Jalen Green’s POLARIZING Potential Makes Kevin Durant Trade FASCINATING For Phoenix Suns
can Jaylen Green be the Bradley Beal of Devin Bookers [Applause] [Music] back to Okay we’re going to do that again we’re doing it again we’re doing it again we’re doing it again we’re doing the top run it back run it back you get one doover in cold opens one doover can Jaylen Green be the Devin Booker of Bradley Bills or is he the Bradley Booker of Devon Bookers [Applause] [Music] bring it back bring it back no it’s too late the moment has come all right hit the countdown [Applause] [Music] [Music] bye all of top psychosis sick goes unite for what’s going to be apparently a hilarious edition of BHNX Suns right here on a Monday afternoon that might go down as the greatest cold open of all time the Bradley Booker of Devin Beals or Jaylen Greens or whatever the hell it is i know who we are of course I’m Eric that’s Cheryl that’s Steven we got the freckle mamba behind the Mac to make all the magic happen i’m legitimately out of breath from laughing so hard i got tears in my eyes maybe a weight has been lifted from this team from Phoenix but of course the most important people all of you in the chat on YouTube after the fact listening on audio and if you don’t know what we’re talking about on audio I don’t know how we’re going to edit that and put that together so maybe it would encourage you to come check out the beginning of the live stream as well uh if you missed it yesterday hey Kevin Durant got traded uh we did a breaking news podcast i was on for the first 30 espo Steven and Gerald had a held it down for another hour after that want to say thank you to everybody uh we looked at the numbers and we broke the record at PHNX for the most amount of concurrent live viewers at just over 3,000 live viewers all in one stream at one time so we can’t do what we do without you and after that Sunday night uh tapped in with our boy Flex from Jersey his return to PHX dropped some incredible gems that we’re going to share just a few with you here today but of course you want to go back and listen that entire hour plus long second episode we did but here we are today the fallout from a Kevin Durant trade and we’re going to try to break down if Jaylen Green fits uh Gerald wrote some incredible articles over at gophnx.com we have little pieces of that as well but before we get into it fellas it’s been over 24 hours in the post Kevin Durant era here in Phoenix how are we feeling i’m Gerald Green and I feel all right i’m Eric Bor i don’t even know what the hell I said off the top but yeah um we’re going to have to run that back for sure i It’s It’s still not great in my book it’s not as disastrous as some people have made it out to be and we’re going to get into some of the reasons why um and some of the things that might be coming next on today’s show uh based on intel from me from Flex from you know all over the place but I I still feel pretty bad about not getting a Jabari Smith Jr a Reed Shepard even a Cam Whitmore in the deal um only one first round pick with those guys off limits still kind of hurts but it’s it’s very interesting the way that this deal came to be and it’s also worth noting that this deal can still change leading up to July 6th because it cannot be made official until July 6th um and it’s kind of interesting that the Suns missing the playoffs i don’t know if you guys saw this but because the Suns missed the playoffs an incentive that was uh in Dylan Brooks’s contract that was likely if they made the playoffs was changed to unlikely shed a million dollars and that’s the reason why this deal actually works straight up with Dylan Brooks and Jaylen Green so uh I guess you can thank the miserable season the Sun’s hand uh once again for why this trade is going down uh but yeah I I I don’t feel great about it but I don’t feel terrible about it either stephen where are you kind of at now that we’re 24 hours out yeah I feel like there’s I still can’t believe that the Suns were allowing for Houston to get this deal across the finish line without one of their young wing prospects yeah i felt like going into it there was no way that a deal would get done with Houston if that wasn’t the case and I was wrong yeah same i was severely wrong i thought at worst they would just get at least Tyrie but you know they came away with nothing but Brooks and Green so here we are talking about that um I people are way too Debbie Downer for for me and this is not the first time news flash it’s not the first time you heard me say that with the Suns group in particular for how reactionary fans are to things but Jaylen Green is going to be good he’s going to be really good i think uh he he might not necessarily be good enough to make this trade make the most sense because it would never make enough sense to not have one of those young wings involved but I think the prospects of him with Booker and the opportunity to learn from Booker in multiple respects are couple things I’m going to be diving into today yeah I’m really excited we have some great stats that that Gerald has compiled obviously Stephen’s going to bring us a full basketball breakdown in a Steven study that’s going to be coming to you sometime in the next week or so we’re going to have you covered on all sorts of different ends listen I’ll be honest i was a Debbie Downer and shockingly enough I talked to Optimus Flex last night and I feel a little bit better after talking to him and and I still think that there’s a very difficult path forward for the Suns but what I’m happy about is that that we’re on the path right and this is behind us obviously that the trade cannot be done until July 6th so there are some things that can change and move in pieces and we’ll get into that here in a second there are other trades even beyond this though that the Suns could be targeting and before we get into what Jaylen Green can do on the Suns it’s about who else is going to be with Jaylen Green Devin Booker Dylan Brooks because to me if this is the roster you’re rolling out there you know it it’s pretty unfortunate right like I don’t believe in it but the second round picks and stuff there’s some maneuverability one of the clips I want to share with everybody from my conversation with Flex from last night where he was talking about how this is not the only deal that the Suns have been canvasing and specifically why they opted to get five second round picks the Suns were not only talking to teams about the KV trade but they were lining up other things okay which is interesting as to why five second round picks right um I’m very intrigued by that because I I I think I have information that tells me there’s a very good reason why they they were shooting four to five second round picks right i’m not going to press you Flex but is that something you you could share right now or is that something not yet yeah I I’ll tell you this um there was a chance the Suns could have got another first okay and they opted for five seconds okay they said “May Hold the first give me five seconds.” Okay so you got three I I believe you have three first round picks and eight second round picks going forward you got teams that are interested in Brad Bill okay there there are teams interested in Brad Bill man i I’m going to say this right here on the show and you can clip this and bring it back i’m going I do not I do not believe Brad is getting bought out i believe there is a deal that the Suns can make that will get Brad Bill off this roster i believe there are a couple things that have happened to some particular teams um I believe there’s there’s basketball business that’s happening that is going to is going to put us in a situation where you could potentially move Bradville attach some of that equal okay so a couple of thoughts um if you are turning down a first round pick for 5 seconds you sure as hell better have a good move lined up with those second round picks agreed cuz I’m I’m there’s just no way to spin that as a positive for me unless there’s some reason that we don’t yet understand in terms of a subsequent deal that you have lined up so that part uh worries me a little bit but in terms of deals potentially for Bradley Beal teams that might be interested in him um we’ve been spitballing over the last few weeks before I left for paternity leave about potential Bradley Beal deals i’ve always said it feels highly unlikely getting a deal across the finish line I still feel like is going to be a real challenge i don’t think it’s impossible um and and this is something from my article i talked to a few sources as well um the writing is obviously on the wall for Bradley Beal in terms of bringing Jaylen Green in here jaylen Green is they like the fit with Jaylen Green and Devin Booker he’s going to be starting over Beal so now you’re in a situation where Beal you’re probably going to be going to the bench again um and they already benched him last year we knew that they wanted to trade him wanted to get off his contract i said in my article don’t be surprised if talks of a buyout resurface it seems unlikely that they can trade him but the key word there is seems because on the outside a lot of people would not guess that Bradley Beal could be traded i have we’ve been saying this for a while on this show i think Gambo’s been saying the same there’s a very little percent chance that Bradley Beal is back on the roster and if it is there is the Suns nuclear option where they say “Okay take a seat on the bench enjoy your paycheck but you’re not going to play.” And I don’t know that Bradley Beal would be okay with that it’s the nuclear opt option it’s the toxic option for sure but there is a way out through this forest if they want to get off his contract and honestly if they buy him out and stretch and wave him which you know if they can’t do a trade he can make up some of that money on the market with a new deal with a new two or threeear deal so it’s not as implausible as it seems that Bradley Beal is not on the roster next year yeah um I know I’ve ever since the news surfaced that I think it was Gamble that was saying that he doesn’t believe that there’s any chance that he’ll be back and then you doubled down and spoke with a source and said that you also believe the very same and you heard the same i’m going to say 5% chance 5% okay five excuse me 5% chance to be specific so if you clip it in Bradley Beal’s closet in his off time i’m not doing that sorry Brad that being said though um I won’t I won’t hang here too long in it like I said but it feels like the writing is on the wall and I think that if they are intentional with the detailing of how they go about making that happen you’re not going to get if this is what you got for Kevin Durant the bar should be significantly lower for what you might potentially get in return for Bradley Bill but the winner is going to be the Suns simply duck in the second tax apron yes in that situation and scenario in particular you get a significant portion of the