He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds." He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter RicBucher. Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. "He will find winning much harder than he thinks it is." "There’s nobody in Phoenix to tell the new owner, ‘No,’" the scout said. The Western Conference scout attributed the splashy-but-quixotic moves to the Suns’ new owner, Mat Ishbia. What Ayton could possibly bring in return is not clear, but it almost certainly won’t be enough to fill out the rest of an eight-man rotation. Ayton is in the second year of a four-year deal that will pay him $32 million next season. Although the salaries of Durant, Booker and Beal alone - a combined $130 million - eats up nearly their entire salary cap, there is still the strong possibility they could move center Deandre Ayton for multiple complementary players. Neither the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, nor the 2019 Toronto Raptors with Kawhi Leonard, had anything resembling a Big 3. No one suggested the 2021 winners, the Milwaukee Bucks, had anything more than one bona fide star in Giannis Antetokounmpo until Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday were promoted, after the fact, by Big 3 theorists.
The 2022 champion Golden State Warriors had a Big 3 in name only, with role players such as Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II making key contributions along with stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Certainly the Nuggets were, at best, a two-star team with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray that prevailed in part thanks to timely contributions from a half-dozen of their teammates. The Suns were already considered top-heavy after giving up depth and defense to acquire Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets.
The notion that three bona fide stars is the recipe for winning a title - as opposed to a deep and versatile roster led by a star or two - has had a hard time of it lately. It’s also going to be tough to fill out the roster, so depth might be an issue unless they make another move or two." "On paper, they’re at least second behind Denver," he said, "but you never know how they will end up looking and how the pieces will fit. The same scout, however, still ranks them behind the defending champion Denver Nuggets. "It might take a little more time than people think, but I do believe they can find a way to complement one another at some point." "I’m not sure how ideal the fit is going to be with Beal and Booker, but they are going to need to figure it out," he said. Booker is the only player that can bring back real value now."Īn Eastern Conference scout agreed - to a point. And they better win one this year because they literally have no way to get better the next five to 10 years. They will have three guys who can really score, but I don’t see them being able to grind out 16 wins to a title. "I don’t see how Booker and Beal really fit," said an Eastern Conference GM. As of right now, Phoenix has five players under contract and are already $30 million over the projected salary cap ($134 million) for the 2023-24 season. The confusion over the trade for scouts and executives stems from the challenge for new Suns’ coach Frank Vogel of pursuing a title with three highly compensated premier scorers who operate primarily on the perimeter, an extremely thin bench and no one that would be considered a defensive stopper. Lillard has been staunch about trying to win a title in Portland, but he has said the Heat are an organization he’d be willing to join if he left. The Heat are now expected to focus on luring Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard to South Beach.
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