Lingering Questions For the Phoenix Suns As NBA Free Agency Continues

Lingering Questions For the Phoenix Suns As NBA Free Agency Continues

today on locked on Phoenix Suns the Suns roster nearing completion so we think so we’ll go through our lingering questions rotation style of play roles for specific players we’ll bounce back and forth we’ll take in on Damen Lee as well let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday and we’re back this is lockon Phoenix Suns part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day I’m Brendan clean your host and a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons as well as the host of the Jess basketball show Welcome in thank you for making locked on Sons your first listen here on the 4th of July Independence Day hopefully you have the day off work if not take some time to yourself maybe you already are and you’re listening to me in which case maybe I’m sorry maybe you’re welcome depending on how you feel I guess about the show but let’s get it underway joining us as he does every single uh Thursday is Stephen Pon Garner a writer over at phnx Bright Side of the Sun and you can follow him on Twitter as well uh reminder sit subscribe hit follow if you haven’t already we’re free and available every single day including uh bonus shows on the weekends and all that sorts of stuff just hit the button subscribe follow becomeing everyday or get locked on the Suns all offseason long summer league will be here before you know it so just get ahead of it just hit that button and then you’ll get a recap of those games and you won’t even have to think about it today’s episode guys brought to you by the game time app the best place to buy a ticket download Game Time create an account use the code locked on NBA when you do to get $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right let me just uh so Damen Lee is back Stephen um we kind of anticipated that might happen Gerald boray had the report that even though he declined his player option that the suns were working to potentially bring him back on a bigger salary and that ends up just being a minimum after all I don’t really know why it all played out that way necessarily but I will just ask you now that we know he is coming back what you believe his role will be on the Suns is he in the rotation is he out what skill set do you think he can help provide here what do you expect from Lee this season uh I think his role with this team is going to be similar to what it was with the 2022 2023 Suns roster now naturally that was a different roster context different rendition uh different style of play but I do think that some of the core principles in terms of how Mike buen hoser will look to feature him in the rotation and also when he’s on the floor functionality wise what his usage is going to look like playing around the talents of Kevin Durant Bradley Bill and Devin Booker I I think his movement and his ability to do a lot on the move and be a almost non-stop movement type of piece moving around the chessboard offensively is going to be important also think that there’s a level of IQ that you get from Damen Lee in terms of understanding not just how to play but what the game is demanding in terms of movement around particular players that have the ball in their hands as often as the big three whe to kind of optimize the spacing optimize the court balance and just optimize the general level of play offense so I think he’s going to be able to check off a lot of those boxes in an ancillary role of course and I think he’ll be like maybe a 13th or 14th type of player that’s used in a pinch or that’s used obviously in an emergency scenario but a player that will be up to the task whenever his name his name or number is called yeah I think if if Beal Booker and Allen are healthy he probably won’t see the court but it’s a long season those guys were not healthy all of last year and Eric Gordon is not around anymore so you know I think he he could see some minutes here and there and I guess the way I would put his value is he is going to fill a similar type of of hole that I talked about on Wednesday’s show which is just those minutes going to Damen Lee instead of Jordan Goodwin or whoever you want to point to um that that th those positive minutes are the difference between wins and losses and your ultimate place in the standings and all that stuff more than we realize so he is in my opinion better than some you know g-league flyer but you know I also think them resigning him probably signals that I would expect the fact that he declined the option and there was a little bit of time in between makes me think they probably poked around at other guys with a similar skill set who they maybe relied upon or trusted a little bit more they didn’t find one and we also just have to see whether he you know is 100% of himself and probably won’t be right away he had a pretty gruesome injury miss an entire season so that’s also a factor as well all right lingering questions coming off of the roster is not fully decided Josh aogi might come back they might sign another player there may be some kind of wild card trade we’re not expecting so we might get into some of that but we also want to look at okay we know four new players are on this roster now between the two rookies and and two of the the vet minimums that they signed so what does that tell us what does that make us wonder and we’ll just go from there so Stephen your first lingering question coming off of these first few days of the offseason well I like to kind of look at things in detail when coaches are speaking and Mike buen hoser mentioned and really emphasized at multiple moments um looking to establish a defensive identity early and often and that stemming from their daily habits established and principles and just generally how they approach getting better every day on the defensive side of the floor through training camp and that practice over the course of the season I think they’ve done better in terms of addressing having the types of players that will help to facilitate to that style of play it helped to bring more of an