mid-level exception to use with free agents and that that generally helps them with roster building as well as making subsequent trades with that that tertiary tier of guys that we we’ve been speaking to Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen in particular maybe you do a trade with them together going to the same team maybe they’re part of a three-team trade where they’re both going different directions maybe it’s just one of those two you simply give yourself options yeah i the Grayson and the Roy stuff is also something that Flex and I talked about last night and you mentioned Gerald about how Jaylen Green now changes the pecking order when it comes to guards and I think a lot of people the first question and this is my first question I had for Flex was well you know are these teams that you’re hearing are they teams that Bradley Beal would be willing to wave his no trade clause to because if he’s not then this isn’t going to happen i found his response extremely interesting are these teams that you can imagine and and I’m not asking you if you’ve checked on this that you can imagine that Bradley Beal would wave his no trade clause to go to yes unequivity yes you’re giving me hope man you’re giving me hope i’m telling this is why everybody’s going crazy and I’m I’m like listen there’s too much that I’ve heard and had discussions about behind the scenes for me to ignore i hear my ears can’t unhear it right so I know I know there’s a situation where Brad uh can’t get traded i know these are situations that Brad will wade the no trade clause i know Brad wants to play brother i know Brad wants to play brad Brad knows you’re still a good basketball player but Brad also is understanding this is a transition bro now you’re behind Devin Booker and Jaylen Green staying here doesn’t make sense brother it just doesn’t and if I sat you on the bench and and I’m I’m speaking respectfully because I got a lot of love and respect for Bradio but if I sat you on the bench this year you better believe next year’s and you’re in a worse situation in regards to the pecking order in in the back court this isn’t Tus Jones now so so think about the perspective of Brad’s career his contract his his desire to to get another contract his desire to prove that this wasn’t a a catastrophic like bomb and that he’s still a good basketball player so I believe they’re going to trade Brad i believe that they’re going to trade that Brad for a better package than people think i’m not telling you we’re going to get an NBA Allstar but I’m telling you that some of these holes we’re worried about um could get resolved in this Brad Beal trade listen I and I love Flex and I trust in in Flex and obviously we worked very closely here with him and I consider him a good friend of mine you know I still I still look at other NBA teams and I I think to myself why would they want Bradley Beal but Stephen Nate says it in the chat Bradley Beal himself isn’t like solely trash it’s the value that’s trash and a lot of that matches up with his fit in Phoenix and and his his overall money he’s getting paid i think it makes sense that you look at an athlete like that and say they want to go prove it somewhere where they can actually hoop i mentioned it during the season especially when it got to the lowest of the lows there is not another player that’s more ripe for a fresh opportunity elsewhere than Bradley Bill and I think that there are GMs that are willing to roll the dice on the trade to get him in their team context and just see about it because imagine we talked about we talked about Orlando they’re off the board now with Desmond Bane and I think that was a better option for them than Bradley Bill but we didn’t know that he was even available to be posted at so outside of players like a Desmond Bane level guy which there aren’t that many that are available on the market Bradley Bill is as good as it gets now you have you obviously have to shoulder the brother that contract and him not playing up to that standard that level but he can look a whole lot closer to that if the team and the style of play and the context fits for him in ways that it just simply never has with the Suns there there’s also a misconception about Bradley Bill here i think not just the fact that he’s still a good basketball player it’s mostly about the size of the contract and the number of games that he misses due to injury um but there’s also that misconception about his no trade clause i don’t think he would be viewed this way if he didn’t have that no trade clause because a lot of people think he’s just turning down deals left and right like Bradley Beal has never to this point still been presented with a trade offer for him to turn down the reason for that is because people don’t haven’t wanted to trade for his contract um and so if that changes this summer I don’t think Bradley Beal would be opposed to going somewhere else at this point i think he sees the writing on the wall i think he knows even before the Jaylen Green trade how they feel about him that they don’t align to use the buzzword um so I think he would be open if a team was willing to trade for him to wave that no trade clause because again he has not been presented with a deal for him to turn down he has not enacted that no trade clause at any point i think both sides understand that like this is not working as much as he and his family like living here depending on the situations depending on the team I think he would be open to going somewhere else if the right deal presented itself i also wonder and this is actually something interesting i was talking to some of the people here in the office and it was Bo from PHX Cardinals goes “Well if Bradley Beal gets bought out why am I as a team going to give up any sort of asset for him when I could maybe just sign him for for the minimum?” And I think that that is something that goes not in favor of what Flex is saying and I’m not saying that what he’s hearing is wrong or what he’s reporting is wrong but I just think that you know and and and I talked about this with him where it’s like you can hear things and it could be 100% true and then something can change a week and a half later and it’s like okay well it changed right so I don’t want people to be like oh well Flex said this on on June June 22nd and it’s July 15th and something different happened like it’s a month right like things can change but I do think the fact that we hear some chatter and there are some people in here who saying Gambo is confirming that and that he’s heard some some teams might be interested in Beal and for Beiel specifically listen he’s making a lot of money right now you know guys who make a lot of money in the NBA or just in general you know what they like to keep doing for their life signing big contracts make lots of money i know that he can make more if he you know or or make up some of the money he loses if he signs a contract after being cut bradley Beal is not 45 years old bradley Beal wants to be in this league for the next you know five to seven years right and make good money and be a contributor right so do I love his fit in Phoenix no do I think his total loss as a player no but I do think here in Phoenix it’s a total loss for him so we’ll we’ll continue to monitor the Bradley Beal situation i promise you there’s a lot of Bradley Beal talk i personally am not expecting Jaylen Green Bradley Beal and Devin Booker to be on the same roster in October when this season starts but there are a lot of other things with this team Gerald a lot of other details that you shared in your article over at gophnx.com a lot for us to dive into so what we’re going to do here is we’re going to take a break we’re going to come back we’re going to share more from your article and then we’re going to get into stats and actual basketball talk how nice is that going to be guys actual basketball talk about Jaylen Green and Devin Booker because at the end of the day that’s that main core that’s coming back for Kevin Durant and that’s what the Suns are reportedly according to you and many other sources Gerald you know putting their foot down on like this is going to be our back court so we’re going to unpack all of that don’t go anywhere right after this break oh it’s so hot outside i went up north yesterday of all days i turned around from Prescuit did the show then went back up there it was like 80° right i spent so much time outside it was beautiful but would it be you can’t do that out here unless you’ve got the right type of patio that’s why All Pro Shade Concepts is here for you to extend your outdoor living space with the best roll down patio shades to block out the sun that keeps your patio up to 20° cooler it was 20° cooler in Prescuit yesterday and you can get Prescuit in your backyard with all Pro Shade Concepts how about that for a tagline baby i’m talking hundreds of colors and durable fabrics to 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Mountain America Credit Union’s reward credit card purchases from now until July 31st and you can redeem those double points for rewards like travel rebates gift cards and event tickets it’s literally free money by spending money in a world where it’s very easy to spend money and very hard to get some of that back to you take advantage while you can it’s a limited time only details are at macu.com/double loans on approved credit offers can change or be withdrawn at any time it’s a limited time offer terms conditions apply from now until July 31st two times the amount of points on rewards credit cards over at Mountain America Credit Union shout out to everybody in the chat i’m seeing some new faces as well i’ve got a Hawks troll in here that was on the ASU show that was trolling me too i mean it’s just a beautiful time to see the basketball community come together by the way Stephen and I did record a mini pod that’s coming out tonight on video and audio on if Kevin Durant screwed the Phoenix Suns over so if you want a little bit more on that you can check that out and of course Gerald you have two articles up at gophnx.com right now you’ll probably write a couple more this week with the draft coming up but there are some really important tidbits for some of those that couldn’t or haven’t yet been able to check out on on the website want to give them a little teaser on on what they’re missing that die hard news we should Oh we should tell them about the die if you do want to read all Gerald’s articles and read them adree we have an intro offer sale for $36 we just keep giving y’all discounts to become dieards i will say this there is no better place to talk Suns basketball than our diehard Discord it’s been absolutely popping i want to give credit to everybody in there plus I’ve been doing these like really random like when I just have time at night little live streams in Discord and talking to all of the Suns fans and we were talking about Kevin Durant stuff and those are uncensored unfiltered behind the scenes you