2016-17 Phoenix Suns Preseason Thread

NTB · Post #501 » by **NTB** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:44 pm

RunDogGun · Post #502 » by **RunDogGun** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:51 pm

Hesh wrote:lol I hope i don't get grilled for what I'm about to say.

But I've always thought Booker is a role player that just plays his part extremely well, which is all I want from a player to be honest. (But if he turns into a superstar, then please do, I'll enjoy the egg on my face)

And it's funny that when thinking of Knight I was also thinking of Jennings and bwgood mentioned him. It seems we have the better player that has much more upside and his flaws are actually rectifiable

As for Booker, is that partly our team's fault? If we want him to be an all star, he should probably touch the ball on almost every possession. It might be tougher for our guys who are looking for getting their own points.

I'm actually fine if every team thinks and/or sees Booker as a role player. That way he could fly under the radar, scoring 20-25 pts/gm.

Post #503 » by **ATTL** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:09 pm

NTB wrote:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Good Lord. Beal is more injured than Vince carter was.
Lakers backcourt over the blazers? Over the suns? Russell vs booker and bledsoe vs clarkson. Okie dokie.

kennydorglas · Post #504 » by **kennydorglas** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:14 pm

NTB wrote:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

hahahahahahaha
This guy is a **** clown

letsgosuns · Post #505 » by **letsgosuns** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:59 pm

I say this a lot, but how can that guy have a job? So many of these sports writers say the most asinine things. Russell/Clarkson and Wall/Beal are the second and third best backcourts in the NBA? Then why did neither one of those teams make the playoffs last year? If you have the second or third best backcourt in the entire league, shouldn't you at least make the playoffs. This writer is delusional.

theSUNalsoRISES · Post #506 » by **theSUNalsoRISES** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:11 am

letsgosuns wrote:I say this a lot, but how can that guy have a job? So many of these sports writers say the most asinine things. Russell/Clarkson and Wall/Beal are the second and third best backcourts in the NBA? Then why did neither one of those teams make the playoffs last year? If you have the second or third best backcourt in the entire league, shouldn't you at least make the playoffs. This writer is delusional.

Now you know I feel anytime Stephen A. Smith has a "rumour" or anyone mentions a superstar wanting to sign with the lakers cuz they love L.A....not the Clippers who play in the same arena and offer a far better chance of winning :noway:

..Lebron James, Durant, Westbrook have all been linked lakers constantly with 0 fact and proof. Nothing to do with preseason just grinds my gears.

kennydorglas · Post #507 » by **kennydorglas** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:17 am

At least he didnt use his 'ranking' for click-bait. That would be the worst scenario possible

Zelaznyrules · Post #508 » by **Zelaznyrules** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:59 am

Hesh wrote:lol I hope i don't get grilled for what I'm about to say.

But I've always thought Booker is a role player that just plays his part extremely well, which is all I want from a player to be honest. (But if he turns into a superstar, then please do, I'll enjoy the egg on my face)

And it's funny that when thinking of Knight I was also thinking of Jennings and bwgood mentioned him. It seems we have the better player that has much more upside and his flaws are actually rectifiable

Well, I wouldn't "grill you" for holding a contrary opinion but I would question it. I can see why someone might say he's being made out to be something he isn't but "role player"? Are you of the opinion that everyone not a superstar is a role player? Right now, without improvement, I would say that even worst case he's already slightly better than a role player. He's a player you can build around even if you don't think he's capable of carrying a team into the postseason.

But most importantly, you'd have to be concluding that he'd be pretty much the first teenager in the history of the game to peak while still in his teens. I actually worry that you're right on this part, he might just be unusually smart and physically/emotionally mature enough to play the game close to his potential level. It's doubtful but it's possible.

NTB · Post #509 » by **NTB** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:33 am

Read on Twitter

NTB · Post #510 » by **NTB** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:36 am

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2016/10/17/phoenix-suns-pj-tucker-eyes-season-opener-return/92314008/

grumpysaddle · Post #511 » by **grumpysaddle** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:00 am

Lol. Got drafted to the Suns on 2k17 and they traded away Ulis to the Knicks for Courtney Lee and Alex Len for JJ Barea. Wtf. 2k trades are weird. I am a center though, so the len thing makes some sense, not the return though

NTB · Post #512 » by **NTB** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:17 am

Read on Twitter

MrMiyagi · Post #513 » by **MrMiyagi** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:20 am

NTB wrote:

Read on Twitter

Booker being a BOSS. Steph who?

