Phoenix Suns Trade Deadline Reality Check Plus Bradley Beal the Leader

Phoenix Suns Trade Deadline Reality Check Plus Bradley Beal the Leader

We’re just about halfway through the NBA season and a few things are starting to become clear about the Phoenix Suns we’ll talk about three of them today starting with a little bit of a reality check about the Suns at the trade deadline let’s go you are locked on suns

Your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day And we’re back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we are part of the locked on podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons a writer at suns.com and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get

Your podcast say big thank you for making locked on suns your first listen here on this Tuesday it is a son’s game day as the Sacramento Kings Head to Phoenix tonight we’ll have thoughts on that to round out Today’s show but if it is your first time finding us hit follow

Hit subscribe get a new show in your feed every single Monday through Friday we’re free and available everywhere including YouTube so when you hit that button become an everyday and get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right along with me all season long we’re going to touch on a few things

That are starting to become clear about the Phoenix Suns Personnel leadership and how they stack up in the Western Conference and we’ll hit on all three in detail Today’s Show brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a

$5 bet visit fanduel.com lockon to get started where I want to start the show is in trade land all right and that’s sort of what uh everybody’s thinking about this time of year in the NBA that is what all fans of all teams are starting to

Imagine you know Nicks fans I guess got a little bit of head start on the rest of us with the oan and Obie deal kicking things off the Pistons made a tiny move this week to get off of Marvin bagley’s salary but that is where we are so without being overly negative because

I’ve talked about plenty of options the Suns have and some ways I think they can really improve their team and you can go back and listen to those shows in the feed and I’ll reference some of those moves as we go here but this isn’t meant

To just rain on everybody’s parade I am just starting to see some Suns fans online treat this like a regular trade deadline and for a lot of teams it will be but for the Phoenix Suns this is far from a regular trade deadline mostly because they do not have things to trade

Okay so when I see a list of hey the Suns need a wing and here’s all the Wings Around the league that they could get and I’m seeing starting caliber players making you know 10 1520 million on those lists we just got to reel it in

A little bit guys okay and I’m not again saying that just to like spend 10 minutes crapping on everybody’s hopes and dreams but if you’re setting yourself up to expect or believe the Suns can get a player like that you’re just going to you’re just you’re living

In a different reality you’re living in in la la land that’s not possible so let’s talk about what is possible okay that’s where I want to just iron things down the Suns have two trade exceptions one of them is $4.9 million it expires February 9th from the Dario charch deal

They have a second one that expires August 7th that is worth $6.5 million and that is from the Cameron pain deal de now it’s a little interesting right when it comes to that because the Suns with that second one obviously they can get more players duh

It’s bigger it has the ability to bring in players making more money which means there’s more players who fit into it and therefore more possibilities but if you look at the date on it because these things last about a year I think exactly a Year from when they are

Created August 7th takes you all the way through the entire summer basically right all of the business that gets done in the NBA in early July that is a time when the Suns might want to use that exception as well now they’ll obviously have their own first round pick that

They could trade on draft night they they have two of the three salaries that I’m about to list off that are at their disposal right now will be at their disposal again in the summer and you know we can continue on from there but the exception will be interesting to

See and the smaller one of course there’s really not a lot of players that fit into it and it’s the type of player that we do not often see get traded right most of the players who fit into that $4.9 million traded player exception are either minimum players who

Make $2 to3 million or they are players on rookie scale contracts like for instance Washington has Cory kissper he’s somebody who I could see them trading but unlikely to trade him into another team’s exception when in reality they probably want legitimate value back for somebody like kissper and that would

Go for any player like that so what do the Suns have as that value that’s the next place to go right and I you you hear and obviously if you look on a lot of websites that just have it all listed off that the Suns have five second round picks to

Trade now that used to be six they lost one in the Drew Eubanks investigation yes remember they tampered for Drew Eubanks and lost a pick but I would even go so far as to say they really only have four because one of the second round picks that the

