GameDay Thread: Kings @ Suns 10-26-16

[SirStefan32]

The surprise for me tonight was the play of Dragon Bender. His 10 points was a pleasant surprise. I expected Chriss to contribute and he did. Ulis brings leadership and energy for the Suns. It gives hope for the future.

Scary thing about Bender is just how intelligent he is. That give-and-go with Len was amazing, as was the play where he realized nobody on the floor could block his shot. Those are High-IQ veteran moves. That kid is an improved Toni Kukoc just waiting to happen.

 

[Hoop Head]

Was bummed I missed this game until I saw the score. Looking at the box score though it says Ulis and Bender were the only players with a positive +/- rating. Bender with +10 in 12 minutes and Ulis with +6 in 14 minutes. Knight had the worst rating at -19 in 28 minutes. He may have bought into being a 6th man but I don't think he's equipped to be a backup PG. I thought he'd be able to add scoring off the bench but he's far too inconsistent to provide points every night.

 

[Mainstreet]

Scary thing about Bender is just how intelligent he is. That give-and-go with Len was amazing, as was the play where he realized nobody on the floor could block his shot. Those are High-IQ veteran moves. That kid is an improved Toni Kukoc just waiting to happen.

It was nice to see Bender show a glimpse of his talent and intelligence on opening night at the ripe old age of 18.

 

[Mainstreet]

It looks like Earl Watson does not hesitate to make changes with the rotation.

Basketball moves fast and Suns coach Earl Watson does too.

The Suns’ season-opening home loss to Sacramento prompted him to declare a new second unit after the 113-94 blowout Wednesday night.

Suns rookies Tyler Ulis and Dragan Bender will replace Leandro Barbosa and P.J. Tucker in the bench unit that will keep Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss and Alex Len.

“To me, they play with the most heart,” Watson said. “Heart gets rewarded.”

Ulis, 20, and Bender, 18, were rare bright spots in a game that the Suns trailed by as much as 26 and lost by 19, the largest season-opening margin of defeat in Suns franchise history.

From a Paul Coro article at azcentral dated 10-27-16.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...er-ulis-dragan-bender-into-rotation/92820030/

 

[95pro]

I'm just now watching the game this morning, into the 2nd quarter.

Booker and Warren weren't effective as starters now that they're being focused on. Booker really hasn't attacked the rim, just some dribbling and passing the ball leads no non-effective plays. He also missed a lot of long range shots.

Warren looks a couple of steps slow on both ends of the court, not sure if its from not playing in a while.

The Knight/Barbosa combo is awful.

Len can't guard anyone 10ft from the goal.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I'm just now watching the game this morning, into the 2nd quarter.

Booker and Warren weren't effective as starters now that they're being focused on. Booker really hasn't attacked the rim, just some dribbling and passing the ball leads no non-effective plays. He also missed a lot of long range shots.

Warren looks a couple of steps slow on both ends of the court, not sure if its from not playing in a while.

The Knight/Barbosa combo is awful.

Len can't guard anyone 10ft from the goal.

Huh? Booker was 8-12 for 18 points and that was despite being in foul trouble the whole night and only playing 24 minutes.

 

[sunsfan88]

It looks like Earl Watson does not hesitate to make changes with the rotation.



From a Paul Coro article at azcentral dated 10-27-16.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...er-ulis-dragan-bender-into-rotation/92820030/

Interesting. I wonder if Tucker will complain about this. I'm pretty confident LB won't mind though.

 

[Mainstreet]

Interesting. I wonder if Tucker will complain about this. I'm pretty confident LB won't mind though.

I think Tucker is still trying to work the rust off his game. In any regard, I'd like for the youngsters to get the playing time.

 

[overseascardfan]

I think Tucker is still trying to work the rust off his game. In any regard, I'd like for the youngsters to get the playing time.

To be very honest, I would have hoped PHX would have either traded or released Tucker and kept Troy Williams to have another young, talented piece to build with.

 

[Mainstreet]

To be very honest, I would have hoped PHX would have either traded or released Tucker and kept Troy Williams to have another young, talented piece to build with.

I wouldn't disagree although the Suns kept Derrick Jones Jr. which makes me feel a bit better. At least Tucker is an expiring contract. The Suns should be able to move him easily to a contender.

What discourages me more is the Suns signing Dudley to a 3 year, 30 million dollar contract. His contract may prove hard to move if needed. Although the Suns like the stability and leadership he brings to the team, I can't buy playing a slow footed SG at PF. I listened to a Ryan McDonough interview before the Kings game. Another reason he gave for the Suns signing Dudley was his positive analytics. I still don't buy it if Dudley is playing PF. I couldn't hope more than I am wrong about this.

 

[95pro]

Huh? Booker was 8-12 for 18 points and that was despite being in foul trouble the whole night and only playing 24 minutes.

I said i was barely into the 2nd quarter. Reading is fundamental...

 

[Errntknght]

What I'd like to see is the elder statesmen, including PJ, being the subs and the first two units using all the youngsters. Like Bled, Booker, Derrick Jones, Chriss and Len starting and Ulis, Jenkins, TJ, Bender and Williams as the second unit. Also play them as units in practice and games. If you have to sub a guy or two out of either unit, then use the older players for that. I like Knight as the forgotten man...

 

[sunsfan88]

I said i was barely into the 2nd quarter. Reading is fundamental...

