The Suns choose money over having a single point guard in the rotation
The Suns choose money over having a single point guard in the rotationMat Ishbia's will to spend is not bottomless.Good morning. Let’s basketball. Let’s start the week with Pieter Bruegel The Elder’s Peasant Wedding from 1566-69. Scheduling NoteWe’re going into offseason maintenance mode. AKA burnout prevention mode. AKA I can’t talk about Dame and Harden every day and I don’t have deep thoughts on Braxton Key signing a two-way contract mode. The newsletter will arrive three times per week (planned to be Monday-Wednesday-Thursday, but variable as news happens), and the frequency of free-to-all newsletters will drop to about once every two weeks. Everything else will be available to paid newsletter subscribers only. I’ll also be taking a week off (July 31-August 4) to recharge. Thanks as always for the support. You Can’t Buy Point Guard DepthOver the weekend, the Suns traded Cam Payne to the Spurs, signed Bol Bol to a minimum contract and traded a future first round pick swap for three seconds. To me, that’s all really a lot of smoke and paperwork to save some money by deciding you don’t need point guards on the roster. According to Bobby Marks, replacing Payne on the roster with Bol saves Phoenix about $26 million. Payne is on a $6.5 million contract that increased the Suns’ total payroll into a higher tier of penalty. Bol’s minimum contract is smaller and doesn’t count against the tax in the same way. So Mat Ishbia saves a ton of money here. Here is a complete list of point guards on the Phoenix Suns roster:
The plan is for Bradley Beal and Devin Booker to share point guard duties, and for Kevin Durant and Eric Gordon to handle the ball a lot, too. No word on what the Suns will do if any of these players miss games or need help. I’m sure they’ll figure it out. It’s fine, in my opinion, to take a flyer on Bol after the other offseason work Phoenix has done. It’s concerning that the Magic, a young rebuilding team, gave up on him. Maybe strong veteran leadership will help. Totally fine to take a flyer on him. But the idea that Ishbia will spend whatever it takes to win a championship has just suffered a potentially fatal blow. Payne is a mid-tier (or slightly better) reserve point guard. Without a true starting level point guard, and with two ball-sharing lead guards who each missed about 30 games last season, and without a back-up plan that isn’t Saben Lee or Jordan Goodwin, this is a huge risk for Phoenix. A risk taken to save the boss man some money. On another level, this is really funny because last decade the Suns were always the team that either had zero point guards or three starting point guards, rarely anything in between. History repeats itself! BucketsSabrina Ionescu is a controversial superstar in WNBA circles because she has been elevated to a level of fame and endorsement power that Black players better than her have not reached. The latest conflagration on that tip is Ionescu getting the WNBA cover of NBA 2K24 instead of, say, A’ja Wilson. But it is not controversial to say that Sabrina can shoot. This is the cleanest 3-Point Content performance in NBA or WNBA history, bar none... Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Good Morning It's Basketball to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
|
Older messages
An affirmative (but not positive) case for Dillon Brooks in Houston
Sunday, July 16, 2023
How the deal makes sense for the Rockets, if you squint hard enough and have a strong stomach.
3 questions about the new NBA Cup
Monday, July 10, 2023
Stakes in November and December aren't easy. This might briefly do the trick. Maybe.
The Blazers and Damian Lillard are acting in self-interest? What a scandal
Friday, July 7, 2023
Give me a break.
Truths about the Blazers' power to decide Damian Lillard's next home
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Getting under the surface of the debate on how Portland should approach Dame's specific requests.
Dame over
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Damian Lillard ends one melodrama and starts another.
You Might Also Like
Karma is the guy on the…
Friday, September 6, 2024
Smile because it happened
Game of Inches (And Toes) 🏈
Friday, September 6, 2024
Chiefs Survive Week 1 via Toe Replay. Pegula's Slam. Morgan Retires. Ronaldo's 900th & More...
Podcast app setup
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Open this on your phone and click the button below: Add to podcast app
Podcast app setup
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Open this on your phone and click the button below: Add to podcast app
Special Edition: Touchdown call the amateurs
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Everything you need to know before the 2024–25 NFL season kicks off
The Kickoff Edition 🏈
Thursday, September 5, 2024
NFL 2024 Season Previews, Questions, Awards & Super Bowl Picks (+Cubs, Pegula & Clark) ...
The duality of the Zion-era Pelicans
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
A team that is the best in recent franchise history and yet appears to be not good enough to guarantee a playoff bid. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Are you not entertained?
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Merry NFL eve
Southside Slide & NFL Picks
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Are White Sox MLB's Worst Team? NFL Week 1 Picks. US Open Quarters. CFB AP Poll & More...
The Best of Week 1 🏈
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Best CFB Week 1 Highlights. Scheffler Wins FedExCup. Djokovic Upset. Gaudreau Bros & More...