identity on the defensive side of the floor but I do I do also still think there’s going to take more buyin from the big three in particular and to see those three players uh performing to that particular um part of their process on consistency now that part remains to be seen I think that adding Ryan dun to your context naturally is going to help you do a lot of those things more effectively than you possibly could have imagined last season also think having Royce O’Neal for The Season’s entirety or at least through training camp and through the early portion of the regular season will help with that as well I think naturally you having two players like that that leaves you with an opportunity to not necessarily have uh Grayson Allen or Bradley Bill taking on the task of guarding John Morant guarding LeBron James guarding Stephen Curry from the onset of a game that just gives you a different type of look allows for your defense to have a little bit more layers and versatility and I think it just puts you in a better position from the onset so that’s my biggest question so far now we got to see if they address it they definitely have more size like one through let’s just say one through 13 right now right so sure than they did last year and especially than they did once you started to realize that the playable players on the court in a championship Chase were mostly the smaller players you know what I mean like they had size on the roster at various points last year but those guys didn’t earn their minutes now they have playable big players whether you’re talking about adding plumbley a full season of O’Neal and then the rookies so so that in and of itself should help the defense right like more often than not if you’re executing a scheme bigger players are going to be better than not bigger players but I guess I still like you mentioned Curry or John marant like even if Royce O’Neal maybe starts right like you’re probably still looking at Beal being that guy right so that is I mean it’s the it’s a good lingering question to have because it just has so many kind of secondary things that we have to wonder about is how much is somebody like Ryan dun going to play how much is Monte MO is potentially an option to play with the best guys on this team in potentially close games or does he get to a point where he earns a starting spot I mean I don’t expect that right now but it could happen and then probably he got he guards some of those players more consistently if if possible so that’s kind of where I uh that’s kind of I guess what I would say to try to answer the question is like you know how do they set that defensive Foundation well a lot of it to me is is who’s playing and and how those combinations look together I mean how much do you think Dunn plays as a rookie what are you expecting yeah that’s the that’s the big looming question in terms of addressing the identity piece because I feel like he best addresses it from the wing position yeah I can’t say he’s going to play more than 15 minutes a game to start the season now obviously Nally he’s going to be presented with opportunity to punch out that weight class and get closer to 20 but that also like it’s like you said it it really depends on how well his game translates to the league on the offensive side of things because that’s where his stand power is going to come from we know he can defend it’s a matter of what it looks like when he’s on the floor offense and T with the combinations piece in the rotation like you supposed to so I would say 15 minutes to start potential for more but that remains to be seen yeah it’s it’s one of the interesting things with Bud where looking back at his track record I’ve harped on this a lot on you know like the the nonsense content I’ve done like they’re drafting in Milwaukee since Horst took over there has not been good and so he just has like he had Divan chenzo as a rookie that was a really high pick though you know and a more kind of proven you know what he’s going to bring they didn’t have a rookie the season after that next year it was Jordan noar who hasn’t really panned out out in the NBA it’s just hard to go you have to go to Atlanta to to look at times where he trusted those types of players and the league was a lot different the roster context was different those teams weren’t you know ever really in sniffing distance of a championship although they were contenders they just you know had a guy named LeBron in their conference so it’s tough It’s hard to just it’s hard to know right now but fortunately I think we’ll see I think summer league will be a big piece of that training camp will be a big piece of that and you know we’ve seen plenty of rookies earn time it’s not like it’s never happened so if Dunn did it it wouldn’t shock me but he has to show I think what he can do on the offensive end in order to make that happen all right more lingering questions coming up next first a word from game time with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and the lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets from Major League Baseball and Beyond I am tentatively looking at Saturday we got a big knockout round Copa America match in the valley on on Saturday I was really hoping it would be Brazil unfortunately not uh it’s it’s Colombia which is cool um but we’ll see whether it’s Sports though concerts comedy theater baseball versus soccer whatever you need game time has tickets for you they also have great deals Flash Deals Zone deals um 110% difference lowest price guarantee where you get a credit if you find a ticket cheaper elsewhere they’re all about saving you money take the guess where out of buying tickets with game time from MLB to Beyond download the game time app now create an account use the code locked on NBA when you do to get $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code l o c k d o n NBA locked on NBA for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guarant all right Stephen I’ll kick us off with a lingering question here are we sure the suns are keeping Yousef nurkic let’s just let’s just get into the into the you know full offseason