Phoenix Suns Ceiling SKYROCKETS After MASTERCLASS Draft Revamp
it’s a bird it’s a plane no it’s just the sun’s ceiling after the draft [Applause] [Music] psychos and sitos unite for an optimism edition of the phnx suns show of course coming to you live from studio k presented by circle k join the inner circle for free by download the circle pay app today and of course putting your phone number and email at participating locations okay we are having ourselves one hell of a show one thing though is this youtube chat is throwing me off because people’s names are no longer showing up but our names i’m eric that’s stephen we got the freckled mamba eritton behind the mac aka juice man behind the mac and making all of the magic happen the most important people everybody’s whose ats i’m seeing in the chat this is a great way to learn that my dad’s at is street addict one whatever the hell that means dad mean addicted to the streets
we we might have to have a conversation about that afterwards uh but man i’m so excited i want to give a big big thank you to everybody in front of the scenes behind the scenes everybody in the chat everybody who watched that helped make our draft show such a success between that and the kevin durant trade the numbers wise and the involvement wise this is aiming up to be the best week in phnx suns history so i just want to say a big thank you to everybody of course a big thank you to stephen eritton and gerald today who is at home after writing multiple articles doing multiple shows because you know he kind of has a baby to take care of so nice little breather for gerald but we’re here stephen and we’re going to talk some ball
we are um it’s been a very fun week a whole lot going on and a whole lot is honestly a severe understatement for everything that we’ve been uh busy with over the last what five days now six days
can you believe that kevin durant got traded on sunday it has not even been a week since kevin durant got traded
no and that feels like that was months ago at this point considering how much news and how much involvement with news the suns have had since sunday um it’s been a crazy week for sure but we are uh we are here at the finish line near it at least we got today’s pod and then we got at least on the sun side of things hopefully a little bit of rest before free agency uh gets going
yeah i’m super super excited free agency in case you didn’t know is going down on monday uh my i’m so sorry the name street addict one and then he says “what should the 499 super chat for my dad?” thank you dad says “what should the name of the new gang be book and the rooks.” i mean we’re going to have to have a conversation dad about about what is going on
you tell us what you
when i’m not when i’m not home uh yeah okay also something that i that i need to oh wall street said the name is wall street okay interesting
dad we’ll talk about that later um somebody on twitter somebody on twitter stephen
genuinely asked me because i was i’m very excited about this draft
somebody said genuine question eric are you old enough to remember the dragon bender maris christ i laughed when you told me that cuz that’s so disrespectful how old do you guys think i am i know the baby face was there but i the facial hair is in now
literally nine years ago like serious seriously like how could i not remember you guys think i’m 16 years old i know i get excited i get emotion you think i’m 16 years old drop down in the comments how old you think i am uh because i i just thought that was that was absolutely fascinating but phoenix suns were big big winners stephen and we are big big winners as well because we have a brand new shirt we’re all in on alignment baby let’s go ahead and take a look fresh off the presses damn that’s sexy
that’s that’s tough that is that is a very straight to the point shirt gets the message across super quickly and it’s it’s just fire it’s fire
mhm this is beautiful i’ve already ordered mine you can order yours right now we will put the link in the chat make sure you check that out for sure thank you all the people who have jumped in here right off the bat uh it’s very fun seeing all of your ats instead of your usernames what we’re going to do today uh we have b from tempee saying “i was impressed with what bg did in the draft but wasn’t that his strength when he was hired?” yes i mean that was something that he was given credit for the involvement of ryan dunn the involvement of oso gdaro and and making that happen i don’t think that takes away from stephen what we consider to be a very good draft i i consider it an a+ draft myself
yeah i gave it a straight up a um i feel like they did as much as they possibly could with everything they had at their disposal and even the maneuvering to get in better position for day two of the draft in particular was very very very impressive from brian gregory and company you expect for someone with strengths to play to those strengths so if you have someone that’s a strong right-hand driver and creative passing with their right hand you would expect them to come out and do that regardless of what defense or adversity they might be up against ryan gregory straight shooter when it comes to drafts and assessing talent
feels like he checked off that box as robustly as he possibly could and as you could expect them to so now it’s about
what about the new parts of the job that you aren’t as privy to let’s see how you navigate those and that’s what’s ahead starting next week yeah zeke in the chat says “what’s next?” free agency is next we’re going to be going live at 2:45 on monday to get ready for the moratorum period so if teams are allowed to start negotiating with free agents on monday we will be there live reacting to all the news coming down for an extra long extra special free agency show we just don’t stop over here
connie hawkins
yeah uh listen i i thought of this when i i fell asleep at 500 a.m last night
for a variety of reasons this morning i fell asleep at 5:00 a.m uh obviously i’m pumped i’m a terrible sleeper uh street addict one in the chat knows that and uh that’s a wow
isn’t that crazy dude and uh and what i thought of i was laying i was laying in bed i was resting my head and i thought to myself you know a lot of people the responses to the the overwhelming optimism from the suns draft was “okay but it’s the draft okay but you don’t know what’s gonna happen okay but there’s this okay but there’s that oh now you’re crowning brian gregory what are we doing here right we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves so i thought it would be really fun right here on a friday to go through best case middle case and worstcase scenarios okay so let’s start with the best case and that means we’re looking at the future and the future is bright presented by shady rays go get your shady rays right now over at shady.com you can get a discount code using phnx as well the future is bright shout out to our friends over at shady rays let’s start with the non-draft pick
stephen mark williams was a big addition to this team what is the best case scenario for the suns trading the 29th pick and a future first round pick in 2029 along with vasameich for mark williams on the court mark williams best case scenario with this team is blank um he plays more than his his career best 44 games which he did last season that’s a crazy statement that’s okay i don’t even know if like i think best case scenario is that you get a qualifying season from him which is 65 games like and and i want to get pie in the sky here because we’re going to go to like middle ground and then we’re going to go to worst case scenario so we’re going to attack it from all angles it’s a little sad that that’s where you started specifically is going past the careerhigh 45
it’s hard to ask for more than anything that we haven’t already seen and that’s my reason for saying that now with the malawatch drafting the suns have an opportunity to at least maybe a quarter through the season if malawatch pans out right which will obviously get to him soon scale back the minutes of williams to where maybe he’s not playing what was it the 26.6 minutes that he averaged last season
that’s not a lot of minutes though
it’s not it’s not but if that’s what’s needed to get the most out of him later in the season which which is when you’re going to need him most you do that you put him on a minutes plan obviously that creates more opportunity for malawash to integrate himself on the nba level there’s a systematic approach to that but i can’t say he has to play 75 games cuz we haven’t even seen him play that yet
yeah i listen so mark williams 15.3 points per game 10.2 rebounds per game 2.5 assists per game 60.4% from the field obviously did not play uh a lot of games but last season ended up playing 44 this is a guy that i believe best case scenario for this team can play alongside kaman malawatch right as a four five combo there are reports from zack low having conversations with charles lee that they were planning on mark williams to take threes and that they believe that mark williams could have taken threes i will believe it when i see it he did not hit a three at all last year uh so i’m not going to bank on that but i think best case scenario he has a little bit of touch in his outside game to open things up to play alongside kam malawatch who we’re going to talk about next about his best case scenario and yes the health but i want to go beyond the health stephen because i know that that’s like
i know that that is the number one thing right it’s the best ability and it’s the number one thing that we focus on with mark williams but on the offensive end
what is the best version of mark williams on this team and what does that do to everybody else who’s on the roster
well the margins are not something that the suns dominated last season in any capacity whether that be offensively or defensively naturally with mark with i was about to say marvin but mark williams um shout out bucket shout out marvin williams
