Showdown wrote:AtheJ415 wrote:Showdown wrote:Don't think that defense is that much of a problem because Suns are 17th on defense and getting good backup big would probably push them to the top 12 teams on defense, only real problems are injuries and 4th quarter shortcomings.With improved health team chemistry and offense will improve significantly but Suns still need to find a way to play organized offense and to reduce iso ball. KD and Booker (Beal when he returns too) need to have more spot up and hand off shots and Suns need to run more pick n roll because right now Suns are great if KD and Booker have extremely high efficiency and are struggling when that stops. Beside that Suns guards need to drive more to the basket after the screen is set because they can put more pressure on the interior defense and then they can get much more quality shot if they pass back to the three point line.This is important because Suns are now mostly jumshooting team and those kind of teams get much less calls in 4th quarter and in the PO.
That's not the full story though. The 4th quarter shortcomings explain why this team absolutely sucks. They play with no intensity and maybe 2 players play hard consistently, which is why when the other team turns it up in the 4th with the game on the line, they beat the crap out of Phx. The Suns offense gives into whatever shot the defense funnels to it, so they are very happy to let Okogie and Goodwin shoot corner 3s off the side of the backboard instead of running KD or Book or Allen or Gordon or really any other better offensive option off of screens or running sets to get them open. They are poorly coached and play consistently stupid basketball on both ends, and talent alone is why they are above .500 right now. Getting Beal back doesn't magically fix these issues and the problem is none of these have improved all year. They still suck in the 4th with KD and Book back together. What they need is a coach and some leadership.
I agree that if those shortcomings aren't fixed then improvement from having healthy players won't be enough.Reason why Suns play like other team wants is too much iso and too much shooting over defenders hands or over multiple players and passing the ball to the role player at 3 point line in the last 5 seconds of the possession after 20 seconds of Booker or KD dribling the ball and trying to score over defender.
There also need to be more help defense,crashing the boards, cutting to the basket when Nurkić is posting up or is facilitating offense from high post and players other than Kd/Booker need to try to score more because team look much better when there are multiple players with 10+ points.These things as well as things i mentioned in previous comment would unlock the full potential of this team and help them be much better.Right now it looks like players give the ball to the KD/Booker in the 4th quarter and just wait to see what are they going to do.
We shouldn't be running Nurkic post ups to begin with during crunch time, which we often do, especially when Book and KD are on the court and nobody is going to crash the glass.
BUT, that said--The Suns miss more offensive rebounding opportunities and cutting opportunities than any team I have seen. With how teams defend Book and KD in particular it is usually a hard double / blitz with the off ball defenders shading to the middle. This is effectively a zone off the ball, meaning all 3 (if Nurkic has screened first) or 4 (if we have not brought a pick) of the other players are not marked 1:1 and can crash the glass. Book / KD usually pass out of this, and that leaves 2-3 other guys with wide open lanes to the hoop with only 1-2 guys boxing out, and NONE of our players crash. They all routinely run back in transition despite their offensive counterpart not leaking out. Yuta is the worst offender of this habit.
Then when we run back in transition like this we often don't even matchup and do really dumb things like have everybody below the free throw line, leaving a secondary transition opportunity despite having more numbers than the offense.
This is one of the stupidest teams in terms of basketball IQ that I have seen on the Suns since Earl Watson, and I personally have 0 faith in Vogel getting them over the hump.
Beal being healthy and the team playing hard will make them worlds better than they are now, but Vogel cannot seem to get them to exert minimal effort aside from 2-3 guys on the team, and the strategic gaffs will likely remain even if the effort improves. This team SUCKS to root for and watch. They are lazy idiots
