Game 6: Detroit Pistons (3-1) @ Phoenix Suns (3-2)

[tmorgan]

Bledsoe and Knight are probably our only two way players since neither is a liability on either end.

Bledsoe and Knight are way too close to copies of each other, that's your biggest issue. Bledsoe's a better athlete and Knight has a better outside shot, but there are far too many similarities.

You guys need a point guard, plain and simple. I'm not super familiar with Bledsoe, but Knight is quite obviously an undersized two guard with good talent and excellent intelligence and heart. Dude is smart, even for the general population, not just the NBA, but his court vision just plain sucks. That would have changed by now if it was ever going to.

Good game last night. We finally shot well from the floor when we needed to, despite solid enough defense from Phoenix. We were fortunate to pull this one out with Dre bricking freebies all over the place.

[JMac1]

Even if Booker played and averaged 10 ppg on the season and we lost this game in same fashion, most of the Suns fans would still find reasons to despise this team. You just cant please everyone these days.

I think if they made playoffs something they haven't done in like half a decade or committed fully to just developing rookies and sophomores along with guys like Bledsoe and Knight, then it would please 90% of the fans. I think staying in the middle is what rubs off many fans.

But you have to know that all lies with Sarver though, right? McD started a full rebuild, was probably ready to trade Dragic, and then Horny overachieved out of the gate, and Sarver put a kabosh on getting rid of Dragic......and then everyone suddenly thinks we are on the verge of the playoffs when we should really be far from that. So now we are signing vets again to try and get there.

The only silver lining we have is the young guys we have in Len, Warren and Booker, and yes, while frustrating they are not playing, I think they are developing either way and if making the playoffs is the goal, I will trust the coach who watches them every day (as bad as people think he is) over random internet message board posters. I would rather him play Booker and Warren more and think he should, but he is a far smarter basketball mind than me, or likely just about anyone on this board.

That's where you and I disagree. First, I don't trust anyone in sports, its a business and they manipulate fans like no other; for example, Marcus Mariota was benched because of a knee injury, which was a lie. Second, Booker and Warren are not developing FULLY unless they are playing on the court, playing in real live games is where you develop FULLY.

A team should be one of two things. 1. Competing for a title or making the playoffs yearly. 2. developing players and getting better year by year, by this I mean, the players and or team is getting better. We are neither.

We do not have one dynamic player on our team, while every other NBA team has at least one. The players that could be dynamic do not get to play and never have because of the PJ Tuckers and Sonny Weems of the world. We have been stuck in neutral for 6 years running. I remember when we had Nash, Barbosa, Diaw, Stat, JJ, Marion......all dynamic, now we don't have one...........after 5 years, nah, eff that garbage you and the Suns organization plus Hornacek are talking....

We have no continuity out there on the court......I have no idea who is our go to player, and its been like that for a long long time.

[RunDogGun]

I think its going to get worse before it gets better. For a coach to practically say he has knuckleheads who can't remember or run plays is a fairly alarming thing. Eventually, someone will have to be accountable. Either Player, Coach, or GM.... or a combination.

This cannot continue.

And y'all SunsShiners can criticize the 'broken records' all you want.... when the same old song and dance gets played night in night out, you may have to change your tune.

Yes, let's keep firing everyone, no one has made any progress, nor shown any reason for optimism. That should've been the solution last season, don't know what's taking them so long to realize it. Seriously, we're 8th in defensive rating, 11th in Opponents' PPG, 3rd in Rebounding. All of the stuff you Perennial Pessimists loved to complain about, we're doing well at. All we need is our offense to get going and we'll be rolling. But that's an impossibility. There's no such thing as building chemistry, you either have it, or you don't, and 6 games is enough to know, ergo throw it all away.

Nail on the head! One thing that was kind of refreshing was no "why didn't we play Archie", tonight.

Although it was strange that Leuer didn't get the first nod from the bench, but I don't know both Tele and Leuer's past games against Detroit. Maybe Tele had a great practice the day before this game, or maybe he was on fire in shoot around.

As for Marcus..ha, that dude is such an immature moron. It won't be long before he lands himself in jail. For some reason, I'm expecting a "you can't handle the truth" comment in his court case.

[cjx]

It's time for Hornacek to unleash baby Wade (Goodwin) and baby Allen (Booker), you know what time it is, folks!

[whitehops]

Exactly. I haven't even noticed they outshot us from the stripe 36-13. Pathetic only attempting 13 shots on our home court.

the pistons are second best in the league for fouling the least, and it comes from allowing more jump shots than shots in the paint.

[rsavaj]

Main takeaway from this game is that Marcus Morris is an even bigger douchebag than I previously thought.

