Suns @ Warriors game thread 2-12-18

[Mainstreet]

Chriss has regressed to G-League material. He is not NBA quality right now.

I guess we could say that about a lot of Suns players.

 

[Willie D]

I forced myself to watch the 4th quarter because I was OD'ing on Olympics. The Suns threw up more brick than Local 3 of the Craftworker's Union. The Suns aren't losing games--they're getting their butts blown off. You know it's bad when EJ is not only talking ad nauseaum about Payton's hair, but giving a rundown of other famous 'do's in NBA history.

When Cotton started doing the games with Al back in the 90s, he referred to the last 2 or 3 minutes of a blowout game as "the extensive garbàge time." That was when Westphal put in all the bench players like Kempton, Socks, 4th Quarter Frank and Jerrod Big Mess.

The entire 4th quarter was extensive garbàge time. Except we were on the receiving end of it. Again.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Man... I HATE what this team has done to my fandom.

And I apologize to the board for being the kind of broken record I used to bash BC for being. And I apologize to BC for bashing him for being a broken record about JC.

They’ve beaten all basketball joy out of me and y’all have had to deal with the repercussions. Sorry. I’ll try to tone down my bitching and complaining.

 

[TJ]

This pretty much confirmed Triano won’t be back this season, which begs the question: Who wants to coach under the ownership of Sarver and the garbage GM McD? This team is depressing.

 

[Praxis]

Okay, the Suns core is Payton, Booker and Warren when he can get it going.

The Suns hope rests with Jackson, Warren and maybe Chriss.

Jackson -43
Warren -25
Chriss -24 (in 18 minutes)

 

[Praxis]

Omri Casspi with 19/10. Enough said.

 

[Cheesebeef]

4th 40 plus loss of the season. Only two other teams in NBA history have accomplished that defeat.

There is no core on this team. There is only Devin Booker.

 

[oaken1]

Man... I HATE what this team has done to my fandom.

And I apologize to the board for being the kind of broken record I used to bash BC for being. And I apologize to BC for bashing him for being a broken record about JC.

They’ve beaten all basketball joy out of me and y’all have had to deal with the repercussions. Sorry. I’ll try to tone down my bitching and complaining.

I feel ya man. I grew up with warriors and lakers..and back then, even with a championship...they couldnt give away Dubs tickets...used to win them on the radio all the time and nobody ever went to pick them up.
when I moved to Phoenix, I became a suns fan when I turned on a laker game and saw the Phx team beat the crap out of the lakers...so I became a suns fan..

that strike about 12-14 years ago turned me off from it all...I stopped watching...still love the game, just wouldnt watch the pros anymore.

But I have been missing it...and due to some health issues and age I cant play anymore..... I moved back home last year and Dubs fever is in the air...so I been watching....and enjoying it again..
I keep trying to jump back in with the suns, but on the rare occasion I get them on tv up here...damn...just damn

when Jerry C owned the team they were always competitive... but holy christ they sure suck right now... It's sad to watch how much that team has been run into the dirt....you would think at some point the league would step in...because those guys running the suns are obviously hurting the leagues value right now. They look worse than the 90's clippers

if you dont have another team to enjoy,...I feel for ya Cheese... because it dont look like there is much hope for the Suns anytime soon.

 

[az jam]

Kerr didn't even coach, he let his players set up plays and run the team. The Suns are really depressing to watch. No team has any respect for them.

 

[Town Drunk]

Kerr didn't even coach, he let his players set up plays and run the team. The Suns are really depressing to watch. No team has any respect for them.

This team is the laughing stock of the league. We’ve reached Clippers level.

McD has to go.

 

[SirStefan32]

Dude, if they go 8-2 to start the next season, they'll stop being the laughing stock of the league. They have an actual point guard, they are missing Booker and a few bench players, Warren keeps getting better, and Jackson and Bender are improving. It will be fine.

