Game 2: Portland TrailBlazers (1-0) @ Phoenix Suns (0-1)

Matt1979 · Post #21 » by **Matt1979** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:39 pm

May be a sucker for punishment but will be getting up at 2am again to watch this, purely to see if they play so badly again!!!

This game will tell us a hell of a lot about this team.

GO SUNS!!

Kyler Murray · Post #22 » by **Kyler Murray** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:46 pm

Lets get this one. Win or lose I won't get disappointed, the team is a work in progress.

Post #23 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:49 pm

KLEON wrote:I didn't know Mason Plumlee move to the Blazers.

Yep, Nets traded him for the Blazers pick which became Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

Post #24 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:52 pm

Ulquiorra wrote:Lets get this one. Win or lose I won't get disappointed, the team is a work in progress.

I am always disappointed with a loss, but I won't overreact this early in the season. It would be nice to at least get a split this weekend against the Blazers though.

Here is the preview on the Blazers Edge, where they interviewed Dave King (you may have seen Dave King interviewed this guy for a Bright Side of The Sun preview).

Hi Dave, thanks for taking the time to chat! Let's get right to it. After last year's drama with the Dragic/Thomas/Bledsoe experiment, the Suns return with a variation of the two point guard attack, pairing Bledsoe with Brandon Knight. Are the two ball dominant guards able to coexist in Jeff Hornacek's offense?

Yes, two ball dominant point guards can coexist. It just has to be the right two ball-dominant point guards, and it apparently has to be two and not three of them. In 2013-14, the Suns were able to succeed with the pairing of Bledsoe and Dragic to the tune of a 23-11 record with a top-10 offense and defensive rating. When your franchise has hovered around/under .500 for five consecutive seasons, 23-11 looks pretty damn good. But that was only 34 games, because of Bledsoe's injury, so the Suns doubled-down with insurance in Isaiah Thomas. Boom. Melt down.

Now they reboot with Bledsoe/Knight, but there's no spark yet. Both look a bit confused. Okay a lot confused. There's still time to figure it out, but Wednesday night's game didn't appear to bring them any closer than last year's few games before Knight got injured.

We will see pretty soon if Knight and Bledsoe can find chemistry in this lineup together. If not, we've got another long, long season coming in the valley.

Speaking of the offensive system, the Suns have been one of the faster teams in the league over the last two seasons, in terms of pace of play. Do you see them successfully maintaining this style of play even after all of the personnel changes since opening day last season? Bonus question: With all of the aforementioned personnel changes, which player is most likely to have a breakout season?

Yes, I think the Suns intend to run, run, run on offense. I asked Coach Hornacek about this before Wednesday's game and he confirmed that hasn't changed. And judging by their lackluster half-court offense Wednesday night, expect them to run some more. That's how they are going to get their easiest scores. New acquisitions Sonny Weems and Devin Booker (rookie) love to run, so it might have to turn into a track meet to get to 100.

Phoenix made one of the surprise moves of the offseason, adding Tyson Chandler (and nearly luring LaMarcus Aldridge along with him). Long known as a pro's pro, how do you see Chandler impacting the Suns defense/locker room? Do you think he can have a positive impact on Alex Len, Markieff Morris, et al?

The Suns are counting on Chandler to lead them to the land of maturity. Last year there wasn't any of that, and it's needed as badly as water in the desert. Alex Len is already playing a lot more confidently. He's got all the skill he needs to be successful in the league - the key for Len is making quick decisions and believing in his choices. Chandler can help with that. He's already in Len's ear every day, talking to him about proper positioning on both offense and defense. Chandler's offense is quite limited, but that's exactly what Len needs: someone to simplify his own game plan. Just play big. Bigger than the other guy. Stay tall, catch high, finish high.

Regarding Markieff Morris, Chandler has already made an impact by helping Morris re-adjust to the Suns after the summer trade of his brother and his own trade rumors. Chandler's been replaced too, so he can impart the wisdom to play for your teammates and coaches. Don't worry about the front office. There's turnover every season.

But Markieff mailed in game one - the first game that really mattered since he declared "my future is not in Phoenix" - so there's a bit of worry he's been biding his time to dog it now that the games count. I'm quite curious to see which Markieff we get this weekend against the Blazers.

3-point bomber Gerald Green is gone, but rookie SG Devin Booker is in. Booker was considered to be one of the top shooters in the draft, though he is not nearly as athletic as Green. How will he fit in the offense and will he be able to replace some of Green's scoring punch?

Few NBA players are as athletic as Gerald Green, but a great many of them are more cerebral. Booker has already shown a veteran's ability to make the right plays when given the chance, while Green was always a question mark. Booker scored 14 the other night, the first 18 year old to score that many points since Amir Johnson in 2006.

