Suns updates and discussion for the 2019-20 season

[Mainstreet]

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[95pro]

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Preach it Oubre

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm not....I'm saying the BIGGEST impact is made by having Rubio.

I was really happy with nearly every move that Jones made this offseason. When I watched the Suns last year, I saw 4, maybe 5, NBA players. The roster didn't need a superstar, the roster needed good to average players.

But Rubio has been the one who has made everyone more effective, while also filling stats at a position that at some nights was accounting for 7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists while making no one better.

I just think it (perhaps unintentionally) does a disservice to Booker. Last year he had to do everything, this year he does not. Putting a real NBA team out there would have given us a far better chance to judge him as a point guard. But when he played the point, he had no one to pass to more often than not. And when he played the two, he had no one to pass him the ball or set him up.

Now, because he has a real PG next to him the media and a lot of fans are jumping on the Booker bandwagon and some are pointing to our improvement and putting it almost solely on Rubio and Monty. They've both been huge for us but for those that think it's mostly about Rubio, take Booker off of last year's team and put Ricky out there instead. How do you think we'd have done? IMO We'd have set records for futility that make last year look like a league average team.

 

[Hoop Head]

Glad to hear that from someone on the team, especially Oubre. They can't let any praise from the media get to them. Monty seems to have them focused, which is fantastic.

I'm really starting to love this team. There are so many pieces to like and the way they play is unlike any Suns team I can remember.Not since the Barkley years, maybe, where they played like favorites from beginning to end. Where certain key possessions looked almost easy. Like the only thing that would stop them was themselves.

The Nash years were great but it didn't feel real, as far as them being a legit contender. D'Antoni got out coached on occasion and whenever Nash wasn't on the court other teams could fight back into it.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Nash years seemed real enough but the injury to Amare and not extending Joe Johnson still hurts.

 

[Mainstreet]

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[AzStevenCal]

The Nash years seemed real enough but the injury to Amare and not extending Joe Johnson still hurts.

I think we could have survived the loss of Joe if Q hadn't injured his back; he was an unconfident and unwilling 3 point shooter after that which disrupted that offense.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think we could have survived the loss of Joe if Q hadn't injured his back; he was an unconfident and unwilling 3 point shooter after that which disrupted that offense.

Maybe but he loss of Joe Johnson was the start of the Suns downfall as I view it.

It's crazy the Suns had Nash, Johnson, Marion and Amare on the same team at one time. I can see why fans wanted more.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Maybe but he loss of Joe Johnson was the start of the Suns downfall as I view it.

It's crazy the Suns had Nash, Johnson, Marion and Amare on the same team at one time. I can see why fans wanted more.

It's funny looking back at it now, but that was damn near a super team. Hard to imagine us not winning a couple titles with those four staying together.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's funny looking back at it now, but that damn near a super team. Hard to imagine us not winning a couple titles with those four staying together.

Yeah. It seems that way. It's why DA gets a lot of blame. Of course the Spurs were pretty good as well.

 

[GatorAZ]

It's funny looking back at it now, but that was damn near a super team. Hard to imagine us not winning a couple titles with those four staying together.

Marion would’ve been a problem even sooner.

 

[BC867]

I think that's a little high but whatever it would have been, I believe we'd have seen a similar level of improvement just by adding a league average shooting guard to play next to Booker.

An average Shooting Guard next to Booker out of position at Point Guard
versus a monster Shooting Guard (Booker) next to a legitimate Point Guard
would hardly be similar. They'd still be cellar dwelling Suns,

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I found something that I find kind of interesting. There has been quite a bit of talk about how the Suns are not getting the benefit of the doubt with the referees and I think that is likely true to an extent.

However while we are getting called for the 2nd most fouls in the league (76ers are the most) we are also the most fouled team in the league. We are being fouled 26 times per game and the 2nd most fouled team is the Clippers with 25.4.

