Lakers @ Suns Monday game thread, October 28th, 2024

[Superbone]

Beat LA... Beat LA... Beat LA

Who's laughing now, Brian in Mesa?

 

[Superbone]

Gerald Bourguet of PHNX writes a solid article on the importance of Jusuf Nurkic as a make-or-break piece for the Suns team.

Their championship hopes may all come down to quality play at the center position.

It's a free to read article.

Jusuf Nurkic remains make-or-break piece for Phoenix Suns

For better and for worse, starting center Jusuf Nurkic remains the make-or-break piece for the Phoenix Suns in the 2024-25 NBA season.

gophnx.com

Oh, goodie. We're in great shape then as we could see last night.

 

[Superbone]

What a mess…. Well, they were up by 20 last game and lost the lead, just playing it in reverse this time. Hahaha.

Nailed it!

 

[Mainstreet]

Who's laughing now, Brian in Mesa?

Let's take it easy on Brian. He can't help he is a Lakers fan.

 

[Superbone]

nurk heads back to bench after very short minutes - ad still out there

lakers now up by 8 after the nurkness

Nobody knows what lurks in the shadows of the nurkness.

 

[Covert Rain]

Sure, but that's not true of everybody. Growth curves for players are all over the place and mostly hard to predict. Given the team's investment in DA, it's not unreasonable for the team to put him out there more than his current play deserved to see if his potential can be realized.

If you are playing players purely on investment that's not the coach usually making those decisions. That's the front office putting pressure on the coach for a return on investment IMO. That is unless the coach was very instrumental on bringing a guy in. To Monty's credit he did bench Ayton from time to time but he always went back to him with seemingly the exact same scheme to get him involved no matter how bad it got. Also, I was mostly speaking to more in game adjustments overall. Monty seemed to struggle with that.

 

[Superbone]

The real MVP of this game was Bud for pulling the plug on Nurkic in the second half.

And then putting him back in for the final rebound. I'm loving his adjustments!

 

[Suns_fan69]

Also, I was mostly speaking to more in game adjustments overall. Monty seemed to struggle with that.

On this we agree. Early returns on Bud is he seems to be much more willing/able to adjust in game, but his reputation is that he can be a bit stubborn about this at times too. Will see how it pans out.

 

[Superbone]

Nurk, -20 in 15 mins
Plumlee, +23 in 26 mins

+3 for the win! Seriously, we won by 4 and it would have probably been 3 if LeBron didn't attempt that FT/rebound attempt maneuver.

 

[Superbone]

Let's take it easy on Brian. He can't help he is a Lakers fan.

It should be ILLEGAL to be a Cards and Lakers fan!

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Monty benched Ayton plenty of times during those poor effort stretches.

Hardly. How many times did we complain about Ayton's effort over the years? Despite that Ayton almost always played full time minutes. In fact, in all the years Monty was here Ayton saw less than 20 minutes just 3 times and those were due to foul trouble and injuries.

 

[leclerc]

AD is a good player. No problem Nurk can't guard everyone, but coach has to adjust better.

I watched the recording, so this was after one quarter. Good game. Nurk did well in the previous one. Looks like Bud is a coach that will adjust. Wow. It will take time to adjust to!

LOVE

 

[Mainstreet]

I watched the recording, so this was after one quarter. Good game. Nurk did well in the previous one. Looks like Bud is a coach that will adjust. Wow. It will take time to adjust to!

LOVE

Actually, I think Bud should have substituted for Nurkic earlier, but there is a fine line to walk as a head coach.

He can't destroy a players' confidence when they will need him going forward. Nurkic will have good and bad games.

Hopefully, James Jones can find some help at this position.

 

[JCSunsfan]

This is the way we need to use Plumlee and Nurk. Forget about who is starting etc. Use the player that is the most effective on any given night. Matchups matter a lot with those two. They are veterans. They can handle it.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's kind of ironic the Suns have both Nurkic and Plumlee.