 

[devilalum]

No, they are a joke.
They just got their second best player for a second round pick.

This is the thing about being a perennial lotto team. The culture of losing is a steep mountain to get over.

Even talented young players become bad because they can’t break free from it.


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[ColdPickleNachos]

Dude, if they go 8-2 to start the next season, they'll stop being the laughing stock of the league. They have an actual point guard, they are missing Booker and a few bench players, Warren keeps getting better, and Jackson and Bender are improving. It will be fine.

This. You really need 8 good rotation guys, plus three stars.

Booker is a star. They need to nail this draft pick and hope Jackson develops.

As for a rotation:

1. Payton
2. Booker
3. Jackson
4. Warren
5. Bender

Add a good free agent, draft the right player, and trade Chriss, draft picks, etc. for another.

Pick up the right coach and let that group gel.

Now you've got a team!

(Cheesebeef is right...I don't trust McD to do this right.)

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

The thing the Suns have going for them is that Booker is clearly the brightest star on any of the 10 worst teams. Far from a given, but if we can get another Booker-level player from this stacked draft, you have two stars. That makes everything else much, much easier.

For instance, let's say we luck into Ayton and he's as good as advertised. Now the defense has to put a ton of focus on Ayton and Booker, making Jackson's, Bender's, and Warren's jobs much easier, freeing up open shooters, etc.

Add in Payton (if he continues to play like an actual professional point guard), and it's not that crazy to expect a team to go from laughingstock to threat pretty quickly.

 

[BC867]

The thing the Suns have going for them is that Booker is clearly the brightest star on any of the 10 worst teams. Far from a given, but if we can get another Booker-level player from this stacked draft, you have two stars. That makes everything else much, much easier.

Another plan based on "hope". As I just posted on the Payton thread, he is the Suns sixth starting Point Guard this season. Especially with Booker out, the team overloaded with young players does not know how to finish for a skilled Point Guard.

If our first draft pick is another Point Guard, that will make seven. Can you imagine an NFL team starting six quarterbacks during the season and starting their next season with a seventh and hoping that the rest of the team will adjust to each one and be competitive?

Six starting Point Guards so far this season. We desperately need an experienced General Manager with the confidence to tell Sarver to back off and go count his money. Sadly, Sarver would never hire an experienced General Manager for just that reason. This isn't about the skills of basketball coaching and playing. It is about the politics of an insecure principle owner who hires people whom he can keep under his thumb.

And I apologize to the board for being the kind of broken record I used to bash BC for being. And I apologize to BC for bashing him for being a broken record about JC.

If I am the BC you're referring to, thanks. I had a 30+ year career in upper middle management and I can't help but look at the running of sports teams from that perspective.

If I were a consultant called in to evaluate the Suns status and view of the future, I would recommend stripping Robert Sarver of all of his authority and bring in a strong General Manager as soon as the season ends.

The Suns, throughout their history, have been content with putting on a show, but not taking the next step. Sadly, those were the good old days. We have a big crater to climb out of.

 

[elindholm]

One thing that the two recent blowout losses have in common is abysmal three-point shooting. This is not a good shooting team, and if you take away Booker, it's a downright bad shooting team. This incarnation of the Suns will never have the mindset (or the personnel) to be a lock-down defensive unit, so they have to be able to score efficiently. I'm not sure which is worse: contested threes from the likes of Jackson and Gray, or targeting Len on every play like he's the second coming of Moses Malone. Both are doomed to failure.

Triano has been dealt an impossible task, and it doesn't help that his roster of healthy players is never the same two games in a row. But the times that this offense has looked good has been when they get a lot of movement, taking advantage of the players' athleticism. Payton has shown that he can find people, and Jackson and Warren are both good finishers, so it's not hopeless, but it's likely to take an entire offseason to put it together. Get that working and then you can expand to the three-point line.

