The Phoenix Suns Have WON The NBA Playoffs

The Phoenix Suns Have WON The NBA Playoffs

You can’t win if you don’t play. Or can you get that stuff out of here? It’s Southwest Bias. Welcome in to Southwest Bias live from Studio K and brought to you by our friends at Branded Bills. Don’t forget to use that promo code BBPHNX and you’re going to save 10% off your for first order of custom hats or apparel. And yeah, if you grew up in the valley, you heard the phrase you can’t win if you don’t play a million times growing up thanks to the Arizona Lottery. And while it may apply to what they do, I don’t actually think it applies to the Phoenix Suns right now. In fact, and you may call me crazy for this, I think the Phoenix Suns have won the NBA playoffs outside of whoever wins the NBA Finals. The Phoenix Suns have the biggest off season that they have faced in decades. They have to thread the needle to trade Kevin Durant and get enough players to compete now and set themselves up for the future. So, how does that make them winners in the NBA playoffs? Because almost every team that has been rumored to be interested in Kevin Durant that was involved in the playoffs have lost in a way that does not change the fact that they want to get a superstar that can help them win. That they want a guy that can score in the clutch. Look at this list. Dallas, Memphis, Houston, Minnesota, Miami, and the Knicks have all been rumored to have some level of interest in trading for Kevin Durant. And guess what they all have in common? They did not do what they expected in the playoffs in some cases or they did not finish the deal in the Knicks case and in Minnesota’s case. And you know what that does? It raises the potential offers for Kevin Durant because these teams now have a sense of desperation to get better. Minnesota’s the one I have circled, right? They went in and they flamed out in the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the team that they’re going to be measuring themselves against for the next decade or two. And that is going to weigh heavy on Tim Connley and the entire group, the new ownership group there that involves Alex Rodriguez. They’re going to want to win and try to compete with Anthony Edwards at a young age. And you know who could come in? Kevin Durant. And these playoffs have helped them keep their asking price going up if you’re the Suns. because all those teams still want Kevin Durant. And sure, Giannis throws a little bit of a wrinkle in there if he becomes available. But I think this is the best case scenario for the Phoenix Suns to find a competitive offer. And everything we’ve heard, uh, including from our friend Mark Stein is that Kevin Durant is almost likely or almost guaranteed to be dealt this off season. Mark Stein said in his newsletter on Substack last night, quote, there have been strong indications during the coaching search process. sources say to reinforce the notion that Kevin Durant is likely to be moved from the Phoenix Suns. Saving the Suns future and keeping their present with a chance to win has everything to do with winning the Kevin Durant deal. And by the way the playoffs have panned out, it’s kept the Kevin Durant market hot and may give them a chance to do exactly what they need. need this off season. But maybe that’s just my Southwest bias. I am so excited to have everyone here on the new program. We are live. Thank you, Chris, Stephen, uh, everybody in the chat and so says Jay, that review guy, Sun’s Digest. I appreciate you guys being here along for the Maiden Voyage of Southwest Bias with me, Espo Live here. But it’s not just me running the show. The mustache behind the Mac, the man that I started with as a producer here when he was producing the Suns and I was hosting on that very first episode. It is Shane Definbach. Shane, how are you today, my man? I am fantastic. I suppose you don’t you just enjoy uh you know having no safety net, not being able to say certain words, just knowing that you’re live and there’s no second take? No. Yeah, it’s horrible. Especially on a Monday after a vacation. Right now, you can see I’m scrambling to grab something to put it in here because we’re live and I can’t do it in post. I I know. I mean, that’s I’ve been so used to doing these uh and in some cases editing them myself. Uh just doing them when we had time. And now we will be live every day at 11:00 a.m. Well, we’ll take Saturday and Sunday off. Unless Unless you, you know, just do sometimes we might have to. I mean, yeah, maybe maybe I’ll just do it from the home studio. get trapped back in the closet uh in that undisclosed location