The National Media Is WILDLY WRONG About The Phoenix Suns…
Bill Simmons, John Hollinger, Kendrick Perkins, the No Dunks crew, all of you have been served. You’re showing up to court on PHX, son. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Psychos and sickos unite for a national media is wrong edition of PHNX Suns presented by Bet365. Download the bet365 app. Use code PHX365. Deposit 10, place a bet for five and get $200 in bonus bets. It is finally time. The NBA regular season starts this week. So, it is time for us to call everybody out. I’m Eric. That’s Stephen. We got Espo and Eritton behind the Mac making all of the magic happen. But of course, the most important people, all of you filing in in chat. Shum Dog, Nstacker, Deborah, Chris, Shawn, Jay Wood, James Smith, Psycho Blue, Ashley, my father, Lonnie. We have all the stars out here on a Monday afternoon. Smash that like button, hit that subscribe button, and make sure you’re tuned in. our first uh pregame, postgame shows, watch alongs, all going down uh this week. So, we are super excited. How are we feeling? The NBA season starts in just a couple of days. Thank God. It’s almost a national holiday. Actually, tomorrow is a national holiday because also we’re off. No, you’re new here. I forget you. We work all national holidays if you weren’t aware. No. Uh, obviously the season’s starting, but we get the NBA on NBC back and I have anticipation for what that’s going to be like. There’s all sorts of things that I am so excited for with the NBA season and I’m glad to see that we are all celebrating National NBA jersey day with our We got it behind us. Uh, Espo, the people are asking for shorts. They want you to wear shorts. All right. Uh, before we get demonetized, can you can you blur that? It already is with all the hair. Don’t worry. Before we get demonetized, Stephen, uh I can’t imagine how excited you are for the return of Hoop. Oh, of course. Um I think what helps with my excitement is that it’s not balanced out by disappointment from my football team over the weekend because thank God for early bye. So, I’m locked in. I’m in a sensational mood and I’m looking forward to basketball returning tomorrow on the men’s side and for the Suns on Wednesday. I mean, we Sorry to brag, but to talk about football team. My college football team did pretty damn well. I know that the brag is my team was on the bar. Honestly. Honestly, when the bar is the floor, that’s what we That’s what we get to for sure. Eric, you feeling good? No. Of course. Well, on which front? On the basketball. On the basketball. On the basketball front. Of course. Espo said it. I think this is this is a national holiday and everyone should celebrate as such tomorrow. Yeah. And we are we coming in jerseys tomorrow. That would be I can wear Listen, I got I got jerseys. I I look like a over stuffed sausage dinner jersey, but sure. I’ll I’ll even throw one of the ones on behind you. Just go ahead and grab it and throw it on. We’ll see. We’ll see what we can do. Love to see you in some Phoenix Suns merch. We’ll see what we can do. Uh T, it’s the It’s that team in Baltimore. They don’t get me They don’t get name recognition until they act like it. So, we’ll stay tuned. Maybe next week. Uh by the way, OK2 says, “Sons must win game one.” It is a true SM. Honestly though, you do Demonisonus out for the Kings. We There are some news that we need to round up from the weekend here before we take a lot of the national media to court. Uh Demon Sabonis out game one and the Phoenix Suns have made a roster decision. They have cut Jared Butler and have signed Jordan Goodwin to that final roster spot. Uh we’ll start with the Jordan Goodwin side of things, fellas. How are we feeling? Uh the Jared Butler experience is over. I mean, we talked about it on on Friday before we had heard the news. I think this was the logical conclusion to it. Jared Butler obviously a good scorer, but in the end, Jordan Goodwin provided more versatility in particular on the defensive end where I think that may be where there’s an opportunity for another guard. A lot of people like, well, you don’t have a point guard. Well, Jared Butler was a scoring guard, let’s be honest. And you know, as much as Jordan Goodwin offensively is in kind of in that same vein, he brings a lot defensively. So, it made total sense to me. Yeah, it was exactly how I kind of gauged and assessed it coming into training camp. Um I obviously we talked a lot about Jordan and um Jared, the contrasting styles, but that they bring. No surprise Jared Butler got a lot of buckets. Jordan Goodwin got a lot of steals and a lot of stops with them defensively. This is the team that needs that counterbalance in the in the back court in particular with the guards and Jordan brings a lot of that with experience and doing so with some kind of top end pieces recently as well. Yeah. Ashley says Goodwin aligns a lot better and especially the the offensive output from Goodwin. If he can obviously we’re not going to have him score 20 points per game. That’s just not going to happen. That’s what you think. I will put real American dollars on that. I’m not betting on. I’m just saying that’s what you think. That’s what I thought. That’s what you think. That is also what you think. So stop trying to What I think is blueco collar boys stand up. Blue collar boys are not averaging 20 points per game is the 14th of the year. Some blue collar boys. That’s a white collar boy. That’s not a blue collar boy in aggregation. He means all the blue collar boys in total will average 20 points a game. Also true. I mean hey we’ll we’ll take that. Elco says I would have kept them both. That is an argument. uh they didn’t technically need to choose one or the other, but uh tax motivated to to leave a roster spot open. I think I think it’s also just that flexibility. I know people like, well, you could cut them, but then you’re spending the money and with no real desire to use them in all likelihood in case it’s an emergency. I like having the flexibility of an open roster spot, especially if a two for one deal comes up where you can make a trade where I still think that is a a vast possibility for this team throughout the year that trades could happen with some of this this roster that they have. So, I don’t I don’t mind it at all. And again, if Jordan Goodwin or Jared Butler were playing major minutes for you or any minutes, you’ve probably got bigger problems than have you kept them as the 14th or 15th guys on the roster? I The thing is, you could have cut Jared Butler or Jordan Goodwin at any time before I I believe it was either January or February that their contract became fully guaranteed and had gotten under certain aprons tax-wise. So, I guess like you didn’t really technically need to do it because if you had a trade and you needed the roster flexibility, you could have cut Jared Butler in the middle of November and it would have been the same. Yeah, but are you maybe you’re looking at it that again, why am I going to spend that money if I’m not going to use both guys? If I prefer Jordan Goodwin, I might as well just give Jared Butler an opportunity to catch on on a roster where he might actually have a chance. that my intention isn’t I’ll cut him if I find something better kind of thing. I think it’s all those factors. And for all we know, they could have said, “Would you like to be the 15th man on this roster behind Jordan Goodwin?” He said, “No, I’d rather I’m not saying I know that. I’m just saying there’s a lot of factors that go into it.” And arguing over who’s the 15th man on the roster, not one that I’m really concerned. Sicko stuff. Beyond sicko stuff. Yeah. Mhm. Well, that wasn’t even the biggest news that we got on Friday, respectfully. No, it definitely wasn’t. The announcement of a of the century, something that has been wildly debated on the show and has forced me to say the words that I hate saying. Espo, you were right. Colin Gillespie from Word One officially. Villain Jr. per Dylan Brooks on top of a mountain. I I mean, I g I gave you video proof on Friday. Like you didn’t need you did not need uh Dylan Brooks to verbally tell you I told you everything that you needed to know. I showed you proof. Uh and I’m going to take the one win that I’m going to get all year and enjoy it uh for right now. It was uh I don’t know. I I think Stephen had brought up a couple guys that you know could have made sense too. Come on. Malawatch was one you had brought up. Oso was another name that was floated but to me it always just kind of screamed common. I’m a little surprised just because that Espo was right. Everybody should be surprised on that front. I’m a little surprised that it was Colin just because of the newness of their relationship and Colin being someone that has some of that pesky irritance about him but doesn’t necessarily necessarily wear it in the loudest of ways that Dylan has shown to. That’s why I kind of went elsewhere with it. Even got to the point of saying maybe it’s Jaylen Green on Wednesday last week. So to see it is to see that it is um Colin is is very interesting. I think that’s a precursor to the demonic type season we’re about to see from him in a complimentary uh approach. I would kill for a demonic season from Colin Gillespie. That would that would mean the world to me. Yeah, he’s coming through wrecking everything. That’s what it seems like. There’s a stillness about him and confidence. There’s some comfortability having been with the franchise and we saw in the um the was it the video they released like Thursday last week knocked down a couple buzzer beers and had plenty to say in response to that with everybody on the court. That stuff that stuff matters. Told Dylan to look in the camera after after he scored on. Uh Sean says demons at the morg. I love that. We might have to use that. Uh, and Colin, we know he he got the