What Does A Successful Season Look Like For Jalen Green? Will He FINALLY Take The Superstar Leap?

What Does A Successful Season Look Like For Jalen Green? Will He FINALLY Take The Superstar Leap?

On today’s show, what does a successful season look like for Jaylen Green? What if it doesn’t work out? Could he be benched? And let’s check in on that Sun’s rotation. That and much more on this edition of Locked on Phoenix Sun. You are Locked On Suns, your daily Phoenix Suns podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back into Locked on Phoenix Suns. My name is Benjamin Ben Garcia, host of the Ben Garcia Show. Mornings on YouTube and a credentialed Arizona sports media member. Thanks for making Locked on Suns first listen here on this beautiful Tuesday. Don’t forget Locked On Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. So, click that follow or subscribe button to do what thousands, dare I say millions of Suns fans have already done. Become an everyday and get locked onto the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch MMOoney today. Use code locked onmbba at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. It’s not a Sunday night. It is actually a more uh uh like because we usually film these things like the night before they get released. It is actually a John Voida Monday, managing editor of Bright Side of the Sun and host of the Suns Jam Session podcast. John Voida, what’s up, man? Both fresh off some vacations. Is that your last one of the year? I know you take like five. No. Yeah, right. This is the first one I’ve taken since 2019, Ben. And I got to tell you, like we’re recording this. It’s September 1st. We made it. We made it to the Burrs. Like, you know, when you’re driving back, like I went to San Diego for a few days. You’re driving back and it’s that 5h hour drive and you hit the Phoenix city limits and you’re not home yet, but you feel like you’re almost there. That’s what today is. September 1st, we’re in the BRS. So October, November, December, all those great months are upcoming. We’re a month away from media day, which is kind of like the first day of school again for us media members. We’re a month away from training camp. We’re a month away from the preeason. We’re a month away and a month and a half away from the start of the NBA season. So it’s like driving home. We just hit the city limits and and while nothing started yet, everything’s starting to become familiar again. And I’m amped and I’m jazzed that we’re finally at this point because it’s been a long summer, Ben. I don’t know about you, it’s been a long summer. I got to be honest with you, when it comes to the Phoenix Suns, they’ve been pretty good up until about three weeks ago about giving us content. Granted, on this show, you’re always going to like on this show, you are you are going to get the most dialed in stuff. So, we’ve been able to make some stories out of nothing, but we’re into it now. It is full preview, pre-season mode. list season is upon us in the NBA. Uh you just came back from your vacation. I you were in San Diego. I was its next door neighbor. I was in Carl’sbad. Uh wife freaked out a couple of times. I I’m reckless in the ocean, right? Like I’m I’m going right in. These waves these waves are pretty massive. I can’t lie. I got thrashed around a couple of times, but it’s a good time. I got some more sun. I actually look my uh uh my ethnicity now, which is Hispanic Spanish. So I don’t look too white right now. We got got that tint going. can’t for you. I’m still so pale, you know? Like my name’s John like the toilet and I’m porcelain, man. And I’m happy I didn’t burn this time. I’m just like you. When I hit that beach, I drop my stuff on the beach and I make a beline towards the ocean and I just go stand in it and battle waves and I do that for hours. But I put on so much sunscreen. I’m like, I’m not frying this time because I have that like German Irish skin that just becomes pink and then goes right back to porcelain. I never get that good tan. And I and I envy everybody who does. Man, I have no issues getting tan. I actually I tell my wife this too and her family who’s all white people, but um I I I I actively hide from the sun because like I get these little spots on my face that like can cause skin cancer and all. Anyways, whatever. We we the we’re done. The vacation talk is over. Let’s go into this. Uh you and I talked about, you know, a couple weeks ago, going back to two weeks ago when we started this. What does a good season look like for insert name or coach here? We talked about Jordan not and you and I landed both on culture, culture, culture. Everything else is secondary, but we got in some other stuff there too. I created a playlist people could go listen to that. This is something that your place uh uh Bright Side of the Sun has actually been doing. And here we go lining up with Jaylen Green. What does a successful season look like to you when it comes to one Jaylen