Suns @ Magic 12-26-18

[JCSunsfan]

Igor has led his team to 5 of 7 wins while starting three rookies. Has any team ever had 3 rookie starters through most of an nba season? Igor is a freaking miracle worker.

 

[SirStefan32]

Igor has led his team to 5 or 7 wins while starting three rookies. Has any team ever had 3 rookie starters through most of an nba season. Igor is a freaking miracle worker.

But but but, he didn't celebrate when they won!!!

 

[sdscard4]

Igor has led his team to 5 of 7 wins while starting three rookies. Has any team ever had 3 rookie starters through most of an nba season? Igor is a freaking miracle worker.

Not even close....yes he's been better but let's not forget who got us in this hole...we could win 10 more in a row and still be last. I think he's found a rotation finally and letting them play. I still don't think he's head coach material but I'm pleased that we are at least competing. Oubre is a beast so glad he's ours

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Not even close....yes he's been better but let's not forget who got us in this hole...we could win 10 more in a row and still be last. I think he's found a rotation finally and letting them play. I still don't think he's head coach material but I'm pleased that we are at least competing. Oubre is a beast so glad he's ours

Ryan McDonough? Igor is not the reason that we started so poorly. He was trying to install a new system with a bunch of really young players and useless veterans. Jones has slowly moved away from the veteran players that were hurting the team and also brought in JC. That along with the players starting to grasp the system better has lead to the team playing much better.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Not even close....yes he's been better but let's not forget who got us in this hole...we could win 10 more in a row and still be last. I think he's found a rotation finally and letting them play. I still don't think he's head coach material but I'm pleased that we are at least competing. Oubre is a beast so glad he's ours

Not Igor. I just do not get the ripping of Igor. He is doing a fantastic job. He is absolutely a head coach, and probably the best head coach we have had since DAntoni. I am not sitting back any more. I am going to defend him every time. He is fantastic.

 

[SirStefan32]

Not Igor. I just do not get the ripping of Igor. He is doing a fantastic job. He is absolutely a head coach, and probably the best head coach we have had since DAntoni. I am not sitting back any more. I am going to defend him every time. He is fantastic.

And this is all happening with a mess of a roster and within the first 35-ish games of his first season.

 

[AzStevenCal]

So, we end a 5 game road trip that included a back to back only to return home for a day off and then 3 more games in 4 days to finish out the year? The schedule makers did us no favors, that will be our 4th B2B this month.

 

[1tinsoldier]

I couldn't care less about the emotion he is showing.

i couldn't care less whether you couldn't care less
i believe his players care about seeing more emotion from him

Sometimes a team needs an even keeled guy around them like Koko.

sometimes
other times they need a leader who gets worked up about a call
gets a T once in a while
gets visibly excited about a run or a win
or a loss!

The bottom line is he has these guys fighting hard every night now and he has done that with his consistent even keeled attitude.

the bottom line is probably
after a 3rd of the season slipped by without strong leadership and inspiration
the defensive minded players on the team have inspired each other and it has spread to the others

It's easy to say that he should have called a timeout looking back at it, but he probably wanted to have that timeout in case they made a three to tie.

it's easy to say because, as Booker understood, but apparently you and Igor didn't,
the whole idea of the time out was to get everyone on the same page to foul (twice) so they'd never have a chance to tie with a 3

it's also easy to say because Igor has missed calling many strategic time outs all season
as if his team was a group of savvy veterans instead of the youngest team in the league!

just about any other coach in the league would have won both games in regulation without sending them into overtime

enough bullcrap!
yes, i couldn't be happier that the players are doing their jobs now
it's time for the coach to do his part at crunch time when he's needed
instead of it being a one-man Booker show
call some damn plays

didn't Igor learn anything in 17 years on the sidelines
that everyone else who isn't cookoo for Koko
can see from their living room couch?

 

[1tinsoldier]

Huh? Are you serious/ Who cares? You know that not screaming and not acting like a fool does not make someone a bad coach, right?

you know that posting straw-man arguments like a fool does not make for a good post, right?

 

[1tinsoldier]

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.

actually, i'd be OK with him being bested by other coaches occasionally
my major beef is that he doesn't seem to have the fundamentals down
after 17 years of assistant coaching

and some posters have lowered the bar so much
that they praise him when he does something remedial like call a time out when the opposition goes on a run

 

[1tinsoldier]

Igor has led his team to 5 of 7 wins while starting three rookies. Has any team ever had 3 rookie starters through most of an nba season? Igor is a freaking miracle worker.

if Igor LED his team to 5 of 7 wins
he LED his team to 25 of 29 losses before that

"miracle" or "debacle"?

depends on what you expected when the season began
with most of last year's dead wood gone and a healthy Booker, Ayton, Bridges, and JJ, and Okobo, i expected them to compete from the start

now, after adding in the defense and energy of Holmes and Oubre
i expect the Suns to be better than i anticipated

 

[1tinsoldier]

Did you ever think he is not satisfied to barely beat a bad team?