investment. We know he’s going to have a big role this year, but the role for the beginning of the season is going to be bigger than a lot of people expected because uh Jaylen Green, we got an injury update uh earlier today from coach Jordan. Stephen, what did he have to say uh about the guard as he deals with a low grade hamstring strain? Yeah. Uh it was funny that he said we could see him doing stuff before practice when we are never privy to seeing what’s actually being done before practice. I can No, no. I can see it. You guys can see it. He’s like, he’s like, “Yeah, yeah, you’ll uh you’ll see him doing some things kind of individual work before practice.” In my head, I’m like, “We won’t, but I get what you I get what you’re saying.” Uh, but yeah, he said he’s doing individual workouts and he’s active, but he’s just not doing anything five on five. They want him to fully heal and the kind of ambiguity that comes with a soft tissue injury. You never know the depth or extent fully until it’s healed. And it’s just not showing up on any type of scans they do. So they’ve been very precautionary with him, but they said he’s taking steps in the right direction. So realistically, he’s not playing game one. I think that’s out the window. Yeah. And so the question is, does he play game two or game three on Friday and Saturday? I would probably say three at the earliest because they’re not going to have them come in on a back to back like that. So I imagine three at the earliest if not going into the second week of the season. But they’re being very careful and cautious with them because they just don’t want to have this be recurring for someone that’s played 82 of 82 the last two to three seasons. It’s the right call. You don’t you don’t mess with it because then if it becomes a lingering thing, it it messes up the entire season, the entire opportunity. I’d like to think that game three would make sense because you’re going to have a lot of guys that I, you know, have run pretty hard over, you know, a three-day period, but my guess is it’s probably that fourth fourth game is where you’ll bring him in. But it’d be nice on uh on Saturday to see him out there. Well, it’ be really nice to see him in the fourth game because Monday, October 27th, as the Phoenix Suns take on the Utah Jazz in Utah is our very first watch party of the season. Pick Utah. Yeah. Over at Heila River Resorts and Casinos want to pick a win. I’m excited. I’m excited about that game. Yeah, I’m really I’m really excited about that game. It’s real uh real Walker Kesler hours. I just I hate It’s real Walter Clayton Jr. hours. Yeah, Walter Clayton in the bucket. You guys know I have beef with Utah. That’s what it doesn’t this whole Everybody has beef with Utah. I got more recent beef with Utah. They clown my backup quarterback two weeks ago. It’s not even It’s not even sports related. It’s just Utah. That’s what state. Uh but it’s not boring to come hang out with us over at Wild Horse Pass. Come say hi. Come watch the Suns. We’ll be doing our pregame and postgame festivities from Heiler River Resorts Casinos as well. The game tips off at 6. Of course, that means our pregame shows at 5:30. We’ll be there before our pregame show if you want to talk and of course we’ll be hanging out with you during the game. Super super excited for our first of many watch parties over at Hila River Resorts and Casinos. Question in the chat from Javel says, “You going with the black nail polish on Green’s debut?” Sure, why not? Let’s do it. I’ll let my 8-year-old paint my nails and uh we’ll be good to go. Can I paint your nails? No. My I’ve actually painted somebody’s nails here on a PHX show. I know, but not 24-hour stream. Not yet. What has to happen? Jaylen Green allstar. I paint your nails live on air. Sure. Let’s go. Jaylen Green’s an allar. Now, for the Now, for the record, for the record, I did not hear any parameters set. It was just if Jaylen Green becomes an allstar, period. You didn’t say this season. You didn’t say Let me say only as a son. Okay. If they trade him and he goes on to be an allar, he ain’t get Jaylen Green allNBA. I’m painting your nails, Stephen. Uh, negative. cuz I didn’t choose that. You said that. Ah, love it. Okay. Yeah. Carol, I ain’t I’m not folding. I’m not folding for It’s not happening. All right. Well, if I can’t paint your nails, Stephen, can you paint a picture of what else you heard and saw at practice today as we’re just a couple of days from game one? Yeah. I got to hear from Mark Williams um for the second time this preseason and uh he talked he spoke glowingly about just being back on the court and being active. Um, we saw him playing one-on- ones. You can see a little bit of it on our our um Twitter channel. Twitter channel, our Twitter page, excuse me. Um, but he’s he’s chomping at the bit. You can like sense the excitement from him to first of all be healthy and starting to get back closer to five on five and then over the weekend playing five on five and now starting to feel more like himself. Uh, he’s also very in tune with the challenge of being more active defensively. I got a chance to ask him about that and he was steady, but you could tell he’s very intentional about being challenged there and stepping up in that and um got a nice little cameo from Ryan Dunn who I did not realize was over my shoulder. Uh as I asked him a follow-up question and Mark was like, “Yo, you got guys like him defending around you. You can be more comfortable being higher up the floor knowing that they have you covered around the rim.” So, I’m sure he’s just excited to play for a team that wants him to be there too, right? For sure. uh and are doing everything they can to to help put him on a path to succeed this season because it could not have been easy going back to Charlotte after knowing that they had traded you and going back. But it’s got to feel it’s got to feel good to get a fresh start and I’m sure he’s looking forward to getting out there for game one and really kind of imposing his will as a Phoenix son. You know, there’s obviously a lot of concern about Mark Williams and his injury status. how many games is he going to play? But as much as you have to acknowledge that that is a way that the season could go, right? Because that’s the way all of his seasons have gone. There’s this other one which is okay, Mark Williams actually plays. And not only does he play, but he he plays like a man possessed for a m multitude of reasons. Number one, he’s where somebody wants him. Somebody would trade multiple first round picks to get him here. Number two, it’s the best onc court situation that he’s been in in his entire career. Number three, he didn’t get an extension. He could have signed an extension this off season, and that did not happen. This is a man who wants to go make himself a lot of money and establish a long career in the NBA. If he plays like he did, but over 60 to 70 games this season, he can make himself a lot of money. If he takes his level of uh game up a step, I mean, that we’re talking about a guy that could earn himself quite a hefty contract out there. It feels like everything is aligning. Thank you for for for Mark Williams to to come out here and if he stays healthy to have one hell of a season. Well, speaking of aligned, um, okay, we also there were two specific words used uh when I got to speak with Jordan not today about um a specific part of the team. It’s too broad to make you all guess which words they are, but it’s two words that we use quite often in tandem with one another last season. That was culture and daily habits. And I asked him about from his experience and applying it in real time, what parts of culture did he bring with him here? How has he implemented those things? And he said in a cliffnotes version, culture is what you do on a daily habits. You can’t have the other without one. And they’re very much aligned. Hey, okay. We can’t do it every time. I Yeah. And you can you can feel that this group has that going on. And you know, he talked also about being in the building there, right? And that that’s kind of their their safe space, if you will, regardless of what’s going on. And you can tell that they’re kind of galvanized that. Now, that gets tested as you go into a regular season. You win a few games, then you lose a few in a row, things get tough. How does that stay together? Because it’s easy to have culture when there’s been no challenge to that, right? And that’s that’s what we’ll see is can it weather the storm. Have they built it enough where cracks will not show when things get tough? Because we know they will this year. Yeah. I mean, look, this is not going to be a perfect season. Now, is it going to be as bad as some of these national uh media talking figures are we’re going to talk about later? Uh, probably not. But it’s not going to be perfect. And I’m not perfect. Chat is saying we absolutely can do that every time uh somebody utters the word aligned. Hey, so I apologize chat. I I’ll be better for that. What’s up with you talking about what can’t be done? That’s like the ninth or tth can’t reference you made in these first 20 minutes. Yeah. I just kind of black out. I don’t even know what he’s talking about. You kind of need to take that out of your vocabulary because this is a can do mentality. That’s the culture that Steve and I are building. And we’re trying to not call you out, but call you up because everything I want is on the other side. No Debbie Downers, no negative nies, none of that. Well, you know what? I would tell you that I could do it, but well done is better than well said. I’m not going to get happy on the farm and uh we’re going to get through it because everything you want is on the other side of hard. We’ve been waiting this whole life to find a perfect time to say that. So, we’re in succession. We are in alignment. Also in alignment with this super chat from Psycho Blue. I’m just going to start sp Oh, you want to do it every time? Alignment, alignment, alignment, alignment, alignment. Yay. Yay. A $10 super chat from Psycho Blue says, “Basketball Cthulhu wonders how the national media saw the Suns practice squad filler completely nullify Luca’s pick and roll magic and say quote, “Wow, it’s even worse than we thought. 