this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
7 points (88.9% liked)

NBA

5075 readers
22 users here now

East - Atlantic
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
New York Knicks
Philadelphia Sixers
Toronto Raptors
East - Central
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks
East - Southeast
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets
Miami Heat
Orlando Magic
Washington Wizards
West - Northwest
Denver Nuggets
Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder
Portland Trailblazers
Utah Jazz
West - Pacific
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
West - Southwest
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
Memphis Grizzlies
New Orleans Pelicans
San Antonio Spurs

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] olmec@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Suns fan here, and I don't get this trade at all. The main reason is, Ayton's stock has taken a huge dip in the last few months. Rather than give up and cash out, we should have held out if there wasn't a good deal. Ben Simmons was an negative asset, and by waiting 6 months, Philadelphia got James Harden back by waiting. There is zero reason to give up.

Second off: this doesn't help the team. The biggest weakness the team has is that it is very reliant on 3 star wings that have an injury history. Ayton isn't the healthiest, but is 4 years younger than Nurkic, and has played more in general. If we had solid backups, that my be fine, but the team is very weak at the big positions. And it isn't like Grayson Allen is some HUGE pickup that to overcome the weaknesses we take on with downgrading at center. The team seems objectively worse.

Third off: I have had one championship in my lifetime (Diamondbacks in 2001). That team was a bit of a unique situation because they were an expansion team that got all the right pieces early, but I still loved the big players. Johnson, Schilling, and Gonzales all joined the team at 30 or layer, and stayed 4-7 more years with the team. They felt like they wanted to be in Phoenix, and be on that team. The community loved them, and they loved them back.

This current Suns team is 15 months away from a 64 win season, and the only players who saw any consistent play time still on the team are Devin Booker and Bismack Biyombo. The rest of the team are guns for hire. They will do their job, but move on to the next place in a few years. Even if the Phoenix Suns organization wins the championship, it won't be won by a team that I watched struggle to get there.

I really thought that Booker, Johnson, Bridges and Ayton was a solid core that would put the Suns near the top of the league for a decade. It is so sad to all of it gone.

[–] CaptainBananaFish@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Suns fan here, and I don’t get this trade at all. The main reason is, Ayton’s stock has taken a huge dip in the last few months. Rather than give up and cash out, we should have held out if there wasn’t a good deal.

I think this should tell you how bad the situation was with him though. Chemistry is already going to be a pretty big hurdle, that and depth. They must have thought a mediocre return for Ayton was better than having him share the court with Beal and KD at all. That's very telling imo. The tensions/disruptions that would come from Ayton's lack of effort could very much ruin everything. You guys are essentially trying to pry open what could be a very short championship window. Hopefully it works!

[–] burgundymyr@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

So there are changes to the CBA that will come into affect that make the trade make more sense. Their trade options become more limited moving forward and splitting Aytons deal now will let them pickup someone at the trade deadline. Waiting could have meant that trading him would be impractical if not impossible, and if the off court issues got bad enough that coaches wanted to bench him they couldn't really afford to.

That said this is insanely low value for him. I can't believe there wasn't a team willing to give up anything decent for him, but I can't imagine doing this deal without exhausting other options.

Hopefully you guys can figure out a way to get a few more quality role players on the team.

[–] TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah I see people talking about Allen’s shooting but it wasn’t ever really there for the bucks when they needed it outside maybe 1 series that I can think of. Think this move happened for the suns more because it’s hard to compete when Ayton is as unhappy as he is but as you said they could’ve waited a bit.

[–] TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

As long as it’s not for Giannis I love this. We desperately needed outside shooting and Dame has shown he steps up big in the playoffs. Expecting a Nuggets/Bucks final now.

Edit:

Trade details:

Lillard goes Milwaukee as part of a 3-team deal with Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected MIL 1st, and unprotected MIL swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to Blazers. Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.

Losing Jrue hurts their perimeter defense a lot but I think you live with that to get Dame for just Jrue/Allen. The interior defense will still be great and there offense should be much better now on the playoffs. Think it’ll come down to how much you can get from Middleton and just have to hope Lopez doesn’t have a big drop or anything like that.

Really sad to see Jrue go tho, seems like one of the nicest guys in the league so wish him the best.

[–] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

Man that would be hilarious.

It definitely makes them more interesting. I think it's entirely possible to slow down a duo if the rest of the roster can't step up, but it's going to take a lot of work at the defensive end.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Giannis and Dame will be a great duo.

[–] Khavanon@lemmy.today 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

As a Blazer fan I wish him the best, no hard feelings. I hope he gets that championship. I'm looking forward to the new-look Blazers:

  • Scoot Henderson
  • Anfernee Simons
  • Shaedon Sharpe
  • Jerami Grant
  • Deandre Ayton

Looks like we're going to move Jrue.