Suns updates and discussion for the 2020-21 season

[GatorAZ]

lindsey?

They have a new gal who is better now don’t they?

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

They have a new gal who is better now don’t they?

Better than Lindsey? Nah.

 

[Mainstreet]

Monty on The Woj Pod says a comment by Gregg Popovich impacted his coaching.

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[Hoop Head]

Monty on The Woj Pod says a comment by Gregg Popovich impacted his coaching.

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Do you have a link for that podcast episode by chance?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Monty on The Woj Pod says a comment by Gregg Popovich impacted his coaching.

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if he isn’t talking and Pop instructing him on when to call timeouts, I don’t care.

 

[Hoop Head]

if he isn’t talking and Pop instructing him on when to call timeouts, I don’t care.

You and your brother put way too much into when a coach calls timeouts. Yes, it can stifle a run but a team shouldn't be relying on a coach to bail them out either. A coach needs to allow players to do things on their own. Phil Jackson and Pop would let them teams take a beating.

Unless a coach can do something to swing the momentum the other way, what good does calling a timeout really do? It might stop a run but it won't prevent a loss. They have to see something that can swing momentum back in their favor, usually changing the lineup in some way as well as the strategy.

Calling it to send the same 5 guys back out doesn't stop anything but a run. You have to be able to change the outcome. Get the run back, prevent a beating, not delay it.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

You and your brother put way too much into when a coach calls timeouts. Yes, it can stifle a run but a team shouldn't be relying on a coach to bail them out either. A coach needs to allow players to do things on their own. Phil Jackson and Pop would let them teams take a beating.

Unless a coach can do something to swing the momentum the other way, what good does calling a timeout really do? It might stop a run but it won't prevent a loss. They have to see something that can swing momentum back in their favor, usually changing the lineup in some way as well as the strategy.

Calling it to send the same 5 guys back out doesn't stop anything but a run. You have to be able to change the outcome. Get the run back, prevent a beating, not delay it.

No, you want to make excuses for the coach. What do you think a coach is for? His job is literally to manage a game from a perspective the players don’t have. If the players - who are actually on the court - can’t do anything to stop a run the coach has to disrupt the game. Their only weapon in that case is the timeout. Disrupt flow, point out even a small adjustment to a player. Bc obviously the players aren’t going to do it when a run is going on or they would’ve done it. Stop trying to conjure excuses. Montys been a terrific coach but he has warts.

and btw, pop absolutely would call timeouts EARLY to stop runs. Did it to use all the time. So did coach bud - a pop disciple.

 

[AzStevenCal]

and btw, pop absolutely would call timeouts EARLY to stop runs. Did it to use all the time. So did coach bud - a pop disciple.

I remember him calling early timeouts occasionally too but what stood out to me with those early timeouts had nothing to do with him coaching up his players.

I saw him turn around many games against us where he'd call a timeout early in our run and spend the entire break working the referees. Maybe his assistant coaches did some coaching while he was browbeating the refs but it sure seemed like we got hosed on the calls immediately following those timeouts. Monty can't work the refs the way Pop does, few coaches can so I don't know if that approach would work for him.

Regardless, I've been disappointed several times with Monty's in game coaching, sometimes it's the failure to call a momentum stopping timeout but mostly it's his tendency to ignore match-up problems or match-up opportunities. I think he's been great for this franchise but I wonder if we wouldn't be better served if he delegated some in-game decisions to an assistant.

 

[Chaplin]

You and your brother put way too much into when a coach calls timeouts. Yes, it can stifle a run but a team shouldn't be relying on a coach to bail them out either. A coach needs to allow players to do things on their own. Phil Jackson and Pop would let them teams take a beating.

Unless a coach can do something to swing the momentum the other way, what good does calling a timeout really do? It might stop a run but it won't prevent a loss. They have to see something that can swing momentum back in their favor, usually changing the lineup in some way as well as the strategy.

Calling it to send the same 5 guys back out doesn't stop anything but a run. You have to be able to change the outcome. Get the run back, prevent a beating, not delay it.

Calling timeouts to stop the momentum of the other team has nothing to do with your players, it has to do with THEIRS. It’s not remotely about not trusting your own players.

 

[Mainstreet]

Do you have a link for that podcast episode by chance?

This tweet should contain the link for the podcast.

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[AzStevenCal]

Calling timeouts to stop the momentum of the other team has nothing to do with your players, it has to do with THEIRS. It’s not remotely about not trusting your own players.

I disagree. When deciding to call or not call a timeout, sometimes it's about your players, sometimes it's about the other team and sometimes it's because you trust your players (or don't).

I've listened/read coaches talking about timeouts and there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules as to when to call them.

Some call them on a preset schedule (Macleod for example), some call them early to stop a run especially if they have a young team, some call them because they don't like their players body language, some skip the timeout because they think the run is a fluke and they believe in their team, some know it's not their night and they'd rather let them learn to play through adversity, some do it believing a loss that night might help the team avoid the situation in the future and so on.

