Suns @ Pistons 11-25-18

[ColdPickleNachos]

And the referees let him get away with it.

In their defense, it's hard not to let him get away with it...

It's like with the Seahawks in their Legion of Boom days. If they are going to ignore the rules on virtually every play, you either need to adjust what a penalty is or become the story of the game and deal with a controversy on every call.

 

[SirStefan32]

I'd like to formally request that TJ Warren takes some time to teach Booker how to shoot threes.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns needed that 3 by Booker. And he fouls on the other end.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

I'd like to formally request that TJ Warren takes some time to teach Booker how to shoot threes.

TJ would be unstoppable if he could only learn to keep quiet.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

No TJ in this 2nd half is just killing us. We might be leading this game if he was playing in this half.

 

[Mainstreet]

Bridges and Ariza have combined for 7 points. Canaan is scoreless.

 

[SirStefan32]

Yikes! Good game for the first three quarters.

 

[Mainstreet]

This would have been a game to give another PG some minutes besides Canaan.

 

[Mainstreet]

Final:

Pistons 118 - Suns 107

A very disappointing 4th quarter for the Suns.

 

[1Sun]

If Kokoskov had given Canaan's minutes to Jackson, Daniels and Okobo, the results would have been different. What is with Kokoskov's obsession with Canaan despite the fact that Canaan does not contribute a single positive thing on the court???

 

[1Sun]

Meanwhile, it looks like Trevor Ariza is back to dogging it.

At this point, this team needs to stick with an 8-or-9-man rotation:

Start Booker, Bridges, Ayton, Warren and Jackson.

Limit the bench to Holmes, Crawford, Daniels and Okobo.

Cut Ariza and Canaan.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

In a day where TJ clocked out prematurely we needed Bridges and ariza to step up. They didn’t. But competitive game. Baby steps of improvement.

 

[Hoop Head]

Meanwhile, it looks like Trevor Ariza is back to dogging it.

At this point, this team needs to stick with an 8-or-9-man rotation:

Start Booker, Bridges, Ayton, Warren and Jackson.

Limit the bench to Holmes, Crawford, Daniels and Okobo.

Cut Ariza and Canaan.

And you said nothing during the game, why? Worried that bashing the team while they were playing well wouldn't go over well? It's easy to say what they did wrong after the fact. If you saw the game though you would have seen Ariza had a bad game but it wasn't like his games earlier this year that lacked effort. You wanted Jackson cut not long ago. So hindsight is a hell of a thing, isn't it? You are monday morning quarterbacking and it's ridiculous.

 

[Mainstreet]

I am for giving backup point guard duties to Okobo and Melton. At least there is hope for the future.

Canaan is not getting it done.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2490589

 

[1Sun]

And you said nothing during the game, why? Worried that bashing the team while they were playing well wouldn't go over well? It's easy to say what they did wrong after the fact. If you saw the game though you would have seen Ariza had a bad game but it wasn't like his games earlier this year that lacked effort. You wanted Jackson cut not long ago. So hindsight is a hell of a thing, isn't it? You are monday morning quarterbacking and it's ridiculous.

I never wanted Jackson out. I think we need him as a franchise cornerstone, and I hate the damage that is being done to him due to no point guard and awful coaching.

As for Ariza, outside of the first game against the Mavericks, the last game at Milwaukee and about half of the Sixers game, his effort has been nonexistent...as in Bledsoe at the beginning of last year nonexistent. With Gambo and others reporting his grumbling of wanting out, it is pretty obvious what his "personal issue" was. (He was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team but allowed to save face by reporting it as an absence for personal issues.) It was only a matter of time before his unprofessional approach and conduct reared their ugly heads again.

As for the game, I was at work while listening to it. I don't post on company time.

 

[AzStevenCal]

TJ would be unstoppable if he could only learn to keep quiet.

I'm going to assume this is sarcasm? As for the ejection, ref made a bad call, maybe a second bad call on the ejection T but I don't know what TJ said.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I am for giving backup point guard duties to Okobo and Melton. At least there is hope for the future.

Canaan is not getting it done.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2490589

We don't win the San Antonio game without him but he's brought little of value most nights.

 

[Mainstreet]

We don't win the San Antonio game without him but he's brought little of value most nights.

As long as the Suns are making progress I'm not counting wins. The Suns should find out if Okobo and Melton are part of the future.

I'm not down on Canaan in particular but he is not the answer at backup point guard.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

I'm going to assume this is sarcasm? As for the ejection, ref made a bad call, maybe a second bad call on the ejection T but I don't know what TJ said.

Very much so. The original post was saying Booker needs to learn to shoot threes like Warren. I thought it was a funny retort that Warren, probably the quietest human being ever to play in the NBA, had been ejected.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'd like to see a replay of the play that got Warren ejected.

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[Hoop Head]

I'd like to see a replay of the play that got Warren ejected.

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FSAZ was replaying the game when I saw it and it appeared like he gave them an earful. Not only did he complain but he did for a good while. If he was someone else he wouldn't have been able to complain for as long as he did before getting the boot. I don't know if they'll replay the game again or not but they were on Dish Network.