in Mesa. But I’m so excited to have you all along with me uh and have Shane along with me. This is going to be the intersection of where smart sport takes meet insanity. All right, we’re going to have fun because what it means to be a diehard Phoenix sports fan and Arizona sports fan is to have some damn fun along with it because otherwise we’re going to lose our minds. All right, so we’re going to enjoy what comes along with this. We’re gonna have high jinks. We’re going to have Maybe Nookie Monster will even show up for you. I thought that was I thought that was in the contract that we can’t do that. I didn’t know we had a contract. I thought I just showed up and hope the money hit the bank eventually. Is that not the way you operate around here? No, I don’t I I I don’t think that’s the way that works. No, you have a contract. All right. So, there’s a contract. But look, we want to have fun with this. My thought is this is kind of late night in the early morning. We’re going to we’re going to do some things that are different. uh you get to hear all the great talk from all of our friends across the network here. This is going to be kind of an amalgamation of all that. We’re going to bring in some of our favorite friends internally and from across the country. We are going to just have a good time here and that’s going to start right after this. I want I want want to tell you about my good friends at Circle K. Not only am I sitting in Studio K, brought to you by Circle K, but I visit Circle K on more than a semi-regular basis. I was there over the weekend. I had basically run my tank dry. And I said, you know what? I got to go fill up, but I’m going to go that extra mile so I can go to that Circle K rather than one of those other places because I am an inner circle member. And when I signed up, I got 25 cents off per gallon for my first five fillups. You can do that, too. Just download their app and sign up. But after that, you can get three cents off. Then you’re going to reach that ESPO level. You’re gonna get five cents off per gallon. And in these times, every cent makes a difference. So you want to save, download the Circle K app today. Sign up to be an inner circle member. You’re going to get great deals. And it’s not just on gas. 79 cents Polar Pops, 99 cent frosters, uh, three ghosts for $7. I don’t even know what a ghost is, but if I can get three of them for seven bucks, you know I’m interesting. They are not real ghosts. their energy drinks. Okay, I’m still interested in three for seven, you know. So, if you want to sign up, download the Circle K app today. And you know what? You sign up super easy. You put in that phone number. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit circlek.com for details. And you need to know about my friends over at Mountain America Credit Union. Look, signing up for a checking account can be a commitment. And you know what? They have over a million members that they take care of. So you know you are in good hands with a 100 branches throughout the west and everyone needs a checking account and that’s just that is a basically death taxes and needing a checking account are exactly what you need you know happens in life. Those were the guarantees here and Mountain America’s my style checking account has perks for you. Restaurant deals you like to eat. We all do. You can get deals with them. Mobile phone protection. Who doesn’t drop their phone? We all need that. They got you covered. Identity theft protection. You know what? Nobody wants this identity, but I’m sure yours is one that they might. And you’ve got, you know, identity protection, uh, telealth access, loan loan rate discounts, and other great deals when you become part of the my style, your lifestyle at Mountain America Credit Union. Visit macu.com/mystyle to apply. Membership required based on eligibility, some benefits required, no cost, registration, activation, terms and conditions and exclusions apply. And you know what? It is uh his time to talk a little bit about the Suns coaching search. Uh we weren’t going to do this, but news dictated uh you know that now that we’re live that we have to talk about this. Sham Shirania of ESPN dropped this morning. The Suns are down to two. Two candidates for their head coaching job. One Jordan and then uh you know it’s Bryant Johnny Bryant from the Cleveland Cavaliers. That’s right. You’ve got Johnny Bryant, one that many people feel is a logical candidate to be the next head coach for the Phoenix Suns based on his pedigree. Uh you got Jordan not who has the Michigan State connections and we’ve all heard the jokes about