[Puff]

I'm pretty sure firing Hornacek started last season too.

BW, who would be your ideal coach if worst shove and we fire him?

Honestly, with this roster makeup I don't know. I think the roster makeup is the biggest issue. I'm hoping it comes together, but as much as I have hoped it would work with two point guards (and I think it could if they would play smart and pass more and cut out almost all iso) I would rather have a pure pass first pg and a pure sg.

But I think we all would like that...the problem is, good ones are not waiting in the unemployment line. I like that we drafted Booker. I want to see him play as much as the next guy, but can understand why he hasn't, though it will be frustrating if he continues to sit when we play well defensively everywhere but can't hit a basket.

As for coach, I wouldn't want a veteran nba coach, that's for sure. A guy like Thibs would do nothing for us now because defense certainly isn't our problem and he became hated because their offense stunk...last thing we need.

I would probably look hard at assistants. I think they have the best chances of being successful. That or innovative college coaches. Brad Stevens has coached well in Boston, but he may at some point get some backlash like Hornacek has for overachieving early with subpar talent, giving fans high expectations for teams with subpar talent.

Shaka Smart was amazing with Virginia Commonwealth...took them from nowhere to the final four and deep into the tourney year afte year, and then got the big job at University of Texas this year...they have vastly underachieved so I am really intrigued to see what a guy like that can do.

Generally I want someone with innovation....like D'Antoni was...he had his faults, but he transformed offenses. Kerr and Gentry are never the coaches they are today without Pringles leading the way.

So, I guess, in a nutshell, I am not sure who I would hire. I am not sure anyone could do any better. Maybe a tiny bit better, but this team doesn't necessarily have the talent to be a surefire playoff team, but since Sarver demands it, McD signs vets, Horny is forced to play them to some extent, and it squeezes minutes from guys who may be more deserving.

I would take a tip from what Golden State did. Unfortunately our roster is not laden with the same talent as Kerr walked into but this would be my plan.

Head Coach - Steve Nash
Lead Assistant - Mike D'Antoni
Defensive Coordinator - a Ron Adams look alike, otherwise the best defensive assistant I could hire.
GM - ???? I am not sure McDonough is the problem at all. I would discontinue any and all consultations with Lon Babby.

I expect that our team would immediately be fun to watch and fun to play on. Free agents would again want to come to Phoenix. I know we would share the ball. I expect that the head coach would take the blame for losses rather than push it off to everyone else on the planet other than himself.

The ticket office would explode and it would again be difficult to get a ticket to a Phoenix Suns basketball game. Unfortunately I doubt they would be offering any more 50% off nights with free food.

Just do it.

Phoenix Sun's basketball is unwatchable at this point.

[bwgood77]

BW, who would be your ideal coach if worst shove and we fire him?

Honestly, with this roster makeup I don't know. I think the roster makeup is the biggest issue. I'm hoping it comes together, but as much as I have hoped it would work with two point guards (and I think it could if they would play smart and pass more and cut out almost all iso) I would rather have a pure pass first pg and a pure sg.

But I think we all would like that...the problem is, good ones are not waiting in the unemployment line. I like that we drafted Booker. I want to see him play as much as the next guy, but can understand why he hasn't, though it will be frustrating if he continues to sit when we play well defensively everywhere but can't hit a basket.

As for coach, I wouldn't want a veteran nba coach, that's for sure. A guy like Thibs would do nothing for us now because defense certainly isn't our problem and he became hated because their offense stunk...last thing we need.

I would probably look hard at assistants. I think they have the best chances of being successful. That or innovative college coaches. Brad Stevens has coached well in Boston, but he may at some point get some backlash like Hornacek has for overachieving early with subpar talent, giving fans high expectations for teams with subpar talent.

Shaka Smart was amazing with Virginia Commonwealth...took them from nowhere to the final four and deep into the tourney year afte year, and then got the big job at University of Texas this year...they have vastly underachieved so I am really intrigued to see what a guy like that can do.

Generally I want someone with innovation....like D'Antoni was...he had his faults, but he transformed offenses. Kerr and Gentry are never the coaches they are today without Pringles leading the way.

So, I guess, in a nutshell, I am not sure who I would hire. I am not sure anyone could do any better. Maybe a tiny bit better, but this team doesn't necessarily have the talent to be a surefire playoff team, but since Sarver demands it, McD signs vets, Horny is forced to play them to some extent, and it squeezes minutes from guys who may be more deserving.

I would take a tip from what Golden State did. Unfortunately our roster is not laden with the same talent as Kerr walked into but this would be my plan.

