Gambo : Bledsoe shut down for year

[hsandhu]

Sarver, you magnificent bastard!

Don't make me take back everything I said about you.

 

[pokerface]

YEEEEEEAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

 

[Errntknght]

oh goody, goody... lots of Ulis. I suppose we are a little less likely to win without Bledsoe but I'll bet it makes all the shooters happy.

 

[GatorAZ]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AzStevenCal]

This is the right call and not just because it makes sense to rest his knees when the games don't matter and not because it helps the losing cause. I believe that Ulis can be an above average starter in this league but you don't really know until you give him his chance and with a point guard heavy draft, this needs to be his chance. He's still early in his development and is going to make a lot of mistakes, let him make them now when nothing is on the line. Plus, he's fun to watch.

 

[Cheesebeef]

for the love of God... what the hell took so long?!

 

[pokerface]

for the love of God... what the hell took so long?!

Yeah we'd still be above the Lakers BUT it's not too late for a decent draft.

 

[pokerface]

This is the right call and not just because it makes sense to rest his knees when the games don't matter and not because it helps the losing cause. I believe that Ulis can be an above average starter in this league but you don't really know until you give him his chance and with a point guard heavy draft, this needs to be his chance. He's still early in his development and is going to make a lot of mistakes, let him make them now when nothing is on the line. Plus, he's fun to watch.

Yeah we're tanking for the "love of Ulis".... Alrighty then.

 

[pokerface]

oh goody, goody... lots of Ulis. I suppose we are a little less likely to win without Bledsoe but I'll bet it makes all the shooters happy.

A little less likely to win? We just got beat on our home court by sactown. Benching Bledsoe is the best tank move Sarver could do. The second best move would be letting Knight take his minutes.

 

[hsandhu]

for the love of God... what the hell took so long?!

In fairness, they tried after the allstar break.

But who the hell would of thought a lineup of ulis, barbosa, derrick jones, dudley, alan williams would become good and help us win.

 

[pokerface]

In fairness, they tried after the allstar break.

But who the hell would of thought a lineup of ulis, barbosa, derrick jones, dudley, alan williams would become good and help us win.

Yeah we are just too good for our own good

 

[Yuma]

Now the Ronnie Price signing makes sense. Just in case Barbosa or Uliss needs a back up.

 

[hsandhu]

Doug haller just confirmed, said it is for 'knee soreness'.

I tell you Sarver is really impressing me, coming up with fake injuries for healthy players is straight out of the 1997 spurs playbook. And we know how that worked out for them!

 

[slinslin]

Last week Bledsoe played through a hyper-extended knee according to the game report.

 

[pokerface]

Doug haller just confirmed, said it is for 'knee soreness'.

I tell you Sarver is really impressing me, coming up with fake injuries for healthy players is straight out of the 1997 spurs playbook. And we know how that worked out for them!

Yup. This is good news for real. This tank needs to be taken seriously. It's not a joke and Sarver is proving it now. We just can't coast and hope for the best.

 

[sunsfan88]

This is a counter move to the recent announcement that Mogov and Deng are both done for the season.

Suns are only 2 games ahead of the Lakers. And I don't think tie breakers work the same way it would for playoff seeding in terms of h2h record so we may be able to beat them out if we can at least tie them.

 

[pokerface]

Last week Bledsoe played through a hyper-extended knee according to the game report.

He's played his guts out...He deserves the rest of the season off.

 

[pokerface]

This is a counter move to the recent announcement that Mogov and Deng are both done for the season.

Suns are only 2 games ahead of the Lakers. And I don't think tie breakers work the same way it would for playoff seeding in terms of h2h record so we may be able to beat them out if we can at least tie them.

Well they might be catchable but I doubt it because they stink that bad. Only way I see it is less Booker...More Knight.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The Lakers are bad enough and motivated enough to avoid winning another game if they feel that's necessary to maintain the 2 spot. Even the 2 spot puts them a little at risk but the 3 spot is really living dangerously for them, I don't think they're going to give away two first rounders if they can avoid it.

 

[Mainstreet]

Doug haller just confirmed, said it is for 'knee soreness'.

