The Phoenix Suns Are About To Get A LOT Better…

The Phoenix Suns Are About To Get A LOT Better…

All right, we have another Suns preseason game in the books. We got our whole rundown. We got all the hosts here. Eritton’s here. Graphics are ready. I feel like Are we missing something? We got our shoes on. We forgot our little boo boos. [Music] Psychos [Music] [Music] and Sikos unite for a full house edition and the BHX Suns of course presented by Bet 365. Make sure you download the Bet365 app today. Deposit five. Place a bet for 10 and get $200 in bonus bets with promo code PHNX. It is never ordinary at Bad 365. Never ordinary on PHNX sons. I’m Eric. That’s Steven. That’s Espo. We got Mr. Laboo behind the Mac making all the magic happen. Aka Freck Mamba aka Eritton aka He’s really sick of all the nicknames that I’ve been giving him. Making all the magic happen. Ka Erit Eritton. That’s his name. He’s aka Eritton. Uh, appreciate everybody joining us in the chat, including Larry, Lenny, and my dad. Happy birthday to my dad, Papa Ruby’s birthday. Matthew also joining us. What you led the show with? What do you We’re 30 seconds into the show. You said all this other stuff and a cold open and a 30 second in. Hey, you want me to start off the cold open by saying happy birthday? Your father, obviously, bro, you’ve never been angrier at me. No, I was angry when you just said hi Jeff in the chat instead of saying hi dad. I didn’t say hi Jeff. You don’t disrespect like that. Oh my god. It took me took me 10 seconds. I I said happy birthday to my dad before I said anything else on the show and all of a sudden I’m the enemy here. Mr. Ruby Steven and I apologize to you. Happy birthday. And yes, for your birthday, we will get uh that man’s name who I won’t talk about, the former number 35 on the team off the intro just for you, sir. Mr. Ruby, again, I check your son for how he y’all suck. How how he’s handling his father consistently being in the chat and it’s his birthday of all things. And you started off, you should have been a cold open. If it was my mom’s birthday, I would be like, “Hey y’all, we going to start the show off by saying the show on your mom’s birthday.” We definitely didn’t because I wasn’t home. I wasn’t here for my mom’s birthday. You should have called in and said happy birthday on the show. He was there to say happy birthday, right? Okay. And I’m seeing him tonight and I already texted him apparently. How am I getting attacked here? Mr. Ruby says he loves you. So I love you, Dad. Unlike what they want to make it seem like. God, you guys suck. We’re we’re we’re disciplining Eric for how to treat, bro. He just he treat his dad like he’s just some other dude in the chat. No, I don’t. Can I Can I give Mr. a a a gift. I did something to benefit all of us. Yeah, please. Please change the subject. Uh Eritton, do do you have that graphic that I sent you? The Let’s Let’s pull this up. Uh while I was gone last week on vacation, I decided things have gone too far off the rails when it comes to Arizona sports. Uh and I reached out to, you know what, I’m just going to say an Etsy witch. I know. I I we didn’t know that those existed until recently when a Seattle Mariners fan did this, but it worked for Mariners fans. So, I decided, you know what, we need to do this for Arizona sports. Uh, and I I reached out to her and she did this uh whatever curse reverse that she does. And she sent me a message this morning. She said, “Greg, yes, that’s my legal name. The energy now stands in alignment for renewal.” Alignment. There’s more to it, but I saw alignment and I thought, “That’s it. It’s gonna be a good year and I had to share it on the show today just for you, Mr. Ruby. Happy birthday, Mr. Ruby. I’ve I’ve fixed Arizona sports and the Suns. I tried to fix a father and son relationship, but every chance he gets, he tries to take some back. We’ll get there one day. You’re just mad cuz I made a comment about We’ll get there one day. And today is just not the day. Yeah, Mr. Ruby, we tried. We tried. I’ve been trying for almost a calendar year now. Yeah. We got sons to talk about. No, man. I think I’m good. Honestly, I think I’m fine. I think y’all got it. I’m just going to sit here and think about how I could be a better son. Uh oh, wait, never mind. How about the better Suns? Because it has been a fun preseason so far. Obviously, they did drop game three in Brooklyn to the Nets 111 to 109. Still lots of good to take away from that one. Uh the tip off time, not one of those things. Uh, brutal, brutal stuff. Uh, I I will be honest, I had to record and watch it later cuz I didn’t get home till 2 a.m. because of ASU. So, you should have just powered through. I mean, by that point, pregame started at 3:30. Like, no. No, Stephen and I were up at 4 a.m. Well, you guys obviously are the real psychos and sickos, unlike me. Tweeted top of the top Sunday morning. I I actually tweeted at like midnight just uh just because it that made it make more sense, you know. Oh, so bro. Now you got my dad’s in the chat like having to defend me being a good son because of the slander that’s being put on my name in this chat. Uh what were our our big takeaways? I did watch the game. I just didn’t watch it at 4:00 a.m. I would have if I didn’t have a postgame show the night before. Uh, what were our takeaways in in game three of the preseason, game two in China, the first loss for the Suns? I didn’t read anything into into losing because by the time by the time you lose, you know, you’re you’re riding guys that are likely in the G-League. Uh, and and David Duke Jr. taking so much heat for for a foul there that come on, it’s preseason between Mr. Duke Jr. and your boy Jared Butler. He ain’t let nobody off the hook. No, it’s he treating it like it’s an actual do or die and must win and gota have I I’ll tweet anything I didn’t tweet anything about David Duke Jr. I will say that. Uh I we listen I know at the end of the game there’s stuff that you can point to and I know we talked about Jared Butler in the moment on Friday and and I get it. But I I think that we can kind of take that grouping of players and we can kind of put them off to the side. Obviously, we got five minutes from Kobe Brea. We don’t need to touch too much on that. O2 from the field, but I I think like we always do, we should just start with the starters. And why don’t we start with the star, our big bright shining star presented by Hila River Resorts and Casinos is at playhill.com for more details. It was Devin Booker. Now, not like the stariest of star lines for Devin Booker in 26 minutes. 18 points, five rebounds, five assists, and a steel four of 12 from the field, but three of five from deep and seven of eight from the line. Uh I felt like the offensive process for Devin Booker, Stephen, has has been pretty good. And I’m especially liking how quick he is to pull that deep ball. Yeah, he’s picking his spots well. I think they’re putting him in good positions to be his best version of himself in that as well, which is the most important part because there’s going to be naturally a little bit of rust as far as how players are performing. But what can’t be rusty is the process. And this is where you’re laying that foundation for the ways in which you want to put him in position to not always have to create for himself, but also have a process and a system that’s kind of working in tandem with him. So, I think it’s been fun to see the ways he’s operated so far this preseason. Uh clearly the three ball is something that he’s looking to value more um coming into it and he has a system that’s putting him in that position to be successful there. Yeah, I think everybody seems to be valuing that three ball a little bit more. But what I felt good about when it came to Book was the fact that we saw that heater like he got hot there and there was a stretch where you’re like that’s the Devin Book Booker we all came to know and love. And that’s that’s what I felt very encouraged by because offense and preseason’s disjointed. see guys like Dylan Brooks taking what do you have like 15 18 shots the other day. Like there was there’s weird things that happened in the offense in preseason, but that stretch from Book made me go, “All right, that’s the guy. We don’t have to worry about any additional minutes out of him, which we won’t see him play on Tuesday.” That’s that’s a foregone conclusion. Uh but overall, you saw what you needed to from Book. There’s no doubt that that offensive skill is still there distributed as well. Devin Booker is Deon Booker. I don’t need to see more. And I think the the Devin Booker is Devin Booker is very important because he he wasn’t Devin Booker for the entire game. It didn’t even be Devin Booker for the entire game, but you saw it in the last two that was like, okay, a switch was kind of flipped and helped push the Suns forward when needed to. And I do know that like walking into the season, we’re talking about can Deon Booker score 30 points? He’s going to be the guy, the guy, the guy. I think one of his best assets is knowing when to flip that switch. And I think he understands he’s going to probably have to flip it a couple more times this season, but he’s so good at not stepping on the game and and one of the really encouraging things from just this whole preseason for me is just how spread out the scoring has been. I get it’s preseason and I get a lot of guys