Preseason: Flamengo at Suns 10-8-14

[Mainstreet]

Green gets so serious and animated for a preseason game.

 

[Mainstreet]

IT is showing #7 what quick is.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Was hoping to see more minutes from Warren.

 

[Mainstreet]

Was hoping to see more minutes from Warren.

Same here.

Dragic looks worn down.

 

[Mainstreet]

Yea, Zoran with 3 point shot.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Same here.

Dragic looks worn down.

Agreed, they should give him very sparse minutes, he's got nothing to prove and you know he already fits in with most of the team. Give him a few minutes with IT just to work on that chemistry otherwise SIT HIM.

 

[unseenaz]

Was hoping to see more minutes from Warren.

Me too. Ennis got off to a terrible start, but he made a couple nice plays after that

 

[Mainstreet]

Comments from Paul Coro.

Paul Coro @paulcoro · 19m 19 minutes ago

Hornacek displeased, mostly w/starters. "In the West this year, if you're not bringing it every night, you can forget about the playoffs."

Interesting comments from Jeff Hornacek this early in the preseason. Plumlee was my biggest disappointment since Dragic just looked tired.

What surprised me the most is Tucker played 30 minutes off the bench since he will be suspended for the first three games. The Suns even went to him as a go-to player at least once. I do not believe Tucker is the type player you rely on to create his own shot. Maybe Hornacek was trying to make a point about effort.

https://twitter.com/paulcoro

 

[AzStevenCal]

Comments from Paul Coro.



Interesting comments from Jeff Hornacek this early in the preseason. Plumlee was my biggest disappointment since Dragic just looked tired.

What surprised me the most is Tucker played 30 minutes off the bench since he will be suspended for the first three games. The Suns even went to him as a go-to player at least once. I do not believe Tucker is the type player you rely on to create his own shot. Maybe Hornacek was trying to make a point about effort.

https://twitter.com/paulcoro

This was a disappointing performance. With Plumlee playing so poorly and Len's problems I'm thinking about downgrading our ceiling to 31 games.

 

[Errntknght]

Randolph looked solid again... good defense, 5 rebs in 14 minutes and a nice block. He's going to earn some PT at this rate.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Randolph looked solid again... good defense, 5 rebs in 14 minutes and a nice block. He's going to earn some PT at this rate.

If he was 24 years old instead of 31, he'd probably be our starting center. And he might be anyway. I have to think that McDonough is doing everything he can to find another big man.

Steve

 

[Hoop Head]

Here is the boxscore from the game. The starters didn't look well, the Morris brothers were ok but the guard play and Plumlee weren't very good. Plumlee looked really lost. I know in FIBA games typical Centers don't usually do that well and I wonder if that had to do with his poor performance. The bench was solid, it will be interesting to see the actual rotations used though. It seems the bench got more minutes here than they will in the season but unless we get a legit big I don't see us improving much from the 48 wins from last year. Len being out hurt, which is surprising, but I think the team really needs a legit third center, Randolph won't cut it against the Clippers, Grizzlies, or other teams that are big up front.

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[Chaplin]

This was a disappointing performance. With Plumlee playing so poorly and Len's problems I'm thinking about downgrading our ceiling to 31 games.

LOL

 

[Chaplin]

Comments from Paul Coro.



Interesting comments from Jeff Hornacek this early in the preseason. Plumlee was my biggest disappointment since Dragic just looked tired.

What surprised me the most is Tucker played 30 minutes off the bench since he will be suspended for the first three games. The Suns even went to him as a go-to player at least once. I do not believe Tucker is the type player you rely on to create his own shot. Maybe Hornacek was trying to make a point about effort.

https://twitter.com/paulcoro

This is just a guess, but I think Hornacek is trying to determine if Tucker is still a full-time starter at the 3. I don't think this game helped PJ all that much.

EDIT: For those of you depressed about the performance, keep in mind the Spurs actually lost last night to Alba Berlin...

 

[Chaz]

Missing really Len and Tolliver really showed the lack of depth up front.
Morris twins were good reserves last year and I think they are better this year but moving them to starters leaves the bench looking for minutes at forward.
Tucker played so many minutes off the bench because he was basically playing PF in that lineup that pulled away in the 4th.

Rebounding in the first half was pretty bad. They had decent position they just couldn't grab the ball.