bucket bucket bucket still crazy that atlanta drafted him over chris paul but that’s another podcast for another day
crazy how could i even remember him considering i’m 12 right very true also but no with mark williams last season he averaged three offensive rebounds per game the season before that he averaged four if he can play north of that 44 that 44 game mark that i’m speaking to and he’s able to sustain his level of play i don’t see it inconceivable that he that he can’t average at least three and a half offensive rebounds
sure
and with the attention that guys like jaylen green will get off of drives that’s going to create opportunity for him to attack and play to a natural strength of his if he’s creating extra opportunities for the suns that naturally helps their offense that keeps their defense set more often it allows for them to get more field goal attempts on the rim and also puts him in position to score which is where he often scored uh off of the rebounds that he was able to kind of corral himself
best case scenario for mark williams if you want to see it is when he played the phoenix suns on sunday january 12th now it was a loss but in 29 minutes
and the the bar was low considering competition at the front court position
correct 100%
but yes i hear you 24 points 16 rebounds four assists shot nine of 12 from the field six of 10 from the line which is actually significantly below his average from the line he’s about an 80% free throw shooter now
how many offensive rebounds did he have that game
that game it doesn’t tell me offensive rebounds it just tells me rebounds you want to look that up but he was just an absolute beast listen the best case scenario with mark williams is you have a dominant paint beast on the interior that you can rely on you have a center who could be on the court for 25 to 30 minutes a night somebody who can create gravity interiorly like no other center has done for the phoenix suns i know deandre aton was very effective around the rim as well but as far as like driving and being nasty and getting to the rim and getting these attempts at the rim that’s not something that deandre aton did he had the finesse and he had the skill and it was something that the suns definitely needed to stretch it out to the mid-range to get these post hooks but what was the number one complaint on on deandre aton when it came to his offensive game
no dunks
no dunks shout out to the no dunks crew but i i think that when you get mark williams having this bully that brings you interiorly and dominates on the paint and if he can be the type of guy to bully on the boards to bully in the paint and then on the defensive end he doesn’t have the best block rate he doesn’t have the best rim deterrent rate and especially when it comes to what percentage that opponents shoot against him at the rim he had lower numbers than yousef nerkage on the hornets last year so best case scenario for me stephen is a guy who dominates the paint on the offensive end and a big body who can be better interiorly than what the suns have had before on the defensive end and somebody that can help corral the what the poa defenders and ryan dunn and dylan brooks are doing uh and and stop people like mark williams from dominating the way that mark williams did against the suns back in january
so for me mr context knocking at the door again hey it’s me um last season how many notable perimeter defenders did he have with the charlotte hornets so yep so my point being my point being no different than with the suns last season if you have a melee of drives after drives after back door cut because someone fell asleep at the wheel off ball after a miscommunication on the switch so someone slips and you just have these these melees of cuts and drives coming at you time after time even dwight howard hakee logan shaquille o’neal will chamberlain bill russell all of these alltime greats are not going to block every single shot that comes at you when it’s coming at you at that volume in that clip from all varying positions there’s no process around them no one can execute consistently enough to where you can anticipate or predict it and take away that while also not giving away the dump off pass to your man i imagine with the suns and the way that the roster is trajected to go towards and where it already is he’ll be able to have his best impact season as a rim protector it’s not that he isn’t one himself it’s more so the context that he was in didn’t allow for the shots he was able to deter or actually block or even get deflections with to have the impact that he might needed to and he averaged 1.2 blocks last season that’s nothing to scoff at um
again on a on a hornets team that was like you know the the video of the guy who’s patting people down going into the the concert venue and he’s just like not even checking like that was the charlotte tornets defense last year and so with with williams and it’s kind of funny because we’re going to go to malawatch then we’re going to go to fleming and then we’re going to go to brea right we’re going to break down all the four new additions for the suns and their best middle worst case scenario
so for for williams i think the best case scenario for him also hinges on some of these other players as well are you defending with a rashier fleming who’s a better weak side defender what he can project to be and then ryan dunn is the poa i mean that’s insulating mark williams way better than he ever had before and that’s not even mentioning who’s probably right now the best perimeter defender on the team which is dylan brooks i think ryan dunn’s potential is higher currently dylan brooks is the best poa defender on the team right are you playing him next to a malawatch who let’s say that malawatch’s soccer skills and footwork that we’ll talk about in a second here allows him to switch out more on the perimeter and be a weak side defender as well driving people and forcing people to go away from the rim and towards where mark williams and his seven foot wingspan might be as well these are the things that if they all play together for the suns they could end up putting together one hell of a defense so mark williams in the best case scenario here is on both ends of the court being the paint presence the suns have desperately needed and the reason why they drafted a guy like kam malawatch at 10 so what we’re going to do here is we’re going to take a break and then we’re going to talk about the bestcase scenario for kam malawatch rashir fleming and kobe brea we’ll get to realistic floors and ceilings for them and then we’ll get to the worst case but we’ll save that for the very end we’re having fun here the future is bright presented by shady raids thank you shady rays and we’ll be right back after this quick break if you need to relax after a long week of kevin durant trades and the draft and everything like that as well pure edibles is a great way to do it founded in arizona and available in 130 dispensaries statewide pure gummies are not covered in sugar like all their competitors no no no pure is a full-fledged candy company offering gummies kicks chews and 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right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets when you bet $5 win or lose come on malawatch rookie of the year on he’s got pretty decent ones sign up use the code ph65 deposit 10 place a bet for five get 115 bonus bets if your bet wins or loses bonus bets can be used on spreads totals player props futures and more whatever the moment it is never ordinary at bet365 you must be 21 plus and physically located in arizona if you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call 1800 nextep textstep to 52342 or visit problemgambling.az.gov and yes even though basketball is over doesn’t mean that you don’t have baseball maybe you want to bet on the over of diamondbacks players that are going to get miraculously injured during the season you’d hit that on bet 365 plus they’re already going to start putting out futures for the nba season anytime so be one of the 90 million users that are never ordinary over at bet 365 thank you again to everybody in the chat it’s so much harder to call out your names because the ads are not actually your names but just know that i appreciate every single one of you hit that like button hit that subscribe button stephen has a come on malawatch film session that has been recorded that’s going to be getting out to you sometime in the next day or two here i recorded a trending mini pod earlier today about chef brian gregory and the apologies that this man has been earning at least recently and then i have a very special conversation scheduled tonight with uh stephen the draft expert from no ceilings that we talked to earlier this week i’m going to do a 30 minute deep dive with him when i get back home and we’re going to be posting 20 minutes of that to all of you out here today but the extra 10 minutes is going to be for diehards only so become a diehard today and also go phnx.com/store.go go and get this shirt become aligned just like me i will be rocking this the first day that i get it hell i’m not even going to wash it that’s how aligned i am i’m taking it out of the plastic i’m putting that baby on and i’m wearing it the way that i get in here so thank you all so much for your support this week and enter this new era of suns basketball with us become aligned with the aligned t-shirt man that is sexy shout out to the people at all city for getting that pumped out
turn around too when you take somebody with a top 10 pick especially somebody who is considered to have slid to the top 10 pick and we talk about ceilings stephen usually we’re talking pretty high
what do you see as kam malawatch’s best case scenario for this season and for the future
