Preseason: Timberwolves @ Suns 10-8-19

[Mainstreet]

How did the starters look?

The starters looked fine particularly Ayton, Rubio and Booker. Cam Johnson played well for a rookie as did Ty Jerome off the bench.

Saric had 4 points on 1-5 shooting and 7 rebounds.

Kaminsky had 14 points off the bench.

The Suns were sloppy as expected for their preseason opener with 29 turnovers. Also they gave up a lot of easy drives to the basket.

 

[Proximo]

Diallo really disappointed me. I expected much better, but he looked almost unplayable on the offensive end - lots of turnovers, and really seemed lost.

 

[BC867]

Diallo really disappointed me. I expected much better, but he looked almost unplayable on the offensive end - lots of turnovers, and really seemed lost.

Did his 9 rebounds and +/- of only -1 (not bad for a bench player) in 22 minutes offset any of that?

 

[JerkFace]

Did his 9 rebounds and +/- of only -1 (not bad for a bench player) in 22 minutes offset any of that?

I agree with Proximo. Even with the rebounds and the decent +/- he definitely failed the eyeball test. Just the first preseason game though. Lots of time to improve.

 

[Superbone]

Who is calling the game with Annie? I don't recognize the voice.

Jon Bloom

 

[Raze]

Diallo really disappointed me. I expected much better, but he looked almost unplayable on the offensive end - lots of turnovers, and really seemed lost.

Agreed. He never looked comfortable on either end of the floor. The rebounds were gifts. Odd timing on block attempts, awkward defensive positioning and footwork, and totally useless on O. And I'm one who really liked getting him.

Yes, Frank Kaminsky can score, but once again he was terrible on D tonight. He better be guarding guys like Cheick every night or he's a massive liability. Dude can score, but if he's off he's a massive negative. Suns have a lot of these kinda guys: Frank, Jerome, Ellie, Dario... (although there were moments tonight where it looked like Ellie has made some strides). Some of these guys were in the line up when Minnesota made their initial come back. You've got to be very careful with players like this because they can absolutely kill your team when they have an off shooting night.

Carter looked solid. He's always gonna be a nuisance on D, which is why I like him more than the other back up one dimensional offensive Gs we have. When he's hitting, you have to leave him in.

Johnson is a whole lot more than a 3pt shooter. There were moments on both ends of the floor where he peaked my interest. Can't wait to see more of his game.

Jerome has that Paul Pierce edge to him. You just can't believe he scores like he does wearing lead shoes. He looked good on O, and made some good decisions to help his team mates. Awful footwork on D. He should NEVER be on the court with Devin. NEVER.

Anyone notice how bored we are talking about DA's double double (18 and 13) in 21 minutes? The guy is a monster out there. He looks light years better than this time last year.

I love love love the Rubio signing. The team looks so much more in sync with him around. I also loved seeing him on the sidelines completely engaged with Dev, DA, and Oubre. He's acclimated well. Seems like we finally have an adult on the floor who can lead by example.

Love what I saw from the HC. Obviously it's early, but he seemed to have a good handle on the game. One suggestion though, please don't put Carter, Johnson, and Jerome on the court at the same time. Man that was awful.

 

[Hoop Head]

Agreed. He never looked comfortable on either end of the floor. The rebounds were gifts. Odd timing on block attempts, awkward defensive positioning and footwork, and totally useless on O. And I'm one who really liked getting him.

Love what I saw from the HC. Obviously it's early, but he seemed to have a good handle on the game. One suggestion though, please don't put Carter, Johnson, and Jerome on the court at the same time. Man that was awful.

I agree with virtually everything you said. I just wanted to mention that once we have a healthy wing in either Oubre or Bridges, I don't think we'll see that 3 guard set of Jerome, Carter, and Tyler Johnson. That was just part of it being preseason as well as not having a SF other than Cam Johnson. Sliding Tyler Johnson over there is ok right now but shouldn't happen in the regular season. We'll need to come up with another plan then. Either playing Saric at SF and playing big or moving Booker over there. Tyler Johnson is a backup guard and should not be pushed to the 3/SF spot.

I'll add my signature to the Cheik Diallo looked disappointing list also. He may have had ok numbers because he played almost the entire 4th as the only true big out there but he doesn't have a clue on offense. There were 3 guards on the floor with him throughout the 4th and he didn't seem to put himself in position to get any easy buckets despite all of them being willing passers. Kaminsky knew where to go, Diallo didn't. Oh well, Diallo won't play all that much in the regular season unless someone's hurt so I guess he's an ok 12th man who will be inactive a lot.

