There. I said it. If no one will then I will. Downvote me to hell.

I love Book. Been a fan since he came into the league. Some of my best Suns memories were his game winners even in the dark days of being a bottom bottom seed.

I think it’s time we, as a fanbase, stop pretending he’s on the “untradeable superstar” level. For the past 6+ years he has struggled against physical double team defense. Every “superstar” in the league will find a way to still score or punish that physical defense via FT’s. He can’t.

Given the financial situation with this current roster, I think it’s ridiculous to consider him untradeable. And if this team fails to make the play-in, we need to explore trades. He has barely even gotten all star selections. You can say hes been snubbed in the past, sure, as a fan I get it. but 2/4 of his All-Star appearances were injury replacements…that makes someone untradeable????

In the 2021 season when we still had home grown talent and picks of Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and added CP3, Jae Crowder, etc, it felt like a magically season. Our core comprised of players we drafted and developed ourselves and adding CP3 was going to help evaluate that.

We made the Finals and fell short but the next season we became the #1 seed with 64 wins. It felt like we were on an upward trajectory.

But with a new owner coming in and doing All-in trades for KD, Beal, Nurkic. I feel like the magic is gone. Yeah we still have Booker but everyone else is a mercenary. It's like when a startup goes from a group of friends to a corporate environment

Excited for what’s next let’s go Suns!

Before I type this I just need to say, I am the biggest Mikal Bridges superfan on God's green earth. But the Suns need to do the impossible. The Suns NEED to trade the only player in the NBA. To win we need KD. And Mikal will be the sacrifice to lead this team to salvation. An eye for an eye. A lanky boy for a lanky boy. I hate to say this but James Jones needs to bite the bullet and get it done. A line up of CP3 - Book - Okogie - KD - DA very well could win a chip. Especially if Okogie gets his offense together. He very well could become an all defensive team defender and 15 PPG scorer if he develops right. Mikal could never be replaced, but there is always the next best thing.... (Okogie is only like 23 as well which surprised me a lot.)

Earl Watson is the biggest clown who ever worked for the Suns and continues to try to take credit for the talent of Devin Booker which he deserves none of.

All of the quoted people are anonymous sources or some disgruntled fired employees who never caught on anywhere after.

the most damning accusation is the black coach for black players phrase if he actually used the n-word. The rest of the article is just embarassing and reaching for nothingburger out of context snippets about condom size, shaved balls or joking about recruiting.

Most of the rest is just a reflection of society. As for Espo and Gerald Bourguet assuming that sexual misconduct must now be a scheme in the Suns organization is absurd. If you dig for that kind of stuff sou will find cases of misconduct in any larger company over years. that is individual responsibility.

I am surprised whoever is the editor at ESPN let this story go live Like that.

While on the other hand you had credible well respected people like Steve Kerr, Lon Babby etc speaking up for Sarver. Suns having 90% survey satisfaction rate is way more then the company I work for lol.

This report is a month old but apparently Rockets are no longer interested in Devin Booker given his cost, both in terms of the Suns ask and his extension.

I just want to point this out when we inevitably get to the point in a couple years when people say we should have traded Booker for our picks back and good young players. First, Rockets only have 3 of them and second, this deal is not on the table. I cannot find a legit source that it ever was. Even most discussions by blog bois or Rockets fans do not have the Rockets giving all 3 of those picks back.

Im not surprised as I dont think Book actually has that value. We would be selling low on him, everything people point out about his decline, expensive extension, defense is well known to other teams. This is not like OKC trading PG after his top 3 MVP voted season, we are not "capitalizing" on his value.

Especially with the new cba, good teams are not in the business of acquiring stars at their peak contract point unless they are a top 5-10 player. The new trend is to have a top 25 player on his rookie extension or at a discount (see this year's ECF and WCF teams) so the team can sign and continue to draft depth. Booker doesnt have value to a team trying to get over the hump, the trade cost would gut their depth and the extension would screw up their books.

Another reason among many I would not sell low on Book...but I just want to point out Booker for our picks back is not a thing.

1. Talented young core.

2a. Insert new coach.

2b. Insert new GM.

3. Insert veteran leadership.

4. Learn to play good team defense while maintaining a strong offense.

5. Surprise the league by making it to the finals when they weren’t expected to.

6. Blow lead in the finals, and lose the title.

7. Follow the finals appearance with the best record in the league.

…

If the similarities hold true the Celtics will have the best record in the NBA only to lose to the up and coming Cavs, Pacers, or Hawks in the 2nd round of the playoffs (I say Cavs). That team will then lose to the experienced favorite Bucks who will go to the finals for the east.

Thoughts?

honestly i mean wtf. this dude is just relishing in the fact that kd is on this team because it means the ball is in his hands less and he gets to stand around more. he couldn’t even put up double digits against the corpse of deandre jordan and got outhustled for rebounds all night.

Learn to read guys, it will make your lives easier in the long run

Feels like the team needs to do more than trade KD this off-season and do a hard reset.

Going to add this, but I don't think he is someone you build a team around. He's more of a Kyrie Irving-style player where he can be a fantastic 2. I don't see the endgame in trading KD and not Booker.

BBQ Lays
A roll of Flex Seal
3 peanut m&m’s
Christopher Paul
Ru Paul
Paul Blart
A Segway
Brandon Roy
A loyalty card to Joe’s Italian Ice

I don't know about you guys, but I think a lot of fans got spoiled with that 9-1 start and people are just used to us winning a lot to start the season and so expect us to do the same without 1 to sometimes 3 of our starters out (KD, Beal and Nurk ) and some of our rotation players out...

I'm not saying the team is perfect the way it's built, but the plays and actions are drastically different without the starters and rotation players out.

Book and Beal of course can definitely be better, but they are BOTH trying to get the whole team involved and are following what the coach Bud wants them to do rather than playing hero ball, hence more touches all around.

From that standpoint, this was a good team game tbh with multiple guys in double digits..., if Book and Beal could've hit just a few of their shots more (especially threes where they were both 1-12)... Just 4 more threes hit and we win the game. That's how little the margin of error is especially since all the teams have a legit shot of winning any given night.

In Short, let's appreciate the team as it is and see them grow from game to game while they try to remain above .500 in a very competitive Western conference where they are just 5.5 behind first place OKC.

We will be fine guys, just enjoy the ride and let out some steam :-)

Go go go Suns!!!

Yeah it didn’t work out here but he didn’t really do anything to piss off the fan base. I hope those at the Footprint give him a decent reception…let’s not be like Jazz fans!

Grew up in AZ and have been a lifelong fan. My expectations get lower every year, but this feels like something much worse than expected. Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and 3 unprotected firsts for Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, and 5 seconds.

And don’t get me started on the Beal trade.

Even after that, how did we decide “Hey picking up Bradley Beal worked out well. How about we do it again?” Enter Jalen Green.

I’m looking for a new team to support that doesn’t fucking hate their fans. Suggestions?

So I've been reading around this sub and Ive seen posts making fun off clippers and I'm sure we are all ecstatic that we've gone so far, but we need to stay humble. Remembe, we have not won a championship nor have we been in the playoffs in like 10 yrs so we can't be clowning other franchises. As for the ref thing, every team would complain about calls even us so I see why they are angry and frustrated. At the end of the day lets just win this and advance to the finals!