I tell you Sarver is really impressing me, coming up with fake injuries for healthy players is straight out of the 1997 spurs playbook. And we know how that worked out for them!

A couple of games back there was a play where Bledsoe was driving to the basket along the baseline where he couldn't decide whether to shoot or pass and he sort of went down. This initially concerned me but he kept playing so I didn't think about it again until now.

This is a good move.

These are excerpts from a Doug Haller article at azcentral about this dated 3-15-17.

“Management decision,” Watson said when asked why Bledsoe sat. “I don’t think any coaching staff would hold ‘Bled’ out, but Tyler (Ulis) stepped up.”

Ulis did, finishing with 13 assists 13 points and only one turnover, but at least at this point in his career, Ulis is not Bledsoe.

“Bled’s been great, he had a great season, he played at a high level,” Watson said. “He’s been dominant all year. He’s taken a big leap in the right direction. There’s a lot of room for him to grow and he’s excited about that.”

Bledsoe, who was not available for comment, said last Saturday that he had some pain in his left knee, and azcentral sports Suns reporter Doug Haller confirmed he is done for the year. Left unsaid is that the resulting losses will help the Suns’ draft position.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...ss-home-sacramento-might-leave-mark/99242800/

 

[pokerface]

Watson talks like he still wants to play the "you know what" out of Bledsoe. I'm glad the higher ups pulled the plug on that nonsense. He'd run Bled into the ground if it was his choice... Pffft. I don't think Watson had been totally following orders ever prior to this about Eric and his minutes. Now he doesn't have that option...Good!

This is one of those situations where Bled probably tweaked his knee and if it were the playoffs he'd play through it....Maybe. Regardless, I'm almost miffed it even came to this. The plug should have been pulled sooner because many of us were worried this might happen.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Woohoo!

Now that said, I have been a BIG proponent of the tank. I think that's obvious. But I can't ever remember any season in which multiple teams just started shutting down multiple players for 10-20 games like this season. There needs to be a change.

I've read something like this before, but I think the solution should be something like the following:

All teams that suck enough to be lottery teams are awarded a certain equal set number of ping pong balls. Thus there's no incentive to be the worst. Then make them play a one-game elimination tourney. And you get more pong pong balls the further you go in the tournament. It could even be televised. Tell me y'all wouldn't watch the Suns in the Ping Pong Tourney!

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

Woohoo!

Now that said, I have been a BIG proponent of the tank. I think that's obvious. But I can't ever remember any season in which multiple teams just started shutting down multiple players for 10-20 games like this season. There needs to be a change.

I've read something like this before, but I think the solution should be something like the following:

All teams that suck enough to be lottery teams are awarded a certain equal set number of ping pong balls. Thus there's no incentive to be the worst. Then make them play a one-game elimination tourney. And you get more pong pong balls the further you go in the tournament. It could even be televised. Tell me y'all wouldn't watch the Suns in the Ping Pong Tourney!

This absolutely needs to happen. I believe Bill Simmons proposed an idea like this and called it something like the "entertaining as Hell" tournament. And that is what it would be...entertaining as Hell.

One thing I know for sure...I'm tired of rooting for the Suns to lose. It would be nice to have a system that rewards teams for improving instead of incentivizing the worst teams to lose.

 

[AzStevenCal]

All they have to do is tie significant money to the solution. Dole out serious financial awards based on season finish. Take some of that TV money and instead of chopping it up evenly, give the worst team the smallest share of that pie and work your way up from there. Or just do that for the lottery teams. Take all the TV money that would normally go to the 14 worst teams and divvy up their shares similar to the way the ping pong balls are currently allocated (reversed, obviously).

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

All they have to do is tie significant money to the solution. Dole out serious financial awards based on season finish. Take some of that TV money and instead of chopping it up evenly, give the worst team the smallest share of that pie and work your way up from there. Or just do that for the lottery teams. Take all the TV money that would normally go to the 14 worst teams and divvy up their shares similar to the way the ping pong balls are currently allocated (reversed, obviously).

That's interesting. And it makes sense from a business perspective. Who generates more television viewing interest the nets or one of the lottery teams vying for the 8 seed? Obviously the latter.