15 HRS AGO - Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Booker ranks last in hustle stats minus turnovers among all NBA players last year. Forget the very bad double-team debate. The biggest knocks against Devin Booker being your best player is that he embodies a limited approach to the game of basketball on a big picture scale. Booker’s contributions to a basketball game are either incredibly excellent or non-existent. Booker has clear and obvious strengths. He scores the ball and sets up teammates among the best in the entire league. Those contributions earned him a maximum contract extension worth at least $158 million over the next five years as the 22-year old approaches his prime. But he’s not perfect. According to some crack research by NBA fan and good Suns twitter follow Dom Tesoriero, who culled together some stats straight off NBA.com into a handy dandy spreadsheet with net per-100-possessions impact calculation, Booker provides the worst “net possessions gained” ratio in a league of 363 Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images Great teams tend to always have a coach and star player whose style and mindset align. Let’s not make this too difficult. If I were to name you a sports dynasty, you’d not only be able to name the star player who won all those rings, but the coach who partnered with that player. Sometimes, the coach even takes the glory when we remember those teams. The names come off the tongue easily: Jordan’s Bulls, Bird’s Celtics, Brady’s Patriots, Jeter’s Yankees. Then you’ve got Popovich’s Spurs, Riley’s Lakers, Saban’s Crimson Tide, Wooden’s Bruins, Ditka’s Bears. For one reason or another, some teams are remembered by the brains of the operation, others by the superhero athlete. But great teams always have both. Taking a quick look through NBA history shows that a coach and player who are aligned is annually one of the biggest factors in who wins a championship. Occasionally, all-time great players or coaches can buck this trend, but generally, Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports Wins. Losses. Negele Knight. Suns pride. Shut up, James Harden. I’ll be curt, I don’t have time for a lengthy intro. The thing is 2,000 words as it is guys, get off my back. I need to wrap this up, the floors won’t mop themselves, and I need to get into the backyard and take some measurements for growing kale. That’s a kale reference for the third consecutive week. HANG A BANNER. Suns Stuff Ok, now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of the upcoming season. Rod’s Monday article talked wins and losses, always a fun discussion, regardless of how dreary the outlook may be. Firstly, before I forget. You need to go back and read Center of the Sun, if not for the analysis, then for the calendar of upcoming important dates. Rod has done a good job outlaying what is going to happen. Now, on to the projections. Rod linked to an article where FiveThirtyEight projected that the Suns would win 36 games this season. That’s absurd. Flatly. Sometimes when Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images Booker had to respond to all the online backlash eventually, and took it in stride by explaining himself and joking around about it. What else could he do? There’s so much going on inside this one little controversy regarding Devin Booker’s denial of a double team during an open gym this month. While training at the Samson Center in Atlanta with guys like Joakim Noah and Ben Simmons, all eyes turned Booker’s direction after a video went viral of Booker telling the guys on the court not to double-team in an open gym. That led to every person with an account on Twitter dot com to go ahead and give their take on what is and isn’t allowed in pickup basketball or open gyms, from the guy with a pair of Jordans who lives above you at your condo to real basketball coaches and former players. It was all super silly. My take is that NBA players should probably be the ones who set the ground rules for what’s allowed at the YMCA or your local Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images Aron Baynes has made every team he’s played on better defensively. Can he do the same for the Suns? On July 6th, 2019 Aron Baynes was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Phoenix Suns. Aron Baynes has a fan club. This is the impact the Aron Baynes Fan Club thinks Aron Baynes can have on the Phoenix Suns. One of the Suns’ highest priorities going into the offseason was to improve the overall team defense. Over the past three years, they have had the 28th, 30th, and 29th rated defense and in turn have lost 58, 61, and 63 games. With one stroke of draft night genius, the franchise may have found the instant solution to these woes. After the Celtics put Aron Baynes on the trade market, Suns GM James Jones wasted no time and acquired the masterful defensive stalwart as well as the 24th overall pick, NCAA champion Ty Jerome, for the small price of the Bucks top 7 protected 2020 first round pick. Taking a deep dive into Aron Baynes’ defensive presence, Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - This week will be all about individual player development, and we start off by forecasting Deandre Ayton’s 2019-20. All week, we will be breaking down the individual developments for the rest of the Suns’ core group after doing the same for Devin Booker earlier in the offseason. Today we begin with Deandre Ayton, who has a lot riding on his development in year two. We each break down three big areas that Ayton needs to improve in, from his aggressive mentality to his help defense. Ayton showed a lot as a rookie but has plenty of room to grow. What is realistic to expect in 2019-20? Find us on the new Himalaya podcast app, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify! Follow on Twitter: @LockedOnPHXSuns, @esidery, @BrendonKleen14 Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports Will the Suns get off to a good start? Welcome to the weekly news roundup of your Phoenix Suns. If you read Brendon Kleen’s article “ESPN projections currently have the Suns doubling their 2018-19 win total this season” a few days ago then you know that ESPN’s Kevin Pelton has predicted that the Suns will win 38 games this season. The current predictions from FiveThiryEight have the Suns winning 36 games. If the Suns could finish this season somewhere between those 38-44 and 36-46 predictions, it would likely be considered a “success” and please many long-suffering fans. Even though that win total wouldn’t get the Suns back to the playoffs, it would be a success of a sort. After four straight years of win totals under 25, it would be a success in the sense that real progress might have finally been made. But there are also other predictions of less than 30 wins for the Suns. Of course, we can only speculate for now and the Suns are likely to be one Collapse

8/17/2019 - Tim, Dave and Greg cover the latest Suns news and perform some unique analysis on the Suns schedule The Suns schedule came out and Tim, Greg and Dave predict what will happen in the first 18 games or so. You wouldn’t believe who guessed the highest win total! Also, if you’re up and reading this on Saturday morning: We will be back LIVE from 7-8AM on Saturday morning. If you have a question, we answer live listener questions right there in the last 10 minutes of the show. If you want us to take a question on the air, log on Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM on our Solar Panel Youtube channel. Help us pay the bills! Support the show for $1-$10 per month here: support Watch/Listen right here! Follow the Suns Solar Panel crew on Twitter @SunsSolarPanel, @Espo, @DaveKingNBA and @RadioTimNBA. Dave has access to the team as a credentialed media member since 2012, while Greg brings his insights as a former Suns employee for half decade who still has his connections. Tim is a pro Collapse

8/16/2019 - Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images ESPN Real Plus-Minus projections were updated for the first time this week, and the Suns were the biggest winner. Two things are working in the Suns’ favor when it comes to statistical projection models putting them near the middle of the NBA pack this season. The most surprising factor for many will be that they opted to keep key pieces from last year’s team in place. Bringing seven players back from a 19-win squad probably seems like backward method of improving the win total in Phoenix this season, but as ESPN noted in their Real Plus-Minus projection breakdown, that’s just what the models say will happen. Real-Plus Minus projections have the Suns doubling their win total from last year, with the core of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Kelly Oubre Jr. a major positive force. As ESPN analyst Kevin Pelton wrote: “Squint hard and Phoenix had the makings of a competitive team last season, outscoring opponents Collapse