Suns @ Warriors 10-22-18

[JCSunsfan]

Bright spots this year so far:

1. TJ Warren. Putting up the 3 consistently and much better effort on D. Big improvement.
2. Booker. Stepped right in to scoring role. Still needs huge improvement on D.
3. Ayton. As advertised. Consistent. That is a big deal. Needs to find his way defensively.
4. Bridges. Good pickup. Highest PER on the team (small sample size in a suspect stat but still).

Meh:
1. Canaan is doing OK.
2. Okobo and Melton are non-existent.

Disappointments:
1. Ryan Anderson. Why is this guy still playing basketball.
2. Ariza. You would think a vet leader would put out more consistent effort.
3. Crawford. Why?
4. Bender. No comment needed.
5. Chandler. See Ryan Anderson.
6. Josh Jackson. One good game against Dallas. He should be better than this.

Regrets:
1. I would rather have Len than Chandler.
2. I would rather have Shaq than Crawford
3. I would rather have traded Josh Jackson over the summer for a good young point guard.

 

[SirStefan32]

Bright spots this year so far:

1. TJ Warren. Putting up the 3 consistently and much better effort on D. Big improvement.
2. Booker. Stepped right in to scoring role. Still needs huge improvement on D.
3. Ayton. As advertised. Consistent. That is a big deal. Needs to find his way defensively.
4. Bridges. Good pickup. Highest PER on the team (small sample size in a suspect stat but still).

Meh:
1. Canaan is doing OK.
2. Okobo and Melton are non-existent.

Disappointments:
1. Ryan Anderson. Why is this guy still playing basketball.
2. Ariza. You would think a vet leader would put out more consistent effort.
3. Crawford. Why?
4. Bender. No comment needed.
5. Chandler. See Ryan Anderson.
6. Josh Jackson. One good game against Dallas. He should be better than this.

Regrets:
1. I would rather have Len than Chandler.
2. I would rather have Shaq than Crawford
3. I would rather have traded Josh Jackson over the summer for a good young point guard.

I agree on all counts.

 

[BC867]

I really want to see Jackson join Bender in Igor's dog house.

I agree. It is no fun giving up on players, but if we're counting on Jackson becoming one of our "big 3", I just don't see it happening.

He seems to lack the magical traits to be anything more than mediocre and inconsistent.

Our second draft pick this year should have provided that potential. That is the disappointing part.

 

[BC867]

Team desperately needs a starting PG.... Booker clearly is not one but he's being used like one. 9 turnovers.

Even in a blowout, Book played the Point during the 4th quarter, bringing up the ball every time. Apparently, whether we like it or not, that is evidently the way it is going to be.

I'll add to my opinion that it is going to wear him out physically as the season progresses . . . that it is going wear him out emotionally as well.

Suns management is just covering up their inability to bring in a solid role playing Point Guard.

RECAP OF TONIGHT'S GAME:

Booker...28 points....6 assists (vs. 9 Point Guard turnovers)....5 rebounds
Ayton....20 points....5 assists....14 rebounds
Warren..27 points....3 assists.....4 rebounds

The worst +/- in the game... Canaan (our Point Guard)....-25. More than double anyone else's.

Well, we're set at Shooting Guard, Center and Bench Wing. At Point Guard, Power Forward, Small Forward and the whole rest of the bench, we're a bunch of G League players.

At Managing Partner, General Manager (whoever that is) and unproven Head Coach, so far we are ... G League.

Sad!

 

[Phrazbit]

BC, I'm actually thrilled with the coaching. It's a young team but you can see that they're running a system that has soooo much potential once they get it down. Hell, it's already better than what we've seen in years.

And I don't know who changed Warren's shot... but god bless em. Warren has gone from a "useful" offensive player because of his own individual efficiency to the makings of a deadly scorer from multiple areas. The Warriors rapidly started respecting his 3 point ability and then he started killing them with dribble moves towards the rim. That 3 point shot is going to make all the other stuff he previously did well work even better.

