Nets @ Suns Wednesday game thread 12-13-2023

[Cheesebeef]

Too slow to stay in front of quicker players and too weak to deal with bigger wings.

Yeah… he was the one I had the most hope for.

 

[Raindog]

None of the “bargain buy” guys has stepped up to be truly reliable. If just ONE them (Okogie/Goodwin/KBD/Metu) actually did, it would be a huge boon to the team.

To be honest, I was a little surprised by how excited posters were getting guys who put up okay stats on terrible teams.

Unfortunately, it seems like we got what we paid for.

I was optimistic at the time, but it's really starting to look that way. It's becoming clear why a lot of these guys were available at discount prices.

 

[Hoop Head]

Hopefully there's a better way to get someone without giving up either of those two in Allen and Little. Outside of those two I'd also like to keep Metu.

Gordon, JO, Bol can go at anytime for me but i understand that Allen and Little probably have the most value as a trade chip. Perfect world would be to use the trade exception and waive Bol.

Problem is matching salaries. We have a collection of minimum salaries and around $6.5 million in a trade exception from Cam Payne, which likely includes attaching 2nd rounders to and we have few available.

4 of our 6 best players are SG's in Booker, Beal, Gordon, and Allen. I know they can all slide up and down a spot here and there but ultimately we can afford to lose someone like Allen if we can add someone who is clearly still in that top 5-6 talent range who plays PF, primarily or even half the time they're on the floor.

One name that would work, salary wise, is Jevon Carter. Apparently Chicago wants to clear his cap space and if they move LaVine they'll go full tear down. Carter is due $6.1 million this year and the next 2 seasons. I don't think he's enough of a PG to lead the second unit but him and Goodwin together could be enough and defensively they'd be a handful.

I definitely think Little should be dealt if he can bring in a veteran. He's up and down and too small to play PF full time. We need help now and he's movable contract. I'd rather he go than Allen but at this point we need a shake up and talent upgrade. Our options are very limited.

 

[gimpy]

Listening to Vogel I just want him to shut up.

“They’re figuring out how to get each other ball and when to be aggressive.” WTF?!? What did they work in all preseason and to date???

Apparently not this.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Apparently not this.

They barely played together in preseason and camp is not the same as real game action. Ideally they would have gotten the necessary reps in the first 10-15 games of the regular season, but that of course requires them to not be out with injuries...

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I still want to see what this team can do when healthy and with a little chemistry. On paper they should be an elite offense with a lot of scorers and shooters and that would make things like rebounding feel a lot less glaring.

This would also make determining the priority of who or what position needs to be replaced or added easier.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Having all our guys healthy will certainly help, but the chances of our guys staying healthy through the playoffs seems slim to none. Even then I'm not sure a fully healthy team is championship team.

Point Book is a bad plan, it takes him away from his game and wears him out. IF Beal can stay healthy and take the bulk of the PG duties that would help.

Nurkic has been great but they must find a way to stop the opposing teams constant parade to the hoop.

We need health, a point guard other than Booker and an interior defender.

I’m in agreement here. If we had a movement based offense like golden state runs we wouldn’t have need of a traditional pg. But we don’t. I don’t know what kind of offense we run (and that’s not an ignorance thing, it’s an observational thing), but as much as Booker isn’t a disaster as a pg in it, he does not maximize the offense and HE’S not maximized in it either.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Failed miserably? The first game 100% should have been a win if not for a fluke turnover in the last seconds.

2nd game we had a miserable start, but fought back and probably should have gotten the win as well.

You act like they came in and flat out kicked our ass in both games. Not what happened.

Can we really call any turnover by this turnover prone team a “fluke” at this point?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

We are mediocre on defense - other than our rebounding which we really suck at - mainly long rebounds. Other teams don't seem to have that problem and you don't need big guys for long rebounds - seems like coaching to me.

Offense is what is letting us down. Double teaming is way too effective against us.

This is what is confounding me. If we only had one star in the court double teaming should be effective. But with 2, much less 3, we should kill double teams. The fact that we don’t is absolutely basketball malpractice.

 

[DJ Tabooh]

I’m in agreement here. If we had a movement based offense like golden state runs we wouldn’t have need of a traditional pg. But we don’t. I don’t know what kind of offense we run (and that’s not an ignorance thing, it’s an observational thing), but as much as Booker isn’t a disaster as a pg in it, he does not maximize the offense and HE’S not maximized in it either.

Booker has been the least of our concerns. He’s still averaging damn near 30 with 7-8 assists a night. That’ll work. The issue is, I think we need to play faster and find a release valve if/when he gets doubled.

When we have those advantages, the wrong guys (Okogie/Eubanks) get the ball and aren’t playmakers. I think we should play at a faster tempo. The more possessions in a game, the more that favors a team with more offensive firepower.

 

[Phrazbit]

This is what is confounding me. If we only had one star in the court double teaming should be effective. But with 2, much less 3, we should kill double teams. The fact that we don’t is absolutely basketball malpractice.

Durant doesn’t move off the ball, he needs to be way more active.

Booker is both our best ball handler and the only guy who is aggressive about movement off the ball. Not a great setup.

We’re also using far less screens than we used to.

 

[95pro]

Durant doesn’t move off the ball, he needs to be way more active.

Booker is both our best ball handler and the only guy who is aggressive about movement off the ball. Not a great setup.

We’re also using far less screens than we used to.

Our go to set, is drive and kick. Or pass on an open three and drive.

 

[Bufalay]

Durant doesn’t move off the ball, he needs to be way more active.

Booker is both our best ball handler and the only guy who is aggressive about movement off the ball. Not a great setup.

We’re also using far less screens than we used to.

Durant is old and plays too many minutes. I think his lack of movement is a necessity.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Our go to set, is drive and kick. Or pass on an open three and drive.

I would love to see more of Nurk distributing from the post. Of course that requires the other guys to be active off ball.

 

[Suns_fan69]

We do have a couple offensive sets (double drag screens on the wings to a DHO up top), but they are fairly basic and devolve if the first couple options don't pan out. Then it becomes a hero ball 1v1 bailout