This will Define EVERYTHING with Brendon Kleen

This will Define EVERYTHING with Brendon Kleen

Alrighty, there we go. Welcome everybody to another weekly live stream here on Suns Digest. We got a lot to go over with the Suns and I’m glad to be here with a special guest from Locked On Suns, one of the co-hosts and a staff writer for awful announcing, a credentialed media member for the Phoenix Suns. It is Brendan Clean. Brendan, thank you so much for joining here today. And how you doing today? I’m great, man. This is a uh cool setup you’ve got. I definitely am intimidated by the constant live. We only go live on special occasions on Locked on Suns. And uh your audience is different than mine, so hopefully they like me. But we’ve got a lot to hit, I think, with the Suns. And I think people are feeling a lot better than they were two weeks ago. And I think you had originally asked me earlier in the offseason. So, I’m kind of glad I waited because now there’s some actual good news to hit.
Yeah, I think when I did ask you earlier on, it was like roughly right when it started around the offseason. So, now actually, like you mentioned, with them actually making moves postdraft and actually being involved in some stuff, we can get some good conversations going. And yeah, the the fans are here. They’re excited to see you in the chat. I see. Hell yeah, Brendan is in here in the chat. So, that’s great to see as well. So, once again, thank you guys for being here. Brenda and I are going to dive in and go over everything revolving around the Suns first. We’re going to dive into the draft here. I know that that happened just a little bit last week, but obviously the Suns have done some big movement going and getting three guys in common Malawatch, Rashir Fleming, Kobe Brea, but also with the seven team trade now coming kind of into play. It’s now meshing all of those now into this one deal, right? I know a lot of people were speculating some things could get added, but the teams like the Warriors, the Nets, the Timberwolves, the Lakers, all those teams mentioned were teams that helped out the Suns move up in the draft or move back or even took picks that the Suns traded away. So, it does seem like to kind of get rid of those apron restrictions, that’s what we’re going to kind of see go through with that. So, ultimately, as a big question, I’ll ask you, what do you think of the trade so far when looking at that return, but also with the pieces that the Suns got in the draft, how would you really rate them? Oh, that’s a good qu. I mean, it’s funny, right? Because you look at it all expanded like that and it’s like, well, hold on. Basically, the entire off season got folded into one trade. So, you’re kind of saying, how do you evaluate the whole offseason? I guess the Mark Williams trade being the only thing not in there. And obviously the the Nigel Hayes signing and Gillespie coming back and whatnot, but yeah, look, I think it clearly looks better than it did on last Sunday when it came down, right? And I think Suns fans were a little shocked and a little disappointed at the limited return for a dude who’s a Hall of Famer and who they gave up the farm to get in Kevin Durant. Obviously, you know, since then it’s come out, okay, they seem to have picked the five second round picks potentially over Cam Whitmore. Maybe they didn’t even love the idea or try to negotiate too hard for that 2027 firstrounder that Houston has of of theirs. And I can at least see the vision. Now, I think if they could have gotten that first in 2027, they probably would have. I don’t know, you know, how much I’m willing to say that they didn’t want that, but with these seconds, they got to work. And when you add in Fleming and Brea to the package that they end up getting with this KD trade, I think you have to feel a lot better about it. So, you know, it’s at least well, the way I would put it, man, is I think it’s at least a step toward the type of team that they want to build. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you whether Fleming’s gonna be great, whether even Malawatch is going to be great, as excited as we all are about him, or how Jaylen Green’s career is going to pan out, or even, you know, can Dylan Brooks shoot it like he did. There’s all these questions. But they told us at the beginning of the offseason, we’re going to be a physical, hard-nose competitive team that embraces defense much more than we did under Mike Budenholzer. And they at least checked a lot of boxes that back up the talk. And so I like that that vision and it coming to fruition and now we just got to see if the individual players actually live up to what they have to live up to. Yeah, I think that’s how you like how you put it there. That’s how I’ve been very vocal about this with this Suns team. Obviously, we got to see on paper it looks good, but the Bradley Beal trade also looked good on paper a couple years ago and we’ve already seen the the uh fallout of all that with all the fans and stuff. So ultimately with the Suns I How did it end? You’re telling me it didn’t end well?
Okay. Well, it hasn’t ended. It hasn’t even ended yet and it still is still a crazy nonsense going on with the the news coming out today which we’ll get into in a little bit later. But with the the moves that they made, they obviously are like you said insightful going into the right direction from what Jordan, Brian Gregory, Matt Ishbia have kind of laid uh for you guys at those press conferences on what they want to build for this team. And at least and at least we can kind of see that vision, at least see that direction. Obviously with Brooks being that high aggressive POA defender, someone that’s going to be a solid disruptor fitting around side. Devin Booker, maybe someone that can be a little bit vocal as well. I know that he had his quarrels with Mike Benhoer last year where he said he was being too vocal. Obviously adding these guys like Dylan Brooks, another loud voice isn’t only going to, you know, make that echo in the room which is going to continue, I think, to make Devin Booker a little bit happy. Kind of investing in him as well. You mentioned Jaylen Green. I think a lot of people aren’t really sold on the fit with Jaylen Green just because he is another shooting guard. I feel like even with the the weird empty stats that he does have, a lot of Suns fans might have been a little bit more relaxed if that was a center, if that was a power forward, just because of that position of need, similar to why a lot of people were interested in that heat deal for guys like Yoic and and Hawkins, which personally, I get that their wings, they’re nice, but I think that Jaylen Green’s value, not only for now, but also as a tradable asset maybe down the line, is a little bit better than those guys, too. I hope so. I hope so. I mean, he obviously has the pedigree, right? I think he, you know, the athleticis just watched the dude play basketball is is plenty of a reason why he could end up having a lot of value. He also was a higher pick than a lot of the players that came up over the course of those talks, you know, with any of the teams we’re talking about. And the potential is still there. I I I think to me, like honestly, the more that I’ve seen this roster come into to clarity with Jaylen Green, my initial concerns were, you know, um fit with Booker, like you said. I think consistency as a three-point shooter, some of those like I guess what I would see as maybe easier fixes.
