Playoffs: Suns @ Nuggets Monday game thread 5-1-2023- Game 2

[TJ]

Makes zero sense to have Ayton on this team next season.
He’s making $30 million per… Looney makes $7 million per. Who would you prefer to have? Super easy to answer this question.

Yeah, it’s Ayton. WTF is wrong with you? It’s fine to be upset with his play, but let’s maintain objectivity

 

[Covert Rain]

Huh? Stop putting words in my mouth. We had a shot, sure, but come one, did you REALLY think we could do it this year with the small number of games KD has played?

I didn’t put words into your mouth. I was responding to what you were inferring when you said….

Do people forget that the trade was made more for next season this this one? Anything we get here would be a bonus.

You said this statement as if this was the prevailing thought. It simply wasn’t.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Considering Ayton averages more in pretty much every stat Ayton. Lol Looney had a really good game now he’s a star

LOL… if you can justify a $23 million a year gap between Ayton and Looney, I gotta stop engaging with you.
Looney isn’t a “star.” And he knows it. Ayton’s not a star either, but he doesn’t know it.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Our bench flat out sucks. Ayton is so unreliable from game to game, quarter to quarter. KD is pressing too much. Booker can’t do it all. Okoge and Lee were pathetic tonight. James Jones better blow up the bench next year cuz I don’t want to see half of them again

Not only does our bench suck, it starts somewhere around our 3rd or 4th starter sometimes.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

LOL… so, if he had played Ross, or Warren, and they sucked it up as badly as Lee did, you’d be here killing Monty for playing those guys.
I see you…

No, I’d give him credit for moving away from shamet and trying to find a hot hand. He did that once during the regular season and finally found a shooter and rode him the rest of the game. I was impressed then. But he’s only done it once. Once. And it wasn’t tonight.

 

[Mainstreet]

Yeah guys bitching about Ayton tonight is hilarious. Him and Booker are the only ones that showed up

The Suns only have three key players left without Chris Paul: Deandre Ayton. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

That's it and no bench.

 

[Finito]

LOL… if you can justify a $23 million a year gap between Ayton and Looney, I gotta stop engaging with you.
Looney isn’t a “star.” And he knows it. Ayton’s not a star either, but he doesn’t know it.

Oh yes please stop.

 

[Proximo]

Coaches still have to adjust. Monty stopped playing Shamet, which is good but whats his excuse for Lee?

Well he was the 3rd best 3 point shooter in the league, and he had like 3 or 4 open ones tonight, how the hell is Monty supposeed to know he would miss them all tonight?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Considering Ayton averages more in pretty much every stat Ayton. Lol Looney had a really good game now he’s a star

Really good game? Looney averaged 15 rebounds per game over the 7 game series. Show me any series that aytin aporoached that.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Yeah, it’s Ayton. WTF is wrong with you? It’s fine to be upset with his play, but let’s maintain objectivity

It’s Ayton in that $30 million per is a complete waste of money. I honestly can’t think of a player where the gap between contributions to the team vs compensation, is so huge.

 

[Finito]

The Suns only have three key players left without Chris Paul: Deandre Ayton. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

That's it and no bench.

Paul has to go and depending on what you can get for Ayton maybe move him because you really have no choice you’ve locked yourself in to KD and Booker

And Ayton is the only thing on your roster worth anything

 

[Hoop Head]

Considering Ayton averages more in pretty much every stat Ayton. Lol Looney had a really good game now he’s a star

No one called Looney a star. Ayton certainly isn't a star.

 

[Proximo]

The Suns only have three key players left without Chris Paul: Deandre Ayton. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

That's it and no bench.

Yep which is why taking on KD’s massive salary and giving all our firsts away was not a good idea. I understand why ishiba did it, but it was short sited. But in fairness I never expected Durant to play this badly.

 

[Finito]

It’s Ayton in that $30 million per is a complete waste of money. I honestly can’t think of a player where the gap between contributions to the team vs compensation, is so huge.

He’s the 38th highest paid player in the NBA idk what you think guys get paid but honestly 30 million isn’t a lot now

 

[82CardsGrad]

The question is, what can the Suns get in return if they trade Ayton.

However, make no mistake, the Suns have much, much worse problems than Ayton.

“Much, much worse?” I’ll go with “Suns have other problems too.”

 

[TJ]

This team needs to win a championship for no other reason than for fans to chill TF out with these ridiculous assertions

 

[Proximo]

Paul has to go and depending on what you can get for Ayton maybe move him because you really have no choice you’ve locked yourself in to KD and Booker

And Ayton is the only thing on your roster worth anything

He doesn’t have to go. We can’t get anyone any better as depressing as that is.

 

[Mainstreet]

Making no excuses for Monty, but he has nothing on the bench and he is missing a fifth starter.

Without Paul, he is down to three NBA starters.

 

[JosiahLee]

Exactly. Very likely Murray scores 30+ every game from here on out.

Excluding tonight’s clunker, he’s averaging 30.6 points over the 6 previous games including game 1 against us.

 

[Covert Rain]

No, I’d give him credit for moving away from shamet and trying to find a hot hand. He did that once during the regular season and finally found a shooter and rode him the rest of the game. I was impressed then. But he’s only done it once. Once. And it wasn’t tonight.

Him spending weeks on a rotation then to change it up in the playoffs is beyond inexcusable. Then he sticks with Shamet for multiple games.

If he had not done that to begin with he wouldn’t still be trying to experiment with the lineup in Round 2. This has had a cascade effect of guys not being used to rotations.

Can someone show me another coach that switched up the rotation before a playoff game and is still doing it now?

Now we are really in for it. With Paul being hurt? That shortens our rotation on the bench even more. Not that it matters how short our bench is they are so bad.

 

[dscher]

Ayton wasn’t the problem at all tonight.

Disappeared after half. But, the dumpster fire was in full effect by the 4th, so it made it less noticable.

 

[TJ]

He doesn’t have to go. We can’t get anyone any better as depressing as that is.

If you can replenish the bench and find a third-tier center, you absolutely trade Ayton.

 

[ajcardfan]

Not only does our bench suck, it starts somewhere around our 3rd or 4th starter sometimes.

It was hard to watch that bench tonight. It was like they put D2 college players in there instead of NBA players. When the game was still in doubt with about 4 mins left Okogie catches the ball inside the free throw line, completely alone. Wide open 10 footer. Doesn't even look at the rim. Instead starts looking to pass and when he does it winds up in a turnover. That was the icing on the top of the bench turd cake for me. Not one of them is playing with any confidence.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Yeah guys bitching about Ayton tonight is hilarious. Him and Booker are the only ones that showed up

Wait, 14/8 Ayton? The guy that held jokic to 39/13 Ayton? That guy? Okay.

 

[clyde2tw]

First, on D we improved a lot and Okogie played great on Murray that the latter never got hot. Later in 4th, the 3 3s from KCP killed the game, and our def. was not attentive enough to deny him the chances after the first of them. Damion was to fight through the screen to shadow KCP but he elected to go around for the last 3pt. And coaching never find a better scheme other than dump the ball to make life on offense easier for KD. DA played solid throughout, very active, despite occasional butterfinger problems. Okogie cutting to the middle created some space opening, he had one nice assist to DA, but scared to shoot from middle of paint and passed out back to the perimeter.
All in all, we improved a lot from last game, we just need KD, Damion and Payne hit some 3s at their normal %.