14th seed for sure.” Well, Psycho Blue, we’re bringing them all to court and we’re going to do it right after our first break. I’m always a worded at rally house. That’s alignment. Hey, alignment. I’m I didn’t want to keep doing the button. Probably a bad way to start an ad. Uh but we did a PHX Sunundevils live show from Rally House last Friday. It was wonderful. You’re giving away gift cards. Espo. I was just staring at the bunch of Suns merchandise that they had over there. We of course were at the Tempe Marketplace location, but they also have one in Mesa in Glendale. Plus, they have rally.com to get the best selection of, yes, your hats and your shirts and your shorts, but also drinkware, signage, coolers, and socks, even sunscreen. Whatever you’re looking at for game day, for off of game day, or for me, whatever you want to wear to work, uh, you can get it over at Rally House. So, find your local Rally House location and be aligned with their entire product assortment online at www.allyhouse.com today. That’s www.allyhouse.com. You want to get some cash so you can spend it on new gear. Our friends at Bet 365, it’s never ordinary there and they’re ready for you to make your wagers when it comes to the NBA season. Uh you pick a money line, team goes up by 20 points, you’re going to win automatically because that’s just how Bet 365 rolls. That’s how it is with them. Uh, and they offer the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 sports, which I guess titly winks counts. There’s going to be all sorts of weird things. I took the over on titly winks by the weekend. I got crushed at at 70 78 sporting events all in alignment. Yay. So, make sure uh to be part of Bet 365. It’s never ordinary there. And breaking news from Bet365. New customers now get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5 win or lose. Sign up using that promo code phnx365. Deposit $10 and place a bet for five to get $200 in bonus bets regardless if you win or lose. Bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals, player props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary with bet 365. Must be 21 physically located in Arizona. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, wants help, call 1800 nextep, textep to 53342 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. You know, we do a lot of things here on on PHX Suns, of course, presented by Bed 365. But I think we just accomplished the world record for how to get a joke to be played out as fast as possible. We introduced something and in literally like five minutes, it’s already old. I already have parameters for this. Yeah, it’s only only when the word align ends with mint. So, if there’s align mint, I bet I’ll be wrong. I feel like it should just be like when it comes up naturally. Like when we’re just like talking like if I’m like alignment and then it’s like hit it come on then I feel like we can get over. No, I don’t think we can I don’t think we can play that. It has to be a natural conversation or if it’s said in a video clip that we play. I think that’s fair. Brian Gregory did such a good job of weaving this into all of our vocabularies that we say align so much, but alignment I feel like comes out less. That would my head is that. Are we all aligned on that? Yes. I’m not aligned on Brian Gregory being the the um torchbearer, the author of alignment. No, because I spent all last season speaking about the lack of it and then he comes in one time and all of a sudden it’s a part of general it’s a household word now all of a sudden. It’s it’s because he listened to us all last year and uh just decided it was time to utilize the word. So So you are saying that Brian Gregory stole your flow? Not completely. I mean that’s kind of what you’re saying. I was He stole like 25% of it. He owes you. When he shows up to a presser in a bucket hat, we know he really stole your flow. So that’s real, too. Brian Gregory in a Dreamville shirt. Mhm. Uh Brian Gregory tweets uh top of the top. Let’s work. That’s it. Uh does he even have a Twitter account? From shout out BG. Top of the top to the bottom of the bottom. A lot of people’s opinions nationally of the Phoenix Suns. Well, they can’t really get much worse. We are going to hold court here on PHNX Sun. So, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, make sure you’re tuned in tomorrow for another 3M show and then of course on Wednesday pregame watch along postgame show all right here on PHNX Sports. Let’s start it off on the written side of things. The ESPN future rankings previously had the Suns at 19. This is a ranking that includes players, money, draft, market, and management. now has the Suns 30th. Here are the category ranks. I’m not going to read the whole blurb because that would be boring. 26th on the players category, 22nd on the money category, 30th on the draft category, sixth on market, and 28th on management. We are now trying the ESPN future rankings. Espo, what is your verdict? I don’t understand how you go from 19th to 30th this year when what you managed to do was actually put yourself in a better financial situation. Give you a deeper roster that has a longer future with your franchise than the two guys that you got rid of. and proved that just because you don’t own your draft picks doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to have an impact in a draft and yet they’re the worst team in the NBA. It seems counterintuitive to me. Now, I have a lot of respect for Bobby Marx who’s been on the program. It was a big part of this and I understand the dead money is part of this concern. Uh I think the management part will will be better next year. I think it’s tough to give them anything other than a 28 because you don’t really know them at this point. But I I’m sorry. You can’t go from 19 to 30 when you’re in in a future ranking when you actually made your future brighter by the moves that you made. Yeah, I imagine they value or weigh more heavily pick compensation and things like that that a team has in their uh not tooistant future um kind of treasure trove of assets. So, if that’s what you weigh most and that’s kind of how you grade things based off of, then I mean, yes, the Suns don’t have the the cutest um treasure trove of assets at this present moment. So, I can understand how someone might get there, but if you’re speaking on futures comprehensively, few teams have someone that they’re investing in that has the top side potential that Kaman Malawatch has. You put that in tandem with getting a player the first pick in the second round that was supposed to be a first round pick in Rashir Fleming. That makes it make a lot more sense for them to not be 30th in his list. Yeah, I’m not saying that they need to be like fifth, but 30th is kind of insane, right? I get that they don’t have picks. Okay, that’s going to knock them down. I get it. They have dead money. Okay, that’s going to knock them down. They have a ton of young guys on the roster that they’re investing in. Their star player has not crossed 30 yet. Like they said, they have a top 10 market and 28th in management. I I get that Brian Gregory still needs to prove things, but I like what he did this summer and and maybe this would change a lot. So, I I have a verdict for for Bobby Marks. Uh I sentence him guilty of underestimating the future of this team. And his sentence is one year of minoxidil for his head. It wasn’t it wasn’t just Bobby. There’s multiple multiple people. He was the one who wrote the blur. He he wrote the blur. But again, I agree with you. He’s guilt. They’re guilty on this and it’s egregious be for me because they dropped 11 spots that they improved multiple aspects of those categories. I get it. They’re a bunch of asset men. Uh that that’s what they like at ESPN, but that I’m sorry that there’s more to it that I find attractive about this Suns team. Sean says straight to jail. Is um he’s guilty for sure and the consequence is spending a week on our show. M that is a punishment. That’s cruel and unusual punishment. I thought we weren’t allowed to do that. Let’s go to a a Suns win prediction rankings. I believe this is Bleacher Report. Yes, if this I believe Bleacher Report has the Phoenix Suns going under on their 31 a half uh overunder win total at 29 wins. I once again am not going to read the entire blurb because I don’t want to bore people. But how do we feel about Bleacher Report thinking the Suns will not crack 30 wins this season? I’m sorry. You’re guilty and your punishment is you have to read Bleacher Report, right? You were subjected to your own content. AI worked really hard on writing that part. No, they Bleach Report is guilty for trying to play to the bit, which not shocking, not surprising, but they they that’s that’s crazy. That’s That’s I mean, when you think about it, it’s only two games under where the books have the Phoenix Suns, but just like saying it out loud, the Phoenix Suns will not win 30 games this season feels ridiculous. Yeah. I mean, you’re putting them maybe a step ahead of where people are assuming Utah’s going to be. Yeah, that’s probably got to be the second worst team in That’s what I’m getting at in the ridiculous part of it. Like that. Yeah. Alexi says, “Bleacher Report predicted us going 0 and8 in the bubble.” So, what I’m hearing is the Suns are only going to have 29 losses this year is what I’m hearing. I I just you look at it and Utah, uh, Sacramento, there there’s multiple teams that I think are worse than the Suns. And that’s before you even look at at the East. Like 29 just seems ridiculous to me. If you had said 30, you know, 32, 33, maybe I’m I’m going, okay, fine. I I can accept that. I’m being more optimistic, but that’s that’s laughable. I don’t care that the books have them at at 31 and a half. 29 is laughable unless injuries come into play. Mhm. What’s worse, the ESPN future rankings or this? Yes. Amen to that, brother. Uh, okay. That was easy. I mean, you you got me there. Uh, we are now going to go into our our video portion. A couple written things. One written by a human, the other one we’re not 100% sure. Uh, but we know for sure, at least, I guess. Sound off. Has any of us met John Hollinger and Zach Low in person? Do we know that they aren’t AI? I believe I have met John Hollinger. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Zack. So, you heard it here on PHNX First. Zack Low is AI. Um, no. But on the Zack Low podcast, they did a entire show on the most confusing teams in the NBA and this is what they had to say about the Phoenix Sun. I guess not only is it a confusing team, I know they added Brooks. Dunn is fine. I just don’t know how this is a They were 27th in defense last year. I I a top 20 defense to me seems like a reach. Yeah, you’re you’re probably counting on Scheme to do a lot of work and just being kind of big across the back court with Green, Booker, Brooks. And I like Jordan. I think he’s going to do a good job. I think he’s going to bring a lot of that Cleveland Kenny Atinson funky movement to the offense. Um, it’s just I would be really depressed if I were a Phoenix Suns fan just looking at this team. It’s a It’s got a bunch of guys like I know all these guys. I know him. I know Royce O’Neal real well. Know him like I know him as a player. Yeah. I just don’t know how any of it fits together. And maybe that’s okay. This year is not supposed to be like a contention year. But I the getting from here to there seems very murky to me. So I blame that that disgusting Milwaukee Brewers hat for everything for everything that emanated from that entire clip that we just played. It’s not even the good Brewers logo. It’s that crappy early 2000s Brewers logo. Correct. Look, been depressed as a Suns fan right now. This is the first time I feel like we’re not depressed. Yeah, I’m I’m too I’m like what? I’m three pounds of hopium in. All right. Like I’m I’m buddy. I’m on my 15th pack, man. I can’t get enough of this. Look, I don’t know that. I don’t know exactly when that was was put out. Like it was like a week or two. It had to be before the preseason because it was recently. It was It was pretty recently. I I’m sorry. Let me I I I sent the clip. I’ll go find it. Being depressed. I don’t I I don’t see why we would be. There’s hope. There’s a path to uh with young guys to see a future like especially at this point. Maybe you come back to me in January and things have gone completely off the rails and I go, “Okay, I I could see why Suns fans would be depressed, but context matters.” And we were depressed the last two years. This is a breath of fresh air. And I also don’t understand why it looked like Zack Low was coming to us from like a really cheap Italian restaurant. Did you see the red and white checkered tablecloth in the background as well? Like I I don’t know. Maybe maybe he was hungry hangry right there. So this was released on October 6th, 2025. That’s 3 days after the first preseason game for the Phoenix Suns. So obviously not a lot, but they did dominate the Lakers. It felt like that was a really nice breath of fresh air for us. And I get it. The depressing thing, he’s not a Suns fan. I think if you look at it from the outside, people say, “Oh, they lost Kevin Durant.” To that, I kind of plead ignorance for him. If if that’s my client, your honor, I’m pleading ignorance. It’s the they were 27th in defense and I’m not sure how they can get much better comment that really stuck with me that they don’t have the personnel to be a top 20 defensive team. That was the most egregious thing that I heard in that clip. Yeah. And of course, we talked about it. Defense is effort. I think you could be in in the high 20s just by putting forth effort on defense this year and you’ve got better parts when it comes to being a defensive team especially if guys like Kaman Malawatch and Rashir Fleming uh kind of grow into what we think they can and and have a role on this year’s team. Your defense will be better just because of that youthful exuberance and the talent that they bring on that end. So yeah, I I don’t see any path where Suns fans could be depressed right now. I I really don’t. Okay, so there’s not Championship hopes. Well, guess what? Championship hopes did nothing. But uh you know, you remember watching America’s Funniest Home Videos back in the day and the kid hit you in the bat, hit somebody in the back in the Nether region with a bat in the nuts with that was the last two years, right? Like I’m just happy that the kid’s not around anymore, right? We took the bat away from him. The kids around me, he said, “No more bat.” Um, Caesar says, “We’re excited now, but what if our young guys don’t grow?” That’s where things could get scary. I’m as optimistic as ever, though, just playing devil’s advocate here, Stephen. I mean, that is certainly something we sit here now as the regular season’s two days away and these ideas of growth and young talent coming to light, they’re they’re tantalizing. But yeah, you can get to the end of this upcoming season and we could feel very differently. We could be depressed. I mean, it could be, but I think to the counterpoint of everything that those two said on the clip we played, they didn’t watch this team play 82 full games last season. Lucky. To be fair, they didn’t play 82 full games. According to you, they’re not playing 82 games this season either. Also, all good points for sure. But my my reason in bringing it up is we saw a team with no post last season. Yeah. in multiple stretches that post that was non-existent somehow got worse than the post that wasn’t existent prior to the one that we were assessing at different moments of the year. I think that’s the fact that that’s not going to be something we have to worry about with this team at any point this season. Regardless of if Mark Williams is healthy or hurt, regardless of how long Jaylen Green is out, regardless of if Kaman Malawash turns into a top 10 center this season, or if he works his way incrementally up as most rookies do, especially 19 year olds, them playing hard and them having a certain urgency and a level of competition that they’re playing with makes this season, regardless of what their record is, night and day in terms of a consumer’s consumption of the product on the court. Yeah, loving some new faces in chat, Caesar. Uh, haven’t seen you around here at least too often. Appreciate you jumping in the chat. Good time blimp with an awesome profile picture. Says the media is right until proven wrong. Uh, any timeline on Jaylen’s return? We talked about it earlier. Uh, definitely going to be missing game one. We go ahead and and check that out earlier in the show. That will not be the last time that we see Zack Low on our screen here. We’re also going to hear from Bill Simmons, uh, the No Dunks crew, Dan Divine when he was on Southwest Bias. And yes, I’m sorry. We will hear from Kendrick Perkins because when you talk about how wrong somebody is, he usually comes up in the conversation and our conversation will continue after our final break. Sun season is upon us and if you want to get nice cheap tickets, we can do it over on Game Time. Went to a couple Suns games last year and I was able to do it courtesy of Game Time. In fact, I was in the building for Kevin Durant scoring 30,000 career points because I got tickets over on Game Time and I got the lowest price guaranteed. And me, I’m one cheap dude. So, I tried to find it because they will credit you 110% of the difference. Is that Is that what’s laughing? Or is there something in the comments? You I’m one dude. One cheap dude. I am. Listen, I hand up. I am I’m always looking for a deal. I’m also always looking for a bargain. And they have the lowest price guarantee on Game Time, which means a lot to me. And Game Time will credit you 110% of the difference if you can find cheaper tickets. So, I tried and I couldn’t. And that’s a testament to Game Time. Plus, all fees are up included included upfront. You could take all the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, but again, create an account, redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Tap Ticket Go. Download the Game Time app today. Uh, since you’re one cheap dude, I got a way that you make your money work harder for you. The friends of Mountain America Credit Union Junior. Fantastic. My great great grandpappy started it 1500 years ago or they’ve been around for over a hundred years here in the valley and uh they are the exclusive home of the Suns card. You want to bank with a with the team that you rep on your card, they can do it for you. They’ve got it both in debit and credit. And you pair that son’s debit card with their my style checking account to unlock. Unbelievable benefits. Uh Stephen, you like to go out for for food, right? From time to time, they got restaurant deals. Stephen’s like, “No, I hate food.” Eric, you eventually want to get into a house, right? Yeah. Lord help me, please. Loan rate discounts. Why not, right? Uh it’s unbelievable what they got for you. And they’ve got a no annual fee credit card uh available on low rate cashback or reward card option. sell and make your money work harder for you. Uh so visit macu.com/sons to learn more. Insured by NCUA. Terms and conditions and exclusions apply like everything in life. Loans on approved credit. Uh big shout out to everybody joining us here as we approach the NBA season. Super exciting