Suns @ Magic 12-26-18

CardsSunsDbacks

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Glad for the win, but once again Igor Kokoskov did everything he could to give the game away...over and over again. He just isn't capable from a strategic and game management standpoint, as evidenced by the incredibly slow starts in first and third quarters and meltdowns at the very ends of games.
Plenty of that is explained away by having such a young and inexperienced roster. Expecting this team to execute like well oiled machine all the time with the lack of inexperience that they have is pretty ridiculous to me. Igor clearly has these guys buying into what he is selling and it is showing with results on the court.
 

CardsSunsDbacks

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Definitely agreed. His passing is a clear weakness. On the plus side, he has shown the ability to turn a weakness into a strength. If his passing is anything like his 3-point shooting, he'll be reminding people of Magic Johnson by next season!
Just tell him that he can't pass and he will come out next season averaging like 5 assists. Definitely needs to improve in that regard, but I assume that will likely be the next wrinkle that he adds to his game.
 

1Sun

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Would you give him a break? This is a stupid young team. They are just now learning how to win (5 of 7 with a 3-2 road trip). What do you expect out of a Head Coach just 35 games into his first year as an NBA Head Coach? You know he's got learning and growing to do too, right?

I expect him not to be horribly outcoached, outsmarted and outplanned every game. If he can't give us that, he has no business being a head coach.
 

1Sun

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Plenty of that is explained away by having such a young and inexperienced roster. Expecting this team to execute like well oiled machine all the time with the lack of inexperience that they have is pretty ridiculous to me. Igor clearly has these guys buying into what he is selling and it is showing with results on the court.

It is showing in terms of effort, which makes Igor a great...assistant coach. Unfortunately what he is accomplishing in terms of buy-in he is giving up in terms of fundamentals and strategy, and then some. Buy-in only gets you so far when there is regression elsewhere, especially among the star players, and when players (Oubre, Jackson and Ayton most notably of late) are being misused at the cost of their development.

Plus that still doesn't explain away the fact that this team almost always starts games and second halves horribly and why no lead is ever safe, even a 4 point lead with 10 seconds to go.
 
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Hoop Head

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Just tell him that he can't pass and he will come out next season averaging like 5 assists. Definitely needs to improve in that regard, but I assume that will likely be the next wrinkle that he adds to his game.

It would be nice if he adds that but I'd like to see him add some muscle so he can PF more, if needed. He's got a great game now that doesn't need that much tweaked to play more of a stretch 4 role but he needs to work on his rebounding and adding some muscle will help him get better position and not be shoved around. It could also help him some offensively when he's going up for a runner but in a weird way I think he likes smacking into the floor. Gives him a quick little break to lay down.
 

Phrazbit

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They better do it before the end of the season.

You can't extend the contracts of impending free agents during the season in the NBA. We can try to make a deal with them between the end of season and free agency starting, but that's it.
 

Phrazbit

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It is showing in terms of effort, which makes Igor a great...assistant coach. Unfortunately what he is accomplishing in terms of buy-in he is giving up in terms of fundamentals and strategy, and then some. Buy-in only gets you so far when there is regression elsewhere, especially among the star players, and when players (Oubre, Jackson and Ayton most notably of late) are being misused at the cost of their development.

Plus that still doesn't explain away the fact that this team almost always starts games and second halves horribly and why no kead is ever safe, even a 4 point lead with 10 seconds to go.

Everyonce in a while I take you off ingnore to see if you're still a borderline troll...

But I do gotta say, this isn't trolling... it's just insane. Jackson, Ayton and Oubre have excelled of late... making huge strides on both ends. Jackson has (shockingly) probably been our best +/- player since the team has started to piece things together. But, somehow, in the land you share with Eeyore, those guys are being stunted.
 

1Sun

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Everyonce in a while I take you off ingnore to see if you're still a borderline troll...

But I do gotta say, this isn't trolling... it's just insane. Jackson, Ayton and Oubre have excelled of late... making huge strides on both ends. Jackson has (shockingly) probably been our best +/- player since the team has started to piece things together. But, somehow, in the land you share with Eeyore, those guys are being stunted.

Yes, Jackson has, and Igor persists in underutilizing him notwithstanding, whereas this is the time his role should be expanded to reward and reinforce his development. Tonight's game was case in point there. And I wouldn't call tonight's effort a "huge stride" for Ayton.
 

