Suns @ Lakers 12-2-18

[1Sun]

No report on how long Booker will be out.

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My guess is that as always, Igor Kokoskov will continue to have no clue as to the next steps.

 

[95pro]

Our “experienced” players are done. Ariza can barely get up and dunk.

Anderson has nothing left, not even a jump shot.

Crawford is a short term rental.

That’s 3 guys that will be gone off the roster.

Bender is garbage. Will be gone too.

Competent players:

Booker but kills tempo as pg and no D.
Warren is solid, can’t fault him for continuous improvement but minor injuries plague him now and then.
Ayton is a rookie without a killer instinct.
Bridges another rookie but still rising.

Barely competent:

JJ just can’t get his shot going. He puts his hands too close together.

We just don’t have any legit nba talent. Even our bench sucks. We have guys air-balling wide open shots, these are guys making thousands of dollars a game.

McD really dug our grave.

 

[Mainstreet]

There will be at least four players that will not be with the Suns next season as I see it, probably more.

The four are Ariza, Bender, Anderson and Daniels.

 

[Shaggy]

They just stink. Plan and simple...

 

[1Sun]

They just stink. Plan and simple...

They stunk last year (and the 3-4 years before that). This year they are historically bad.

 

[Yuma]

BC. I will say this one last time. This is one of the most experienced coaches we could find. He has a 17 year NBA pedigree. There might be problems people have with his coaching, but experience is not the issue. This is not Earl Watson.

The issue is that we have 4 rookies playing in our 10 man rotation. We had our top two players out.

But the biggest problem on this team is that our "experienced" players are not playing well.

After Budenholser was off the board, Igor was the best available on the market imho.

 

[Yuma]

They stunk last year (and the 3-4 years before that). This year they are historically bad.

Posted earlier this year, that statistically they aren't even as bad as last year's team, and they have been playing better since then. No Booker or TJ, what did you expect today?

 

[Chaplin]

Posted earlier this year, that statistically they aren't even as bad as last year's team, and they have been playing better since then. No Booker or TJ, what did you expect today?

He expected more complaining about not having a point guard. He gets his wish every time he uses a keyboard!

 

[1Sun]

Well I certainly don't expect more distortion of facts...

 

[Cheesebeef]

Posted earlier this year, that statistically they aren't even as bad as last year's team, and they have been playing better since then. No Booker or TJ, what did you expect today?

I expect a team that at the very least doesn't play so damn lazy, that they continually get the ball stolen in the backcourt.

this team isn't well coached, doesn't play smart or even hard most of the time. i don't care who's on the court, the offense doesn't fit the talent (literally ONE touch for Ayton on the low-block... early in the fourth while already down 27) and they don't even play hard.

there are sooooooo many problems on this team. It's impossible to really even know where to start.

 

[1tinsoldier]

This is one of the most experienced coaches we could find. He has a 17 year NBA pedigree. There might be problems people have with his coaching, but experience is not the issue.

But the biggest problem on this team is that our "experienced" players are not playing well.

1. i highly doubt Igor is the most experienced coach we could find.
2. if he has a 17 year assistant coach "pedigree" it's fair to say experience shouldn't be the issue. so why is he coaching like he's inexperienced. and why did none of the teams he worked for give him a head coaching position?
3. our biggest problem is our players are not experienced AND are not getting good experience under this coach.

 

[Cheesebeef]

After Budenholser was off the board, Igor was the best available on the market imho.

you mean... the assistant coach who literally didn't even get another interview from another team... EVER? Sorry, but I just can't believe that to be true considering that he has no idea how to use his second biggest weapon (Ayton) not to mention how stupid, careless and lifeless this team generally plays.

 

[Cheesebeef]

1. i highly doubt Igor is the most experienced coach we could find.
2. if he has a 17 year assistant coach "pedigree" it's fair to say experience shouldn't be the issue. so why is he coaching like he's inexperienced. and why did none of the teams he worked for give him a head coaching position?
3. our biggest problem is our players are not experienced AND are not getting good experience under this coach.

all of this.

don't worry, once he gets canned, everyone will suddenly realize he was terrible hire all along... just like they did McD after defending every indefensible move... until he got fired and only then was it obvious he was atrocious.

 

[Yuma]

He expected more complaining about not having a point guard. He gets his wish every time he uses a keyboard!

What I like is for weeks, ANY pg would be better than anyone on our team. Then word comes out about different PGs we are looking at and he gets picky, LMAO!

 

[Yuma]

you mean... the assistant coach who literally didn't even get another interview from another team... EVER? Sorry, but I just can't believe that to be true considering that he has no idea how to use his second biggest weapon (Ayton) not to mention how stupid, careless and lifeless this team generally plays.