stuff. Remember to come hang out with us on the 27th. That is one week from today as the sun on the Jazz. And we’ll be over there at Hila River Resorts and Casinos Wild Horse Pass. Uh, sorry for making you laugh so hard, Espo. I didn’t I didn’t know that me being so cheap would be so funny. You’re You’re frugal. You’re financially conscious. Like, cheap just has like such a bad connotation, right? I’m just saying I’m just saying the truth. You’re not wearing used shirts. You’re wearing vintage shirts. Like, there’s a way to there’s a way to frame it. Sure. For you. All right. This is definitely used shirt, but this is my favorite shirt. Uh, this is a Suns playoff survivor shirt, which is just it’s this is everything. This is one. This is This is everything about me all in one shirt. Uh, by the way, Corey Sanders in the chat says, “The media is always wrong.” Hey, you wasn’t talking about us. Shout out Shout out, Cy. No, I know. I’m messing. It’s nice that you think we’re media. No, that’s fine. Cy, did you go to Did you go to the was it Jaylen Green popup that they had over the weekend? I think it was Saturday. He mentioned it in the chat. I’m curious if anybody if he did or anybody else went. If you did, did you ask him how his hamstring was doing? Let us know. Cory, uh, let’s, uh, let’s all grab a snack for this next one. I I grabbed a longer clip from Bill Simmons annual overunders NBA podcast. Two hours on just the Western Conference alone. Nobody does it. Like Bill, this is Bill Simmons house and Zack Low on whether they’re taking the over or the under on the Phoenix Sun. House, how many minutes of league pass are you going to watch of this team? Over under 50. Oh, a lot. Why? This team intrigues me. Why? because I think that they have something to prove. I’m actually interested in this this team. I think that this is an a a curious experiment. Uh you know, Ishbia and and SNM as an experiment. Well, that what film is an experiment. No, no, no. We don’t go that dark. I’m not that mean. I’m not uh anyway. I’m that mean. Yeah. Uh, no. I actually think that this team with with Booker is incented to try. I I like it was so dead there last year. The breathing the new life into the thing. I’m actually kind of in intrigued counter. They could just suck and keep either their pick or Washington’s pick and have a top five pick. They don’t have to do anything. That’s going to happen, right? Probably might happen. They’re probably the third worst team in the West. Zach second or third. I don’t think I don’t think they keep I think that their pick swap is so complicated. I think Memphis has has left them in pick swap rights in this like morass of picks. I’m not sure how their pick swap works. They might they don’t control their own. I did so much research for this pod and it’s impossible. We maybe maybe it’s a giant paragraph right here, but I just remember talking to people about how Memphis is like almost more or less guaranteed a lottery pick between Washington’s pick and Phoenix’s pick. Um, in any case, I don’t care either way. I’m going under. So, the under on the wins and losses for Zack Low. The over for House and Bill Simmons apparently thinks they are the third worst team in the West. A whole lot to unpack, but I do appreciate House uh holding it down for the real Suns believers out there. What do they say? Never bet against the House. There you go. And that’s what you what you got to do here. House is 100% right. It is a unique experiment that has has a boomer bust factor to it. There’s no doubt about that. But the fact that so many people like Zo like like Low uh and and Bill are so quick to write it off is actually makes me feel better about Abs. Sure. In a lot of ways like because there is always one or two teams that make all these predictions just look ridiculous and I think the Suns could be one of those. Uh they definitely believe that they’re going to be one of those teams because as as much as teams or some teams like to play to the no, we don’t really see what people saying part, they do. They see it all. Might not see as much of the local stuff because they expect some of the local stuff to be on the top end of what they could potentially be, but the national stuff, they see it. So Nigel, um, we’re giving you a whole lot of bulletin board material in today’s episode if you end up watching, but I don’t think they’ll they’ll the beta under there just feels so whatever the opposite of alignment is. Uh, unaligned. Hey, you can say unaligned. Disalign. Underline. Misalignment. Yeah, I think that doesn’t count. Misalignment. Isn’t that Brian Gregory’s wife? Oh, that’s Ms. Miss might be his daughter. Mrs. Align. Uh, no. Uh, I just can I can I pass a verdict here on this? Uh, yeah, sure. They’re all Two of the three are guilty. Yes. And Bill and Zach have to be trapped in Bill’s what looked like his basement for eternity. Like that looked like basketball purgatory with all the Bill’s stuff that he’s collected over the years. So yeah, I I I think House’s take is probably the best national media take I’ve seen on the Suns. Uh just because he didn’t say they were going to be the best team in the West. He just said that they’re an intriguing team. They’re going to be a fun team that tries and plays hard. And maybe we’re a little bit higher than what most people think that they will be, but that’s pretty damn close to what we’re saying. None of us are sitting here saying 50 wins. None of us are sitting here saying playoffs without the play in, right? Like we’re just saying better than you would think. Well, I like is saying you’re over 31 and a half is not like this crazy thing to such. Yeah. Like that’s not that’s not a that’s not a huge amount of wins. And it also sounds crazy saying the underwin. It’s like the Suns don’t have a top no worse than top 22 player on their roster. Yeah. and what that what the value in that is especially in a a league that is scorer driven and they have one of the best scorers in the league. Well, Bill said third worst in the third worst in the west team could have 32 wins even. That’s how that’s how heavy in favor things are of the west this year compared to the east. So, shout out to Psycho Blue who just uh who just piqued my my interest on this said better than being second worse like what ESPN has for us today. A late addition to our national media court that we’re holding today is ESPN. Let me see who wrote this. Let me make sure it wasn’t AI because Alan Iverson’s writing for ESPN.com. I would much prefer that than uh N literally just says ESPN. God, I hate when they do that. Uh okay. Team rankings are based on where where members of our panel Tim Bombense, Jamon Collier, Michael C. Right. Tim McMahon, Dave McManaman, Omang Masuk, Kevin Pelton, uh Vincent Goodwill, Zack Cra, and Anthony Slater think teams will be the Phoenix Suns are the 26th best team in the NBA according to this and the second worst team in the Western Conference in comparison to the Utah Jazz who were the worst team on this from the Western Conference. Uh chances to make the playoffs 1.5% projected wins 31.8. The Phoenix Suns, the second worst the second worst team in the Western Conference. What do we Okay, they go slightly over 31.8 say 32 wins. Is there like do we see them having a chance at being the second worst team in the Western Conference? We’re talking about the Jazz. We’re talking about the Pelicans, the Kings. Like it’s a tough It’s a tough west. So you could be there with 32 wins. Sure. If Devin Booker gets hurt, if some of these young guys don’t actually contribute, if Jaylen Green winds up being a complete mistake, yeah, there there’s definitely a chance. But I think when you if you don’t assume some massive injury or some crazy, you know, crazy disappointment from one of these players, I I think that would be the bottom. Like I think it’s very unlikely that they wind up the second worst in the West. I think at worst they’re probably third worst, but I still think they’re better than that. And like I said, even second worst in the West is 32 wins in all likelihood because the West is brutal this year. By the way, they have the Lakers as the 10th best team in in the NBA. Yeah, good luck with that. Yeah, Mavericks 13th. Is that is that including Is that including LeBron with the giant pain in the ass? Is are they counting that? I’ve heard sciatica is nothing to joke about after I joked about it. They have the Pacers 20th. Um when I have sciatica, it’s nothing to joke about. When LeBron has it, well, you know, screw the Lakers. They have the Pelicans at 25th at 32.9 wins, but they have a much lower chance to make the playoffs at.1% than the Suns, who are 31.8 eight projected wins but have a 1.5% chance to make the playoffs. Would love to hear. By the way, Charlotte is the 27th team. So, the Suns sandwiched between the Pelicans and the Hornets. The Nets 28th, Jazz 29th, and my Washington Wizards 30th. I just I I mean, whatever, man. Let him let him let him think that way. I love this because when do Arizona sports teams perform the best? When the least is expected of them. like and and I’m fine with it. Go surprise. At worst, at worst, you’re just as bad as everybody thought you were. At best, you surprise people. And I’m I’m down for a team that surprises rather than completely and utterly disappoints. Uh speaking of completely and utterly disappoints. I was heartbroken uh when I heard the next clip that we’re going to play here. Espo, you know, uh the reverence that I hold the No Dunks crew to uh who just went independent, by the way. Congrats to them. And I wish that they would go independent from this take about the Phoenix Sun. This is the team I may be the least excited to watch in the NBA. Not enthused at all. 36 wins last year. They were 11th though in clutch wins. Pretty good actually. They were pretty solid in the clutch. I think they were maybe like 23 and 18, 