Game 70: Phoenix Suns (36-33) @ Houston Rockets (46-22)

[nevetsov]

With tucker hitting 30 soon. I wouldn't mind us getting another 27+ Sg defender when tucker starts declining. Even if it is to backup knight, we look so good with a good defensive Sg.

Wonder if Bullock could be that guy. Archie is a pretty good defender too, but he projects as more of just a 3&D guy to me.

[NavLDO]

With tucker hitting 30 soon. I wouldn't mind us getting another 27+ Sg defender when tucker starts declining. Even if it is to backup knight, we look so good with a good defensive Sg.

Wonder if Bullock could be that guy. Archie is a pretty good defender too, but he projects as more of just a 3&D guy to me.

I think Bullock could be that guy for sure. As far as Archie, I'd love for them to continue developing him at the Point. So long as he has the handles and BBIQ for it--IDK. But I can't imagine that he couldn't develop into a guy that is similar to Bledsoe. I mentioned a similar thought in a post yesterday, but if we sign Butler, we could ensure that at least 2 of the 3 of Knight, Bledsoe, and Butler be on the floor at all times, with Butler as a SG, but were we not to sign Butler, or any other SG or SF, and not re-sign Thornton or Green, I still think he have a solid rotation at the 1,2, and 3.

So, looking at their pre-draft measurements, I think we have the prospect of a better height/length at these positions than we've had as of late. With a 6' 3.5" Goran, 6'1.5" Bledsoe, and a 5' 10" Thomas at the PG and SG positions.

Bledsoe/Knight/Goodwin
PJ/Bullock/Bogdanovic
Warren/Marcus

Bledsoe--6' 1.5"--192--6' 7.5"--8' 2"
Knight--6' 3.25"--177--6' 6.75"--8' 2.5"
Goodwin-- 6' 5.25"--189--6' 9.5"--8' 6"

Bullock--6' 7"--200--6' 8.75"--8' 6"
Bogdanovic--6' 6.35"--200--6' 11.07"--8' 8.33"
Tucker--6'5"--225--?--?

Warren---6' 8.25"--220--6' 10.25"--8' 8"
Morris--6' 8.75"--230--6' 10"--8' 9.5"

So, if we can get Goodwin to be a legit combo guard, we could potentially trot out a line up of:

Goodwin - 6'5"
Bullock - 6'7"
Marcus - 6'9"
Wright - 6'10"
Len - 7'1"

That's quite a departure from what we've had, even as recent as two months ago when we'd have

Thomas - 5'10"
Bledsoe - 6'1.5"
Tucker - 6'5"
Green - 6'7"
Kieff - 6'10"

Point being, is that while we will likely field the combo I have above, it's possible. Big difference putting out an average 6'3" team, vs putting out an average 6'9" team. Not too mention, that regardless, while we may have taken a hit on the offensive side of the house with the loss of IT and Dragic, we've improved our D tremendously with the addition of Wright and Knight (vs Dragic or IT). And IMO, the added D vs what we had previously is more of an impact than the offense we lost.

So, sorry for the long, drawn out post in a game thread ( ), but just has been on my mind as of late about how much better our defense is compared to over the last few years. Not that we didn't field PJ, but it's a huge difference to have him matched up against SGs vs matched up against SFs/PFs, because now instead of having Dragic defending SGs and PJ defending SFs, we can have PJ defend SGs, and Marcus or Warren defend SFs. And we now have Wright defending PFs/ Cs, instead of Plumlee. And even if we can get Bled/Knight/Bullock or Bled/Knight/PJ on the floor at the same time, we are in good shape defensively, as both Knight and Bullock are, or at least were considered, good defenders coming out.

[Cutter]

Goodwin has a long way to go to be impactful. Hopefully he continues to get minutes to see if he can develop.

[In Len We Trust]

Goodwin has a long way to go to be impactful. Hopefully he continues to get minutes to see if he can develop.