can jump on and talk with us you can comment and talk with us it’s really fun all of our dieards I’m sure can vouch for it gophx.com/join $36 intro offer plus of course you get access to everything else a free shirt a free hat every year 20% off all of our events ad free experience on our website access to all of our dieh hard content including Gerald’s article plus so much more but Gerald real quick you get you already get more than $80 worth of correct access to stuff that’s not fully accessible to the public as is that value on return for 36 you can really be unbothered with that there 36 unfathers you know what man we love that there you go uh if you think that the Suns got fleece for Kevin Durant maybe you can fleece us and get a die hard offer for $36 gerald I am just chomping at the bit to to share some of these bits from your article with these with these wonderful people who are joining us what are they missing if they’re not tapping in over at gophnx.com yeah so I mean unfortunately this article was free for everyone to read but but not all of them though but not all of them the Jaylen Green one that we’re going to talk about in a little bit is not um again three bucks a month and you also get the all city draft guide which is going to be helpful for tomorrow uh they did a great job with that but for some tidbits for what we should be expecting for the Suns moving forward because I know a lot of people have questions about okay we traded KD finally what is next um for starters like for people that are complaining about the return I totally understand it i was underwhelmed by it as well um but the offers just weren’t there based on what I heard from sources the market was not robust for Kevin Durant um you know the Miami Heat were never serious about making an offer khil Wear was off limits nicola Yoic was off limits which okay someone put Pat Riley in a retirement home dude right like they were they were willing to part with number 20 in terms of draft capital but more than anything it felt kind of like posturing like well we tried to get Kevin like they were not serious about Kevin Durant if those offers do you think they thought Do you think Pat Riley is so scenile he actually thought that he somehow got Nicole Joic i maybe he must because I don’t understand keeping Yoic off limits for Kevin Durant but uh that’s neither here nor there um a lot of the offers just weren’t coming in for Kevin Durant so the Suns Rockets trade came about in that way i had reported this a few weeks back that the Suns were going to prioritize that number 10 pick and that’s exactly what they did they don’t think 2027 or 2029 are going to be that valuable they believe they’ll be back on the path to contention by then whether they’re right or wrong we’re going to find out in the coming years obviously but for the people that wanted them to acquire an extra pick from Houston it was kind of always going to be number 10 that was prioritized above everything else um moving forward like now that the Suns have four draft picks in the upcoming draft at number 10 29 52 and 59 their approach to the draft night is going to be coming out of it with two to three players who can make their roster for the upcoming season which is kind of a stark departure from where they were like a year ago if you think about it cuz last year they added two rookies that made their roster now they’re looking to add two or three more with those four picks um that means that probably you’re looking at packaging maybe moving up or down depending on who’s available depending on what deals present themselves but they are going to be targeting size in the draft they’re going to be targeting the center they’re going to be targeting uh you know 6’8 6’9 wing/power forward types that can bring some size to this lineup because they do like Nick Richards um he’s most likely going to have his contract guaranteed he’s going to be back on the roster next season most likely but he’s we kind of know he’s more of a fringe starter a guy who okay if we can’t really can’t plug in that center spot with someone better he’s kind of our fallback option but I think we can all agree he’s probably more of a backup at this point um so that’s kind of where we’re at with the center position in terms of salary type stuff they’re certainly gonna decline Bosamichi’s deal unless they like need it to facilitate a trade in some way which feels unlikely cody Martin yes Cody Martin could be another cap casualty his contract is non-g guaranteed i think it’s like 8.7 million um but they do like Cody Martin so they’re not going to do it unless they have a purpose for it um but for those of you who are keeping track of the tax aprons getting rid of their 16 plus million dollars uh really helps for that so those are some of the things from the article some of the biggest takeaways um any reactions before we move on to the next thing you know I think a lot of that makes sense especially on the Nick Richard side of things and I I just feel like at least the path that it seems like the Suns are are trying to be on stephen it does make sense to me even for those who are not big fans of the trade i I do feel like we are aligned on what direction this team is trying to go in in the future and that is a welcome site it is a welcome site and that’s kind of what I was going to get to after uh hearing everything that Gerald just shared with us in those brief moments before you spoke it feels like they have a plan of attack and it feels like they’re aligning with that incrementally step by step decision by decision or at least in um prospect of decision by by decision so the work is still cut out for them but I think so far they’ve laid a decent foundation for what it is that they’re trying to get to yeah I I think that there’s a chance that they can’t do what they want to do i’m not saying that this is going to end up being a good team or they’re going to figure it out i still have my doubts about Brian Gregory i would not say that this trade has alleviated those doubts by any means but I think there’s the potential there and I think potential is a great transitioning point into the article that is locked for Die Hards Only Gerald which was just so incredible your breakdown on Jaylen Green we have some awesome numbers here but we have a quote from your article to kind of kick things off about you know some former teammates uh of of Jaylen Greens that are big fans yeah absolutely so um spoke with a an NBA player who was teammates with them both said Dylan and Jaylen are elite warrior mentalities and show up to battle every single night phoenix got two great ones um there’s some more in there in the article as well um again teammates are usually going to say positive things about guys that they played with but I I don’t think that warrior mentality aspect should be overlooked especially in regards to getting younger to getting more athletic um to getting guys who are hungry and and again not to imply that Kevin Durant was not hungry here in Phoenix but it’s different when you’ve won a title when you’re 36 going on 37 versus when you are in Jaylen Green’s case I think you guys saw on his IG him posting photos of him with his Rockets teammates i think being there in Houston meant a lot to him i think he’s very disappointed in the playoff series that he had and what it eventually led to because if that guy goes out there and averages 25 a night in the Warriors series I don’t think we’re having this same conversation so I think this is a guy that’s coming in with a chip on his shoulder we know Dylan Brooks lives permanently with two chips on his shoulders like that’s the way the guy wakes up and gets out of bed in the morning i think those things matter because we’ve talked about this before the Suns have lacked swagger they have lacked those dogs to put around Devin Booker they have lacked those gritty defensive-minded players and not to sound like I’m spewing Matt Ishbia and Brian Gregory talk right now but those are all the things that they’ve been talking about and those are all the things that we’ve been saying for years now they’ve been missing since like the 64 win teams so I think that Jaylen Green we’re going to get into the specifics of his game and there are a lot of areas for improvement we’ll we’ll put it that way um but I do think that part matters in this discussion yeah I definitely like the fact that they seem hungry and ready to prove again you could be hungry ready to prove is the basketball fit there you know we’re going to dive into that but one thing is is for certain Gerald is that the Suns like Jaylen Green like this is not something where you know we feel like Jaylen Green’s going to be rerouted to another team and that’s also part of what you shared in your article so before we get into a game let’s just reassure people that there’s a reason why we’re actually going to talk about his fit with Devin Booker yeah so I I think Gambo had this first i had multiple Suns sources confirm this as well the Suns do like Jaylen Green i don’t think he’s going anywhere again this could be posturing but a source confirmed the Suns plan to keep him and multiple sources said they feel good about the backcourt fit of Booker and Green i don’t feel as good as about it as the Suns do personally and we’ll we’ll dive into that but um it’s worth noting this trade can expand it can change before July 6th when it becomes official but as of right now the plan is to keep both of those guys stephen I think out of a lot of the people that I’ve I’ve talked to and that I’ve heard talk about this trade I I think that on the spectrum you scale a little more positive and it’s funny because the big negative and this is one that I’m on too is okay well the basketball fit I don’t love but you are a guy who is not looking at the extracurriculars like you’re looking at the game so why is it that that you feel a little bit more confident that there is something that can work with a Jaylen Green Devin Booker backcourt uh first of all that’s a I could give a a dissertation on that answer today and you will for a Steven study eventually yes but I think we start with context context context i’m Mr context i always mention context it gets ignored entirely too much when evaluating players you can’t do the job earnestly if you’re not applying the context you look at what he wasn’t good at with Houston last season and what he had to shoulder the brunt of the number 23 comes to mind y’all know what that means not Michael Jordan that’s the percentage that he stay claim for makes for the team on average last season from deep and attempts from three last season that’s not going to be the case with the Phoenix Suns in any capacity in addition to that the style of play having another guard that that draws two to the ball and gets the attention that Devin Booker does from multiple contexts of play naturally puts him in a position to where last season he didn’t have many many defenses that were tilted to where he could