Suns acquired in all of their crazy trade protection uh sorry pick swap deals is a Spurs pick in the second round this season that is protected 31 to 54 which means that it’s top 25 protected in the second round and if you obviously look a little closer at that we know the Spurs

Are not going to be getting the 55th pick in the second round this season because they’re bad and they’re going to be getting a top five pick in the second round so that’s not really a draft pick I don’t really think it’s been reported what happens if that pick does not

Convey this year which it will not does it just go away does it hold on for longer does it have less protections over time I don’t think we know at least I’ve dug up pretty deeply on that and can’t find any articles that have it if anybody ever reported it so I wouldn’t

Count that as a real pick and even if it were to be continue to be protected into the future in a similar way I I it’s just something that a team receiving it could never project to have any money uh to have it convey right so then we go to

The the players if we assume the Suns basically have four second round picks what else do they have nir little who’s making $6.2 million plus three more seasons after this $8.5 million of Grayson Allen salary that is expiring this year and I have another thing I need to clean up I

Have referenced the idea of extending Grayson Allen before a couple of different times and what I miss what I missed there because he made the very strange decision coming off of his rookie scale contra cont to only extend for two seasons I believe that because he is

Only on a 2-year contract right now he is unable to be extended you have to have a contract at least three years in length to be eligible for an extension so he is not he is an expiring 8.5 million I would imagine that the Suns would love

To trade for him but or sorry to resign him when they get him and another team would as well but that’s an open question $8.5 million and then of course Yousef nurkic for 16.8 million plus two more seasons after this that go up so look I don’t

Think Yousef nurkic has a lot of value to other teams I think that it’s with his injury history and his limitations a tough pill to swallow for any team at that salary figure you kind of need to be starting him and not a lot of teams would sign up for starting him so

I just don’t think that that’s going to happen and frankly he is pretty valuable to the Suns I’ve talked about nir little something in the realm of a Delon Wright type of trade I have talked about the $6.5 million campaign trade exception something in the realm of Jon Tate for

Uh into that slot and if you were to pull something like that off using your 4 seconds sl5 with the fake one included and could get Tate and and right or players who are similar to me that is two rotation players that would supersede you know your Josh

Aogi and in some matchups maybe even your Eric Gordon’s certainly your Bates Diop your metu Etc they’re smaller they’re not forwards they are definitely guard SL wings but those are two options what I wanted to close with is options for the shich trade exception the one that expires now the one that

The Suns have pressure to use but that again is fairly limited and I could only find three names that is it three one is Simone fonio who is starting for the Jazz right now but has an expiring $3 million salary is not the youngest guy obviously having come over

From Europe to join that team I want to get his age right he is 28 already already so it’s unclear if the Jazz would want to resign him and he is a big shooter he is a guy who can sometimes have games where he doesn’t really do

Much in the Box Score but a big shooter would help the Suns and again if you’re sending a second or two out for that okay you know again you can’t send a a sec second round picks out with little and for the pain exception and for the Char exception because you only have

Four SL five but that’s one Andre Drummond would be another Bruno Fernando would be another to fill that backup big slop the point is Suns fans I think need a reality check you know let’s say they got Andre Drummond and they got those other two deals done even with their

Limited assets you’re talking about Jan Tate Delon Wright Andre Drummond those are all bench players those are all guys who may or may not play in the playoff series depending on who the matchup is and guys who obviously have weaknesses in their game the suns are not getting a no-brainer home run

Pick of anybody in the NBA to upgrade their roster they’re getting players who can very specifically fit into those very specific parameters and it’s not going to be easy let’s jump to leadership another thing becoming clear about this Phoenix Suns team we’ll get to it next first Today’s Show brought to

You by better help better help is making therapy more accessible for everybody and that is a mission that I think we can all get behind but obviously one that we should all be willing to try out as well because around New Year’s really every year we all get obsessed with how

To change ourselves and do this and try that instead of just expanding on what we’re already doing right and trust me that is a much less pressurized goal to have and I’ve been trying to have that mentality myself I am in therapy currently I’ll go ahead and connect there this is not something

