Game 67: Atlanta Hawks (50-14) @ Phoenix Suns (34-32)

[thamadkant]

Len should be playing as well as Gobert by now, but he isnt... and its not really Len's fault.
Gobert is surrounded by players that play accordingly to their roles, whilst Suns have a mismash of players still.
Len cannot even get to 35 minutes played yet mainly because he ends up picking up fouls that he should not be getting, his team mates need to help reinforce the paint better so Len can focus on help defense and rebounding more... whilst avoiding cheap fouls..

Hence, why Len NEEDS an enforcer of a PF next to him... look at Favors and Gobert.

Markieff Morris is a Shooting Guard in a PF's body.

[SunsRback4Good]

Times like these, i hate to say it ... I miss Dragic

No I miss Steve Nash!

No I miss Kevin Johnson.

[letsgosuns]

Len will never grow with players around him like the Morris brothers and Tucker. They are such selfish, stupid basketball players that are morons, on and off the court. There is no other way to say it. These guys are idiots. They make dumb basketball plays constantly and do the dumbest stuff off the court. Just watching Tucker hit a three makes me cringe because he dances and runs backwards laughing and celebrating afterwards like he won the finals. It is pathetic. Bledsoe also is playing like garbage. You cannot win with your point guard having 35 turnovers in his last 6 games. That is horrendous. This team has some serious decisions to make. They need to dump all the garbage and restart with Len, Goodwin, and Warren as the centerpieces. Those are the only guys I see as the future of this team.

[Son of Ra]

Not too bad a game, we looked good until Atlanta stepped it up a notch and got serious. Hitting 3s at a high clip kinda inflated our lead as well. I'm just happy our young guys are finally seeing the floor somewhat consistently. Which leads me to...why the hell is Thornton ahead of Warren in the rotation? Are we trying to see if he's worth signing long term or what?
Like I said, I am glad Hornaceck is finally playing the young guys but why all at the same time? Play say Warren with the starters, then Goodwin with the second unit and then switch it up from time to time. Which leads me to...I can't wait for our Danny DeVito twin to get buried on the bench. No player I hate watching more on our team atm than Iso-Marcus.

[Just_Win]

Getting to the point were every game I'm scared Len is going to get injured.

[Ryu]

What happened with Len`s injury? I just watched highlights and was scared when I saw him down.

[NavLDO]

Not too bad a game, we looked good until Atlanta stepped it up a notch and got serious. Hitting 3s at a high clip kinda inflated our lead as well. I'm just happy our young guys are finally seeing the floor somewhat consistently. Which leads me to...why the hell is Thornton ahead of Warren in the rotation? Are we trying to see if he's worth signing long term or what?
Like I said, I am glad Hornaceck is finally playing the young guys but why all at the same time? Play say Warren with the starters, then Goodwin with the second unit and then switch it up from time to time. Which leads me to...I can't wait for our Danny DeVito twin to get buried on the bench. No player I hate watching more on our team atm than Iso-Marcus.

That is the only logical reason why he would be getting burn over...anyone, really. And what's up with Bullock? I thought when we picked him up that he had some good potential. I don't understand why he's not seeing the floor at all, and again, all seemingly at the expense of Thornton getting time. How that dude is making $8M this season is beyond me. The only good news is that he's likely gone at the end of the season, or, at best, a $3-4M per guy going forward.

This season is just done, unfortunately. I was holding out hope for a late season surge, but with Len's ankle issues, and Knight missing so much time, we simply just cannot compete when two of our best players are not out on the court--similar to what happened to OKC early in the year. But if we can roll out--Bledsoe, Knight, Warren, Kieff, Len at the start of the season, and they all stay healthy, we should be able to compete for the 8th seed next year. And if they can upgrade Kieff with a true PF somehow, before the season starts, maybe even higher than the 8th seed.

Bledsoe really does need some 'mentorship' at the Point. I truly believe that he can be a great player, but will need to limit the TOs, as we all know. What's the chance that we let Knight run the Point, and have Bledsoe play off the ball? We know Bledsoe can defend against SGs and shoot pretty darn well, and we know Knight can run the Point. To me, that makes more sense than the opposite. Let Goodwin spell Knight, and (hopefully) Bullock spell Knight. Have a rotation at the start of next year of this:

Knight/Goodwin
Bledsoe/Bullock (or Bogdanovich, maybe?)
Warren/PJ
?? FA ??/Kieff
Len/Wright

I know many want Tobias Harris, but he could play PF, right? He's 6'8" 235, which is similar to Millsap (though Millsap is about 15 lbs heavier, I believe, and has a bit longer reach). Point being, is if Harris could defend against a 4, then why not? We've played with 2, sometimes 3 PGs at a time, why not 2 SFs?

Anyway, I really don't care who it is, but I agree we need to pair Len up with a stronger, more defensive minded PF (so maybe Harris isn't a good option--who knows?) But so long as we have a trio of Knight/Bled/Warren on the floor, our offense will be just fine. I truly believe we are only a stud PF away from being real contenders, and with PF being one of the more plentiful positions in the league, we really don't have a good excuse for not having a better option there.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Rather 2 elite players, than 50 wins.

[Revived]

After Archie fed Brandan Wright for the fast break dunk to take the 11-point lead with 3 minutes left in the third, the crowd jumped up and got wild. The arena was rocking as the Suns ran back down the court to play defense.

But Suns fans don't stay up for very long, and by the time Atlanta called a timeout to talk things over, just 2 or 3 seconds later, fans had already taken their seats again.

At this point, Markieff was walking right in front of me toward the Suns bench for the timeout. I had a seat on media row on the floor. He looked up at the crowd, waved his right arm a time or two (to get them to stand up) and then said "f@ck, man" as he went to the Suns bench for the timeout."

