Is Bradley Beal to blame for Phoenix Suns’ failed era?

Is Bradley Beal to blame for Phoenix Suns’ failed era?

I’m told Bradley Beiel gave up almost $14 million to buy out of the Phoenix Suns and join the Los Angeles Clippers. Two years, $11 million. His deal will have a player option next summer. So, he’s slated to be one of the top free agents next off season, but this is someone that had $110 million left on his contract over the next two years. Obviously, did not work out in Phoenix. It was a failed two-year exper experiment with Bradley Beiel, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker. And so over the last few weeks, Bradley Beal, his representative Mark Bartlestein, they’ve been talking and meeting with several teams around the league. Aside from the Clippers, we’ve seen the Bucks, the Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Heat all were involved here in this process. But Bradley Beiel this morning decided to sign with the Clippers and team up with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Sean Shirania earlier today on NBA today with the news that we’ve been talking about for the better part of the bulk of our show here on Burns and Gambo with Kellen filling in. Uh Kellen’s already got a a really good read up right now at arizona sports.com presented by yi. Sources close to me can confirm there are other articles by Kellen coming on this particular topic soon at Arizona sports presented by Yi. Um there’s one thing that’s very clear about this Kellen. There is not among everybody but among a lot many Suns fans a great sense of joy that this has finally happened for a couple reasons. Probably one because it’s been a long slog waiting for it to happen. We thought it was going to be early last week instead it was the middle of this one. Partially because as you’ve said many times this now officially closes the book on the disaster that was the last couple of years. But I think if I’m generalizing here, most Suns fans are happy because they held Bradley Beal responsible for what has gone down. And I know that’s an oversimplification and an overgeneralization, but I think a lot of Suns fans blame Brad for what has happened and for how bad it has gotten. Have you gotten that same sense? Yes, for sure. I think that there is well this is the part where you ask me to like evaluate other people’s feelings and I feel like delicately kind of stating like like you can feel how you want to feel right as long as it’s not you know what that’s good respect as long as it’s not too like dispirited right like in in mean in meanspirited kind being respectful about it like you can you can be you can be mean you can boo him but just don’t be disrespectful with the way that you kind of go about it I remember a conversation we had in the off season last year might have been two years years ago where you and I were talking about the Suns and like how is this going to work? What’s the key to making all this work? And I told you Brad was the key and you got very nervous right away. You were like uh oh, I don’t like hearing that. And that to me makes him in some ways the guy that is the most responsible because he was the guy who had the most difficult job. He was the third banana. He was going to have to be the Chris Bosch guy that was going to have to change the way that he played. he was gonna have to be that guy in the big three that completely changes his style of play, where he impacts the game, so on and so forth. So, in many ways, he is the guy primarily responsible. But it was also such an incredibly difficult role where you need a perfect ecosystem, nearly perfect ecosystem to make a guy like that successful. And the Suns did him did just about the worst job possible in making that possible for Brad. So my main takeaway here in terms of him being like the guy that is like the biggest culprit. I think that the Suns themselves are the biggest culprit. This comes with moves for Durant for Beal that you and I agreed with. But what they went on to do in the next two years, what their coaches went on to do, how the players blended with the coaches, how the players blended with the players, that’s why they get paid the big bucks to evaluate those fits, those personalities together, and if everything gels together, it clearly did not. And it was a huge misfire. Yeah, it’s I’m glad you reminded me of a conversation that we had about this because now that you mentioned it, I I do remember getting squeamish about that and the idea that okay, it’s it’s kind of on Brad to be the the third banana and how I I was I was worried about his ability to do that. I was worried about his ability to stay healthy enough to do that. But but I would I mean like I I was Did Brad have the biggest change in terms of his role that he had to go through? Yes, he did. Does he still have that on him now with the Clippers? Yeah, he kind of does. You know, he he went from being the third banana on the Suns, I think, if we’re being honest, to being the third banana on the LA Clippers. And so, in some regards, it’s kind of the similar a similar ask that’s going on out of him there. But I also think that that if we’re talking about what went wrong for the Phoenix Suns, the malaise that we saw all big three play with all last year, I just don’t know how you could put that on Brad and Brad only. Did Brad at times play dispirited, passionless basketball? Yes. Did Devin Booker? Yes. Did Kevin Durant? Yes. You know