Spurs @ Suns Monday game thread 12-6-2021

[Cheesebeef]

I continue to be mystified why we paid Shamet a decent chunk of change that should have been earmarked for Cam Johnson. I really hope we’re not sitting here a couple years from now watching Shamet on the deep bench with Cam gone.

Also, Cam struggled a lot out of the gate, but him coming back to life after the first three weeks, more snd more as the streak grew, is one of the big reasons this team truly got back to rolling like last season. His aggression is great out there. One of the guys ho makes the most out of game by just playing prettY fearless. He’s not a great athlete but he is definitely a guy who has confidence in his game. You can see that even in game he’s off. He doesn’t stop shooting, always confident the best one us going in no matter how off the last shot was.

Would love to see some of that aggression rub off on Bridges on offense. At this point I have to resign myself to that ship having sailed and just appreciate the great job Bridges DOES do on D and stop caring as much about what he does on O.

 

[JerkFace]

I continue to be mystified why we paid Shamet a decent chunk of change that should have been earmarked for Cam Johnson. I really hope we’re not sitting here a couple years from now watching Shamet on the deep bench with Cam gone.

Shamet’s deal shouldn’t affect any potential Cam deal. Technically Shamet’s deal is only a two year extension and the only crossover on the contracts would be the 23-24 season, and that is the year both Saric and Crowder come off the books.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Shamet’s deal shouldn’t affect any potential Cam deal. Technically Shamet’s deal is only a two year extension and the only crossover on the contracts would be the 23-24 season, and that is the year both Saric and Crowder come off the books.

After signing Ayton to a MAX this summer, I’m not going to be surprised if I there’s a tightening of the purse, especially if Sarver is still in charge. There’s only so far he’ll go into the luxury tax.

Hope to be proven wrong there.

 

[JerkFace]

After signing Ayton to a MAX this summer, I’m not going to be surprised if I there’s a tightening of the purse, especially if Sarver is still in charge. There’s only so far he’ll go into the luxury tax.

Hope to be proven wrong there.

If Sarver is owner, there will definitely be a tightening of the purse strings, but keep in mind, the next TV/Streaming deal is suppose to hit in 2024 and that will most likely cause the salary cap to skyrocket. I’ve seen it projected as high as 175 million (it is currently 112ish), and that is for the cap, not the luxury tax threshold.

 

[Cheesebeef]

If Sarver is owner, there will definitely be a tightening of the purse strings, but keep in mind, the next TV/Streaming deal is suppose to hit in 2024 and that will most likely cause the salary cap to skyrocket. I’ve seen it projected as high as 175 million (it is currently 112ish), and that is for the cap, not the luxury tax threshold.

Oh yeah. That’s a good point.

 

[Phrazbit]

Catching up on the thread...

I think Shamet's deal is largely non-guaranteed. I don't think it will have any impact on future deals.

I don't know how apparent it was on TV but Bridges' hand was clearly bothering him, almost any time he had any level of impact on that arm he was holding his hand and wincing afterwards. I think it will be a bit before we see him trying outside shots again.

I am surprised the crowd refrained from booing Ayton... that was a nightmare of a game for him. I appreciate that he still made some big defensive plays but good lord, that was Robin Lopez as a rookie level ball handling. There must have been 8 plays where he either lost his dribble or the ball clanked off his hands, only ONE of those plays I would say was not his fault, the Cam Payne pass was a laser from a spot where I don't think anyone thought Cam would try a pass, the rest were completely on Ayton, especially his clown show dribbling disaster in the 2nd quarter... which I think he did twice.

I've maintained that Ayton's hands are good but his biggest problem is not trusting himself to attack the rim without gathering... he certainly made that opinion look foolish tonight, he had hands made of bricks.

Fun night though. My dad and my brother enjoyed their first Suns game in ages.

Spoiler

Side note... after not having a rough light rail ride in my life, my dad hops on the worst light raid compartment I have ever been on. That was a bummer. Two people having loud arguments with themselves and another guy who spent the ride picking at his own hands.

Yuck.

 

[Raindog]

I continue to be mystified why we paid Shamet a decent chunk of change that should have been earmarked for Cam Johnson. I really hope we’re not sitting here a couple years from now watching Shamet on the deep bench with Cam gone.

Also, Cam struggled a lot out of the gate, but him coming back to life after the first three weeks, more snd more as the streak grew, is one of the big reasons this team truly got back to rolling like last season. His aggression is great out there. One of the guys ho makes the most out of game by just playing prettY fearless. He’s not a great athlete but he is definitely a guy who has confidence in his game. You can see that even in game he’s off. He doesn’t stop shooting, always confident the best one us going in no matter how off the last shot was.