But now I I don’t want to say the this new look roster is going to ask more from him, but if it kind of looks like the dude is going to be legitimately handling the ball, whether you want to call him the point guard or not quite a bit. And so my my hopes for Jaylen Green have kind of shifted over the two weeks or so since the trade happened where now I’m more concerned like, okay, can he limit? He needs to cut down on his turnovers. He needs to become a much better passer. Um, can he even throw a lob in the pick and roll to Malawatch or Mark Williams? Like, I just don’t really think we’ve ever seen that element of his game unless there’s some people who have dug into his high school tape in the chat here that I’m that I haven’t. I I I have a lot of questions on that because of the role that it seems like he’s now going to have to play. So maybe you could say, hey, if he does that, well, that’s now like an entirely different type of player that you’re talking about and unlocking skill sets that he’s never really been asked to and that could help him make be better for the Suns or it could help him on another team wherever he might end up. Um, or of course, like being realistic, he doesn’t live up to that stuff and it ends up being too big of an ask and maybe he’s just kind of the sixth man. Like there’s just so many directions that can go. It’s it’s obviously the single I think it’s the thing that this offseason hinges on more than anything else, right?
Yeah, I it has to be.
I would agree. And I think that shooting guard room also is the thing that hinges the most on the Suns front office and kind of how they plan out to do stuff because not only do they have Jaylen Green, not only do they have Deon Booker who’s primarily a shooting guard, even though he’s going to be playing the one it seems like this season is more predominantly a two, we’re obviously going to have Grayson Allen potentially still on this roster. Colin Gillespie playing some point guard minutes. You got um Jaylen Green like I mentioned. So there’s just even Kobe Brea if he makes the final roster, which it seems like he will be. He’s a 66 score. So, it just seems like there’s a lot of people that are going to be kind of in that hole and we’re going to have to see, like you mentioned, if Jaylen Green can really live up to the expectations of kind of being able to change his game and kind of work off of it. I know he was the number one point scorer for the Rockets. It wasn’t on great efficiency and stuff like that, but he was the leading scoreer for that team last year with 20 points per game. Maybe alongside a guy in Deon Booker playing a little bit more off ball if Booker is going to be handling that. He can work as a cutter to the basket and can be that athletic kind of dunker that we’ve kind of be able to see him take over for the Suns. And I think that would be really nice. But that’s where I’m kind of looking at for him. I think where you mentioned where he’s going to have to, you know, predominantly kind of handle the ball, be a little bit more of a passer. Those are the things that it’s going to be tougher for him to kind of work on and get in for his game, which the Suns need because they only have that other point guard in Colin Gillespie on this roster at the moment. Yeah, I I had hope when they got green that, you know, at that point we were still under the impression that the types of centers they were going to target were going to be a little stretchier or at least one stretch big and it looks like they’re going to have zero stretch bigs and might even keep Nick Richards who might will give him a third not stretch big. And so again, like I’m I don’t even necessarily know how to feel about it, but it’s just a way different analysis than I had at the beginning cuz I I like the potential that even if he was on the ball at times, if there’s finally some spacing and he’s not trying to score with an offense that has Shenon and Adams both out there or, you know, Shenun and Amen Thompson or whatever that he really could open things could open up for him. But if you’re telling me now he’s going to, you know, it’s like Ryan Dunn’s going to be on the court a lot with him and Mark Williams and, you know, again, how good of a shooter is Dylan Brooks going to be, etc. I don’t know if the environment is actually going to be that much better for him than it was last year. And I I hate that for him and for how it’s going to affect the Suns. And I hope they can figure some things out and whatever Jordan not, you know, draws up. But yeah, it’s it’s obviously I think I don’t know. I think a lot of us are at least got gotten to the point where we’re interested to see how the Jaylen Green experience plays out even if we all I think still have our reservations. Yeah, and I I definitely would agree with that as well. I think a lot of people still do have those reservations around the fit. But obviously we got to kind of just be a little bit optimistic to see what he could potentially bring out because like you mentioned he could be a pretty solid player off um as a slasher and his cutter and I like you mentioned I think with the Suns not having that spacing big it’s a little bit harder for him to be that aggressive downhill athlete that he is so dominant with being on that offensive side and he’s going to I guess from covering some Celtics stuff and looking at guys like Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum how they attack they obviously have those scores on the wing so they can kick out have those multiple opportunities to get those three-pointers. That’s what was so successful for them those past two seasons. And the Suns, like you mentioned, Dylan Brooks, can he, he was solid last year from three-point shooting? He absolutely erupted versus the Celtics when they came to Boston. But can he do that consistently for the Celtic uh for the Suns, excuse me? And I know last year was like his best three-point shooting season of his career or something like that. So, can he hold that consistently? You also have the question of Ryan Dunn being out there on the perimeter. Can his jump shot still continue to get better? Obviously they have Be Booker, you know, Grayson, guys that can catch off the dribble and can score, but not fully to that roster to where it can really tailor for Jaylen Green. But going away from Jaylen Green, going a little bit away from some of these guys that we got via in the trade and looking at the draft, we did get some free agency signings so far for the Suns. And Nigel Hayes Davis was one of them. Colin Gillespie coming back was the other. when you see Colin Gillespie come back, we’ll dive into him first because I think he’s a a name that I wrote about a little bit that I really liked. What is your main takeaways with Gillespie coming back to the squad and what role he could present for the Suns? The role is going to be I think the question for sure, but I I like him a lot as a player. I mean, I you know, people always laugh like my co-host on Lockdown Suns Ben like makes fun of me for, you know, get falling in love with some of these bit players and I think, you know, we all do it. But