Why does he have a long way to go? He plays very well almost every game and is constantly putting up 10+ points in less than 20 minutes. Archie would have been in the rotation all year long for a large majority of NBA teams.

[irish22022]

It was a good game, and it'll be fun to feel competitive for the 8th spot. Of course it'll be a sweep, but it'll be good experience for our young guys to lose by 30 4 games in a row and feel like they have to get better.

That being said, if I'm betting, I say we don't make it in. Either way, our team obviously needs to improve with outside hires this summer. And that's going to mean parting way with several assets. Everything needs to be on the table, including let knight walk for nothing. Knight would be a great 9 mil a year a guy, but if it's a dime over that we just can't accept what he brings us. And we can let go of the laker pick, it really isn't a big deal. They'll get in the top 5, they'll sign a big free agent, they'll be a 14-17 pick and it's not a big deal.

[Marz11]

Good win but I won't celebrate much or talk about good individual performances until they can show that they can put at least a few games together like this. Yes Bledsoe, I am looking at you because you have the ability to dominate every game and most of the time, you don't.

I don't think you can teach consistency, it is up to the players to work on it psychologically. It doesn't necessarily just come with experience.

[bigfoot]

I know tonight was a great win and people are excited, but keep it in perspective. First off, the Rockets were missing Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones, their starting frontcourt. Secondly, Beverley and Terry were questionable to play because of injuries and so was Ariza because he was sick. For a long stretch in the fourth quarter the Suns struggled to score while Price was in the game. Now I am reading on here that tonight's performance shows there is no need re-sign Brandon Knight. What? What about the previous game where the Suns scored only 74 points and shot 9.1% on 3pts. Or the game against the Hawks where the Suns got destroyed in the fourth quarter. Or the game against the Warriors where the Suns were embarrassed in the second half without Knight. I would venture to guess the Suns could have definitely used Knight in those games. Without him, the Suns have Bledsoe, Goodwin, and no one else.

Right now, Tucker or Marcus are playing together and neither is a shooting guard. How quickly people forget after tonight's win that Marcus shot 0-7 on 3pts last game and Tucker was 1-6 on 3pts. A combined 1-13. Pretty awful. Now suddenly the Suns beat an undermanned Rockets team and fans are acting like a team of Tucker and the Morris brothers is great. Well I disagree. VERY STRONGLY. I saw the same Suns team that won tonight also play one of the ugliest games in NBA history two days ago. If not for the Pelicans playing even worse, the Suns would have lost to any other team that was good. Oh yeah, the Pelicans were missing players including ANTHONY DAVIS and Evans was playing injured.

Yes it was an awesome win. But the reason it was so awesome is because nobody expected the Suns to win tonight. Most fans figured it would be a loss so winning the game was a big surprise. However, the Knicks also just beat the Spurs the other day. I doubt anybody thinks the Knicks are suddenly a good team. No way am I putting the Suns win tonight anywhere near the level of the shocking Knicks win but you see what I am saying. As well as the Suns the played tonight, they are capable of playing just as terrible like they did in the game against the Pelicans. They are extremely inconsistent and that is who they are. Inconsistent teams do not win championships. I would still trade the Morris brothers in two seconds.

Suns have gone 8 wins and 5 losses over their last 14 games. All the while dealing with 1) the loss of three pieces who played significant minutes - Dragic, IT, Plumlee, 2) injuries to Len and Knight, 3) integrating new players Knight, Thorton, Price, Curry, 4) increased roles for young players (Goodwin and Warren) who are underweight, underskilled, and have less understanding of the offensive and defensive systems, and 5) the toughest remaining schedule in the toughest conference.

Hell yeah ... most of us are happy with the wins and the playoff chase. I could care less if Dwight or Davis didn't play. Often when the big players are out others step up and find a way to win for their team. Our players kept that from happening. Fact is the Suns won games they needed to win and if you didn't notice managed to do it with respectable defense. You mentioned the Suns had the dry spell in the fourth quarter when Price was in. Did you conveniently miss that the Rockets only scored 2 points in the last 5:41 on their own home court and they had their MVP candidate Harden playing? Hell no. You fools have your blinders on and can only look at the negative stuff.