23 and 19, something like that. Guess what? They traded away their best clutch player. Kevin Durant was the man leading the way for them last year. So, uh, I’m going to go under on the Suns. I think like 30 wins and I just wonder how long Devin Booker is going to be happy to be sticking around. You pay him $75 million. So probably pretty happy at least this season. Give it a go. Yeah, we’ll see when they finish 30 and 52 though. Yeah, I I too am on the under. They have changed so much about the roster. They’ve changed their front office. So I think overall for the Phoenix Suns, they’re in a different direction. They’ve got a path set. So that’s a positive for them. Yeah, I agree with that. So we will see what they can do. But there just so many question marks on the roster. Yeah, there’s there’s questions in terms of ambiguity, but if you look at what the preseason did show that can be translatable to the to the actual regular season and the ways in which they’re going about doing these things. I find it hard to think that they’re going to win less than 31 wins 31 games in the season. It’s just hard for me to come around to that mentally. I think the thing that that hurt me the most asp right off the bat Trey is saying this is the team I’m least excited to watch in the NBA this year. The Brooklyn Nets are in the NBA. Trey SK toss Tass. Excuse me. I uh I love you guys but you’re ripping my heart out here. You hurt me. I can’t say anything bad about you guys because I genuinely like you and genuinely know you. But I will be laughing at you at the end of the season. It’s going to hurt, man. It’s going to hurt. I sentence you. I’m not listening anymore, man. Oh, that’s crap and you know it. No, I will. I sentence you to back to the Toronto apartment that you used to have to do your shows from in the Basketball Jones day before Eritton was actually alive at that point. It was 20 like 20 years ago. So like it was a long time ago. Uh that that that one hurt. How about a little dose of of positivity? Of course. It has to come from Southwest. Bias. Uh with Dan Divine on on what he thinks about the team as a whole. Unsatisfied with what the Phoenix Suns were putting on the court as a product the last couple of seasons. I think there’s a possibility that what you see this season will, if nothing else, be more worth your time and your dollar, right? Your your energy. The idea that you’re going to reorient around a more physical, a more athletic, a more defensive oriented kind of team and doubling down on like the thing we know that works and that we know we love is Devin Booker. Dan, we were more bored than a rural housewife whose husband’s on the road four out of five weeks. uh you know that’s that’s how bored we were. We were looking for anything to peique our interest, anything to entertain us. So yeah, just because of that this is going to be a better year. Finally finally somebody that understands the plight of what we went through. I’m sorry. What did you just say? I said we were we were more bored than a rural housewife whose husband’s on the road for four out of five weeks. All I can think about is Little House on the Prairie. Shout out to my mama. Uh yeah, I mean I I feel like that was again a pretty levelheaded take from from Dan. It just I think the people who understand where the expectations are for this team and also understand that that means they’ll probably be slightly better than what people expect them to be. Like that’s the happy balance. That’s the middle ground. I think so many people are just going no KD, no Bradley Beal, they’re gonna suck. And it’s just it’s just not that simple. Dan Dan also I I talked to him about Devin. He was like, “Look, my my starting point for Devin Booker is always second team allNNBA.” Uh, and and so that’s a guy that understands Devin Booker’s importance and and unlike a lot of the national media wasn’t like, “Well, he took a step back last year.” And and so I think that’s why there there’s a a such a vast difference in in perspective is because I think Dan gets that part of of the Phoenix Suns and Devin Booker and what he’s able to do. You know who doesn’t get it? The man who we saved for last. Certainly did not save the best for last. Uh speaking about Devin Booker is multi-time first team allNNBAR one of the best centers of all. Oh wait, no sorry never mind. It’s Kendrick Perkins. Deon Booker right now. And I’m saying he’s on the clock. And when I say on the clock, it’s time for Devin Brook Booker to show the world that he belongs, right? And when I say belong, belong in the company of a Anthony Edwards, belong in the company of a SGA. Can he be a guy that could be uh that guy, that number one option of this Phoenix Suns franchise? And I’m waiting to see it. Like, yes, he went to the NBA finals, you know, three or four years ago. And and yes, but he had CP3. He Yeah, he had CP3. He had the uh DeAndre Aton. And now all of a sudden, you done lost a lot of coaches throughout the these last four years. You done lost a lot of players. Now I’m ready to see and it’s time for Devin Booker to prove that he belongs in that elite company. So, um, taking ownership to the highest scoring performance in how many arenas in the league is not a I’m here type of moment yet. At worst, being a 1B on the team that went to the finals against all the odds is not enough of a I’m here moment. starting going to Team USA and playing the most adaptable role in ways that the team needed to win yet another gold medal and then being louded for that by the head coach himself, Steve Kerr, as well as all of his teammates, some all-time greats, some present day greats. Everybody speaking to that is not enough of a I’m here moment. Being top three in the MVP race is not enough of a I’m here moment following the season where you went to the finals. Like I would love if Kendrick Perkins came on the show to let us know exactly from Devin Booker himself. What exactly is it that he’s looking from him looking for from him that he hasn’t shown at least two to four times over over the course of his career so far? If you want to say that Anthony Edwards right now is is a better player than Devin Booker based off of the seasons that they had, I I I would understand. Right. He’s a young guy. He’s going to be an MVP consideration, but if we’re talking career, Anthony Edwards has not made a finals. Anthony Edwards did not start for team USA. Anthony Edwards has not reached the heights as far as all NBA and MVP voting that Devin Booker has hit. Shay Shay won the MVP. Shay won a finals. Shay won a finals MVP. Clearly, that’s a different category. And if that’s what you want to judge Deon Booker on, fine. But they continually put him down and down and down and down. And how many more years do we have to go through this? How much more does he have to prove? I just like I don’t get it. But then I look at the guy who’s talking and I’m like, “Oh, oh, that makes a lot more sense now because he he always says some stupid crap, man. He just does.” Look, he’s much like, you know, his takes are much like the nicknames. I thought you explain me. His takes are much like yours. No, no. His t his takes are much like the nicknames that you give out. If you don’t like one, just wait till the next day. There’ll be a new one. And it usually is something completely different in terms of it. This guy flip-flops. Uh, you know, beginning of last season, Suns are are better than OKC or just as good. Uh, you know, like this guy vacasillates just depending on what, you know, crazy thing comes into his head. So, the the Deon Booker takes whatever like he needs he needs to prove that he deserves to be on the same mic as half these people he’s on mic with at ESPN. And it’s the and I can say this because I’ve benefited from this in this business. People love loud, obnoxious, and overweight. And uh and Kendrick Perkins is part of that. And a good beard. So like that’s that’s what it comes down to. And we’re going to overtime here on PHNX Suns. What at the buzzer at the buzzer from Espo Kobe. Okay. So we’ve heard from Kendrick Perkins, Dan Divine, the No Dunks crew, Bill Simmons, House, Zack Low, John Hollinger, AI from Bleacher Report, and the ESPN Future Rankings. What’s the worst and what’s the best take that we’ve heard today? I I I would love to say Dan Divine because he was um on Southwest Bias, but I’m gonna say that’s just your hashtag Southwest Bias. I’m gonna say True. I’m gonna say House though because I like I agree because it would have been really easy. He knew where the other two guys were going. It would have been really easy to just, you know, crap on the Suns there and he didn’t. He actually went with a a a take that he articulated and was thought out. So, I I’ll say that one. I think best is definitely between divine and house. I wouldn’t be mad if anyone chose either of those two. Um, never in my life did I ever think I would say this, but maybe it’s the disappointment, maybe it’s just the caught off guard dynamic of it, but Zach Low and Bill Simmons, 29 or less, that sounds very outlandish for me. And I know I get caught in a little bit of echo chamber just being in Phoenix media and listening to other people’s perspectives, but I also can drown that out and look at what I’m seeing and comparing it to what preceded it. And there’s a level of sustainability that this roster has even without the top end talent that last seasons did because of how hard they’re going to play and the system that they’re operating in. Uh I would say no that’s not that is to to those extents is insane. I I’d say the two worst things that I heard today were one from from Zack Low saying I would be depressed if I was a Phoenix Suns fan and that they didn’t have the the talent to be better defensively than they were last year. And then from Trey Kirby of the No Dunks crew saying this is the team he’s least excited to watch in