go and attack from an uneven standpoint this season going into it with the Suns he’s going to have that uh plenty maybe as much as he’s ever had in his career for a player that gets downhill that puts you in perfect position to be successful and then the last quick one for me with all of that it’s the learning curve because for the things that people at least if you’re doing it the right way I think in terms of assessing him for what he didn’t do well in the playoffs didn’t like double teams there’s one player in the NBA that’s gotten a lot of attention for things that happened six seven years ago about him not liking double teams who is that oh gee I Man I can’t think of him for some reason it’s just Noah coming up no I know i know of course and my point in bringing that up is how ironic is it that Suns fans at least the ones that are looking at it the right way are holding Jaylen Green’s lack of ability to go up against double teams because it’s the first time he’s seen it in his career against him when you just got done going through that with Deon Booker four five six seasons ago we see where Deon Booker has grown to because of that he’s going to help Jaylen Green naturally expedite that process and figuring out how to how to accept it and then attack it as a as a counter punch gerald you and I I think are a little bit more hesitant on this and talking to Flex last night I’ll be honest with you I felt a little better and a simple question he asked me that I’ll now ask you is before Devin Booker who is the best offensive player that Jaylen Green has played with in his career oh yeah it’s Fred Van Fleet that’s why context matters that’s why context matters that’s why it matters but there’s also and and I’m not trying to be too far on either direction here i’m actually I’m trying to kind of walk a middle line i told people on Twitter I’m talking myself into Jaylen Green or at least accepting the the Jaylen Green part of this gerald there’s also the context of you know he had a lot on his shoulders in Houston and in the regular season it it it looked okay it was inconsistent it looked good but in the playoffs there was a pretty significant drop off yeah let’s take a look at those splits because I think it’s worth noting that you don’t start 82 games for the two seed in the Western Conference by accident um and you’re not the leading scoreer on that team by accident either so averaged 21 points 4.6 rebounds 3.4 assists uh the shooting left something to be desired shot 42% from the floor uh 35% from three which was a careerhigh which is not great since that’s below league average there um but it’s what happened in the playoffs that was more concerning for a lot of people even though it’s a much smaller sample size uh those numbers dropped to 13 points five rebounds just under three assists only shot 37% from the floor and under 30% from three uh he scored 38 points in one of those games which is propping up that average if you take that game out of the equation he was averaging about eight points per game on like 20% shooting it was it was bad and he scored 38 points in one game 48 points in the other six so it it was a bad first playoff outing for Jaylen Green the efficiency dried up um when the defense ratcheted up a little bit but again the the context does matter a little bit this kid is 23 years old it was his first playoff outing it was against a very good and smart Warriors defense and being the number one option on a playoff team is very difficult it’s not an easy thing that every player thrown into the fire at that age can just automatically take it and own it like that yeah and some people are saying you know Shenun’s the best offensive player that Jaylen Green’s ever played with okay and I like I like Shenoon he was an all-star this year you know I’m a fan of his game he’s not a world beater on on offense right now he’s still growing in his own right the there’s going to be nobody on that team in Houston besides Kevin Durant that even comes close to creating the amount of gravity that Devin Booker is going to create for Jaylen Green i think you know beyond just the playoff dropping right and understanding the context of he was being put in a tough situation and that he hasn’t played around a lot of offensive talent stephen a big big big critique that I’ve seen and that honestly I feel of Jaylen Green is that it it doesn’t seem like he’s continuing this upward trajectory over his four years in the league it feels like at least statistically and when you look at some of his game he hasn’t shored up a lot of these big weaknesses and there isn’t like a big growth watching him develop over the last couple of years you know obviously looking at it in a different context than what we’re looking at it now would you say that Jaylen Green has improved as a player since his rookie year yes and how in what way because of what he’s been asked to do and this is why context matters you look at the Houston Rockets teams that preceded last season where he has Fred and Van Vleet and Alfred Shenun steps up in an all-star capacity the things he’s been asked to do the shoulder of usage the shoulder of just production that he’s been asked to the that he’s been asked to kind of take in on a game-by-ame basis the simplest way I could put it is every team has a number one option mhm all contexts are not equal and I think Suns fans should be more understanding of that than almost any other franchise in the entire NBA because of what Devin Booker had to go to go through before Chris Paul came around as well as Jay Crowder and they shifted things with that that being said you look at what Jaylen Green was asked to do with the Rockets last season especially in the playoffs you go into that series Shenon’s not getting double teamed who’s getting double teamed jaylen Green is this the first time he’s seeing these double teams yes and to that point I would highly suggest anybody to take a listen to Trey Murphy the third talking about the shock value of getting double teams after you’ve never gotten them and the impact that it has on your game rhythm yet let alone your decision making and how it impacts the team that’s a listening tip I’ll give you but back to Jaylen Green you apply that context and you see why he wasn’t successful start with crediting Golden State yes he has to be better but why couldn’t he be the player that he was in the regular season they’re taking away from certain pockets of the court they’re sending double teams at him that he just hadn’t seen and his his rhythm’s broken you get the game where he dropped 38 in game two that was a ton of pull up threes that speaks to the potential that he has as a three-point shooter but how often is he going to actually have those opportunities when he’s getting double team to the extent that he was increasingly as that series went on yeah I think a lot of people also in chat are talking about how he’s young and he has a good work ethic and that he is somebody who’s also been available so his rookie year he played 67 games he started 67 games that’s the lowest amount of games that he’ll play in any season over his four years his second year played 76 started 76 the last two years including this season for a Houston team again was the two seed in the West this year he played 82 games and he started 82 games but there are some onoff numbers Gerald that that show the team did have a better net rating when he was off the court so he was starting but some of the numbers do show and we’ll get to more advanced stats here after another break but some of the numbers show that they this team that was the two seed was not at their best when this young bucket that could score 20 points per game that’s always available was on the court yeah and and a lot of it was on the defensive end you look at the onc court offc court net ratings um I think they were about 8.1 points per 100 possessions better when he was off the court 7.8 of those 8.1 were on the defensive end they were about eight points better with him off on the defensive end and that that matters for the second best defense in the NBA um and we’ll get into some of those struggles defensively some of the weaknesses etc um but that that’s something to keep an eye on because when we look at the construct of the Suns moving forward I think with the amount of shooting guards that this team has I don’t know that you’re going to target or find a starting caliber point guard to put next to Devin Booker and put him back in his true position at the two you are looking at a bunch of combo guards so that those two guys can kind of alternate on or off the ball and we’ll get into where Jaylen Green fits in with all that as well but like Green is an interesting fit in multiple ways in good ways and in bad ways when you bear that in mind because the Suns aren’t going to go get a point guard devin Booker is probably going to run a good amount of point and he should because he’s the best advantage creator on the ball like we talked about all last season bringing in another undersized point guard does nothing to fix that problem so Green is going to have to dial back his onball usage which was really high in Houston by necessity by context and he’s also going to have to play more off the ball than he has in Houston because the ball needs to be in Booker’s hands more than it needs to be in his and I was going to say that’s that gets back to my point from yesterday the Jordan in it all what vision does he have for the offense what does the usage look like in terms of who has it in their hands but also what is he doing with both of these players to unlock them in movement off the ball to put them in position to be successful yeah listen there there are building blocks with Jaylen Green right and I don’t want to be out on a player who is going to be 23 right he’s played four seasons in the NBA and his team has consistently gotten better over those four years as well as he’s been there so there’s good and there’s bad and we have more stats to prove it we’re talking stats on drives shot creation se seven triples or more in shooting like there there’s some pretty interesting niche stuff that that Gerald and the crew we all want to share with you we appreciate Listen we have almost 600 people in here right now on a Monday afternoon hit that like button hit that subscribe button if you are new around here maybe you’re a Jaylen Green fan right maybe you run Jaylen Green Muse welcome to the Jaylen Green stands we hope that you’re nicer than the Kevin Durant ones hit that like button subscribe we’re live five days a week usually at 300 PM Monday through Friday this week things are going to be a little bit different and of course it got juicier because the Suns have the 10th pick in the NBA draft we are going live on the first round and the second round of the draft on Wednesday we’ll be live at 4:45 on Thursday we’ll be live at 5 we were going to do the whole show either way but guess what now it just got a whole lot juicier tomorrow we