are getting a lot of minutes, but you look at the starting lineup, 18 points from Devin Booker, nine points from Grayson Allen, 12 from OSO, 12 from Dylan Brooks, seven from Ryan Dunn. There’s not really a huge discrepancy there. uh even though the all of them pretty much just played about 20 minutes per game. I do think that as much as it’s going to be on book to drive this offense, it’s also going to be death by a thousand cuts for the Suns to win a lot of these games this year. I I think why we saw so many guys score and why we have in preseason is because Devin Booker understands that that work is more for those guys right now than him needing to be the one taking the shots and him needing to be the one that takes over the offense. So, I think that’s why you’ve seen a more equal distribution. It’s going to be topheavy with Book and Jaylen Green. You may see nights where Dylan Brooks is that is that second guy because he gets hot from three, but I don’t think once we get into the swing of things that you’re going to see an equal distribution. This is a team still built for Devin Booker and Jaylen Green to to carry a majority of the offense. Yeah, he uh I think the not stepping on the game part is important because this is where you also instill confidence in guys and it can’t come from anybody but him. It’s not going to hit the same if it’s coming from anybody but him. And I think him trusting the pass is something that’s permeating across the entire team. Um he gets into an early pick and roll, he gets off of it quick. Now Colin gets into a pick and roll. defense is doing all of this and now they have what’s called the blender where the defense is just rotating and rotating and it ends up getting back to him after him getting off of it early in the clock for a wide open catch and shoot three and I think that’s the important part and where I think that you may see that more equal distribution is because the defense is leading to the offense in a lot of cases which means the ball doesn’t have to automatically go to book it’s whoever’s running uh you know running after that defensive steal or block or whatever the case may be so I think that’s where you may get some more equal distribution uh just because that is a more random play than running a specific offensive set. I think playing random is definitely something this team is is going to lean into. I just think the personnel is is very fit for it and we’ll talk about how Jaylen Green and Mark Williams can kind of fit in this randomness just to put a bow on the Booker conversation. How have we felt about his defense this preseason? Obviously, he had five steals in game two against the Nets. He comes away with one steal on Sunday. Do we feel like we’ve seen him maybe be about as engaged as he possibly could be for for a preseason game? I mean, he’s been attentive off the ball. I feel like that’s where most of his shortcomings have come. And it’s not for a lack of wanting to do something. It’s just that balancing act of knowing where your man is and knowing where the ball is and what’s going on and being able to balance both and not being too locked in on one side. And I think there’s a play in I think it was maybe the second or third quarter where he got a deflection on someone trying to cut. I think it may have been a roller actually. And if he wasn’t in tune with where the ball is as well as where his man is, he would have got caught in limbo and we would have saw a little bit of what we saw against Jackson Hayes where you get caught in between and you end up, you know, kind of getting on the poster a little bit. So, I think he’s been more attentive off the ball. I think that’s where everything starts from as far as being better defensively. Well, and it helps when you have a team defense that is is swarming is is active where the last two seasons you didn’t necessarily see that from this team. Uh it’s almost infectious what you see from Dylan Brooks. We’ve seen Grayson Allen be a little bit more active now that he’s he’s trimmed down again and he’s doing those things defensively. when that when you play as a unit, everybody starts to look better and it’s a lot easier to put in that extra effort because, you know, if I hedge on this guy, I can trust the guys behind me to take care of of things. Like, I think overall we’re going to feel a lot better about uh the defense as a whole, including Devin Bookers. Yeah. And everybody’s just going to be put in a better situation. And you know, I’m really excited for some of the guys beyond like the Ryan Dunn, the Dylan Brooks, the guys who have made their name playing defense, but seeing what Grayson Allen can do in this setting, what Royce O’Neal can do in this setting. I think those are the guys that are going to kind of benefit the most as far as how night and day it’s going to be, at least from a scheme and from an athleticism and and versatility standpoint on the defensive end. And I think the defensive end is a good place to also go to our PHNX factors of Sunday. That’s right. There’s two of them and it’s the two centers that played the most minutes. Starting center Osu Gadaro, 12 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 20 minutes, shooting five of seven from the field and two of three from the free throw line. And then maybe the most surprising member of the PHNX Suns overachievers in preeason. That’s Nick Richards. 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block in just 16 minutes. missed one field goal, two free throws, and your favorite Espo. A plus 10 for Nick Richards. Up that trade value. Up that trade value. Like, I’m happy for him. He’s a guy that came in and tried to stop the bleeding at the worst position on that roster last year. He has a good motor. Obviously, he’s more suited to be a backup center necessarily than a starter. Uh, and he came in and he did exactly what was expected of him. Uh, I I’m I’m happy for him. I again, I don’t know how this center rotation’s going to net out. There’s conversations to be had there that I’m sure we will eventually get into, but you know, I was happy to see that. But also hitting free throws made me irrationally happy that early in the morning because I’m like if you can if you can do this uh you know hit twothirds of your free throws may maybe half of a little more than half but twothirds of your free throws would be great because then you can trust him to be out there and all these other things that he does so well the passing the rebounding the smarts you can unlock that but if he misses them like we saw earlier in the preseason it becomes a lot more difficult to keep him out there. Uh the number that comes to mind with both of those two in mind for me is five. And that’s combined offensive rebounds from this most recent preseason game. So the Suns had 11 total. Those two had five of those. Um one that stands out for me, I think it’s the end of the third quarter or second quarter. Nick Richards taps it out directly. This was the third quarter. Jordan Goodwin and he gets the opportunity to knock down the three at the buzzer. Those two I think all of their offensive rebounds, second chance points came from those two in particular. Um, but the other thing is their short rule playmaking for me. They’re making not necessarily always the best decision, but a quick one is never a wrong one because you’re keeping a defense in rotation. And them making those quick decisions knowing that their guards are getting double team the ways that they are. It’s part of the screen IQ part because you have to find a way to manipulate that action if they’re giving you a numbers advantage. And those two play integral to that. Also within that the big Nick energy. One time he uh he missed the dunk, but the catch and the one dribble to not look to pass it. I’m open and I’m taking one strong dribble and I’m trying to put somebody in the basket with the ball. That’s what you want to see. More force from that center group. That was when he cocked back, right? He just missed it. Oh yeah, that was after he made a short roll read right before that. The possession before. So he was in a nice flow. I I think I’ve been really impressed by Nick Richards. He’s and we mentioned it last week. He just looks a little quicker, a little more decisive, a little bit more comfortable in his role. And I, you know, centers like that, like, let’s be honest, like Nick Richards is a backup center who can give you spot starting minutes if you need it, especially if you’re on a good team, you have a lot of talent around him. We saw him take advantage of that last year when he first got to the team, put up 20 and 20 and had some really good offensive performances. But he’s also the kind of guy that if his if he is not utilized the right way, put in the right position, and maybe having to overthink the game a little bit, he just slows down a little bit, he can’t use his athleticism. I never saw him as like an overtly athletic guy, right? Enough to get by at that position, but nothing that wows me. I think defensively the activity and the blocks around the rim and the rim protection have been really great from him. I think he’s had a really quick jump, which is important as a center. and then finishing around the rim. It’s just I think he’s a little bit more bounce, a little bit more quick twitch. And if he gets better on the margins, like I know you’re talking up the trade value and that