Booker scored a bunch of his pts in garbage time. I'm fairly confident that CardsSunsDbacks didn't watch the game and merely looked at the box score after.

 

[sunsfan88]

What I'd like to see is the elder statesmen, including PJ, being the subs and the first two units using all the youngsters. Like Bled, Booker, Derrick Jones, Chriss and Len starting and Ulis, Jenkins, TJ, Bender and Williams as the second unit. Also play them as units in practice and games. If you have to sub a guy or two out of either unit, then use the older players for that. I like Knight as the forgotten man...

Len can't start, he's absolutely awful. Chandler isn't great but at least he's a NBA caliber player still even age 35 or whatever he's at.

I know a lot of people here think Goodwin will end up in China, well his fellow draft class mate Alex Len might follow him there if he does. Len has regressed so much. He freaks the hell out and does something stupid every time he touches the basketball. It's been this way throughout pre season and game 1.

We should continue to give Warren opportunities to see if he's any good or starting caliber. Warren is still pretty young. He's still too much of a wild card to just bench immediately for an UDFA who got DNPCD'd the first game.

I'd like to see Bledsoe, Booker, Warren, Chriss and then Chandler.

Btw why are all Suns coaches so obsessed with using a 2nd unit that's entirely full of bench players? Many teams in the league use some of their starters with the second "unit" by bringing certain starters out early and then putting them back in wit the bench.

It's not just a Earl Watson thing either, Hornacek did it before him, Hunter did it before that and Gentry before that too. I wonder if Sarver is advising them to do this because it worked the one and only time in 2010 when we had that bench unit of Dragic, Barbosa, Dudley, Frye and Amundson which helped take us to the WCFs.

It's not gonna work like that all the time and the Suns should look into playing either Booker or Bledsoe with the bench unit. The Knight/Barbosa lineup is cringe worthy. Two big ball hogs who have complete tunnel vision.

 

[sunsfan88]

What discourages me more is the Suns signing Dudley to a 3 year, 30 million dollar contract. His contract may prove hard to move if needed. Although the Suns like the stability and leadership he brings to the team, I can't buy playing a slow footed SG at PF. I listened to a Ryan McDonough interview before the Kings game. Another reason he gave for the Suns signing Dudley was his positive analytics. I still don't buy it if Dudley is playing PF. I couldn't hope more than I am wrong about this.

Suns should honestly trade Tucker and use Dudley as the backup SF to Warren. He provides zero rim protection and weak side defense too because of his limited athleticism and the Kings took advantage of this.

I can't imagine Dudley playing PF and having to cover guys like AD, Draymond, Blake, Favors, Aldridge, Nurkic (or Jokic), Dirk, Z-Bo and that's just the West.

Chriss should probably just start. Only problem with him is that he's a huge fouling machine (led the NBA in pre season fouls iirc maybe wrong though).

I'd like it to be

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Knight
Warren/Dudley
Chriss/Bender
Chandler/Len

Everyone else DNPCD'd. Use Ulis barely and use Bledsoe or Booker with that second unit since Booker has fairly good creating ability too.

 

[Errntknght]

I like TJ playing with Ulis. He needs someone who can get him the ball in the right time and place to be a top scorer. We've seen nothing along that line with Bled (or Knight). If he played consistently with Ulis they'd work out some ways to do it. I also like him playing with Williams because he covers for TJ's shortcomings at rebounding - though he didn't fare too badly against Sac. I didn't list him with the second unit because I figured him to be too weak for the first unit - just to put him in the best position to be a success.

I put Len with the first unit because we need to give him one last chance but Chandler can take most of his minutes if Len is doing too badly. What I hate to see is Williams getting no playing time - he's a lot better prospect than Len is now. I like pairing him with Bender because he can handle guys that would overpower Dragan. The latters outside shooting fits alongside Alan's inside game.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Booker scored a bunch of his pts in garbage time. I'm fairly confident that CardsSunsDbacks didn't watch the game and merely looked at the box score after.

Well you're wrong as I watched the entire game. Also yes Booker had 7 of his 18 points in the 4th Quarter, but that still means he had 11 points in 18 minutes prior to that. The problem was the foul trouble that held him to only 18 minutes (through 3 and a half quarters) and not his inability to score when he was on the court. Also he said he was missing "A lot" of long range shots though he only attempted 3 long shots the whole game. Yes I overlooked the part that said he was only into the 2nd quarter at the time, but that doesn't make me wrong either.

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns should honestly trade Tucker and use Dudley as the backup SF to Warren. He provides zero rim protection and weak side defense too because of his limited athleticism and the Kings took advantage of this.

I can't imagine Dudley playing PF and having to cover guys like AD, Draymond, Blake, Favors, Aldridge, Nurkic (or Jokic), Dirk, Z-Bo and that's just the West.

Chriss should probably just start. Only problem with him is that he's a huge fouling machine (led the NBA in pre season fouls iirc maybe wrong though).

I'd like it to be

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Knight
Warren/Dudley
Chriss/Bender
Chandler/Len

Everyone else DNPCD'd. Use Ulis barely and use Bledsoe or Booker with that second unit since Booker has fairly good creating ability too.

I think the Suns should trade Tucker sometime before the trade deadline because he has an expiring contract and he is likely not coming back.

IMO, the Suns should look towards the future by playing the young players at the forward positions. If Chriss is physically developed enough to take the pounding, I wouldn't mind him starting at PF.