have a special draft guest a draft from the Houston or a guest from the Houston side of things and more deep dives and what the Suns can do at number 10 but today we’re continuing to focus on Jaylen Green and we’re going to get down in the weeds let’s talk about numbers and let’s do it right after this break oh I love Wendy’s and I love Wendy’s Frosties it is known throughout the Suns community i’m saying it i am a strawberry swirl girl gerald you are my brownie batterdie and Stephen I’ll leave you alone i’ll leave it alone because I don’t need you shaking your head at me and ruining my vibes when I’m thinking about getting one of the new Frosty flavors from Wendy’s whether it’s an allnew Frosty Swirl or an allnew Frosty Fusion listen it’s like Wendy’s is like when OKC now has two first round picks in this draft it’s like you don’t need that but you went and you did it anyway like the Frosties were already generational right generational run for the OG Frosties and now they’re just making it better i’m talking a caramel crunch an Oreo brownie and a Pop-Tart strawberry fusion are you kidding me pop-tart strawberry in a frosty or maybe you just want to get a little swirl in there a little caramel a little fudge whatever it might be whatever flavor you’re craving the odds are Wendy’s has a frosty for it clock in for sweet treat time anytime including midnight or later with Wendy’s all new frosty flavors a refresh on a classic gerald it’s got to be Wendy’s at participating US Wendy’s hours may vary by location i talk about it being hot and that means you’re turning your AC on and that means you’re staying inside a lot more too and did you know that nearly half of your energy costs come from cooling and heating well I can cuz I look at my energy bill with summer here it’s time to get smart about savings like I have with a smart thermostat that can help you manage your energy bills like I have smart thermostats can work with your APS rate plan to maximize comfort and convenience while minimizing your energy costs if you’re on an APS time of use plan use your smartphone or device to automatically adjust a thermostat to take advantage of lowerc cost off- peak hours or do what I did last night i was laying in bed i didn’t want to get up it was too hot i grab my phone and I turn the AC down you don’t just got to do it to save money do it to save time as well if you already have a smart thermostat at home see if it’s eligible to enroll in Cool Rewards and Cool Rewards members can get thermostats uh smart thermostats for as low as $0 find instant rebates discounts and special offers on smart thermostats energy efficient appliances and more at marketplace.aps.com you must be an APS customer pay shipping and taxes other restrictions apply go to marketplace.aps.com for more information all right i’m feeling good i’ll be honest i’m I’m very happy with how this conversation has turned out so far i don’t think we’ve skewed too far in either direction i don’t think we’ve gone doom and gloom i don’t think we’ve gone full there’s good and there’s bad and and I really appreciate how both of you have helped us like attack this and unpack it from all angles because really like there’s so much potential here and that’s why the headline says like the polarizing potential of Jaylen Green that if he’s best case scenario and this fit works out I mean we’re talking about maybe Deon Booker’s backcourt mate for the future right and there’s also a chance that you can look back and say Jaylen Green was a return for Kevin Durant and the Suns screwed their franchise over and it was the building block that eventually led to Devin Booker requesting out like there’s so much that can go on with this and that’s why I think we look at some of these numbers of the highs and the lows of what Jaylen Green does gerald yeah let’s get into some specifics of his game we’re going to start with some positives we’re going to circle back to some negatives and then we’re going to end with some some reasons for optimism that are based on what we saw in Houston so in terms of positives for Jaylen Green like Stephen mentioned the three-point volume the fact that he was shooting about eight threes a game that matters to a Suns team that since they became contenders has not shot enough three-pointers to keep up with the pace of the modern NBA um you look at his speed and his athleticism those are things that the Suns outside of pretty much Ryan Dunn for the last couple years have been sorely lacking the way that he is able with the ball in his hands it’s almost magnetically sticking to the ball because of how fast that he moves with it um he’s capable of snaking through a defense he’s capable of weaving through pick and rolls quickly when two guys are out there guarding the role he can split those two defenders in the blink of an eye those are skills that are hard to teach in the league but he has that athleticism we’ve we’ve all seen the highlights of him dunking like he is an electric dunker especially in transition he is super efficient on the break as well and that matters for a Suns team that Jordan was talking about like yes every team says they want to play faster but the Suns want to play in transition devin Booker has been trying to get his team to play faster for years having an electric athlete who can finish on the break I think 91st percentile in transition efficiency that matters the biggest thing for me and this is the one that we’re going to talk about right now is the downhill mentality and the ability to drive um Devin Booker was kind of the only guy on the Suns that was capable of of that so last year uh Jaylen Green ranked 14th in total drives i think Devin Booker was top 10 the problem here is that when Jaylen Green does get into the teeth of the defense he he can finish he does have some electric finishing moves uh but the shooting around the rim the field goal percentages were not as great as they needed to be so what does that leave you with that leaves you with driving and kicking he was only 66th in assists on his drives and 10th in turnovers so you’re talking about a guy who’s top 15 in drives top 10 in turnovers on those drives because you know if you drive more you’re going to turn it over more but only 66 in assists so the tunnel vision for me and I included some clips in my article the tunnel vision is something that’s going to need to get sorted and it’s going to need to improve with time and hopefully this is an area where Devin Booker playing with him can help him yep you want to go well I kind of want to set you up Stephen because one of the themes that that I remember because we we’ve talked literally so much basketball obviously over this past year and with this team and we mentioned Bradley Beiel specifically when he was playing and when he was an impactful factor it was well he can he’s one of the few players on this team that actually puts some rim pressure on and there was so much on his shoulders of okay we need Bradley Beal to attack the rim attack the rim obviously there’s negatives along with it but how much does bringing the defense in having somebody who’s so willing to get ahead of his team downhill open up for players like Devin Booker but also some of the other guys on this team like Ryan Dunn yeah I first uh I shout out David Nash on Twitter he he tweeted about it earlier today um just piggybacking off of what I said yesterday on the the um the reaction pod that we had the breaking news pod having an elite rim pressure player next to Devin Booker is a template for success where his snagging process with Bradley Bill is availability and you just got done talking about Jaylen Green having not missed a regular season game in either of the last two seasons while shouldering the brut of a significant amount of usage on an individual basis he doesn’t have to do that anymore mhm that naturally is going to put him in a better position to be successful be more efficient with the shots that he is creating once he does get a touchdown but I think also he’ll see great value in having to not do all of the creation for himself by himself devin Booker being able to initiate is going to get a certain type of attention if Jaylen Green’s on the second side or Jaylen Green pass away to get into a dribble handoff things like that Jaylen Green is going to have more driving lanes than he’s had to navigate over the last couple of years where he might have to make one or two moves before he gets to a driving lane that he chooses now within the within a template for spacing and with the team that they’re going to have with Phoenix he’ll just be able to go one dribble and get to where he wants to get to and then that leads to where we’re getting to now where you talk about the turnovers mhm because of the teams that he’s been working with a lot of times he just had to see mentally process it as I need to go get a paint touch and I’ll figure it out after that now it’s going to be okay I got a paint touch what’s the defense doing to me and who is that in the corner it might be Grayson Allen who’s knocking down north of 40% on wide open catch and shoot three-point opportunities or even worse it might be Devin Booker who’s never really had those type of opportunities created for himself until he spent time the last three seasons with Chris Paul and then obviously even more so with Kevin Durant so there’s domino effect that’s positive in a complimentary fashion both for Jaylen Green and unlocking him off the ball and to do less creation for himself but also vice versa for Deon Booker if Jaylen Green is initiating and doing it for him let let’s talk about the shot creation because I think that’s a key point and I think a lot of it was dependent on the Rockets needing him to do that they needed an onball shot creator and I think in a way it kind of miscast Jaylen Green because he is an elite shot creator he is not an elite shot maker so let’s look at the numbers here um we’ve got categories here for all different areas of the floor overall rim paint mid-range pull-ups three-point pull-ups and we’ve also got three categories one is shot creation one is shot quality and one is shot making so these numbers are all from the Vball Ball Index and to kind of highlight things before we read them if you’re on audio this might be a good visual thing but Eritton did something pretty cool to kind of help our our video viewers here as Gerald goes through it yeah so let’s let’s give uh some efficiency context with a little bit of color here so overall rim paint mid-range pull-ups Jaylen Green is an elite shot creator 96th percentile 98th 97th 90th 97th and 98th in all those categories in shot creation the dude can create shots for himself and this this sounds like something that should be easy for every NBA player but it’s really not like at the college level a lot of these guys can create their own offense but at an NBA level being able to self-create for yourself is a valuable tool and it’s something that can help Devin Booker in a half