Michigan State and the Phoenix Suns. There’s no secret there. Uh what they both bring to the table reportedly is they’re both hard-nosed guys that expect really really tough defenses when it comes to it. But you know what? I’m not focused on Michigan State. I do not care where any of these guys went to college and I do not care about the whole Phoenix Spartans or Michigan State Suns jokes out there. You know what I care about is mortgage beef. And that’s what come this comes down to is regardless of who the Suns hire, Matt Ispia is getting the upper hand in the latest round of mortgage beef with the Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. because regardless of who they hire, they’re taking a top assistant from the Cavs who just won uh 64 games, who just were one of the best teams in the East and the Suns are going in and Matt is saying, “No, no, no. I’m taking one of your guys just because I can.” And you know what? I like pettiness. I like the mortgage beef. I’m all in for it. Shane, uh, do you enjoy mortgage beef? We need a sounder. the by the amount of times this has come up in in Ishbia’s short tenure. We’ve talked about mortgage beef. I didn’t think I’d talk about it once in my life, let alone five every time they play the Cavaliers. I mean, we need it. We need it because I feel like the richer you get, the pettier you are. Oh, of of course. Especially if the other rich guys in your in two of the same industries you’re have to be. Like, are you not always looking for the upper hand in that? I agree. We need a sounder. Maybe it’s the old beef. It’s what’s for dinner. Or maybe it’s just mortgage beef. I like that. Like a a a a mid2000s rapper tag or beat rapper tag intro where there’s a big explosion. Mortgage beef. I need a a a thing that comes on the screen though and goes and it just says mortgage beef as it said to. I I think that this is the hilarious subtext of all this. And if Okay, we can talk about the reality of these candidates, right? A lot of people uh wanted Chris Quinn. I mean, there were a lot of people or Bliss from Oklahoma City. Uh you know, I talked on this program that I like Micah Nory because of his approach to things uh and his kind of way he deals with stress and went after things. But in the end, and I’ll say this, Saul said this on Outside Shots uh earlier today, we don’t know anything about these assistants. In the end, you’re just assuming what these guys can be. As fans, we don’t know. And I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt. And I took a hard time for saying I would give Brian Gregory the benefit of the doubt until I saw some of these moves. The one thing that I do question, it came up in Sham Shirania’s report, is that the people that will be interviewing these two candidates in Michigan this week are Matt Ishpia, which I’m fine with. It’s his money. It’s his team. He should have some say and should be involved. Brian Gregory the GM which obviously makes sense but then the CEO Josh Burlestein and that’s where I question how much change have we seen how much is Josh involved and how much was he involved uh in the previous years what are we doing and why and that’s that’s my only question about this right now because if you hire Jordan not sure he he had a brief stint at Michigan State but if if the mindset is what they’re looking for then I need to see it on the court. I That’s all that matters to me. I don’t care. Like I’ve said, I don’t care if you win the press conference. They don’t give out championship trophies for press conference wins in May and June. Heck, they don’t give them for July, too, because we’ve seen the Suns sign or trade for a lot of guys that you thought this is the year. But you don’t win those trophies then. What I want to see is how they actually coach this team, how they lead this team, how do they change the mentality of this team. And that’s what I need to see. But what I really want to talk about, Shane, is two things that came up on the internet over the last few days that are interrelated. Uh, one was a poll from Vegas Insider about the most negative fan bases in the NBA. And this was insane to me because if you’ve spent any time on the mean streets of Twitter or X or whatever the hell you want to call it or in YouTube comments, including probably on this video after I said the Suns won the off season uh or excuse me, won the playoffs, you’re going to know that this is one of the most negative fan bases that you can be around right now. I want to know, dude. Did they give you a qualifier of what a negative comment was? No. Like I don’t even know what the methodology was