 

[Ronin]

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[95pro]

I still dont like Okobo, really is just looking to score for himself, takes others out of the offensive flow of the game. Still can't run and lead the team.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Its only preseason so hard to judge but like what ayton did seems to plat better with a pg

Cam did well very active he will be a productive bench guy still not the guy i would have picked... but hope he succeds

Booker looks good as ever really hope suns win more gms for him

Not expecting a drastic turnaround but want to see improvement in wins and maybe contend for 8th seed in playoffs

 

[mjb21aztd]

For future suns gms crackstreams.com is a good stream site nba nfl gms

 

[95pro]

suns website really dropped the ball there, maybe they didn't expect 2.5K to be streaming the game. I missed the most important part of the game, where the starters play

 

[Mainstreet]

It was the preseason opener so I'm not going to be overly critical. However, some things stood out to be good and bad.

1. Ayton is going to put up some great numbers this season with Rubio feeding him the ball.

2. The Suns have a nice situation in the backcourt with their guards. Rubio, Booker, Ty Jerome, Tyler Johnson and Jevon Carter. They are solid. Ty Jerome will be able to play both guard positions as will Tyler Johnson.

3. The Suns should be good at small forward with Cam Johnson showing he can play with maturity. He will likely play behind Oubre and Bridges.

4. The Suns should be fine at center as long as Baynes and Ayton are healthy. They really need Bayne's toughness.

5. Defense is my primary worry especially at power forward. If Baynes is not playing there teams are going to drive it to the rim. Maybe Ayton improves to be a defensive force but it's not there right now. Saric and Diallo are not strong enough to protect the rim and Kaminsky is primarily a scorer not to mention slow.

6. If I were looking for a need to fill it would be another big man to bang inside... a Faried type player.

 

[Mainstreet]

For future suns gms crackstreams.com is a good stream site nba nfl gms

That was my backup if Suns.com. failed but it worked fine until the 4th quarter. Then it buffered a lot. Maybe it was my ISP. I'm not sure.

 

[Mainstreet]

I still dont like Okobo, really is just looking to score for himself, takes others out of the offensive flow of the game. Still can't run and lead the team.

Okobo looks more of a scorer than a point guard. He really played well but this is not a need. Okobo should have value if the Suns ever decide to trade him. The Suns are loaded at guard. He played better than I thought he would.

 

[Chaplin]

suns website really dropped the ball there, maybe they didn't expect 2.5K to be streaming the game. I missed the most important part of the game, where the starters play

Suns.com has really gone downhill over the past several years. I remember when it was the toast of the NBA on the web.

 

[Ronin]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ronin]

Suns.com has really gone downhill over the past several years. I remember when it was the toast of the NBA on the web.

I liked the flash intros during the 2006 NBA playoffs. Those were cool.

 

[95pro]

Remember after game 1 of last season, we beat the Mavs, i was like ok we are actually decent. I didn't feel that excitement for this pre-season game, but i felt like we should win the game anyway? This team just seems like it should win.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Well. Could not get the game on my computer so I went to the gym, and I managed to watch it on my phone.

1. Ayton, Booker looked as I expected.
2. Rubio was OK. Nothing special, but even that is huge over last year.
3. I was very impressed with Ty Jerome. He just makes smart plays constantly. He is just athletic enough to get by.
4. Cam looked good. He is more effective on D than I expected.
5. Carter is what I was expecting. He is a hardnosed defender and can defend both guard positions--even much taller players. He is a guard version of PJ Tucker. This makes him very versatile and useful.
6. Tyler Johnson looked about the same as last year. He will be moved sometime during the year this year. He is extraneous on this team and his expiring deal is valuable.
7. Elie surprised me. He played the SG most often and seemed almost liberated to not have to be the primary distributor.
8. Frank Kaminsky is a highly skilled ball player. He does not have the athleticism of Bender but he is more aggressive and has more developed skills.
9. Diallo was a bit of a let down. I expected more from him. His offense was horrible.
10. Harper reminded me of the pg crew we started with last year. Ball hog, hero ball. I was not impressed.

 

[Mainstreet]

Remember after game 1 of last season, we beat the Mavs, i was like ok we are actually decent. I didn't feel that excitement for this pre-season game, but i felt like we should win the game anyway? This team just seems like it should win.

That was more like Ayton versus Doncic. The excitement will return when the Suns play Dallas.

There wasn't the buzz of Jarrett Culver versus Cam Johnson or maybe the fans didn't even realize the comparison to be made.

 

[Johninromania]

Good to have basketball back, I’ll sit back with reservations until we get all our players on the court again. Good to see that Cam is at least a serviceable forward.

 

[95pro]

That was more like Ayton versus Doncic. The excitement will return when the Suns play Dallas.

There wasn't the buzz of Jarrett Culver versus Cam Johnson or maybe the fans didn't even realize the comparison to be made.

I just remember being happy because Booker was happy after that game.

 

[Ronin]

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[Chaplin]

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Ayton high on adrenaline.