when they got him, I was excited. Like you look at th this dude when he was in the GLeague, especially in Denver, cuz he barely played there last year with the Suns. He was legitimately dominant. Like triple doubles, you know, scoring the hell out of the ball. Like he was way too good for the for the G-League. And it was kind of surprising that Denver would let him go. Then he finally gets a chance. And obviously we know how the minutes and the fluctuation with his role went last year, but I’ve always liked him and I think you saw it when he did get opportunities last year what the package is. Like it it’s this he almost plays like he’s some kind of big combo guard except that he’s only six feet tall. I don’t I can’t even necessarily think of a comp off the top of my head that I would that I would say he’s like I mean almost like I guess a little Lonzoish is kind of the mold that I’m that I’m thinking of where he he can rebound and grab and go and he obviously can knock down spot up threes so he doesn’t always have to be on the ball and he likes to play in pace, hit ahead passes and you know just taking advantage of of those open tight you know windows of the court seeing stuff before like he has a point guard mind in that way, but then when you get to the role like you kind of mentioned, I think that’s where it’s going to be interesting because we just we didn’t even really get to explore different avenues of what he could be last season when he did play because it was so infrequent and it was such a limited, you know, you’re basically going to get some minutes mostly off the ball here and there and the season’s already lost. But, you know, can he be a a pick and roll guy, like a heavy heavy volume pick and roll player for this team? Can he like who can he guard? H how can he what’s the pathway to him surviving on defense? Um, can he take pull-up threes or is it just spot up? What happens when he gets into the paint? Does he have to kind of play like Steve Nash and and dribble in circles and and survey the defense or can he score in there floater or what, you know, turnaround jumper TJ McConnell style? Like there’s all sorts of once you get to the pros adjusting from there and I think that’s what we’re going to see this season. But obviously the dude’s really confident that he can make things happen because he could have taken a multi-year guaranteed deal. I would imagine the Suns would have given him that and he took a one-year contract instead. very much betting on himself and looking to cash in again next summer. So, he clearly thinks he’s going to play a lot and play well this upcoming season. And that would be great for the Suns and they’d probably just try to negotiate and and keep him on whatever his next contract looks like if that does happen.
And I think that would be great for the Suns in a long-term investment, too. Getting a guy like Colin Gillespie who not only can play on the ball, like you said, pretty solid as a playmaker, but can fit really well off the ball with Deon Booker. I mentioned this last year a lot, but when the Suns went on that win streak, I believe it was in March, it was when Colin Gillespie was inserted into that lineup playing alongside Devin Booker. And it was when guys like Grayson Allen and Brad Beal were hurt. And then when Grayson Allen and Brady Beal eventually came back from those injuries, Colin lost his minutes, they supplemented him in. And we saw what happened was the the offball. It just they weren’t good fits alongside Booker. And that’s where I kind of really stung where me last year. I was very advocating for Gespie to get that roster spot even if you know it meant that we had a wave Martin or wave misich because I felt like the Suns were going to do it anyways. Now they waved Martin. They traded obviously Misich, but it seemed like one of those was going to be anyways. So why couldn’t they sign Gillespie even if you know they weren’t going to make the playoffs at least lock him last year, get a solid deal with him so that they could kind of have him in the facilities, have him working out with the team, and just get that early run. But like you mentioned, it’s I think the key thing with him is what his role is. Personally, I would love the Suns to have him as a secondary point guard, but also bring in another vet. I know there’s been the rumblings of CP3, Westbrook, maybe not even those guys, but another backup point guard that’s similar like Colin Gillespie to share those backcourt minutes alongside each other, I think would be the best because like you mentioned in those minutes that he played with Boonhoer, it wasn’t like it was guaranteed all the time because he played like 13 one night, then he’d play five, then he’d be in the starting lineup. It was just all wishy-washy with with him. and that’s tough for him to develop, but also to figure out what he can actually be for the Suns and for the front office to kind of figure out what his central role is. So, I think bringing in another one of those point guards supplement that so that when Devin Booker goes to the shooting guard position and they bring Colin GB in as that backup point guard, it’s not all reliant on him. There’s someone to at least share that uh volume with and kind of at least make it a little bit easier for him to get more comfortable in that role. And then maybe at the second half of the year if they are doing good, maybe they trade that veteran point guard and bump Colin Gillespie a little bit up for the second half of the season if they aren’t going to make the playoffs. But I like you said, I think that’s kind of the the pathway that they should go. I think that all would be ideal. It’s it is I I mean the one concern with all of that and I think why you’re saying they should try to add one more guy in that mold is as much as you can like Colin Gillespie he probably would be in a perfect world a better fit on a team that did have a little bit more of that playmaking which is again why I thought it was so crazy that Denver would get rid of him. I mean between Gordon and Joic and Murray like that’s perfect. this Suns roster, they have other guys, you know, him playing next to Jaylen Green, him playing next to Devin Booker, him playing next to Grayson Allen. It’s not a a nightmare. And this team isn’t trying to win a championship. So, you can, you know, take some warts with the fit here and there, but yeah, it’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge for him, I would say, too, to stick in the right ways, adjust his style, probably possession to possession based on who he’s out there with. So, uh, it’s going to be a fun subplot for the season for sure now that we’re pretty confident he’s going to be playing.