the NBA because on a nightto-ight basis the this team’s going to be fun. They might not be good but damn it they’re going to be fun. Well, I think that I think that takes shifts over time. Like uh Zack Low and uh Rob Mahoney today ranked the Suns 25th in League Pass ranking. I think by a month, month and a half in, they’re a top 15 league pass team. But I can understand where Trey’s coming from from an outside perspective, right? Kings are going to be fascinating to watch implode. Like I think car I think I think Brooklyn’s kind of like that too. how the hell does this work? And and so is New Orleans. The Suns just feel like they are for a lot of people. They’re they’re just there. So, I get it. But that narrative is going to change quick because this team’s going to be entertaining. They’re going to play hard and I think they’re going to be in some close games people don’t expect early on. So, I think that narrative will easily change for me. Listen, if you think the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings will be more fun to watch than the Phoenix Suns, you probably like to spend uh your time doing activities with Mike Benzer. That’s all that I’ll say. I was also going to bring up the the league pass point because that was just ridiculous, too. There’s no way you’re the the Suns are the worst or the worst team, the least the last team that you want to watch play basketball in the NBA. And this is no disrespect to the Brooklyn Nets. Disrespect to the Brooklyn Nets. Like you can’t tell me you’re looking forward to if you’re not a fan of one of those teams or a member of one of those teams, you can’t tell me that you would rather watch them than the Suns. And there’s a couple other teams I would throw in that mix, too. And that’s like I said, there’s a couple other teams I would throw in that mix, too. Yeah, I I think Bill Bill Simmons probably bothered me the most. And I’m a Bill Simmons guy. I’m not a guy that has hated Bill, but it it just it feels ridiculous. It it feels hot takey to be hot takey. It feels just out of the loop and somebody that brings in bias ironically enough that you know and and I know we are biased Oh, for sure. in in a in a way that like you said, we’re in an echo chamber, but that one just felt like it was more than just what this roster looks like or anything. He just wants the easy joke uh to to get off and the you know the MSU all that stuff is that kind of thing. Well uh we got this all out of our system. Oh wait now Steven’s got something else. And then the other thing for me, while we’re on the topic of league past teams, you can’t tell me that you would like to watch, and this is just national media in general, that you would like to watch the Portland Trailblazers more than the Phoenix Suns when I watch the way y’all vote every season on these individual player awards and these players that get opportunity and teams that get louder for playing defense. You can’t tell me that you would like to watch the Trailblazers play more than the Suns when everything that y’all vote on is highly offense. It’s hyper offensive and it’s offensive to players that play defense because y’all don’t give them the credit that they deserve. So, you can’t tell me you would rather watch a team that spends more time intentionally on the defensive end trump a team that might be a little bit more offensively inclined based off of the track record that I’ve been seeing on the votes the last 20 some odd years that I’ve been knowingly watching what I’m watching on the basketball stage. So, knock it off with that, please. You’re telling me that they’re inconsistent? Very inconsist. No. Don’t we have something to get to that I can’t that I need to beat you guys up on? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody wants to make his debut. Somebody wants to make his debut. So, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Uh Eritton can reintroduce the game for those who are new around here and just joining us as the season gets started. And uh where do we stand scoring-wise? We’re all We’re starting fresh, right, Eritton? All from the beginning. All zeros across the board. I want you guys stack the odds. No, no, no. Uh right, the score has been made official. And the score is Steven with 11, Eric with four, Espo starting with zero. We’re just using the scores we had. Eric, can I get Can I get the wins from the other game that we played that we’ve now abandoned, but I was dominant at? No. Can I can I can I add preseason wins to my regular season record? Says you. Uh, let me say this. That’s what you just asked. Eric will be in third by the end of the game. Well, we only got one round. The most points that you can get is four, right? Mhm. Yeah. So, at worst, I’m tied. Eric. At first, I’m tied. Okay. So, okay. Let’s all talk talk talk talk. Who’s talking? You’re doing all the talking. Oh, no. He’s doing all the talking. Let’s uh let’s get into this. Uh, Eritton, what is Otle and uh, what are we getting into today? All right, Otle, as you can see at the top of the screen there, just a little PHNX Sons trivia game I came up with questions. There’s going to be four of them going from hard to easy. And if you get them on the first question, which would be the hardest, you get plus four, like Eric was saying, and then down to plus three, plus two, plus one, and so on until nothing. Let’s just get into it. And everybody put your put the chat away. Hide the chat. Put the chat away. You get one one guess per round. All right. For each of you. And there’s just one round today. Yeah. One round of all four questions. First question. In my nine-year career, I played for five NBA teams. Uh Grayson Allen. No. Marke Morris. No. Marian Gortat, bro. I swear. I swear. Did he just get this? It is not Martian. To clarify it. So, it’s not just current. We’re going all anyone who’s ever for a son. Okay. Okay. Next question. In my two seasons as a son, I averaged four 5.4 4 points per game, 3.1 assists per game, 2.7 rebounds per game in 69 games. Langston Galloway, no. Damn. 5B. Shannon Brown, no. Trevor Arza, no. No, he averaged more than 5.4 that good year. He didn’t play 69 games yet. He played like 15, I think. That’s true. True. Next. I was known for my hair before cutting it as a member of No, it is not Lou. No, he didn’t cut it here with the son. That’s right. There’s no one for my hair. There’s no known one for my hair. There’s a member of the sun. I know who it is. I know who it is. Unfortunately, your guess has been used. There’s no one for cutting my hair. I know who it is. Damn it. Damn it. Jail McGee. I’m just guessing. I have no idea. It is not Javale either. Stephen, clean it up. I really thought this was going to be obvious. I know who it is. I know who it is. I know who it is be obvious. Damn it. I know who it is. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Now you putting pressure on me to know who it is. I don’t know. I’m drawing a blink right now. Oh man. You want to give me your guess? No, that’s not the way this game. So, how are we going to do that? I know who it is. Whoever shouts it fastest. Well, when are we when when it when are we going to start the timer? Is it going to be as soon as he as soon as as soon as it flips and that one’s up there? It’s a You scream it. I’m going to knock your chair over. Bring it on before cutting it as a member of the Suns. This hurts. He’s going to pull it out. Someone in the chat has got it right. I feel like there should be a timer. I don’t know who this is. Just cast a former son. Yeah, I might have to start instituting a timer on this one. Well, since we don’t I’m not being rushed. Ste got to think about everybody have weird hair with this. Yep. Five. A boo. Three. Two. Okay. I have no guess for this one. No guess. Guess. All right. Moving on to the last one. This is a silhouette. Oh, it is Alfred. I thought it was Aaron Bane with the band bun. Alfred B. Definitely. It looked It looked like he had a hand over his face when he first gets one. I forgot. Hold on. I forgot was two years. I thought it was Aaron Bates cuz Aaron Bates are the band, right? Oh man, I forgot Alfred was here for two years. God. Well, and it wasn’t too consecutive. So that was what that’s what threw me off then. Here’s a funny story about that. I was the first person to know that Alfred Payeyton cut his hair because I was walking around downtown and I saw him walk out of the barber shop and I was like, “Holy crap, Alfred Payton cut his hair. What the hell is going on here? Another fun fact, Eric ran into the barber shop and he now owns Alfred Payton’s hair. No, I did not do that. I did not do that. I don’t want that put that put out there in the papers. Hold on. What? You saw the man leave the barber shop after he got his haircut and you didn’t even think that it was him in the hair question. You thought it was Aaron Baines? Yeah. I don’t know why I didn’t think about Alfred Payeyton. I’m sorry. I thought I thought I I just real Aaron Baines ball is what I was thinking. Did Baines play two years here? Wasn’t it just one? It might have just been one. I’m disappointed I didn’t get Alpha Peyton right. I’m I’m very pissed that I didn’t get it with the hair. I really did think it would have been obvious. Damn. Yeah. Well, only one Espo still in last place, but the winner of today. Uh, very fun. It’s always very fun to get into auto. Who got it right first in in chat? Max. Max. Okay, you go Max. Shout out Max. This is the first time a non-Aiden member of the chat. I got it. I so I I was thinking point guard when you saw the three plus assists and and yeah just couldn’t pull it early. Should have. Damn. H damn damn. Now how do how do you feel after your your first auto experience? Oh that I’m going to crush you as we go along. You think so? Is Yeah. You and your one point today was a real dominant showing. My first guess was thinking that it