insanity and and I’m not just saying that to belabor the point or you know uh be be very July NBA about things but I actually think think Plumley is somebody that is kind of hovering right around that line you know when I did my like ideal offseason exercise a while ago I had Goa batad as as a fill in there and then I got some depth around him and that was in a world where they traded nurkic for not a center and got a forward and a guard back plumley’s right around that line where he’s not a great starting NBA Center if you’re trying to win a champ I ship but he might be good enough where you could go into the season with him as your starter igodo it’ be a lot to rely on for him but he could do it in backup minutes maybe they have some small ball alignments maybe they get one lesser Center back in a potential nerkish trade they still have O’Neal but the point is plumbley is good enough where if he had to play 30 minutes a night for the first half of the season and then you look at a Trader a buyout player to really gear up for the for the postseason he’s good enough to do that they got a center in the in the draft that could play some minutes they got bull bull back and dun and Durant and O’Neal where they could play a little smaller a little more easily I guess I’m just saying the roster looks like a better it’s better suited for potentially moving on for n from nurkic than it was heading into everything so that’s why the question is still there for me they could be fine keeping him but I also think we shouldn’t close the door on it what do you think I so I’m I see the I see the outlet and functionality still with nerkish on the offensive side of the floor however the issues that persisted on the defensive end and what we saw in the playoffs even more so comprehensively really put me in a bind in terms of seeing if there’s more value with him on offense that could be kind of leaned into with Bud than was with uh with vogle and that’s where I’m at kind of a Crossroads I feel like their best decision to make regarding Nish is to find a trade for him and to if you’re wiping the Slate on the vogo era which was I’ll be a one season uh one that left more to be desired if you’re wiping a slate in essence and you’ve also kind of cleaned house in terms of some of the role players that came in in free agency last season under vogle I don’t see any um anything that would hurt them in terms of doing the same with the center room you already got Drew Eubanks is gone um I don’t feel azabou is gone as well I don’t see a reason why it would hurt for them to also detach themselves from nage now obviously navigating those Waters is extremely tough because of the lack of value there with nerkish based off of last season as well as his contract um but I think if they could just find something for him and like you said use Plumb to kind of bridge the gap I think they might be presented with an opportunity to find a that suffices their needs um potentially before the season starts if not down the line it’s weird though too right I guess to play Devil’s Advocate a little bit because this roster like if you had given Frank vogle this roster I think things would have gone better right like you know both coaches I think at the end of the day want to play a drop maybe vogle has a little more aggressiveness that he’s developed over time since he had Roy Hibert and everything but I think that’s the preferred thing in either case it’s just this roster now is a little more capable of actually pulling that off both with point of attack options plus actually having some length to kind of rotate and and protect the the backside and whatever else so it could just be that they roll into things with nkic and it just goes better because they have better Personnel around him so where he’s not as exposed and they’re not having to try to you know hedge and and Blitz some of the craziness that they were you know ending up with against Minnesota maybe they shouldn’t have been but that’s what they chose to do cuz they started to kind of panic right so I don’t know I could see it going either way I could see nkit just having a little bit of a better season and frankly he already had a better season last year than we even expected so if he took another little step up there just with the better Supporting Cast you’re getting closer to a guy that you know is playable in the playoffs and and just fine as an option as long as you have other you know um other styles you can go to and you’re not relying on him too too much or like I like we just said maybe there is just a trade and they decided to vote fewer resources and less kind of just uh of an emphasis on on the center spot at all and and go the route that a lot of other teams around the NBA have and they could benefit from that as well obviously the aprons and all that make the trade hard in addition to his salary and his value like you mentioned so you know it’s all still sitting there but I do just think just cuz it hasn’t happen yet doesn’t mean it’s not going to all right what’s your next lingering question my next lingering question comes to the offensive side of things I saw also mentioned from Mike buen hoser in his introductory press conference uh he spoke to the three-point shooting and I think everybody’s been hammering that one home that’s not a new topic so I’m going to leave that particular portion of it alone I’m going to look more to the functionality of everything going on within their offense he spoke to wanting to play unpredictable read and react style of offense in addition to his obvious uh motion sets that he likes to get into that particular piece stands out to me because I feel like some of the unpredictability that came with use of nerkish at center allow for them to get into five out spacing elements get into some uh delay actions where they’re getting into screens into handoffs with their uh with the big three all involved either with one action or two of those three on one side and then the other one space to The Backs side I think there’s a lot of value in that I think that’s something they could have leaned more into in terms of breaking