% from the field 35% from three 91% from the free throw line where he was shooting 5 threes a game and over the last couple years he shot 66 or sorry 7 six67. I expect that number to revert back to the mean of Deon Booker becoming more of a mid-range, not more of a mid-range player, but back to being that mid-range player that he was. Instead of asking Devin Booker to do a bunch of different things that he’s not comfortable with, I think Jordan Kn’s going to lean into what he does well. And Booker is going to have to put the superhero cape on. I expect Devin Booker this year to shoot like 50% from the field in terms of like reaching that 50% mark, less shots from three, 35% from three, and shooting well from the free throw line. 61% true shooting percentage is what he had in the the very last year he was with the Suns. I’m sorry, the very last year he didn’t have a reliable second score with the Suns. I think he’s going to have to beat the super superhero cape on and pouring buckets for this team. I think Booker could have a career year shooting the basketball. You know, this is something as well.
Well, hold on. What What makes you think it would be a career year?
He’s going to have to put the superhero cape on. There’s no one else on this team reliably that you can ask to be the second scoreer on a night inout basis. Not Jaylen Green. He hasn’t done that either. He’s going to be asked to do everything. And I look at
But that doesn’t mean it’ll go well. You’re saying he’ll have to play. He’ll have to do XYZ. So therefore, it’s going to be a career season. So,
but he’s done it before at a younger age. That’s my point of I he can do it. And during the like I’m not in the playoffs, we know Devin Booker as a number one guy. It’s probably not going to work. He’s probably more of a two. In the regular season, it’s a little bit different. You get away with this kind of stuff. Um so I think this will be a career year. He’s put all these tools together. He’s played with all these stars before and now he’s going to be asked to carry the load night in and night out. So, I think you point towards Dem Booker’s either going to get more efficient or less efficient. And so, I’m going to lean towards more efficient. That’s where I my head goes. Fair enough. But I guess I just don’t understand why that would happen. Like so my thing is the
okay
there’s going to be as far as we can tell right now the offensive situation for him is going to be worse than like I think it’s actually worth comparing like Rubio young male careeryear ubé and DA with some obviously you know Bane’s kind of as a spacing option in there Cam Johnson as a rookie. You know, is that a better offensive environment for Book or is this I think I would still pick that even though Chris and Jay had not come over yet because there was at least spacing and there was at least other reliable um scorers like Rubio could do his thing, Ubé could do his thing, male grew over over the course of the season and uh obviously Cam stepped in pretty well and and NDA was growing like This is going to be cramped. This is going to be not only not spacing, but also not a lot of playmaking, like capable guys who can kind of get into the teeth of the defense and open something up for the rest of the team.
And so, like, yeah, the superhero cape, not just in terms of not having a number two, but the the context around him, the personnel around him. So, what what I kind of look at that that that season brought that I had looked up uh coming before coming on here, Ben, is uh book was I’m just going to say roughly 10th because it’s not numbered
in terms of pos transition possessions per game that season. Okay. Five five possessions where he was attempting a shot in transition that year, right? They that team ran. That team was athletic. They, you know, Rubio has always been a guy who can turn that on for for a team. And of those players, he was the most efficient in terms of points per possession doing it. He scored, you know, equivalent to like the best offense in the NBA. Him scoring in in transition. That that’s a weird way to extrapolate it, but that’s the easiest way to think about it. That’s something I think he will absolutely benefit from that I think will be different this year that you would say is going to make him put into a better position to succeed because most of the time his best seasons have come when he gets to kind of vacasillate between on and off the ball, the team plays a little faster and obviously um you know the three ball has to go in. you know, all those types of things. But in terms of the context of it, that’s what I’m excited about is just how many opportunities he’s going to feast on just running when for years they haven’t been able to do that.
Yeah. And I think you have a fonder memory of that 2018 2019 team
2018 2019 2019 2020 team.
Yeah. than maybe they were because Mikuel Bridges that year was in his second year and like you had mentioned he started to get better towards the end of that season but for the first half like that team still went 34 and 39 so if you assume that the Suns are going to go that same like 34 39 I don’t even think that is exact but whatever right
I think the Suns are going to be better than that this year and the team that he has around him I do think is better than that team I mean that team had Ricky offense like we we I’m just trying to focus on offense. That team, Ben, had the 13th offensive rating in the entire NBA despite being 34 and 39. Like you point out, they were they were really good on offense. Like I’m just saying I I don’t think this team has that level of offensive talent. I I I don’t. And you’re not telling me why they do. You’re just saying that they don’t. Well, no. I’m saying that you got guys like Jaylen Green. Dylan Brook shoots 40% from the field. We like the additions of Mark Williams who was a better center at that point at this point in his career than I would believe DA was in his second year. Yes, DA did average more points, but DeAndre Aton was still in his second year. He was asked to be the second scorer for that team. That’s who he was. It wasn’t even Ricky Rubio. So, I would take Mark Williams over that. Jaylen Green at this point in his career, I think, is better than male and Cam Johnson. Not anymore, but at this point versus first year Cam Johnson. That’s what I’m saying is we’re talking about how those guys play when I think that Cam and Male are
perfect wings to put next to Devin Booker. Perfect. That’s why they did it.
