Suns @ Pelicans Wednesday game thread 2-3-2021

[AzStevenCal]

Favors has been playing unless I missed something. No, injuries are not the fault of the GM unless a player has a tendency to be frequently injured.

If the Suns had kept Rubio and traded Oubre they would have a trade exception and a first round pick to work with.

Other power forwards were available.

Yes he has but we'd look a lot better if we hadn't lost Saric for most of the season, Payne for much of the season, Booker for 20% of the season and if our rookie hadn't been unable to play or develop thus far. And since there was no reason to expect all of those things to happen, it stands to reason that it could have still happened even with Favors. And trade exceptions have very little value. Every now and then they come in handy but more often than not they just time out.

 

[Mainstreet]

Yes he has but we'd look a lot better if we hadn't lost Saric for most of the season, Payne for much of the season, Booker for 20% of the season and if our rookie hadn't been unable to play or develop thus far. And since there was no reason to expect all of those things to happen, it stands to reason that it could have still happened even with Favors. And trade exceptions have very little value. Every now and then, they come in handy but more often than not they just time out.

I'm only saying the Suns lack size at the 4/5 beyond Ayton and Saric. Kaminsky has been a pleasant surprise. I think the Suns could have built the roster better at these two positions.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm only saying the Suns lack size at the 4/5 beyond Ayton and Saric. Kaminsky has been a pleasant surprise. I think the Suns could have built the roster better at these two positions.

Sure, they could have built the roster better at every position but what's the likelihood that in 28 months an unpopular franchise could fix the shortcomings for starters and backups at every position with the possible exception of the starting shooting guard?

Healthy, we are now better at every single spot except backup bigs IMO. But we have been without 2 key rotation players for much of the season so our margin of error is tiny. Good teams can lose 2 of their 7 best and still thrive, it's much more difficult to do so when you're closer to middle of the pack.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I'm only saying the Suns lack size at the 4/5 beyond Ayton and Saric. Kaminsky has been a pleasant surprise. I think the Suns could have built the roster better at these two positions.

Exactly. It was too precarious construction to only have two bigs. Lose one and you’re down to undersized crowder (or other SFs, fine if you want to purposefully create mismatch, but tough if you’re forced to rely on it), crap jones, frank, and a not ready rookie. Too dangerous of a game.

 

[Mainstreet]

Sure, they could have built the roster better at every position but what's the likelihood that in 28 months an unpopular franchise could fix the shortcomings for starters and backups at every position with the possible exception of the starting shooting guard?

Healthy, we are now better at every single spot except backup bigs IMO. But we have been without 2 key rotation players for much of the season so our margin of error is tiny. Good teams can lose 2 of their 7 best and still thrive, it's much more difficult to do so when you're closer to middle of the pack.

If the Suns were not intent on being a good team, the Chris Paul trade doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Exactly. It was too precarious construction to only have two bigs. Lose one and you’re down to undersized crowder (or other SFs, fine if you want to purposefully create mismatch, but tough if you’re forced to rely on it), crap jones, frank, and a not ready rookie. Too dangerous of a game.

The only reasonable fix I can see looking back is to not overreact to the offseason screw-up by Holmes. But given the state of the team at the time, the state of the franchise at the time and the bat-crap crazy summer behavior of Josh Jackson, the overreaction is understandable.

We don't have enough quality big men, that's clear. But the loss of our backup shooting guard is hurting us almost as much. This is a flawed and unbalanced roster and knowing that it's far less flawed and unbalanced than it has been in years may not make the bad losses easier to accept but it's still true.

 

[Chaplin]

There was no reason to expect Dario would be gone this much -- so a lot of this is reactionary.

I'm not sure if James Jones thought Damien Jones was an actual player, so I'd agree with everyone healthy, we are one big man short. And not necessarily a star big man.

 

[AzStevenCal]

If the Suns were not intent on being a good team, the Chris Paul trade doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I thought we were agreed that the motivation for making this trade was to keep Booker happy? And, AFAIC, being tied for the 8th best record in the NBA is more than meeting expectations considering our roster turnover in a Covid shortened preseason not to mention key absences.

 

[Mainstreet]

I thought we were agreed that the motivation for making this trade was to keep Booker happy? And, AFAIC, being tied for the 8th best record in the NBA is more than meeting expectations considering our roster turnover in a Covid shortened preseason not to mention key absences.

This is the only reason we came up with that made sense for making the Chris Paul trade. As I recall, neither of us were in favor of it in a poll that was done.

Still it's not an excuse for the Suns not adding more size to their front line.

 

[Chaplin]

This is the only reason we came up with that made sense for making the Chris Paul trade. As I recall, neither of us were in favor of it in a poll that was done.

Still it's not an excuse for the Suns not adding more size to their front line.

I think the team got a little spoiled by the bubble performance of Cam Johnson.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think the team got a little spoiled by the bubble performance of Cam Johnson.

Gotta agree. Since Cam’s fast start, he has been pretty woeful shooting the last ten games and his rebounding is downright pathetic. He was averaging 6 boards per game in the bubble. Not close to that now.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think the team got a little spoiled by the bubble performance of Cam Johnson.

This could well be. Suns were having success playing Cam Johnson at power forward in the bubble but eight games is too small a sample. Also prior to the bubble Oubre saw some time at power forward.

The key in the bubble was Dario Saric playing small ball center. With Saric, the Suns are okay at power forward/center but there is no margin for error.

Also perhaps the Suns were infatuated with Crowder playing power forward for the Heat.

 

[Chaplin]

I also think Dario's absence is much more crucial than generally thought.

 

[95pro]

I also think Dario's absence is much more crucial than generally thought.

To the lay fan and to the espn/tnt crews, but i think most here and the ones calling the games (eddie, chambers, ann, etc) know the value he brings.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I also think Dario's absence is much more crucial than generally thought.

To the lay fan and to the espn/tnt crews, but i think most here and the ones calling the games (eddie, chambers, ann, etc) know the value he brings.

Our 8-0 bubble run was fueled primarily by Booker, Payne and Saric. This season, we've been mostly without Payne and Saric and we've only seen glimpses of Bubble Booker.

 

[Chaplin]

To the lay fan and to the espn/tnt crews, but i think most here and the ones calling the games (eddie, chambers, ann, etc) know the value he brings.

I'm not sure that applies to a lot of people on here, especially the doomsday crowd.

 

[Mainstreet]

At least I know what I heard about Jae Crowder was right about a foot issue but still no word.

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[Mainstreet]

X-rays were negative. Jae Crowder is taking it day-by-day although he plans to see a doctor.

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

There was no reason to expect Dario would be gone this much -- so a lot of this is reactionary.

I'm not sure if James Jones thought Damien Jones was an actual player, so I'd agree with everyone healthy, we are one big man short. And not necessarily a star big man.

Agreed. Just workmanlike additional big would make a huge difference.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I thought we were agreed that the motivation for making this trade was to keep Booker happy? And, AFAIC, being tied for the 8th best record in the NBA is more than meeting expectations considering our roster turnover in a Covid shortened preseason not to mention key absences.

Not me. I thought it was gunning for success and expected 4-5 seed.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I'm not sure that applies to a lot of people on here, especially the doomsday crowd.

No saric was a crucial element to the bubble and without another big was crucial to this year. But I thought moreso on the offensive end. As poor a defender as he is, he’s at least 6’9 and a try hard guy defensively.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Not me. I thought it was gunning for success and expected 4-5 seed.

Oh, I know, you and many others thought it was a win now move. And you may still be right, we have not yet seen the team we thought we had. If we get healthy and Booker gets back to being Booker we'll have a lot fewer of these kinds of losses.