[Jdiddy701]

Watching the Houston game again right now, Marcus Morris has been talking to Archie every timeout. I love how the twins are always helping the young ones.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Damkac]

Stop lying to yourselves. It's obvious that Rockets were tanking so Suns can make the playoffs instead of Thunder or Pelicans. This is terrible team and every player older than 12 years must be traded. How about trading Morris bros for a roll of toilet paper and TJ for used underpants? I would make these moves in a second.

[RunDogGun]

Good win but I won't celebrate much or talk about good individual performances until they can show that they can put at least a few games together like this. Yes Bledsoe, I am looking at you because you have the ability to dominate every game and most of the time, you don't.

I don't think you can teach consistency, it is up to the players to work on it psychologically. It doesn't necessarily just come with experience.

I love it! You won't celebrate the win, or talk about any individual performances, but you will single out a player, and criticize him?

Man that's the fans we have, which explains why our home crowd sucks, for it seems we have so many fans more willing to rip the team, players, coach, than cheer them.

[Revived]

Good win but I won't celebrate much or talk about good individual performances until they can show that they can put at least a few games together like this. Yes Bledsoe, I am looking at you because you have the ability to dominate every game and most of the time, you don't.

I don't think you can teach consistency, it is up to the players to work on it psychologically. It doesn't necessarily just come with experience.

This is my main problem with him as well. He's definitely capable of being an All Star caliber player or maybe even more than that but he has too many cluster games where he just looks disinterested.

Even Tucker noticed this and said that he had a man to man private talk with Bledsoe and told him to step up and be aggressive because this is Bledsoe's team now and if making playoffs is still the goal, they need Bledsoe to play like this and like he did in the OKC game and other games where he basically dominated.

I absolutely disagree with your last part though. Consistency imo is definitely something that comes with experience. Sure psychology plays a part in it but the more a player plays, the more he learns and works through his strengths and weaknesses.

[Revived]

It was a good game, and it'll be fun to feel competitive for the 8th spot. Of course it'll be a sweep, but it'll be good experience for our young guys to lose by 30 4 games in a row and feel like they have to get better.

That being said, if I'm betting, I say we don't make it in. Either way, our team obviously needs to improve with outside hires this summer. And that's going to mean parting way with several assets. Everything needs to be on the table, including let knight walk for nothing. Knight would be a great 9 mil a year a guy, but if it's a dime over that we just can't accept what he brings us. And we can let go of the laker pick, it really isn't a big deal. They'll get in the top 5, they'll sign a big free agent, they'll be a 14-17 pick and it's not a big deal.

The Lakers aren't gonna sign any big FAs in the summer that will elevate them to being a playoff team next season.

And Knight reportedly already turned down a $9M/yr offer from Milwaukke before the season so I doubt he would accept that now.

[Marz11]

Good win but I won't celebrate much or talk about good individual performances until they can show that they can put at least a few games together like this. Yes Bledsoe, I am looking at you because you have the ability to dominate every game and most of the time, you don't.

I don't think you can teach consistency, it is up to the players to work on it psychologically. It doesn't necessarily just come with experience.

I love it! You won't celebrate the win, or talk about any individual performances, but you will single out a player, and criticize him?

Man that's the fans we have, which explains why our home crowd sucks, for it seems we have so many fans more willing to rip the team, players, coach, than cheer them.

I watch every game and of course I am happy when we win, but the roller coaster of this team is really exhausting. I get to the point where I get so excited and hopeful only for it to go backwards again..

So far they are proving me wrong against Dallas. May they continue to make me look silly.

[RunDogGun]

I'm sorry for singling you out, I'm just tired of the hate. This team is young, and completely shaked up the line up recently. We need the fans to celebrate every win, and players' accomplishments each game. Too many Debbie Downers, even after wins.