The Nuggets traded Nurkic for Plumlee in 2017.

 

[JCSunsfan]

We are pretty deep these days. We have some players that might be extra. It would be nice to get some picks back.

 

[BirdGangThing]

You must have loved that first quarter. And you nailed it.

it hurt so bad - i was typing in all caps to get nurk out of there

 

[Hoop Head]

The Suns have these issues with trading Nurkic:

They must take back less salary than his. They have only 19 real teams to trade with and those teams must be sending a player that costs at least 10.5 million.

The most gettable guy in that range is Steven Adams

Steven Adams would be an upgrade in almost every way, but I have no idea why Houston would want to do that, unless they want a pick way out in the future which I'm not sure if Phoenix is even allowed to trade.

I mentioned Adams in another thread as a potential target. Trading Nurkic for Adams doesn't make sense for Houston as Adams is the better player and is expiring. Traded Center for Center is rare and usually requires other parts, like the multi-team/multiplayer deal with Ayton, Nurkic, Grayson, and Dame. The Suns can't offer multiple players due to CBA rules and don't have any picks they should add either.


As much as some might not like it the, the best piece for a Center is Grayson and his $15.5 million dollar salary. I'd trade Grayson for Adams if Houston sweetened the pot with a protected pick or a handful of 2nd rounders. Houston doesn't have anyone else whose salary could fit between Adams $12.6m and Allen's $15.5m so picks or a third team would need to be added.

With Royce, Dunn, Morris, Tyus, and even Okogie ans Gillepsie all on the roster though the Suns can afford to trade Grayson. It'd even knock around $7 million off the tax bill, as a bonus. Adams is a backup in Houston so he should be available. The Suns would need to wait a little longer, I believe, because Grayson just resigned here. Either mid December or January would be when Grayson would eligible for trade.

 

[BirdGangThing]

we're not trading nurk

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Who's laughing now, Brian in Mesa?

Wow. Eke out a win and get all cocky much?

Our teams just traded games where each of us had huge leads and lost the games.

All I have to say is good games and good luck.

 

[Superbone]

Wow. Eke out a win and get all cocky much?

Our teams just traded games where each of us had huge leads and lost the games.

All I have to say is good games and good luck.

It's all in good fun. It's just sports, right?

 

[Phrazbit]

Adams has missed most of the last 2 seasons with injury and when last spotted he was benched in the playoffs because he can't play against teams who spread the court well.

I like Adams, I'd have loved him 3 or 4 years ago, but I don't know if he anything left in the tank.

 

[Mainstreet]

I mentioned Adams in another thread as a potential target. Trading Nurkic for Adams doesn't make sense for Houston as Adams is the better player and is expiring. Traded Center for Center is rare and usually requires other parts, like the multi-team/multiplayer deal with Ayton, Nurkic, Grayson, and Dame. The Suns can't offer multiple players due to CBA rules and don't have any picks they should add either.


As much as some might not like it the, the best piece for a Center is Grayson and his $15.5 million dollar salary. I'd trade Grayson for Adams if Houston sweetened the pot with a protected pick or a handful of 2nd rounders. Houston doesn't have anyone else whose salary could fit between Adams $12.6m and Allen's $15.5m so picks or a third team would need to be added.

With Royce, Dunn, Morris, Tyus, and even Okogie ans Gillepsie all on the roster though the Suns can afford to trade Grayson. It'd even knock around $7 million off the tax bill, as a bonus. Adams is a backup in Houston so he should be available. The Suns would need to wait a little longer, I believe, because Grayson just resigned here. Either mid December or January would be when Grayson would eligible for trade.

FWIW, the ESPN NBA Trade Machine deemed a trade, Allen for Adams, successful now.

 

[Mainstreet]

Anyone know what is going on with Rachaun Holmes? It looks like he hasn't played this season for the Wizards.

 

[BirdGangThing]

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