Head Coach - Steve Nash
Lead Assistant - Mike D'Antoni
Defensive Coordinator - a Ron Adams look alike, otherwise the best defensive assistant I could hire.
GM - ???? I am not sure McDonough is the problem at all. I would discontinue any and all consultations with Lon Babby.

I expect that our team would immediately be fun to watch and fun to play on. Free agents would again want to come to Phoenix. I know we would share the ball. I expect that the head coach would take the blame for losses rather than push it off to everyone else on the planet other than himself.

The ticket office would explode and it would again be difficult to get a ticket to a Phoenix Suns basketball game. Unfortunately I doubt they would be offering any more 50% off nights with free food.

Just do it.

Phoenix Sun's basketball is unwatchable at this point.

I don't know if Steve Nash wants to coach, but I wouldn't be opposed to that either IF they fire Hornacek. It would at least be fun to watch (I think).

[SunsRback4Good]

Exactly. I haven't even noticed they outshot us from the stripe 36-13. Pathetic only attempting 13 shots on our home court.

the pistons are second best in the league for fouling the least, and it comes from allowing more jump shots than shots in the paint.

Oh, I didn't know that thanks for sharing.

[letsgosuns]

If there is anything in sports I learned over the years, it is that ownership, management, and the coaching staffs of sports teams are not some form of sports geniuses that know more than fans.

A perfect example is the former Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers. That guy made so many horrible moves when he became the GM and Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart have ended up trying to reverse nearly every move Towers made. First thing Towers did where I thought what the hell is he doing was when he traded Jarrod Parker for Trevor Cahill. It was shocking. Parker was the team's number one prospect at the time and Cahill was a mediocre starter that came with a big contract. That trade proved to be awful and it was the start of Towers' complete destruction of a good team.

The point is, how was Towers in a position of power like that? His track record is not good. Yet the guy keeps on getting hired by different organizations. Then the more I thought about it, I realized maybe people in sports are not that smart. You see it everywhere. Every organization. Are Hornacek and McDonough brilliant people? Are their brains more advanced than the average fan or something? Seriously, why do some of you guys put them on a pedestal like they know more than fans. Hornacek played professionally so obviously he was a better player than the average athlete. But that does not mean he knows how to run a team. Michael Jordan keeps putting terrible teams on the court year after year. The old GM of the Bulls was once quoted as saying Jordan is the best player but he has no idea how to put a team together.

Sorry but I refuse to believe that Hornacek and McDonough are smarter than us fans. Just look at how they handled the situations with the Morris brothers. It is embarrassingly bad. And when McDonough started insulting Gambo on the radio recently I was blown away at how unprofessional that was by McDonough. So no, I do not believe that fans should ever say oh they are the ones in charge, let's just trust them. No way.

Anybody can make mistakes. The key is if you learn from those mistakes. Unfortunately I see the current Suns regime making the same mistakes over and over again. That is the biggest disappointment. And it is the reason why I have zero faith in the team right now.

[bwgood77]

If there is anything in sports I learned over the years, it is that ownership, management, and the coaching staffs of sports teams are not some form of sports geniuses that know more than fans.

A perfect example is the former Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers. That guy made so many horrible moves when he became the GM and Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart have ended up trying to reverse nearly every move Towers made. First thing Towers did where I thought what the hell is he doing was when he traded Jarrod Parker for Trevor Cahill. It was shocking. Parker was the team's number one prospect at the time and Cahill was a mediocre starter that came with a big contract. That trade proved to be awful and it was the start of Towers' complete destruction of a good team.

The point is, how was Towers in a position of power like that? His track record is not good. Yet the guy keeps on getting hired by different organizations. Then the more I thought about it, I realized maybe people in sports are not that smart. You see it everywhere. Every organization. Are Hornacek and McDonough brilliant people? Are their brains more advanced than the average fan or something? Seriously, why do some of you guys put them on a pedestal like they know more than fans. Hornacek played professionally so obviously he was a better player than the average athlete. But that does not mean he knows how to run a team. Michael Jordan keeps putting terrible teams on the court year after year. The old GM of the Bulls was once quoted as saying Jordan is the best player but he has no idea how to put a team together.

Sorry but I refuse to believe that Hornacek and McDonough are smarter than us fans. Just look at how they handled the situations with the Morris brothers. It is embarrassingly bad. And when McDonough started insulting Gambo on the radio recently I was blown away at how unprofessional that was by McDonough. So no, I do not believe that fans should ever say oh they are the ones in charge, let's just trust them. No way.

Anybody can make mistakes. The key is if you learn from those mistakes. Unfortunately I see the current Suns regime making the same mistakes over and over again. That is the biggest disappointment. And it is the reason why I have zero faith in the team right now.