with this because let’s go through the ranking for our audio listeners. Dallas Mavericks 1, Boston Celtics 2, Minnesota Timberwolves 3, Grizzlies, 76ers, Knicks, Bucks, Cavs, Rockets, Magic, Pelicans, and then the Suns at 12. I don’t know what the methodology was, but I’m guessing whatever it was, they came up with it when they were 12 beers deep. Because I am sorry, Dallas Maverick fans, you’ve dealt with what, six months of misery. You were in the finals last year. I don’t want to hear that you’re negative and you’re miserable. So, you made a bad trade. Welcome to Wednesday here in Phoenix. All right. Welcome to Arizona, where trades are painful eventually because that’s just the way it goes. And the Boston Celtics fans being the most negative. Really? Really? You’ve got a four-leaf clover so far jammed up your backside that luck is just what you always have. Oh, boohoo. Jason Tatum got hurt. He’s still gonna be one of the best players in the game. And you got a Larry O’Brien trophy last year. How many years have we suffered here in in Phoenix and in Arizona without championships in general? One major championship in the four big sports. One. One. And it was a fluke. I would argue that they won it in the fourth year of their existence. I’m sorry. This whole list is a joke. Uh you look at this uh you know Rockets fans uh yeah congratulations. You got you got multiple championships in the ’90s and ripped our hearts out when it happened. But there’s another one and this is the one where I think there’s even more disrespect uh that came out. This one uh is the 10 most miserable sports cities in America. Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, and then Phoenix. All right, Detroit maybe because of where you have to live, but come on. You had this, you had the Pistons who were dominant. You had the Tigers who were good at one point. The the freaking Red Wings. Red Wings controlled the mid 2000s. Yeah. Like I mean this and and they were good in the 90s. Like I don’t get this. Cleveland’s Cleveland, but you still got that LeBron championship. Yeah. I don’t know about Cleveland. Come on. Okay. Again, Minneapolis. Maybe I can I can say you’re tied for one, but this is Arizona, baby. If you want to know miserable, we were born in it. We were molded by it. We know miserable in in Arizona and in Phoenix in particular. There’s a Why are there only three teams on there? They just lost one. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, that doesn’t make you miserable apparently when your team leaves for freaking Utah. Utah of all places. I mean, come on. You want to talk miserable? Utah is miserable, but not for uh not for the sports team. I think Detroit is the is the weirdest one ahead of the Suns in my opinion. Just be like I can understand Cleveland. I get what you’re saying with LeBron, but he he left it twice. Like that’s got to hurt. Yeah. But but okay, he he did give you the ring though. So at least at least you got the ring out out of the deal, right? I mean that to me that at least you know should count for something. But I was talking with uh with some friends over the Arizona Tourism Board and they said they are not going to let this disrespect stand. And they have a brand new ad that’s going to start airing soon uh that I I want to show you here on the program if we can do that. Shane, what if there was a place where trophies never called home? Where watching sports is as unfulfilling as an alcohol-free beer? Or where a sports community is more group therapy than celebratory? A place where the ultimate dream is rarely realized. Where hockey doesn’t exist thanks to one rich resident of the most boring state in the country. Thanks Utah. And where at least lately people wish basketball didn’t exist either and our baseball team’s bullpen doesn’t. A place where teams with expectation fail and underdog stories fall short. This is Arizona, the most miserable sports state in America. I I think it works, right? I don’t think you’re going to finish, you know, in 12th in one list and fourth on another after that ad goes out, right? I think I’d be playing that on every major sporting event uh here in the FE. What a better recruiting video than come here. We’re miserable. Who is the target? The four people that put together those lists. Like, doesn’t that make you want to come to Arizona? Not at all. No, I I I don’t know. I just I felt like that is uh is exactly what we are are sitting in right now. And look, there’s a lot to be, you know, to enjoy with Arizona Sports. We’ve had a lot of great moments, but come on, give me give me a little help with the miserable