So far we've crushed the Mavericks (who won their next 2 games), we lost to Denver on the road and GS on the road, two of the toughest places to play in the league. Golden State is like a 5 to 1 title favorite and, worth noting, Denver beat them and is a league leading 3-0.

It's early. I pegged us for 35 wins, I think we actually might be a tad better than that. I think the offense is going to really start to hum as things go on.

 

[sunsfan88]

Bright spots this year so far:

1. TJ Warren. Putting up the 3 consistently and much better effort on D. Big improvement.
2. Booker. Stepped right in to scoring role. Still needs huge improvement on D.
3. Ayton. As advertised. Consistent. That is a big deal. Needs to find his way defensively.
4. Bridges. Good pickup. Highest PER on the team (small sample size in a suspect stat but still).

Meh:
1. Canaan is doing OK.
2. Okobo and Melton are non-existent.

Disappointments:
1. Ryan Anderson. Why is this guy still playing basketball.
2. Ariza. You would think a vet leader would put out more consistent effort.
3. Crawford. Why?
4. Bender. No comment needed.
5. Chandler. See Ryan Anderson.
6. Josh Jackson. One good game against Dallas. He should be better than this.

Regrets:
1. I would rather have Len than Chandler.
2. I would rather have Shaq than Crawford
3. I would rather have traded Josh Jackson over the summer for a good young point guard.

The bolded is a huge understatement but other than that yeah, I agree with basically every single thing you listed.

 

[slinslin]

some people are overreacting

@GSW and @DEN were 2 of our top 5 hardest games this season.

 

[Phrazbit]

some people are overreacting

@GSW and @DEN were 2 of our top 5 hardest games this season.

@Denver is always tough but after our trouncing of the Mavs I had higher hopes than the result.

That said, Denver looks good and SHOULD be good, just by having Jokic alone. That guy might be the most unheralded star in the league. He's absolutely incredible. Perhaps the best outside shooting center in the league, one of the best interior scorers in the league, probably the best passing big in the league outside of Ben Simmons and an elite man on the glass.

If they get some "long" 3pt shooters who can defend around him they're going to be really really good for a long time.

 

[Superbone]

You have to body up Looney and Damien Jones, but Jarebko comes in and you have to run him off the three point line. Confusing for teams.

One of the biggest things Ayton needs to learn in the NBA is how to box out players and be physical. This isn't college where you can just go get rebounds because you're bigger and more athletic than the other guys.

 

[Finito]

The better bridges keeps looking the more expendable Jackson becomes.

 

[taz02]

TJ should start over Anderson. A spark of the bench doesn't matter if you are already down by 20.

Bring Jackson off the bench if he struggles replace him with Bridges. Let them fight it out for sixth man duties.

first priority is a PG. Priority 1a has got to be a defensive PF that can take the pressure off of Ayton.

We have more than enough assets and cash to do both. Neither needs to be a superstar.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Disagree about Booker. He was a -5 in a blowout and most of his turnovers were him simply making poor decisions on passes. I thought he actually had a solid game.

Since when did “poor decisions on passes” stop counting as turnovers or a negative?!? NINE turnovers. And quite a few were unforced. I love me some Booker but last night he wasn’t a solution.

 

[Covert Rain]

A couple things. I agree with the take that Warren coming off the bench but playing like a starter isn't helping us. The point of having some punch off the bench is to sustain what you have going. We are not Golden State where we can afford to have someone putting up starter numbers coming off the bench. We are not that deep.

The Suns are constantly playing from behind. That doesn't help at all. I get the bench might be thin and putting Warren in the starting lineup makes it thinner but evidently the starters are not getting it done if you play from behind. It's a long season but he is playing like a starter. He has scored 17, 16 and 27.

Can we first worry about solidifying our starting lineup before worrying about bench play?

