From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

[RMJH4]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Badly needed Pope back. You kept your head over water at 26-24... Great statline from Pope, LBronesque vs the Cavs.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Badly needed Pope back. You kept your head over water at 26-24... Great statline from Pope, LBronesque vs the Cavs.

Yeah, I'm really happy he came back. He was desperately missed and the team just barely kept it together; the playoffs look to be in Phoenix's future if things hold as they do. Just need to avoid any more long injuries.

[georgiafan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

man I fell behind with this over the weekend... tough loss of Pop but looks like you survived and should still make the playoffs

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

man I fell behind with this over the weekend... tough loss of Pop but looks like you survived and should still make the playoffs

Yeah, I was trying to push this hard over the weekend, get as much done as possible.


I'm actually leaving on a weeklong business trip early tomorrow morning and won't be back late till Friday night, so there won't a lot going on here. I have a few ideas on things I could put out while away, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

League Update: All-Star Edition

By Sam Gray

Standings:

Injuries:

All-Stars + Award Races:

Trends:

1. Out West, it’s a three-team race for the first seed as the Thunder, Rockets, and Warriors all vie for the coveted top-seed. The Thunder just recently lost Andre Roberson to a sprained ankle and it’s expected they’ll fall back after the break, but OKC looks realer than they have in many years. The return of Paul George and Dion Waiters (putting in 13.7 PPG on 48 percent from the field and 39 percent from three) has given the offense the boost it needs to survive when Westbrook hits the bench — if the Thunder can get into the playoffs fully healthy, they’ll have a shot at a Finals berth.

2. The rest of the West is filled with surprises after the top-three; the Pelicans look good with Bradley Beal (putting in 21 PPG) and they were widely expected to make the playoffs even without Boogie Cousins, albeit few believed a top-four seed was in their future.

The Suns are the surprise of the league as, even without star rookie Omar Pope for over a month, they managed to hang on until Pope’s return and are sitting in the fifth spot. The Jazz are not as good as they looked early in the season as off and on injuries to their bench has made consistent rotations tough and the Mavericks — if not for the Suns — would be considered the surprise of the league. Many scratched their head at the idea of signing DeAndre Jordan but Jordan has proven to be exactly what Dallas needed in Dirk’s finals season.

Below them are the Lakers, sitting in the eighth and final spot — barely over .500, the LeBron led Lakers have struggled all year blending the talents of LeBron with Kawhi (who has missed 17 games with injuries and is battling a shoulder injury now). The two superstars are also trying to blend in with Lonzo Ball, who is passing the rock brilliantly but who’s shooting less with both Leonard and James; Ball’s only putting in 9.7 PPG, a woeful amount for a modern-day point.

3. Out East, the Raptors continue to be the regular-season team to beat as they are ahead in the conference and not looking back. Wiggins is having a renaissance year, scoring 19.8 PPG on 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. The Raptors recently lost Ilyasova to a broken ankle (out 8-10 weeks) but expect him back before the playoffs and, for the first time in a few years, there is genuine hope that Toronto can get far in the East.

4. The rest of the East is seemingly locked into a seven-deep battle for second-place. The 76ers, Bucks, Wizards, and Celtics are all viable second-seeds and not far behind them are the Cavs, Knicks, and Nets — Brooklyn is desperately trying to hang onto its playoff spot but the Pistons — fresh off their trade with the Clippers and on a four-game win streak — are on their tails. The final playoff spot out East will likely come down to the last day of the regular season.

5. The race for the first overall pick is now in full bloom and the favorites are the Grizzlies, Spurs, and Hornets — neither team cracking 20 wins yet this season. Further up the standings but well out of the playoffs are the T’Wolves, Nuggets, and Blazers — all three teams likely to make a change in coaching this offseason (rumor has it that KAT is holding off on committing to a contract extension until Thibs is removed) and in the East the Bulls, Hawks, Magic and Heat are also out of the playoffs but not quite terrible enough to get that first overall pick.

Suns’ News:

1. Phoenix is 31-25 and survived the absence of Pope — since his return, Phoenix has gone 9-1 over their last 10 and the Suns are firmly in control of their own destiny. If they can stay above .500 and stay relatively healthy heading into April, Phoenix may see its first postseason since 2009-10 — nearly a decade ago during the final days of the Nash-era.