Green? Man, Jaylen Green, what an intriguing prospect this year and somebody who we are all going to be glued into probably too much. I feel like scrutiny always comes with sport and I feel like Jaylen Green is going to kind of take the place of Bradley Beal relative to scrutiny because when Bradley Beal came here with the contract he was being provided and the challenges he had relative to availability every time he was sitting on the sideline man the fan base was just up in arms and I feel like Jaylen Green is going to kind of take the place of that because you know he arrives as a paradox you know he was he was drafted second overall in 2021 and he has all this untapped potential and the weight of unmex unmet expectations with Houston and he was like a promise and a puzzle there because he was the leading scoreer on a two seed yet he did so on volume over efficiency you know 21 points last season but it was on 17.5 shots per game so success for Jaylen Green this year starts with one word Ben and that’s efficiency like he doesn’t need to reinvent his game but he definitely needs to sharpen in it cuz at his core he’s he’s an attacker. Nearly 4% of his attempts last year came within eight feet and that’s where his athleticism turns defenders into props. But he’s also a volume three-point shooter. He shot 8.1 attempts a game last year, but he did so on a 35.4% clip. So that leaves plenty of room for growth. And so the measure of success isn’t whether or not he becomes like Durant or Beal because they were so efficient, right? Durant 59.8 effective field goal percentage. Bradley Bill 57.1 last season. The measure of success isn’t if he equals Durant or Beal. It’s whether he narrows that gap. If he can inch towards their efficiency while maintaining his explosiveness and then the Suns will have something real. because with him it’s less about whether he can score, which he can, but more about how he can how much his scoring is going to cost the team. You know, it’s actually really interesting. I I’ll hit on some of the defensive stuff here in just a second because I think you hit it on the head a lot with Jaylen Green. Um I think the most interesting thing you said is like he he is a paradox. He’s a gravitational pull on this Suns team. He was, for better or for worse, the blue chip piece, at least at first in that Kevin Durant deal. That is what people cling on to. Those are the clips that they show on social media when people try to get me to buy more into Jaylen Green because look at this really cool highlight Dunkies done. We’re not We’re not saying he’s not athletic. We’re not saying he doesn’t have all the tools to succeed. We’re saying can he do it efficiently, which oftentimes get lost. Like people be like, “Oh, Carmemelllo Anthony was so amazing.” Ah, he was he was fun, but he was kind of an inefficient player and didn’t ever adapt his game to what the NBA needed. And so, I think Jaylen Green kind of falls in that. You know, it’s actually kind of interesting. If you would have told if you would have told me Jaylen Green shot the three-point ball more efficiently and effectively than Trey Young, you’re like, “Dang, this guy is a he’s a he’s a gunner.” But then you forget that Trey Young’s also not a very good three-point shooter. um 35% from three, which sounds good on its own, but he shot eight of them a game, man. Exactly. That is that is that’s that’s a really bad play. Let me ask you this. He was the leading scoreer on a two team, but was he the best player? No. No. Absolutely. And how often do we say that? Was he the second best player? No. I don’t know if he was the third. I don’t know if he was the third. Thank you. You could in that starting five, you know, I mean, you had Shenun, Dylan Brooks is on that team, and I think Dylan had more of an impact on the team’s ability to win, more efficient and was more efficient than Jaylen Green was. You know, you have Amen Thompson who’s a a lockown defender, you know, a young guy who’s coming up. So, yeah, he’s not the he’s the top four player on the team that we just acquired him from. So again, I I get where people are coming from where they take a look at Jaylen Green and they see the upside, but the key is, as I mentioned, being efficient with that upside. And the other thing that’s really going to define his season, it’s going to be how his playmaking ultimately turns out because he’s going to be tasked with more playmaking here in Phoenix. Cuz in Houston, you had Fred Van Vleet, Aman Thompson could act as the point as needed. So Jaylen Green wasn’t necessarily handed a lot of opportunities relative to being a playmaker. You know, if you look at like Bball Ball Index, it’s one of those places I go that has a lot of the advanced metrics. He got an A minus in playmaking, uh, which was in the 83rd percentile. And that speaks to his vision, his creativity, his ability to generate looks for others. But on the flip side, he had an F in passing creation quality, which