Suns @ Grizzlies 3-6-16

[82CardsGrad]

man... that kid's only 19. He's already shown major major flashes and he's got sooooooo much room to get better.

He is a TRUE knock-down shooter... When was the last time we can say that about a Suns player? Nash I guess...

 

[Ronin]

Yep. Freeze the screen at 1:24. That's a pretty athletic play. His athleticism was the knock on him, as well as his defense.

Wasn't Booker labeled "just a shooter" by the draft experts? Man, I thought we were getting a taller Eddie House when the Suns picked Booker.

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

 

[sunsfan88]

@ 1:24

Yea I think that's the highest I've seen him get.

 

[sunsfan88]

We'll see... The predominant mins need to go to Booker and Bledsoe. I can't see the value in all three guards playing equal mins.

And I certainly hope they don't play all 3 together, don't want to go through that again.

 

[82CardsGrad]

And I certainly hope they don't play all 3 together, don't want to go through that again.

 

[Catlover]

And I certainly hope they don't play all 3 together, don't want to go through that again.

Barring a trade, I'd be surprised if we didn't at least see the 3 of them out there with Len and Chandler a few times to see how it works.

 

[SweetD]

True and I wish Horny would have had a better opportunity. He was thrown to the wolves. Unless there is a no brainer coach to hire in the offseason, maybe Watson will get the chance to come back. Highly unlikely that he will though right?

I think with the growth of Booker and Len, no more Morrisi and high draft picks the Sun's will get a couple with a top tier coach if one is out there. I still think Tibs would be a great coach for this team.

As for Horney the biggest issue was his terrible play calling and player rotations. Not sure we would have ever seen Len feeding the post in his playbook.

I would like to see us keep Watson on as an assistant or consultant.

 

[Catlover]

I think with the growth of Booker and Len, no more Morrisi and high draft picks the Sun's will get a couple with a top tier coach if one is out there. I still think Tibs would be a great coach for this team.

As for Horney the biggest issue was his terrible play calling and player rotations. Not sure we would have ever seen Len feeding the post in his playbook.

I would like to see us keep Watson on as an assistant or consultant.

I'm a lousy fortune teller but I don't see this happening.

 

[JS22]

And I certainly hope they don't play all 3 together, don't want to go through that again.

I wonder if that was more of a product of Hornacek's vision, or McD? I'd lean towards Hornacek. Interested to see what they eventually do with Knight. Booker seems to have a better feel for the game, (at 19!) is a better shooter, probably a better defender, and a few inches taller.

I'd like to know what happened to the Knight from the first month or so of the season. That Knight was looking like an up-and-coming star. From there he seemed to fall into his habits of being a chucker that makes terrible decisions with the ball.

 

[3rdside]

It's highly unlikely we're winning anything the next few years so I don't see why Watson wouldn't work in that time; he's cheap, he's likeable, he could be good etc...and if we're competitive and he's not right then upgrade then.

But there's no reason he can't be our guy - he was very impressive in his press conference and, from a football perspective, you only need to look at guys like Guardiola, Pochettino etc to know young untried coaches can be successful.

 

[Catlover]

I wonder if that was more of a product of Hornacek's vision, or McD? I'd lean towards Hornacek. Interested to see what they eventually do with Knight. Booker seems to have a better feel for the game, (at 19!) is a better shooter, probably a better defender, and a few inches taller.

I'd like to know what happened to the Knight from the first month or so of the season. That Knight was looking like an up-and-coming star. From there he seemed to fall into his habits of being a chucker that makes terrible decisions with the ball.

I think it was two-fold. First off, our opponents started realizing they didn't need to guard our bigs which closed up our passing and driving lanes. Secondly, the next step backwards for him came when he was forced to become the primary ball-handler. He's always had some issues as a point guard in the past but now he was thrown out there with virtually no support. Remember, Chandler and Len were both dealing with injuries until recently and Booker was still incredibly raw.