I think he is a perfectionist and he is not happy with the way they played. I know as a fan I’m not.

Does belichek show emotion? Does that make him a bad coach?

i'd agree with you if emotion was in my top 10 of grievances with Igor's performance
and
i'd agree with you if my number 1 grievance is wasn't that i strongly suspect Igor is soft
not strong. not demanding.
i'd be delighted if i thought he was a "perfectionist"

 

[1tinsoldier]

Tonight's game was case in point there. And I wouldn't call tonight's effort a "huge stride" for Ayton.

that's the thing. both Ayton and JJ have moments when they show how much more they can do
i believe a good coach would get more of those moments out of both of them
and both would have shown more steady improvements
instead of rather unusual periods of regression that seemed to be more about lack of guidance than lack of experience

 

[Phrazbit]

We'll see over the next few months but IMO, the biggest thing holding this team back over their first 30 games was a couple vets who were supposed to be "leaders" instead being content to get paychecks (Ariza and Anderson) and injuries to Booker... and, this is on the organization, coaches, trainers, everyone, that they have been letting Booker decide when he can play rather than making sure their max contract star is actually healthy.

The shortening of the rotation (which has basically been dumping the 8 figure vets from it) and Booker getting into form has created a team that is actually... entertaining and possibly good.

A few weeks ago I expressed concern with Koko, not because of inability or philosophy, but i was beginning to wonder if young American players disposed ignore the directives of someone with an accent who is occasionally hard to understand.

But now... I'm not so worried. Josh Jackson is starting to play within himself, Ayton has shifted into another gear as he realizes how good he is, Booker is... just amazing, the only thing holding him back right now is his pride late in games. I'm loving what I'm seeing.

Yes, those first 6-8 weeks were rough, but I don't know how someone can look at the team we've seen over the last 2-3 weeks and not be really excited about the unselfish play on offense and the massive increase in defensive intensity. I suspect we are using the youngest rotation in the league right now and, going back to the Clipper game, we're a winning team with half of our loses coming in OT, and one of them coming in day game after 3 OTs the night before.

We've got a first year coach who has player development chops but not in game management chops, we're seeing improvement there. We've got a roster that is the youngest in the league and they've been playing well above what any of us though over the last few weeks.

There are a couple Eeyore's on this board who I suspect would rip the Sun for causing cancer.

Meanwhile, I'm about as happy as I've been about the state of the Suns since probably 2013/14 or earlier.

 

[slinslin]

Earlier in the year the bench was a total negative.

Josh Jackson alone killed the team with 2-10 shooting nights coupled with 5 turnovers.

Seems to me that Josh Jackson got reigned in and is now playing a lot more focused, his touch is still miserable though. Really needs to work on a lot of small stuff
- getting stronger
- finishing with either hand
- shooting touch not only on jumpshots but also floaters, layups

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

i couldn't care less whether you couldn't care less
i believe his players care about seeing more emotion from him

So that's why they are playing with effort every single game lately? Because they are so bothered that their coach doesn't show enough emotion? I highly doubt the players care as long as they feel like he is setting them up to be successful as individuals and as a team. Thus far he appears to be doing both of those things.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Earlier in the year the bench was a total negative.

Josh Jackson alone killed the team with 2-10 shooting nights coupled with 5 turnovers.

Seems to me that Josh Jackson got reigned in and is now playing a lot more focused, his touch is still miserable though. Really needs to work on a lot of small stuff
- getting stronger
- finishing with either hand
- shooting touch not only on jumpshots but also floaters, layups

I think the angles he takes going to the basket are a bigger issue than his touch. Too many times he takes off too early leaving himself layups from awkward angles or he will be too far away from the basket at the time of release that it makes the shot significantly more difficult. He is a plenty good enough athlete to get all the way to the rim and finish on a pretty regular basis, but needs to work on footwork and angles as well as working on his touch.

 

[slinslin]

last night when he tried to dunk on Bamba the only reason it got blocked is because he tried to dunk with his right hand despite being on the left side of the rim.

Had he used his left hand he would have finished it.

 

[Finito]

We'll see over the next few months but IMO, the biggest thing holding this team back over their first 30 games was a couple vets who were supposed to be "leaders" instead being content to get paychecks (Ariza and Anderson) and injuries to Booker... and, this is on the organization, coaches, trainers, everyone, that they have been letting Booker decide when he can play rather than making sure their max contract star is actually healthy.

The shortening of the rotation (which has basically been dumping the 8 figure vets from it) and Booker getting into form has created a team that is actually... entertaining and possibly good.