is in the bottom seventh uh percentile. So, in other words, with Jaylen Green, he sees plays but doesn’t always deliver them with posi with precision. And for a player the Suns are handing the keys to as their primary point guard, in theory, that gap becomes glaring. So, progress there in playmaking, it’s not optional for him. It’s mandatory. And if it doesn’t work out, you know, you have to look at Jaylen Green and, you know, you got to go, okay, success for him isn’t being it’s not about becoming an all-star. It’s not about making all NBA team. It’s about progression and taking the next steps in his career that could set the foundation for those possibilities down the road. And like the Suns believe in who he is and who he can become, but belief has a shelf life. So in the short term, he’s a fix, but in the long term, he’s a question and his performance next season could shape the direction of the franchise itself. That’s what’s so key about him. He’s what we received back from for Kevin Durant. there’s going to be a lot of weight upon his shoulders to execute because if not next year, next this time next year when you and I are sitting here coming back from our summer vacations, Green might not be on the team because he’s got two years $72 million left on his deal next summer. And if it doesn’t work out here, they’re going to start trying to dish him. And so that I mean his success is so big for him personally and for the direction of the Suns moving forward. This is a really interesting conversation. We’re going a little long here. So, what I’m going to do is let’s do an ad break really quickly because I want to talk about Jaylen Green as a secondary score. We kind of talked about some of the deficiencies and a lot of people have that is not and I would say you would say this as well without even getting your opinion on this. We see the tangibles in Jaylen Green, but I think there’s an argument to be made as a second score things could be different. So, before we talk about that, let’s pay the bills next. First, briefly, we have an important request. Locked on wants to hear from you. We put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and it’ll make your favorite podcast even better. This is your chance to tell us what you like, what you don’t. If John Void is in that, let me know and answer your questions about all about our advertising. Go to locked onodcast.com/servey to get started. Everyone who completes the survey will be entered for a chance to win one of the 10 hundred one of 1000 Amazon gift cards. Again, that’s lockedpodcast.com/servey. You can also find the link in the show notes. Thanks for helping us out. But guys, seriously, as we move into this next chapter of Locked on Phoenix Suns, as we go into that next season, let us know. Let me know how I can be better. Let me know how the show could be better. Let me know what guests you want to see. Let me know if I got to stop John Voya Mondays. We know that’s not true. We know how much you like that guy. But with all that being said, check out their survey and we and uh can’t wait to hear from what you guys have back on that. Please don’t vote me off Love Island, everybody. I like Lock on Island. Moving Moving the show on. I I always think it’s funny to throw you under the bus there when uh uh uh when you can’t defend yourself. It’s just tell telling people to rat. I’ll find a way to defend myself. Just a bunch of bot accounts. That’ll be you. Um, we we talked about some of the deficiencies with Jaylen Green, which are talked about agnosium, but we have to put him out there because I believe Bradley Beal did not come with these sort of warning signs outside of health. The warning signs were he’s going to be awesome. Jaylen Green, the war there were the warning signs are clearly there. If you expect him to come in and be as efficient, I don’t even want to say Kevin Durant efficient, but like as efficient as like Chris Paul or or someone like that, you you are playing yourself. That’s that’s on you. That’s not Jaylen Green. What about the argument of this man? He has always been asked to be the primary scorer. And I I don’t think that that is his fault because Shenun is not a is not a like threat to score the ball all the time. Fred Van Vleet’s not that guy. Dylan Brooks is more of a a shot chucker from three but efficient. Pairing him alongside Devin Booker, I I don’t want to lie to you, man. I actually feel pretty good about him transforming into a like a better score. I don’t know if I can say elite, but a better scoreer with Devin Booker at the helm. What do you think that does for him in his, you know, his quest to at some point be an all-star in this league? I think it comes down to how Jaylen Green absorbs the experience of being a teammate of Devin Booker. And that is to say, what about Devin Booker’s game can rub off on Jaylen Green? Because just standing next to him isn’t necessarily going to make him better. His efficiency. So I