up the mundaneness that would persist with this team and running pick and roll after pick and roll after pick and roll like even with the spacing comprehensively that they have whether they’re manipulating space with empty corners and empty sides and being in trips on one side or the other or they’re going with traditional spacing if you’re running against pick and roll defensive coverages so consistently it’s not going to hit the same as when it’s on a little bit less of a volume and you have other things kind of towed in with that in your process so I think them being being able to lean into the read and react and unpredictability piece in addition to the pick and roll Partnerships that they can compile with this roster I think will help to give them more organization and we should see this offense be instead of being a top seven or eight like they were last season be a lot closer to top five top four in a sustained and consistent Manner and I think that will naturally also lend itself to them being more uh cohesive in crunch time because then there’s going to be a little bit more structure and organization to everything that they’re doing Within process so I think that’s kind of the big question for me what is it going to look like on offense are they really leaning into that read and react part and again just like the defensive side how much are the big three buying into that particular piece of the process on offense yeah I think that’s all good I mean my my thing with um I’ve always said like the it’s kind of the bud tree that really brought the random offense stuff and Vogue a little bit in the NBA Taylor Jenkins and uh Memphis was big on it and you know Boston over time I guess that’s not really related to Bud but but the that team kind of popularized some of it and then you know the Bucks MH I’ve always said it kind of has like bad PR the the the name of it sounds bad to say random you know what I mean like you appear before all these reporters or you’re trying to explain your philosophy and you go ah we’ll do something random like that just doesn’t sound good but I also think like at its best the way that that that team’s when they play that way the best version of it actually can really limit mistakes even though it doesn’t sound like it right like you know it’s not fully random it’s just principle based read-based like compare it to football there’s a lot of teams that play like that in football it relies on having like a really good quarterback a lot of the time and you know uh time to make your decisions and kind of space and you know but it’s really just designed to maximize great players from principles and build from there and I think if you kind of think about it that way a lot of those things are exactly what the Suns should be doing you know um and I I said it I think it was Durant who used the um the phrase spontaneous a lot last year and it’s a version of the same thing right you know it’s like you’re unpredictable to the defense but not to yourself right and you you know what you’re looking for for what you’re trying to read for where you should try to be if you’re one of the Five Guys on the court but it’s really just based on what the defense is giving you and and trying to kind of confuse them so I think that takes work that takes chemistry that takes a good camp and a clear rotation from day one and and defined roles a lot of stuff the Suns didn’t have last year hopefully they get it this year um but it would go a long way for sure all right we’ll each do one more to close things out on the other side of one more quick break all right closing out the show one more lingering question a piece I’ll just go to My Old Reliable here Stephen um I kind of teased it in the last segment it’s it’s related to the center spot again and everything but do they play small Moore H from a rotation and style standpoint that that’s that’s one of the things that I wonder because it would I think it would kind of take advantage of what the roster currently looks like in a way that might be might be useful right and and there’s a few ways that I think that that that could happen one um I could see a player like Ryan Dunn or even obviously Josh aogi some of the the more limited Shooters benefiting from on on the offensive end if they’re the only non-shooter things get a little easier they also have more forward depth in general than they did last year and it has been one of the ingredients that bud has gone to at times when he feels like he has the Personnel to do it um so this isn’t me saying that they should or shouldn’t or that they will or won’t it’s just one of the things that I’m kind of trying to keep in mind a as a potential option especially when you know somebody like Morris or Allen aren’t on the court probably and the centers aren’t on the court so I’m talking The Big Three O’Neal dun bow probably some combination of of that group how much do we see those five and and they switch more they’re a little more frenetic on the defensive end and then they just try to just kill you on offense I think that’s a great question I think that’s something that Mike Bud hoser was certainly lean into I think he’ll be more willing and more willing to do early on in the season than Frank vogle showed that he was um and I think naturally them being able to have that as part of their their process in terms of the rotation goals will certainly help to give them that unpredictability that we’re speaking to now you’re forcing your opponents to react to something that you’re doing feel like V didn’t really lean into that until after the All-Star break you can think about that first game against the Sacramento Kings where they’re down to the Double Digit deficit he finally decides to put Durant at the five they spark the come back in the fourth quarter ultimately win that game and then it becomes part of their process the rest of the way that’s just not even a third of the Season at that point you know so I feel like them having it more consistently and being able to have the optionality in that like you mentioned you could throw O’Neil at the five you could throw Durant at the