Jazz @ Suns Friday game thread 2-7-2025

[Superbone]

I went to the game last night and came home and read the thread. This was a funny sequence.

lol we definitely losing this game

That's the dagger!

Ran out of gas hate to see Book just wasting these games and not getting the help on defense! Just ridiculous to allow these guys layups all night knock that ****** down stop giving wide open lanes! Why the fudge is Richard’s not in there instead of Mace who is just awful defensively? Book out of gas you should have your best defenders on the floor Bud makes no sense with some of these ******** lineups!

Unsure why we didn’t play Richard’s down the stretch.

This is a horrid loss.

we lost to the jazz - after losing back to back to portland - and there's no draft picks at the end of the suckbow

i knew we'd lose tonight - it sucks going into games like that

WAIT WHAT

ARE YOU freaking KIDDING ME GREYSON

Rex Chapman, is that you?

 

[Suns_fan69]

The Suns were fortunate to win last night, but the thought kept going through my head, the Suns are a better when they play team basketball.

Yes, Devin Booker had a sensational game, but I saw signs of team basketball last night.

Somehow, they got out of this style of play in the three-star system and went to more isolation basketball. They need to get back to team basketball. It's what carried them to the Finals. Two stars is more than enough.

Devin Booker and a star should be sufficient with good, solid rotation players.

Btw, I don't think Bradley Beal is the problem.

100% agree. The first half vs OKC exemplified this as well. The crux of the matter is KD. The rest of the team is really good at .5 style basketball, attacking or passing it immediately (I guess the exception is Booker when he gets it in the post). KD just isn't wired that way. He is way more methodical and prefers to survey from the high post and it can just bog down the offense. Many times it still results in a good or great shot, it just way stickier than what we've seen without him on the court.

 

[Superbone]

100% agree. The first half vs OKC exemplified this as well. The crux of the matter is KD. The rest of the team is really good at .5 style basketball, attacking or passing it immediately (I guess the exception is Booker when he gets it in the post). KD just isn't wired that way. He is way more methodical and prefers to survey from the high post and it can just bog down the offense. Many times it still results in a good or great shot, it just way stickier than what we've seen without him on the court.

But isn't it up to coach Bud to make sure the team plays like this including KD? We are definitely at our best moving the ball at a high assist rate. Save the Durant heroics for the end of the game or when we really need a bucket.

 

[Hoop Head]

But isn't it up to coach Bud to make sure the team plays like this including KD? We are definitely at our best moving the ball at a high assist rate. Save the Durant heroics for the end of the game or when we really need a bucket.

Yes and no. It is Bud's call but he's also not stupid and feuding with KD won't help anyone. I'd be surprised if he hasn't tried telling Durant to play more within the system. If KD doesn't listen then Bud can pull him but how will that fly? Durant is a known coach killer.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yes and no. It is Bud's call but he's also not stupid and feuding with KD won't help anyone. I'd be surprised if he hasn't tried telling Durant to play more within the system. If KD doesn't listen then Bud can pull him but how will that fly? Durant is a known coach killer.

And it's made worse because we don't have a real backup at the 4.

 

[Phrazbit]

You are being sarcastic right?

I turned the game off with 4.5 seconds left and missed the ending, but it changes nothing.

They completely and totally suck. There are only 4 teams that are certifiably worse than them - 1 of them is Utah, and they had to have a miraculous finish to beat them.

We’re not that bad. We are what our record says we are. Without 2 of our 3 best guys our roster is putrid. Booker was out there playing with one legit starting caliber player, a few decent role guys and then some dudes barely worthy of a roster.

Booker and Allen are the only two guys who played last night who have been consistent starters their career. We’ve also come to see why Jones, despite his efficiency, has rarely started games.

When healthy… we’re slightly above average, take out a couple of our top guys and we’re a disaster. The bottom half of the roster wouldn’t sniff the court for most decent teams.

 

[Yuma]

We’re not that bad. We are what our record says we are. Without 2 of our 3 best guys our roster is putrid. Booker was out there playing with one legit starting caliber player, a few decent role guys and then some dudes barely worthy of a roster.

Booker and Allen are the only two guys who played last night who have been consistent starters their career. We’ve also come to see why Jones, despite his efficiency, has rarely started games.

When healthy… we’re slightly above average, take out a couple of our top guys and we’re a disaster. The bottom half of the roster wouldn’t sniff the court for most decent teams.

On the Mercury thread I have been saying how they look like the Suns for the past 5-6 seasons. They tended to get older skilled players, and would get killed by more athletic teams. This past two seasons with a new GM he is moving the club towards more younger and athletic players. Suns have been trading those guys away, (Camara, Cam Johnson, Bridges). I was happy we didn't use any of our 2025 picks and Butler didn't make it here. Of course we can draft those picks for other teams, but I hope someone in the front office assesses that we are falling behind the rest of the Western conference in height and youth. It's a pipe dream, but maybe we can duplicate what we did last draft. Even just one guy would help. I think it was @Mainstreet who was bemoaning our lack of a development center on the G League team, and he's right. We are playing forwards at center down there. There's not one 7 footer on the whole squad. The biggest guy is 6' 10". The scouting for that team needs to improve big time.