Yeah. And he obviously had that shout out, uh, because the Suns can’t really post about anyone else. They can only really post about him, Mark Williams a little bit about Nigel Hes Davis. So, that it’s been mainly Colin on there. And I think it’s kind of funny. Personally, someone that went to Satan Hall and saw Colin play at Villanova eight times in college. I could say that I was on the odd side of Colin at the beginning because he would just torch Satan Hall with you know Sadique Bay Jeremiah Robinson Earl Brandon Slater all those guys but now obviously that he’s doing it to the other opponent team I’m obviously on the good side kind of rooting for him. Now the next guy I want to talk about that was another free agent is Nigel Hayes Davis. When the news dropped, I was in the spaces with John Voit and I let him know that the Celtics were a team that were interested in Nigel Hayes Davis, not only into this offseason, but in back into 2021 when he was looking for a comeback. He obviously has some uh familiarity with a former Phoenix Sun in Frank Kaminsky. They played at the University of Wisconsin together with Sam Decker, another former NBA player. And I think it’s very intriguing for a guy Nigel Hayes Davis to kind of be coming over. I know a lot of people are comparing it to the Gershon Yabosle transfer over. I don’t know if it’s that high of a level where he’s going to make that much of an impact to where he did on Philly, but I do think it’s a similar instance where it’s a flyer that you’re taking on and a guy that has bounced out of the NBA, but has risen in Europe and is looking for that kind of reculination back into the NBA. So, with Nigel Hayes Davis, what is your main takeaways with him? Well, so I think the Yabusle thing is a good kind of thing to bounce off of with him because like what were the differences, right? What are why is it not the same? I think one, Yabisel had the the Olympics to go off of where he was competing against the best talent in the world and you were able to confidently look at how he performed and, you know, surpassed Rudy Goar, not, you know, on top of just playing well in that rotation over the course of that tournament. And that just made it easier to imagine. The other thing that made it easy to imagine with him is his his role over there was very similar to what you would think his role is going to be in the NBA and ultimately what it ended up being when he came over this past season for Philly even though their season went sideways. But with Hayes, he is going to have to adapt, right? Like he this is a guy who won finals MVP. He’s primary scorer. Balls in his hands. He’s posting up. He’s driving from the perimeter. He’s taking pullup threes late in the CL. like he is the guy. And of course that’s not I’m not going to put a cap on the dude, but that’s not what I would expect him to be in the NBA now that he’s back. So the question for me is I know it sounds maybe similar to what I was just saying about Gillespie, but it’s like what what do the Suns want him to do out there? Cuz you know, you mentioned the Celtics were interested all the way back in 2021. There was some reports last summer that the Suns were interested too. And so I’m curious what they’ve envisioned him being for them because they clearly are in all in on this idea kind of bringing back the like mid2010s type of four, right? Like basically we’re now 10 years past when those guys kind of started to get phased out when Bosch went to the five and Draymond went to the five. They all kind of, you know, the actual players back then, of course, are out of the league, but that that archetype, all the training staffs and coaching staffs around the country and the world were like, “Okay, you all have to learn how to shoot or you’re not going to be in the biggest league in the world and make millions of dollars.” And they all just kind of learned how to shoot. And you’re kind of seeing that come back into vogue now where we saw the Suns, of course, get Fisher Fleming, who could fit that mold. Even the guy that they signed made it official today with their two-way contracts. TJ Huntley who went to App State and now Nigel Hayes who’s a little shorter than those two guys, but I think that to me is what I would imagine that they think of him as potentially being like that Jeff Green. I mean what Kenyan Martin, Sergy Baka, like whatever you want to kind of put in there, but but with a jump shot. And I like it. I think it is kind of how the league is going when you look at Chad Homegrren and Pascal Seakum and Evan Mobley and the guys that have had success at the very top of the league lately. But can he do that right? Like can he be especially impactful enough on the defensive end to, you know, I think counteract what will still be some limitations on offense as a jump shooter you would expect in the NBA. And we I don’t know. We’ll see. I I’m curious what you think now that I’ve rambled about the role. Like, do you think he can create shots for himself coming back here? Do you think he’ll just kind of be a spot up play finishing type guy?