yeah says that he comes into the league and he’s able to play 25ish minutes a game and that he’s able to have that same rim presence and impact on offense that he had on the collegiate level in terms of being a vertical spacer being efficient on the touches that he does get around the restricted area finishing well through contact catching some bodies dunking on people and then on the defensive end maybe not to the same extent that he had on the collegiate level but being good enough with his rim presence to where he’s playing with vertical space or he’s playing vertically to where he’s not fouling guys staying out of foul trouble that they’re able to get the most out of the minutes that load that he’s able to carry in his rookie season and that he’s also able to have impact with his versatility how close to the level is he playing if he’s in drop coverage is he up to touch and then reverting back to keep leverage on the roller or is he up to touch and he’s getting beat or if he’s up to touch and he can’t contain on drives and things like that i’m going be kind of watching for those things same things that i talked about in the film session uh to come over the weekend
i think best case scenario for him and i agree with everything you say i think best case scenario is that he walks into the nba with a more nba ready jump shot than what we imagine
right i i think the release is smooth obviously he didn’t take a lot at duke but when you see him work out it is empty gym season as you know stephen uh the the shots look good right and brian gregory even said in his post draft availability that they do believe in his ability to stretch out the floor as well i i think best case scenario just like what i said for mark williams is that everything you said of course comes true and also best case scenario rookie year is that they find a way to have an effective lineup with those two seven plus footers on the court and malawatch being able to shoot right i also think that one of my concerns that i have for him is how do you do defending in space obviously you’re going to be able to make up for a lot of mistakes based off of your wingspan based off of your length and him being quickfooted i think definitely helps with this if he can become somebody that confidently can switch out on the perimeter in his rookie year right doesn’t have and i don’t think he will doesn’t have any conditioning issues with playing 25 30 minutes a game can be your spot starting center or starting power forward
and play alongside or in place of mark williams if he’s injured i mean that’s best case scenario for for come on model watch i i really think that this kid has all the potential in the world he’s only played basketball for a couple of years you’ve only heard good things about him and his work ethic he has the measurables he has an nba ready body at 18 he’ll be 19 by the time the season starts
and then when we look at the future stephen let’s get crazy let’s get nuts am am i out of pocket for saying that this kid has defensive player of the year potential yes oh boo you’re no fun
you asked me a question you asked me a question
you’re no fun
i’m sorry i’m keeping it a fun we’re supposed to get best do you think you think best case scenario the 7 foot dude with a 96 to 98 standing reach depending on who you ask does not have defensive player of the year potential have you seen the way that the defensive player of the year race has played out the last handful of years
yeah i’ve seen it
has it always made sense
no it hasn’t always made sense but do you see this one defensive player of the year this year so if his name is not as loud in terms of popularity as other names
is his name going to be louder than the names he’s going to be included in this conversation with on a season to season basis
look you asked me to be honest okay i’m talking about like 5 10 years down the line he’s been established in the league he’s a top 10 pick listen i know we’re going to talk about realistic scenarios that sounds like a realistic scenario here let’s save that for five minutes be pie in the sky with me here my friend
i’m trying to i think he can be very good i think he could be elite defensively is he defensive player that you’re capable
that remains to be seen
i think he has
because it’s not just him also it has to be the team he has a he has to have a top five defense
i agree
i think the the worst we’ve seen is like a six defense um a six person that’s anchoring a six worth six place defense three good young defenders to pair around or to pair with him
how many players how many players on the court at one time
i get it i we’re talking five 10 years now man you are you are trying to ruin my friday stephen
this is called balance you are in the stratosphere past where i can even imagine i’m a little closer to earth than
is it my lack of sleep
yes
okay
you’re welcome
i mean listen his intangibles
yes
his intangibles i do believe puts him in the same light as some of the players we’ve seen win defensive player of the year whether it’s rudy goar whether it’s evan mobley and i’m acknowledging this is not likely i’m not sitting here saying this kid is going to win defensive player of the year sometime in his career but
he has the intangibles to do so he has the rim deterrent rate to do so i think he can get his hands on blocks to do so if he can go out and defend on the perimeter like evan mobley is able to do and i think that he’s able to to rack up stocks especially blocks obviously you look at a guy like obviously you look at a guy like evan mobley obviously you look like a guy rudy gobear and you think giannis attenukumbo how could how could kamalatch you know compete with that i look at it and say 5 to 10 years down the line when this kid’s 28 years old 29 years old
mhm i think that he has all the potential in the world and and we talk about having five players on the court 10 years down the line is devin booker on the court right are we sure that ryan dunn isn’t also competing to be first team all nba defense in his you know age 30 season right who else do the suns draft when they obviously are targeting guys who play defense like a rasher fleming who we’ll talk about here in a second mhm
i i think that if we’re going pie in the sky i i don’t think we can exclude the absolute ceiling which is he has all the measurables and the mindset to win that i’m not going to put my money on it i’m not going to tell you that’s a realistic scenario but if i’m getting pie in the sky i think that’s absolutely on the table
i don’t know def i don’t know if dpi is on the board man i just don’t know that’s literally mvp of the defense across the entire nba i just don’t know if he has that one of one about him on the defensive end
okay he’s a special talent for sure i think he has all nba status that’s written in the stars for him maybe within the next three years honestly
all nba status written in the stars but can’t sniff a defensive player
man we saw marus winning and then not going to not going to all all nba
well that’s just all the stupid voters hopefully in 10 years from now they fix that to my point to my point though to my point though
his entire career is about to be overlapping with evan mobley and victor wimayama among other centers to come in power force to come into the nba but with
also know that it’s maybe even
now he still has rudy gobear in there right now
well yeah but by the time that match is going to be in contention rudy gobear is going to be kicked
and rudy might have one more defensive player of the year under him so that takes one year off of malo watches opportunity to go get one and then by the time that’s done going into the season after the next victor wayyama is already a perennial all-star mvp candidate defensive player of the year candidate evan mobley is trying to defend his crowd next season
i thought when was going to win defensive player of the year this year and and stuff happens they hit the default button stuff happens that’s true
yeah so i i hear what you’re i hear what you’re saying i hear what you’re saying okay i that’s like that’s like saying dylan harper is going to be an mvp
because of the offensive prowess and the potential he has you can say that i’m not mad at it i’m not mad at it but there’s do you feel me there’s a there’s a field of competition that’s already ready for it now
yeah i i hear you i’m not saying it’d be easy i’m just saying i think i think pie in the sky scenario best case for his ceiling settle the debate here eritton settle the debate
i think that malawatch in five years will be giannis with a jump shot
i like this kid i like the juice man um okay okay do we have any other thoughts on the best case scenario for kaman malawatch
yes that i think best case is that he can
i would have died if you said he could win defensive player of the year
i would i would have lost
if i if i was in my bag today i would have pressed that button i ain’t quite there yet um
it’s been a long week stephen
this is very true um best case scenario for him on offense though is that the three-point shot falls which you’ve brought up already but also that his impact as a screener and a roller has a certain type of effect to where it allows for him to get to 11 or 12 points a game on average but also his playmaking expedited within that talked about it on draft night when they got him he’s a good roller he’s a very good roller i imagine his points per possession as a roller is going to be up there with the elite percentile probably 80th percentile at worst what about the playmaking part of it though because it’s not going to be deep roll and you’re just going to be able to go in
