Bickley Blast: Phoenix Suns fans should have mixed feelings after NBA draft lottery results

Bickley Blast: Phoenix Suns fans should have mixed feelings after NBA draft lottery results

and Marada Mornings. Arizona sports, the local sports leader, Biggley Blast. The Suns caught a break at the NBA draft lottery. They were spared the indignity of the Rockets snagging Cooper Flag with a draft pick that was once theirs. And they were spared Cooper flag landing in San Antonio next to Victor Wenyama, birthing yet another Spurs dynasty that would haunt us for years. That’s the good news. But when Dallas emerged with the number one pick, it was also a reminder that the Western Conference is only going to get tougher. And it was a painful reminder that anybody can win the NBA draft lottery, but you need to have control of your draft picks. There is also a fear that the Rockets are no longer a viable trade partner for Kevin Durant, a team that also has control of the Suns first round picks in 2027 and 2029. And if they have strategized around our demise as a basketball town, why would they want to send those picks back to Phoenix? But one of the most interesting developments from all of this is the Rockets sudden disinterest in Devin Booker because of his regression as a player. a season in which he just wasn’t the same guy where many fans believe he just doesn’t care the way he once did. I hope Book gets wind of all of this and I hope it fires up the furnace because if the Suns have any shot, any hope of winning basketball games in the future, they need Devin Booker to turn back the clock to the time when he was actually better than Donovan Mitchell. All right, today’s Bickley Blast brought to you by my great friends at Chapman BMW. Make luxury attainable. Find them online at chapmanbmw.com. Yeah, there was some interesting reporting coming out of Houston yesterday from Kelly Eco and Sam Aik on the Athletic talking about the Kevin Durant possibilities with the Rockets and you know it’s been widely reported now the Rockets probably not going to have interest in Kevin Durant but have also moved off their interest which was widely reported earlier in Devin Booker. And you brought it up in the blast pick. Part of the write up and part of the reason why, at least according to sources close to the team, is that um the Rockets still have belief in Jaylen Green. And also look at Devin Booker and his struggles this past year have kind of turned them off, which is absolutely 100% ridiculous thinking. Devin Booker did not have his best season last year. We can all agree on that, right? Yes, we can. even through his struggles. He was one of four NBA players who averaged 25 points and seven assists. There were only four qualified players that did that. If that’s your struggle, if that’s your floor, you’re a pretty damn good basketball player. And doing that in support of Jaylen Green, and we talked to Kellen Olsson yesterday, and Kellen is convinced Jaylen Green is playing his last game for the Houston Rockets. Um, and I’m not sitting here pining for for the Suns to trade Devin Booker and certainly not for Jaylen Green. No. But that rationale is laughable. Jaylen Green absolutely shriveled in the playoffs. And I know it’s his first time to the playoffs. Go back a few years to Devin Booker’s first run in the playoffs. The guy scored backto-back 40point games in the NBA finals for goodness sake. The the the rationale was ridiculous. Well, it to me I think I think a team from the outside might have watched some Suns games and might have seen some of the times when Devin Booker did not seem all that engaged and maybe said, “You know what? It what we have isn’t that far away from Deon Booker.” Um either way, like I said, it I do think that there was a time when Deon Booker was better than Donovan Mitchell, and Donovan Mitchell has continued to grow, and Donovan Mitchell, in my opinion, is clearly a superior player to Deon Booker right now. Book has got to get that back. Book has got to get get the grip back on on his ascension as an NBA superstar. And then I think the Suns have a chance to to kind of get out of this in in a way that may not be as painful as some of us fear. Yeah, I agree with that assessment. I would have no problem ranking Mitchell above Booker right now, but a lot of it has to do with where they’re at. And I’m not talking about where they’re at in their careers. Cleveland under Kenny Atkinson, they’re against the ropes. are probably going to get bounced, but the culture that they’ve been able to build over this season has been palpable. They took a good team. A lot of people were surprised when JB Bicker staff got the axe last year. They moved on to Kenny Atkinson. He wins coach of the year. They win 64 games. There’s a really good roster, a functional roster around Donovan Donovan Mitchell that has allowed him to continue to grow. Devin Booker was part of a dysfunctional roster with with the Phoenix Suns. And for me, the most disappointing part about Devin Booker and his lack of stepping up last year wasn’t statistically, as I pointed out, the statistics were still pretty good. It was what you brought up, the lack of engagement at times and the lack of vocal leadership until it was too late. Yeah. Well, listen, and I think he got beat down by the situation, honestly. No, I I think so, too. I think so, too. Um, I I’m real curious because there were various reports last year from various people that I’m not sure if they had any in insight that that Devin Booker and Kevin Durant didn’t get along as famously as they once did. I wonder if there’s any truth to that because we know that Mike Budenhoer clearly didn’t help the spirit of Devin Booker and and so I wonder what else maybe contributed to that. Yeah, I wonder too and and look, we