Brad Cesmat
0-8 in the playoffs since 2023. That’s the ONLY stat to care about with the Phoenix Suns. What jersey number Devin Booker wears or how nasty a player Dillon Brooks is shouldn’t be a talking point. Leave the press release to the Suns. I only care about winning titles. I don’t see the Sun rising in the next 2-3 years, as the window for Booker being a star player in the NBA closes.
Are the Suns closer to a championship today than they were a week ago, um…. NO…. I’m fine with the drafting of Koa Peat. No problem extending Collin Gillespie or Jordan Goodwin. If you put down the purple and orange pom poms for a moment, you’ll see that San Antonio has decided to get more bigs on their roster and perhaps move Wemby to the four position in October. He proved in the postseason that his perimeter game is ready. The Spurs drafted two bigs in the first round Tuesday night. If you believe the current Suns roster is ready to take out the Western Conference Champs next season, then you truly do wear purple and orange glasses and enjoy fandom, rather than not accepting how far Phoenix is from a title. Sure, winning 50 games and getting eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in the 26/27 season would show progress, but towards what? Booker is going to have to produce an epic season-long stat line in order for this team to even sniff the second round. The Spurs, OKC, Minnesota(LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards, will they blend?), Denver(Cam Johnson step forward, or take another step back?), are all in front of the Suns, and it’s not like Houston, Golden State, both LA teams, and even Dallas are heading in the wrong direction. If the belief within the organization is to become a top-four team in the West, fine…but the clock is ticking on Booker and Brooks, both will be 30 when the season starts, and Booker has put up A LOT of miles on his body through his ten seasons(don’t forget about Olympic Team service too). Easy to say, “Oh, Brad, you’re so negative”… um, no, just pointing out facts, because when the backside of a career begins, it can go quickly. Booker came to Phoenix in 2015. He didn’t have a great postseason series against OKC….
I watched both ESPN and ABC Draft coverage. What’s very clear is Jay Bilas, Bobby Marks, Shams, and Brian Windhorst need to be on set, with one host. Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler, Jay Williams, are not around the college game or players every day. I heard too much “we’ll see how it works out,” which is the same as a local TV weather person saying “As well” half a dozen times to get through their three minutes of telling me it’s going to be hot. Not even remotely necessary…
Is Michigan a better college basketball job than Arizona? Why wouldn’t Tommy Lloyd listen to what the Wolverines could offer? Sorry, Wildcat fans, this is what it’s like when you have a great college head coach…
Zac Gallen could spin a no-hitter tonight at St. Louis, and I’d still be on the, “get him outta here” wagon. Not a bad guy, just has a bad habit of finding bats with the ball he throws…
When I was in the high school dad space a few years back, I would hear of 7th and 8th graders being held back a year or even two in order to grow bigger, stronger. It wasn’t right then. It’s not right now. The NCAA announcement earlier this week makes too much sense. Our Recruiting Roundup team did a terrific breakdown of the new ruling.
So, who is the next Arizona pro team set up to go to the Finals in their sport?…
If Caitlin Clark were on the Phoenix Mercury and getting butchered, the tone would be very different from all the tough talk that she should be able to handle what we saw Wednesday night in Indiana. Without Caitlin Clark, the players would still be flying three to an aisle on the D boarding group at Southwest. They wouldn’t be taking home six-figure checks. The games wouldn’t be on multiple TV Networks, there wouldn’t be off-court endorsements, etc, etc, etc. Yes, she needs to be protected; that’s what happens in sports and with star players. I heard enough bitching and moaning from the Phoenix fan base when DT was in a Mercury uniform. You can’t have it both ways…