Phrazbit

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Yes, Jackson has, and Igor persists in underutilizing him notwithstanding, whereas this is the time his role should be expanded to reward and reinforce his development. Tonight's game was case in point there. And I wouldn't call tonight's effort a "huge stride" for Ayton.
He’s averaging like 24 and 15 over the last few weeks.

Jackson was playing awful basketball until his minutes started getting pulled away, since he has played much more controlled and he is still averaging 25 minutes a night on this road trip... and... somehow... that is underutilizing him. If Jackson was playing 27 minutes and still playing wild I'm sure you'd kill the coaches for not benching him for mistakes.

I know you react to a 5 point deficit in the 1st quarter with apocalyptic thoughts... so the “can’t see the forest through the trees” trend is nothing new.
 

CardsSunsDbacks

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Yes, Jackson has, and Igor persists in underutilizing him notwithstanding, whereas this is the time his role should be expanded to reward and reinforce his development. Tonight's game was case in point there. And I wouldn't call tonight's effort a "huge stride" for Ayton.
He is trying to instill consistency into the young players. Once you show to him that you can consistently play well with the role that you are playing than he might expand your role, but JJ is not there yet. Sure he has had a solid 5-7 game stretch, but he is going to have to extend that to probably 10-15 games before they are going to give him an expanded role. Then again it still might not be a good idea to do that even that early because it may very well be the slightly limited role that he is playing that is causing him to excel. He is simply being methodical with giving his young players more responsibility and I don't see how you are going to knock that when the players are clearly improving even if only a little bit at a time.
 

CardsSunsDbacks

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I am guessing that 1Suns guy is doing his thing again?
Just suggesting that Igor sucks and is using the recent performances of JJ, Ayton and Oubre to somehow make his point (You know 3 of the guys that are pretty consistently playing well of late) and I don't see how it makes sense.
 

SactownSunsFan

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I expect him not to be horribly outcoached, outsmarted and outplanned every game. If he can't give us that, he has no business being a head coach.

I'd like to see what your evaluation would've been for Gregg Popovich when he took over for
Yes, Jackson has, and Igor persists in underutilizing him notwithstanding, whereas this is the time his role should be expanded to reward and reinforce his development. Tonight's game was case in point there. And I wouldn't call tonight's effort a "huge stride" for Ayton.

Lol, what? Ayton had, by far, his best game yet overall when his scoring was an afterthought. He stayed engaged the entire time despite his lack of chances at putting the ball in the hoop. Did you even watch this game?
 

Phrazbit

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I am guessing that 1Suns guy is doing his thing again?

Out of morbid curiosity I decided to look at my "ignored content" to see how much he was trashing on the team for this disaster of a 3-2 road trip.

Moral of the story, the coaches are failing players like Jackson, Ayton and Oubre. Those guys should... somehow... be preforming far better and/or getting more than their paltry 25-32 minutes per game.
 

CardsSunsDbacks

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I'd like to see what your evaluation would've been for Gregg Popovich when he took over for


Lol, what? Ayton had, by far, his best game yet overall when his scoring was an afterthought. He stayed engaged the entire time despite his lack of chances at putting the ball in the hoop. Did you even watch this game?
This is absolutely the only game where you can say the Suns won because of Ayton's defense. That is a major step in the right direction.
 

SirStefan32

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I'd like to see what your evaluation would've been for Gregg Popovich when he took over for


Lol, what? Ayton had, by far, his best game yet overall when his scoring was an afterthought. He stayed engaged the entire time despite his lack of chances at putting the ball in the hoop. Did you even watch this game?

Ayton was a beast in OT. I was down on his performance until the OT, but he was amazing in OT. And even without the OT, honestly, a young big is due to have an off game once in a while.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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While bummed to see ayton’s low offensive usage, I’m stoked to hear from you guys that his defense was the difference between a W and a L. And frankly, just happy to see another W. 5 of 7, with 5 of those games being on the road, and one of the wins coming against the celts in their digs? Hell yeah!
 

Phrazbit

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Another also...

Vucevic getting 22 points on 20 shots and a 1:2 assist to turnover rate is NOT a good offensive showing. Well below his normal efficiency.
 

CardsSunsDbacks

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Was someone other than Ayton guarding Vucevic?
I was referring to his defense in overtime. Where he had 3 blocks and the deflection on the last play of the game. We won that OT with only 4 points scored and we did that in large part because of Ayton's defense.
 
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