The Coyotes game was on the regular FSAZ channel but they had the Suns game on a different channel live, after it ended and halfway through the postgame show they killed the feed on that channel and I clicked it down a channel to the regular FSAZ channel and they were replaying the Suns game on that, apparently after the Coyotes game finished. They usually replay the game again during the night but I'm not sure since they already had the replay going once. Check your guide though, you might be able to DVR it. When I clicked it to the replay though it was in the 2nd quarter and TJ's ejection was a few minutes away and I watched until then and saw he was jawing at the ref quite a bit, and Blake some too. I think that might have been the issue. He got a T for trash talking Blake, or "instigating" and then got another for retaliating toward the ref for that first T. I was surprised it lasted as long as it did though, as far as from the foul call until his ejection. It seemed to be a good couple of minutes.

 

[Hoop Head]

I'm not down on Canaan in particular but he is not the answer at backup point guard.

I don't know about that. He is able to give us a good 10-15 minutes a game but the other 10-15 minutes aren't so good. If he was playing as a real backup then he could be pulled for the starter or someone else if he's playing like garbage or doing stupid things. Right now he's coming off the bench but isn't the true backup PG. He's the only point guard, really. I could see him in more of a backup role later in the season if Kokoskov keeps this starting group and starts giving Okobo or Melton more time. I wonder why they're not seeing more time, especially Okobo, because he looks good when he is out there. Both have played some in the G-League also. There is no reason to sit them like Kokoskov has. One should always be in the G-League and the other should see 3-4 minutes in the first half, at least, and if they are good minutes then extend them and give them some in the second half.

Back to the original point though, Canaan should be a decent backup when there is a real PG for him to backup. Right now he's more of a sixth man or something and doesn't have another PG challenging him for playing time and I think that has given him more room to make mistakes, for better and worse. Mostly worse but as Steve pointed out, sometimes it's helped like in the Spurs game.

 

[Mainstreet]

FSAZ was replaying the game when I saw it and it appeared like he gave them an earful. Not only did he complain but he did for a good while. If he was someone else he wouldn't have been able to complain for as long as he did before getting the boot. I don't know if they'll replay the game again or not but they were on Dish Network.

The Coyotes game was on the regular FSAZ channel but they had the Suns game on a different channel live, after it ended and halfway through the postgame show they killed the feed on that channel and I clicked it down a channel to the regular FSAZ channel and they were replaying the Suns game on that, apparently after the Coyotes game finished. They usually replay the game again during the night but I'm not sure since they already had the replay going once. Check your guide though, you might be able to DVR it. When I clicked it to the replay though it was in the 2nd quarter and TJ's ejection was a few minutes away and I watched until then and saw he was jawing at the ref quite a bit, and Blake some too. I think that might have been the issue. He got a T for trash talking Blake, or "instigating" and then got another for retaliating toward the ref for that first T. I was surprised it lasted as long as it did though, as far as from the foul call until his ejection. It seemed to be a good couple of minutes.

I suspect TJ had good reason for complaining as he is normally very quiet. If he is fined maybe we will find out.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

I'd like to see a replay of the play that got Warren ejected.

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I saw it a bunch. He put his arm out and it made contact with Griffin. No doubt, with the contact, Warren was expecting a 3-point play, not a charge. I HATE the call. Offensive fouls should be egregious to be called like that, and this was not. However, Griffin sold it hard and brought attention to it. By the rules, it was a slightly defensible call, but I think context is important too. Griffin went on to flop several times in the next few minutes, and even tried to pull the same thing against Jackson later in the game.

 

[1Sun]

I don't know about that. He is able to give us a good 10-15 minutes a game but the other 10-15 minutes aren't so good. If he was playing as a real backup then he could be pulled for the starter or someone else if he's playing like garbage or doing stupid things. Right now he's coming off the bench but isn't the true backup PG. He's the only point guard, really. I could see him in more of a backup role later in the season if Kokoskov keeps this starting group and starts giving Okobo or Melton more time. I wonder why they're not seeing more time, especially Okobo, because he looks good when he is out there. Both have played some in the G-League also. There is no reason to sit them like Kokoskov has. One should always be in the G-League and the other should see 3-4 minutes in the first half, at least, and if they are good minutes then extend them and give them some in the second half.

Back to the original point though, Canaan should be a decent backup when there is a real PG for him to backup. Right now he's more of a sixth man or something and doesn't have another PG challenging him for playing time and I think that has given him more room to make mistakes, for better and worse. Mostly worse but as Steve pointed out, sometimes it's helped like in the Spurs game.

Outside of the very rare game he gets a hot shooting hand (see Spurs game), Canaan doesn't give us a good 10-15 SECONDS, let alone minutes. And even when he gets hot from outside, he fails as a distributor. Before his injury, he was okay as a #3 point guard and a below average back-up combo guard. Post-injury, he is G-League level. And in either instance, he is useless as a point guard. The Suns are literally better off signing someone off the street as a back-up point guars than continuing to give undeserved minutes to Canaan.