Green is not at all really frustrated by the fact that Jaylen Green ended up on this team.
I would agree with you. But you still have Dylan Brooks who shoots the three ball fairly well. At that point, you are right. If you’re talking about spacing, yes. But I think when you have Devin Booker in the regular season, I think he’s going to have to revert back to what he used to do better. He’s going to be asked to shoot less threes. He’s going to get to the I think he’s going to be asked to get to the line more. Shoot more from the mid-range. Like I think we’re going to see that side of Devin Booker and not shooting more threes Devin Booker. I think or is going to lean into what he does best. So I’d agree with you. Sure, the three-point shooting is not there. They don’t have those guys in Cam Male, but those guys like Male shot 35% from three his second year in the league. It’s not like he was lighting it up. Cam did shoot 39% from three, but I only think but I’m pretty sure he only did it on in like in spurts of minutes that this guy played.
I would have to try to figure out where where it was.
And I’m not he shot
he shot four games. So, he did shoot a decent amount, but he only played 22 minutes a game where I think these guys are going to play more.
Yeah. So, look, I’m not trying to say Book’s going to have a bad season. And I I think it’s just going to be a very different stylistic season. And that’s the point that I I wanted to make here is this this is going to be the same for him in terms of back to those seasons where he did not have a Chris Paul or a Kevin Durant. But it’s going to be different than that because he’s, you know, I would say the talent around him arguably might be closer to some of the seasons even before that. you know, where it’s it’s a lot of young guys and it’s not quite that bad because there is a Dylan Brooks, there is a Mark Williams who’s not a rookie, there is, you know, uh, Jaylen Green who’s much better than a Josh Jackson or any of those. Like, I I understand that, but I think it’s going to be a challenge for him.
Um, you know, okay, get to the basket more. Well, that’s easier when there’s space. like you can’t just tell a guy to change his style and then put a roster together that doesn’t exactly uh put him in a position to actually play that way. So that that’s kind of the part that I’m curious about here and why I wanted to talk about it is
uh I I think the one thing you also could say though Ben maybe the last thing is he’s going to have to do next to nothing on defense. like they have insulated him pretty well where you know I think you would hope that Jaylen Green he has to get better on that end like that that’s a and then you put Dylan Brooks etc. Yeah. And you put Dylan Brooks, Ryan Dunn, etc. Some of these other forwards and wings that they’ve assembled like Booker has to do less on defense than he has had to with this big three era I would say. And that’s a good thing that should allow him to to be even better on the offensive end and maybe better on the defensive end and actually more impactful when he’s not having to try to, you know, guard guys that he can’t guard. So, I I don’t know what it’ll look like. I I would tend to agree probably definitely less catch and shoot threes cuz who the heck’s going to deliver him the ball, but maybe more pull-up threes. I don’t know. That might be one of his only
I would be curious. I should have had this up. I should have had that up because I remember distinctly in the 2021 year, every time Booker was running in fast pace and pulled up, it felt like he was hitting the three. So, I wish I had that statistic up in front of me because he’s always It feels like he’s always been a better pullup three-point shooter than he has been catching and shooting, which has never really been.
It’s the opposite. It It’s way the opposite, but that’s true for everybody. That’s true for everybody. Yeah. A better pull up three-point shooter than catch.
I would I would agree with you when it comes when it comes to that. But man, it felt like every single time that dude was running up the court, he was pulling up and shooting. But catch
2019 2019 20 he took 3.3 pull-up threes a game.
The next season when Chris got there, he took, of course, it’s, you know, not not really podcasting speed here. 2.8 and then it’s gone down probably since because Chris was there and then uh it went back up. Oh, the the 64 win season it was at he took more pull-ups than catch and shoot. So, that’s an interesting trend. Um, but yeah, that might be it because if there’s not a lot of space to get into the paint, then you kind of have to to bomb from where you got them and that might be it. But, yeah, it’ll be fascinating to watch regardless. And we don’t know exactly what this roster and rotation will look like. We’ll have a lot more clarity on that to make these types of predictions and previews once we get closer to training camp which is a long way off but it’s going to be a very different season for Devin Booker I think for sure. Hit follow, hit subscribe if you haven’t already. That’ll wrap us up for the day. Become an everyday though because we will have more content for you throughout the week as we march towards summer league where we get to see these rookies actually put it together on the court and whatever the rest of this Beal saga will look like. Enjoy your Monday and we’ll catch you then.

The Phoenix Suns are expected to waive and stretch Bradley Beal after all, meaning the team must have something up its sleeve next.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia run through the possibilities, including potential trade targets after the news that the Suns pursued Naz Reid this offseason. Then, a look how Devin Booker will evolve in Year 11.

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