was only current sons because I was not. So you’re going to dominate me because you’re not fully No, I’m going to I’m going to dominate you because you couldn’t even get it right when you were screaming. You knew who it was and I still got it right at that point and you still only have four points and I’m three away from you, brothers. Four times the amount of points that you How many times have you guys played this without three times? Three. All right. So guess what? You play three times with your performance today. You’re still losing to me. I’m going to beat you. Don’t you worry, Stephen. You might be safe, but I’m I’m coming for you. You know, everybody wants to count me out. Everybody wants to count me out. Everybody talking about just like the Phoenix Suns better with my back against the wall. These generalizations are crazy. You want to count me out, Stephen? Eritton wants to count me out. You want to count wants to count me out. I’m I’m Mr. Mind my business over this one. I’m not counting you out, but sometimes uh past performance indicates future uh future winnings here. A freckle mamba is literally in the chat saying count Eric out. That’s fine. You know what? Guess what? Guess who was counted out in our betting competition last year. Guess can you guess? Can you guess who it was? Cuz out of the three guys up here, it wasn’t these two. I I was It was me. I was counted out. I was the previous year, too, because I was so far behind and I won. So, like it’s not it’s not like you’re the only man that’s ever ago counted out. You’re living in 2023, Espo. I’m living in 2025. Megan, your man is up here with his delusion making things up to motivate himself. Making things up. He’s making things up to motivate himself. I mean, I applaud I applaud Megan. She should support you even when you’re wrong. I appreciate that. All right. Damn it. She even admits she doesn’t know what’s going on. And that’s fine. You should You should support I’m the only one who knows what’s going on. I ain’t said nothing negative about nobody and you give you lumping me. You’re saying everybody does that all the time. Are you kidding me? I believe you. Are you kidding me? Hey, she still she still supports you even though she knows you do it all the time. That is amaz I love that. Unlike you with your dad, she supports you all the time. Oh my gosh. Now we’re making this a family thing. Gosh. You know what? I can’t wait. I can’t wait to we’ll at the end of the regular season will be the end of this season of auto. Okay. So, we got a lot. It’s a lot of games to play ahead of us. Espo, I think we need to play again tomorrow. Man, you ain’t got on this twot yet. That’s what I’m looking at. We can play tomorrow. We can play Wednesday. We can play Thursday. We can play Friday. We can play Saturday. Bro, I’ll call you at 1:00 a.m. at night and we can play some damn auto. Brother, I’m just going to say this. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Eric with color. He’s turning red. Oh, you haven’t seen me on ASU? I’ll do it. We have an ASU show. Yeah. Yeah, you should know about it. Um, the best team in the valley right now. Uh, okay. Maybe we’ll play Ottle tomorrow. Maybe not. Maybe we’ll do a hoop grid. Maybe we’ll do that one game that I’m actually good at. Uh, but I think we should we should roster since the roster is finalized. Who are this season’s blueco collar boys coming into the season? I like that. And who has the potential to become a member? I think that would be something fun to do. Do do we pick our do we pick our own blue collar boys too? Do we say these are this is my blue collar boy? Like do we lay claim to to one cannot claim a blue collar boy? A blue collar boy is for the people espo not for any one of us individually. Uh this is Steven’s thing. He can decide. I’m I wouldn’t be mad at it, bro. Megan, chill. I wouldn’t be mad at it. Yeah. Yo. Yo, chill out. Wow. Just throwing hay makers in the chat. Chill out. That’s crazy. Just hay makers there. Let’s end this show. No, we can keep we keep this running. We can do the show. She just got here. We can keep this running for a little bit longer. I’ll see you soon, baby. I’ll see you soon. Love you. Uh, please. I think I think that should just be a member only video. It’s just make it commenting and dunking on Eric. This is the best dunk contest I’ve ever seen. 10. 10. Total 10. Oh, brother. I just can’t win, can I? No, we’ve seen Hey, you got one point, bro. You got one point. You can follow the show, which we’ll have one tomorrow. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, we we’ll do some blue collar boy rankings. We’ll also get ready for the Sun’s first game of the season. Oh, do we want to rank the blue? We want to rank guys in the blue collar. Everybody doing their individual bluest of blue collar to the lightest of blue collar. I like that. I like that. The blue collar scale blue collar spects usually we do this after the show is keep show planning. You know, we’re going to have the Suns must win meter. We’d have like a blue collar meter and it’s like light blue to like dark blue and we can put them all on like the graphum. I like I like Yeah, the blue collar spectrum. Yeah. Uh, we’re going to have a must-win meter. I mean, this year’s must win. Like, Suns must win. Listen to for full context, bro. Every game is a must-win. It was this dude coming into the first game of preseason saying it was a must-win and a guy. Everybody spam SMWs in chat. See, here. See, here we go. Here we go. I haven’t said any of the games have been must win or got to have it, but if that’s what he wants to do, I I guess that’s what we’re doing. But we won’t get to any mustwin. I got to have it for me until probably March at the earliest. SMW, wasn’t that what Bill Simmons was talking about in that video? Stop your SMWs. We can do the blue collar spectrum on tomorrow’s show. We’ll get Steven’s keys to the game on tomorrow’s show as well because it’s a home game, which means Stephen will be at the arena and Espo and I will be holding it down for pregame watch and postgame show right here on PHNX Sports. So, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you hit that like button as well. A lot of y’all in here could use just a couple of more likes, please, sir. Another like, please. Uh, hit that subscribe button. Hit that join button, too. Like Deborah and Melissa in the chat. And they’re spamming the alignment emojis as well. Love seeing all of our members in here. You can be a member, get access to exclusive emojis. We’re adding a new Suns one soon, just for $5 a month. Become a Hall of Fame member, get access to exclusive content that’s going to be coming your way uh throughout the season. You know, if you become a Hall of Fame member, we will let you come on and play a game of auto with us. Wow. Yeah, you heard it here. Yeah. You think they can handle that? Uh, I mean, it’d be another person that’s going to beat you. So, that means Aiden’s got to do it because I don’t know if Aiden is real or not. Aiden might be AI. Max is a member and has been a member for a month now because they have a nice little special badge uh next to his name. Uh, says, “Game one is a must-win for an undefeated season.” I have never heard a truer statement in my entire life. Uh, thank you for the SMW news, Max. And make sure uh Sean said you’ll cover travel. Uh, Megan says, “One like equals one thing Eric is correct about.” So, apparently I’m correct about 42 things. Uh, if we take away the dislike, it’s 41. All right, I’m wrapping up this show. You can follow Suns on Twitter and on Instagram for all the latest and breaking Suns news, memes, so on and so forth. Of course, we appreciate the freckled Mamba behind the Mac making all of the magic happen. You can follow him at freckledmamba. Of course, you can follow Stephen at StevenPG3 at shootarounds, at practices, at the game. So, an absolute must follow. You can follow me at e r i k r u b y. You can follow Espo at esp or at champamp. Autochamp even though he is in last place. Just remember, the media is always wrong and they don’t know what they’re talking about unless it’s us. [Applause] [Music]
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The national media keeps sleeping on the Phoenix Suns — and it’s time to set the record straight. From lazy narratives to outdated takes, the truth about this Suns team isn’t what the talking heads are saying.
Erik, Espo and Stephen break down why the national media is *completely wrong* about the Suns, what they’re missing about this roster, and why this team might be better in the West than anyone realizes.
0:00 – Intro
2:00 – Hoops Are Almost Back
4:00 – Some News Regarding The Roster and Game 1 Lineups
8:20 – OUR VILLAIN JR HAS BEEN REVEALED
24:40 – It’s Time To Hold Court On The National Media…
1:05:00 – Espo Plays His First Round Of Ottle
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8 comments
When your trying to build a dynasty, one should be mindful of allowing players to actually build chemistry. By staying together for at least a few years. While NOT being ready to trade players at a moments notice. Just because another player is on the table for trade? Hopefully y'all might think about the team, when y'all talk about trading players over a few tuff games. Meaning from here on..🫡
That's dumb they cut Butler
Men should not be painting their nails!!!! Real men don’t anyway!
I don’t think booker took a step back. His team just didn’t win!
Two years ago all these guys said we’d be champions experts my ass in this team so much full of life than the last two years and I think they like each other that goes a long ways
I work for an auto repair company and I’m going to think of you guys tomorrow when I sell a 4-wheel alignment
I would have tossed Oso or Gillespie and kept both Butler and Goodwin.
I can't understand what the guy on the left is saying like…ever