I don't think you can ever look at one decision or even several decisions to call or not call a timeout and conclude anything but over the course of a season, it becomes easier to see whether the coach is in control of these kind of situations. I have my doubts about Monty in this regard but I'm not on the bench. OTOH, I didn't just take the decade-long worst franchise in basketball to the Finals.

 

[Mainstreet]

I might add some coaches want their players to figure out what they are doing right or wrong offensively and defensively while they are on the court. It's not like the coaches can't yell out instructions to their team leaders. Some players like Chris Paul are coaches on the floor much like Steve Nash.

It seems like Monty prefers his players to figure it out and when they don't he calls a timeout.

 

[Yuma]

I might add some coaches want their players to figure out what they are doing right or wrong offensively and defensively while they are on the court. It's not like the coaches can't yell out instructions to their team leaders. Some players like Chris Paul are coaches on the floor much like Steve Nash.

It seems like Monty prefers his players to figure it out and when they don't he calls a timeout.

This is what Phil did with the Lakers and Kobe and Shaq.

 

[Cheesebeef]

This is what Phil did with the Lakers and Kobe and Shaq.

Phil could do that because he had two of the top 15 players of all time. Guys who could Immediately stop runs on their own the majority of the time. We don’t.

 

[Chaplin]

I might add some coaches want their players to figure out what they are doing right or wrong offensively and defensively while they are on the court. It's not like the coaches can't yell out instructions to their team leaders. Some players like Chris Paul are coaches on the floor much like Steve Nash.

It seems like Monty prefers his players to figure it out and when they don't he calls a timeout.

When Chris Paul is on the floor and we are the victims of an 0-10 run, how much trust do you want to put on him?

Steve disagreed, but if you read the game threads the vast majority of the timeout complaints were because of bad runs that lasted longer than they should have. It hurt us in several of our playoff losses.

 

[95pro]

Coaches manage the game. Timeouts are part of in-game management. Pop is one of the best even with mediocre talent. If we could have managed the finals better we would have won. Our stats were just about even with the bucks so it came down to in game management. I mean how do we even leave a timeout on the board in a finals game?

 

[AzStevenCal]

Coaches manage the game. Timeouts are part of in-game management. Pop is one of the best even with mediocre talent. If we could have managed the finals better we would have won. Our stats were just about even with the bucks so it came down to in game management. I mean how do we even leave a timeout on the board in a finals game?

I have no idea how to support this statement but I believe this happens all the time. Maybe this is only common for the winning team but I know that it's not unique for a coach to save and ultimately not use his timeouts even in a finals series.

 

[95pro]

I have no idea how to support this statement but I believe this happens all the time. Maybe this is only common for the winning team but I know that it's not unique for a coach to save and ultimately not use his timeouts even in a finals series.

we were down. And this is the game where giannis was still on the line while inbounding, when they called a bogus foul when Cam and I think CP3 trapped Tucker. At this point I don’t think they had used a challenge at all. But honestly I’m not sure anyone noticed Giannis on the line with all the flurry of action going on.

 

[AzStevenCal]

we were down. And this is the game where giannis was still on the line while inbounding, when they called a bogus foul when Cam and I think CP3 trapped Tucker. At this point I don’t think they had used a challenge at all. But honestly I’m not sure anyone noticed Giannis on the line with all the flurry of action going on.

I thought you were making a general point about unused timeouts, I agree that given the situation we should have called one.

 

[Proximo]

When Chris Paul is on the floor and we are the victims of an 0-10 run, how much trust do you want to put on him?

Steve disagreed, but if you read the game threads the vast majority of the timeout complaints were because of bad runs that lasted longer than they should have. It hurt us in several of our playoff losses.

The only time we were victims of an 0-10 run with Paul on the floor is once he was injured with either his shoulder or his wrist.

 

[AzStevenCal]

When Chris Paul is on the floor and we are the victims of an 0-10 run, how much trust do you want to put on him?

Steve disagreed, but if you read the game threads the vast majority of the timeout complaints were because of bad runs that lasted longer than they should have. It hurt us in several of our playoff losses.

Yeah, I disagreed because you made a very specific yet broad comment that IMO was inaccurate. It wasn't about the situation you're currently talking about though. If I missed earlier context that created the confusion between your post and mine, sorry, but like I said I was just talking about what you said in that particular post.

 

[GatorAZ]

Regardless of whether you think Flex has intel or just peddles basic ideas:

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[Mainstreet]

Regardless of whether you think Flex has intel or just peddles basic ideas:

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I think he has all the bases covered.

 

[Hoop Head]

Flex has learned how not to talk himself into a corner. No matter what happens he can claim he knew all along.

When the "inside information" revealed can lead to literally any possible outcome, its not worth paying attention to.

 

[Mainstreet]

What I find interesting is the Suns have not officially signed JaVale McGee.

Of course the Suns are not going to change their mind but might they be leaving some financial flexibility to sign another player using the MLE.

McGee might sign for slightly less than $5 million or they might decide to spread out his salary over a couple of seasons for slightly more money.