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Sent out to only locked on suns insiders to watch a film breakdown of something in Suns land each week plus one-on-one conversations via text message you can respond directly to me I basically go online and keep track of everything going on with the Sun so you don’t have

To sign up at the link in the show description below or visit join subtext docomo onson to sign up all right leadership do you know who I’m talking about can you guess who I’m talking about based on recent comments It’s Bradley Beal It’s Bradley Beal there have been three comments that

Beal has made two of them came after this well I would say three different games the game the Blazers game that just happened and then the first game he was back this most recent time against Charlotte which was a few weeks ago now and they all demonstrated leadership in a different

Way they all demonstrated Beal’s willingness to sort of say what needs to be said publicly now we’ll get back to the publicly versus privately thing in a second but I’ll tell you what the quotes were against the Lakers it was the idea of shooting threes right and that’s something that vogle has been

Emphasizing public uh publicly in his media availabilities and everything else he’s been saying it since his intro press conference that they want to shoot threes a lot of them and or I guess since Beal’s intro press conference I should say and Beal said the same that he is

Pushing himself to get uncomfortable and take those when they’re there then after the Blazers game which was obviously a win a double- digit win they took care of business they covered the point spread whatever you want to look at but was not uh the most satisfying to

The team or to Sun’s fans I think Beal said a couple of things that I think stand out one was that they over complicate getting the ball to Kevin Durant late in games all right and I mean that’s what Brandon dwas and I talked about on Monday’s show you know uh in that

Fourth quarter especially but in general it’s like they want to get a mismatch and they want to it just sometimes is as simple as enter the ball to Durant any way you can and play off of the rotations that he’s going to force the defense to make the

Double team that’s going to come whatever it might be okay thank you Beal that’s exactly what we want to hear right and then the other one from last night was about the fourth quarters where he said quote that the suns are too passive too LAX too comfortable and then he

Closed the quote by saying and we got a guard that’s just what it is that leads us to the first thing that we heard him say in this mold which came after that Hornets game which was calling the defense kind of trash if you remember that

One I think that there is a chance that Beal is a piece of the leadership puzzle that maybe has been missing a little bit remember that he’s older than book and I think too that look you’ve heard of the idea in movies right of the the character that’s sort of a standin

For the audience a lot of the time that might be the kind of comedic side plot or somebody who just sort of jumps in with something to break the tension whatever it might be in a lot of like Marvel movies it’s whoever sort of the most human character is because there’s

So much alien monster space stuff going on Bradley Beal is sort of the role player stand in on this team if that makes sense right for a few reasons one he has had a frustrating season as well He can at least connect with the idea of the pressure of needing to step up in order for the season to go the direction that it needs to go right we talked about it on Monday’s recap show K Bates Depp there’s a lot writing on him somehow Against All Odds and not a

Moment too soon figuring it the F out right but you could say the same thing about Bradley Beal despite him being a star player making a ton of money the other reason though that I think it it can it can work here is in terms of him being a leader and and

Maybe having a bigger voice than we thought and and helping settle some of this stuff into place is that he is sacrificing more than Durant or Booker there is a level of aggressiveness that needs to be there which is again what he sort of said in that quote about the fourth quarters and

What book said as well but we know Beal is not going to have the level of usage and the role that he had on the Wizards when he was averaging 30 plus points per game that’s just not there’s just not enough possessions to go around he’s going to have to adjust he’s

Already defensively a lot of the time having to guard a quote quote better player than book is and that is its own form of sacrifice to say okay I’ll take that match up and I’ll let our point guard take a load off on defense when he needs

To and that can connect I think with some of the other players on this team too right if I’m a I mean Gordon is somewhat of a leader on this team too but if I’m an Eric Gordon if I am Bates Diop who was much more of a scorer on other

Teams if I’m a Josh aogi trying to accept playing just 10 12 15 minutes a night metu who still I think sees himself as a kind of scorer guy and isn’t that on this team I can look at Bradley Beal and say that dude is adjusting and changing and sacrificing

