Lakers @ Suns 3-9-17

[Mainstreet]

The Lakers visit the Suns tonight with a later start at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time. The later start is likely because of TNT coverage. In the last ten games the Lakers are 1-9. Over the same stretch the Suns are 4-6.

From the ESPN Preview:

Perhaps inspired by a surprising second-place finish in the dunk competition, Jones has been near-perfect in the Suns' seven games since the break. He's missed only three of his 19 shots and averaged 5.1 points off the bench.

Jones enters Thursday's game with an 80.8 field-goal percentage, easily the league's best among all players with 25 or more attempts this season.

I had no idea Jones was shooting this well.

http://www.espn.com/nba/preview?gameId=400900359

 

[unseenaz]

hate the lakers, but we especially need to lose this game. the way we've been playing tho that may be "tough" to do

 

[Mainstreet]

hate the lakers, but we especially need to lose this game. the way we've been playing tho that may be "tough" to do

I think the Suns would have to rest Bledsoe to have a chance at losing.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

The Lakers visit the Suns tonight with a later start at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time. The later start is likely because of TNT coverage. In the last ten games the Lakers are 1-9. Over the same stretch the Suns are 4-6.

From the ESPN Preview:



I had no idea Jones was shooting this well.

http://www.espn.com/nba/preview?gameId=400900359

All Jones does is stuff the ball, which is fine by me.
Also, no way we lose this game to the Lakers. They're executing their draft plan to perfection.

 

[Mainstreet]

All Jones does is stuff the ball, which is fine by me.
Also, no way we lose this game to the Lakers. They're executing their draft plan to perfection.

I was kind of surprised by the shooting stats.

Jones does stuff the ball a lot but he also does not throw up a bunch of bad shots either. I give him credit for this. Also Jones defense is catching my eye. The Suns may have found themselves a player because he is showing he is coachable.

I agree. It will be hard for the Suns to lose to the Lakers.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

No way we lose, but . . .

LOSE!

LOSE!

LOSE!

 

[Mainstreet]

No way we lose, but . . .

LOSE!

LOSE!

LOSE!

I think we might need a reverse jinx, like win, win win.

It's alright not to mean it.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

I was kind of surprised by the shooting stats.

Jones does stuff the ball a lot but he also does not throw up a bunch of bad shots either. I give him credit for this. Also Jones defense is catching my eye. The Suns may have found themselves a player because he is showing he is coachable.

I agree. It will be hard for the Suns to lose to the Lakers.

I agree the Suns need to resign him this summer along with Williams. Both these players need a permanent spot in the rotation next season. Len and Knight can go bye bye along with maybe the Duds or possibly Barbosa.

 

[Mainstreet]

I agree the Suns need to resign him this summer along with Williams. Both these players need a permanent spot in the rotation next season. Len and Knight can go bye bye along with maybe the Duds or possibly Barbosa.

Luckily the Suns were smart enough to lock up Derrick Jones Jr. for the next two seasons with a team option for a third so that relieves that concern. I agree the Suns need to match any offer for Williams who I believe is a RFA although it is vague. In any regard the Suns need to sign him to a reasonable contract.

I think the Suns will be looking for trade offers for any player that does not fit into their future especially Knight.

Barbosa is signed for only for $4 million next season so I think he would be a good player to keep. He seems content with any role the Suns give him. Dudley is signed for about $10 million the next two seasons. Both these players can be easily be kept or traded. They are team players. It will be interesting to see how the Suns and other teams value Len in free agency. I would keep Len on a reasonable contract but let him walk if another team wants to overpay.

 

[hsandhu]

No chance in hell we lose, this will be a beat down, over by the first half. But...

We have a road/home doubleheader this weekend, perfect time to leave bledsoe, booker, warren at home instead of going to dallas saturday. They need the 'rest'. Hell Pop is resting players when chasing a number one seed, what's wrong with a bottom team doing it.

Sarver has made so many mistakes, but I'm sure he and Mcd would be sick, like us, to lose a top pick in this draft at the end of a sunk season, play it smart this weekend, perfect chance to.

 

[Mainstreet]

No chance in hell we lose, this will be a beat down, over by the first half. But...

We have a road/home doubleheader this weekend, perfect time to leave bledsoe, booker, warren at home instead of going to dallas saturday. They need the 'rest'. Hell Pop is resting players when chasing a number one seed, what's wrong with a bottom team doing it.

Sarver has made so many mistakes, but I'm sure he and Mcd would be sick, like us, to lose a top pick in this draft at the end of a sunk season, play it smart this weekend, perfect chance to.

I agree with what you are saying. IMO, just resting Bledsoe would have a huge impact.

 

[AzStevenCal]

No chance in hell we lose, this will be a beat down, over by the first half. But...

We have a road/home doubleheader this weekend, perfect time to leave bledsoe, booker, warren at home instead of going to dallas saturday. They need the 'rest'. Hell Pop is resting players when chasing a number one seed, what's wrong with a bottom team doing it.

Sarver has made so many mistakes, but I'm sure he and Mcd would be sick, like us, to lose a top pick in this draft at the end of a sunk season, play it smart this weekend, perfect chance to.