fan base and the miserable city. We can’t even win with being bad. And that’s that’s what hurts me the most with all of it. Uh Shane, we’re going to wrap up most of these shows with a little fun. not debauchery per se, but something that you come up with uh around here that uh you’re going to you’re going to put your own little spin on. And today, I believe we’re we’re going into the bag and we’re going to play a little two takes and a fake. Correct. Shane, do you want to walk the people through the general premise of two fakes in a take? Two takes in a fake. Whatever. What? You think I pay attention in a It could be two fakes and a fake. You think I pay attention in a production meeting? No. No, I don’t think you do. Have we had a production meeting? It doesn’t even exist. It’s never going to We’re never going to have one. No. So, I’ll never get the names right. Uh, so in two takes and a fake, it can be something different each time. We can do two different takes that I have and a fake. A take that I have, two different takes that you have and a fake take that you have, or two different things in a fake. Today is two different things in a fake. two different tweets um and one tweet that is fake. And you’re going to have to in the chat we’ll have to discern which one is the fake. Okay. Um and today is Deon Booker themed because we’ve only been talking about the Suns in in a in a bad light, you know. So these are positive takes. No, because I’ve read some Deon Booker takes on the internet and uh some of them not particularly friendly. Well, they’re from Devon himself. Oh, they’re from Devon himself. From Deon himself. All right. So, we we’re going to go with three different tweets, and you’re gonna have to tell me which one is the fake. So, here’s the first one. Okay, that one’s real. Well, hold on. Just just just give it a second. Okay, here’s the first one. The first one is I’m thinking Hooters tonight with the fellas. Okay. Okay. Okay. Most people have seen this one. Yes. But is it real? Have you done your research? Uh, I don’t do research, Shane. I just go with pure gut. All right. That’s the That’s the way we do. I’m all about truthiness. Here’s the second one from April 5th, 2012. Headed to Hooters. Period. I I’m going to say this one. This one may be the fake because of the pun punctuation mark. Okay. Uh and then here’s the last one at Hooters chilling. I want to say this is the fake, but I’m going to go with the middle one as the fake uh because of the punctuation. Because who the hell puts a period in a uh uh in a tweet if you’re talking about going to Hooters? Well, Deon Booker does because this is the real tweet. Chilling. Ah, chilling. Spelled chilling with an E. Hey, you know, instead of an I. Hey, you know what I mean? What is this? This is 2012. Is he in high school? Is he in college? High school at this point. So, you know what? Uh, Moss Point didn’t teach him how to spell chilling. That’s all right. This is why you always fact check because there’s a big difference from this to this. Huge difference. Is there is there other than spelling and punctuation? I mean, come on. Yeah. Chilling with an I means a completely different thing than chilling with an E. I love I I love that you are now going to make me actually have to look up things to try to uh Is this some lesson you want me to know? Yeah. Like, okay, good research. Do my research on old Devin Booker Hooters takes, you know, I want to take a look the the chat and the the die hards are going to be part of this program, right? They are going to be a key to it. Later in the week, we’re going to do a voicemail uh bag that where you can either leave voicemails, text, or email the show. I’m going to put all that out on social. We’ll tell you how to contact the show tomorrow on the program, but I want to take a look at at some of our super chats. I saw there was a few of those and we can take a look at the chat in general, but we’ll start with Vince. Uh my good friend says, “Congratulations, Espo. So excited for you and PHNX. You may be the only individual that feels that way, but thank you so much, Vince, for all the support as always.” Uh, what are you most excited for doing the show? Espo live now. Forcing all of you to listen to my bad sports takes every morning while having some fun with this. No, I’m looking forward to just being able to uh to to just mess around a little bit, have some fun. We’re going to have, you know, some of the staples. We’re going to go do things remotely where we’re on location and do things. But most of all, it’s about kind of turning that that community we have uh you