Game 44: Indiana Pacers (22-20) at Phoenix Suns (16-27), Sunday, Jan 14, 2018, 6PM MST

[JMac1]

I’ll give Bender a mulligan tonight. He is going to have more of these games, however, he was open, just missing. Josh still forces things a lot, gonna have to learn to play better with Booker alas TJ; but at the end of the day, he was solid. Big improvement.

[Mulhollanddrive]

I'd like to see a death line up of Canaan, Daniels, Booker, Bender, Chriss.

I don't see how they wouldn't score alot playing Dantoni offense with Booker/Chriss 2 man game with Canaan, Daniels, Bender as 3 point shooters.

I feel like because we have Ulis who can't shoot, Jackson who prefers driving, Chandler who stays in the paint that it hampers any chance of an optimal offensive system and we're poor in defense anyway.

[76ciology]

My two cents from an outsider point of view.

I believe the best way to move fast is having a direction. If you opt to be in the middle, you’ll go nowhere to very slow.

Do we want a top 3 pick or are we OK just by having lotto picks?

Do we want to build around perimeter players or do we want to have a balance of bigs and perimeter players?

Building a team is tricky. As you move forward the returns are going to be smaller, because of adding talent and cap space. Means less likely talent gains in draft and FA.

I just feel like you guys need to be all in with getting perimeter talent and accept two radical truth.. 1.) bigs arent valued, unless generational talent. 2.) be courageous to cut talent for there’s just a crazy amount of talent out there

[lilfishi22]

I'd like to see a death line up of Canaan, Daniels, Booker, Bender, Chriss.

I don't see how they wouldn't score alot playing Dantoni offense with Booker/Chriss 2 man game with Canaan, Daniels, Bender as 3 point shooters.

I feel like because we have Ulis who can't shoot, Jackson who prefers driving, Chandler who stays in the paint that it hampers any chance of an optimal offensive system and we're poor in defense anyway.

Warren not having range or doing much playmaking hurts as well considering he plays a ton of minutes and uses a lot of possession. But certainly having more shooting to create that spacing for penetrations will help with our efficiency and offensive flow.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Ideally we'll get a Doncic-Booker or Young-Booker backcourt for the 2020s championship.

[Revived]

Missed the game but good to see Jackson played well at least going by the box score.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

A few words about this game.

One, it must be said that the single biggest problem with this team is Tyler. He's not a good option either on or off the ball on offense. We're close to playing 4 on 5 out there. The biggest reason teams can clog the paint and double Booker every time down the floor is that we're playing with one man fewer than the other team more than half the time.

Second, for all of the positives you can associate with Chandler's hustle, his defense never extends further than 10 feet from the basket. Plus, he's not a good rim protector. So while he does work on the boards, that's essentially all he does. Unless you can get him the lob, he doesn't give you anything on either end of the floor. If he bails the ball handler out of a double team, no worries, he can't do anything with it. The defense can get back and re-set. Now we're down to 3 on 5.

Bender's a puppy. And it just so happens that in games where he's not knocking down the long ball, he usually is also not hustling for loose balls. It's not equivalent to being a man down on either offense or defense, but it is equivalent to being a man down on "special teams" if I can borrow from football a bit. This isn't all that different from how TJ played just last year, btw, at 23. It's just something he has to get a lot better at.

Josh Jackson was great. The 3 ball is falling. It's clear he's really worked on it. He's making his free throws at a better clip too. But most impressive to me is his ability to penetrate - he's the best player on our roster at breaking down a defense with the dribble. And that's why I think his potential isn't any less than Booker's. Booker's long ball might give him an edge in the modern NBA, but JJ's got that classic NBA skill of being able to get by his man.

Obviously not an impressive game by any stretch of the imagination, but when you break it down by personnel, there's a silver lining there. We expect to upgrade the 1 and 5. We expect our young guys to grow. There's a lot of talent, and by all indications, there will be another high draft pick added to this squad this summer.

[jcsunsfan]

A few words about this game.

One, it must be said that the single biggest problem with this team is Tyler. He's not a good option either on or off the ball on offense. We're close to playing 4 on 5 out there. The biggest reason teams can clog the paint and double Booker every time down the floor is that we're playing with one man fewer than the other team more than half the time.

Second, for all of the positives you can associate with Chandler's hustle, his defense never extends further than 10 feet from the basket. Plus, he's not a good rim protector. So while he does work on the boards, that's essentially all he does. Unless you can get him the lob, he doesn't give you anything on either end of the floor. If he bails the ball handler out of a double team, no worries, he can't do anything with it. The defense can get back and re-set. Now we're down to 3 on 5.

Bender's a puppy. And it just so happens that in games where he's not knocking down the long ball, he usually is also not hustling for loose balls. It's not equivalent to being a man down on either offense or defense, but it is equivalent to being a man down on "special teams" if I can borrow from football a bit. This isn't all that different from how TJ played just last year, btw, at 23. It's just something he has to get a lot better at.

Josh Jackson was great. The 3 ball is falling. It's clear he's really worked on it. He's making his free throws at a better clip too. But most impressive to me is his ability to penetrate - he's the best player on our roster at breaking down a defense with the dribble. And that's why I think his potential isn't any less than Booker's. Booker's long ball might give him an edge in the modern NBA, but JJ's got that classic NBA skill of being able to get by his man.

Obviously not an impressive game by any stretch of the imagination, but when you break it down by personnel, there's a silver lining there. We expect to upgrade the 1 and 5. We expect our young guys to grow. There's a lot of talent, and by all indications, there will be another high draft pick added to this squad this summer.