Do you think he can guard bigger guys or is it going to be more wings? Like, what do you think as far as his game goes? Because I’ll admit, like I haven’t spent so much time digging in outside of just, oh, let me check out his highlights when I see the news come down.
Yeah. Um, so I would say I’m probably in the latter. Probably a play finishing guy, probably spot-up shooter type of guy. I don’t know how well he’s going to be able to create his own jump shot. Like you mentioned him translating from being a Euro League MVP in Turkey and having the ball in his hands and being that main creator coming over to the Suns. Who knows? Is he going to be starting like I don’t even think that’s kind of like concrete. That’s still kind of up in the air like what his like true real hole in this roster is really going to be. So when you put all that into play, similar to like a guy in Colin Gillespie, I feel like he’s just going to be a kind a player that’s going to be used in the mold. But if you’re signing Nigel Hayes Davis and you’re drafting Rasher Fleming, like you want to be using those types of guys, right? You want to experiment and show what that type of power forward role can be. And I like how you mentioned how he’s a very similar type to Fleming because I think the Suns are kind of getting this little like mentorship kind of program going where they’re getting guys that play similar roles but also getting like a younger prototype in that like Nigel Hayes Davis and Rasher Fleming. Uh common Malawatch and Mark Williams both going to Duke and having that connection and then you obviously have Kobe Breo now with Devin Booker like not necessarily like getting replacements, right? but getting guys that play very similar to how their actual star players or guys that they want to mold are actually developing into and just having those as secondary options just in case one of those guys gets injured or or one of those guys isn’t available doesn’t pan out to be not really with Bray and Booker but with the other two situations it’s a little bit easier to kind of fill that in and maybe have the Suns you know not take too much of a step back if those injuries do come into play but with Rashir Fleming and uh Nigel Hayes his Davis like you mentioned I think it he’ll probably be in my eyes would be like a bench kind of guy. I see him kind of being like that eighth, ninth man for this Suns rotation team. But once again, I still don’t know who’s starting at power forward. So, that could ultimately change as well.
I would even say Dunn could probably benefit from, you know, I always am hesitant on like, oh, this guy’s just going to teach that guy. And I know that’s not what you’re saying either. It’s about too from a coaching staff standpoint,
building a team where there’s similarities top to bottom. And that’s for sure. And I think Dunn, it fits in there. But, uh, I don’t know. I I think it’s a cool thing to throw in the mix kind of from a culture standpoint, too. Just a guy like this that did have to kind of go around the world and back, change how he approached the game, get a lot better, and now is is coming in here. Maybe that means he he’s a little, you know, intense about pushing for, like you’re saying, a starting job and some of those things, but hey, I don’t hate that. So, um, maybe he makes Dylan Brooks somebody you could offload. I, you know, like I I think he’s a real wild card here for all those reasons where you could tell me he’s a fringe starting caliber player already because he is 30. He has a ton of experience under his belt and he’s been dominating. Or you could tell me, yeah, he’s he just plays 12 minutes, but he’s valuable in that role and they keep him for a few years on, you know, minimum or close to minimum contracts and that’s kind of it. Either way, I think it’s a a great thing to try out for the minimum. Yeah, I would agree. I think for a team like the Suns where you’re in the second apron, right, and you have to take these flyers out on these players and ones that maybe might be a little bit of a risk, having the I guess backing up of the knowledge of knowing that the Suns were interested in him last year. Knowing that other teams around the league were also interested in a guy in Nigel his Davis, I think makes you feel at least a little bit more confident at least with the signing, too. It’s exactly what we’ve been kind of, I think, begging for the Suns to do, right? Where they’ve never really been heavy on overseas guys since James Jones took over. They don’t really take these kinds of flyers, even even, you know, G-Leaguers or undrafted free agents. They they just always left meat on the bone. And I I can just respect that they’re exhausting all their resources because if they you know, I think we’re about to get to the Beal stuff. Maybe. Yeah. They if they stretch a dude and have $23 million of dead money for five years, you got to find the Nigel Hazes in whatever country they happen to be in and hit on them otherwise you’re screwed.