 

[3rdside]

The thing the Suns have going for them is that Booker is clearly the brightest star on any of the 10 worst teams. Far from a given, but if we can get another Booker-level player from this stacked draft, you have two stars. That makes everything else much, much easier.

For instance, let's say we luck into Ayton and he's as good as advertised. Now the defense has to put a ton of focus on Ayton and Booker, making Jackson's, Bender's, and Warren's jobs much easier, freeing up open shooters, etc.

Add in Payton (if he continues to play like an actual professional point guard), and it's not that crazy to expect a team to go from laughingstock to threat pretty quickly.

You need to start thinking about players in terms of ‘eye of the tiger’ level players. Plenty of guys throw up 25pts but are they going to will their team to victory?

Our suspicion is that Booker is eye of the tiger, and they don’t come around every draft.


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[Cheesebeef]

This. You really need 8 good rotation guys, plus three stars.

Booker is a star. They need to nail this draft pick and hope Jackson develops.

As for a rotation:

1. Payton
2. Booker
3. Jackson
4. Warren
5. Bender

Add a good free agent, draft the right player, and trade Chriss, draft picks, etc. for another.

Pick up the right coach and let that group gel.

Now you've got a team!

(Cheesebeef is right...I don't trust McD to do this right.)

Lol.

 

[Mainstreet]

No, they are a joke.
They just got their second best player for a second round pick.

This is the thing about being a perennial lotto team. The culture of losing is a steep mountain to get over.

Even talented young players become bad because they can’t break free from it.

To be fair, players are where you find them. Jokic was a second round pick plus a lot of other good players.

You are right, being a perennial lotto team has hurt the Suns.

I'd like to see what a good coach could do with this group of players although the Suns need shooters.

It gets lost but a team can never have enough shooters. Putting the ball in the basket is still the name of the game.

 

[Mainstreet]

Kerr didn't even coach, he let his players set up plays and run the team. The Suns are really depressing to watch. No team has any respect for them.

No doubt this was a very discouraging even if Kerr's motives was to get the team involved. He still chose the Suns to do it.

At least Troy Daniels let his feelings be known.

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[ColdPickleNachos]

I'm torn on Daniels' response. On one hand, I really like that he is not resigned to this team being non-competititive. On the other hand, I think of the Booker fight every time he does something like this and then remember that all he does is shoot and he hasn't even been doing that well recently.

If you take that feeling of disrespect and use it to burn the competitive fire within and make yourself and the team better, then great! But otherwise, you're just kind of a bummer with thin skin.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm torn on Daniels' response. On one hand, I really like that he is not resigned to this team being non-competititive. On the other hand, I think of the Booker fight every time he does something like this and then remember that all he does is shoot and he hasn't even been doing that well recently.

If you take that feeling of disrespect and use it to burn the competitive fire within and make yourself and the team better, then great! But otherwise, you're just kind of a bummer with thin skin.

Daniels is certainly not a poster boy but he cared enough to take on Barton and Kerr.

I agree though, words need to be followed by action and he has mostly been invisible with his play.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...score-golden-state-warriors-monday/328049002/

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2489530/troy-daniels

 

[Mainstreet]

I found a clip of the Daniels and Booker scuffle.

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[elindholm]

WAY too much is being made out of this "Warriors players were coaching" thing. By now, that team has been together a long time and they know what they want to accomplish on the floor. Kerr was reinforcing to his players that they have the ultimate responsibility for their results. They should know the plays and the strategic considerations well enough to work things out on their own. No one objects when someone like Chris Paul or LeBron James calls plays in the half-court set, so how is it that much different to take the same initiative during a timeout?

I coach musicians, not athletes, but the principles are the same. It's a common tactic for people in my profession to step aside and give ownership to the players once in a while. It reminds them of how much is really up to them and encourages them to engage a broader perspective. Kerr is neither a genius nor a show-off: It's just basic teaching.

 

[devilalum]

If you suck so bad that the other team is screwing around and letting the players call plays you just need to shut up and play harder.


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