To say that the most surprising team in the past two years must be to get Paul's sun, from the playoff threshold, to two consecutive years of regular season supremacy, Paul's improvement to the team is obvious. But to say that the most disappointing team, the Sun can also compete with the Lakers, the Lakers are a step by step footprint decline, the Sun is after reaching a certain height, quickly collapsed, no resistance. In this regard, the US media "NBA Analysis" reporter Piercy bluntly said that now for the Suns, it is time to say goodbye to Paul, and the Timberwolves can take over Paul!
The deal is simple: the Suns take out Paul, the Timberwolves take out Russell, and the two sides trade 1 for 1. Over the past season, Paul has averaged 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 10.8 assists in the regular season and 17.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game in the playoffs. It looks like the playoff stats are better, but Paul has been terrible in the last 5 series with the Lone Rangers, and to be precise, it seems that paul has changed since his 37th birthday. Playing the Lone Ranger Series, G4 game Paul 5 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, G5 game Paul 7 points, 2 rebounds and 10 assists, G6 game Paul 13 points, 4 assists and 5 turnovers, grab seven games 10 points and 4 assists, the Sun finally fell outside the Western Conference Finals, Paul is also controversial. Russell has averaged 18.1 points + 3.3 rebounds + 7.1 assists in the regular season, 12 points + 2.5 rebounds + 6.7 assists per game in the playoffs, and most importantly, Russell is younger, 10 years younger than Paul.
This deal is a great opportunity for the Timberwolves. This summer, the Timberwolves took out 10 chips in exchange for Gobert, forming a downs + Gobert duo, in addition to Edwards growing rapidly, the Timberwolves' paper strength is not weak, but in the past two seasons, Russell and Edwards lack the necessary tacit understanding, they both need a very high percentage of the ball. Russell, as a 15-year leaderboard, has undoubted talent and played well with the Nets, but for the Timberwolves, Russell is not a member of the team's future map, and they still need to shift their tactical focus to Edwards and Towns. The arrival of Paul can improve and elevate this, Paul is the player who is the best at inspiring the center, and Paul's tandem and organization have helped Edwards go further. On top of that, Paul has a high lower limit for the team, and the Timberwolves need an experienced veteran to lead the team.
Swap Paul for Russell, what is the sun chart? When Paul jumped out of the player option and chose a four-year, $120 million extension (partially guaranteed in the third year, non-guaranteed in the fourth year), it really helped the Suns a lot, and similar to Harden's salary cut today, Paul helped the Suns maintain the framework of the team. But looking back over the past two seasons, it's not hard to see some of the sun's problems. First of all, on Paul's side, Ayton and Booker have grown very fast in the past two years, especially Booker, who has become one of the league's first-line superstars. But last summer, the Suns benefited from many core injuries from their opponents and reached the Finals, where they once led the Bucks 2-0, but were eventually overturned by the Bucks and missed the championship. This year, with a 2-0 lead over the Lone Rangers, the team has another setback, and this team has unshirkable responsibilities from management to Paul.
First, the Suns boss and management were so reluctant to give Ayton a maximum salary contract that at key moments in the playoffs, Monty hid Ayton, and the undercurrent within the team surged up. Secondly, Paul also had some unhappiness with Booker in the finals of last year's game against the Bucks, unwilling to pass the ball, and fighting too much alone, Paul is about to turn 38 next season, if he is still around Booker, it may suppress Booker's play. It is indeed difficult to explain why Paul led the team to a high lower limit but a low upper limit, but one thing is certain, today's sun is no longer the former army of rotten tanks, from poverty to the well-off, their need for Paul is no longer so urgent. Simply put, the promotion is limited, but it may hinder the continued growth of the new generation of players.
Russell is different. First of all, Russell's contract is only $31.38 million for 1 year, and the Suns have a variety of options next summer; Second, Russell is young enough that, in Pearsey's words, Booker and Ayton can play with their peers, and Russell and Booker have a very good relationship in private, and the Sun had heard the news that they wanted to get Russell two years ago, and there would naturally be no gap between the two. Russell's arrival can completely release the value of Booker, and while Booker has more room for improvement, Russell's tandem and organization are not much worse than Paul's. Referring to the sun's two seasons have repeatedly failed at key moments, the tree has moved the dead to the living, and Russell may also be a good choice.
In fact, Paul's current situation is quite embarrassing, age is the biggest problem that plagues him, perhaps Paul can also contribute to the average of 18+10 per game, but also in some key moments, but in the playoffs or some key games, Paul will become the focus of opponents, such as the Pelicans' old six Alvarado, such as the Lone Ranger's Fanny Smith and Bullock. The Suns have to thank Paul for his contributions over the past two seasons, but it's time to say break up. Of course, joining the Timberwolves is also good for Paul, Paul will always be able to lead a C-level or even D-level team into the leader of an A or even A+ level team, and the rest of his career will continue to shine!