00:00Alright Suns fans, let's break it all down, patience has been the word around the Phoenix Suns,
00:06and they showed just that at Thursday's trade deadline, keeping things minimal and choosing
00:10not to rush ahead of what is going to be a pivotal summer, the one move they made is a smart one,
00:15trading Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes Davis for Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey is purely logistical,
00:21Anthony and Coffey's combined salaries are less than Richards was, this not only gets the Suns
00:25below the luxury tax line but also creates enough room to convert a two-way player like a Jamari
00:32Bouye or an Isaiah Livers to the 15th standard roster spot, looking around the league at similar
00:38moves in recent days, the goal has often been the same, managing the tax, the aprons or two-way slots,
00:45most teams had to attach second-round picks or cash to make it happen, for the Suns with their very
00:51limited stash of second-rounders, avoiding that cost is a win. Speaking of picks, Phoenix now holds a
00:572026 second-round selection, it will be the second most favorable pick between Dallas, currently 1931,
01:05Philadelphia, 2921, and Oklahoma City, 4012. Right now, it projects as the 49th overall pick,
01:13they also have their own second-rounder in 2029, and that's it through 2032, they do not have a
01:20first-round pick this year, after using it in the Jusuf Nurkic salary dump last deadline,
01:25getting below the tax was wise, it's a money-saving move, but the repeater tax penalties are brutal and
01:32only got tougher last season, resetting that clock is important, any ownership group feels the sting if
01:38their team is consistently a repeater. Also, part of the logic behind using the stretch provision on
01:44Bradley Beal was to escape the tax and the aprons, missing out on that benefit by a small margin would
01:49have been poor management. Now let's talk about Nick Richards. Acquiring him. At last year's deadline
01:55was a swing and a miss, a desperate attempt to fix the total lack of rim presence behind Nurkic and
02:01Mason Plumlee, for a team in a nosedive, it was like putting a band-aid on a major wound. The Suns,
02:09effectively, gave up a pair of second-round picks for him, with three picks total swapped,
02:14Josh Okoge's salary was also used to make the money work, given how few picks Phoenix had,
02:19that wasn't a small price. The hope was that the 28-year-old Richards had untapped potential,
02:25buried in Charlotte's struggles, maybe a new environment would unlock it. That didn't happen.
02:30While he provided some rebounding and finishing, his lack of feel for positioning on both ends was
02:35glaring, and let's be fair, he was thrown into a very difficult situation last season, arriving in
02:41mid-January right before a dismal February that showed the team was in trouble. This season,
02:46under a new head coach, Jordan Ott, and a new system with less pressure, could he emerge?
02:54Again, no. Richards began as the backup center to Alondes Williams and started two games,
02:59but even with Coach Ott's success maximizing most of the roster, Richards couldn't elevate his play,
03:05in a three-center rotation he fell behind T. J. Iguodaro, who thrived with the same chance,
03:11Richards kept making small, compounding mistakes on every shift. By the start of December, partly due
03:16to his form and Iguodaro's breakout, Richards lost his role completely, logging consistent DNPCDs.
03:22Richards is now headed to Chicago. The third-string center spot falls to the number 10 overall pick,
03:28Kamen Malawak. He could see real minutes for the first time this season if either Williams or Iguodaro
03:32gets hurt. Alternatively, Coach Ott could explore small ball lineups. So, what's next? Obviously,
03:39these final 31 regular season games and the extremely likely postseason. It could be the
03:45play-in, but a top six spot is certainly within reach. Phoenix could have traded for size to address
03:51its biggest weakness and try to lock up that top six spot, but doing so might have disrupted the
03:57team dynamic that has, unexpectedly, made everything fit together so seamlessly this season. It was smart
04:03not to touch a thing. After this season comes the hardest thing to do in the NBA and we've seen this
04:08story before, Phoenix will be back where those surprise 2013-14 Suns were. That team won 48
04:14games, they were a bigger surprise than this current group. They had to figure out what's next when they
04:18were already near their perceived ceiling. The free serotonin from the surprise run was gone,
04:23the house money was spent, expectations arrived, and how do you get better? That team had 24-year-old
04:29Eric Bledsoe playing at an all-NBA level and 27-year-old Goran Dragic making an all-NBA team,
04:34but the roster was light on top-tier talent and didn't have true contender upside. The Suns stood
04:40pat at the 2014 deadline. Despite rumors of interest in Pau Gasol, hope came from the development of no
04:47five-pick Alex Lin and three upcoming first-round picks, TJ Warren, Tyler Ennis, and Bogdan Bogdanovich.
04:55They also had loads of cap space and went big game hunting, famously meeting with LeBron James'
05:00agent, Rich Paul. The best they could do was sign Isaiah Thomas to a four-year, $27 million deal.
05:09Channing Fry left for Orlando and was replaced by Anthony Tolliver. Diehards know what happened.
05:16After a 12-14 start, things clicked with a 16-7 surge through January, even with Bledsoe injured.
05:23Then, Dragic demanded a trade. The three-guard Hydra experiment with Thomas reduced his role,
05:30and the Suns had to trade him before he left in free agency for nothing. In response, Phoenix swung
05:35big at the next deadline anyway. They traded Thomas and acquired Brandon Knight, dealing away a prized,
05:41top-five protected first-round pick in the process. Post-deadline, they finished 10-18. Then,
05:48Knight's catastrophic drop-off contributed to a 23-59 season. And we all remember the years of
05:54turmoil that followed. Hey, at least they drafted Devin Booker before it got really dark.
05:59The point is, it's extremely hard to go from a plucky, no-expectations darling to a serious,
06:05true contender owner Matt Ishbia has made it clear his goal is to win championships. How he and the front
06:09office approach this summer will be fascinating. There's the long-term path, selling high on players in
06:14their early 30s, like Grayson Allen, Dylan Brooks, and Royce O'Neal, a trio whose league-wide value
06:20likely peaks right now. Is there enough runway with Devin Booker, both in terms of his age and
06:25his willingness to accept a patient build? There's the short-term path. Hitting the trade market hard
06:31with younger assets to try to win now with Booker, that veteran trio, and a few others. Would that mean
06:37entertaining trades involving Common Malawak and or Rashear Fleming? What about Jalen Green and or
06:42Alondas Williams? The most likely path is a split down the middle. Re-signed culture drivers like
06:48Colin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin make a decision on the young guys, Malawak, Fleming, Ryan Dunn,
06:54on whether to pencil them into next year's rotation like Iguodaro already is. If a young wing is a go,
07:00make room for him. That would likely mean trading one of those veteran wings. If Malawak is a go,
07:06make room for him, which could mean trading either Williams, a restricted free agent, or Iguodaro.
07:11If some of the young players aren't goes, are they then expendable trade chips? I'm sure thinking
07:16about that impending future isn't pleasant for fans enjoying this current ride. Honestly,
07:21even from this vantage point, it feels a bit icky. The incredibly low external stakes of this season
07:27have been intertwined with a squad that plays like every game is Game 7. It's been a beautiful
07:31juxtaposition. For now, Phoenix has chosen to keep that experience pure for at least a few more months.
07:37My question to you all is this. Given this tricky crossroads ahead, what's your gut feeling on the
07:42right path this summer? Pushing the chips in now or playing a longer game to build around Booker's Prime?
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