know in the Discord uh and in the YouTube comments and turning that into a show. I want this to be your place to hang out, your place to have fun, your place to vent or laugh or cry or whatever it may be. And like I said, I want this to be the the intersection of of smart uh and and asinine sort of where it’s it’s fun. Sometimes we can be serious if it if it dictates it, but then there’s also going to be the absurd as well. And that’s what I’m looking forward to. A a kind of playground for all of us, if you will. You know what I’m most excited for? Uh not working with me. I think there’s a lot of room for food stuff on this show. There is less less. You’re going to have to tell me because uh you I’m going to I’m trying to slim down. I had some medical things. So, you’re going to have to the food stuff. You may have to be my taste tester just to describe it. Nope. Nope. No. Nope. It’s the other way around. I’m gonna I’ll bring in some stuff that it could be really healthy. Okay. It just might taste horrible. Or you’re gonna Or you’re going to try to kill me by spiking my glucose or whatever whatever the case might be. I’ll just uh hand feed you sardines like I have the rest of the the office. I’m fine with the sardines. It’s the hand feel or hand feeding or feeling for that matter. That makes me a little uncomfortable. Let’s be honest. Yeah, that would make me really uncomfortable. Probably should make some other people uncomfortable, too. Uh my friend Pete Comsy clearly. Uh, and uh, hey, I can actually read these ones. $2 super chat says, “LOL, this team is in denial, and that’s in Egypt.” We’ll find out. Uh, we’re going to find out who that head coach is later this week. And then BCOM see clearly also says, “We will win it all next year. Booker MVP season.” Uh, I can see Deep Book having a great season. And I do not think that the Suns are going to win it all unless uh there’s some of the most amazing chemistry turnaround in the history of the NBA. You see anything else in the chat uh throughout this show that I should address, Shane? Any anybody uh saying anything in general? I I was I’ll admit I wasn’t as active with you guys today because I was a little bit nervous. No matter how many times you’ve done this, even though it’s only 30 minutes, you can get a little bit nervous uh from time to time. Maybe we can talk about um the idea. Let me Where is this comment? Somebody said that they should trade Kevin Durant for um the Coyotes back. You know what? Uh I don’t think Kevin Durant wants to go to Utah. Well, would he would he be traded to the Mammoth or would he be traded to the Jazz? I think since they’re owned by the same guy. Uh, it can be either. Okay. So, you can play for be a twofer. Could you imagine Kevin Durant on skates at seven foot? He looked like Bambi after Bambi was born. Kind of the the sliding around on the ice. I don’t think Kevin Durant was built for that. You know what we should do for the show? What? We should take ice skating. I know how to ice skate really well. Ice stopping? No. But yeah, I know how to ice skate pretty well. I’ve always wanted to take uh have a hockey player shoot at me while I’m in goal. Maybe we’ll try that. We got a lot of options of the absurdity that we can do here on the show. I want to say thank you to the mustache behind the Max Shane Defenbach uh for producing today. He’ll be pushing the buttons most of the time here on the program. Big thank you to Brandon Bills for being a sponsor, but an even bigger thank you for all of you joining me on the maiden voyage here of Southwest Bias with Espo. I hate that. That’s what it’s called now, but we’re going to go with that. We’ll we’ll call it with Espo. You don’t hate it. Espo. You love it. Well, it’s pretty obvious it’s with Espo. I’m the only one on camera. Well, I’ll put myself on camera soon. Okay, we’ll do that. Uh, also coming up on Thursday, if you like the old school Southwest Bias, we’re going to debate a little bit. So, that is it. Follow me on Twitter, espo, and uh espnx on Instagram and on Tik Tok as we’ll be doing some stuff for the show on there. You can follow the show at PHNX Sports. And until next time. Ohoy hoy.

The Phoenix Suns have won the NBA playoffs without playing a single game. That’s because every team they needed to lose to create a Kevin Durant trade market did.

00:00: The NBA Playoffs Helped Phoenix Suns Leverage in Kevin Durant Trade

9:40: Suns Down To Two Coaches: Jordan Ott and Johnnie Bryant

14:28: Is Arizona The Most Miserable Sports State?

20:26: Did Devin Booker really tweet that?

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