five you could throw dun at the five you know you have options within that to where it’s not just the Durant rendition that you’re leaning on most consistently go ahead one more quick thing yeah well I would just to throw one more guy in there I think Oso could on the defensive end be a more switchable Center than anybody the Suns have had you know yeah I don’t remember the last guy um I guess eight in that times but um so that that would be you know and and his ability to be a little bit of a playmaking hub on the offensive end might allow them to still maintain some spacing and the kind of what you’re trying to do as far as how you affect the game when you choose to go small he he’s he’s a more traditional but still you know he’s one of those guys so I I think he maybe as the season goes along could be one of them but go ahead and I think to your point they just named four to five different names that were not Yousef ners or Mason plumbley um yeah for context the Los Angeles Clippers had Mason plumbley on their roster and still elected to go with small ball Renditions against particular opponents just because that matchup was more friendly to what they were trying to do in those minutes where zuo wasn’t on the floor so that’s I mean that gives a lot more example and Credence to the point that you’re making but the other big thing for me with it is that with with uh boen hoer we saw naturally you have Giannis on your roster that allows for you to use you’re playing small ball but it hits a lot different the typical small B correct it’s small ball figuratively but a whole lot less literally but the other thing with that is his he was able to find ways to give them functionality on offense pass just to unpredictably unpredictability or read and react portion he had structur to where he put Giannis at the left elbow Middleton at the right elbow Drew holiday initiating offense with two shooters face deep to the corners and they were able to play in three player actions in the middle third of the floor in an unpredictable manner sometimes it might flow into a double screen sometimes it might flow into an entry into the elbow and they play off of U movement and read and react from that where the other two players are screening off of each other there’s a lot of different things you can get into whether it’s just to manipulate matchups or to get a direct advantage to play out of in terms of moving the ball in players and I think that is going to be something that this Sun’s team can really Ed because we didn’t see Durant Bill and Booker all used in the same action not even close to enough for my personal liking and just generally speaking so I think that’s something they could really lean into to answer your question absolutely Ely the last thing on this would just be to me that I think I think playing small if you have the Personnel to do it which we’re in agreement they at least have options it may not work out you know we’ll see but they have enough where they should be able to embrace it and that is the key word to me I just think it it does take a little bit of I mean it’s basketball I’m not trying to overdo it but like courage a little bit right like you got to just say we’re doing it from day one we’re going to have this is our small ball lineup up give or take a few guys that might slide in or out this is what we do when we’re small on defense this is what we do on offense and we’re just going to try it for eight minutes a game we’re just going to try it and you got to just kind of you got to live it a little bit and I don’t think vogle ever wanted to even after games where they would where they would win or they would they would show good stuff you’d be like yeah it’s probably not going to work out it’s like come on like you know like it it it just did work out you got to at at a certain point like listen to your roster a little bit and I think Bud will so all right what’s your last one ah the last one um somewhat of a question to fans and just general observers of the Suns and then I have a actual question within that uh can we please put the point guard conversation the rest now and then my rebuttal to that is now what is going to be the the pet talking point uh sign that people are going to press when they’re speaking on the Suns last season it was point guard this point guard that point guard this point guard that they have one that’s the most efficient with the ball in his hands uh and in that ilk of Chris Paul in terms of most efficient across league history especially over the last seven to eight seasons that out that’s out of the question now so now what are you going to rely on as far as your talking point with the Suns um that obviously remains to be seen um it’ll be it’ll be starting Morris right now now they have one but after that it becomes starting him that this isn’t going away that’s a fair point that’s a good rebuttal uh Checkmate to that uh and I guess my literal question is going to be what is Mon’s role how effective is it and like I guess what players is he gonna be most consistently paired with is it gonna be him with Devin Booker or is it gonna be him with Bradley Bill and then when Monty is not on the floor is Devin Booker that’s taking on a point guard role is Mike buenos G to look to lean more into mult mle initiators of offense to the extent that that U Frank vogo had harped on last season will they rely on nkis to initiate offense a little bit more like we saw post All-Star break and the effectiveness that came with that in terms of getting into actions quicker playing with 20 to 22 seconds on the shot clock instead of starting your offense with 16 or 15 seconds um you know what type of actions are you getting into outside of that um just kind of really mon more Ecentric and then what is he looking like off the ball are his shooting numbers in terms of catch and shoot and playing off of uh Closeouts are they remaining as efficient as they needed to is he still getting his playmaking dose and he still being effective on that side of the ball with things and the last big thing with him is he’s still holding up on defense because they can’t have