I think McD has made some bold moves and mostly drafted talented players, but also made some bad ones. I do, however, think that the makeup of the roster in today's nba where you NEED good shooters, is terribly lacking shooters. I'm glad he finally made a move in drafting one, and I guess you could say the Knight trade was another way to address shooting but our team NEEDS shooters in the worst way as well as ball movement. I do think any coach or GM is going to make mistakes, particularly rookie ones. The question is, do we want to go through the bumps and bruises and ugliness of going young with the GM, coach and players or just go with vets and stay in mediocre land? I'm glad we are gradually getting younger by keeping our draft picks instead of selling them for cash or trading them. Sure they need a mentor and leader or two, a guy like Chandler but I'm glad the future of the team seems to be the guys we are drafting and we are finally building through the draft. Now if we trade Warren, Booker, etc, for a vet, then I would really be pissed.

[TeamTragic]

If there is anything in sports I learned over the years, it is that ownership, management, and the coaching staffs of sports teams are not some form of sports geniuses that know more than fans.

A perfect example is the former Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers. That guy made so many horrible moves when he became the GM and Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart have ended up trying to reverse nearly every move Towers made. First thing Towers did where I thought what the hell is he doing was when he traded Jarrod Parker for Trevor Cahill. It was shocking. Parker was the team's number one prospect at the time and Cahill was a mediocre starter that came with a big contract. That trade proved to be awful and it was the start of Towers' complete destruction of a good team.

The point is, how was Towers in a position of power like that? His track record is not good. Yet the guy keeps on getting hired by different organizations. Then the more I thought about it, I realized maybe people in sports are not that smart. You see it everywhere. Every organization. Are Hornacek and McDonough brilliant people? Are their brains more advanced than the average fan or something? Seriously, why do some of you guys put them on a pedestal like they know more than fans. Hornacek played professionally so obviously he was a better player than the average athlete. But that does not mean he knows how to run a team. Michael Jordan keeps putting terrible teams on the court year after year. The old GM of the Bulls was once quoted as saying Jordan is the best player but he has no idea how to put a team together.

Sorry but I refuse to believe that Hornacek and McDonough are smarter than us fans. Just look at how they handled the situations with the Morris brothers. It is embarrassingly bad. And when McDonough started insulting Gambo on the radio recently I was blown away at how unprofessional that was by McDonough. So no, I do not believe that fans should ever say oh they are the ones in charge, let's just trust them. No way.

Anybody can make mistakes. The key is if you learn from those mistakes. Unfortunately I see the current Suns regime making the same mistakes over and over again. That is the biggest disappointment. And it is the reason why I have zero faith in the team right now.

I think McD has made some bold moves and mostly drafted talented players, but also made some bad ones. I do, however, think that the makeup of the roster in today's nba where you NEED good shooters, is terribly lacking shooters. I'm glad he finally made a move in drafting one, and I guess you could say the Knight trade was another way to address shooting but our team NEEDS shooters in the worst way as well as ball movement. I do think any coach or GM is going to make mistakes, particularly rookie ones. The question is, do we want to go through the bumps and bruises and ugliness of going young with the GM, coach and players or just go with vets and stay in mediocre land? I'm glad we are gradually getting younger by keeping our draft picks instead of selling them for cash or trading them. Sure they need a mentor and leader or two, a guy like Chandler but I'm glad the future of the team seems to be the guys we are drafting and we are finally building through the draft. Now if we trade Warren, Booker, etc, for a vet, then I would really be pissed.

McD did the best he could with Babby/Sarver throwing in their opinion every single time a decision goes down. Sarver made one good decision with Dragic. Now that Dragic was traded that is not worth discussing. Babby wanted **** Felton over Dragic. What does that tell you?

Babby/Hornacek need to go ASAP. Maybe then this team can rebuild properly with a decent coach. Nash/Dantoni would do a much better job than the current coaching staff however our defense has improved. Unfortunately our scoring and shooting has pretty much taken a major hit.

[KLEON]

Can someone tell me what was Marcus Morris behaviour on his return to PHX? I never got a chance to watch the game.

[Jdiddy701]

Can someone tell me what was Marcus Morris behaviour on his return to PHX? I never got a chance to watch the game.

Said dumb things before and after the game but during the game played normal even though he was booed every time. He wasn't bad as IT was last year in Phoenix. Lol


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[PackSuns]

If the Suns were an NCAA team I know 2 players that would transfer.

[Revived]

Can someone tell me what was Marcus Morris behaviour on his return to PHX? I never got a chance to watch the game.

He sh***tted on the Suns both play wise (20/6) and talking wise.

Basically, he kicked our ass.