I was looking at numbers. He’s ei as efficient as like Kelly Ubé was. Yeah. And Kelly Ubé was the number two, but he’s also like $130 million more expensive like Kelly Ubé. Well, exactly. And and you know, again, those were the warning signs with Bradley Beal. Bradley Beiel was expensive and duplicative of Deon Booker. Jaylen Green’s duplicative Deon Booker again. Like we’re in the same situation. Doesn’t cost nearly as much. There’s there’s not a no trade clause attached to his contract, thank God. But we’re kind of in that same scenario where we were two summers ago when we were sitting here going, “How is this going to work? How’s Devin Booker and Bradley Bill going to work in a back court?” And the same question exists with Jaylen Green. Now, the advantage of Jaylen Green is he plays a a ton. He’s young. He’s athletic. He’s not broken down like Bradley Beiel was. But to answer your question, it goes as far, you know, his upside goes as far as he wants it to go because he has the talent, but he needs to learn to be a more efficient scorer and how to pick and choose when and where to shoot because I feel like if you go back and you watch some Rockets film, the reason he’s so efficient is because he’s just like, “Well, this position, this possession, I have the ball. I’m not passing the ball. I’m shooting the ball. And if the Suns want to change direction and they want to start to build this out foundationally, and again, we talked about this on the last episode about the the schematics of Jordat, we don’t know what those are as of yet, but possessions like that can’t exist. The ball needs to pop and move in this offense for everybody to have an opportunity to be successful and to get as wide open looks as possible. And Jaylen Green with his athleticism is somebody who can take advantage of that. if he is open in the corner and you have somebody closing out quick on him, he can pump fake and go right by him. Next thing you know, it’s an easy two. So, I just think that this is what happens with Jaylen Green comes down to a lot of how he processes being a teammate of Deon Booker. And on the flip side, this is going to be an opportunity for Devin Booker to showcase his leadership and take somebody who is, you know, six years younger than him and and and mentor this young this this young prospect with so much talent and try to make him a better player. So, it’s it’s all interconnected. It’s intertwined. Do you know one thing? Uh, so I I agree with a lot of that stuff. I I think if Jaylen Green is getting more open looks, which I believe he will on this team because of Devin Booker naturally, I mean, he’s not Dion Waiters or J.R. Smith, right? He should be better with a hand not in his face. Is that going to change him from a 35% three-point shooter to 41% like that? That’s that’s a little far-fetched, but can he be 35% and shoot six of them a night? Like those kind of things that would change this that would change this team. So, um, what about this? Bradley Beal was a net negative defender, but not only was he a net negative defender, he was made a glass. Before we get into the conversation of like, what if it doesn’t work? Could you ever bench Jaylen Green? I do think I see a world where Jaylen Green could actually be a plus defender in this league. He’s not a small player. He’s kind of lengthy for a small guy. And because of it that because of his athleticism, him moving laterally, maybe not a plus defender, but can he be as good as 37year-old Chris Paul was on this team a few years ago where if Dylan Brooks and Ryan Dunn do their job and Mark Williams takes a step, then you are completely covering up Deon Booker’s deficiencies at the defensive level. And so then Devin Booker can then take his defense to a again not a net negative but to a just regular defensive guy. Can he do that if you’re if you’re uh if you’re Jaylen Green? I think he can, man. But what do you think? No, I I think you’re approaching this from the right train of thought. And you have to separate Bradley Beal the Bradley Beal experience from a defensive standpoint from anything prior to that because we were not a defensive team the two years he was here. The years where Chris Paul was here. Yes. You had Male Bridges, you had Jay Crowder, you had DeAndre Aton. You had a backline of defense that allowed both Devin Booker and Chris Paul to gamble more on the defensive end. And while they weren’t necessarily great defenders, they had the ability to to look better than they were because their gamles could pay off at times and they knew that they could have take those chances because of who was behind them. That’s how the Suns are building out this team this year. That’s what Brian Gregory is doing is just that with Dylan Brooks, with Ryan Dunn, with Mark Williams, with Rashir Fleming and Nigel Hayes Davis and all these long lengthy defenders, the onus is really going to be because and I think we’ve had this conversation before, but like how how many