How do the Phoenix Suns’ trade deadline moves affect their championship hopes?

How do the Phoenix Suns’ trade deadline moves affect their championship hopes?

Melen Olsson is here and he’s here to talk NBA trade deadline which has now passed now I’m sure there are still deals trickling in around the league so next it’s it’s it’s so boring that W is doing like the Tweet like dejonte Murray staying put Bruce Brown staying put oh

He’s doing that it used to be like Kyrie Irving is staying put Kevin Durant is staying put but now we’re doing it no offense love Bruce Brown love to Jon Murray Andre Drummond got one of these tweets two minutes ago it’s been it’s been a slow Affair but not for the

Phoenix Suns Luke no it it has not been slow for the Sun so wolf and I were trying to figure this out on the air as it was as the trade was happening before what the playoff rotation looks like but now that you’re here we talked to gambo

About it as well but since you’re sitting here in studio how many guys that they currently have on their roster do you think are locked into the playoff rotation H locked in I would say seven okay that’s the number we had I think we’re at seven okay and that that’s

Including Royce O’Neal as one of the seven yes yeah he’s the seventh guy and I think that there are two more spots left basically there’s the backup center slot which I’m sure will be explored uh the only notable player that has been released so far that could become a

Buyout guy or will become a buyout guy I should say is Robin Lopez we saw him the other night playing for Milwaukee uh other than that we haven’t seen any other real names I think that they’re going to look potentially for another Wing Daniel house Jr who played

Here during the 20 win years um he’s a guy that’s going to come up he’s a guy that makes sense um a guard I haven’t really seen one come up just yet but we’re going to kind of wait and see but those other two slots that’s kind of

Where it goes what about BB where do you put him he’s absolutely in the mix it’s just been it’s been such a surprise and such a great story and so much fun that we have to remind ourselves it’s been five games it’s it is so fun man to watch it right

It’s electric it’s amazing like I I wrote it after the game he is one of the three most popular Suns players for the crowd and I understand the the other two guys are they’re Kevin Durant and de Booker and then it’s buo they love that

Guy I love him too it’s so much fun you never know what’s going to happen on the court good or bad but guess what it’s been pretty good so far it’s been pretty good something’s going to happen that’s that’s what you know when he’s out there so just a reset for anybody driving

Around Durant Booker Beal nerk Grayson Allen Royce O’Neal Eric Gordon those are your seven yep and you’re saying two more to get it to nine obviously simple math on the air bbo Josh aogi Drew Eubanks you put David Rody in there in the mix do not think so I think that

Would be quite the long shot yeah okay so is it just those three plus whoever they would go and get in the buyout Market I mean you still have Nas little too little is someone who could still make a push for a rotation spot I think

I put him in there I think the guys out of that group that you mentioned I think Eubanks is certainly in the mix for a spot still he’s going to hold that slot tonight he could hold that slot the rest of the season still he’s been playing

Better lately in the last two weeks for sure but I I do think that there’s still work to be done now the bio Market is is I’m trying to think of the right way to phrase this but the tradeoff from how much we actually talk about it and how

Much it actually matters is quite the Spectrum to go on I went and looked up uh I think last year or two years ago I looked through all of the NBA Finals teams for the last like 10 to 15 years and guys that were acquired on the buyout market and guys that were

Actually in the rotation and it was like one guy remember PJ Brown on on that Celtics team yeah vaguely now I mean I remember PJ Brown even remember on that’s pretty much it now they other impact buyout players to move to teams that didn’t make it to the NBA finals

Not to say but Terrence Ross last year that was a good get that was a good buyout G and he he he didn’t end end up mattering in the grand scheme of things he got in there in the rotation later in the series but still had a shortcomings

To be sure that I think we saw on full display so at the end of the day you are getting players that are quite flawed so it’s not something where you shouldn’t just say no we’re not going to trade anyone because we can get it in the

Buyout market like that’s not how the buyout Market really works but in this kind of situation now that they have two open roster slots because they had to move four guys to get this deal done sure yeah it makes a lot of sense one of the best developments over the last I

Would say three four weeks to me is Yousef nurkic and how much more physical he’s playing is is this a situation do you think where the Phoenix Suns have actually approached him and told him he’s got to be more of this for them I I

Don’t think so uh we talked to him about it last uh last practice so yesterday wolf and he just I asked him if he Embraces kind of the physicality and to him it was like a okay so in order to embrace it that means I’m thinking about

It it’s like he doesn’t think about it wolf he just plays that way that’s just how he plays yeah but have you noticed him getting more physical over notice the uptick but I think that it’s come as a byproduct of him being more involved in the offense and him being more

Involved in general and feeling more comfortable because all three of those guys are out there and he’s gotten a lot from his numbers are way up I think he was shooting some somewhere around 46% before this 16 straight games that uh they’ve had but then since then um he’s

Shooting 59% which is much better around the rim that’s right around where a center should be they should probably be low to mid 60 so a little lower but it’s still pretty solid and he’s just been not a revelation per se because he’s someone who’s been pretty darn good in

The NBA before but I think I I characterized him categorized him as like a top 25 Center uh in the league coming into the year and he’s been like a top 15 guy at least for the last month six weeks he’s been really darn good and

I think that him and Grayson Allen being the impact contributors that they have been I think if we were to talk about this back when that trade happened we would take we would have just taken one of those guys becoming the way that they’ve turned into for this team so

It’s a big part of the way that you’re drawing out your death chart right now Luke that you have to look at Grayson Allen and Yousef nerkish as critical pieces of this team and that’s what they’ve become yeah especially helpful that Allen has turned turn into that so

Quickly where they could just kind of count on him at that point thanks for watching wolf and Luke tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports

How do the Phoenix Suns’ trade deadline moves affect their championship hopes? Kellan Olson joins Wolf & Luke to discuss.

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