Oh, 100%. And I think kind of comparing that and this will be my last thing on Nigel Hayes Davis. When you compare the team two years ago when they just got Brad the Deal and you saw those veteran minimum guys they were signing, right? And they weren’t really taking those risk. It was those older batch veterans that you know weren’t really going to work out like the Drew Eubanks, the Uda Wanabies. unfortunately for those guys just wasn’t going to pan out. When seeing a guy like Nigel Hes Davis, I think it makes you at least, you know, a little bit more interested and bought into what the team is definitely doing. And now we can talk about the elephant in the room, Bradley Beal, the guy who, you know, still dealing with the quarrels with the Phoenix Suns. There was a report came out today from Drain Rankin saying that the Suns are looking to getting a buyout done with Bradley Beer or engaging in those talks at this moment. The Suns obviously are still trying to shed some salary because they’re in the second apron. Now, could they do that by trading Grayson or trading Royce or trading off Richards and then having some more flexibility for Beal with more contracts in and stuff like that to take on two or three deal two or three bad ones for Beal? I do think so. But ultimately, if that’s not the option that presents themselves, they might just go and buy out or stretch Bill out the way. So then they can drop below that second apron, be in the first, have that non-tax midlevel, maybe offer it to Chris Paul, maybe offer it to another player, and fully able to really rework this roster. So I’ll just get out the room. Obviously, there’s the the people that say wave him, the people that say trade him, the people that say keep him. What’s your main thoughts with all this, Brandon? Well, I I think at this point where I’m at, just my personal opinion is to to just keep him. um keep him and and basically say, you know, if you’re not going to play ball, then you’re not going to have much of a role here and over the course, you know, by the end of the season, you may not have a role at all. And, you know, basically play a little bit of hard ball with him, although I I don’t know even how insulted he would be by that, frankly. I mean, he obviously didn’t take too well to being benched last season, but to me that was more about the subturfuge, if you want to call it that, of the Jimmy Butler stuff and trying to kind of force him to say yes to something he didn’t want to do. But if he wants to stay here this year, then he can’t really be upset about what his role is. So, like that’s kind of how I have seen it up until today where that new report came out. And I would say with with Dwayne’s piece, my main question coming off of that is like, how new is this information, right? Um because at face value, the idea that the Suns would be considering waving and stretching Brad, that’s not of course they are, right? Like, but what does it mean? Like does that mean they’ve you know Mark Bartlestein’s been in Phoenix the past few days and they’re meeting about it and getting close and Brad’s on board and and it’s you know where there’s some momentum here or does it just mean hey we’re considering it it’s one of many options etc. And I guess off of that, the next layer of the reaction that I had was, does this mean there are teams that have expressed interest in giving Brad the contract that he would need in order to be bought out, which we know is roughly, you know, let’s just call it the mid-level exception because nobody has cap space. And not only that, but for his sake and to make the math work as best as possible over I think it’s at least three seasons. So, like, are we at that point? Is there some team that has whispered behind the scenes through his reps, hey, we would sign you to that type of contract if you were to become available. I don’t know. Did it Did it get uh accelerated because Damen Lillard’s also exploring some kind of thing like that too now? I don’t know. Those are all the thoughts rattling around my my head, but frankly, man, I’m a little skeptical that anything has really changed until we see this is close to happening. I I kind of just think he’s going to be on this roster because it’s such a long shot to to make anything happen here. Yeah. You mentioned also like he even for the Suns to get the stretching wave done, right? Like because they 15% they can’t even like fully buy it and stretch his contract. So, they have to have him take that discount. And I believe like the most friendly one is like 80 million, but I think like automatically he has to leave like 13 on the table regardless for the Sun. So like that’s roughly roughly what around the MLE is like 137 around 141. So he could be getting that and depending on if it’s multiple years. I don’t know how really that would affect him as well. Maybe shedding a little bit more money for the Suns as well. If he can get like a two or threeear contract instead of a one, but like you mentioned, I think for the Suns, it’s just very difficult. I would love to see him be gone. I just don’t know like you mentioned if it’s gonna be possible because of all the salary stuff and to trade Beal too like if you’re going to trade him because they’re in the second apron now they can’t like there’s no team that has the $50 million that can take on his contract. So, like if you’re going to trade them, it’s easier to be in the first apron because then potentially you can take more salary in return, right? Even if you do take like a a$40 million and a $20 million contract from two different teams, at least you’re getting off the the no trade clause of Bradley Beal. And if you’re stuck to a Jeremy Grant contract or a Marcus Smart expiring or something like that, maybe there’s a little bit more uh optimism for you to kind of feel like, all right, at least we’re off one of these deals. We’re not really stretched and tied to this. But with the fans obviously seeing 16 million tied to, you know, three potentially even five years if he it is way stretched away over that 5year period, that’s going to be very difficult for the Suns to not only restructure the roster for this season, but also for future seasons in in trades and stuff like that because if there’s a guy that they want, but they can’t get him because they have this $16 million payment that they’re have to send out. Like that’s just going to completely hinder stuff. Similar to how we already had hindrances with Beal trying to trade Beiel for Butler, we might be having hindrances with Beiel’s contract post Bradley Beal being out of Phoenix as well. Exactly. Exactly. And and I think, you know, I I don’t the reaction or the, you know, coverage of the Lillard thing shouldn’t impact how what what the Suns do. But what I think it does put into perspective when you really see a team do it is just how ext like think about it from this standpoint, right? Like we’re talking about Devin Booker and this extension as well, which I think is three days away from him being eligible for it. Let’s fast forward to the year when that would kick in and he’s making $75 million. I think that that is three seasons from now. This this stretch would still be on the books, right? So you’re talking about, you know, what whatever the cap is, it’s obviously going to be much higher by then, but that’s upwards of $90 million dedicated to just Devin Booker and the memory of Bradley Beal. That’s insane for for all the conversation that we have right now about teams that are had like you know the the Denver deal although Cam Johnson’s a good player that was financially motivated or what Boston has has been doing or you know on down the line you’re just so far at a at a disadvantage in this world of this new CBA that it you you can’t do it without a plan. And I and that’s where I think, you know, setting aside whatever it would look like in terms of how you communicate it with Brad or what his role is and everything, I just don’t see the hurry in a season where they’re already not going to be competitive
to bite that bullet. If Kevin Durant was still here and they came off of a second round or third round appearance last season and then they were trying to get better, then yeah, I could understand like like Milwaukee why you would try to pull something crazy like that. But when when you’re saying how good can common Malawatch develop over the course of a season and let’s see what Colin Gillespie can do with a bigger role and those are the conversations. Why would you hamstring yourself like that? I I really don’t get it. So that that’s why I just I keep assuming that it’s just not going to it’s just not going to happen. Um, one thing I’ll say though, if the Bartlescene connection is so great, this is the time for Josh to make his money here. You know, con get some some nice maybe get get a couple whisies in your dad or some whatever it takes. Get this thing favorable to the Suns. Make it happen, Josh. Otherwise, I don’t care what your last name is and it never mattered.
