Preseason: Suns @ Jazz Saturday game thread 12-12-20

[Mainstreet]

Motley with the basket inside. With the hair I though it was Crowder for a moment.

 

[Mainstreet]

Azubuike 2-2 for 4 points.

 

[Mainstreet]

Alexander into the game.

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns are not stopping inside penetration.

 

[Mainstreet]

Motley (4) holding his own with Azubuike (4).

 

[Evil Ash]

I can already tell Damien Jones is going to be the suns player that pisses me off.

Thankfully he won't play much. He's basically there for when we play tall teams to commit 6 fouls. That's about it

 

[1Sun]

Cam Payne is doing a good job but after doing without a backup point guard for years I always want to add one. The Suns should be okay.

Payne has been atrocious. And it is obvious at this stage that when Booker has to play the point, the rest of his game suffers. Sorry, but I don't want Booker shooting 5-14 and getting torched on the other end every game.

Meanwhile, I hope it is now clear to everybody here that Cam is NOT a starting power forward. He might be the only Sun who played worse than Payne.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Really disappointing performance. No mental toughness.

 

[Mainstreet]

Azubuike is a big player with great measurements. He is going to be hard to stop inside.

 

[Mainstreet]

Final:

Jazz 119 - Suns 105

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I will say this: the Suns played well in the 3rd.

 

[1Sun]

On the plus side, Bridges looks improved on offense (though his defense was poor tonight), and Galloway and Moore looked excellent coming off the bench.

Booker had a poor game, but I honestly believe that having to play the point hurts him. We still don't have a point guard other than Paul. Neither Payne nor Carter can fill that role, as those on this board were right to observe that they really are not true point guards, particularly not Carter. The bubble was an illusion in that regard (as I'm sure it was in just about any other regard).

Ayton was a world-beater...for a few minutes, and then he reverted back to his passive, lackadaisical self. Either Paul is going to find a way to push the right buttons, or the dynamic between Paul and Ayton is going to get downright ugly.

Smith has potential, but he is clearly a long way away from contributing consistently at an NBA level.

Jones and Nader looked useless tonight, as did Cam.

If, as Mikal Bridges said, the Suns treated this like a real game, then this team is in serious trouble this year without Chris Paul on the court.

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns and Jazz play again in Utah Monday night.

 

[Proximo]

On the plus side, Bridges looks improved on offense (though his defense was poor tonight), and Galloway and Moore looked excellent coming off the bench.

Booker had a poor game, but I honestly believe that having to play the point hurts him. We still don't have a point guard other than Paul. Neither Payne nor Carter can fill that role, as those on this board were right to observe that they really are not true point guards, particularly not Carter. The bubble was an illusion in that regard (as I'm sure it was in just about any other regard).

Ayton was a world-beater...for a few minutes, and then he reverted back to his passive, lackadaisical self. Either Paul is going to find a way to push the right buttons, or the dynamic between Paul and Ayton is going to get downright ugly.

Smith has potential, but he is clearly a long way away from contributing consistently at an NBA level.

Jones and Nader looked useless tonight, as did Cam.

If, as Mikal Bridges said, the Suns treated this like a real game, then this team is in serious trouble this year without Chris Paul on the court.

Well, Ayton actually showed some aggressiveness going to the hoop on a couple plays, which is two more than usual so that was a plus. But he also settled for too many long jumpers.

Cam Payne just wasn't good enough.

Cam Johnson was fine he just was not very involved, you are just feeling the need to dog him every chance you get.

Smith looks more raw than I was hoping for.

Nader looked OK, again not sure what you are talking about.

Jones looks like he is lacking total body control and is out of position a lot.

I would like to see less cam payne minutes, and give Galloway a chance.

 

[Mainstreet]

Monty thinks Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges should be all right.

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I can already tell Damien Jones is going to be the suns player that pisses me off.

He really doesn’t seem to do much out there and for a quick twitch athlete always seems a set behind.

 

[Mainstreet]

I thought defense was the Suns biggest problem tonight as well.

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[Mainstreet]

Motley was a surprise player for me tonight. He looked serviceable with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

 

[1Sun]

Monty thinks Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges should be all right.

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Cam's frailty extends back to his days at UNC and Pitt. Another reason I didn't like the pick.

And for those who say I am unfairly picking on him tonight, he was 1-4 from the field for 2 points, 2 rebounds, no other meaningful statistics, poor defense and a minus-5 in 15 minutes tonight, and of course we fell behind in the first quarter...again...

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

And for those who say I am unfairly picking on him tonight

You unfairly pick on him every night. He has one stretch of 15 minutes where he didn't play all that well and you jump all over it...

Also a fricken leg cramping up is not any sort of sign of frailty...

 

[Mainstreet]

Monty thought the Suns were running in mud tonight due to increased focus on conditioning and influx of new players trying to adjust to offensive and defensive schemes.

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[GatorAZ]

Wake me up Dec 23.

 

[1Sun]

You unfairly pick on him every night. He has one stretch of 15 minutes where he didn't play all that well and you jump all over it...

Also a fricken leg cramping up is not any sort of sign of frailty...

He's had LOTS of stretches of 15 minutes where he doesn't play all that well, particularly against starters.

And the fact is he is always hurt, be it cramps or anything else. To his credit, he tries to play through it, and I absolutely can't fault his effort. He has a great head and heart. The problem is that he doesn't have the body and talent to match.

It's really too bad Ayton doesn't have Cam's head and heart, and/or that Cam doesn't have Ayton's body and talent...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Monty thought the Suns were running in mud tonight due to increased focus on conditioning and influx of new players trying to adjust to offensive and defensive schemes.

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I’d say that was an appropriate description. They seemed slow on everything. Ball movement. Closeouts. Rotations.

 

[Muggz]

Cant wait till i get a job making 40 mil a year and dont even have to show up the first day. lmao