undeterred from any type of tags or help defense you’re just going to go and catch vertical space and alleyoops at the top of the box not going to be that easy in the nba where’s the where’s the touch beneath the free throw line going to be at does he have a floater does he have a half hook that he wants to get to can he put his shoulder into somebody and then get into a spin over the other shoulder the other thing though the playmaking part short roll playmaking if jaylen green is seeing people at the level if not all out blissing like he did with with the warriors in the first round if deon booker continues to get the same defenses that we’ve been seeing him get where does malawash fit into that he’s inevitably going to spend time on the court with both of those two guys those two guys demand a certain type of playmaker requisite from any type of center or power forward that’s going to be spending time on the court with them what does that look like if he’s able to make quick decisions it might not always be the most accurate passes if he sees it understands it processes it and just makes quick decisions i think he’ll be perfectly fine
and i kind of want to make a point and i meant to say this about mark williams very underrated passer
yeah i was we talked about it at length but yeah for sure average two and a half assists um we talked about before too last season um very very underrated i think that gets unlocked with the suns i
i think him being one of those connectors is with his ceiling and with malawatch you know the defensive potential is definitely there you look at the body type you look at the intangibles you look at the instincts the blocking the shots the rim deterrence in college also the fact that duke didn’t just defend in a drop drew didn’t just defend in one singular way they did throw different types of defenses out there and as somebody who again has not been playing basketball for half a decade now at this point he handled it very well so i think offensively if you looked at malawatch in college and he could have gone to like a lower school or a school where he would have gotten more run through him i think he probably 20 and 12
yeah i i think he could have done a lot more he’s playing with the entire starting five got drafted by like the top 50
you know i think proctor was the last guy to go and he went to the cavs at at 50 or 51 mhm
something’s going on out there people are yelling and cheering that threw me off um here’s here’s the thing i think that malaw watch’s offensive potential with his size with his touch and with the raw ability is so so high that if he can end up playing the four stretching out to the three relatively consistently and being an elite rim runner uh clint capella with the jump shot and i know i think people might kind of scoff at that and think oh that’s that’s maybe like low clint capella prime clint capella was one of the best pick and roll partners you could ever imagine for a guy like james harden james harden’s prime is not the same without a guy like clint capella down there in the middle now imagine if clint capella could do anything outside of the paint
mhm
that’s where i kind of see and he’s bigger come on malawatch so i i’m super super high on his potential i’m also really high on the 31st pick i almost said the 29th pick the 31st pick in the draft rashir fleming
what’s rashir fleming’s ceiling to you 69 3 and d prototypical forward out of st joe’s for me with rasheed fleming ceiling for him is that his three-point shot hits well enough for him to start at the four for you next season and i think that’s u i don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility in any capacity
do you think that’s not out of the realm of possibility because of his ceiling or because of the sun’s lack of depth at the position
oh that’s what i was going to get to because i feel like even if they make the right moves that they need to if he doesn’t start the season at the four i feel like there’s potential for him to end the season at the four because of everything he does on defense to that point on offense we talked about it on draft night when they got him um yesterday 41% on open catch and shoot threes i imagine he’s going to be taking a nice bit of open catch and shoot three-point opportunities playing off of jaylen green and devin booker if he can knock those down even if it drops to like 38 39% that’s solid enough i want to watch all season long with rashier fleming does the scouting report evolve for him teams are going to come when he comes into the league teams are going to tell him “take all the threes you want.” if he knocks him down at 41 42 43% on a modest one or two attempts a game is that enough for teams to not just short close to him but go and put a foot on the free throw line if that urgency within that shifts even the slightest bit he’s already a player that isn’t shy about putting the ball in the deck so if he’s now getting longer closeouts and he’s able to keep advantages that devin booker and jaylen green create for him and for others he’s a willing playmaker he’s able to playmake on the drive and if he’s constantly getting to the basket getting a paint touch after the attention that those two get and he’s dunking on people getting to the free throw line kicking it to the backside and if grayson allen still around or if it’s kobe brea opposite of him he’s kicking it to one of those two for open threes
that really unlocks the suns offense especially in the half court that’s probably the first thing i look at for him and how that plays to the rest of the skills that he brings to the fold
yeah somebody said kawawaii as his ceiling i don’t know if i want to go there because the thing with with rashir fleming and listen i’m super high on i’m super high on him right but there’s no in between game there it’s paint and it’s threes it’s paint and it’s threes like that’s and
there’s beauty with that but i’m listen
right and that’s and that’s for a role player in the nba at 69 his frame his body type 75 wingspan to be able to hit the three to be able to go to the paint and to be able to do it consistently is 100% a skill that you can build on in the nba and it’s why i do believe that i i think that rashir i think rashir’s rashir fleming’s floor might be higher than any of the other rookies that we’ve talked about right because of the fact that there there’s the blocks there’s the steals there’s the threes and there’s the paint a lot of that translates right so for me but we’re not talking about score we’re talking about a ceiling
the ceiling is somebody who is yes respected from three but can also go a little bit off the dribble and attack on closeouts as well using his length to finish around the rim but the biggest piece of his potential for me is as a defender can you be a great on ball defender without fouling can you be a great weak side defender and help off of a malawatch off of a mark williams if you’re able to hit threes and defend at a high level there’s no reason why you can’t be a starting power forward in this league yeah that’s the that’s the other half of it for me looking at the defensive side which is where i i imagine his impact is felt most immediately just off of the size and athleticism that he brings if he’s knocking down that three-point shot and getting the close outs to shift to where they’re running him off the line like i’m speaking to
and he’s putting that in tandem with the ability to guard centers
mhm
and do that viably whether he’s whether his whether his base covers not even that no no no not even not even him playing a five if he’s playing a five next to malawatch and malawatch can just guard a nine shooter and fleming is guarding a five and his let’s say his base coverage is switching and we saw the impact that switching had when osui gadaro and the limited minutes he played was able to get time last season rashir fleman i feel has a higher ceiling as an active defender because of his size if he’s able to guard fives and hold up against them add that nuance and versatility to the scheme and the lineups that i working with to construct and he can keep malawatch out of being attacked and pick and roll and teams trying to poke holes at him time and time again that shifts everything cuz now malawatch is just chilling around the paint he’s roaming anytime there’s a drive anytime he has to provide some lay help he can put fires out at the rim whenever he wants to because rasheir fleman is expediting everything and that’s going to lead to more turnovers for opponents that’s another margin that the suns were worse than the league at last season
yeah i think controlling his fouling is certainly something in the next level you have to look at you mentioned guarding fives i think absolute ceiling for him is is he’s a he’s a consistent small ball five option yeah for sure
right if if you can get that out of him that unlocks just
an insane amount
i’m imagining i’m not going to throw names out there we’ll save it for mailback monday or some some episode next week but if they’re able to get a 34 tweener that i have in mind to where he can shift down to the five and that three four tweener can go to the four next to him
and how that just that would have an impact no different than nas reed being able to play a five last season in the season before last in the playoffs for the timberwolves and that opening up everything for anthony edwards downhill prowess
we talk about book needing a stretch five option
and that’s what i’m getting at it won’t be obviously a starting caliber one but if you have it as a layer within the team scheme and lineups that cycle throughs cycles through
you’re working with something i