Would love to see some of that aggression rub off on Bridges on offense. At this point I have to resign myself to that ship having sailed and just appreciate the great job Bridges DOES do on D and stop caring as much about what he does on O.

+1 Agree! I really appreciate CJ's aggressiveness/assertiveness, too. Wish it would rub off on both Bridges and Ayton.

 

[Finito]

After signing Ayton to a MAX this summer, I’m not going to be surprised if I there’s a tightening of the purse, especially if Sarver is still in charge. There’s only so far he’ll go into the luxury tax.

Hope to be proven wrong there.

Isn’t Booker up for an extension next year?

 

[Ronin]

1st team all nba = Booker eligible for supermax this year.

 

[Finito]

1st team all nba = Booker eligible for supermax this year.

That could be a real game changer for this team

 

[Ronin]

That could be a real game changer for this team

The performance criteria is as follows (only one of the following must be true):

• The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
• The player was named the NBA MVPin any of the three most recent seasons.

Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2021/22

Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, and Zach LaVine are among the players worth keeping an eye on.

www.hoopsrumors.com

 

[95pro]

Thank goodness for that second quarter. At the end of the 1st the Spurs were on pace to score 132 at the end of the first and I think hitting 60% or something ridiculous from 3. The second quarter the Suns woke up defensively but then the bad defense returned in the 4th.

I think Shamet really hurts us for stretches when he plays as a starter. He makes really bad decisions. Also, when I watched him off ball? Instead of trying to free up his team, he does lots of running around to free up himself. Then when he does get the ball he chucks it up if he has any space. His roll and pop shots are horrid. He does much better set. Plus his guy beat him all night long. He has so much trouble staying in front of anybody he guards.

Yes i cringe everytime he's left in the game past the 6min mark as a starter. I would like to see CJ come in a little sooner then start staggering substitutions instead of rolling in 2-3 guys at one time. Back to Shamet, they start to target him and the i think its pretty well known that he'd subpar on D. Then i hate his offense where he's leaning so much like he's got a defender right in his grill, usually ends on a miss. He's great at set shooting and I think he's in love with trying to be Curry when he should be more JJ Reddick.

 

[Covert Rain]

I continue to be mystified why we paid Shamet a decent chunk of change that should have been earmarked for Cam Johnson. I really hope we’re not sitting here a couple years from now watching Shamet on the deep bench with Cam gone.

Also, Cam struggled a lot out of the gate, but him coming back to life after the first three weeks, more snd more as the streak grew, is one of the big reasons this team truly got back to rolling like last season. His aggression is great out there. One of the guys ho makes the most out of game by just playing prettY fearless. He’s not a great athlete but he is definitely a guy who has confidence in his game. You can see that even in game he’s off. He doesn’t stop shooting, always confident the best one us going in no matter how off the last shot was.

Would love to see some of that aggression rub off on Bridges on offense. At this point I have to resign myself to that ship having sailed and just appreciate the great job Bridges DOES do on D and stop caring as much about what he does on O.

I am not sure it's all on Bridges. He has made a couple comments post game basically saying he doesn't get the ball or plays called to him as the reason why he doesn't shoot more. I watched Monty during several time outs last night. I watched him pull aside Shamet, Cam, CP3 and Ayton looking like he was drawing up plays for them. Never once watched him do that with Bridges. I think Bridges works on his own for most of his touches.

 

[Dr. Jones]

We can't lose Cam. It's not a like for like scenario with the JJ debacle but it would be close.

Our HIGH IQ wing depth combined with two premium ball handlers is what makes us great. This is not debatable IMO.

Not an option / Cant' Lose
CP3 & Book - Our stars
Ayton - mercurial semi-star
Mikal & Cam - Our extremely above average Wings
Jae - Glue & Grit

the rest:
Shamet/McGee/Cam - The high-end role players - Not when it matters most though.
Frank - More glue, can give you season minutes but not playoff minutes
Stix/Payton - The bench

 

[Chaplin]

We can't lose Cam. It's not a like for like scenario with the JJ debacle but it would be close.

Our HIGH IQ wing depth combined with two premium ball handlers is what makes us great. This is not debatable IMO.

Not an option / Cant' Lose
CP3 & Book - Our stars
Ayton - mercurial semi-star
Mikal & Cam - Our extremely above average Wings
Jae - Glue & Grit

the rest:
Shamet/McGee/Cam - The high-end role players - Not when it matters most though.
Frank - More glue, can give you season minutes but not playoff minutes
Stix/Payton - The bench

How soon people forget just how awful our point guard rotation used to be. Now Cam Payne is expendable? Come on.

 

[Finito]

Catching up on the thread...

I think Shamet's deal is largely non-guaranteed. I don't think it will have any impact on future deals.

