With the Suns not off to a good start and reports from the locker room that frustration grew over a certain role, things just didn’t look great for Phoenix. That said, it’s still the first year, and the last time this team took early losses and still made it to the playoffs. Anything can happen, and this team bounces back very well, but with such negative talk so early, it seems like it’s an uphill battle.
It’s too early to talk about techniques, but for some reason, at this time, that conversation has already started among multiple teams. For the suns, they do not look at the movement, but they feel certain of their failure in the roost, and they want a true point of guard. For the fans and the team, that seems like the best move. Even if Devin Booker wants to be a point guard and playmaker, he needs another creator and initiator to play alongside him. This would lighten the load of the game and still have their shots to hunt Booker and create a ball for the theater.
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A big reason for Minnesota’s early success, and why everyone thought they could dominate (Ant’s wrong face), is how well LaMelo Ball fits together with Anthony Edwards. This is what many Suns fans have seen with Chris Paul, and it proves that any smart player alongside a solid off-ball scorer makes the offense 1000 times easier. So who can solve this problem? Well, there’s someone I’ve written about this offseason before, and someone fans are just as serious as the latest news.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the trade candidate would be Dejounte Murray, known for his defensive identity in San Antonio before bouncing around Atlanta and now New Orleans. Murray, unfortunately, didn’t have a great time leaving SA. The claim that he couldn’t work in Atlanta, plus injuries and previous duties in NO, left him stuck in the mud. With his price at his lowest ever, and him being stuck in a bad team coming off injuries, this is the time to hit the sun.
The easiest and best way to do this involves a one-for-one trade of Jalen Green and Dejounte Murray. The exchange will give both parties a way to find a better solution. For us, it’s easy: they have someone who can play and be a solid defender in their plan. The six-year gap may make the Suns in green too early to worry about, but with a contract and an extension, this could be a get-out-of-jail-free card for the Suns to capitalize on.
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With Green making more than Murray, you also save 6M in next year’s deal, and with both options being a $30 million player, you’re forced to accept that regardless. At least with Murray, your extension may be more friendly, since Green is looking to increase his next salary.
Green also makes sense for the Pelicans, as they are just a young talent looking for talent. With no true number one option, Green could come in and try to shine as he wants to be a dominant on-ball scorer. Since high school, he was the top guy, and he also worked in Houston. This “PG” move and working with Steve Nash is never going to be his game, to get him to a place where he can be the best at what he does, not to force another player. We saw that when our last coach was trying to make Bradley Beal the next Jrue Holiday, and here’s how it turned out.
In the end, I think this will pay more capital for both parties. The Pelicans are bad in my eyes, and there won’t be any in the West any time soon. So take a flyer on Green, who has potential and gives more room in the rotation to pick up guard Jeremiah Timores, especially if you can dump Jordan Paul elsewhere (not Phoenix). For the Suns, this gives them a true secondary creator and someone who will make it a pain to play the game for Booker. Murray didn’t come here to become Phoenix’s next player and hire; He aims to be a complementary piece for the running back of the ball, which needs this role up front alongside Booker on this starting line.
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The Suns could be looking at other point guards, including guys like Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, and Darius Garland, and ones that have dropped out, like Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, and Trae Young, so maybe Dejounte Murray isn’t the end all, be all option. Although the opinion is there that they need a new player and fast, isn’t this a quick solution to start Collin Gillespie and move Green to the bench? Or is it just a precursor to a bigger move? Only time will tell, but before the job, I trust them to reassess what went wrong and make an educated decision by trading deadlines.