Suns @ Trail Blazers Friday game thread 10-21-2022

[GatorAZ]

What a pass by Book btw:
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[Mainstreet]

Suns have a regular roster spot open and Crowder not playing. This needs to be fixed.

Bridges and Lee playing forward is not enough.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

What a pass by Book btw:
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Triple teamed. Damn

 

[Cheesebeef]

What a pass by Book btw:
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That was a great look by Book.

Look at Nurkic’s position. Any other big man with Ayton’s size and strength flushes that down with authority instead of going up like post multiple knee surgeries Patrick Ewing.

 

[sdscard4]

You see Ayton just smiling after Jock almost bailed him out...no passion whatsoever

 

[Cheesebeef]

You see Ayton just smiling after Jock almost bailed him out...no passion whatsoever

Dude just doesn’t have the killer competitive fire in him.

 

[Chaplin]

Don’t worry, we’ll get them in 2023-2024. Should be an interesting off-season, although don’t you guys think this season ended a bit too quickly?

 

[95pro]

I was optimistic about Payne but he’s just a pain now to watch. Okogie will hopefully sit when Shamet comes back, he doesn’t provide much.

Ayton was so damn soft on that feed from Book. That should have been a slam.

You can’t really be mad at CJ for taking that charge, he wasnt pushed around or bullied as some are upset about his durability after two games. One game cramps and the other game was taking a charge. Really quick to jump to conclusions on him.

At this point I’ve seen enough of Payne and Craig as we’ve seen these guys be on the roster for at least a year. We really whiffed on not getting some guys out there like Bojan, maybe even woods.

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns are going to need Shamet or Washington Jr. to give them some minutes at the 1-2 with Payne looking a lot like last season.

 

[Raindog]

Suns have a regular roster spot open and Crowder not playing. This needs to be fixed.

Bridges and Lee playing forward is not enough.

Agreed... if the Suns sit still on the current roster situation with some flimsy intention of "maybe" moving Crowder at mid-season, that is beyond stupid. Whether it's for reasons of cheapness or just to spite Crowder, it is ultimately self defeating and will put them into deficit in the standings. We'll see how arrogant Jones and Monty will be about it.

 

[Big Al]

Suns really need another power forward.

Cam is a valued team player but at this time Cam Johnson is simply not prepared to handle the starting power forward slot. He lacks bulk & basically is too frail & weak to battle on the boards for rebounds. We all know his strengths are shooting distant 3 pointers, pull up jumpers, & providing some off the bench spark. Suns need a power forward which would probably help Ayton's rebounding too. With another Big to help box out opponents maybe Ayton wouldn't be getting all those cheap fouls called on him.

Again it's broken record but going for a above average point guard would be a welcome addition. A Grayson Allen from the Bucks? Or go for all out for OKC's Shai Alexander as point guard of the future?

 

[Germz249]

Can’t blame me.. I wasn’t watching the game..

 

[Covert Rain]

Cam is a valued team player but at this time Cam Johnson is simply not prepared to handle the starting power forward slot. He lacks bulk & basically is too frail & weak to battle on the boards for rebounds. We all know his strengths are shooting distant 3 pointers, pull up jumpers, & providing some off the bench spark. Suns need a power forward which would probably help Ayton's rebounding too. With another Big to help box out opponents maybe Ayton wouldn't be getting all those cheap fouls called on him.

Again it's broken record but going for an above average point guard would be a welcome addition. A Grayson Allen from the Bucks? Or go for all out for OKC's Shai Alexander as point guard of the future?

So much this. Look it’s only been two games but some of us called this. I said with Cam J starting we would suffer the at the FC position. I also thought the team would be missing some of that toughness without Crowder/McGee. Like @cheesebeef said it’s strange how many of the fans had seen this coming.

It’s only two games so maybe the team just needs more time to settle?!?

 

[Phrazbit]

I think Cam Johnson's issues are fluky. Cramps and him taking a really hard charge... I can excuse that.

I'm concerned about Paul. He had a slow start last year too, but he played slowly/poorly last year, but poorly as in rusty, I will take rusty over scared, he seems scared right now.

I still think this is a 50-55+ win team, the depth looks better than I thought. But damn... we shouldn't have lost this game. Pass up on a couple hero ball shots and make a couple free throws and we win this game.

Calling it now, Portland isn't a top 6 West team. Lillard has to shoot his brains out for a fully healthy team to steal one on their own court... they're going no where... slow.

Worth noting, we got absolutely destroyed by Portland last year at the start of the season. It's a tough place to play.

 

[Finito]

Oh Ayton was the problem last night huh. I’m not criticizing Ayton or Booker there the only ones who showed up

Not the fact Chris Paul looks done, we might legitimately have the worst bench in basketball, our starters combined to make five 3 pointers

This teams isn’t that good anymore.

 

[Finito]

He had a great feed ayton. He also missed his last two shots.