Yes, Booker can replace a lot of Green's scoring, but the issue is that he's just 18 and still gets abused on defense too often. Veteran Sonny Weems is the one who gets most of Green's minutes, at least to start the season. Weems is not a scorer, but he runs the floor really well, passes well, and brings strong defense on the other end.

Vegas has the over/under on Phoenix's win total at 36.5. As an outsider this seems to be a bit low, though maybe in the right ballpark. As someone who watches the team night in and night out, how many wins are you predicting this season? With Utah and the Pelicans expected to be better (and OKC at full health) will the Suns sniff the playoffs?

The Suns can sniff the playoffs for sure, but they will have to grow up and learn how to succeed together real quick. They cannot afford to start slowly and spend the rest of the season playing catch up. There is a real need to start strong and hold the lead for a playoff spot from there.

Yet I have some real concerns here. Going into opening night, I thought this team was a sure-fire "over" on that Vegas win projection. But after that game, I'm skeptical. Friday's game can't come soon enough, even though it's against a Portland team that appears a lot stronger than most people expected.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2015/10/30/9642024/portland-trail-blazers-vs-phoenix-suns-preview

And here is the bright side of the sun preview mentioned above.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2015/10/30/9642634/game-preview-phoenix-suns-take-on-young-talented-portland-trail

SunsRback4Good · Post #25 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:07 pm

KLEON wrote:I didn't know Mason Plumlee move to the Blazers.

Theres too many trades I was unaware of. I tell you when you reach 30 things starts slowly going downhill. Lol

letsgosuns · Post #26 » by **letsgosuns** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:25 pm

I still am blown away how people are taking such a small sample size from the 2013-2014 season and claiming a dual point guard lineup can work. 23-11? Is that supposed to mean that because two seasons ago the Suns had a stretch where they played well that the only way they can be successful is with two point guards. They finished that season 48-34 and no playoffs. I guess a 48-34 season with no playoffs is the incredible benchmark this team has set for itself now.

Let me throw some other numbers at you to offset this ridiculously stupid justification that a two point guard lineup is such a great idea.

62-20
54-28
61-21
55-27
46-36
54-28

Those are the Suns records from 2004-05 through 2009-10 when they only had one point guard. Get it. One point guard and real shooting guards. But oh yeah, the Suns went 23-11 with Bledsoe and Dragic a couple years ago. Wow. We must do everything we can to duplicate that incredible 23-11 stretch of games because that is the key to a championship.

I would take a pure passing, high fg percentage point guard, and a true shooting guard over a dual point guard lineup any day. My prediction for this season is that the team is going to go nowhere. One of Bledsoe/Knight will be traded, Hornacek will be fired, and the team will miss the playoffs. They will do everything they can to stay competitive and ultimately miss out on a top pick again. I will still watch games because I love basketball but this is not rocket science. Everything with this team is foreseeable.

Post #27 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:38 pm

letsgosuns wrote:I still am blown away how people are taking such a small sample size from the 2013-2014 season and claiming a dual point guard lineup can work. 23-11? Is that supposed to mean that because two seasons ago the Suns had a stretch where they played well that the only way they can be successful is with two point guards. They finished that season 48-34 and no playoffs. I guess a 48-34 season with no playoffs is the incredible benchmark this team has set for itself now.

Let me throw some other numbers at you to offset this ridiculously stupid justification that a two point guard lineup is such a great idea.

62-20
54-28
61-21
55-27
46-36
54-28

Those are the Suns records from 2004-05 through 2009-10 when they only had one point guard. Get it. One point guard and real shooting guards. But oh yeah, the Suns went 23-11 with Bledsoe and Dragic a couple years ago. Wow. We must do everything we can to duplicate that incredible 23-11 stretch of games because that is the key to a championship.

I would take a pure passing, high fg percentage point guard, and a true shooting guard over a dual point guard lineup any day. My prediction for this season is that the team is going to go nowhere. One of Bledsoe/Knight will be traded, Hornacek will be fired, and the team will miss the playoffs. They will do everything they can to stay competitive and ultimately miss out on a top pick again. I will still watch games because I love basketball but this is not rocket science. Everything with this team is foreseeable.

So with a 48-34 record, and 23-11 with two point guards, that means with a traditional 2 playing next to a pg the rest of the time, we were 25-23.

My feeling is that we were so good those six years you mention because we had a two time MVP. He also had some subpar seasons after that last year you list in which we missed the playoffs a couple of times while he was still playing with a traditional 2.

For the record, I'd rather have a traditional 2, but I don't know if any stud 2s are out there for the taking. I am glad we drafted one in Booker though.

I had mentioned quite a bit that usually one would be on the floor and at many times they would be playing with a traditional 2 along with one of them.