could definitely be important. Listen, we don’t know how many games Mark Williams is going to play. No, and Oso Gdaro hit two or three free throws, you know, yesterday, but he might have a game where he’s one of six like he was in game one against the Lakers and he can’t be out there to end a game. We don’t know how Kaman Malawatch is going to play. And I I know there’s some takeaways you’ve had from his game so far early on and maybe some things that you’d like to see improve. Nick Richards might end up playing the most underratedly big role on this team this year even though he’s one of few positions that has four guys on the roster. Yeah, I I certainly could see that. And yeah, it’s a little jest when I say up that trade value, but it’s also true. I mean that that’s the perception, but and and I think you can read a lot into the fact that OSO started two of these games. Yeah. that there’s something that they like about him in this offense that you’re not going to get from the other centers. And that’s why I think he’s going to earn minutes. And yeah, maybe he’s not out there at the end of the game, but he’s going to earn minutes through this. He’s he’s a serious contender uh when it comes to minutes at that center rotation. I think Kaman is the guy that that does not have a large role to start in the rotation. I saw some things in these last few preseason games where he kind of defensively a an area where we thought there’s no question there. He’s kind of getting off his feet when he shouldn’t. He’s not there’s there’s little things like that that I think he has to learn. He’s got to get in to the speed of this game when he switches. Not overcommitting on things and letting guys get by him. little things that I don’t feel confident putting him out there for any major minutes to start. Like you’ve got to let him grow into that. So maybe maybe Nick Richards is part of your equation until you’re comfortable with Kaman stepping in there. And you make a good point. You know, you’re going to have to deal with Mark Williams and whatever those injury questions are as well. Yeah, the operative word with Kaman Malawatch is patience. And I repeat that time and time again. He’s a work in progress. Um, and I think that this most recent preseason stretch in game three was the most obvious of it. Um, just because it feels like he knows what he’s doing. You can, if you kind of gauge it on a per play basis, you can see like, okay, he understands what he’s doing. He understands what he’s doing. And then there’s like one moment where he just gets a half step behind. Leads to a foul, leads to a dunk, leads to what should have been a finish over an advantage in the paint. Now a smaller guy like Cam Thomas is getting a steal or someone else is able to block his shot before he can get it up. Just little things like that. I think it’s going to come in time. It’s going to take some work and I think that he has a good group of centers to go up against at practice to expedite that process. But he’s not ready for game reps against starting caliber players yet. As a great philosopher, Freckled Mamba once said, Giannis with a jump shot. I I we will we will see this this kid round in into shape and I think by the end of the year, we’ll play quality minutes and we’ll be a defensive stalwart that can can anchor the center of the defense. He’s just not there yet. And there’s nothing wrong with that with how young he is and and you know how little opportunity he had to grow because he was in college such a short time and he’s only been playing the game a short time. So I have no problem with that. I’m not I’m not putting any ridiculous expectations. I just think everybody needs to keep that in mind that if he’s not in the rotation for the first 15 games, that’s not oh well he’s not good enough. It’s he’s got to learn at this level. Before we move on and talk about Jaylen Green and Mark Williams and how they are going to fit into what we’ve seen so far and when we expect them to play. So, make sure you all stick around for that. Let’s wrap up the final preseason game talk. I know that we’ve talked about the centers and Booker. What were maybe one or two other key takeaways, players that you were watching that popped for you, Stephen, uh, from game three? Uh, it’s this the X factors for me and that’s Nick Richards and Oso Gadaro. uh we can go ahead and get up the ice coverage graphic. Um so nice definition to accompany what we’re speaking to here. Um but those two defend in unique ways from one another with also is a little bit more switching that happens on the court because he’s just a little more of an athlete in space and able to keep up with guards. But with Nick Richards is on the court, you see them do a lot of what’s called ice coverage or some teams call it weak coverage, some teams call it blue coverage, some teams call it down. All it is is a no middle iteration of defense where you don’t want teams to be getting straight direct access to the paint. So if you see somebody that kind of is influencing someone away from the paint and it’s like why are they not standing in front of their man in the basket? It’s because they have the center which is Osaro or Nick Richards standing around in the paint and their ball handle is being influenced towards them. And that’s where the concept of a lot of their defense that they’re getting into is. So, they like to keep teams on the outer thirds of the court away from the paint and allow for their bigs to be what they’re supposed to be in the paint, which is figuratively and literally big. I love that. Yeah. I I think for me vibes, and I hate I hate that because it’s a word that isn’t big for me, but this team actually seems like they enjoy being around each other and playing. And that stood out in the two games in China to me. Uh, and in particular in the final game and on the I don’t want to say negative side, but on something I didn’t fully expect, Nigel Hayes Davis has not been able to shoot the ball. And if if that continues, he’s not going to find himself in a in a legitimate spot in this rotation because they can’t afford, you know, you already got done that you have questions with that. If Nigel can’t find that rhythm, I don’t think he’s going to play minutes where I think we came in and thought he could be a dark horse, but it hasn’t looked good so far. And he still can, you know, he’s not playing with maybe some of the top end talent that he would usually be playing with, and he knows that that’s what his role would be. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from Colin Gillespie, uh, especially in the three-point shooting realm and just how smooth and how strong his base and his shot looks. So, I think that’s a really, really encouraging thing that that I’ve been noticing throughout this preseason. And you know what, Jordan Goodwin, he might get minutes, man. He might get minutes, especially early on. He might get minutes. He He might get a guaranteed contract. Well, we’ll have to see. But one thing that we know for sure is that there are two starters who have not been playing for the Suns. Jaylen Green and Mark Williams. The title of this show, well, the Suns are about to get a lot better. And we’re going to tell you why right after our first break. It’s never ordinary with Bet 365. And that’s for every single sport. MLB playoffs. Guess what? Early payout offer. You’re a winner if your team goes five runs ahead. What about NFL offers throughout the season? $10 safety net bet for Thursday Night Football. $365,000 jackpot for Sunday Night Football. And of course, you know, they’ve got NBA lines on our pregame show. We’ll be doing all sorts of different bets and whatnot and letting you know who’s going to win, which is me. I’m going to win the competition this year. And here’s another thing that you can win with Bet 365. New customers get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5, win or lose. Sign up, use code PHNX365, deposit 10, place a bet for five, and get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins or loses. Bonus bets can be used on spread, total, player props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at bet365. You must be 21 plus and physically located in Arizona. If you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1800 Nextstep, textep to 5342, or visit problemgambling.az.gov. NBA season is back next week and you got to find tickets, right? You want to be out there, especially early on. You want to go support your team, in particular, the Suns. Well, best place to do it. Stephen, you know this. I mean, it’s game time, and that’s where I turn to for all my ticket needs. I I’ve talked about it on this program and on Southwest Bias before. I love going to plays. I love going to sporting events. I love going to concerts. And Game Time has all the tickets that you could want. And you can find them all in their app. I love the Game Time app because it gives the advantage back to the fans, unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. Super easy, super intuitive. Uh so easy even my father who’s in his 70s can do it. That’s how easy it is. Uh so I love using it and I think you should uh as well. And uh you can make sure to take the guesswork out of buying NFL and NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app today. Create an account and use promo code phnx. Real creative, I know. For $20 off your first time