 

[Errntknght]

I hope you guys are right and we really have turned some corner with our recent play but I am unconvinced. That was a Memphis team without their best player (Marc Gasol), his backup (Brandon Wright), his backup's backup (Chris Anderson-injured in game) and their best defender (Tony Allen). I do believe we're playing a little better but the main reason we look so much better out there is our opponent, not us IMO.

True, we don't beat the Grizz at full strength but this team has turned a corner - spiritually. This is exactly what I feared would happen, remember? IIRC you predicted 3-4 wins the rest of the season and we've gotten two already. We play a lot of middle of the road teams and we'll be in most of those games so we are going to need a bunch of close losses to hold onto the third slot in the lottery.

On another topic, the FO would be stupid not to bring Watson back next year. I don't fear young coaches - I was tickled to have Hornacek at the helm until I saw his halfcourt offense. I was a unpleasantly surprised by his penchant for small ball to close out games, too, as it left us undermanned on the boards. EW's halfcourt offense is not any great shakes yet but I expect something better after a full training camp - at least he's getting more players involved in it. Oh, didn't a first year coach win the title last year?

 

[JCSunsfan]

True, we don't beat the Grizz at full strength but this team has turned a corner - spiritually. This is exactly what I feared would happen, remember? IIRC you predicted 3-4 wins the rest of the season and we've gotten two already. We play a lot of middle of the road teams and we'll be in most of those games so we are going to need a bunch of close losses to hold onto the third slot in the lottery.

On another topic, the FO would be stupid not to bring Watson back next year. I don't fear young coaches - I was tickled to have Hornacek at the helm until I saw his halfcourt offense. I was a unpleasantly surprised by his penchant for small ball to close out games, too, as it left us undermanned on the boards. EW's halfcourt offense is not any great shakes yet but I expect something better after a full training camp - at least he's getting more players involved in it. Oh, didn't a first year coach win the title last year?

Well....don't fear it! Enjoy it when our young players are playing like potential superstars. Its sports, you are supposed to enjoy it.

 

[Catlover]

True, we don't beat the Grizz at full strength but this team has turned a corner - spiritually. This is exactly what I feared would happen, remember? IIRC you predicted 3-4 wins the rest of the season and we've gotten two already. We play a lot of middle of the road teams and we'll be in most of those games so we are going to need a bunch of close losses to hold onto the third slot in the lottery.

On another topic, the FO would be stupid not to bring Watson back next year. I don't fear young coaches - I was tickled to have Hornacek at the helm until I saw his halfcourt offense. I was a unpleasantly surprised by his penchant for small ball to close out games, too, as it left us undermanned on the boards. EW's halfcourt offense is not any great shakes yet but I expect something better after a full training camp - at least he's getting more players involved in it. Oh, didn't a first year coach win the title last year?

I remember and if I was asked today I'd still say we're looking at probably no more than 2 or 3 wins left on our schedule. But I'm less confident of my position today than I was a week ago. Booker and Len have played surprisingly well and I especially love how much more effective our defense has been. I really can't tell though whether our improved play is the result of growth on our part or preparation on the part of our opponents.

 

[Errntknght]

Well....don't fear it! Enjoy it when our young players are playing like potential superstars. Its sports, you are supposed to enjoy it.

I do enjoy it but I'd enjoy the high draft pick even more. In fact, I'm particularly enjoying Booker demonstrating that Brandon Knight is irrelevant. I think he is worse than irrelevant and I want him gone.

 

[Errntknght]

I remember and if I was asked today I'd still say we're looking at probably no more than 2 or 3 wins left on our schedule. But I'm less confident of my position today than I was a week ago. Booker and Len have played surprisingly well and I especially love how much more effective our defense has been. I really can't tell though whether our improved play is the result of growth on our part or preparation on the part of our opponents.

I hope you're right. I have little doubt we are seeing growth, primarily growth of confidence, in our young guys and in all of our players to some extent. It undoubtedly helps that our opponents are underestimating us. Guys can smell lack of respect and it's a great motivation. I guessed eight more wins after that first Grizz victory, so six more at this point and I still think its quite likely.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I have no problem letting Watson coach next year. Let him pat them youngsters on the head and spiritually raise them up.