It is known how the same old guys rotate around the league. Not surprising new guys are not given chances.

 

[Yuma]

I expect a team that at the very least doesn't play so damn lazy, that they continually get the ball stolen in the backcourt.

this team isn't well coached, doesn't play smart or even hard most of the time. i don't care who's on the court, the offense doesn't fit the talent (literally ONE touch for Ayton on the low-block... early in the fourth while already down 27) and they don't even play hard.

there are sooooooo many problems on this team. It's impossible to really even know where to start.

I do agree on the offense. Triangle with Booker and Ayton ala Kobe and Shaq would be intriguing.

 

[1Sun]

all of this.

don't worry, once he gets canned, everyone will suddenly realize he was terrible hire all along... just like they did McD after defending every indefensible move... until he got fired and only then was it obvious he was atrocious.

It's so frustrating that so many don't or won't see the obvious while it is happening right before their very eyes...

 

[1Sun]

What I like is for weeks, ANY pg would be better than anyone on our team. Then word comes out about different PGs we are looking at and he gets picky, LMAO!

If by picky, you mean I don't want a Shaq Harrison or Isaiah Canaan clone, then you got me. Guilty as charged. Sheesh.

 

[Yuma]

No. We see it. What you guys keep saying is we shoulda this, we shoulda that. Yeah, easy to second guess. We keep explaining why things happened. Not try and go back into a time machine and change everything. Wanna make some good points? Research and come up with GMs that are better. Find out what coaches are actually available that would be better than Igor. Come up with reasonable player replacements. Otherwise its just grumble, grumble, grumble. Easy to complain.

 

[AzStevenCal]

No. We see it. What you guys keep saying is we shoulda this, we shoulda that. Yeah, easy to second guess. We keep explaining why things happened. Not try and go back into a time machine and change everything. Wanna make some good points? Research and come up with GMs that are better. Find out what coaches are actually available that would be better than Igor. Come up with reasonable player replacements. Otherwise its just grumble, grumble, grumble. Easy to complain.

It's easy to complain but right now, it's almost impossible not to. We picked the wrong time to tank and it would have been nice if we'd hired some quality scouts. And if we have quality scouts, it would have been nice if the front office actually listened to them. But I also don't fault anyone for not having the answers, we just don't have access to the same information that teams do. I have no idea who would be a great coach other than a handful of coaches who have already proved themselves with more than one group of players. And I haven't the slightest clue who would be a good GM.

 

[1tinsoldier]

don't worry, once he gets canned, everyone will suddenly realize he was terrible hire all along... just like they did McD after defending every indefensible move... until he got fired and only then was it obvious he was atrocious.

thanks. i needed to be reminded that to a large degree the defense of Igor is just fans doing their thing for the home team.

it sucks to suck
and it's hard to accept that the team will continue to suck
until, as Yuma says, we make changes that can be very difficult to make

but even if the solutions are hard
i'm more encouraged by identifying the problems

 

[Yuma]

Looking at the organization, just the other day on an NBA show I heard them praising the Suns trainers. Seems like that's the best part of our franchise discussed in league circles. I always thought San Antonio's scouts came up with good players. Maybe get one of those guys to jump ship and build our scouting department. Colangelo was a good GM. Bring him back to mentor someone. Our cap guy seems pretty good, from what little has been written about him. We aren't totally horrible as a franchise, but we do need changes.

 

[1tinsoldier]

game notables:

1. Ayton was called for an absurd 2nd foul. Igor did what most coaches would do and pulled him instead of realizing that in the rare moments when the Suns are gelling, he should keep milking them for every drop and let the opposing coach make adjustments.
2. Ayton was called for his 3rd foul for a light touch of Lebron and his day was mostly done. how can they teach this kid to be beast when the refs are teaching him to be tinkerbell?
3. JJ showed signs of being what we need and then put up a couple of bad 3's.
4. the 4th quarter, including JJ's open shot airball, was so embarrassing the announcers were speechless for uncomfortably long periods of time.

this game was a low point in a season of low points

 

[Yuma]

Old school guys in the sixties and seventies in the NBA would give a guy a hard foul just to see if they could intimidate them. Maybe tell Ayton, if you are going to get a foul, plant the guy on his ass and see what happens. Guys were really afraid to drive the lane on Wilt. He would occaisonally plant a guy, and then the rest of the game no one drove the lane.

 

[95pro]

Lots of respect lost of TC.

Now he wants to at least try, now that he’s on a different team, especially with LeBrat.