purchase. Uh terms apply as with everything in life. Again, create an account. Use promo code phnx. $20 off. Tap ticket. Go download the game time app today. Game time. Let’s take a breath, chat. Appreciate all of you uh being here and uh hanging out with us here on a Monday afternoon. Hit that like button. Hit that subscribe button. Uh we will be having a pregame show for the first time in preseason tomorrow. Pregame and postgame show all right here on this very channel. So make sure you are subscribed. You can become a member today as well. And every member gets a free super chat, but we’ve got a regular super chat from BCOM. See clearly. Uh old freckle mamba. You know that means you’re up. $2 from BCOM see clearly. Still no video from Jaylen Green. I’ve been waiting. And what video would that be? We all know what video that is. I don’t I’ve been uh I’ve been absent. What What video is it, Harrington? Yeah. Go. Just What about What is it for? What? What did they want to Ecomy? Clearly I’ll keep this very short and sweet. He wants to see Jaylen Green twerk. Oh. Oh, I heard Steven’s up after that. So, oh no, he’s not. Somebody told you wrong. Oh, well, I’ll tell y’all that you can come hang out with the PHNX Sunundevils crew ne this Friday. Not next Friday. This Friday at 5:30 5:30 p.m. at 10P Marketplace Rally House location October 17th at 5:30 p.m. We’re giving away $550 gift cards. Plus doing a ton of other fun stuff. Come early. Our show will start at 5:30, but me, Tori, and Shane will hang out. Say hi. Tor tree is going to shake babies and kiss hands. Oh, wait, no, other way around. Sorry. Uh, we appreciate all of you who are going to come join us at around and I might need to have a conversation. Uh, Tori will sign your forehead if you bring a marker. That is always so make sure that you come hang out with us and walk away with some free merch. $550. I’ll be out there, too. Yeah, open your hand. Are you going to win a gift card? I’m going to be Can I win the gift card? No. No. I want to win the gift card. No shoplifting either. We’re all going to be winners opening night. That is next Wednesday, October 22nd. We’re all super excited for it here. Obviously, for a lot of reasons. Uh but a big part of it is that there are two players that we have not seen play on this team yet and they just happen to be two of the most important. Jaylen Green and Mark Williams. And what we’re going to do over the next couple of minutes is we’re going to break down how those two guys individually can fit into a lot of the patterns and things that we have seen from the team so far this preseason. So let’s go ahead and start with the second most important player on the team, the mainstay in the Kevin Durant trade, Jaylen Green. Stephen, what is the first thing that pops into your mind when you’re trying to imagine Jaylen Green and what we’ve seen from this Suns team so far? Uh, yeah. Um, I think it’s twofold for me. One is spacing, but two is ball movement. So, uh, Eric, this is a good time to go ahead and bring up our definition of what a spray pass is. So, imagine Jaylen Green’s in pick and roll. He’s getting double teamed in some capacity. What is the teammate, the other four players around him doing? someone making himself available for him as an outlet. That’s what they’ve been doing in preseason. It’s been Royce O’Neal, ironically, on all the reps I’m speaking to, but Devin Booker or Colin Gillespie gets double team. Royce O’Neal makes himself available from one pass away. He comes a little higher up the floor. That allows for him to then either hit the roller for an assist. He can skip it to the other side of where he catches it from for open three because the defense is rotating or he can make an extra pass to the same side he’s on and he’s getting assist that way. That can be Dylan Brooks, that can be Royce, that can be Grayson making those passes. But solutions to the coverages that your best players are seeing. We talked about it in the Jaylen Green film session last week. Then make the best decisions when he was getting two to the ball, but you can live with that as long as you give him an outlet and it’s not just all relying on him. So being able to simplify things for him, but also take what it is as a coverage that he typically sees and find ways to manipulate the action around him. All A pluses. I feel like we need the more you know sounder after, you know, after after Stephen teaches us everything that I need to know. Like I I very much appreciate it because I didn’t know a spray pass, you know, like and and I appreciate that. It helps out for me. I’m going to go simpler in terms of we’ve seen a lot of lobs coming in this offense and I can’t wait to see Jaylen Green be on the receiving end of one of those bad boys because I it’s going to be fun to watch out there. this this is a more athletic team. He obviously brings it in spades. He’s going to do fantastic things out there. Uh that this team’s been lacking. Not a lot of athleticism over the last few years. Energy kind of guy that’s going to he’s going to connect on one of those dunks we thought Nick Richards might the other day and uh and going to bring the crowd to his feet and and get the the his teammates into it. That’s that’s what I’m looking forward in seeing in a very simplified term, just what he’s going to bring in those lob situations and that athleticism. Yeah. And I I think when you took a talk about pace and pace has been a really big thing. We’ve seen so many transition and fast break points for maybe guys you wouldn’t expect whether it is you know a Grayson Allen who has been able to get out in transition and take advantage of that. Jaylen Green’s obviously going to fit very well into that and that’s something we’ve seen that he will be in addition to. I think something that maybe we haven’t seen as much that he’s going to help bring up the floor of is individual shot creation. Right? I love the ball movement that we’ve been able to see through these preseason games. It’s clear that they have an identity. It’s clear they all want to share the ball from top to bottom. But there have been a couple moments. I think I specifically look back to the beginning of the second game when the Suns don’t get a bucket until like three-ish minutes in. Sometimes you just need somebody to go out there and do something. And having Devin Booker is great. He’s clearly your best option to do that, but all good teams are going to need more than one player to do that. Jaylen Green’s going to be your guy when there is a lull. He’s not going to be afraid to put his head down and get to the rim. He’s not going to be afraid to create a shot. Now, we’ve talked about all off season, you need to create better shots and choose your spots better. So, hopefully he can take a little bit from what we’ve seen from the team, which is good ball movement, good shot selection, not really forcing anything, and mix that in with his just bullheaded, I’m going to go and I’m going to get a bucket. I think there can be a really fun balance there to give the Suns something that they need and maybe take away something from Jaylen’s game that he doesn’t really need. I think not having to be the focus of an offense like he had to be in Houston with very little offensive help around him makes it a lot easier to make better shot selection, right? Because there’s not that pressure on you. And when you’ve got Devin Booker, you’ve got this talent around you like he’s going to have. I think we’re going to see a natural better shot selection just because of that. That’s the beauty of him playing next to Devin Booker, but also the part that can’t be ignored most is being in Jordan out system. It’s the simplification of Reeds and also moving a defense so that he has more point A to point B kind of real estate to work with. I think they also have some things where we saw it a little bit with a Nigel Hayes Davis or Royce O’Neal where or even a Dylan Brooks where they’re screening for Devin Booker or Colin Gillespie just to get a more advantageous matchup and then they get into a pick and roll. So you don’t have to deal with the top tier point of attack defender. You can go up against a lesser defender and then that gives you more opportunity to be successful. So, the system, the players he’s with, and I think also his development of skill after the the postseason last year and understanding how to be more effective and efficient is all going to add up. We’ve talked about how, okay, Devin Booker is going to take a lot of the attention off of him as the primary offensive option. How do you see Jaylen Green fitting in with the guys that we’ve seen off of the bench? Because when Jaylen’s on the floor and Book is off, do you have to imagine there’s going to be at least a couple of bench players in there? Have there been any kind of pairings and matchups that you’re like, “Oo, I’d really like to see Jaylen with with these group of guys.” I want to see him with Colin Gillespie because that’s a guy that’s heady, knows how to how to pass the ball, knows how to run the offense, and again, it takes the pressure off of Jaylen from having to be that guy that runs everything. Gives him a guy that can can help set him up. I want to see that. I’m I I’m very interested in that because I think they’re committed to Colin being that that second unit. uh you know, one. So, what does it look like with Green next to him? I