 

[Mainstreet]

I have no problem letting Watson coach next year. Let him pat them youngsters on the head and spiritually raise them up.

If the Suns let Watson coach next season, I want some team option years into the future.

 

[Catlover]

If the Suns let Watson coach next season, I want some team option years into the future.

I doubt his agent, Rich Paul, will let him sign a team friendly deal.

 

[sunsfan88]

I doubt his agent, Rich Paul, will let him sign a team friendly deal.

I don't think Watson will have any leverage. I doubt many teams will be lining up to sign him up as HC and he may prefer to have a HC job with a team that he's familiar with than possibly have no HC job at all.

If for some reason that is the case then sure let Watson walk and go even harder after Thibs or someone else.

 

[Catlover]

I hope you're right. I have little doubt we are seeing growth, primarily growth of confidence, in our young guys and in all of our players to some extent. It undoubtedly helps that our opponents are underestimating us. Guys can smell lack of respect and it's a great motivation. I guessed eight more wins after that first Grizz victory, so six more at this point and I still think its quite likely.

Speaking of. I'm watching Memphis at Cleveland and the Grizzlies took an 8 point lead into the 4th quarter for this very reason. Cavs will likely come back and win this but the Grizzlies built this lead without Gasol, Conley, Randolph, Barnes, Wright, Andersen and Adams. And they're playing the second game of a back to back on the road.

 

[Catlover]

I don't think Watson will have any leverage. I doubt many teams will be lining up to sign him up as HC and he may prefer to have a HC job with a team that he's familiar with than possibly have no HC job at all.

If for some reason that is the case then sure let Watson walk and go even harder after Thibs or someone else.

Not to be snarky but are you suggesting that Rich Paul will say "sure, help yourself to some team friendly options since my guy has such a limited track record"? If we decide we want him I suspect we'll be paying him more than a mostly untested rookie head coach usually gets and I doubt we'll have any easy outs that aren't common league wide. Just my guess from watching the way the Bledsoe and Tristan Thompson negotiations went.


Regardless of how that goes, Thibs is a hot prospect and would still cost a lot more than Watson. And IMO he's be a really dumb hire given who we are (Ryan and Sarver) and given who Thibodeau has been. I think it's almost guaranteed to become a confrontational relationship between coaching and management and it won't take very long for that to happen. The last thing we need to do is go in search of a situation that's laced with TNT. We've already had too many blow-ups the past few years.

 

[sunsfan88]

Not to be snarky but are you suggesting that Rich Paul will say "sure, help yourself to some team friendly options since my guy has such a limited track record"? If we decide we want him I suspect we'll be paying him more than a mostly untested rookie head coach usually gets and I doubt we'll have any easy outs that aren't common league wide. Just my guess from watching the way the Bledsoe and Tristan Thompson negotiations went.

.

I don't really care what Rich Paul did with Bledsoe or Thompson because Rich Paul won't even remain Watson's agent for long

http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/write...-of-tighter-regulations-ban-on-double-dealing

 

[Catlover]

I don't really care what Rich Paul did with Bledsoe or Thompson because Rich Paul won't even remain Watson's agent for long

http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/write...-of-tighter-regulations-ban-on-double-dealing

It's been against the rules for a long time but Rich Paul and his group have been pretty aggressive targeting coaches and players so I'm not surprised the league is looking at finally enforcing it. But it won't really matter, they'll still have the right to represent their clients through their agency, they'll just have to disclose the relationship and use agents that aren't also handling players. Plus this change looks like it wouldn't take effect until sometime after this offseason, we'll have a coach signed long before then.

 

[BC867]

...I wonder if they would even move him because if they do, it would be basically admitting that they goofed up big time.

That is so depressing to read. Stick with failure to save face.

The really sad part is that it is what we have come to expect from Sarver and his underlings.

Of course, we have also come to expect them taking a stab in the dark, then clearing house and doing it again.

They sure are flexible . . . in their incompetency.