00:00But first, let's start with the expectations for the Suns for the season. And, you know,
00:04certainly it seems in the NBA, prognosticators like yourself and others, some, you know,
00:10weigh in on the high, some weigh in on the low. It seems like most people think, you see that
00:15win total there, most people think that the Suns have a good shot to go over that number,
00:19but not by a lot, meaning that the Suns, Gilbert, at least according to some of the experts,
00:24they kind of feel like this year is going to look a lot like last year, which is, you know,
00:29strange to me. You usually don't see that. Everyone goes high or low. It feels like the
00:32Suns are, you know, I don't know if neutral is the way to describe it. So you tell me. You
00:36cover
00:37them a lot closer. It's interesting because there's a lot of doubt and questions around this
00:41Phoenix Suns team. Last year, they were expected to win around 30 games, and they exceeded that by
00:46a lot, winning 45 games, making the playoffs, and showing that they had a lot with their new head
00:51coach, Jordan Knott, who's now in year two. And in my opinion, this team got better. They add
00:56Miles Bridges from Charlotte. They add Luke Kennard, who was with the Lakers and Hawks last season,
01:01and that answers a couple of their questions. And then there's internal development. Jalen Green
01:04was barely healthy last season. Devin Booker is claiming to have gotten better this offseason,
01:09which he was an all-star last year. So if he got better, then this team should be better,
01:13especially with a young talent who's gotten better as well. So I feel like they're a team who wins
01:17at least 40 games. I think that they'll get around where they were last year in the mid-40s yet
01:23again. So I find it a little surprising that people are out on the Phoenix Suns again, but it
01:27seems like the overall thought is that they've been figured out. But one thing that you can't
01:32figure out is that this team plays harder than everybody else, and they've still got that going
01:36for them. Yeah, and Ott is very well-respected as a coach, and so certainly pressure on him and
01:40everybody else. There's no doubt about that. But it all starts and ends with their best player,
01:45and that, of course, is Devin Booker, one of the best players in the NBA. It seems as though,
01:50Gilbert, the Suns are going to ask Booker to be better in terms of being more aggressive,
01:57which is not something that he's particularly liked to do. He likes to score, but he also
02:01likes to distribute. So how does that work with a player like Booker, who has just known a certain
02:06way of playing his entire career and is going to be asked to take more of a scoring role?
02:11It's interesting. It's supposed to be a new chapter for Book, so many people are saying,
02:15because he changed his number to number 15 this offseason to honor his dad, who wore 15 in
02:19college and during his professional career. And he said that a new number means he's going to shoot
02:23the ball more. And what that also means is that Jalen Green is going to play on the ball more.
02:28Last year, I mentioned Green was unhealthy for the majority of the season, had a pesky hamstring
02:32injury. But this preseason, they had him playing a lot of point guards. So what that means is Devin
02:37Booker is going to be coming off of screens and playing off of the ball. If he can shoot the
02:41ball
02:41better than he has in past years, then maybe he can get back to that. But last year, he was
02:46one of the
02:46only players to finish in the top 10 in points per game and top 20 in assists per game. Average
02:51about 26.1 points per game and six assists per game last year, which is pretty wild to think about
02:56a guy who could have scored more as being looked on to score more and average 26 points per game
03:02last season. But I do think he'll get more opportunities to shoot the ball more if he's
03:06playing off the ball more. So that number could go up to 28 or 29 if the three balls falling.
03:11Yeah, it could. And the Suns, you know, obviously got him some help and also made some trades in the
03:16offseason, too. And so they say farewell to Grayson Allen, and they get a player who played
03:22his entire career in one spot. Of course, he's had some good moments on the court. He's had some
03:27not so good moments off the court. That is Mikael Bridges. But he brings 17 points a game to the
03:33offense, and he is supposed to help Devin Booker quite a bit this season. You know, you could go back
03:37and forth with who the secondary option always is on Phoenix, but it doesn't seem like there's any
03:41doubt right now when you make a trade like this, Gilbert. Absolutely. You know, they parted ways
03:46with Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neal, and a draft pick to bring Miles Bridges in from Charlotte. And he's
03:52a guy who's looked at to be the missing piece for this team. Last year, the power forward position was
03:57one of their biggest weaknesses, and he's going to start at power forward right away. You mentioned
04:01what he did and did not do in Charlotte, and we know about that. He was able to make it
04:05to the
04:05play in tournament a couple times, but he's never played in the NBA playoffs. And Charlotte
04:09isn't necessarily looked at as a winning organization, though they've had winning
04:12moments. So he'll be asked to do things that he wasn't necessarily asked to do in Charlotte. But
04:17there's some familiarity. Miles Bridges played at Michigan State. Jordan Knott has Michigan State
04:21ties. The GM has Michigan State ties. The owner has Michigan State ties as well. So he's coming to a
04:26new situation, but there's familiarity. And familiarity allows you to be a little bit more comfortable.
04:30So he'll be asked to do a lot on offense and defense. But last year, what we saw with Dylan
04:35Brooks having a career year in his ninth NBA season, they'll hope Bridges can do the same this year.