i mean he has a center wingspan right and sometimes that’s more important than height you can be tall but if you have a negative wingspan that’s actually less effective when it comes to defending the rim especially jumping into passing lanes and whatnot all right we still have kobe bray’s best case scenario we have realistic and worst case scenarios for all the guys that we’ve talked about today all of you guys in the chat i love seeing your new acts some of you are the same uh some of you are different some of you uh i’m not even recognizing at all but that’s okay as long as you’re hitting that like button hit that subscribe button if you’re listening on audio five star reviews go a long long long way we’re going to break down brea and more right after our final break i’m such an idiot i’m such an idiot no i won’t do you want to know why i cost myself money yesterday lost in the amazing wins from brian gregory in the draft eric ruby was a loser because i did not take advantage of the i did not that’s fine i did not take advantage of the inner circle membership deals and get 50 cents off from my gas yesterday and i need gas this is my fault this is hand up this is on me don’t be like me don’t miss your next chance to get 50 cents off 40 cents off per gallon join the inner circle for free all you have to do is download the circle k app put in your phone number put in your email and boom you’re saving 25 cents off per gallon on your first five phillips 3 cents off per gallon every fillup after that always bump it up to 5 cents after you use it enough plus other member exclusive deals like a 79 cent polar pop a 99 cent froster and so much more join the inner circle for free by downloading the circle k app today terms conditions apply at participating locations visit circlek.com for full details shout out to the person in the chat saying that i am a loser you know who’s not a loser people who use mountain america credit union’s rewards credit card because now through july 31st you can get double the amount of points you can watch your points pile up it’s perfect for buying gas groceries travel home projects other purchases like gerald and all the diapers that he has been purchasing redeem your double points rewards like travel rebates gift cards and event tickets as well mountain america credit union is committed to helping their more than 1 million members through 100 branches throughout the west by giving you double points and so much more now through july 31st you can get details at macu.com/double it’s a limited time only take advantage while you can loans are on approved credit offers can change or be withdrawn at any time limited time offer as well terms and conditions apply once again stretch your dollar the easy way with mountain america credit union we appreciate them for sponsoring this episode uh big shout out to brent william thawn ziasco or zako andy cruz beer is good 45 i think that’s boom shakalaka stephen you’re in the chat you’re still steven pg3 that’s right uh smelly garage fluid i think that’s generational hater
wow smelly garage fluid just going to let that one breathe i am a lot higher on kobe brea at41 than it seems like i’m very high off smelly garage fluid somebody help me uh i’m a lot higher on kobe brea than it feels like most are in fact i even said the suns should be targeting him uh if they do not get adiero at 41 which they didn’t now adiero is the enemy um i know a lot of people want tyus proctor but i think the the ceiling on kobe brea for what he could bring to this team is so fascinating at 65 and a half now he does have a negative wingspan i don’t think that his ceiling is being a great defender i think his ceiling is being an okay defender being a passable defender i think his offensive ceiling is being one of the best marksmen in the league the kid has all the talent and the requisite ability to do it stephen
yeah that’s his ceiling for you to just be one of the best
to be one to be one of the best off movement catch and shoot just absolute
marks come from that grayson luke canard type of type of mood jun type
i think the ceiling is a little bit higher than what we saw from a canard or or a grayson i i think there’s a little bit more in the bag there uh for for brea in and the ceiling as far as a little more than grayson
as far as shot creation goes now grayson as far as driving to the rim i want to give him credit he’s he’s good at at getting a paint touch and andy cruz basically saying that is the same time as me i don’t know if brea’s ceiling is that but as far as off the dribble shot making especially like off the dribble three-point making i i think he has a a lot higher of a ceiling than than somebody like grayson allen
okay i actually win defense for him
i feel like his offense yeah i feel like his offense shooting his most translatable skill is going to be what it is especially the shots that he would in theory get uh off of jaylen green and deon booker for me with kobe brea if he can be a guy that i imagine jordan doesn’t want his guards to be creating rotations for the defense to have to play off of so if kobe brea can be a guy that doesn’t have to be in shore and recover which puts the other three guys not involved directly in action and task to cover multiple players as action unfolds if he could be a guy that just switches and holds up for two or three dribbles without having to be a guy where oh man kobe’s in kobe’s in isolation defense let me start cheating over at the nail because i know he probably gonna get beat to the left or if he’s going the other direction cheating off of the corner trying to overcompensate for a lack of trust right he could be a guy that builds that trust over the course of the season and just can hold off for two or three dribbles like a solid defender
that’s it
a defender you don’t have to worry about and that’s the thing point of attack defense again mr context mr point of attack that’s me if he can just hold up for one or two dribbles with guys and allow for the the help that i imagine they’ll be able to build a shell out of to do what it does i think that changes everything for him and his projection as a player within this system cuz he can’t get to the goods that he brings on offense if he can’t hold up on defense yeah if you’re getting targeted if you’re a pigeon if you’re a cone whatever you want to call it
i call him waldo
yeah waldo uh there’s not a lot like listen you can have a career if you’re shooting right if you’re just a shooter but it’s not a career of being a starter it’s not a career of being a key piece on a championship team it’s okay this guy’s going to get a contract because he can shoot he’ll probably be on a bad team he’ll get attacked on defense if kobe brea can can use his instincts i don’t think he’s a like a dumb defender i don’t see him making like a ton of mistakes i just frame more than anything
yeah i just i don’t i don’t love just kind of the ceiling with defense with him but i think if we’re talking the ceiling being solid then that’s fine because all you need is solid from a guy who’s shooting the way that he that he shot i i think being a fire starter off the bench as far as shooting or like one of the like you know third or fourth best starters on a good team surrounded and insulated by good defense like imagining like looking at like what an orlando magic’s team is right now when they desperately need shooting and they have a good defensive you know like uh system around him i if if the idea of the ceiling of kobe brea works out i could see him being like the starting shooting guard on a team like that and just bombing away and then holding up well in in the system right i think as far as ceilings go because of i i think for for malawatch and for uh for fleming the ceilings on both ends of the floor i believe raises it so much higher than brea because i i think with brea the the floor on offense is probably higher than those two
but the floor on defense is a lot lower and i think his ceiling on defense is is a lot lower as well
yep that’s the thing and that’s why i kind of went about it the way that i did with him i know i know what his offensive strengths are i believe in what he’s capable of as a shooter coming into the league already having that it’s the other end of the court where i feel like if he is able to find a way to stay on the court that changes things for everything that i imagine jordan’s offense is going to look like because if you have a sniper and grayson that’s in theory with the roster and he’s taking a significant claim of minutes if you’re able to kind of one off those guys with the with one another that changes things for jaylen green and deon booker because if those two guys are passed away or setting screens for them and flaring and popping and things it hits a little different for the half court offense well and i also think the ability to create like listen i i think that there’s a place for great on this team i think there’s a place for royce o’neal on this team i’m not married to keeping them i in fact i would like for them to be shopped for maybe some better positional versatility there but the the difference between the idea of having a grayson allen out there and a kobe bray out there is that grayson allen brings a little bit more of a paint presence the the the hard-headedness the ability to drive with brea let’s say it’s brea and booker out there right and booker gets a screen from malawatch drives malawatch is rolling he collapses the defense in and brea’s open on the corner right brea has a wideopen three gets the ball in his hands aggressive aggressive close out let’s say from an ideal defender long wingspan somebody that’s going to be good at closing out
instead of pump faking and driving to the rim there can be a pump fake step to the side right there could be off the dribble creation from three and even if that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be taking the shot there but the defense knows it’s a threat let’s say there’s a rotation of the guy coming in while brea is pump faking guy flies by he goes to the three whoever’s defending at the top of the key maybe rolling behind malawatch sees okay well kobe brea has a wide open three now i’m rotating over there if brea can be a decent enough passer which is something he definitely needs to work on as well and find whoever’s open whether it’s you know a ryan dunn a dylan brooks in theory with this team or or somebody else devin booker who’s always going to be going off movement but will most likely keep attention or a center down low a malawatch or a mark williams if he’s able to make that read collapse in defense on him outwardly to the three-point line and make a read to deliver an open shot there’s a lot of potential gravity there that goes a lot farther than i’m going to pump fake on the closeout and now drive to the paint where booker and malawatch or booker and williams or booker and igodaro are already kind of rolling to and occupy that area it just it gives you a whole different section of the court to play with