think the lineup I like that I’ve enjoyed so far postseason or preseason wise, excuse me, for WNBA, NBA language, excuse me. Um it’s been one where Colin is at the point, but I can see Jaylen in that same lineup. And that’s Jaylen with Grayson Royce, Nigel, and Nick. So, you got a bunch of kind of rough and rugged guys. You got a shooter out there with Jaylen and then actually you have Jaylen with the ball in his hands often. I think that’s a lineup that can get some fun things done on both ends of the floor and I think it balances out his youthful exuberance with some veteran experience so that he can kind of be steered a little bit. Is that your your blue color boys group there? You like it? Jaylen I don’t know if Jaylen is going to be a that’s my challenge for him this season. He can for sure because he’s athletic enough and I think he cares enough about playing basketball to do it. But you got to sustain to be a blueco collar boy. You know, the season’s around the corner when Be Coly clearly super chatting again. We’ll we’ll get to that in a second. In a second. I like this basketball conversation that we have going on. I like what Zeke said. Green with OSO pick and roll or maybe as Aiden might not like in the chat, Stephen, the inverted uh pick and roll. Bad news for you going to learn about these inverted pick and rolls this season. I also think just beyond them in direct action as we welcome back Rich. uh them in direct action is offball action with Jaylen Green and OSO as a playmaking hub, especially back door cuts and a guy like Jaylen who’s not going to stop moving and probably is going to be looking for when Oso’s on the court like, “Hey, I’m the guy.” I I think the connection between those two, if they can hit their ceiling, that’s going to make these bench lineups super fun. I’m terrified what super chat we’re going to get from BCOM. See clearly about offball action now. Uh, but uh, you know, I love I love the idea of Oso uh, and Green though because that’s that’s two guys that can make a lot happen. What does that look like? Can we get a double alleyoop? Maybe, you know, all sorts of double alleyoop. Yeah, you want you lob it to Jaylen Jay and he loves it. He loves it back on the in the dunker spot. Why not? I I’m just all the possibility. It’s It’s preseason. That’s what this is for. The possibilities to make your imagination run wild. What could this be? How great could it be? Uh and and that’s that’s what we can look forward to right now, right? This super chat from BCOMC Clearly has five thumbs up in the YouTube chat. Uh so freckled Mamba, what do they have to say? $5 from BCOMC Clearly. Can we do a team and staff drop it low? Let’s have some fun. It’s been a while since we had fun. I need Booker Greenbrooks to send it directly to me. work on it becom Stephen will ask uh Stephen will Stephen Bjan Garner PHNX no in our chat I’ve been asking for a group drop it low video uh do you think that that’s something that would be good for team morale look I’m going to say this this team will do it if we get 15 uh sub uh new uh supporter club members we’re going to do a drop it low we’ll do a drop it low that’s that I that’s how we want people to sign up. Well, I don’t think they can do it. I think we just lost it. I don’t think I don’t think the the chat can We’ve lost all of our members. I ain’t signed up for that. So, y’all have fun. Y’all can have fun. That’s the second uh mention of of Stephen twerking that you brought up on this show. Well, I said all three of us. I didn’t want to I didn’t want to put him in a position where it was just him. I We all got to do it. Uh I don’t even know what twerking is. Back to basketball. Uh yes, you do. Eritton, back to basketball. Is there a is there a twoman green and and somebody else that you’re looking forward to that we haven’t talked about yet? Yeah, Zeke Stolemind. It’s Oso and Jaylen Green. I think Jaylen Green, we’ve talked about it all off seasonason. Him off the cuts is going to be something to behold. And I think OSO’s playmaking ability on the elbow and the short corners I think is a good tandem for Green to get those cuts that we were always talking about. Well, how about Jaylen Green in a center that we haven’t seen play yet? How does Mark Williams factor into everything that we’ve talked about and the players that we’ve seen play well? We’re going to break down his game, talk about his availability status for game one of the season, and do a brief little look ahead to tomorrow’s Lakers game. We’re going to do it all right after our final break. Listen, I love Desert Financial Credit Union, not just because it’s for me, but my whole family, right? Me, my parents, my grandparents. 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And right now, when you open up a free checking account online, get 200 bucks in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinanicial.com/200. Have I ever told you that my great grandpappy actually started Brandon Bells? No, cuz that would be a lie. It would be a total lie. But it did start here in Arizona uh in Mesa. Now they’re located in Tempe. And I am falling in love with these hats. There is no ifer but about it. I am a hat aficionado. I have 70 of them in my closet, including a bucket hat, Stephen. Uh and I’ve slowly been turning them all into Brandon Bill’s hats because they’re the most comfortable, best designs I have seen in the game, bar none. And Stephen, they got bucket hats. So, uh I I love it. But it’s not just that. You can get custom hats if you got a company. We did it here uh at PHNX. We’ve got Phoenix on one a pennant the the logo. I I love them and people always give me great compliments when I wear uh the the Phoenix one and and I’ve actually had to send them to a few people out there in the media sphere that were like, I need one of those. So, you can get your custom hat wear and apparel from our friends at Brandabills who are partners with U of A, ASU, uh, and 40 other universities as well as the Phoenix Suns. So, head to brand billills.com, use the promo code BB phnx. You’re going to save 15% off your first order. Dude, I asked you to not tell people that you were the one who gave me my Phoenix brand of Bills hat, but here you are airing out my business. To all the wonderful people in chat, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you for hitting that like button, hitting that subscribe button. Of course to all of our members, we appreciate you so so so much. With the season starting, we will be having member exclusive content dropped for our Hall of Fame members on this very channel, but you can just join the regular MVP member and get access to all sorts of exclusive emojis that we are going to add a new Suns one because we have added a couple of Suns members recently. So be on the lookout for that as the season is around the corner. Uh the season’s around the corner. Mark Williams debut around the corner. He tells Dwayne Rankin he’ll be ready for game one of the season. I think it’s really obvious how Jaylen Green fits into how this team has been playing Stephen. But what about Mark? How does he fit into the principles that we’ve seen established by the Suns so far? So start with numbers. Um the Suns right now are averaging I think it’s 20.4 stocks per game. So 20.4 blocks and steals combined. Uh, it’s 12.7 steals, which is third in the preseason, and 7.7 blocks, which is fifth in the preseason. Those are very, very good numbers. How sustainable is it remains to be seen, especially when you get to condensing your rotation and only going up against the main rotation of other teams players, but as a foundation, it’s clear that activity and not just being solid defensively is what they want. They want to create more possessions. Mark Williams, a literal and figurative big piece in that. I talked about the coverage with Nick Richards, the ice coverage. They’re going to be in the same coverage with Mark Williams. He’s bigger than Nick Richards. He’s also a little bit more of a deterrent around the rim than Nick Richards has shown to be in a sustainable manner. So, if he’s in that and they’re forcing players to either make other decisions which lead to turnovers or he’s outright blocking shots, that’s more time in transition where they’ve been one of the best in the preseason as well. Everything is kind of adding up piece by piece. So having Mark around for the defense, but then on the offensive side, the finishing around the basket efficiently, effectively, one of the best in the league with that to give a defense something to think about when Jaylen Green is getting downhill or Deon Booker is getting downhill. Now those guys are getting layup opportunities or free throws. It’s kind of a domino effect. And I think that his size is going to be something that really hits for a team that has played bigger than they are at this present moment without him in the preseason. Yeah, everybody wants to look at at Jaylen Green and assume his offense is the key and it’s important, but I think Mark Williams is the key to this season and how far you can go. Everything you spoke to, but you know, also it’s just it comes down to his health. If he’s out there, he’s going to be a top 10 center in this league. And people forget he’s 23. This is not some guy that that is is not, you know, he’s not over the hill. There’s nothing outside of can he stay out there. And I’ve been told by sources. Oh, I’ve been told they have a plan for him. Oh, they have a plan for everybody. I’m glad. I’m glad. But I hope what I hope is that this staff does have the right approach where Charlotte didn’t necessarily and they can unlock that. Now, he’s not going to play all 82. There’s just there’s very Don’t say that. I’m not We’re not ruling out anything. I’m going to say 81. 