2. Unsurprisingly the Suns’ Omar Pope is the leader in the clubhouse for ROY and most experts believe he’ll win the award going away. Despite missing a little over a month with injury, Pope’s numbers are eye-opening and the rest of the league has taken notice.

3. The Suns didn’t expect to be this good this soon — many in the organization, at least internally, were preaching patience and a two to three year plan to get the Suns back into the playoffs; the Suns are about to do that in just one season. Considering the tragic circumstances that led to this team’s formation, this may go down as the most meaningful Suns’ season in franchise history.

But the lack of losses has altered the plans for the Suns this upcoming summer as Phoenix expected their own pick in the draft to be high — it now looks like they’ll have to rely on Portland getting them a lottery pick, as the Blazers are 25-33 and out of the playoffs; that Portland pick (acquired last summer with Evan Turner) is top-five protected and Phoenix hopes it falls somewhere between 6-10.

League News:

1. Expansion has been made official — the NBA has announced that two new teams will be joining the league for the 2019-20 season.

“It is with great pleasure that I reveal two new NBA franchises — the Seattle SuperSonics and Las Vegas Aces,” Commissioner Adam Silver announced. “The NBA is proud to return to Seattle and is looking forward to playing in Vegas, a city that has consistently impressed us with how it handles Summer League. Both teams will be playing in the fall of this year, officially moving the league to 32 teams.”

The announcement was met with wide praise across the sports world — especially in regards to Seattle, who had their team moved away by Clay Bennett over a decade ago. The NBA placing a new team in Seattle was widely expected but Vegas was a bubble city as recently as a year ago — the outstanding support and play of the Golden Knights in the NHL, however, convinced the NBA to get aboard now as opposed to waiting (which the soon to be Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL are doing).

As per league rules, the expansion draft will happen in the offseason, where each of the other 30 teams in the NBA will be allowed to protect their top-8 players. Both new franchises will be awarded the 4th and 5th picks respectively in the upcoming 2019 NBA Draft.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale





Ch. 3

Assets. Running a good business was about procuring and developing assets; a good basketball team was much the same way. Regina sat back in her office, her eyes gazing out the window as the sun drifted below the horizon, the evening hues giving way to the dimness of dusk.

The biggest enemy in any good business — in any good team — was time. Time was a fickle thing … take those assets and cash them in for something too soon and you risked destroying everything you built. Wait too long and you risked getting back pennies on the dollar. Selling high was always preferable but, in both business and basketball, selling high wasn’t always advisable. Sometimes, you had to roll the dice and take the risk in the short-term to procure better assets in the long term.

There was a knock at her door and John poked his head in. “Got you those stats you wanted.”

She turned around and waved him in. “What are the numbers looking like?”

He flipped open his notebook. “Total salaries for next season, assuming we don’t bring back Rozier or Boban — and renounce their rights — leaves us with about nineteen million in cap room. That doesn’t include cap holds for our draft picks either, so add in two firsts and two seconds of various amounts.” He cast a curious glance at her. “I thought the plan was to wait till 2020 to make our move?”

“So did I. Until Pope showed up and dragged us to fifth in the conference,” she said with a laugh. “He’s a remarkable player and an equally remarkable young man, John. We did well.”

“We lucked out. In any other year, in any other draft, our luck wouldn’t have been that good.”

She stood and went over to the bar, fixing them both a drink. “Perhaps. But we’ll need to accelerate our plans. Ibaka and Turner both have large salaries and both are prime targets we can move for space … the question is, do we do one or both?”

“I’ve talked with Griffin and he thinks — thanks to our draft picks for the next few years — we can move both if we want. But he recommends we focus on moving Turner; that contract is an albatross, but we could move him plus a pick and free up the space we need to go after someone.” John moved to the bar and took a sip of the margarita she prepared; he let out a happy sigh. “Love these things.”

“Bartending in college was a good experience … most of the time.” She sipped her own drink and smiled. “As to who we go after … it really depends on what we feel we need.”

“A better point guard, though there aren’t many in this market. Rozier could come back … but I don’t think he pushes the needle. Brogdon is likely to be renounced by the Bucks, just because he wants to start and they like him off the bench.”

“He’s a big guard, he would fit with our team. Jason would certainly like to see him again.”

“Kidd would,” John agreed. “But I don’t want to give the team the impression we’re trying to build Bucks west out here.”

“Agreed. I think we could make a play for a center.” She sipped her drink as she watched the gears go in John’s head.