court context in a transition context it’s something that can take some pressure off of him and I think for Jaylen Green it’s going to be even easier because he is no longer the number one option that opponents are preparing for like he was in Houston now he’s the number two guy the problem though is that Jaylen Green does not always take great shots and he doesn’t make a lot of the shots that he is taking so if you look at shot quality overall 14th percentile at the rim 9th percentile in the paint 57th so that’s better uh sixth from the mid-range 57th on pull-ups and 44th on three-point pull-ups so not a ton of great offense being contained especially at the rim in terms of what he’s producing and the shot making is kind of all over the place it’s like it’s 53rd overall so not horrible at the rim it’s 89th percentile and these numbers bear in mind the degree of difficulty uh but paint mid-range pull-ups and three-point pull-ups it’s all 9th percentile or lower in those categories so this is something where guy can create a lot of shots maybe doesn’t take the best shots isn’t efficient on the shots that he does take mhm that context is what’s going to have to shift for me in Phoenix because with Devin Booker Jaylen Green is not good enough as a scorer to kind of okay go be point book and I’m going to be the guy that’s in the natural two guard slot but he’s also not good enough as a facilitator to like take the ball out of Book’s hands full time be the one running the point dribbling it up and letting Book be a shooting guard so this is the key for me is can he be an offball threat can he be a catch andoot guy to where when Book is operating he can attack those close outs he can cut off the ball he can knock down catch and shoot threes which he did last year at a 41% clip but on very very low volume he took a lot more pull-up threes than he did catch and shoot threes those are all the things that I’m thinking about stephen let’s let’s throw these I want to throw these back up on the screen what stands out to you out of all this green and red and yellow there’s a ton of all of it what what’s what’s the number one thing that pops into your mind or if we’re talking about and looking at him through the lens of development you can’t it’s a lot harder for you to get to a point where you can get the creation that he gets to the elite status that he has it’s a lot harder to get there if you don’t already have it having that as a foundation you can build into it efficiency you can build into it quality of shots in terms of discernment of what shots you’re taking and in what situations you’re taking it in example I’m thinking of if he gets a drive do you have to go all the way to the rim this time can you pull up to a midi kiss it off the glass Demar Rosen style Kevin Durant style Booker style like there’s little discernment things that come with maturing as you watch more film and you have more nuance coaches perspectives in your ear and they’re disciplining you within that which leads to one of the overarching questions I have for him and it’s going to take game film and multiple games to kind of assess it and it’s going to take some unlearning and relearning for him i imagine Jordan not looks at Jaylen Green as a positive project and I mean that complimentary i have a way that I a vision where I can streamline your success for creation but put multipliers on the quality of shots that you’re generating for yourself and others and the efficiency of the shots in terms of your make and miss ratio to that point i believe his shot his uh his shot um profile is going to shift positively for him and this goes back to what I was talking to with Houston he’s asked to do a lot he had to take pullup threes he had to because they just didn’t have many other ways to create offense in the half court in particular because he’s with Devin Booker now he doesn’t have to take eight a game yeah what if he cuts that down to six or five and that leads to more midies or that leads to more attempts at the free throw line because of the pressure he puts on the rim and how defense has to collapse on him there is like a he’s a puzzle piece if I if I can put it um as condensed as possible he’s a puzzle piece next to Devin Booker and I feel like in Jordan I system especially he’s gonna be one of the main puzzle pieces especially if we continue to look at it from what company did with Cleveland last season i I don’t think there’s any hiding the fact that this is this is a risk right like you are you are ga you’re gambling on on Jaylen Green and I said this like one of Brian Gregory’s first move as a GM is is putting part of his reputation in the hands of Jaylen Green and like Godspeed to him right like would I have made that decision i don’t know do I think he was basically kind of forced into that decision yes this is a massive massive massive project for Jordan A to me this is like hey we believe in Jordan we hired this guy we think player development-wise he’s done really well flex made the comparison yesterday of the Cavaliers having Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland now I push back on that and saying well Darius Garland is more of a pass first guard and and Donovan Mitchell’s more of a scorer plus defensively they have two of the best interior defenders and the best defender in the NBA last season per the voting and defensive player of the year Evan Mobley so it’s a little bit differently but with the tidbit that Shane Young shared with us uh who covers the NBA over at Forbes last week which feels like 10 years ago but last week when he was on the show Gerald of Donovan Mitchell saying that Jordan is constantly constantly constantly sending European plays NBA plays college plays whatever it is to his team to say can we develop this does that ease and I know I’m not asking you to say that Jordan Kn’s going to be a great coach because we just don’t know but in theory does that ease your worry about this risk a little bit definitely and I think one thing that stood out to me during his introductory press conference especially in conjunction now with this Jaylen Green acquisition is that you know they’re going to lean into the cutting that we saw with the Cleveland Cavaliers something that we didn’t see as much from the Suns they’re going to lean into motion and movement jaylen Green’s fast as hell and he only ranked in the 55th percentile in cuts per 75 possessions last year because again the context of the offense that he was in and what the Rockets specifically needed him to do his high usage of being on the ball i think he was 96 percentile for the Rockets in terms of on ball actions his usage in those plays that’s not going to be the case in Phoenix and because he’s quick because he’s athletic because of all the attention that Devin Booker commands that cutting is something that I should lean into and should unleash him in a certain sense i mean this is fascinating i’m I’m loving this conversation as a Suns fan obviously being up here I hope you are all enjoying it as well 540 of you in here on a Monday afternoon if you are watching on television thank you so much for watching us i want to remind you the party always continues over at gophnx.com which means it’s time for overtime right here on phxonss and of course if you’re other people over at gophnx.com you can check out Gerald’s article you can check out all the podcasts all the mini pods that we’ve done all in one convenient location plus you can check out even more right here on phnx sports thank you to all of you that have sent in your super chats as well we will get to your super chats here in a second i’ve just been so so enamored with this conversation like it’s it’s genuinely fascinating to me and to me like as much as we are in this space I’m also a consumer of what goes on in this space especially with the Phoenix Suns like there’s so much of my life is this and it really just does feel like there’s there’s been not a lot of nuanced conversation and I’m not trying to pat us on the back at all but like I do feel like this might be the most nuanced breakdown of the good and the bad of Jaylen Green and there are some interesting other statistics that you’re able to pull Gerald yeah this one was kind of my favorite one because I I think Green was like 96 percentile in ISO frequency and only 44th% in in one-on-one scoring rate there so that approach is something that’s going to have to change there’s going to have to be a mental shift with the new personnel he’s playing with with the new team the new system all of that um because this this is a fun one like NBA.com tracks how many shots how many three-point attempts players shoot after a certain number of dribbles so after seven plus dribbles which is a lot of dribbling in the modern era where the ball needs to move where players need to move after seven plus dribbles last season James Harden led the league with 236 attempted threes second steps that’s a lot a lot of stepbacks anthony Edwards a lot of pull-ups 199 trey Young third 190 steph Curry 180 jaylen Green was the unexpected number five in the NBA in this category which is something that’s going to have to change in Phoenix like it’s just you just can’t have Jaylen Green dribbling seven plus times and launching threes especially if he’s a 35% shooter but I do think that will change i don’t think a movementbased motion-based offense under Jordan Au is going to allow room for that type of thing i don’t think having Devin Booker in the same back court is going to allow for that type of thing i don’t think Jaylen Green even necessarily needs to or wants to do that if he’s in the right context so this is something that’s kind of indicative of the mental shift that he’s going to have to undergo in terms of learning to play more off the ball of not having to force things on offense of having to you know launch a bunch of threes and get to the mid-range and takes all these bad shots um I I’m optimistic about what they’re going to be able to get out of him if they can cut down on things like that uh Stephen I have a very specific question for you and I’m not trying to put you on the spot but you know I I love put being put on the spot okay so what you mean he drives on the Jaylen Green is not the first player to go from a situation where he’s being asked to do a lot to to likely being asked to do a little bit less and and we’ve seen some of the deficiencies and some of the results of what he’s able to do how important is it for a player that’s this young to kind of be thrown into the fire the way that he has to to have the experience of shooting these pull-ups off seven plus dribbles even if the results isn’t there to have the experience of the double teams thrown at him and all the stuff he’s had to go through in Houston how much can that help him when he’s now being put in a position where his role will most likely be a little bit more simplified going forward it’s it’s everything it’s literally everything because his coaching staff that’s