Quote from: dwyane36 on Today at 06:59:47 AM

Quote from: OgNasty on July 17, 2025, 05:28:58 PM

The Phoenix Suns are a great example of this too. Booker was complaining for years about how he had no help, so they get him a #1 draft pick and Chris Paul, who carry him to the Finals yet that somehow wasn't good enough and he blamed the loss on Ayton. So they dump Ayton and Paul and replace them with Durant and Beal, then the team completely collapses. Sort of makes you wonder if Ayton was the problem or if he was the reason they went to the Finals... A lot of people are going to talk about how bad Beal played to mess things up, but not enough people are going to talk about how the Suns gave Booker everything he wanted and he still couldn't win.

Yeah, the Suns missed a great opportunity to win the title then. I think it was an upsetting defeat, especially for Paul.
As for Booker, no matter how much money they give him, he still can't win a title alone. Imho, the Suns should have assembled a solid team with good role players instead of spending so much money to extend Booker's contract.

And if I'm not mistaken, that was the first time that Paul really went into the finals. But then it was not really meant for him to win as they face a prime Giannis who is hungrier and his team are really built to win with Middleton, Lopez and Holiday who stole the ball from Booker and go in transition for Giannis for a flush.

Next year was still good for Phoenix, they go into the West playoff, but then Luka has other plans for them. And after that it was all over for them, coach was replaced, Ayton and CP3 was traded. Booker is one of those players that have been playing for one team for 10 years right now and it seems that Phoenix owners still trust him.