I think we win but I was sure we'd beat them at the start of the season and look how that went. But, anyway, we embarrassed that team in every way when last we faced off. My guess, they will put forth their best effort against us tonight. It's not like one win is going to put them at risk of dropping out of the second spot, they'll win that going away.

IMO, the Lakers will not give tonight's game away. If Eric comes out half-speed like he often does against inferior foes, we might not need Brandon Knight to score a tank victory.

And the Spurs comparison doesn't really work IMO. They have a reason to rest their guys, they have a long postseason to survive. Plus, it's one thing to rest mature veterans, it's quite another to rest a 20 year old or a 23 year old. I'd love to see us sit Bledsoe and start knight for a stretch of games but I doubt that we'll tank quite that overtly. But we can hope.

 

[Hoop Head]

I'd like to see the Suns mimic the 76er's somewhat with how they'd rest Embiid one game and play Okafor and then swap them the next game. Do that with Bledsoe and Knight. I know they want to gauge what kind of player Ulis is so they can start him if Eric sits and let Knight play the 6th man role he was supposed to thrive in coming into the season. Maybe he can salvage some of his value if he plays well over the last month or two, at least enough to be able to be given away without any other assets.

 

[Chaplin]

I'm hearing whispers that Bledsoe might be sitting tonight.

 

[Mainstreet]

Jared Dudley is fined $35,000 for incident against Wizards that involved head butting.

"I was standing up for Tyler,'' Dudley told azcentral sports. "I didn't mean to actually head-butt the dude. I wanted to go up and get in his face, and in doing so, my head hit his head. I wouldn't even call it a head butt, but we definitely touched. It was more so the reaction of Brandon Jennings, with the gun symbol and what he was saying. That's what got me really mad. Someone who's new to that team, who wasn't even involved and talking the way he was ... The only thing I regret was maybe my language.

So this is why Dudley wears a headband.

Such is the life of an enforcer.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...x-suns-jared-dudley-fined-35000-nba/98970104/

 

[GatorAZ]

I'm hearing whispers that Bledsoe might be sitting tonight.

Anyone minutes you can spare Bledsoe this year is a good thing going forward just for his knees alone. Increasing your chances of losing is just a bonus.

 

[Mainstreet]

Anyone minutes you can spare Bledsoe this year is a good thing going forward just for his knees alone. Increasing your chances of losing is just a bonus.

It is sort of like Chandler as well. Let's keep the mileage down.

 

[hsandhu]

I'm hearing whispers that Bledsoe might be sitting tonight.

From where, that was trumpian, I'm hearing things!

The lakers are such trash, our second unit might beat them, booker needs to sit too.

 

[Hoop Head]

Saw an interesting stat on Booker, it's his TPA. His is actually lower than Knights and is the lowest on the team. The stat measures offensive and defensive effectiveness and taking playing time and usage into account. He's young so it may not matter that much right now but it's almost the exact opposite of Bledsoe's. Here is a description of it...

The concept of total points added (TPA), isn’t particularly complicated. We’re looking at both defensive and offensive effectiveness on a per-possession basis while also incorporating the amount of playing time the contributor in question receives.

At the heart of the theory is this comparison between two hypothetical players:

• Player A makes an average team 5 points better per 100 possessions than an average player would in his spot, and he plays 500 possessions.
• Player B makes an average team 10 points better per 100 possessions than an average player would in his spot, and he plays 250 possessions.

Player B is more effective on a per-possession basis—twice as effective, in fact. But Player A spends twice as much time on the court. Theoretically, they should have identical values, as they would both add 25 points to an average team.

As such, the formula for TPA is rather simple. It’s broken down into two parts—offensive points added (OPA) and defensive points saved (DPS)—and each is calculated in the same vein.

Here is the site that keeps track of it and a few other advanced stats as well as the stats for everyone on the team.

http://nbamath.com/tpa-database/nba-2016-17-tpa-scores/

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[sunsfan88]

Bledsoe has apparently hyperextended his knee.

Jesus, he couldn't go one full season without anything happen to those knees.

I have small hope that the Suns are fabricating this just to lose against the Lakers but with the Bledsoe's injury history, they would've been better off to just hold him out for "rest".

 

[hsandhu]

looks like injury report has bledsoe out, we'll still beat the lakers... keep him out vs Dallas as well, easy excuse it is a back to back.

 

[pokerface]

There has to be a way to lose this game...Stupid Lakers

 

[Mainstreet]

looks like injury report has bledsoe out, we'll still beat the lakers... keep him out vs Dallas as well, easy excuse it is a back to back.

Do you have a link?

Rotoworld has him day-to-day with knee.

First thought, it could be good news in disguise.

 

[Mainstreet]

The has to be a way to lose this game...Stupid Lakers

Tyler Ulis needs to get the flu.

 

[hsandhu]

Do you have a link?

Rotoworld has him day-to-day with knee.

First thought, it could be good news in disguise.

espn game preview, but I'm not sure now, craig grailou has watson saying 'they seem healthy' about both ulis and bledsoe. Maybe a backhanded comment about front office sitting them out?