81 because they’re not going to they’re not going to need the 82nd game because they’re going to have they’re going to be locked in to the two seed so he’ll get a sit out. But no, I to to me that if this plan that they’ve developed actually can keep him on the court for a majority of the time, you’re right, changes the p the perception on defense and makes them even more interesting on offense and and then gives Oso kind of a a change of pace in that second unit. There’s all sorts of things that kind of cascade from that. He is my key to this season being better than a lot of people think it can be. He’s certainly a floor and a ceiling razor if he plays. Uh I really am looking forward to the offensive chemistry that he’s hopefully going to be able to develop, but we’ve seen from a baseline a guy like Nick Richards, and I’m not trying to hate on Nick Richards, but he’s not as good offensively as Mark Williams has easily found his role in this offense. Oso Gdaro with his offensive limitations have easily found his role in this offense. Mark you’re able to get a little bit more creative with. I’m wondering how often they’re going to let him go and post up and how much he will just be a play finisher instead of a play initiator. I also think that when we talk about the ball movement side of things, Mark Williams is an extremely talented passer. Maybe not the same zip uh as Oso Igodaro, but as far as effectiveness goes, he is somebody who can playmake very well. Um I really really really think him and Devin Booker are going to gel a lot. This should be since DeAndre Aiden the most athletic center that he’s been able to play with that also has a lot of skill and that I think is just going to give Book a little bit of an extra release valve when it comes to getting double teamed or when he’s getting a pick and roll and he gets a lot of attention or he gets blitzed. I think Mark’s going to get a lot of easy baskets and be able to create some of the more difficult ones when needed. I I like the idea of you talk about him kind of starting that that break with good defense and being that trailer who comes barreling down the lane uh and maybe gets some get some easy buckets that way too. There’s so much that you can do with a talent like him and and he’ll never be your offensive focal point, but it gives you additional options and with what we’ve seen Jordan not already experimenting with, it’s going to be fun to see what he’s able to do with Mark Williams when he gets out there. Question for y’all, I would like to hear your thoughts on this, too. Which center do you feel is most apt to complement Devin Booker and Jaylen Green? Like, is it the same for both? Is it one specifically for each guard? How are you processing that? I do think it’s Mark. I think Mark for who? For both. I I like Oso and Jaylen because of Oso’s playmaking, but I think Mark is still a good enough playmaker that he’s going to be able to do a lot of what Oso can do. and then his offensive ceiling is just so much higher that he will take attention off of those two. And I think that just makes their life a little bit easier. I I think it might be OSO depending on how it develops because then you’ve got a third guy that can can actually be the playmaker out there and and handle some of uh you know initiating offense which we hear oh who’s the point guard who we’ve learned in the NBA it doesn’t always have to be a guard that initiates offense right that’s been that’s been made abundantly clear over the last decade so can OSO develop into a guy that in part you can can use him. Did I just steal Freckle Mamba’s here? Okay, somebody disliked the video. When Freckled Mamba said like the video in chat, he asked who did it and I said it was me. Who do you think? Freckled. Mine is also Mark Williams. Uh I think just the athleticism the way the NBA is right now. You kind of just have to lean that way first and then see what happens with someone like Oso and someone like Nick. I think for Devin is going to be Oso. And I say that because the aggressive double teams that Devin gets, the the most perfect counter punch is a strong short roll decision maker and also is the best passer that’s not named Devin Booker on the roster. Because of that, I think that’s why he fits hand and glove like a puzzle piece right next to Devin Booker. But for Jaylen, it might just be Mark Williams because you get a rim pressure guard that opposing bigs are always on high alert for that’s opening up a window for for a lob. And he hasn’t had a lob threat as a as a um center option with them yet. Similarly, you could say I guess we could throw Colin in there. I think Colin and Mark is a natural meshing of two players as well. But I think for the two younger guards is definitely Mark and for me with Devin is Oso because of the short roll reads. I also like with Oso and and Book, even though I don’t know if he’s the best option, but one of the things I do like because I think they fit well is, and you saw this in the last game, is Oso’s been driving to the paint and attacking from higher up on the court and putting his head down. Now, is it always extremely effective? No. But I like that he’s not just kind of going for the basic floater every time. I think it was even like the second bucket of the game yesterday. He he drove and he scored. Uh if Book is getting trapped and he dumps it to Oso Gdara who’s just above the free throw line instead of Oso just stopping and looking to pass every time. Oso taking one dribble, he’s athletic enough to go in and and boom. He’s probably like Mark is extremely athletic and Nick is extremely athletic. Oso is the most athletic off of a dribble, right? He’s the most one who’s like liable to kind of spring up out of nowhere. So I think that’s really good. But the reason why I still think it’s Mark for for book even though they’re both good options is the the offensive capabilities with Mark just kind of hit so much higher and I don’t like the playmaking is worse than Oso for sure but I think playmaking is the most underrated part of his game. I think if Mark had been maybe a couple notches below playmaking where he is now then it would be Oso. But I think it’s close enough that all the other strengths that Mark has still makes him the best choice in the book even though they’re both good. Well, I think it’s obviously going to depend too on uh time of the game like what what’s the situation and how does it how does it play out as well like we talked about OSO may not be able to be out there at any games is it Mark like what one thing I have a lot more confidence in this year than I have over the last few is that Jordan’s going to put these guys in the right situations to succeed offensively where we didn’t see that over the last uh few years. So Rich says, and Rich is a Houston fan, just for for context, says Jaylen needs space to get to the cup. Does Phoenix have enough of a shooting threat? They might not have enough of a shooting threat, but you have to respect people that are moving if you’re a defense. And that’s where the Jordan app part of it all, which I continue to harp on. It’s less about the personnel. It’s more about the system. Guys are moving. You have to move in respect to your matchup. Otherwise, you’re going to have to pay. You can give mediocre shooters wide open opportunities. If they’re wide open, these are professional players. They’re going to knock down a respectable amount. It might be 34 for some guys in comparison to someone like Grayson who’s knocking down 42% of wide open opportunities, but that’s great shot quality that the teams are going to be okay with taking. And you put that in tandem with width. If people are moving around, that means there’s more offensive rebounding opportunities, which leads into another kind of bucket that this team is wanting to lean into more. And it this isn’t the last, especially last year where it was one guy initiating and four guys standing around. To your point, that’s why it probably will work better than than if this were last year and you put Jaylen Green in this situation with a Mike Budenhoer offense. I think also underrated with Jaylen and just the center conversation that that we’ve just kind of impromptu dived into is small ball fives. Whether that is going to be Dylan Brooks who can guard five, Ryan Dunn who we saw in spurts last year, maybe a rashier if he’s able to get there. Having somebody who does have a little bit more of a jump shot than any of those other center options and can can spread the floor out and let him work but still be athletic enough in Ryan Dunn’s case to catch a lob. I mean, how we’ve seen Dylan Brooks catch some lobs and we’ve seen Rashier show some really great flashes. He’s also had some not so great ones as well. I think that’s going to be interesting if you’re going to go full pace three-point shooting. Putting Jaylen in there with a small ball five I think is a really enticing option. I think the only small ball five option they have is Oso because I guess like a super Dylan and Nigel and Royce can guard fives but they’re not going to it’s not it doesn’t hit the same as if it’s Oso. I don’t know if their small ball fives are big enough to play that like a Draymond can because Draymond plays he’s 66 but he plays like a sevenfooter because of his impact defensively. Those guys are good at it, but they’re good if there’s a center still on the floor if they’re guarding those fives. It’s not if they’re guarding those fives and it’s four smaller players on the court with them, if you will. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, I I see where you’re getting that with it. There is line of versatility there for them for sure. And that’s why also the idea of Kam Malawash being able to shoot threes is so enticing to have somebody who could do a little bit of everything and step out, which we don’t expect him to do. Like that is in theory the best combination with with Jaylen. Yeah. Well, I mean that that’s the hope that at some point you get some second unit minutes where Kaman can be that guy with Jaylen and and you ease into that like we were talking about earlier. I don’t expect it in that first month I don’t think but maybe when we’re looking at January February as they ease into it and you get some of those additional minutes you’ll get get some looks like that. any other players? I guess if we just kind of bring it back to to Mark Williams specifically, we know that his his tandem with Devin Booker, with Jaylen Green, even maybe with with Colin Gillespie is going to be so important for this team. Anybody else that kind of is a fun twoman duo? I I kind of look at Grayson Allen uh as as two guys that can create gravity. Is Mark Williams probably the best at creating gravity in the paint and Grayson Allen the best at creating gravity behind the three-point line? even if they’re not directly impacting each other. I think those two on the court at the same time makes the other three players lines just so much easier with hopefully what Jordan is scheming up as an offensive game plan with those five. Uh I’m intrigued by seeing at some point Kaman and Mark on the court. Now, I don’t know that it’s it’s the bet, but I’m intrigued by it because they obviously had something in mind on draft night when they went and got both guys. And there I I don’t know if it was simply Mark can be that guy now as starting center Kaman could eventually be. But in my head initially you get things dancing around like well if Kaman can hit that three is there some crazy super defensive lineup that you have both those guys out there and it gives you a weird versatility offensively. Eventually I I’d like to see that if it if it could have any legs to it. Yeah. For me, it’s I’m taking it to the defensive end, and that’s the defensive pairings of him with Dylan Brooks in the front court. So, Dylan Garden centers and Mark being on nine shooters in the lineup and him being able to just roam around the basket and blow things up off the ball while also staying around the paint as often as he can and him making some of the rotations that comes with covering up drives for his teammates. Also directly in pick and roll. So if Mark Williams is guarding a center or guarding a person that’s screening and it’s Ryan Dunn that’s at the point of attack, I want to see that because I feel like that’s the bones of that trio in different factions is the foundation of what they want to be defensively. I imagine they’re guarding the most actions in tandem with one another. Much better answer than mine. I’m definitely looking forward to Jared Butler and Mark Williams and seeing what that dynamic duo What is that? Is Mark going to have to do a stint in the G-League to get uh get ready? Uh, I think at the end of the day, you know, a lot of people are are kind of making fun of Suns fans for for being optimistic at this moment after just a couple of preseason games and a couple of good preseason showings. Adding Jaylen and adding Mark is going to add so much to this team and so many different layers on both sides of the ball that it’s hard not to think with what they’ve already shown that this team is not going to at least be competitive this year. Now, what’s your definition of competitive? For a lot of people, it’s it’s not super high this year, but they have a lot of players that can create advantages and take advantage of disadvantages. I’m I’m really excited to see how those two figure in. Can Can we get the two shot because I don’t think uh Stephen Can we Can we do this in in overtime first? Yeah. You want Yeah, we can we can go to overtime. If you’re watching on TV, the party always continues over at gophnx.com for whatever the hell he’s going to do. It’s going to happen uh in overtime. Hit that like button and I guess brace yourselves. overtime. Does that I’m not Look, I I’m Look, when I don’t care what other people out there in the media sphere or other fans think about Suns fans after the last few years, we’ve w earned every second of trying to be optimistic and enjoying what’s going on now and what might go on in this season. I I know a certain someone was like, “Well, it’s easy to have vibes when there’s no expectations.” We’ll talk about that. Sure. Okay. But you know what? I’d rather have vibes and hope than not have any of it, which is where we’ve been the last few years. So, knock on Suns fans all you want, but there’s promise here, and that’s a lot more than we felt last year when there was no hope and darkness essentially that we were staring at. So, I’ll take where we’re at right now and mainlining over anything else. Uh, I thought you were going to say something way worse than that. I I thought about it, but then I was like, you know what? Uh, we’ll save that for After Dark. I I thought that was good. Um, okay. Well, let’s So, my my my dad, who whose birthday it is, happy birthday, Dad. Let me be the first to say, you [ __ ] Uh, it is 3:59. Let me say this. Cut the [ __ ] All right. 199 from my dad says, “Any comments on Katie trashing the Suns on Twitter?” Um, look, I thought it was a really funny way of admitting that you failed to live up to expectations. I thought I thought it was great. Look, I I was listening to uh the NBA Daily, the Athletic Podcast on my way in. It was all about uh it was all about the Rockets today. And I’m hearing them talk and I go, “This sounds like the last two years talking about the Suns. It sounds like that that it is a situation that’s going to feel eerily familiar to what went on here. And I’d much rather be sitting right now with the the hope of what could be than the expectation of what has to be. And that’s the weight that we carried because we all knew it was championship or it was a complete and utter failure. And we got complete and utter failure in ways that we did not expect were possible. I think two things can be true. I think what you all are saying is very factual as far as them not meeting expectations and that’s one way of saying it just in a way that benefits the person that is saying it. But I think what he said is true too. It’s not he’s not% vibes are easy to come across when there’s not really expectations attached to them. That’s why the 21 S team was much more fun than the 22 team and the 23 and then after that you know how it did dwindle with each week that went by since then. So, two things could be true, but I think y’all are very appropriate in what you’re saying because I will just say this. I think like I still have KD stands coming at me being like like like you suck, dude. I’m like move on. Like just just move on. Like why do you still care that we like D that we like Dylan Brooks? Like why do you care? Whatever. I They’re They’re losers, dude. They’re all losers. You’re Houston’s problem, not mine. Like they’re making them my problem. They’re making themselves my problem. Stephen, to your point though, like Arizona sports is folds under the weight of of expectation, right? So, we enjoy this space because we’ve been trained to un to feel that if there is expectation, the roof is just going to collapse. That the weight of that isn’t going to actually make you rise to the occasion. It’s going to make you drown. And that’s I think that that’s the excitement. But guess what? As we started the show with, I’ve fixed it. We broke the curse. Everything’s in alignment. So, the weight of expectation or the hope of of vibes is all going to be good. Alignment. I didn’t know we were going the psychology route as far as being conditioned to think things a certain way through because of previous experiences, but here we are in overtime. Hey, hey, look, look, some fan bases uh merely adopted the dark. We were born in it. We were molded by it, which is kind of ironic considering that we cover the Suns. Yeah, we’ve we’ve lived under an eclipse. Speaking of eclipse, Luca Donuch walking in front of the sun. Um, oh, it’s it’s less of an eclipse than it was last year according to He looks the same, dude. He looks he looks the same. And we’ll get our first look at Luca according to Dave McMenan of ESPN saying Luca will make his preseason debut tomorrow as the Suns take on the Lakers. Let’s let’s say the Valley Suns. Dude, I there which is just so crazy. The Lakers still have three preseason games left. Yeah, it’s it’s ridiculous. And and and the Wizards are playing a backtoback in the preseason. Wait, are you serious? They play Dude, that’s [ __ ] insane, bro. Yesterday, they played tonight. It