Locked On Suns - Daily Podcast On The Phoenix Suns

On today’s episode, we begin our Positional Preview series, beginning with the guard rotation.

What can we expect from Elie Okobo as a rookie backing up Brandon Knight? Could his quick development eliminate the Suns’ desire to trade for a star point guard?

How do the Suns handle the backup two-guard slot? Will it be a matter of the young wings on their roster sliding up a position, or will someone like Davon Reed get consistent time as a pure backup for Devin Booker?

Finally, who is the odd man out in this bloated group?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we discuss which NBA awards the Suns could realistically be in contention for following the 2018-19 season.

We consider:Who would Devin Booker have to leapfrog to be an All-NBA guard?Can Deandre Ayton put up big enough numbers to fend off Marvin Bagley III or Luka Doncic for Rookie of the Year?Where does Mikal Bridges fall when contemplating this year’s rookie class? Could he make an All-Rookie team?Is there any chance TJ Warren accepts the sixth man role and plays well enough to get Sixth Man of the Year consideration?How good do the Suns have to be for Igor Kokoskov to earn Coach of the Year votes?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we welcome back former host Kellan Olson to celebrate episode No. 300 of the show.

To properly celebrate, we dove right into the Suns’ present and future, chatting about various hypotheticals, including:How good does Devin Booker have to be for it to translate to more winning?Is Josh Jackson the only real top-notch trade asset on the Suns?How long before we finally see the cash-in trade Ryan McDonough has been building toward?We get into all of it (and plenty more) in a very fun episode.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we break down the Suns’ 2018-19 schedule month by month, ending up with a very early projection of the team’s record next season.

The Suns have two road trips longer than four games before the calendar flips to 2019. That means they get the very best Eastern Conference teams out of the way early on, but it’s a tough way to start.

However, Phoenix has a real opportunity to make up ground in January and February and gel as a team to finish the year.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Suns are playing on national TV the first week of the NBA season!

To pump up the excitement of that matchup, at home against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 17, we brought on Mavs Moneyball contributor and Locked On Mavericks co-host Nick Angstadt to discuss the team’s offseason and the future of this sudden rivalry.

We get into plenty of the connections between the teams, and what to watch for on opening night:Why the league and ESPN got the matchup rightNick’s reaction to the trade that brought Luka Doncic to DallasThe Mavericks’ offseason compared with the Suns’Ranking the two teams’ young prospects

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we break down the announcement that the NCAA is allowing agents into the game, talk about the guys who could be involved in the class of 2019, and circle back to the Suns with a Twitter mailbag.

The back-and-forth between college basketball and the NBA continues with this news, leaving the NBA to adjust its rules as it gears up toward allowing high school players back into the draft.

And since we’re on the topic of the draft, a quick preview of the top four guys in the class — R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, Zion Williamson and Nassir Little.

Finally, five Twitter questions on what to expect this upcoming season.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we break down how our predictions differ from Kevin Pelton’s statistical projections at ESPN and the Vegas betting odds. Then, we dive into Devin Booker’s growth and how his improvement will determine how good the Suns will be next year.

Pelton has the Suns at 27.2 projected wins over at ESPN, a number potentially weakened by the tanking Suns’ underperformance last season. Bovada in Vegas has the season line at 28.5 wins for Phoenix.

We are on the record as having the team between 30 and 35 wins assuming relative health, but it’s difficult to argue with models slightly lower on the Suns.

Of course, Booker will make or break this team’s improvement. Is he ready to make the leap to the upper echelon of efficient NBA scorers?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode, we have a special co-host with Evan as MMAFighting.com's Shaun Al-Shatti joins for a wide-ranging chat on the Phoenix Suns. We have had this in the works for the past few weeks and finally got around to recording together.

Shaun, who grew up a Suns fan, stops by to talk about how this offseason went in his eyes alongside plenty of rapid fire topics on how he views their young core led by Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.

How does he feel Ryan McDonough has done putting together this roster? What about the Trevor Ariza signing for 1-year, $15 million? Just how high is Booker's ceiling with all the additional talent and spacing surrounding him? Is T.J. Warren being underrated by the majority of the fanbase?

This, plus plenty more were talked about during the first 30 minutes of the episode before we went into MMA for the portion of today's show.

What if LeBron James dedicated his entire career to mixed martial arts instead of NBA? Would he have been the greatest fighter of all time?

This was a fun one, so make sure to tune in!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, a league insider takes us through how he thinks the Trevor Ariza signing might quietly be a key to the Suns taking a step forward in their prolonged rebuild.

Mo Dakhil, who worked with the Spurs, Clippers and the Australian men’s national team, talks about the difficulties of a switching defense, how he would go about building around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, and why he’s concerned about the vision going forward in Phoenix. 

Mo also discusses his player-development and team-building philosophies, as well as his belief the Suns should operate with the future in mind rather than competing this year.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s episode, we dive into the offseason for the NBA as a whole, ranking which teams we thought had the best and worst summers in the league. Then, we wrap up with a dissection of the Suns’ position in the landscape of young teams on the rise.

Topics include:How did the Cavaliers, Spurs, Pelicans and Raptors do replacing stars on the move?Did the Pacers do enough to make them a real East contender?Are the Wizards better now?What in the world are the Lakers doing?Finally, we discuss the fact that the Suns will have less cap space than about eight or nine teams even if they dismantle their roster before next summer. Can they still make a leap?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.