what I mean? Like they if if you want to say it was just one of them, I don’t know how anybody who watched all 82 basketball games for the Suns last year could possibly single out Brad and say he was the only one who played that, you know, that that style of B. They all were like that. I I I did a national hit with ESPN radio last week and and they asked me a very pointed question. What did Bradley Beal do wrong with the Phoenix Suns? And I at the moment I was kind of flabbergasted with the question because I hadn’t really framed it in my own mind that way. And I and I said, well, look, at times he played with a lack of passion. At times it looked like he was just kind of going through the motions out there. But you know what? So did Deon Booker. You know what? So did Kevin Durant. And I I do think to your point, there is an effort to really vilify Brad as the the villain in this story. The ones who made the mistakes are the Suns. They’re the ones who traded for that contract. They’re the ones who traded for that no trade clause. They’re the ones who maybe didn’t properly assess the downside of Bradley Beal not working and the corner they’d be painted into if they ever ever had to got out of it. It’s not Brad’s fault that he’s got a contract with a no trade clause and it’s not Brad’s fault that he’s making $110 million over the two years. The Suns knowingly acquired that and and maybe didn’t properly assess the downfall and the risk of acquiring a player like that. But there’s much more on the Suns than they do on Brad. I I think so. And I think Brad specifically does deserve blame and quite a bit of it because you look back at year one for example, there was this whole like who’s the point guard of the team? We don’t have a point guard. And then all of a sudden Frank Vogle at the new turn of the new year in January he’s like oh Brad’s now the point guard. We’re going to make Brad the point guard. Like what does that mean? and they tried to describe it to us and didn’t make any sense. We asked Brad, he didn’t really have any good answers either and all of it kind of uh dwindled down and you’ll remember that stretch in like March where Brad was taking like nine shots a game and it was like his lowest field goal total over like a certain spurt of games since his rookie year. Like he had completely lost his aggression and yes, that’s on the Suns for like the lack of a fit there. But Brad came here and and and accepted the challenge that he was going to have to be versatile and he was going to have to be adaptable. And he was not adaptable to this situation at all. I think that he really accepted the challenges in some ways with the roles that he had to play defensively with how he had to impact the game when the ball wasn’t going to find him as much without knowing for sure that he was never going to be Batman ever. And he was maybe going to get to be Robin every now and then. But he really wasn’t in a position to do that either. He had to do everything else. and he did a fairly okay job of that when he was healthy, but the overall like fitting in, being adaptable, being versatile, I don’t think he did a very good job of that. So, are you saying he should have been Alfred then? He what? She he should have been Alfred if he wasn’t Batman and wasn’t Robin. Is he Alfred? But this goes back to our initial conversation like no one can be Alfred. There’s one Alfred who’s I just trying to think who the third banana is in the Batman and Robin uh cannon in in that universe. Who’s the There’s no other Michael Kane. You know this. Come on. Alfred Alfred’s the only guy that I’m But I I will say this and I and I in in light defense of Brad. There were very few pockets over the last two years where this worked. Okay. Very few pockets that gave you hope that it could work. One of those pockets came in the last 10 games of last season as they were playing their way into the playoffs and into that Minnesota series. Right. And Bradley Beal was a key guy during that 10-game pocket. Playing with energy, passion, spirit, leadership. I remember Devin Booker making some comment about how he’s like the pulse of the team or the heartbeat of the team. I don’t remember exactly what. Um there if you’re I know that the moments for Bradley Beal were few and far between, but there was you remember that there was that moment and that pocket where you thought, my god, this could work maybe. And I thought Bradley was a centerpiece to that pocket. When they went 12 and three after the Christmas debacle two seasons ago, that was Brad. He played in all 15 of those games, averaged like 22 points per game, was shooting over 50% from the field. He was playing very well. And that was our moment like, okay, this took a long time. He’s healthy. They’re finally clicking into place. And then we started to see some of the same signs yet again. Thanks for watching Burns and Gambo. Click to see more from the guys and hit the button in the middle to subscribe so you never miss a video from Arizona Sports.

After a failed Big 3 experiment for the Phoenix Suns with both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant gone, Dave Burns & guest host Kellan Olson weigh the options of who is most to blame for the lack of success.

Suns find their price by waiving and stretching Bradley Beal: https://arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-suns/bradley-beal-salary-cap/3581680/

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