inherited him now has ample film from his career best season that was inevitably followed by his first playoff showing which was inevitably followed by the lowest point of his NBA uh career all in one season there is so much film that they can go to last season and point at you can do this better our system is going to benefit you significantly better than Houston’s did because we have ex player here we have Devin Booker at the top of our roster there’s so much trickle down domino effect that’s going to come from that all putting him in a position to be as good as he can be but the everything lies in how disciplined is he going to be in the unlearning of bad habits that got established because of the ways that he had to operate for his teams each of the last two seasons there’s a lot of unlearning that’s going to have to take place and he has to be able to he has to have the humility to take that in and then apply it in real time and I for a Suns team that’s looking to make the playoff next season he might be the biggest X- factor in that because if they get the most out of him if he’s a all-star borderline all-star level guard next season that’s a team that could be no worse than six seed and if he’s significantly less than that that’s a team that could be in the same situation that they were in this past season and missing the play in and Jared I think that what is going to help Jaylen Green is the fact that there aren’t massive expectations on on this team and I think that yeah there will be some Suns fans who probably overreact to the first month or two of him playing here but always I think I think he has this runway and whether or not he gets better with it or not I’m I’m not going to fully predict i’m still kind of walking the line here he’s going to have the runway to improve and correct these things that are so clearly wrong and I do think that if if by the end of this season or if we’re going into next season we’re having these same conversations then I’m I I’m not walking the line anymore i’m I’m I’m more so into the negative but the opportunity is there for him to take that yeah absolutely especially like we’ve been talked about in a new system in system playing next to Devin Booker learning from Devin Booker like we talked about the speed and athleticism that he has which is something that Book doesn’t really have book could give him a lot of tips on how to utilize that speed instead of just 100% all the time he learned a lot of that from himself he learned a lot of that from Chris Paul in terms of being able to get to his spots if Jaylen Green can do that and be maybe a little bit more efficient a little bit more composed in those spots instead of go get my shot shoot it that type of thing i think that could help him a lot um defense for me is still a concern he doesn’t check out as a guy that creates a lot of deflections or turnovers he doesn’t check out as a great defender um he was he probably learned a lot in Udoka’s number two defense choice which will help yeah didn’t have a choice um but I think that’s going to be one of the things is like okay if he takes a lot of shots but is not efficient if he is not a great facilitator and if he doesn’t defend well then he’s going to be a bad fit for Devin Booker that is my fear but if he can do one or two of those things just at a better level than he showed last season you’re looking at a situation where this team is going to be scrappier than I think people expected i think he’s going to be as well situated as he’s ever been in his career going into this season with the Suns because of the system implemented the principles in the system implemented by Jordan Knot first and foremost how him and his coaching staff are going to hold him accountable to the disciplines that we’ve spoken to off the stats that you provided off of the moments that I’ve spoken to that crept up on him last season and then the last but arguably the most the biggest point in it he’s playing next to Deon Booker the attention Devin Booker gets the relatability that Deon Booker has to Jaylen Green having been a player in those similar situations before those things are invaluable honestly and I think that Jaylen’s going to greatly benefit from this son’s team timing wise with where he is in his career i truly hope so we do have some super chats we’ll get to not really any of them specifically related to what we’re talking about right now so let’s just go ahead and put a bow on what I what I think actually might be my favorite basketball conversation that the three of us have have ever had right as much as I’m not super high on the return right now I I’m really really fascinated by all these little bits and pieces and so if you’re just joining us make sure you you check out the whole show can Can I give a disclaimer before we move on because I I feel I’ve already seen some comments in the chats like none of this is is personal and I hope that Jaylen Green proves me wrong in terms of the doubts that I have about him this is just bringing up numbers and stats and what we have seen and trying to evaluate a player like I I root for 99% of the people that come through the NBA to succeed who’s the 1% we’re not going to get into that not doing that come on it rhymes with Kore but um Cory swims this This man hates Shaden Sharp oh no oh no kidding um but yeah I I just wanted to get that out there because I feel like when you criticize a player there’s always people in the chat saying “You’re a hater.” I don’t feel any one way about it man this I’m telling you what I see and the stats are and that’s that’s the long and short of it it’s criticism with context man it’s one thing if you say “Oh my god this dude sucks and it’s a period rap and that he’s not he hasn’t shown to be good in this area and it’s because of XYZ and ABC.” Yes that’s the difference between I’ll say that’s the that’s the separator for us here at PHNX absolutely cut that that sucks no I’m kidding mario Bros said the only guy Gerald hates is Igor Demon uh it’s Egor see I must hater i must hate him man I kind of hope they draft him dog i I I want to I want to talk you into it the same way I’m kind of getting talked into Jaylen Green listen my final thoughts on this are I still stand by the fact that I did not want a shooting guard as the main piece in return for Kevin Durant i I think that that is something that if you could have avoided that which the more reporting comes out it feels like the Suns could not have avoided that that that I would have preferred gerald you and I tiered these assets and Jaylen Green was at the literal bottom of all the assets we’ve talked about yes but I keep an open mind and sometimes you know reality sets in and you start to look at what the path could be for this team going forward i’m not confident that this path works out by any stretch of the means at all i think that there is serious serious serious chance that this turns into a catastrophic failure genuinely like there there’s a chance that you look back at this trade and it just digs the Suns deeper into the hole that they got themselves in they could not have Jaylen Green develop in the way we’ve talked about today and fix the problems that we need him to fix dylan Brooks can maybe fall down and off of a shooting cliff right like he can’t keep hitting threes and he gets older even though he’s almost 30 maybe they whiff on number 10 right the draft is sort of a crapshoot like there are so many different ways that this could end up being awful but I also am now starting to see the vision of how this could potentially work out they’re going to have to walk this fine line jaylen Green’s going to have to develop jordan’s going to have to put a system around him and Brian Gregory is going to have to build the right team that’s a lot of ifs but these are things that are possible so I’m excited to see what comes next for this team of course the draft is that that big next step that we’ll be covering here and what other free agency moves happen if there’s anything else added on to this trade so do do we have anything else that we want to speak on with Jaylen Green before we get to super chats no last thing I’ll say um I ain’t really talked about him on defense i don’t feel like he I don’t feel like he’s a bad on ball defender he leaves something to be desired there don’t get me wrong but I don’t feel like he’s like a below average on ball defender i think with most young players and that did not exclude Deon Booker when he was younger and it creeps up on him now to this day it’s off the ball how often are you ball watching and you lose you lose you lose where your assignment is and you’re able to get back door or face cut little things like that i feel like just with it’s discipline but it’s also something that’s not different from any other 23-year-old that’s walked into the NBA especially one that should the brother of their entire offense in multiple contexts i like Jason who’s a Rockets fan that we’ve we’ve kept around here in chat he has said multiple times that we all need to stop being reasonable no sorry Jason reasonable and entertaining that might be the tagline uh to to the show okay y’all sound off in the chat continue to let us know what you think let’s let’s read your super chats and and get out of here on a Monday afternoon all right let’s start at the very top with Trevor thank you Trevor 199 says “Carter Bryant to the Sun 68 plays D and can shoot if Carter Bryant or common Malawak are there at 10 I will personally sprint to New York and draft them first.” That will be a live show malaw Malawak first Bryant second i don’t think either of them are there at 10 that’ll be a live show right yeah i will be holding my phone right here pierce Paul Pierce though dude i would get I would get like halfway down there and I’d be like “What are you doing?” Paul at least Paul was like a city or two away you got the whole map my dog i’m running you got to run through the mountains and everything i don’t think Mile Walker be there i think Carter Bryant could be there yeah I think I think Bryant would be there but I’m curious what the Suns value Brian Gregory in particular how does he value him i don’t think either of those players get back to past Toronto at nine uh they need a young center to to take over from Purle after he’s done as he continues to age and you know that Misayujiri loves his developmental wings oo he loves it okay marwin with a $5 super chat says Winource reported that Durant manipulated value to make sure Houston got him and Houston helped him do so if so Durant is trash okay i I know you guys recorded a mini pod on this very topic um let me get my two cents in because I don’t I don’t Did Winhorse ever use that word manipulated because I feel like that’s what the aggregated word was but it felt like what Windhorse was describing was that a couple of destinations were laid before Kevin Durant he didn’t want to go to them he exercised his right to voice his opinion on that and then he wound up in