Also we are getting called for 1.3 more than we are drawing, but even that is around middle of the pack. Ultimately I think our constant physicality on both ends is causing a lot of whistles to be blown both ways every game and some of those go our way, but some of them don't. We force the refs to blow the whistle a lot with our physical play and that causes a lot of calls for both teams.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

An average Shooting Guard next to Booker out of position at Point Guard
versus a monster Shooting Guard (Booker) next to a legitimate Point Guard
would hardly be similar. They'd still be cellar dwelling Suns,

I tend to agree. Booker is a capable passer, but not near the level of Rubio. The only way a team can get by with Booker running point is if he is surrounded by a ton of offensive talent and we just don't have that at the moment.

 

[BC867]

It's funny looking back at it now, but that was damn near a super team. Hard to imagine us not winning a couple titles with those four staying together.

1) No defense.

2) 7.5 man rotations all season long.
Wearing out everyone by the playoffs,
especially Steve Nash.

 

[AzStevenCal]

An average Shooting Guard next to Booker out of position at Point Guard
versus a monster Shooting Guard (Booker) next to a legitimate Point Guard
would hardly be similar. They'd still be cellar dwelling Suns,

I agree with this part, it's the idea that all we really lacked was a point guard. If all we'd done is add Ricky last season, I don't believe our final record would have been substantially different than if we had added a solid shooting guard. We had only one NBA level guard on the roster last year and IMO if you replaced Booker with a top all around PG, we'd have been in the same mess.

 

[BC867]

I agree with this part, it's the idea that all we really lacked was a point guard. If all we'd done is add Ricky last season, I don't believe our final record would have been substantially different than if we had added a solid shooting guard. We had only one NBA level guard on the roster last year and IMO if you replaced Booker with a top all around PG, we'd have been in the same mess.

Am I misunderstanding? Are you saying that Ricky and Book was an either/or?

That would never have been the case. Book wasn't replaced this season.

He was returned to his natural position.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Am I misunderstanding? Are you saying that Ricky and Book was an either/or?

That would never have been the case. Book wasn't replaced this season.

He was returned to his natural position.

Yes, it was hypothetical but I would hope that was obvious since none of us own a time machine.

I agree Booker is a better shooting guard than point guard but I don't think there's much difference between his impact at the point and what Rubio's impact would have been if you swapped the two players.

Obviously Ricky is, so far, a better all around leader and is quite a bit better at the traditional duties of the position. But Booker is far superior as a scorer and since neither of them would have had any real talent to pass to, I maintain Devin would fill that position at least as well as Rubio if they were in similar situations (each one surrounded by the same level of talent).

 

[1Sun]

Yes, it was hypothetical but I would hope that was obvious since none of us own a time machine.

I agree Booker is a better shooting guard than point guard but I don't think there's much difference between his impact at the point and what Rubio's impact would have been if you swapped the two players.

Obviously Ricky is, so far, a better all around leader and is quite a bit better at the traditional duties of the position. But Booker is far superior as a scorer and since neither of them would have had any real talent to pass to, I maintain Devin would fill that position at least as well as Rubio if they were in similar situations (each one surrounded by the same level of talent).

Booker is a below average point guard and a potential Hall of Fame shooting guard, so I don't think the comparisons with Rubio and a league average shooting guard last year really fly.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

How many games would we need to pull from last year to make a video like this?

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[JCSunsfan]

They don’t just defend, they seem to get every 50-50 ball.

 

[Mainstreet]

Kellan Olson‏Verified account @KellanOlson

Weird/unsustainable stat I found this morning. Suns are shooting 44.4% on pull-up 3s. Taking 5.1 a game. League average last year was around 32% and 8 a game.

8:09 AM - 7 Nov 2019

 

[Mainstreet]

A solid article about Mikal Bridges by Bob Young at The Athletic. Where has Bridges been... he has been finding his way into a new system.

Monty Williams thinks Bridges can develop into an elite defender but also a scorer. He compares him to Cedric Ceballos.

“His arms, his ability to jump, he could be like Cedric Ceballos offensively,” Williams said. “Slashing, shooting, mid-range game. Ced had such an underrated game. If Cedric played today, everybody would want him. He had that kind of game.

“I think Mikal and Kelly have that. They might be better athletes than Ced, and he was a really good athlete.”

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[Mainstreet]

A new look at what Talking Stick Arena will look like after renovations.

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[Ronin]

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