In order to get us where we want to go let me do that too what I think needs to happen in order for my best case scenario that I sort of just mapped out to actually come to fruition though is that Beal needs to walk the

Walk and it’s early he is what has he even played 10 games this season he he probably just cracked 10 games over the past couple he has played now 15 so I’m willing to be patient with that I’m willing to be patient with all of this within reason you know at some

Point it’s got to hit hit a hit it stride and Beal needs to as well but at some point if we’re talking about him being a real leader here that needs to come with him buckling down on defense him not hesitating to get the ball to Durant or

Be aggressive creating a great shot even in the fourth quarter with a lead those things can’t just be said they need to be done and I think that’s maybe part of why Gordon isn’t necessarily the guy that this team needs in that capacity because he’s at a different phase of his

Career where he’s going to have nights like last night where he doesn’t really contribute much and we know book is more of a show than a tell type of leader and Duran is definitely a Show versus a tell leader so if the suns are

Going to look to be a to be more of a tell leader he also needs the show it’s it has to be both and it’s all on a spectrum but I think be can be maybe more on that side of the spectrum if he really develops into his own over the

Course of this season I recommend an article and I’ll put it in the show description so you can click on it if you want from the athletic about Beal and I’ll be quick here Fred Katz a while ago did a great story on Brad being a leader and his relationship with

Thomas Bryant and the season when they played together how much he would lay into Thomas Bryant and Bryant is on the record saying no matter if we’re on the court or off the court we’re good because we’re never going to try and hurt each other it’s never personal with

Him he wanted to bring more out of me and I appreciate that because I needed it you had Troy Brown who was now on the Timberwolves was on the Lakers last year saying I feel like Brad was being a leader it’s not anything with him trying to be disrespectful he’s just holding

People accountable we have to have leaders and Brad is our leader so there’s nothing wrong with that he went on to say I feel like Brad is laidback but he’s not scared to yell at people when necessary so I feel like when he does it when he needs to but at the same

Time he leads by example he said every once in a while I’ll catch myself if I feel like a guy is constantly picking on me but at the end of the day it’s not about that with Beal Beal then said my teammates know I love them they’re they know that I’m a

Fierce competitor they know I want to win I’m a perfectionist these are all things you say to the media I get it I am the first to say it needs to be walking the walk and talking the talk we are seeing Beal start to speak out if he

Can have a great rest of the season and earn the respect of his teammates on top of their ear I think he really could be somebody who factors into being a voice on this team in a way that they really miss while he was gone the last thing that I want to cover

As far as what we are learning about the Suns is is how they respond to teams that can keep up with them on the offensive end and they’ll get a very good shot to do that against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night so we’ll preview that game in just one

Moment first Today’s Show brought to you by the FanDuel sports book the official sports betting partner of the lockdown podcast Network in the NFL season may be wrapping up in the next few weeks but the offers are still rolling in from America’s number one sports book FanDuel

Right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet that’s $150 in bonus bucks straight to your account in bonus bets win or lose I’m looking at the NBA odds for Tuesday night the suns are fourpoint favorites at home that is a little dicey

We have the nuggets and the Sixers the Clippers and the Thunder a lot of great games on Tuesday night I’m not sure I would lay any money on either one if I’m being honest but in the spirit of what we’re about to talk about the over under

For total points in Suns Kings is 243 maybe just drop a little money on the over rout for a big shootout game at footprint Center no matter where you are though same game parlays the explore tab the parlay Hub or just one of those straightup bets visit fanduel.com lockon

To check it all out FanDuel official partner of the NFL and the NBA let us close out this year show Suns play the Kings tonight at 7 Pacific Catch every basket on the hometown broadcast with John Bloom and Tim Kon with Sirius XM or on the sxm app by

Searching Suns don’t forget to also check the audio feed specifically for a preview show the Suns made me want to rip my hair out and it was the holidays so I have been lagging and slacking on those but I will be back back with one on Tuesday