“A big? We have Nerlens, he’s pretty much perfect for us … but we could get someone else. Whiteside? A bit of a headcase but Kidd has played with all sorts over his career, he’ll know how to deal with that; after being punted by the Heat, he’ll have a grudge.”

“I was thinking Marc Gasol.”

John’s eyes widened. “Mister Grizzly himself? I’ve heard he was going to test the market but I don’t know if we could get him, Regina. He loves Memphis.”

“He’s also been sitting on a losing team the last few years. We have the young talent the Grizzlies consistently miss out on … if they fail to get to the first pick, he’ll be gone.”

John held up his glass. “I’ll drink to their failure and our success any day.”

She smirked and they clinked glasses, talking about the season that was to come after the basketball season ended — the NBA was a full-time league; just because basketball wasn’t being played didn’t mean there wasn’t a game going on somewhere.

[RMJH4]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Looking good in 5th place in the West! No love for Pope in All Star Game though, thought he might sneak in with those numbers. Good to see the Sonics coming back in here next year, I know you'll put together a nice roster for them! 19 million, you could def add a nice piece with that next year! Nothing long term though, 2-3 year contract for Gasol would be very nice.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

2019 NBA Draft Preview

By Sam Gray

The 2019 NBA draft is now only four months away and, as we are now at the all-star break, it’s a good time to look at which draft prospects are at the top of most front office’s lists.

The Top Prospects:

1. At the top of every draft board in every NBA front office is the electric Ted Reeves. Reeves is the best player in this class and, much like Omar Pope last year, he’s dazzled NBA teams with his scoring and his passing — averaging 26 PPG with 11 APG. Many NBA GMs are enamored with his ability to not only play the one, but to also play the two and three, giving Reeves the unique makeup of a franchise player who can adapt to a team.

The only concern with Reeves is his motor — he runs hot most of the time but his emotions can get the better of him on the court, resulting in unpredictable, wild plays if he becomes frustrated. As the season has gone on, Reeves has displayed a greater level of control than earlier in the year, but it’s a very minor worry that most GMs are not fretting too much over.

2. After Reeves there is a drop-off in day-1 ready talent but there’s still depth in this draft; the next best prospect would be Wil Willis from Ohio State. Willis is the best 3 and D wing in this draft, a guy who can score as well as defend, and he does a little bit of everything — Willis might not be the guy you build your franchise around, but he can be a true number two or three, depending on how the team is constructed, and he’s someone who accepts any challenges presented to him with gusto.

3. Beyond Willis is Mike Lowe, the PG from Penn State — not nearly as prolific a scorer as Reeves, Lowe is probably the best pure point guard in this draft. He’s able to better his teammates with his play (averaging 12 assists per game) and get his own points (toss in 15 PPG); Lowe, standing at 6’3” has a wingspan of 6’8” and can defend ones or twos, so he’s no slouch on that end of the floor; for whatever team misses out on Reeves, Lowe wouldn’t be a bad alternative.

The Late Lottery:

1. The most interesting prospect among these — with the highest ceiling and a high risk — would be Tiagi Pessoa from Brazil. At only 18, he’s young and he’s fast — blazingly so — and also tends to play a bit out of control. He’s also one of the hardest workers in this draft and has tremendous upside if he lands with the right NBA team, but Pessoa also carries with him an injury risk — Pessoa has suffered a rash of ankle injuries the last two seasons and though he’s played through most of them, the fact that it’s happened so often is concerning to some NBA teams; many feel that once he gets into an NBA organization and gets top-notch care, those concerns will be put to rest but there’s fear that those injuries are precursors of things to come.

The Potential Diamonds:

1. Nick Ware, from Alabama, is a modern-four if there ever was one. He has one of the best three-pointers in this draft and eats rebounds for breakfast, but his defense is lacking — for a big, he has little vertical and covers only modest ground on the perimeter. Ware lacks any sort of paint presence, a sentence that only a generation ago would have sent him tumbling down draft boards, but he is excellent at spacing the floor; he has a high ceiling, comparable to Kevin Love if all the pieces fall into place, but will need to land with the right team to really develop.