makes it makes absolutely no sense the way the schedule is set up. The Suns play a day after traveling from China and then have eight days off before their first their first game of the regular season. None of this makes sense at all. Well, let’s be honest. The NBA went, “Is it really going to hurt the Wizards to play back to back in the preseason?” That’s so true. They’re going to do they’re going to do uh double headers on the same night for the Wizards. They be like, “You’re going to play Orlando, then you’re going to play Charlotte.” Wizards fans are like, “Can we just play 82 nights straight and get this pain over with right away?” Like, back to back in preseason is hilarious. It’s also, see, it’s crazy though, like as much as it sucks that there’s a preseason game like literally 36 hours after you played in China, the Suns do have three games in four nights to start the season, which is there’s always some BS like that because they play opening night, they have a day off, and they have a back-to-back on the road Clippers in Denver. And at least there’s going to be somewhat of a sustained break between Tuesday, aka tomorrow, and then next Wednesday. Well, at least it’s not difficult teams in those three night three games. to Denver. Yeah. And then on the road against the wall and Bradley Beal. I Yeah. I mean, there’s always going to be those quirks in the schedule. I don’t They save it for the regular season though. Back to back. So crazy. Crazy. Just played the Suns Wednesday. A backtoback for the Suns is basically what they’re doing now. Going from playing to Yeah. to hours in between China and the Lakers. I don’t I don’t mind it because usually at this point, the last game of preseason, you’re not going to be playing your main guys. So, so it doesn’t bother me that much. And I think the Suns always knew. I mean, I’ve I’ve talked with people, they made it clear, they always knew that this was going to be a game that you weren’t going to see any of the main guys. And then they get essentially another mini training camp going into it to work on their stuff, which I think is probably more valuable in trying to put your new systems in to have that dedicated practice time uh than worrying about the fourth preseason game being Thursday instead of Tuesday. So, you had a couple days extra rest from China. They’re not playing anybody of any significance tomorrow. They never were going to play Jaylen Green or Mark Williams. Well, Mark Williams, I don’t think ever was going to play in the preseason. That that every time they said plan that I think that’s what they were saying. And then once Jaylen, you know, pulled something, why why risk it? Like why why mess with it? So I don’t have a huge problem about them playing tomorrow. I would just rather have seen Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Yeah, just give him a day. I just I don’t get why it’s so rushed. It does suck that it’s the one home preseason game, right? Yeah, it’s the one home preseason game. They like got, you know, Devin Booker going off in China. We go back, he got 36 hours and now Damen Bao is playing in front of the Suns fans at at the Morg. Hey, it shout out Damen Bow, man. Sam, I’m just pointing out facts. Me, too. Shout him out. Shout out. Maybe it’s appropriate that we’re calling it the morg tomorrow because there’s going to be all these guys that likely aren’t going to be on the roster and will be in in Tempee. Dude, it’s real CJ Huntley hours. Yeah, this should be a 40minute Kobe Brea 30ish minute take like 40 shots. Let them let the young boys run is key number one for tomorrow’s game. Enjoy enjoy your playing in front of the hometown crowd and and yeah, go get your minutes, you know, and now it’s an irrational excitement kind of game. There’s always there’s always some preseason performance that people like, oh my god, or that last game of the season where Alec Peters of the world dropped 39 points. Well, dude, that was real. Let’s Let’s enjoy Let’s enjoy whatever random thing’s gonna happen on Tuesday. You know what their their their kind of token is? You get to go up against Luca Ditch in your first game. Why? Why not? Throw him into the water. Go enjoy guarding Luca. All right. Kobe Bray gonna drop Luca tomorrow? Kobe Bray is going to light him up. Kobe Bray is gonna have five three-pointers tomorrow for sure. Maybe six because nobody else is going to shoot. Why not? is I will say this uh one one last thing before we get out of here to kind of round out the the China trip is you know talk about getting irrationally excited and I fall into this category. I think Suns fans kind of got irrationally excited to see Devin Booker smile so much uh in this postgame clip about Dylan Brooks and his labu. Uh actually last uh playhouse I noticed that you carry a labu by yourself and this time you’re in China in Macau. Did you get a chance to go to those like a store to storage those labu because it’s still very trendy. Uhhuh. Yeah. I like the lab boooos. Um I got like four of them. Uh I like the trend. Um it’s cool and um it’s cute. Devin, I know you’re a very trending guys. I I heard you you probably heard Lab Boo. So, how do you um make a comments on, you know, Darren’s uh labu? I’m I’mma get him one for his birthday. It’s coming up right now. I think they’re cute. [Laughter] Okay, one more. I mean, that’s awesome. I I completely question Devin Booker’s decision making process saying he thinks they’re cute. There’s nothing cute about a liaboo. No, they’re cute. No, I think when people see me with my wife and they go, “She must have lost a bet to marry that guy.” That is not cute. You just compare yourself to a labu. I did. And I thought you were going to get in a lot of trouble when you started saying when I marry my wife. I’m comparing me to the Bubu. Also, one thing, people making fun of LeBron sciatica. I got a case of that while I was in San Diego. There’s nothing to laugh about with that. Uh that is that is worse than the labu. All right. That it is worse than that. Sciatica versus labu. This is all that Stephen ever expected. Well, they’re pains in the ass. Don’t hate on labuboos. The labukboo is going to go crazy. Oh my god. Stephen, did where do you weigh in on labuboos? What’s your scout? just found out. I just found out about Le Boooo’s when you had picked on your backpack, bro. Asia Asia Wilson was talking about hers and then on Sunday we get to the Suns game and now Dylan Brooks is talking about his and I’m like, “Okay, I I didn’t know this was a thing until now.” I didn’t know until about four months ago. So, don’t feel Don’t feel too sleep. They’re like a blind bag thing, too. Like, people are buying it like like it’s a lottery ticket. And I’m like, it’s a laboo. Like, it’s it’s a lottery ticket. There’s a whole backstory about how it came about, too. It’s it’s it’s a lot of people are on Facebook said we should have a a PHX labu. You know what? Uh we’ll see what we can do. Meatloaf boo. No, a phoenix labu is probably Phoenix labu would kind of go crazy. Uh somebody out there could probably make that. Deborah wants labu night. Everybody like waves their laboo up in the air wearing a little uh what is it? Yeah, mortgage uh mortgage matchup center labu mortgage matchup center labu was not a string of words I ever thought I was going to say in my life but here we are. Uh any final thoughts as we we wrap up on a very fun Monday show get into uh pregame postgame tomorrow. Of course Stephen will be at the game so as I’ll be holding it down for you here in studio. Bigger pain in the ass for LeBron Luca being part of the team or the sciatica? You forgot DeAndre Aiden. Oh well that’s different. That is different altogether. DeAndre is a walking lie boooo. You you think LeBron’s back is stiff. That’s a stiff of a different kind. So, any final thoughts, Stephen? How am I supposed to follow any of that? That’s not my job to figure out. That’s your job to figure out. Thank y’all for tuning in to another episode of PHNX Sons. That’s the host, Eric Ruby. You can follow him on Twitter at E R I K Rub By. That’s Espo. You can follow him on Twitter at Espo Espo. I’m Stephen. You can follow me on Twitter at StephenPG3. Franco Mamba. Add him on Franco Mamba on Twitter. I don’t know what they talking about, but we’ll talk to y’all. [Applause] [Music]

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The Phoenix Suns are coming off of their first loss of the preseason to the Brooklyn Nets, but one thing is clear, they can get so much better.

Erik, Stephen and Espo dive into what their takeaways were from Sunday morning’s game in the China and discuss how two starters, Jalen Green and Mark Williams, fit in to what we have seen from this team on both sides of the ball so far.

They also take a brief look ahead at what their preseason finale against Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers could hold. Follow the show @PHNX_Suns, @ErikRuby, @StephenPG3, @Espo & @FreckledMamba!

0:00 – Intro
3:15 – Do The Suns Need a Curse Reverse
4:45 – Recapping The Suns Final Preseason Game in Macao, China
7:00 – Devin Booker Was The Star of Sunday Morning
14:00 – Nick Richards and Oso Ighodaro Had Themselves a NIGHT (Morning???)
28:45 – Were READY to See Jalen Green and Mark WIlliams On Opening Night
42:35 – According to HIMSELF, Mark Williams Will Be AVAILABLE For Opening Night

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