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I think you're underrating him a little but we'll see.
Suns Off Season Changes for 2025-26
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I'm high on him as a prospect but don't think he's the centerpiece of a contender. Then again Tatum ended up being one but Flagg would need a stacked supporting cast with a #2 like Jaylen Brown who is on the same level, so more of a 1a and 1b situation.
I wouldn't put Flagg in the Giannis, Wemby category of guys who can carry a team to success if they're healthy.
Love was hindered by awful management in Minnesota as well. Who was his top teammate there? Rubio? They went 40-42 his last year there. He was an All-Star 3 times there. He missed one year due to only playing 18 games and before that he was entering the league as a rookie and his second year wasn't a full time starter. Once handed the reins though he did well but wasn't a franchise centerpiece.
Phrazbit
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Giving up Dunn in that trade would be revolting, we've given up far too much in trades the last few years, trade after trade full of obvious imbalance.
But if a trade for flag hands on Dunn... I would make that trade. I think he is a bonafied superstar in the making.
I also don't think the Mavs will trade that pick unless it's for like Jokic or Giannis.
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I don't know, I can certainly see him make a few improvements that turn him into an all time great, I just don't think it's a given. But very good player, that's a lock IMO. Maybe he's not coming into the league with a Wemby level projection but he's a much better prospect than GA was when he was drafted. And keep in mind, his season will start before he turns 19.
Maybe he won't become a Leonard-like superstar but he's much closer to it at 18 than Kawhi was. And as far as I know he doesn't have the physical concerns that Zion entered the league with nor have I heard anything but positives about the kids head and heart.
angel_ofthe_south
Rookie
I am disheartened by suggestions I hear elsewhere that the Suns might keep Kevin Durant. I don't want to get rid of him as much as I would like to get rid of Bradley Beal; but I have little use for Durant. He does not particularly fit into this New Culture that Mat Ishbia seeks to build--he's too self-centered. The only thing he said or did last season that pleased me was publicly praising Collin Gillespie's locked-room leadership.
BirdGangThing
Murd Watcher
new culture? ish is clearly the problem
yeah. I am doing that trade in a heartbeat. Then ship Durant to Houston or whatever. Bring CP3 back. let the POS Beal rot until he agrees to a trade I'd anyone is dumb enough to take him
BirdGangThing
Murd Watcher
i can't entertain the flagg fantasy
Suns Projected to Land ‘Exciting’ Guard With ‘Major Potential’
The Phoenix Suns are due for a major offseason. Whether it be a Kevin Durant-sized shakeup or not, change is coming. The franchise has already imposed changes a
Lonzo Ball Makes Wild Kevin Durant Trade Prediction
The Phoenix Suns are in a tough spot this offseason with a lot of money tied up between their 'big three' of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. Next
Favorite for Suns coaching job has ties to Michigan State
The Phoenix Suns are deep into the process of selecting the franchise’s next head coach. The timeline on the decision is unknown but one of the favorites for the job might have a leg up on the competition because of his Alma Mater.
www.yardbarker.com
angel_ofthe_south
Rookie
Although Mr. Ishbia's promotion of his bestie Brian Gregory to GM is suspicious, all attempts to convince me to hate Ishbia are a waste of time. Upon buying the Suns, he immediately did what Robert Sarver generally wouldn't do: open his wallet. He's clearly here to win first and make money second. That's all I can demand.
Whatever he's done wrong, he's better than an owner who thought it was funny to release goats into his GM's office. (Any self-respecting man would have quit the job immediately.)
GatorAZ
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Just a Sunday afternoon dopamine reset:
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BirdGangThing
Murd Watcher
nobody is convincing you to hate ishbia - you blamed kevin durant for not fitting into this ish culture you have going when ish created the culture by bringing in kevin durant- and comparing ish to sarver just to build ish up isn't the way either - if you like ish and what he's trying to do then rocknroll maestro - but we were just in the finals with sarver and we had our draft picks
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Pre-Micro Amare had the unicorn freak athlete, natural handles, jumper and drive to be a top 3 player year in year out. Eventually, a defensive coach would have taught him how to excel on that end also. And that’s not to say he wasn’t very good to great for a couple years when he came back, but he was never that pure freak again.
So damn sad.
angel_ofthe_south
Rookie
He was impressive, but I'll always take his young-star-at-forward Suns predecessor, Antonio McDyess, over him. I trust *his* defense, and he was no Amare Stoudemire but no slouch in scoring.
As for the prospect of a defensive coach teaching Stoudemire to play defense: a question occurs that I think I had thought of before. Why did he never absorb good defense from his equally athletic frontcourt mate, Shawn Marion? Since I'm no fanboy of Shawn Marion, I have no problem entertaining the idea that Marion was over-rated; but to claim Marion wasn't a good defender is difficult to believe.
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ASUCHRIS
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No chance on McDyess over Amare. Amare was arguably the most valuable asset in the league at one point. You can't say that with McDyess. Amare at his best was definitely better than McDyess. McDyess was a very good player. Amare should have been a generational player.
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I wonder if people forget that the Amare in those highlights was only in his 3RD season and 21 years old. He was already a first or 2nd team All-NBA player at 21. And although his jumper wasn’t money yet, it was already respectable from 18-20 by the end of that season. The sky was the absolute limit for him.
Why didn't Nash become a good defender next to Raja? You don't learn defense by osmosis. There's no comparison between McDyess and Amare.
GatorAZ
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I’d say after that Spurs series 25 teams would’ve traded their best player for him. There was always the KG rumor but at that point he was untouchable.
Even before that, 20 teams would have made that deal. He was on a different level and Nash helped him get there but he was special pre-Nash. I still believe winning Rookie of the Year over Yao was huge. That would have been like Chet stealing ROY over Wemby last year. Yao had so much international hype, and was legitimately good, but Amare was undeniable from day 1. Yao was an All-Star starter but Amare still got the vote for ROY is a testament to how special Amare was. That wouldn't happen in the modern league.
GatorAZ
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The fact he won ROY while having no idea what he was doing was crazy. If the knee never pops up the o/u on titles is 1.5 and I think they go over. He was still great but probably only 80% what he would’ve been.
angel_ofthe_south
Rookie
Why didn't Nash become a good defender next to anyone? That's easy: because unlike Amare Stoudemire, Nash was too physically limited to play defense. I never understood that at the time: that, like Larry Bird, Nash was physically un-impressive compared to most NBA players, and succeeded only through intelligence and hard work.
Bird was a very good defender. Nash didn't expel energy on defense most games. He also saw the game differently than others so he wasn't good at reading players and reacting. It's much more than being physically limited, which he was to some degree but not across the board. He was quick and had great acceleration also. He couldn't have done what he did offensively if he was as limited as some like to claim when looking back.
I love Nash, he's a top 3 Sun all time and I believe that's indisputable but he was an awful defender and a fair portion of that was his own fault. Defense isn't taught by teammates. It's a coaching thing. Sometimes a veteran player can help a young guy out, as we saw Chris Paul do here with many of the younger guys, but ultimately that doesn't fall on his shoulders. When two guys are closer in age also, like Stoudemire and Marion, it's not the same thing at all as Marion wasn't exactly a star when Amare came into his own. Stat leapfrogged Marion in the pecking order here.