2. Harvey Nelson from Texas Tech is another interesting case study — one of the better two-guards in this class, Nelson is a throwback player; he plays almost exclusively in the mid-range and though he can hit from behind the arc with consistency, he prefers to operate in the dreaded “long-two” area of the floor. Nelson is also a stellar teammate and someone who will do whatever is asked to help his squad win, but will his “old” game appeal to modern GMs looking to space the floor? Where Nelson ends up will be a fascinating plot-line in the 2019 draft.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Looking good in 5th place in the West! No love for Pope in All Star Game though, thought he might sneak in with those numbers. Good to see the Sonics coming back in here next year, I know you'll put together a nice roster for them! 19 million, you could def add a nice piece with that next year! Nothing long term though, 2-3 year contract for Gasol would be very nice.

Yeah, I like Gasol and feel he'd work great with my team -- but it all depends on how the draft works out. If the Grizzlies get the first overall pick, Gasol will finally have a young talent to help him out and he'll stay. If they don't, I think he considers walking while he still can play at a high level for the next 2-3 seasons.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Rapid Reaction: Suns 109, Raptors 80

By Sam Gray

The Suns are now 34-27 on the year, winners of three of the last four, as they put down the Raptors in emphatic fashion. Phoenix came out and established their presence on defense and offense early; they took nothing lying down, playing with a ferocity that they didn’t have when they met the Raptors earlier this season. Pope came out and established a rhythm not just for himself but for his teammates and the Suns dominated from the tip to the final buzzer — the Raptors were missing two starters from their lineup with injuries, but Phoenix will nonetheless take the victory.

[RMJH4]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

That's another darn good win... Blowing out the Raptors! Noel is being quietly effective, 15 boards and 4 blocks sets the tone. Wiggins injured?

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

That's another darn good win... Blowing out the Raptors! Noel is being quietly effective, 15 boards and 4 blocks sets the tone. Wiggins injured?

Broken leg, out 6-8 weeks so he'll be back right before the playoffs maybe. Him and Ilyasova being out pretty much neutered the Raptor offense.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Rapid Reaction: Suns 123, Pelicans 108
By Sam Gray





The Suns preserved their 1.5 game lead on the Pelicans tonight with a win in Phoenix, led by an impressive performance by the former Arizona Wildcats in Pope and Hammons (33 and 17 points respectively). The dynamic duo took advantage of the Pelicans, especially in the third quarter where NOLA -- with AD in foul trouble -- was forced to go to its bench, which basically ended the game then and there. This win signifies a season sweep of the Pelicans, who are still projected to be the fifth seed out West. What we saw tonight could be a playoff preview.

[trekfan]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

Rapid Reaction: Suns 115, Jazz 95

By Sam Gray

The Suns are now 39-29 on the year and have a 3.5 game lead on the Jazz and Pelicans, with 14 games remaining. Phoenix came into Utah off a crushing OT loss to the Spurs, but redeemed themselves by playing — arguably — their best first quarter of the entire season. The Suns came out firing triples and Serge Ibaka answered that call, scoring all nine of his first quarter points on threes. In the second, it was Dante Exum who put on a show, outplaying his former team and possibly making a case to be the starter next season with his assertiveness — a trait that was contagious as the entire team seemed to get more aggressive as the game went on.

Around the League:

1. Injuries are beginning to alter the fate of some playoff teams late in the year — in the last week Ricky Rubio (out 6-8 weeks with a torn MCL) and Kemba Walker (out 2-4 weeks with an ankle sprain) have gone down and with about a month left in the season, more injuries could alter the fates of several other teams.

2. Speaking of fate, it seems that the Miami Heat are desperate to defy it. Despite trading away Whiteside and bringing in Carmelo, the Heat are somehow in the final playoff spot out East at 34-35, with the Nets a half-game back. The only team out East that has officially clinched a playoff spot is the Raptors, who themselves are trying to survive till Wiggins returns — hopefully before the playoffs.

3. The race for the first overall pick is going to be between seven teams — the Grizzlies, Hornets, Bulls, Magic, Spurs, T’Wolves, and Clippers. It hasn’t been an easy season for those fanbases (especially the Spurs and T’Wolves) but getting a shot at Ted Reeves would be worth every bit of it … but outside him, the rest of the draft is an unknown and many GMs are fearful to be stuck with a pick they don’t necessarily want, but can’t necessarily move on from.

[RMJH4]

Re: From the Ashes: A Phoenix Tale

You're looking like a seasoned team now with big wins over Pels and especially Jazz... Should have guaranteed playoffs now. What a start to the rebirth of the franchise..Nice balanced roster you have, I always find its not always the team with the best superstars that does well, its the team with the most 70 -80 rated guys...apart from Warriors!