No, I agree with you. And similar to the the Bucks comparison with the Dame buyout, I think obviously they had that plan like you mentioned bringing in Miles Turner and they’re in a similar a different situation because even though they are struggling and still don’t have draft assets like the Suns in the East, they’re worried about their start leaving. The Suns aren’t worried about their start leaving. They know Devin Booker wants to stay, Matt Ishbia has confirmed he wants him to stay. They know that they’re going to sign that extension. So, I would agree with you kind of moving off this Bradley Bill contract and strapping yourself to $90 million. Even if the c the salary cap is rising 7% 10% every single season and that $16 million isn’t going to look as detrimental in two or three seasons down the line, it’s still going to be a hindrance similar to how Nazir Little and EJ Liddell’s uh wave and stretches from last year were a hindrance this season. And even though it’s only $3 million, that still holds up the stunts, still takes them into the second apron, still has to have them shed more salary down the line. So then before we sign off, Brendan, I have one last question for you. Not revolving around Beal, but revolving around Grayson Royce and Nick Richards because the Suns could ultimately shed them as well, right? And maybe not for just draft capital, but potential expiring contracts trading. I saw someone tweet out maybe a Grayson Allen from Matise Thyel just to get the expiring, save $6 million, get off of that money, have some more flexibility for the next season, stuff like that, be able to make more trades in the season, be able to aggregate those salaries. What are your kind of thoughts on trying to move off of those three guys? So Nick Richards to me, I I just don’t see the point personally. I I I understand, okay, Mark Williams is is injuryprone. You’re talking about a rookie center with Malawatch, but you know, Oso Agodaro is still on this team. If you’re imagining a world where both of your centers are hurt, like that portion of the season’s already screwed anyway, like you can’t can’t plan to go three deep at a position, you know, that that starts to be a little goofy. Um, so I just don’t think the insurance is necessary and I would rather just if I’m the Suns take some, you know, potential second round picks or whatever it ends up looking like back for him. Especially with one thing you can definitely say about this front office is they are effective using second round picks as, you know, like stock market investments. You know, they’re wheeling and dealing with that stuff and somehow conjuring players out of thin air every year in the second round. So that would be valuable for them. As far as the other two guys, like I just think the more that we’ve kind of watched the the off season play out, Allen in particular, I don’t think the Suns are getting anything back for him. As unfortunate as that is, you know, he it’s it’s some of it’s just timing. They signed him at the peak of his value, then he had a sub a a comedown season at the very least. I don’t think he was terrible yet last year, but he definitely wasn’t as good as the year prior, especially when it comes to defense and playmaking. And he has what is it like 50some million dollars left on his contract. If you look at the Terrence Man deal that happened earlier in the off season, which I know you’re familiar with, the it’s obviously no one would call it the Terrence man trade. It was the Chris Apps Porzingis trade, but for the Sun’s perspective, it kind of is the Terrence Man deal because he had three years and $47 million left on his deal. And the cost to get off of that money from Atlanta standpoint was a first round pick. And so you’re talking about, you know, I know that they got Porzingis and it’s not a one to one, but
if you kind of use that as the rough ballpark with this thing, you would say either a better first round pick or more than a first round pick would it would cost the Suns to get off of Grayson Allen because I would say Grayson’s a slightly better player than Terrence Man, but I don’t think it it’s drastic because their skill sets are different. But overall, 30-year-old guy, mostly just a shooter. Terrence man, not quite 30, limited on offense, but a good point of attack defender, can rebound, play bigger than he is, handle the ball a little, like, you know what I mean?