him on the floor if he’s not going to have the ball in his hands as consistently as he has in other situations and he’s also not holding up on defense so those are kind of my big questions there yeah I think that’s all good I mean the the case for him is only really there if his point of attack defense is solid and he can shoot at a decent volume um those things didn’t happen consistently last year but really nothing for him happened consistently last year cuz he just was plagued with injuries I don’t think anything from that is like some kind of the injury will linger but you know a long a whole year of tissue stuff in your legs like you know it takes you got to get you got to overcome it and and feel good and feel spry again in order to impact things at a high level so that’s obviously a question kind of underneath all the skill stuff but I would say that if if he looks a lot more like the Washington version of himself or or even the Denver version of himself then that I love the idea of him you know a lineup I just like the the the history with Beal so I’m I’m I tend to lean toward just let those guys play together because it’s kind of fun to tap back into what was a a cool offense even if it wasn’t highly efficient one in in Washington so those two Roy plumbley and maybe like Grayson I I like the idea of did I just list too many players no that’s that’s five that’s that’s F that is that that type of a of a thing and it might be you know a little bit within that obviously B can initiate Allan can if if necessary and plumbley as kind of a dribble handoff Hub is is a guy who can do that as well so yeah Morris is pro but you know in Denver he was playing with nicolea yic and Mason plumbley as well so I don’t know if he has to right so like if he can if the spot of comfort is there then that type of a unit where it’s pretty you know again that spontaneous kind of random you never really know who’s going to initiate especially when the the the top two stars on this team aren’t on the court I think I that type of group as kind of a better than the sum of its parts type of option to to go to I really like and I think you could see those units score pretty well and help the sun stay afloat when Booker Andor Durant are not on the court yeah I think and I think the big thing that with Monty first of all he’s a true traditional point guard he understands the nuances of playing point guard with a lot of primary creators around him and then the other big thing for me is he’s the type of initiator offense that can play Pick and role with any body I mean and with even with the Wizards and I’m going apply that context even with the Washington Wizards in 2022 23 he had a points per possession Mark with pick and rolles including passes of 1.15 that’s extremely good ranked in the 90th percentile and was in a 94 percentile in terms of his reps on volume in terms of how many pi and roll possessions that included him initiating to score or to pass that’s a lot of volume that he’s taking on he knows how to make every pass in the book in terms of a pick and roll context he can knock down jump shots off of this off of the screen getting the perver the typical drop covers that he’s going to see and I think that naturally puts guys in their more natural positions when he’s on the floor and it also allows for them a scenario and context of offense to where they can play off with somebody else rather than the big three always having to create or be the fire starters for whatever Advantage is to come so I think there’s a lot of value that can come from him and I think also the the front Court pieces have somebody else outside of Kevin Durant that will be able to feed them on consistency into advantages yeah I mean the way the little group that I just put together there in my imagination I mean that’s like a a bench heavy group but of course there’s going to be time I I think we’ll see games where he closes and you know it’s it’s him and the big three and a and a big you know and and that that obviously has value for the reasons everybody’s been you know having the talking point that you kicked off with if they just need an orchestrator and sometimes he’ll just be that so I think it’s great I have a a number for you to close us out on this topic Washington 2022 2023 season when Beal and Morris were on the court together offensive rating 125 that checks out that checks out for me and it’s a lot of it was because of the the um the tandem Synergy that those two have in terms of one playing off of the other one setting up the other for success and then being able to play an advantage ball from there there’s a template there and that’s why I mentioned taking book off the floor and allowing book to play point guard when Monty is not on and allowing for him to spend more time with Bill in particular I think that context certainly matters and you take that being applied to a Wizards context apply that to a 202 2425 Sons context if they have a 120 offensive rating with those two on the floor with the players on the Wizards in 2022 23 it shouldn’t be anything less than that in terms of that t with his son’s context based off a pace of play and also the personnel and in the context of everything that Mike budo is going to look to run on offense yeah not really related to a son’s podcast but it’s still crazy to me that that team was not better when you just look at the fact that they had Gafford and porzingis and Beal and kuzma and tus Jones it’s just like all these guys that have gone other places and everybody likes them now again and then they all played together and they sucked or they didn’t suck they were mediocre together you know win loss wise so you know they had a young bench with like kissper and Denny before he broke out and everything but still a weird a weird one for sure all right that’ll wrap us up though hopefully some good stuff to chew on we’ll see if more news comes down I’ll have an episode for you tomorrow to close out the week check out Stephen’s YouTube channel his writing over RI bright side and phnx and we will catch you guys tomorrow

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