This is how we have to look at games going forward.

1. Totally agree. Ulis is at best an NBA back up, but I have a hunch he is not really and NBA player.
2. Chandler has his moments. He just cannot do it all the time.
3. Bender's success is dependent upon the success of others. If TJ, Book, or even Troy are knocking down shots, he can be an easy outlet when teams collapse on them. When TJ is out and Book is struggling, his man doesn't leave him as a much and he is sunk. Bender has to expand his game. Part of it has to be how he thinks. He does not think of himself as an alpha player. He sees himself as complementary. It might be the downside of Euros playing pro ball so early and playing with older players at such a young age. Dominating your own age group produces and alpha mentality that can carry through. He is young, the light can turn on, but it has to turn on yet.
4. I tend to agree about Josh--although I might not see him as having more potential than Booker.

[lilfishi22]

A few words about this game.

One, it must be said that the single biggest problem with this team is Tyler. He's not a good option either on or off the ball on offense. We're close to playing 4 on 5 out there. The biggest reason teams can clog the paint and double Booker every time down the floor is that we're playing with one man fewer than the other team more than half the time. - I'm just not a fan of his. He pounds the ball a lot because he can't get to spots. He's quick but defenses don't respect his range and they allow him to pound the ball rather than give him the driving lane to find open players. I really think the late last seasons flash really was just that, a flash. Teams haven't properly scouted him at that point and they largely ignored him and focused on Booker. This season is different with him being the starting PG and teams seeing what he was able to do last season

Second, for all of the positives you can associate with Chandler's hustle, his defense never extends further than 10 feet from the basket. Plus, he's not a good rim protector. So while he does work on the boards, that's essentially all he does. Unless you can get him the lob, he doesn't give you anything on either end of the floor. If he bails the ball handler out of a double team, no worries, he can't do anything with it. The defense can get back and re-set. Now we're down to 3 on 5. - pretty much why I'd rather see Len instead of Chandler. I think Len has much better chemistry with Bender than Bender does with Chandler as well. They cover each other fairly well when one gets switched out onto the mismatch on defense. Len's a better rebounder, shot blocker and defender than Chandler. The only thing he doesn't have that Chandler does is consistency.

Bender's a puppy. And it just so happens that in games where he's not knocking down the long ball, he usually is also not hustling for loose balls. It's not equivalent to being a man down on either offense or defense, but it is equivalent to being a man down on "special teams" if I can borrow from football a bit. This isn't all that different from how TJ played just last year, btw, at 23. It's just something he has to get a lot better at. - Not too worried about Bender yet. What I've seen from him this season on the court and on the stat sheets is encouraging. Going 0-7FG is ugly but at least he didn't lose confidence in shooting.

Josh Jackson was great. The 3 ball is falling. It's clear he's really worked on it. He's making his free throws at a better clip too. But most impressive to me is his ability to penetrate - he's the best player on our roster at breaking down a defense with the dribble. And that's why I think his potential isn't any less than Booker's. Booker's long ball might give him an edge in the modern NBA, but JJ's got that classic NBA skill of being able to get by his man.- I thought he had a pretty good game. He cooled off a fair bit in the 2nd half but he still had a very good game by his standards. Since his DNP 5 games ago, he's averaging 16/6/3 on .471FG% and .46% from the 3. His shooting will come and go but his rebounding and hustle defense is where he needs to make his money. Rebounds will always be there for him to grab so he needs to keep that up.

Obviously not an impressive game by any stretch of the imagination, but when you break it down by personnel, there's a silver lining there. We expect to upgrade the 1 and 5. We expect our young guys to grow. There's a lot of talent, and by all indications, there will be another high draft pick added to this squad this summer.

[thamadkant]

Josh Jackson's free throw is key to tell if he's been practicing hard.... if he can hit 75% or around that, that would be so great because he can drive and draw fouls due to his quickness and aggressiveness. This helps A LOT.

[thamadkant]

Tyler Ulis OVER DRIBBLES almost every time... and he looks UNSURE, Defenses knows this and they just let him stagnate the offense.

Canaan... is no way near as quick, but he intentionally moves the ball around... he also looks like he knows what he's doing... Ulis... looks overwhelmed... he's so quick, but he THINKS too much, over dribbles and plays with doubt.... he wont last in the NBA if continues this way, he needs to be balls out aggressive, moving the ball, moving around etc.

[lilfishi22]

Tyler Ulis OVER DRIBBLES almost every time... and he looks UNSURE, Defenses knows this and they just let him stagnate the offense.

Canaan... is no way near as quick, but he intentionally moves the ball around... he also looks like he knows what he's doing... Ulis... looks overwhelmed... he's so quick, but he THINKS too much, over dribbles and plays with doubt.... he wont last in the NBA if continues this way, he needs to be balls out aggressive, moving the ball, moving around etc.

I don't even know if it's hesitance, I really think he's just not able to penetrate. There doesn't seem to be any intention when he has the ball. Reminds me a little of Brandon Knight with how he would pound the ball, makes a move and then gets driven back to the arc to restart. Ulis's handles aren't ultra advanced like Kyrie's, he's not very strong for his size like IT or Nate Robinson and he doesn't have the shooting to keep defenders on their heels.

Totally agree with your Canaan description. No one would mistake him for some sort of top 20 PG but the guy is savvy and experienced. He knows what his strengths' are and that's his shooting, his confident handles and his quickness. The combination of those three traits and quick decision making allows him to do a lot of things which helps keep him on the court. His defense is actually satisfactory as well.