I don't know how apparent it was on TV but Bridges' hand was clearly bothering him, almost any time he had any level of impact on that arm he was holding his hand and wincing afterwards. I think it will be a bit before we see him trying outside shots again.

I am surprised the crowd refrained from booing Ayton... that was a nightmare of a game for him. I appreciate that he still made some big defensive plays but good lord, that was Robin Lopez as a rookie level ball handling. There must have been 8 plays where he either lost his dribble or the ball clanked off his hands, only ONE of those plays I would say was not his fault, the Cam Payne pass was a laser from a spot where I don't think anyone thought Cam would try a pass, the rest were completely on Ayton, especially his clown show dribbling disaster in the 2nd quarter... which I think he did twice.

I've maintained that Ayton's hands are good but his biggest problem is not trusting himself to attack the rim without gathering... he certainly made that opinion look foolish tonight, he had hands made of bricks.

Fun night though. My dad and my brother enjoyed their first Suns game in ages.

Spoiler

Side note... after not having a rough light rail ride in my life, my dad hops on the worst light raid compartment I have ever been on. That was a bummer. Two people having loud arguments with themselves and another guy who spent the ride picking at his own hands.

Yuck.

You don’t Boo your good players at home just because they have a bad game. That’s low class

I remember when fans here boo’ed KJ and that got national attention. Not a good look at all

 

[Dr. Jones]

How soon people forget just how awful our point guard rotation used to be. Now Cam Payne is expendable? Come on.

Expendable? heck no. I don't even think I inferred that. I called him a high-end role player? Where does that define anyone as expendable?

the ONLY bad thing that can be inferred is that when it matters most (IE: end of game playoff situations) they aren't the guys I want on the floor in that moment.

You come on.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here is that clutch steal by Chris Paul on Dejounte Murray and 3-pointer by Cam Johnson.

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[Chaplin]

Expendable? heck no. I don't even think I inferred that. I called him a high-end role player? Where does that define anyone as expendable?

the ONLY bad thing that can be inferred is that when it matters most (IE: end of game playoff situations) they aren't the guys I want on the floor in that moment.

You come on.

Which backup point guard would fit your definition then? Who would be better than Cam Payne while still taking a backup spot? End of game playoff situations changes your narrative.

 

[Covert Rain]

We can't lose Cam. It's not a like for like scenario with the JJ debacle but it would be close.

Our HIGH IQ wing depth combined with two premium ball handlers is what makes us great. This is not debatable IMO.

Not an option / Cant' Lose
CP3 & Book - Our stars
Ayton - mercurial semi-star
Mikal & Cam - Our extremely above average Wings
Jae - Glue & Grit

the rest:
Shamet/McGee/Cam - The high-end role players - Not when it matters most though.
Frank - More glue, can give you season minutes but not playoff minutes
Stix/Payton - The bench

You think it's an option to lose McGee and Cam?!?!? I couldn't disagree more unless the caveat is that you have someone competent to replace them. I think people forget how hard it was to find a legit backup for Ayton and backup PG in Cam. McGee and Cam have been huge for this team.

I think your list needs to be revised for to contain a bucket between the two you have listed. Those two guys we CANNOT lose without adequate replacements. The rest of that list I agree but 100% would not combine them with the rest in that list.

 

[Mainstreet]

You think it's an option to lose McGee and Cam?!?!? I couldn't disagree more unless the caveat is that you have someone competent to replace them. I think people forget how hard it was to find a legit backup for Ayton and backup PG in Cam. McGee and Cam have been huge for this team.

I think your list needs to be revised for to contain a bucket between the two you have listed. Those two guys we CANNOT lose without adequate replacements. The rest of that list I agree but 100% would not combine them with the rest in that list.

I agree the Suns can't lose JaVale McGee and Cam Payne. They are the heart of the bench and are on reasonable contracts.

McGee is the key ingredient the Suns were missing in the Finals last season.

 

[Yuma]

I don't think Thad Young's trade value is going up.

I would be pissed pissed to trade players, a first and second round pick as most trade scenarios show for us in this trade.

 

[JCSunsfan]

You don’t Boo your good players at home just because they have a bad game. That’s low class

I remember when fans here boo’ed KJ and that got national attention. Not a good look at all

Unless you're in Philly.

 

[GatorAZ]

Which backup point guard would fit your definition then? Who would be better than Cam Payne while still taking a backup spot? End of game playoff situations changes your narrative.

Depends on whether he continues to kill the offense when he’s out there. There’s probably better backups available.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Here is that clutch steal by Chris Paul on Dejounte Murray and 3-pointer by Cam Johnson.

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And for everyone that is a fan of the Cardinals as well..

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