Kellan Olson

Can Mat Ishbia earn the trust back of Suns fans? When Mat Ishbia and the new regime joined the Suns, they were viewed with a blank slate. They have not earned the right for that to be extended.

And offseason reax

Bud fired - arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...
Ishbia presser - arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...

Who are the vultures circling the Suns for Kevin Durant? The Kevin Durant sweepstakes will feature plenty of teams vying for the Phoenix Suns star this summer.

Bluesky! Hello! Nice to see you.

Here are some of my offseason previews!

Big 4 this offseason - arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...
KD trade candidates - arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...
Where the picks are - arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...

Devin Booker takes Suns' record with already deep connection Devin Booker will take the Phoenix Suns' all-time scoring record having already developed a deep connection to the team and city.

Hi Bluesky!

I wrote about Devin Booker's connection with Phoenix ahead of him becoming the Suns' all-time leading scorer. Includes quotes from him, Bradley Beal and good stuff KD was kind enough to provide as well: arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-...

HI ALI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

watching the Kings game on Sunday was funny because all I saw was CP3 creating that for him and then yelling GO! GO! as soon as he passed it to him

We saw KD/Wemby match up quite a bit in the two matchups here last year. Curious how much we see it in this one. Ighodaro changes that dynamic a bit on both ends.

Ideally, the Suns will have matchups when Nurkic is a 30+ minutes guy and others when he's around 14-18, with the rest getting filled by Ighodaro or whatever wing is technically "the 5." Being able to flip that switch when the offense stalls out (beyond desperation at the end of a game) helps.

Warriors use smaller 5s that aren't individual threats offensively, so that offers some upside, and then there's benefitting from the extra spacing against one of the best defenses in the league.

I think tonight would be a good night for the Suns to go deep into small-ball with the bigs, and I'm including Ighodaro at the 5 in that thought. With how unstable the Nurkic minutes have been this season, in-season experimenting could prove to be valuable later in the year.

Bluesky exclusive: How orange is the court?

Well, it's orange. Would i describe it as bright? No. Not even off-putting. Should not lead to eye strain. Tonally, it matches the jersey matchup nicely! Big fan of the white lines so that's easy to spot. Should not be much of a deal. IMO!

Here’s the story I got out of this night + a trip to Tucson and postgame question for Flagg: arizonasports.com/story/356549...

Thank you, Kaitlin! Great to see you again!

I did NOT have fun

Is that more of a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning type of beat?

How are you guys spending the break? Any fun weekend plans?

Another team having an aggressive shade of orange is creating quite the tizzy for my noggin watching this live, I tell ya.

Great to see old friends!

That’s a wrap on the night! Story submitted and sound uploaded. I hope this was at least moderately interesting for a few of you. See ya later on on here.

Easier to find a spot postgame for sure.

We are wrapped at the podium. Was able to walk-and-talk out with Jones so that’s 5-for-5 on the Flagg story. That’s big time. Next up is postgame hit and then wrapping the sound/story

Locker room was quick, as it tends to be after games like this. We spoke with Dunn for a few minutes and I ducked out halfway through to get Allen for the aforementioned story. Waiting on Ighodaro and Jones at the podium. Editing time!

Back in presser room. Bud will be here in 10-15 minutes, so that’s time to write. Locker room will open shortly after he’s done. 1-2 players will be at podium so it’s a dance between this room and the locker room.

it is looking joever. Starting to format the words together, thinking about what to ask postgame, who we will talk to and so on. I'll head down to the presser room with a few minutes to go and have most of it done by the time Bud talks. Will adjust as necessary based on standout quotes (if any).

The bright side of covering 20-win teams is I learned how to write ahead for games that looked like this early. Around the late third quarter to mid-fourth quarter is when I'll make the decision on if I'm trying to hammer most of it out or waiting to see how the rest of the game goes.

Halftime! I skedaddled down to go to the bathroom during the last minute (yikes), grabbed caffeine, watched that back and am now tidying up 1H thoughts.

I'll make the call on if I want to write enough that may have to change later and I'm going for it with the way this is trending.

Another example of using time wisely — @geraldbourguet.bsky.social is sifting through the Suns’ misses this year before tip to look at how teams are doubling Booker ahead of what we’ll see tonight. It takes a lot beyond just one watch of a game to break things down like he does.

If you're a young writer and that's intimidating to see, that's totally OK! I'm a degenerate and you figure out what works for you when writing a "gamer." My word count is above the norm (and insane tbf). I'll jot a few things down during breaks but I like to stay super focused on the game.

From now until the game ends, it's about crafting together what I can writing on deadline so I don't leave a ton for me to do postgame. That's been tougher to do with all the close games lately but it's part of the job.

Here's the blurbs I have done before the game starts and notes to watch.

HI ALI MISSED YOU

This is when most people eat. I’m on a tight diet so I brought my own food but not at as a disservice to the setup! Ishbia treats us well. Meal is now free under new ownership and there are additional snacks provided throughout the night. Halftime setup has hot dogs, nachos, etc.