Afternoon to preview Suns King so be looking in the audio feed for that if you are normally a YouTube viewer go find it on apple or Spotify get a very very quick easy digestible preview of The Game on the audio feet let’s talk about the Kings though the Suns have lost twice to

Sacramento this season December 8th at home 114 to 108 Darren Fox had 34 points the Suns had a terrible third quarter Josh aogi played that game and fox still went off and then the king starting lineup had 12 offensive rebounds they also lost on December 28 22nd right before Christmas uh really

Ugly hapless game from the Suns they had 15 turnovers Durant had seven nobody in the role player Supporting Cast could make a single freaking shot and it might have been the low point of the Sun season you remember that game as the one where Sabin Lee and udoka asabuki

Finally played because Frank vogle just said screw it I’m just trying everything I’m throwing everything at the at the wall here so here’s the thing a few aspects of this that I want to point out the kings are a beatable team the Kings have three bankable players every night in dearen Fox damont

Sabonis and Malik Monk the Suns do too but the Suns better three three players are better than the king’s three players right I mean there’s no way around that that is a perfect example of why the Suns should be able to win these games these types of games however they have really struggled

When they go up against a team that can match them offensively so if you get a 25 to 30 point game from all three of those guys on Sacramento or even higher than that you could be in for it the Suns have quietly scored 127 in back-to-back games they have scored 110

Plus in five straight game uh six straight games dating back to the Clippers loss at home two weeks ago so the offense is rounding into form but you know that Clippers game is a perfect example the Clippers scored 131 that’s how they beat the Suns the Hornets made it close with

Roier going off by scoring one 19 obviously the Mavs on Christmas scored 128 a lot of those teams are not great and certainly not balanced and when D when the Suns faced Dallas their defense was not very good it’s improved since so it’s been these teams that can match

Them offensively that have given the Suns trouble the Kings can absolutely do that one thing I would like to point out though is that the suns are up to 15th in defense even after that ugly Clippers game the ugly Grizzlies game and over the last two weeks the suns are 11th in

Defense and that’s over the course of seven games so things have been trending in a solid Direction they’re also up to ninth in transition defense and they’ve been really solid after misses even after even though teams try to punish them there it feels like the scouting report on the Suns say maybe

Not caught up to the fact that they have cleaned up their transition defense since an ugly start to the season so what does that all mean it means that this is a perfect Pro it opportunity for the Suns the Blazers game was a pro it opportunity to just

Show so that they could blow out a bad team they didn’t quite do that the Lakers game was a proven opportunity to show that they could solve a stingy defense and a team that had their number this is a proven opportunity to show hey we can maybe provide a little more

Resistance against a good offense than we’ve shown before we can go up against a team that has some scoring power and our ability to score 110 plus every night 130 Plus on our best nights is really damn hard to beat and let us show you why and of course

It’s a proven opportunity to win a freaking game at home I mean you know be nice the suns are somehow still just 11 and 11 at home they have this game and then over the weekend they have a back-to-back against Indiana and Chicago and Tyrese How Burton is hurt win all

Three give yourself 14 and 11 at home see if you can go on the road and beat a very feisty Pelicans team on Friday if you lose that one Whatever You’re supposed to rack up wins against beatable teams at home that’s what good teams do that is how most teams cushion

Themselves and the sun should not be any exception to that so a lot of different ways to slice this game this team has beaten you twice get back on track go above 500 at home prove that your defense is improving prove that your offense is Unstoppable and that the improvements

You’ve made overall with be back in the lineup with the rotation starting to take shape are legit check back for that preview show on Tuesday don’t forget to sign up for lockon Suns Insider text alerts so I can give you all the Suns info you need that you never even

Realized was out there plus video breakdowns and Analysis and more each week and I will catch you guys all post game after Sons Kings

The Phoenix Suns just don’t have much to send out at the NBA trade deadline, no matter how much help they need.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down all the assets the Suns have this deadline. Then, a closer look at Bradley Beal as a leader. To close, a quick rundown of a big home game against the Sacramento Kings.

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