great point of attack shooting guards and point guards are there in the league? There really isn’t, right? There’s not a ton of just lock down guys. There’s like Drew Holiday and even he’s getting old. So to your point, and I agree with it, Jaylen Green is not going to be a net negative on defense, but he’s going to be serviceable. He has the athleticism. He has the lateral quickness. And if you’re instilling if if you if you’re going into practice and you’re instilling in him and Devin Booker, be like, “Listen, be physical. Play up on play up on your man. Take some gamles because guess what? If the guy goes by you, we’ve got a collapsing defense located right behind you and Dylan Brooks and Ryan Dunn and Mark Williams as as a rim protector. So, we want you to be of that mindset and that makes them both serviceable. And it’s going to be one of those intriguing storylines that we absorb this year as we watch this team play is how do both Deon Booker and Jaylen Green look on the defensive end? Because these last two seasons, we were so void of just any effort or energy on that side of the ball to the point where like when Cody Martin was entering the game, we were like applauding, right? Oh, okay. Lock down defender Cody Martin. Here we go. You know what I mean? We really did do that. You’re not being facitious. You’re not being tongue and cheek. We really did that. I remember sitting next to you. We were like, “Yeah, kind of like the kind of like this Cody Martin kid. He kind of plays it. He kind of plays a little bit of of intensity and by the end of the year we’re like we bring him back price. I don’t know. Like why why not? I mean is the second apron that bad. And so it’s so funny how starved we were for players to just play with intensity and Cody Martin comes to the fold and we change everything. Man, I I I agree. I I think I I know for people that are like because we’re going to talk about what if this goes bad in a second here in the rotation talk, but people are mixing the two things up. I am really excited to see what this new team is and I do see what other people see and like Jaylen Green could be awesome. I’m just being way more hesitant about it this time because there are clear flashing warning signs about Jaylen Green’s play on the court efficiency-wise. Yes. When it comes to Bradley Beal, it was more so about health. So, hey, let’s talk about if that if this experiment doesn’t go well, could he be moved to the bench? Could we do what we did with Bradley Beal? And also, like, let’s take a look at that rotation. What does it look like six, seven, eight guys deep? So, let’s do that and much more next. First, today’s show is brought to you by my friends at the FanDuel Sportsbook. The NFL season is almost here. By the time I’m recording this, the Thursday night game will be on. So, the NFL season is almost here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready to kick off with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, this is insane. You’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. What I love about using the FanDuel sports book is things change immediately. You’re not you’re getting the, you know, whatever the most updated line is. But I am a when it when it comes to betting, I am a lines kind of guy. I’m not a big money line kind of guy. So, hey, listen. If you’re looking to spend that $5 bet and you’re like, I kind of want to play it a little risky. Uh, so let’s go here. Um, the Arizona Cardinals are six and a half point favorites against the Saints on the road in their first game of the year in that 10 a.m. early window. I think the Cardinals win that game, but we’re not picking we’re not picking money lines here. I actually do think the Saints are probably going to cover six and a half. That’s a lot of points. That’s a full touchdown and a half favorite for the Arizona Cardinals. But hey, if you’re looking for something easy, what about the uh uh the Philadelphia Eagles? They just they’re playing a team that just trade away their best player at home celebrating the Super Bowl. You can just put $5 on them and a minus 400 money on minus 400 money line and win your money back like that potentially. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Cardinals 10 and a half points, man. Man, six and a half points is a lot. And for the This is not locked. Listen, this is not locked on Cardinals. This is but man the the Saints team that Saints team garbage they are not great. They’re not great but we have to see what the Cardinals can do. And also Spencer Rattler man the kid who like I live right next to where he went to high school. That kid is horrible. We’re moving on. We’re moving on. We’re moving on for another day. Spencer Rattler. We’ll move I’ll just have to have you as a guest on locked on Cardinal squad show one of these days. Yeah, just talk bets. Yeah, exactly. Uh I guess I should have went to an NBA line. Um what about this man? 31 and a half. What if it doesn’t