So, I don’t know that I I that that’s a lot to lay out, but that’s that’s my thinking on him is I just think it’s not worth trying to explore that road because I don’t think the Suns are going to like what they hear and they probably already have explored it and probably already didn’t like what they heard. Now Roy to me I would say is much more interesting because I don’t think there’s a great role for him on this team right now. I think that Brooks and Hayes Davis and Dunn and you know Fleming whatever like all Jaylen Green like they’re they all the wing heavy kind of jokes we’ve been making like well okay then Royce O’Neal is going to maybe be the odd man out there or if he does play he’s coming at the expense of those other guys who I would just rather see get development minutes and his contract is of course lower. So you’re talking about what is it like 32 33 million. That’s significantly less than that man deal. And that starts to get into the range where maybe I would actually attach some second round picks to him if it meant getting under the second apron and just not getting anything back for him, dumping the money, and having some flexibility. I could see that type of trade being out there for the Suns as the offseason goes on and somebody says, “Hey, well, Boyce O’Neal could probably help us and we’re going to get some picks out of it.” If we’re a rebuilding team that needs some wing depth, why not? Like, I could see Charlotte playing him the way that the style that they play basketball, right? Like, I think that there will be some opportunities there. And the Suns love trading with the Hornets, so I I think Roy
Yeah. Right. Like, they already have the Charlotte GM on speed dial. Might as well see. Uh, but I think there could be other teams, too. So, that that would be definitely one to watch as the offseason continues, restricted free agency dries up and teams start to really look at, okay, how are our books going to be come April and what can we do? And I think maybe toward training camp, the Suns could maybe make something happen.
Yeah, I I would still keep my eyes out for trades. Like you mentioned, I don’t think the Suns feel confident running the Hornets back or Hornets front court from last year in Phoenix now. Like that just doesn’t make sense having both Richards and Mark Williams. So, I do agree. I think that they’ll look to try to do a trade. Maybe once that free agency center market does fizzle out, we’ve already seen DeAndre Eaton now go, but with maybe get the likes of Al Horford and some of those names getting taken off, maybe a guy like Nick Richards will be a little bit more valuable and for those second round picks. And like you mentioned, maybe they can attach those to a guy like Royce to get off his contract because I don’t think that he really has a role at that power forward position. Like you mentioned, Don Brooks, Nigel Hayes Davis, maybe even Rashir Fleming. those guys all competing and like we just discussed how we want to see Nigel Hayes Davis and Rasher Fleming kind of this season if they’re going to be brought into the system if you did draft them if you did trade for them that would be a little bit more exciting for Suns fans. So maybe Royce kind of being the odd man out there kind of does stick and then revolving around Grayson Allen I was writing articles for Bright Side trying to trade him but like you just mentioned I think his value now does seem untradeable. I talked to John about it before like in the middle of the season. He was saying, “I don’t really know about Grayson. It might be a little bit tough.” And then obviously now we’re getting kind of into the middle of the offseason and you see even a guy like Duncan Robinson who went on a cheaper contract than uh uh Grayson Allen to the Pistons and came back for Simone Fonteio. if that’s what you’re really getting up if you’re the Phoenix Suns. Is it really worth just moving off the salary or or potentially just trying to work something out or could you hold on to a guy like Grayson Allen who maybe who knows in this off season could look pretty solid and boost his trade stock at the deadline if you are a taken team. They need that shooting, right? Yeah, like we were just talking about they didn’t get a spacing center. Some of these guys the jump shots are iffy. I I think you could do a lot worse than just having a really really elite floor spacer out there as these guys develop and kind of figure it out next summer. I I don’t think that’s a bad plan at all. Yeah, I would not definitely not disagree with you at all. But Brendan, I want to say thank you so much for hopping on Suns Digest today and talking for us for the afternoon. I will give you the credit to let you know that there were over 140 people in the stream today, which you are the number one viewer here. So, thank you so much for joining us. Once again, you guys are seeing Brendan on here. You probably already know him for his staff writing he does for awful announcing all on locked on Suns as well as a credential media member. But definitely check him out. And once again, thank you so much for joining and hopefully we can have some more Suns discussions soon in the future.
Yeah, man. You got you do great work over here. You know your stuff and it was great talking to you. I’m happy to join on anytime.
Awesome. Thank you guys so much for tuning in here as well in the chat. We appreciate all of you guys. They’re giving you your today signal over on the chat. Brendan, hitting you with your own sign over here on Suns Digest. But once again, thank you guys so much for tuning in, hanging out here with Brendan and I breaking down the Suns. You guys are absolutely fantastic. And we’ll be live once again next week with another guest going over the Suns off seasonason. Hopefully Bradley Bes will come through by then. Maybe another thing with revolving around the Suns, but if not, definitely stay tuned. Without further ado, guys, we’ll catch you later. Have a great rest of your night and peace out everyone.

In this livestream Bruce Veliz and special guest Brendon Kleen are going to be breaking down weekly news on your Phoenix Suns. In these lives, he will be going over this Suns team as a whole in the mess we are in now. Let us know your thoughts down below!

Suns Digest is a channel that covers the latest reports, rumors, and news regarding the Phoenix Suns. The Channel covers all topics, including trades, free-agent signings, quotes and games. If you want the latest updates on Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkic, Bol Bol, Eric Gordon, Isaiah Thomas, Frank Vogel, Matt Ishbia, or James Jones, make sure to subscribe to Suns Digest.