Lmao at this dude's obsession with the fans

[kennydorglas]

After Archie fed Brandan Wright for the fast break dunk to take the 11-point lead with 3 minutes left in the third, the crowd jumped up and got wild. The arena was rocking as the Suns ran back down the court to play defense.

But Suns fans don't stay up for very long, and by the time Atlanta called a timeout to talk things over, just 2 or 3 seconds later, fans had already taken their seats again.

At this point, Markieff was walking right in front of me toward the Suns bench for the timeout. I had a seat on media row on the floor. He looked up at the crowd, waved his right arm a time or two (to get them to stand up) and then said "f@ck, man" as he went to the Suns bench for the timeout."

Lmao at this dude's obsession with the fans

hahahaha
this guy is unbelievable.

[RunDogGun]

What is unbelievable? Dude is bummed that the fans can't keep things going for more than two or three seconds, with an eleven point lead against the best team in the East. What's unbelievable is our fans have an attention span of three seconds.

[RaisingArizona]

What is unbelievable? Dude is bummed that the fans can't keep things going for more than two or three seconds, with an eleven point lead against the best team in the East. What's unbelievable is our fans have an attention span of three seconds.

I was there by the bench. Too many corporate suites, not enough real fans in the seats. Lots of empty seats near my location which is surprising since they cost about $150 a ticket. I don't see the need to respond to people who are going to nitpick everything the Mo Bros say or do anymore. I don't hear people here harping on Goodwin for his arrest this summer or his T in Friday's game. This board is driving me . I'm seriously looking for another place to go to talk Suns-- not hate on the usual suspects every freaking game.

[RunDogGun]

What is unbelievable? Dude is bummed that the fans can't keep things going for more than two or three seconds, with an eleven point lead against the best team in the East. What's unbelievable is our fans have an attention span of three seconds.

I was there by the bench. Too many corporate suites, not enough real fans in the seats. Lots of empty seats near my location which is surprising since they cost about $150 a ticket. I don't see the need to respond to people who are going to nitpick everything the Mo Bros say or do anymore. I don't hear people here harping on Goodwin for his arrest this summer or his T in Friday's game. This board is driving me . I'm seriously looking for another place to go to talk Suns-- not hate on the usual suspects every freaking game.

PM me if you find something good. It would be nice to talk about the Suns in a way that seems like we actually care about them. Bummer, this place was leaps and bounds over what ESPN turned/was turning into.

[thamadkant]

The Morris twins are "not liked" by half the fans here it seems.. but so what? there are multiple reasons why some simply will not LIKE them.

Goodwin getting a tech was a nothing... he stood up, bumped the player taunting him. Goodwin didnt yap back, didnt say anything unlikeable to the media. Nothing to "dislike" him for.

Goodwin's arrest late last season, he was criticized and called immature on the thread created that week he was arrested. Many called him immature but also judged the incident as nothing serious, he was resisting arrest according to the cop, he didnt hit anyone. Part of being 19 years old at the time.

Also Goodwin was also criticize by a few when he came out on public showing his frustrations above lack of playing time and Bullock joining the team, questioning the FO's moves. Goodwin was told to shut up by a lot of fans here, but the things he said were again justifiable for a 20 year old who has been sitting on the bench for most of the season.

The Morris twins' list of "unlikeable" actions are exponentially higher than anyone on the team, Tucker would be second with his drunk driving and twice missing the team bus.
Green, surprisingly has been a very good professional on the bench not getting minutes lately... so that earned him respect even though he has been playing below par.

Its not like the Morris twins are innocent.. they are guilty of real "unlikeable" actions. Calling out fans, dissing rookies in the media, talking crap on the court leading to techs, acting like prima donnas, showing severe disrespect to the coach caught on camera (Marcus Morris), getting involved in off-court incidents... add to that their on-court low IQ plays (mainly Marcus Morris)... they are FAR from being innocents.

[Revived]

ROFL at people acting like their being forced to post on here lolololol. This forum is way more active than any other Suns forum, I've joined or lurked on most other Suns boards out there.

Nobody is forced to post or come here. You don't need permission to leave this forum and go to another forum.

Hell look at BurningHeart, he stopped being a Suns fan altogether after the Dragic trade without even asking for permission.

[TeamTragic]

Len will never grow with players around him like the Morris brothers and Tucker. They are such selfish, stupid basketball players that are morons, on and off the court. There is no other way to say it. These guys are idiots. They make dumb basketball plays constantly and do the dumbest stuff off the court. Just watching Tucker hit a three makes me cringe because he dances and runs backwards laughing and celebrating afterwards like he won the finals. It is pathetic. Bledsoe also is playing like garbage. You cannot win with your point guard having 35 turnovers in his last 6 games. That is horrendous. This team has some serious decisions to make. They need to dump all the garbage and restart with Len, Goodwin, and Warren as the centerpieces. Those are the only guys I see as the future of this team.

I've said this before but I have to agree with your assessment. Tucker and Morris Bros are horrible role models. Get an enforcer on this team and Tucker/MoBros will fall in line. I would be willing to get Stephenson on this team just to see which players are alpha dogs. Right now Hornacek is too **** nice.

Bledsoe is on a decent contract especially after cap talk for 2017. He is one piece but not the entire puzzle. Lets not be hasty and give up Bledsoe for garbage. Surround him with a decent starting line up and star and he will flourish. That means a new system with a defensive emphasis. Right now he has average but not great players and overall amateur effort every night.

[RunDogGun]

Tucker needs to fall in line? Wtf are you people talking about?