 

[Chaz]

Here is the boxscore from the game. The starters didn't look well, the Morris brothers were ok but the guard play and Plumlee weren't very good. Plumlee looked really lost. I know in FIBA games typical Centers don't usually do that well and I wonder if that had to do with his poor performance. The bench was solid, it will be interesting to see the actual rotations used though. It seems the bench got more minutes here than they will in the season but unless we get a legit big I don't see us improving much from the 48 wins from last year. Len being out hurt, which is surprising, but I think the team really needs a legit third center, Randolph won't cut it against the Clippers, Grizzlies, or other teams that are big up front.

Only it was played under NBA not FIBA rules.
Plumlee just seemed a step slow.

I really liked the energy of Thomas and Green. Very active and disruptive.
Goodwin involved with two good stretches of play.

Morris Twins were solid.

 

[Mainstreet]

This was a disappointing performance. With Plumlee playing so poorly and Len's problems I'm thinking about downgrading our ceiling to 31 games.

As the effect of the kool aid wears off let me buy some of this stock.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Goodwin with a +24 with only 6 points in 16 minutes of play. Hmmm.

 

[Mainstreet]

If he was 24 years old instead of 31, he'd probably be our starting center. And he might be anyway. I have to think that McDonough is doing everything he can to find another big man.

Steve

IMO, the center position is the Suns weakest position. If the Suns were solid there (average) it would cover up any deficiencies on the frontline. I am still hoping that Len can give the Suns some rebounding and defense there but I agree adding another center would be welcome. When Plumlee comes out of the game there is a huge vacuum left behind taking nothing away from Randolph.

 

[Mainstreet]

This is just a guess, but I think Hornacek is trying to determine if Tucker is still a full-time starter at the 3. I don't think this game helped PJ all that much.

EDIT: For those of you depressed about the performance, keep in mind the Spurs actually lost last night to Alba Berlin...

Maybe, but it looks like a lack of effort or chemistry from the starters were at fault. Here is a quote from a Paul Coro article at azcentral dated 10-9-14.

The Suns were off Sunday but Hornacek said they played like they were tired, which followed a lackadaisical morning shootaround.

"We just kind of thought we were going to go through the motions," Hornacek said. "We weren't ready to go. It showed at the beginning of the game. Luckily, we've got a deep team. The bench came in there and played well. That starting group got us behind the first and third quarter. So, obviously, we'll take a look at different lineups and find a group that can do it off the start."

It took going to the smaller lineups that Hornacek wants to avoid using at length for the Suns to rally. They can get away with that against Flamengo but Markieff Morris at center or P.J. Tucker at power forward should not be an in-season staple if the Suns plan to play ahead often.

It seems that Hornacek needed to go small using Tucker at PF.

 

[AzStevenCal]

IMO, the center position is the Suns weakest position. If the Suns were solid there (average) it would cover up any deficiencies on the frontline. I am still hoping that Len can give the Suns some rebounding and defense there but I agree adding another center would be welcome. When Plumlee comes out of the game there is a huge vacuum left behind taking nothing away from Randolph.

It is and it's not even very close. I was hoping that Len would start to look like a second year top 5 pick and that Plumlee would play like he did early last season but there's no escaping the concern that neither may happen. The best we could have hoped for would have been a middle of the pack center duo but the worst we might have to deal with is the poorest starter/backup big men in the NBA.

I'd call Milwaukee and see what it would take to get either Sanders or Henson. They are both flawed but either of them would upgrade one of our bigs. If we took Henson, we'd probably have to move Keef to the center spot but even that beats what we currently (appear to) have. I'd try to do it with just Ennis and draft picks but I'm one of the few here that thinks Ennis has decent value across the league.

Steve

 

[Sunburn]

How much would you rather have had Noel than Len right now?

 

[Chaz]

How much would you rather have had Noel than Len right now?

Not at all.
A week off in preseason for a broken finger doesn't change anything.
At least not for me.

 

[AzStevenCal]

How much would you rather have had Noel than Len right now?

Not one little bit. If he truly has degenerative knees, he's a bad risk I'd rather do without. I'd rather have Adams although for me that's nothing but hindsight, I had no interest in him at draft time.

Steve

 

[JCSunsfan]

Well, I have been watching preseason highlights of Noel. Um. If I had to choose between the two at this moment, I would choose Noel. That doesn't mean I am giving up on Len. Its just that Noel is looking good.

Noel is not a physical interior defender though. He is better as a pf.