VotS Live! Kyrie, Warren, Preseason, Mt. Rushmore, more!

If you missed the final Valley of the Suns Live! of the month of July, watch here and catch up on all that you missed!

Valley of the #Live! 7/31/17 Join us and discuss Kyrie, Warren, Mount Rushmore, preseason, and more! https://t.co/xPodTho7bX
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) August 1, 2017

It was leaked that the Suns would have at least one game against an Australian opponent, the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League, Australia’s premiere professional basketball league. Having the opportunity to watch an Australian team is exciting in it’s own right, but also further connecting the Phoenix Suns franchise with our friends down under is doubly exciting.

As the Kyrie Irving talk has been hanging over the head of the Phoenix Suns franchise, the discussion about whether or not the Suns should be in full pursuit of the superstar point guard continues in full swing. There is no doubt that a trade for Irving would send ripples throughout the league and be the biggest impact trade of a player since the acquisition of Charles Barkley, but fans are still not sold. We all know that the Cavaliers want Josh Jackson in the worst way, but since the Suns are unwilling (GOOD!) to trade the rookie, would Cleveland be interested in anyone else?

This leads to T.J. Warren.

Warren is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and began last season looking like he was on his way to a breakout year. Leading the team in scoring for the beginning part of the season, Warren’s mysterious head injury slowed him up a bit. While he did make a strong showing to wrap the season up averaging over 17 points and 8 rebounds per game over his final 22 appearances, Suns fans were left wondering if they were missing out on something very special.

Would Cleveland take Warren over Jackson? Would the Suns be foolish to trade him too? If he stays, will Warren start over Jackson? If he doesn’t start, will he be in the running for Sixth Man of the Year? These were all topics that were broached during the live stream.

The idea of naming the Suns’ Mount Rushmore was discussed, a very fun and wide-ranging discussion as there are so many options to place in the franchise’s top four. Of course players like Steve Nash, Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, Connie Hawkins, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Walter Davis, and others were named, but who should actually be placed in the top four remains fully up for debate.

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I don’t want to share too much about who the consensus top four are because I would love to get your opinions on the matter as well!

Finally we discussed the injury to Brandon Knight as the shocking news of his torn ACL has rocked the entire Valley of the Suns. For all of the angst that many fans hold towards him for his inability to live up to what the Suns traded for to acquire him, no fans wished an injury upon the young man, especially for someone who was poised to have a breakout year. We all wish Godspeed to Knight in his recovery, and anticipate his return to the court in 2018.

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