Look, I’m not gonna beat up book. But he didn’t close. Is what it is. Gotta hope Chris paul gets on Jenny Craig.

I texted my brother the same thing. I was like damn Paul looks fat af.

 

[Proximo]

This was not on freaking Booker. The Suns have a glaring whole at PF and off the bench. If Cam J does better than 5/3 and if we had a better bench you are not depending on the last couple minutes of a game.

It kinda was on booker, he had at least two game winning shot attempts he missed

 

[Finito]

Chris paul is fat

Ayton’s balls shriveled and he’s just become a relatively weak rebounder. He got pushed around by nurkic.

Book had nothing left down the stretch.

Everyone who still thinks landale is an improvement over Javale needs to have their heads checked.

Bridges great defensively but still underwhelming offensively.

This team has no go to when book is taken outta the play.

Bridges is great defensively? He’s supposed to be our great perimeter defender but in the last two games Luka and Dame have flat out gone off. Let me know when our great defender actually locks someone up.

This team needed to address another playmaker/shot creator and we didn’t.

 

[Mainstreet]

Maybe I'm the only one but I don't think Chris Paul looks done.

He had 10 points on 5-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 12 assists and 5 steals. Those are solid numbers.

IMO, the Suns didn't defer to him enough. However, spreading the play making around was the plan this season.

My eyes look towards the free throw disparity (Suns 15-21) and Trail Blazers (31-36).

I also look at obvious weaknesses. The Suns didn't fix the backup point guard position, Washington has potential, but Monty likely won't play him. The lack of depth at power forward is even more obvious.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Maybe I'm the only one but I don't think Chris Paul looks done.

He had 10 points on 5-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 12 assists and 5 steals. Those are solid numbers.

IMO, the Suns didn't defer to him enough. However, spreading the play making around was the plan this season.

My eyes look towards the free throw disparity (Suns 15-21) and Trail Blazers (31-36).

I also look at obvious weaknesses. The Suns didn't fix the backup point guard position, Washington has potential, but Monty likely won't play him. The lack of depth at power forward is even more obvious.

 

[Finito]

Maybe I'm the only one but I don't think Chris Paul looks done.

He had 10 points on 5-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 12 assists and 5 steals. Those are solid numbers.

IMO, the Suns didn't defer to him enough. However, spreading the play making around was the plan this season.

My eyes look towards the free throw disparity (Suns 15-21) and Trail Blazers (31-36).

I also look at obvious weaknesses. The Suns didn't fix the backup point guard position, Washington has potential, but Monty likely won't play him. The lack of depth at power forward is even more obvious.

Oh Paul is done. That stat line doesn’t look bad but he had no real impact on the game especially late. The fact the ball isn’t in his hands at the end is all you need to know.

He also looks really out of shape

We don’t shoot 3s and we don’t run and get fast break points nothing is easy for us. We play like it’s 89

 

[Mainstreet]

Oh Paul is done. That stat line doesn’t look bad but he had no real impact on the game especially late. The fact the ball isn’t in his hands at the end is all you need to know.

He also looks really out of shape

We don’t shoot 3s and we don’t run and get fast break points nothing is easy for us. We play like it’s 89

I think the ball not being in Paul's hand was at least partially done by design.

Again, the Suns wanted to spread the play making around this season, so the offense wasn't so dependent upon him when it comes to the playoffs. It cost the Suns a win.

 

[Finito]

I think the ball not being in Paul's hand was at least partially done by design.

Again, the Suns wanted to spread the play making around this season, so the offense wasn't so dependent upon him when it comes to the playoffs. It cost the Suns a win.

So your saying the Suns are intentionally taking the ball out of Paul’s hands at the end of the game?

Riiiiight

The last 5 minutes should be the only time you need him. It should be the opposite of what your saying.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Oh Paul is done. That stat line doesn’t look bad but he had no real impact on the game especially late. The fact the ball isn’t in his hands at the end is all you need to know.

He also looks really out of shape

We don’t shoot 3s and we don’t run and get fast break points nothing is easy for us. We play like it’s 89

You're calling him done and you're saying he's really out of shape. You don't think maybe he looks done because he's so out of shape? Obviously I don't know for sure but I think we'll see a much better CP3 when he gets into game shape.

 

[Finito]

You're calling him done and you're saying he's really out of shape. You don't think maybe he looks done because he's so out of shape? Obviously I don't know for sure but I think we'll see a much better CP3 when he gets into game shape.

I mean we didn’t look good the last month of last season. He was up and down in the playoffs and then he fell off a cliff last year.

He made some very alarming comments last year during that Mavs series about it not being life and death it’s just basketball

Now a guy who’s always taken his career as serious as anyone we’ve ever seen is 37 and showed up in probably the worst shape of his career. That’s not alarming to you guys? 37 year olds shouldn’t be trying to play themselves into shape.

I know it’s hard but it really looks like the writing is on the wall.