In our vast one game sample size, we played Bledsoe and Knight together for 22.4 minutes, so for 25.6 minutes they were not playing together and only 5 minutes when they both sat. So there were over 20 minutes where one of them was on the floor with a traditional 2.

But my general thought about your post is that we had much more overall talent throughout those years led by a future hall of famer and a couple of multi year all stars. We have zero all stars and mostly guys 25 and under now. If we inject a SG into our lineup full time with the current roster, we are not going to suddenly win 55-60 games.

jcsunsfan · Post #28 » by **jcsunsfan** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:04 pm

Is Kieff dogging it? If he is, he is such a scum bag.

WeekapaugGroove · Post #29 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:04 pm

I expect they will play much better tonight... well I guess they can't play much worse then Wednesday

jcsunsfan · Post #30 » by **jcsunsfan** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:50 pm

Damkac wrote:If Suns will lose this they should fire Hornacek and trade everybody older than 25 years.

Oh please. Don't. I don't know if I remember a ROH induction game where they did NOT lose. I am sure I am wrong, but it seems like they always lose these games. Or is it I just remember that KJ induction game so vividly.

Scutt · Post #31 » by **Scutt** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:03 pm

bwgood77 wrote: We have zero all stars and mostly guys 25 and under now.

We only have 3 players under the age of 25 that will be in the rotation for sure. This team is not young by any stretch, but it seems like some Suns fans need to tell themselves they are are. The Suns number one priority should be player development and trying to find someone to build around, not selling fans on fighting for the 8th seed with Bledsoe, Knight, and a bunch of 30 year old role players. This team has treadmill and mediocrity written all over it.

Post #32 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:21 pm

Scutt wrote:
bwgood77 wrote: We have zero all stars and mostly guys 25 and under now.

We only have 3 players under the age of 25 that will be in the rotation for sure. This team is not young by any stretch, but it seems like some Suns fans need to tell themselves they are are. The Suns number one priority should be player development and trying to find someone to build around, not selling fans on fighting for the 8th seed with Bledsoe, Knight, and a bunch of 30 year old role players. This team has treadmill and mediocrity written all over it.

The core of our team is 25 and under, and Kieff (who is fairly likely to be traded at some point is 26). All the guys other than Tyson who are under contract for quite some time are. Bledsoe, Booker, Knight, Len, and Warren. Archie might be around too. Weems is only under contract for two years at a dirt cheap price, and everyone else is filler to round out the lineup. We have been building our core over the last 2+ years since McD took over. When he took over we had ALL old guys except for Marshall and the twins and he has gotten rid of that and is pretty much building through the draft, while surrounding them with a few role players on 1 year contracts, and Weems for a couple of years.

He did play the young guys quite a bit the other night. Other than Bledsoe and Knight, Booker and Warren played the most minutes, along with Leuer who was playing well and had to play due to Kieff foul trouble. Chandler, Tucker and Kieff played 17, 9 and 11 minutes respectively.

Revived · Post #33 » by **Revived** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:25 pm

jcsunsfan wrote:Is Kieff dogging it? If he is, he is such a scum bag.

Mavs had a SG Wesley Matthews guarding him and yet Kieff couldn't do ****.

Post #34 » by **batsmasher** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:27 pm

I hope Kieff has a good game so people can say he's faking it and he's just playing well to not arouse suspicion.

letsgosuns · Post #35 » by **letsgosuns** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:31 pm

batsmasher wrote:I hope Kieff has a good game so people can say he's faking it and he's just playing well to not arouse suspicion.

I expect Markieff to have a good game tonight. Although it will not change my opinion of him. He does not want to be in Phoenix and everyone knows it. McDonough can say whatever he wants on the radio about how great Markieff is and how he is the Suns best player and the consummate professional but it is what it is. McDonough is trying to save face because he knows it is a bad situation and there is nothing he can do about it other than trade Markieff to the highest bidder.

SunsRback4Good · Post #36 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:57 pm

We need to limit turnovers and dish out more assists. 18 turnovers & 15 assists is a degree for disaster. Get back to playing Suns basketball because if you don't you'll be traded faster than you can say 'Kieff'.

Sunsss · Post #37 » by **Sunsss** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:03 am

Nash should sit on our bench tonight. He could give a pointer or two to our guards. Nobody would have a problem with it, right?

Jdiddy701 · Post #38 » by **Jdiddy701** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:19 am

I've missed you guys! The Realgm App is now working!! Finally!!!

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

SunsRback4Good · Post #39 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:31 am

Welcome back JDiffy we missed you as well.

SunsRback4Good · Post #40 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:33 am

Durant has ice veins just hit a game tying 3. He has 39 points as Thunder came back down by 18. Magic blew the game against Wizards and now this

Edit: Magic takes a 3 point leaduring and with.4 seconds Westbrook ties it from nearly half court. What a fantastic game.