work out? Can you send Jaylen Green to the bench? Oh man, I think about this all the time. So, you know, it it absolutely could happen. It’s some of the same issues. A lot of people again like I’m getting ready to write an article for Bright Side of the Sun because I can like I just posted, you know, speaking of FanDuel odds, I just posted a piece that talks about all the different odds for the Phoenix Suns this upcoming season season. like, you know, they’re plus, you know, they’re 500 to1 uh favorites to win a championship and 30 350 to1 to to make it to the finals. And in the comments on those articles, people are like, “Oh, this team’s going to win 15 to 20 games.” I’m like, “Dude, you got like that’s I” So, I’m going to write a piece on like how hard it is to only win that amount of games. But that being said, we’re at that point right now where you and I are here. We’re discussing different things that you know, the what to look for this season, the things that excite us. And man, that’s such a great question, Ben. What if it all goes wrong? And that’s I mean, that’s the million-dollar question. That’s what we’re all watching and hoping doesn’t happen or we know aspects of this are going to go wrong. We know that this team’s going to lose basketball games. Period. You know, next sentence. But that being said, it’s how they’re losing basketball games that matters to us next year. And if it goes wrong, if Jaylen Green is inefficient and the chemistry is not there and that defensive backline that you and I were just talking about is non-existent and not it doesn’t rotate appropriately and is allowing layup lines, there’s going to be have Jor’s going to have to shuffle the deck. And what’s advantageous for Joure not this upcoming season besides the fact that he is a rookie head coach who can make errors whereas like Boonhoer and Vogle couldn’t make errors he’ll be allowed to make errors because they want him to grow and develop but it’s also a team that has so much youth on it that if it’s not working he can just pull the rip cord and be like yeah we’re getting a ton of Rashir Fleming here’s come on Malawatch you know it’s it it’s really going to be one of those situations where yeah I see Jaylen Green getting benched if it’s not working in the first like 20 25 games. Could you Oh, yeah, man. I I think because like I I don’t think I think Matt Ishb is a madman. I think he would fire another head coach. I I really don’t know about this one for him. It’s Oh, really? What would you have said last year if I said, “Hey, I would have thought it would have happened.” I would have because because last season was the end of a two-year window with the Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker experiment and we all knew that when Bradley Beal was acquired and I said this multiple times. I’m like, “This is a two-year window. If this doesn’t work in two years, we’re going to start to see a rebuild.” And when Mike Boonhoer was brought in, that was like a last gasp of air. It’s like, “Hey man, we just throw some offense at it. Let’s see what we have.” And and if you told me at that press conference when he’s standing next to Al McCoy, it’s like, “Hey, a year later he’s going to be on about I totally believe it. I mean, things are going to go bad, but I believe it. But now, we don’t have one of those retreads. We don’t have We have a brand new head coach who, like I said, is going to have the opportunity to make errors. And if he’s making errors, they’re not going to be like, “Get out of here.” Now, granted, there is a world because if it becomes as catastrophic as it was last year where relationships are torn and we look like clowns once again, yeah, there is a world where he could be fired. But I I just don’t see that happening this time next year. If I was to put FanDuel odds on it, it’d be plus 150,000 million. I uh I I I think it’s gonna happen. I don’t want to be I don’t want to be seen as a pessimist, but at the same time, I want to give you my honest opinion. Do you want me to lie to you, Suns fans? Do you want me to lie? I I I Why do you think it would happen again? Cuz we know it’s going to go bad. We know they’re going to have to Sorry. I’m sorry. I want I want to make We’re on the same page. I think Jaylen Green is gonna get banned. Oh, I thought you were saying Jordan was gonna get fired. I don’t think I don’t think gets fired. Sorry. No, there’s no way. Sorry. Sorry. I don’t I don’t think I don’t I don’t think so, but I think it could happen. I I agree. There’s there’s a world where Green could be benched because because A’s going to be trying different things with the rotation. It’s like, all right, giving call Colin Gillespie some run next to Devin Booker. Just like Bradley Beal last year, right? where Bradley Beal in January, Mike was like, “Well, he’s more effective coming off the bench,” which is something I thought was the right move at the time. I could see that with Green at some point. I