it does and that’s that goes to my other thing with him one of the strengths that he has obviously is his three-point shooting and doing it off of movement but how quick are his decisions that he’s making on the nba level because
those gaps and those windows that he had to work with on the collegiate level you playing in more space but you’re also playing against faster quicker stronger athletes that anticipate and see the game and feel the game through a little differently defensively so how quickly is he making those decisions when he is getting into those situations where he’s playing off a booker or jaylen green gets that pass on the weak side or rotating defenders going to him is he making that decision quick
or is it like a slight hesitation to where that half second that you have to keep an advantage is gone and then now you got to work against the clock with a a set defense around you
yeah i i mean right now grayson allen is a is a better fit for the team as far as the gravity goes the playmaking goes he’s an established nba veteran but we saw what grayson allen shooting could do not this season but the season before when he was in the starting lineup even though he probably wasn’t a starting caliber player but the gravity and the being open and leading the league in three-point percentage like like that’s the type of ceiling that that i can see from a kobe brea uh as long as he’s trying hard on defense you know you might be picked on but if you’re not he’s going he’s no there’s no might there is no might about it if he checks in he’s probably guarding 15 picking rolls in six minutes of play well and and especially if if let’s say like he’s coming in for for a booker right or jaylen green’s out there now jaylen green’s not the best defender but he’s much more athletic than a brea right you’re still
bigger too just generally you’re still going to attack a brea right if it’s a dun or a brooks or a fleming you’re not attacking them if it’s a malawatch or a williams you’re not attacking them right
mhm
so if you’re able to compete make it a little bit more difficult not get exposed on that end and then have this insane three-point gravity and then also if he’s able to draw fouls because he shot an incredible percentage of the line but i think he took like maybe one a game maybe a little under one a game if he’s able to draw fouls i i think that that adds another layer and again that’s kind of where the grayson allen of it all comes in where he can drive but he doesn’t get fouled a ton he he just he drives in and he takes contact so he’ll go to the line but i i don’t really remember like a lot of times like oh man grayson allen has like seven free throws tonight if that’s a layer he can add to his game i i think his ceiling is there i think he’ll have to get stronger to get to that point because grayson didn’t get there until this well the past season and a half started getting stronger yeah for sure
whose ceiling excites you the most mark williams kaman malawatch rashier fleming and kobe brea it’s between fleming and malawatch in that order for me
the ceiling for malawatch i it’s so high i mean it’s a top 10 pick i think it’s the right answer
it’s yeah it’s it’s fleming and malawash for me in that order though for me because
you think fleming first because yeah because it’s the the positional versatility
interesting
but also the just the overall impact of if you have a four that can play the way that he does
imagine he’s not going to be pascal seiak but imagine if he has that type of impact on a defense in a secondary role and what that would do for a team led by deon booker and jaylen green i just i get what you’re saying and i i put i put fleming second
not to scoff at him
if you imagine the ceiling for malawatch as a defender who could switch out at seven foot to defend the rim at a at a deep pointish level and knock down threes and be effective around the rim and a rim runner
as much as i love rashir fleming’s versatility and as much as i love the the the 69 ability to play small ball five to switch out to play the three to play the four to hit the three whatever it is it’s it’s malawatches for me and i i just think that that is to me that that’s a clear-cut choice i get what you’re saying it’s fleming second for me i’ll put mark williams third because mark williams is still young man like that and i think that’s the thing above all of this is you know we haven’t seen him in a good team yep
we’ve seen him with a curs
right we haven’t seen him in an ecosystem and we haven’t seen him stay healthy like what if he stays healthy right that’s the ceiling right is if he stays healthy he’s a what top 15 center in the league right like with room to grow
no worse than no worse than like 18 i would say
right like room to grow because he’s 23 years old yeah and the potential yeah
for sure
okay uh we are 52 minutes here and we have been talking about best case scenario and i absolutely love it uh i think realistic scenario is pretty self-explanatory i think we kind of talked that out when we were talking about best case scenario and some of the weaknesses so what i want to do here because a lot of people like i said when they look at the draft is oh well you know everybody thinks they won the draft how can you grade a draft when nobody’s played you know you’re talking about potential with prospects right but as we know as we’ve seen with drafts you know that i can’t remember like the 2016 draft you know uh that you can have a tough wasn’t a lot for the 2016 draft either then
even i’m not that young
yeah uh you know there are bus there are players that universally people think are going to be good coming out of college and that end up not being good now what if the suns acquired one of those players or what if they traded for one of those players so let’s start where we started this episode mark williams this one feels pretty self-explanatory season what stephen what is the floor for mark williams stint in phoenix
i won’t take the low hanging fruit on on um availability for a second time
i’ll leave that alone because it’s self-explanatory as you said i will go with his defense not being as good as maybe i think it is already
okay
and that’s him being further behind the curve or not even behind the curve just behind the curve at all i feel like he’s not behind it right now if his defense isn’t let’s say average for a starting caliber center in terms of his impact the defense around him is good but if he’s not able to deter and block shots and be that presence around the rim that they need him to be what does that do for the team in terms of the starting lineups which is likely the lineup that they’re going to be closing games with i will take the lowhanging fruit this
i understand it i understand
this is this is this is what would clearly be the the the floor the worst case scenario for mark williams in phoenix
plays like 15 games heads into restricted free agency gets a big offer from another team and you let him go and you just traded two first round picks for a guy who plays 20 games in a non-important season to you and and moves on right uh the inability if he is not injured the inability to stretch the floor out to a mid-range shot and to not play with with kam malawatch right uh to to have the defensive end be something that he doesn’t improve on like you mentioned i you know i i think that it’s very clear for him is is the fact that if he is not on the court in a year where yes the suns have his restricted rights going into next year but he is a free agent next year
right so you’re taking a flyer on a guy and sending two first round picks that are most likely more comped to second round picks but we saw how valuable 29 was this year right like if the suns didn’t trade up to 31 and get rashir fleming all we would be talking about right now is damn they could have gotten rashir fleming at 29
mhm
right so that’s that is the worstc case scenario is that he doesn’t play he demands a decent contract enough to where you don’t want to take a shot on him going forward after already spending a top 10 pick on your center of the future and he walks after giving up two picks that is the worst case scenario and honestly it’s pretty much just as much on the table if not more on the table than the best case scenario that we talked about at the beginning of this episode
and that’s partly why past the now it’s important for the suns to address the bill elephant in the room
so that you’re not working towards an apron or still under apron constraints when it’s time to reup for mark
okay so and yes yes i agree with you i do think that this is fascinating though and this is looking really ahead
let’s say mark williams plays well when he’s on the court and that he can play with malawatch and he’s a good fit with booker
but he plays 20 games this year
he hits restricted free agency he doesn’t get offered a max but he gets offered more than you would expect for somebody who averages about 30 games played per season
mhm even if you’re not in the second apron even if beal’s not on the team are you risking paying that guy a four to fiveyear contract when you invest in a top 10 pick in malawatch because that’s the corner the suns might back themselves into as high as i am on their moves this week
that is certainly a situation that we need to be aware of the suns might have set for themselves 300 days from now
so i’ll go ahead and say this i i definitely like mark williams as a as a player now as a prospect going forward i would not be surprised if the context that people are speaking to might be true with the suns and kind of getting caught in the catch 22 where you got yourself tied to one piece while another piece becomes available so you just choose both
not a bad decision to make but