Houston like I don’t like that word manipulation when yes he just doing what was his right if the Suns are going to work with him on a trade he’s just doing what the Suns are willing you know he’s taking the leeway they’re giving him wintors did say last week that he was depressing the trade market but but Stephen and I did talk about this like that is his right as a player and I also want to pass along that during the show Gambo has said that that report is not true that the that Kevin Durant and the Rockets work together to collude and lower the value right the Rockets had an offer at the trade deadline the Rockets had an offer now the Suns ended up taking what they think was the best offer for a team that Kevin Durant was willing to go to flex shared last night that there was what he believes in his opinion to be a better offer on the table for the Suns but that for other reasons besides what the Suns wanted to do and you can imply whatever you want from there income tax Kevin Durant did not go to that team for specific reasons and it was not because the Suns did not want to send him there so at the end of the day I do believe the Suns got the best possible package that they could get in return i do not think that I think the word manipulated is is doing a lot of heavy lifting there and I understand why Suns fans might feel that way if they don’t like the return so I it’s I don’t I don’t think that that’s what Wendy was saying i listened to the entirety of that clip and I did not walk away with that whatsoever said it all we did more than the mini pod hitting your feeds uh later tonight a $2 super chat from our friend Be Calm Searly who reunited with Flex last night says “We should put a baby on the court for Ant you bum.” Not touching that one seis Seis sorry let me know how to pronounce your name in the chat i want to make sure I get that right 499 thank you so much said “How are they going to move Beal’s colossal contract without pretty major draft pick?” Great question no idea no idea i I don’t know if five second rounds is enough to get off Bradley Beal i don’t know may maybe a team could talk themselves into it i I’m just not sure but do you have any thoughts on that Stephen yeah we might find out later on this week oh god I hope so b Coly clearly is back with a $2 super chat says Jaylen Green got a hairline and cake sorry Katie i have not looked at his cake replacement player cakeover replacement going to have to dive deeper numbers check in for the newest Die Hard article from Gerald terrible crazy jeff with the 499 super chat says “I think we have to see this roster closer to camp do you think this means we are going back to point book at least part-time at least part-time i don’t think I I think the Suns will target a point guard maybe a starting caliber one maybe a backup one but I think that’ll be in free agency or maybe with one of their later picks and I think when you make a trade for Jaylen Green when you already have Bradley Beiel and Grayson Allen on your roster you’re going to naturally have to lean into Point Book because there’s no way we’re bringing another undersized point guard into the mix again yep and the one asset the Suns do have is shooting yeah and any team that’s contending or any team that exists wants more shooting mhm be calm see clearly with another super chat $5 quoting a wonderful poet of our generation says “Callabases took your girl and your pride in front of me her utopia had moved up the street and her lip gloss is popping she ain’t even need you to eat.” Push a T on that note shout out uh Ted in the chat asks “Is Colin Gillespie returning you definitely want to check out the podcast that I recorded with Flex we talked about Gillespie Bull we talked about a ton of draft prospects and who he likes in this year’s draft we’re going to try to get Flex on again later this week we have a really fun show for you planning tomorrow zeke asks any draft video coming before the draft tune in tomorrow we have a special guest for draft breakdowns and we have a guest from the Houston side of things to look at the Kevin Rant trade from their lens and we’ll have some more breakdown shorts and whatnot on some potential prospects the Suns can select so yes we will have you covered with the draft now that the Suns have the number 10 pick in the draft plus on Wednesday we’ll be going live at 4:45 15 minutes before the draft is scheduled to start to get ready for that first round and then Thursday we’ll also be live at 5 right as the second round starts as the Suns have a couple picks in the second round so we have you covered with everything we had you wall-to-wall coverage on the KD trade now we’ve got you on the draft after that summer league free agency trades whatever else happens next you know that there’s only one place for you to go and that’s right here on PHNX Sports and that’s right here with PHNX Suns you can follow us at phnx_sons on Twitter and on Instagram to get the latest updates and news on whatever’s going on plus some funny jokes thrown in there as well we want to give a massive massive thank you and shout out to our wonderful producer behind the Mac the freckled Mamba Eritin who not only has been awesome with just handling his first two weeks on the job during a KD trade hopping on the breaking news pod cooking up some fire graphics from scratch for today’s show he’s just been absolutely killing him you can f killing it not him that’s crazy freckled Mamba on socials we tag him in all of our show tweets so you can easily find him there if you can’t find him on the search but just want to give him a big shout out because he’s put in a massive amount of work behind the scenes and so are these guys you can follow him Stephen don’t call him Steve steven PG3 on Twitter that’s Steven with a ph you can follow Gerald Gerald Borgay to get the latest from his articles his breakdowns and everything else uh maybe even a cute picture of Goku if you would like that as well i think the streets need one of those gerald it’s been it’s been a minute it’s been a minute too much negativity on the timeline one week i need to see my godchild Gerald okay it says so you can scroll up this right he’s like it’s pinned dude what are you doing and you can follow me at E R K R U B Y uh we’re going to workshop and do a better more cohesive cold open tomorrow so don’t miss that one hey [Music] [Applause] we all silly like the mayor
Jalen Green has been the most polarizing topic for Phoenix Suns fans since the team traded Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets before Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Is the young guards fit with Devin Booker salvageable? What is the future of Bradley Beal with these other shooting guards? Why are the Suns not looking to move on from what many consider to be a negative asset?
Gerald, Stephen and Erik are back to break everything down and bring you more information on the fallout from the KD trade and what’s next for a franchise in flux.
Follow the show @PHNX_Suns, @ErikRuby, @GeraldBourguet, @StephenPG3 & @FreckledMamba!
0:00 – Intro
3:00 – Jalen Green is a Phoenix Sun
29:21 – How Will Green Fit With the Suns?
45:30 – Diving Deeper into the Analytics of Jalen Green
1:09:45 – Reading Your Superchats!
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#KevinDurant #Durant #KD #DevinBooker #Booker #Book #BradleyBeal #Beal #PhoenixSuns #Phoenix #NBA #basketball #Big3 #hoops #sports #BolBol #GraysonAllen #JusufNurkic
29 comments
Hey fellas, are you upset that we traded KD, did not get enough in the trade, did not get a bona fide talent, such as Jabril Smith or just looking to stir the pot to attract listeners?
Hey VB #1, do we have to hear about the New Jersey love fest again? And anyone who wants CP3 back is not looking forward.
Hey fellas, don’t they have barbers in New Jersey?
Hey pops, you can’t spitball with s beard, it shows
Yo wait i been a diehard for a while. You get a shirt and hat?
To put this into context. Green is 23 averaging 21 ppg already. Ryan Dunn is 23 and barely averaged 6 but people love his upside. Doesn’t make sense
Im so TIRED OF THE CRAP! JUST A WEEK AGO…..the suns had gambo report that they had NO INTEREST in keeping Green! We all know the fit is NOT GOOD! Now all the sudden just a FLIPPIN WEEK LATER…they like Green and have no plans to trade him, they like the fit! Do they REALLY THINK we are that stupid! Its all about the SPIN! Its SO STUPID!!!
Flex is a nut. I dont think one thing he's ever said comes to fruition
Suns fans did KD dirty and so did all of you…i bet yall cant be better than him…go suns😅
Love from Naples, Italy!!! I love the intro tunes. What are their names please? Best Channel in the World, We are the Valley! I think the new coach will be able to build good chemistry… He can relate to the players.
I like Richard’s as a solid off the bench guy Center
We like Martin
Bol Bol anyone ???
Let’s see what Bol can do in a actual role lol
This is on the level of the 1990s cardinals and the coyotes moving states. Stephen A Smith is becoming the soothsayer about Ishbia. He came in with SDE and gutted the team to prove he “should” be respected. 5 first round picks, Mikel and Cam. Our twins and our future
NO. Saved 1 hour of your time. you're welcome.
we have 35 wins last year? Anything‘s better? I don’t care they gotta try something.
The more I think about it the more I like this. Go have a look at Devin bookers year 2 stats next to green. He's only 23. The amount he can learn from dbook, book is near top 10 assists and brooks to wake the dog back out of book… If the suns can turn Beal into a starting big young SF/PF I like the look of this team more and more
Book and Greens Duo is gonna be entertaining and to see Green develop is gonna be fun we already know Brooks is gonna be that DAWG enforcer
I really hope the Suns hold on to Dillon Brooks, I love that guy. he's one of those players that you love when he is on your team and hate when he is on the other team.
Green is still young enough for coach Ott to coach him up to his style of play
Still dreaming about trading Beal
Great analysis, thank you! I have a quick question: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (air carpet target dish off jeans toilet sweet piano spoil fruit essay). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
*champing at the bit
Brooks and Green were a good exchange for Durant. I’m confident we get more wins this upcoming season. We will trade Allen and O’Neal to get a starting forward or center
Jalen Green is a Diet Anthony Edwards. the Zach Lavine of Dwayne Wades
If booker plays at point guard again, you have Jalen green play at SG, Dillion brooks at SF, we still need a PF, and maybe nick Richard’s at center then we should be decent.
Also we can either try to trade Beal or buyout if we can’t.
Plus Jalen green is 23, tons of room to grow.
What are the odds Houston trades KD later down the line and gets a better return lol
That intro had me wondering if Gerth was having a stroke, or if I was 😂