don’t want to I I don’t care. Like, I actually do don’t care if I’m the bad guy, whatever. But like, it is annoying to read in the comment section of like, “Oh, you just hate these teams.” No, I I just Do you want my honest opinion or do you want me to lie to you if I’m wrong? I came on this show numerous times. I was like missed on that one. Totally whiffed there. But what what I’m what I’m just I I’m not saying it’s super likely. Like if I’m putting like like percentages, I’d say 55 45 it doesn’t work to it works because the warning signs are clearly there. Jaylen Green, it’s year five for him this year, right? Year five for him this year. He’s been an inefficient player. I like the the And you know what’s crazy is I think he could potentially work off the bench. Maybe he’s just supercharged Malik Monk. maybe where all he has to do is score and is and maybe he he doesn’t he doesn’t have to worry about defending and he goes with those players and it works out in the second unit but he he’s a little bit he’s a faximile of Devin Booker in some ways and neither of them can shoot the three-point ball but Devin Booker is infinitely more efficient in literally everything else even getting to the cup J’s not super efficient doing that so I I believe I’m excited because I think there’s a world where it could happen But 45% it works, 55% he’s on the bench come January. That’s So So, so which is more likely to happen? Jaylen Green being benched or Jaylen Green being traded in February? Benched. I don’t think you’re going to be able to trade him. And not not right away because he he comes I think he becomes eligible in January to be traded. I don’t think he’s eligible to be traded right now cuz everyone keeps mocking him in trades and I’m like, “No, you can’t yet. He’s not eligible.” It’s like that January 11th date or whatever. 6 months in the middle six months from the time that he was originally traded. But so, so let’s say let’s go the other way. Let’s say he’s lighting it up. Let’s say he’s showcasing the that you’re like, “Wow, this is working.” Would you trade him? Get his, you know what I mean? That’s a hard question. I was going to say get his butt on the first train somewhere else, but no, I wouldn’t do that because if you have two elite level scorers and they’re playing well defensively and it’s not just this hot streak and you finally tapped into what he can be, I would keep him. I’d keep him. I would. I think I I I think you’d have to because then you have a young player who’s playing really well. So, I’m happy I thought about that before I just said it. But, it is uh it’s interesting, man. Jaylen Green is going to have some of the same things with Bradley Wheel, but I think he cares more and I think the fans are going to resonate with that a little bit more. And he’s healthy. Like Jaylen Green doesn’t miss games. 67 76 82 82. So he’s an Iron Man. He hasn’t missed a game in two years if he’s injured. It’s a a statistical anomaly. It’s not him. So with that being said, man, I I’m excited. I’m excited. Sorry, you going to add something before we dive? I was just going to say with Jaylen Green, if he develops this season, the Suns have a building block and if he doesn’t, they have a crossroads again and that’s why he’s such a fascinating topic in the realm of the Phoenix Suns this season. Thanks for making locked on Phoenix Suns here first listen on this Monday night, Tuesday morning. So, it’s a John Voya Monday today. He’ll be back with us next Sunday. A, you know, when the after we watch some football as well. We’ll probably get some stuff later on in the day. Maybe in between that six o’clock game and that four o’clock game, we’ll we’ll uh uh we’ll shoot something. But it’s going to be a busy week and the NBA is starting to ramp up just a little bit. So for my guy John Voida, myself, Benjamin Garcia, everyone in the chat, it’s been locked on Phoenix Suns. Thanks so much for listening, guys.

Jalen Green’s future with the Phoenix Suns hangs in the balance. What does success look like for the young guard this season?

Benjamin Garcia and John Voita (@SunsJAM ) break down expectations for Green’s performance, efficiency, and potential impact on the Suns’ lineup. They explore scenarios if he underperforms, debate possible benchings or trades, and discuss how Green’s development could shape the team’s future. The conversation touches on defensive strategies, rotation adjustments, and the pressure on head coach Jordan Ott to make it all work.

Tune in for an in-depth analysis of Green’s crucial role and how it could make or break the Suns’ championship aspirations.

0:00 Intro: What does success look like for Jalen Green?
5:39 Efficiency and playmaking crucial for Green’s success
11:54 Green as secondary scorer alongside Booker
18:15 Can Green be a serviceable defender?
24:05 What if it doesn’t work out? Benching Green?
28:28 Odds of Green being benched or traded

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