i understand where people are coming from from the other side of it
what if mark williams ultimately is a stop gap to allow for malawatch to integrate himself into the nba
for one year or for multiple years because that’s the thing man if it’s only one year and that’s all you got and you don’t feel comfortable with them going forward the center the center marker will be more robust going forward than it is in his current offseason
i mean i think that the the the valuable lesson of him being able to mentor malawatch you know they’re both from duke mark plays a little bit more [ __ ] in him than than malawatch is somebody that has had success in the league when he’s on the court which is something that malawatch can say you know i don’t think you could put a price on that but if you trade two first round picks for a guy who’s not going to help you compete and is a stop gap for your top 10 center is there a different guy you could have invested in in free agency or less i i do think that’s the question right so it’s something i think we’re going to be talking about a lot when when it comes to this offseason when it comes to to the future of this team because if if he’s good if he plays if he plays 50 games this team’s competitive and he helps get malawatch to a spot that by the end of the season it doesn’t really matter if mark williams is is is missing games then maybe you can say that was a worthy investment of two two first round picks if he’s on the suns for one year any player that’s on the suns for one year any rental player that you take on a non- championship year on a non-competitive year and you’re giving up a first round pick and another future first round pick i would usually say that’s a poor asset management it’s a risk it’s for sure a risk i like the move i like the hedging of bets but that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect
yeah it’s definitely not perfect for sure
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what does that do for the minutes what does that do for the impact i imagine it doesn’t sway the minutes much because he’s going to obviously be brought in as a project he’s going to be given grace to make mistakes but is that going to be something that is consistent with him over his career is that just going to be a early season speed bump that he has to kind of work through until he gets to build out that muscle mass
worst case scenario is 72 bismbo shout out biz a long career
i yeah i know and i i think that while his floor might be lower than some of the others guys i i don’t think his floor is can’t play in the league you have that build you have that motor right you’re going to be a rim running center who’s going to average five and five and be a great locker room guy just like bismac biombo right everybody loves being around him now bismak biombo i don’t remember where he’s picked i’m pretty sure it wasn’t in the top 10
mhm
or was it when was where was he picked
i can’t remember when
i think he’s a higher pick than people remember
he’s higher than people remember i don’t think he was top 10 seventh overall pick in the 2011 nba draft to the sacramento kings
sacramento but then traded to the bobcats immediately yeah bizzy was a top 10 pick well there you go
i think i but the thing also with bizzy is that he’s a little shorter too right so i i think it’s it’s intriguing
i think that’s all off his defensive merits more than anything too especially coming into the league
with his motor and his size i think his floor is backup big man who doesn’t elevate you but is a good stop gap maybe can be a good backup big man on a championship team or maybe the third string which which is you know for a top 10 pick you’ve seen much higher floors than that so i i if he doesn’t extend you know his his shooting out to the three-point line if he isn’t a little bit more of an ass on the boards and like you know grabbing them and pushing people around and and you know being a presence down there because that is one of the big concerns and and a lot of people who watch him in college seeing him not really put up a crazy amount of rebounds per game especially in the tournament there are some concerns there um i i do think that that that is the the floor for him what do you imagine the floor for rashir fleming higher than malawatch is what we said before but what does that look like to you the floor for rashir fleming for me would be defensively he’s just he’s just okay he’s just and the three balls not falling so instead of three and d he’s just decent defense and just out there for the energy and the extra efforts on the offensive end there’s no impact in scoring there’s no impact in screen setting there’s no impact because he can’t generate the closeouts he needs to in keeping advantages ball kicks to him defense closes out short and it’s like a record scratch moment in zack low calls him where yeah
it’s like man okay got a ball to him he might be able to flow into an uphill dho with somebody but he’s not creating for himself in a way that’s going to keep advantages and keep pressure on defenses i think that’s the floor for him but i just don’t imagine he gets to those depths
yeah i don’t i i mean the floor for him is the three-point shot
i think based off of everything i said there i don’t think there’s any way his defense doesn’t hit in an impactful way
fouls a lot can’t stay on the court
fouls a lot would be a way to to put a a pin in that balloon for sure
yeah can’t stay on the court doesn’t hit his threes doesn’t develop any game
to the starting calibers
sorry i i think rotation piece off the bench is is probably worst case scenario then there’s a reason why this guy was was projected to go in like the top 20 top 25 in this draft i think for kobe brea it’s pretty obvious for me what worst case scenario is is the shooting just isn’t good enough to maintain being a waldo pigeon traffic cone whatever it is just a target on defense he gets exposed whenever he’s on the court but he doesn’t have the size of a michael porter jr to make up for it uh ends up being a a rotation piece on bad teams getting very minimal contracts and just shooting and maybe going down in the g-league and being an all-time g-league bucket right like that’s what it feels like worst case scenario for kobe brea is for me
yeah i agree with you on that brought up the defense with his strength i’m bringing it up with his weaknesses for sure
yeah any other thoughts on on the four guys that we talked about today their ceilings their middle ground anything in between i feel like we spoke greatly to it i think what will help each of the well each three of the four of the young guys the rookies and it will naturally help mark williams too is how brian gregory facilitates the rest of the roster around them and booker and green and brooks and yeah whoever else might actually be around for the roster going into next season for jordan
can you find more shooting in the front court any find more size on the wing to add to everything that they’ve kind of set a tone with via the durant trade and then naturally the draft as well if they can find more versatility to put around these pieces find a point guard to bring in as a as a reserve in some capacity as well i think you’re working with something but if you don’t fill those holes in particular shooting to insulate the offensive style that jordan wants to run it can’t just be the suns go from this team that’s super offensive to the pendulum swinging and they turn into the orlando magic or the houston rockets in in some capacity none of the players the phoenix acquired either through the draft or through trades are selfcreators mhm brea i get maybe in college could do a little bit more of that from behind the line in the nba i don’t see as much of that with his ceiling maybe but i i just i think realistically looking at the next couple of years not a self-creator rasheed fleming is a play finisher not a play creator kamalatch is a play finisher not a play creator
so you’re right i i think that a lot of their success and their projected uh you know best and worst case scenarios depends on the system that’s put around them which is why it is a risk to hire a first-time head coach in jordan but the risk might be worth the reward plus who else are they going to add around this team we know devin booker is here we assume jaylen green and dylan brooks are here that trade is still in flux yeah right now we assume that all these players are here right we don’t really know what the roster is going to look like and we also don’t know who the suns are going to sign in free agency starting on monday with the moratorum period opening up at 300 p.m arizona time and in order to get ready for that we’ll be going live at 2:45 on monday to get you ready up to that time and giving our live instant in the- moment reactions to whoever the suns decide to sign or whoever they decide to not sign as well uh is yaboselli your number one target in free agency
nope who would it be
things shift now i haven’t gotten into putting a power rank in for free agents together now i think the addition of rashir fleming is everything that i was hoping to get out of gershan yabell i would still welcome him but i don’t think the the the desperation to have someone that brings the things that he brings is nearly what it was prior to night two of the draft i want chris paul
i mean you sound like me
i want chris paul you sound like me
i i’ll just i’ll be completely honest with everybody i’m not saying i want chris paul so that we can compete this year
i want chris paul to coach malawatch
i want him to run pick and roll with him i run i want him to run pick and roll with mark williams i want him to be there for colin gillespie i want him to be there for rasher fleming i want him to be there to help jordan knot as a first year head coach
i don’t necessarily need him there to to compete i know he’s 40 right i know he’s he’s he’s not going to command anything more than a veteran minimum i believe