Booker? He needs to play under control. Seems to me when he tries to do too much is when he makes careless mistakes with the basketball. He put up 28 points but those 9 turnovers ensure you are not getting back into the game. A few of those were really really bad decisions by Booker.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The better bridges keeps looking the more expendable Jackson becomes.

Jackson was the 4th pick in the draft. His physical abilities are still apparent. He has ball skills. He improved a lot toward the end of the year last year. He is expendable for us, easily. He is by far our most reasonable trade chip right now. He still has value but that will likely diminish as Bridges gets more minutes.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I am still ambivalent about Warren coming off the bench or starting. Last night, the Warriors announcers oohed and aahed about Warren saying "He is the perfect 6th man on a really, really good team." I agree with that. If we are going to build a roster, it might be good to put the players in their eventual roles and let them be. Rather than move Warren to the starting position, it would be better to get a starting pf and keep him where his career path should take him.

I am not sold on this opinion yet, this is just how I am thinking at the moment.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Booker needs to concentrate on just finding his spots on the floor or driving to the hoop instead of trying to play the point. He's to much a plodding PG that slows the offense attack way down. Cant allow the defense to set. The Suns are too predictable and much to easy to defend. We need a burner at that position to speed up the offense.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Booker needs to concentrate on just finding his spots on the floor or driving to the hoop instead of trying to play the point. He's to much a plodding PG that slows the offense attack way down. Cant allow the defense to set. The Suns are too predictable and much to easy to defend. We need a burner at that position to speed up the offense.

Okobo could do that.

 

[GatorAZ]

TJ averaging 20 ppg shooting 57% from 3 with a .70TS%.

 

[Western Font]

The Suns were the worst team in the league last year and the Warriors are the best team since the '90s Bulls To be 0-3 now have been a disappointment but not a surprise.

The cliche "big men take longer to develop" was coined when big men played 4 years of colleges...Ayton has played 3 NBA games and 35 college games total. That being said, hopefully the coaches are expressing a lot of the same thoughts in this thread.

Jackson is a concern. He finished strong last year and should be making a leap, not regressing. But I don't really see why we would trade him now before his value gets worse, when it's just as likely we could trade him later when it gets better. Other teams are trying to figure out their own young players right now.

 

[Mainstreet]

Anderson Chandler and Ariza should probably all consider retirement

I understand why Anderson and Chandler are in a Suns uniform. There are reasons.

However, for the life of me I cannot understand why the Suns spent all their free agency money on Ariza.

 

[SirStefan32]

I understand why Anderson and Chandler are in Suns uniform. There are reasons.

However, for the life of me I cannot understand why the Suns spent all their free agency money on Ariza.

Because theoretically, he should be their best two-way player. This was obvious in the first game. The problem is that he hasn't been able to hit an open shot in the last two games. I read somewhere that Ariza signing was something Igor requested.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don't understand peoples fascination with the starting lineup.

As EJ said, TJ actually has more opportunities going against the second units.

He should stay as the sixth man, who the heck else could be that person on this team right now?

They just need to start playing him 30+ minutes a night.

This. I thought EJ made excellent points

 

[Raindog]

The Suns were the worst team in the league last year and the Warriors are the best team since the '90s Bulls To be 0-3 now have been a disappointment but not a surprise.

It should be a surprise to the Suns though, since they are actually 1-2.

 

[Mainstreet]

Because theoretically, he should be their best two-way player. This was obvious in the first game. The problem is that he hasn't been able to hit an open shot in the last two games. I read somewhere that Ariza signing was something Igor requested.

I think the money could have been better spent. The Suns were not short just one player.

 

[Raindog]

Unfortunately, Anderson has turned out to be the over-the-hill (and overpaid) stiff I thought he was going to be when that trade was made. I don't know how long the Suns will be wasting minutes on playing him, but that is one thing that can and should be fixed very quickly. Move Ariza over to his spot and put Warren or JJ in as a starter, or at minimum, limit his minutes to <15 per game.