talked a lot about the lack of cohesion in relationships with players that Mike Budenholzer had and the focus was on Bradley Beiel, the focus was on Ysef Nerk when he was still in town and the focus was on Kevin Durant because of what we saw with our own two eyes on the court. That one at least got explained away. I wonder if the fracture between Booker and Ben Hoser wasn’t deeper than any of those. Could be. Yeah. Could could very very well be. I mean, for a guy like that to to, you know, to finally break and tell the media after that game some of the things that he did, it was sort of an a window into into the team and and into where Book was. And it it wasn’t a good look. Not necessarily on his behalf, but just in terms of if you’re really trying to grow this guy as a leader, telling him to pipe down is not the way to go about it. No. Um, but I I do think that I think it’s very very important that the Suns package this now as, okay, we’re going to we’re going to try to ascend with a new voice and we’re going to really get this right and and we’re going to get what we can for Kevin Durant and then we’re going to just ride or die with Devin Booker. Now, there is another option and and I’ve I’ve been hearing this from a lot of people as Male Bridges continues to play very well. Would this team ever go and reverse that trade? literally trade Kevin Durant to the Knicks for a package that includes as a centerpiece male Bridges. You talk about an a great PR move, but you want to talk about wait and see. Well, Muel Bridges is now like a hero in New York. Well, I know you’re right. I mean, clinched two games with defensive plays at the end of the game. He a lot of big shots. They’re up 3-1. They’re likely going to the Eastern Conference Finals. And I would give them certainly a decent chance to get past Indiana. They they’d have homec court advantage in that series. They might be going to the NBA finals. So yeah, wait and see is right. I mean, if you’re looking at from purely the Suns perspective, that is a way to in the mind of fans win a trade because you’re getting back a fan favorite. You’re not getting back just young, you know, rotation players and draft picks. Yeah, I get it. But I mean, the goal can’t be to cater to the fans in on terms like that because I say this with all due respect. I’m one of them. Generally speaking, Suns fans are idiots. A little over emotional. Am I wrong? Little. No. No. But but again, it’s it’s the PTSD. I I I don’t think they’re idiots because they’re idiots. I think it’s just it’s the it just it’s all the trauma. It’s really It’s been too much. We have been mentally abused as a sports town. You’re somehow happy about that. Somebody said, Somebody said the number one pick in the NBA draft should continue to go every year to the teams that have gone the longest without a championship. And then the list changes what after one of them wins. Sign me up for that, right? Cuz we’re at the top of that list. Are we ahead of the Kings? Well, or the Clippers. The Kings won a championship in Cincinnati way back in the day, didn’t they? Yeah, they did, I think. Or Rochester. Rochester. That’s maybe what it was. But they but they haven’t been exclusively in Sacramento. Okay. So, the cities. Same with the Clippers then. They’ve started in San Diego. I have advice for the Suns even though they don’t have a lottery pick. Uhhuh. They’re drafting 29th. ESPN came out with their mock draft today now that the draft order is set. Mhm. Basically Yakel Lenderborg. Oh, okay. That’s who you want. Kind of an intriguing guy. Played three years at Arizona Western, by the way. Um, but here’s my advice to the Suns on number 29 because everybody looks, oh, they don’t have a lottery pick. There’s no help coming. You can find guys, you just have to be good at it. Call the San Antonio Spurs. Three years in a like a four or five year stretch. pick at number 29. The Spurs found Kell Johnson, DeJonte Murray, and Derek White. With the 29th pick each time. Wow. Call them. What What What do you look What would you be looking for at 29? And we’ll go down that road. That’s two US Olympians. Who’s the uh Yeah. Who’s the GM in San Antonio? Why is the name escaping me? I I It’s on the tip of my tongue as well. Well, now Elfe is the the president, so I don’t know how much impact he has. Was it um it’s uh current general manager Brian Wright? Is that correct? Peter Holt. Oh, he’s the owner. He’s the owner. Yeah. RC Buford. All right, that’s him. RC. He’s the guy. He was the guy that had all the but he’s now the CEO. He’s no longer the general manager. Okay. Um so yeah, you’re right. you can find the guys and that’s where you hope that that Brian Gregory does have a knack and an eye for talent and it also depends on what you’re looking for at 29. A lot of teams that are drafting 29 don’t have a lot of roster availability so they’ll draft a European guy that they can stash for a couple years. The Suns need somebody at 29 to come in and play well next year. I I also the the big domino to fall is going to be where Giannis wants to play. Everyone’s speculating on how, oh, the Spurs can. We have no idea whether he wants to play in San Antonio. So, Giannis once spoke about how he’d love to play in Chicago, but the Bulls have anything of interest? No. I think I think Miami is the sleeper destination. Yep. Thanks for watching Bickley and Marada. Click to see the latest Bickley Blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Dan Bickley says the Phoenix Suns caught a break that their draft pick didn’t turn into the Houston Rockets getting Cooper Flagg. On the flip side, he explains why the Western Conference got that much tougher after the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery.

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