A few weeks ago I expressed concern with Koko, not because of inability or philosophy, but i was beginning to wonder if young American players disposed ignore the directives of someone with an accent who is occasionally hard to understand.

But now... I'm not so worried. Josh Jackson is starting to play within himself, Ayton has shifted into another gear as he realizes how good he is, Booker is... just amazing, the only thing holding him back right now is his pride late in games. I'm loving what I'm seeing.

Yes, those first 6-8 weeks were rough, but I don't know how someone can look at the team we've seen over the last 2-3 weeks and not be really excited about the unselfish play on offense and the massive increase in defensive intensity. I suspect we are using the youngest rotation in the league right now and, going back to the Clipper game, we're a winning team with half of our loses coming in OT, and one of them coming in day game after 3 OTs the night before.

We've got a first year coach who has player development chops but not in game management chops, we're seeing improvement there. We've got a roster that is the youngest in the league and they've been playing well above what any of us though over the last few weeks.

There are a couple Eeyore's on this board who I suspect would rip the Sun for causing cancer.

Meanwhile, I'm about as happy as I've been about the state of the Suns since probably 2013/14 or earlier.

I was watching the jump and Jackie Mac said she was told by people in the league that The Suns had to get rid of Ariza that he was that bad in the locker room.

Oubre and Holmes have been a godsend compared to Chandler and Ariza.

Josh Jackson is playing better and better is he perfect? Not yet but is he head and shoulders better than he was at the start of the year yes.

I've said from day 1 I don't care about wins I want to see effort from this team.

Im honestly excited about this team now

 

[Proximo]

Earlier in the year the bench was a total negative.

Josh Jackson alone killed the team with 2-10 shooting nights coupled with 5 turnovers.

Seems to me that Josh Jackson got reigned in and is now playing a lot more focused, his touch is still miserable though. Really needs to work on a lot of small stuff
- getting stronger
- finishing with either hand
- shooting touch not only on jumpshots but also floaters, layups

Why does he throw those line drive floaters, has the guy never seen a bankshot. That is driving me crazy.

But yes, he is doing less stupid stuff lately. It is now rare for him to charge the basket a hundred miles an hour out of control only to brick a layup.

But at this point it is still a tough decision as to whether I would pick up his option if this is the way he looks the rest of the year. He still needs to step it up.

 

[1Sun]

I was watching the jump and Jackie Mac said she was told by people in the league that The Suns had to get rid of Ariza that he was that bad in the locker room.

Oubre and Holmes have been a godsend compared to Chandler and Ariza.

Josh Jackson is playing better and better is he perfect? Not yet but is he head and shoulders better than he was at the start of the year yes.

I've said from day 1 I don't care about wins I want to see effort from this team.

Im honestly excited about this team now

We can see effort from a junior high school team, and it is the least we can expect from professionals.

What I want to see are steady development and progress. Recent record aside, I'm still not seeing that, especially not from Booker, Warren, Ayton, Bridges and Melton.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

We can see effort from a junior high school team, and it is the least we can expect from professionals.

What I want to see are steady development and progress. Recent record aside, I'm still not seeing that, especially not from Booker, Warren, Ayton, Bridges and Melton.

Well the first 3 names you listed are in the midst of their best individual play of the season. How you can't connect that to improvement is beyond me. Booker, Warren, Ayton and JJ are all playing their best basketball of the year. Bridges is playing good defense, but just doesn't have his shot falling right now (not on the coach) and Melton was a 2nd round pick for a reason and his inconsistent play is showing that.

Also how are you going to exclude the recent record to make your point. The recent record is the strong proof that he indeed has both the players and the team as a whole playing better, but it's excluded because it doesn't fit your agenda?

 

[AzStevenCal]

But at this point it is still a tough decision as to whether I would pick up his option if this is the way he looks the rest of the year. He still needs to step it up.

I see no advantage to passing on his option(s) unless he's a disruptive force in the locker room.

 

[Finito]

We can see effort from a junior high school team, and it is the least we can expect from professionals.

What I want to see are steady development and progress. Recent record aside, I'm still not seeing that, especially not from Booker, Warren, Ayton, Bridges and Melton.

Oh stop it lol

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Why does he throw those line drive floaters, has the guy never seen a bankshot. That is driving me crazy.

But yes, he is doing less stupid stuff lately. It is now rare for him to charge the basket a hundred miles an hour out of control only to brick a layup.

But at this point it is still a tough decision as to whether I would pick up his option if this is the way he looks the rest of the year. He still needs to step it up.

As many boneheaded things he does at times you just don't pass on the talent that he displays. Especially not in a way that you pass on his 4th year option. This isn't a Bender situation where you have a player that has shown absolutely nothing and is passive at the same time. JJ is a fearless player and has had some serious good stretches on both ends. You have to bank on him getting better with his decision making.