get an adult in the room though
and i do believe that as far as a veteran minimum goes for value you could not do a lot better than a guy like chris paul for the season the phoenix suns are expecting i see a lot of people in chat agreeing with me but let us know who else you want the suns to attack we will be back on monday we will have plenty of content for you over the weekend we
one more thing for you real quick so last season big thing if you’ve been paying attention to us and especially the things i’ve been talking about with devin booker
uh last season he led the league in three-point assists uh he had 294 the next closest was 271 that was trey young
do you know where chris paul was on that list
third
he was in the top five he was number five himself
okay
he had 260 he was actually tied for fourth with shay gil alexander last season so that’s for a incomplete san antonio spurs roster imagine
he’s the worst team too
my point exactly so if he’s doing that with the roster he had last season with san antonio in tandem with deon booker and all of the shots in terms of profile and the style of play that jordan is looking to establish it’s not just the namesake it’s not just the familiarity of the name it’s the impact that comes with chris paul
100% the steadiness the ability to allow for jordan not to take his hands off the offense when he’s on the court
let him know the principles he understands everybody else he’ll put people in positions is you worry about the defense that alleviates a lot of pressure from a first year coach
it does i i just i think it helps out so many different people to get chris paul here and and honestly as much as i love de booker and and this is something that i’ve been thinking about a lot over the last 24 hours actually the last 48 hours because of the the malawatch pick i love book he’s a great player his playmaking has improved a ton he is not great at hitting a roller driving to the rim and especially throwing lobs
you know who is
christopher emanuel paul might be the best of all time
by my doing that
that type of dynamic
would help the two big men that you are investing in and listen what i don’t want at the end of this season is to have like these question marks is like man mark williams played a ton but what if he had somebody better to set him up and pick and roll because he can’t pop right
mhm
malawatch showed flashes but didn’t have somebody to throw him lobs right like that is something and that’s why i was kind of banging the table for for ryan nehard at least as an undrafted free agent or when they had the 52nd or the 59th pick
you know like that was the type of thing that i really really wanted because a pass first guard who could look up and throw above the rim and find somebody in traffic is a much different passing skill than what book is great at and the thing with book is like his passing is a plus his perimeter dealing is a plus he he shouldn’t be as good of a playmaker as he is and when i say he can’t do these things like throw lobs or hand in the paint
he can he’s just not as good as he is as the rest of his passing and his in his outward playmaking when he drives and collapses defenses in
right chris paul would just be a godsend and it would allow devin booker to be better as well
because devin booker would be able to play off ball be a little bit more in killer mode we all know what happened the last time those two were teammates
and jaylen green
and jaylen green steady the steady hand and forever and v played for him mhm
imagine him with chris paul
it would be nice feels like a layup but would chris paul do it let us know down yeah it feels like a chris paul midi let us know down in the comments below what you think about the future of the suns about the ceilings about the floors about the middle grounds about who you want in free agency and of course keep it tapped in right here on phnx sports hit that subscribe button so that you don’t miss steven’s film breakdown on mal watch’s defense alone just defense mhm there’s going to be a whole other one for offense
and kobe bria
and kobe and rashir
and rasher
and mark
and mark will and jayen
and jayen
and dylan brooks
and dylan brooks
and jordan
and jordan’s offensive assistant
and whatever other free agents come
this guy’s a beast right also if you’re not subscribed and you missed my trending mini pod from earlier earlier today either on video or on audio and what you will also miss is a special interview that we have breaking down the draft with no ceilings later today that i will be recording and putting out over the weekend so do not miss it all right we good we feeling good
great uh historic historic week in the books for us now absolutely
well almost you still got the interview later but we’ve done great work this week appreciate everybody that’s been locked in with us for six of the last seven days in a high volume manner over an hour with each each time you’ve seen us
you guys have spent yeah i was going to say you guys have spent a very significant amount of time listen to us talk about shooty hoop all week we appreciate that
i’ve never heard you say that before shooty hoop
yeah people got lives people have lives and the fact that they spend the time to spend time with us
we’re not glossing over shooty hoop
shooty hoop
we might need to make a second shirt
shooty hoop but first you got to buy this one the alignment shirt go phnx.com hit the merch button hit the die hard locker man i’m so excited to be rocking this but in the meantime you can follow the show at phx_sons on twitter and on instagram we thank eritin the juice man the freckled mamba behind the mac making all the magic happen you can follow him at freckledmamba and of course you can follow steven don’t call him steve at steven pg3 and you can follow me at rik u we’ll be back with more and if any news breaks over the weekend you know where i’ll be that’s right here we hope to see you there [Music] we all silly like the mayor
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The tides have turned for the Phoenix Suns following their complete makeover in the 2025 NBA Draft and after trading Kevin Durant.
PHNX Suns dives into the best-case and worst-case scenarios for Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea and Mark Williams on the team as they try to retool around Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn and company.
Were the Suns the biggest winners in the draft? How can all this play out in Phoenix’s favor?
Erik and Stephen break it down on a post-draft episode! Follow the show @PHNX_Suns, @ErikRuby, @StephenPG3 & @FreckledMamba
0:00 – Intro
3:30 – Where is the Suns Ceiling After the Draft?
7:50 – Best Case Scenarios for the New Look Phoenix Suns
51:40 – Worst Case Scenarios for the New Look Phoenix Suns
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#KevinDurant #Durant #KD #DevinBooker #Booker #Book #BradleyBeal #Beal #PhoenixSuns #Phoenix #NBA #basketball #Big3 #hoops #sports #BolBol #GraysonAllen #JusufNurkic
21 comments
24
CyberMonkey is a Suns fan.
How hyperbolic. skyrockets? Glazzing hard here.
Suns Aligned, Shirt Aligned, PHNX Aligned…. My Car Needs Alignment in 5 ✋🚗
I think rasheer will end up being the biggest daylight robbery/ success for the Phoenix suns.
He reminds me of a Scottie barns/ bam adabeyo. He will develop nicely along with Dillion brooks culture. I'm that convinced on him I would even put some money on him being a sneaky DPOY 👀
Does Ruby have an off button?
stephen being so weird w the dpoy question, bringing big names into it like who cares bryh
Let’s keep it real, even if all of these guys pan out we got no chance in the West where SAS, DAL, HOU, MIN, LAL, POR all having better outlook and we just cannot compete since we cannot find next big thing till 2032. We might have good role players but Booker alone will not be enough specially he will be over 30 by the times young teams start rolling around 2028
Rasheer is bigger and longer then kawhi can’t compare the two
2 akward goofball lil sheep and the NBA propaganda hype machine
Brea is 6’7 and 215
I dig how everyone went from being a skeptic to being receptive to the work that has been done since the KD trade and draft plan.
We got a lot younger and a lot more athletic, I at least appreciate the redo.
Sign Paul and Gillespie
Again, the best thing they did is the number 10 pick Maluach which is excellent. The worst is trading for Mark Williams. This team biggest mistake will forever be trading for Bradley Beal because we dropped so many assets, picks, leadership and Character(Paul). I hope they find a way to get rid of beal.
players rasheer fleming compared himself to:
og anunoby
jaden mcdaniels
naz reid
Suns front office has been creaming their pants doing a lot of patting themselves on the back.
Why would the Suns' ceiling be increased after the draft? Should any of the rookies pan out, I can understand how that would be great long term. And yet, it doesn't add much to this season considering they just lost their best player in KD, who's the only player that showed up last season. The guys they drafted are projects, and wouldn't add to winning this season. I don't see any of these guys being NBA ready. Am I missing something here? Sure the Suns did better in the draft than what we're used to. I struggle to see a scenario where the Suns win more games than they did last season. I get the optimism, just not the hype. This reminds me of the times after the Bender, Josh Jackson eras. Raw projects that do not pan out. 🤷
🙏🏾They REALLY should start playing 1v1 amongst the team. So they learn each others strong and weak points. Plus they'll see who folds an who puts a good battle while building chemistry..👍🏾🕵🏾
Rather keep green then Beal
Need to get Beal off this team first and players coming back will need to cut 1 to get under second apron. So we can trade whatever we want then
I'm super happy Steven has his spot with PHNX. Always good analysis. Guess it's good that he has a loud MFer as his cohost since Steven is kinda soft spoken.