NTB · Post #514 » by **NTB** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:09 pm

Read on Twitter

NavLDO · Post #515 » by **NavLDO** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:17 pm

Zelaznyrules wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Zelaznyrules wrote: And even some of our more experienced players such as Bledsoe and Knight still have a lot of learning to do.

If Bledsoe and Knight haven't learned 80-90% of what they need to do by now that's troubling. I think whatever we see from these guys this year is there finished product.

Knight's 24 and moving to a new position, I think he still has a lot to learn. Bledsoe, well, maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. There's a lot he still needs to learn but maybe he's just all he'll ever be. But I'm not convinced. I know Nash, for example, improved well into his late 20's and he was always a smart player. And while minutes are not everything, Kobe had played more minutes by the time that he'd turned 22 than Bledsoe has logged for his career thus far. It's cliched but there is no substitute for experience.

The other issue, is if we trade Knight, it needs to be for a traditional PG, because the chances are 50/50 that EB ends up injured for a significant amount of time. If we trade Knight an do not get a PG in return, that leaves Ulis and whatever scrub we can sign off the street, or enter into a lopsided trade with another team to get a PG.

UNLESS...any of you all believe that Booker could run the Point some like he did in SL. Ulis is not ready for primetime, so we need to either keep Knight, or the best option? Trade him for an "average" veteran PG who won't mind falling in behind EB when he comes back.

jcsunsfan · Post #516 » by **jcsunsfan** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:06 pm

NavLDO wrote:
Zelaznyrules wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
If Bledsoe and Knight haven't learned 80-90% of what they need to do by now that's troubling. I think whatever we see from these guys this year is there finished product.

Knight's 24 and moving to a new position, I think he still has a lot to learn. Bledsoe, well, maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. There's a lot he still needs to learn but maybe he's just all he'll ever be. But I'm not convinced. I know Nash, for example, improved well into his late 20's and he was always a smart player. And while minutes are not everything, Kobe had played more minutes by the time that he'd turned 22 than Bledsoe has logged for his career thus far. It's cliched but there is no substitute for experience.

The other issue, is if we trade Knight, it needs to be for a traditional PG, because the chances are 50/50 that EB ends up injured for a significant amount of time. If we trade Knight an do not get a PG in return, that leaves Ulis and whatever scrub we can sign off the street, or enter into a lopsided trade with another team to get a PG.

UNLESS...any of you all believe that Booker could run the Point some like he did in SL. Ulis is not ready for primetime, so we need to either keep Knight, or the best option? Trade him for an "average" veteran PG who won't mind falling in behind EB when he comes back.

I think that both Booker and Ulis can run point better than Knight. Knight is a 2. He just is.

Post #517 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:24 pm

NavLDO wrote:
Zelaznyrules wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
If Bledsoe and Knight haven't learned 80-90% of what they need to do by now that's troubling. I think whatever we see from these guys this year is there finished product.

Knight's 24 and moving to a new position, I think he still has a lot to learn. Bledsoe, well, maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. There's a lot he still needs to learn but maybe he's just all he'll ever be. But I'm not convinced. I know Nash, for example, improved well into his late 20's and he was always a smart player. And while minutes are not everything, Kobe had played more minutes by the time that he'd turned 22 than Bledsoe has logged for his career thus far. It's cliched but there is no substitute for experience.

The other issue, is if we trade Knight, it needs to be for a traditional PG, because the chances are 50/50 that EB ends up injured for a significant amount of time. If we trade Knight an do not get a PG in return, that leaves Ulis and whatever scrub we can sign off the street, or enter into a lopsided trade with another team to get a PG.

UNLESS...any of you all believe that Booker could run the Point some like he did in SL. Ulis is not ready for primetime, so we need to either keep Knight, or the best option? Trade him for an "average" veteran PG who won't mind falling in behind EB when he comes back.

Ideally perhaps yes, but I don't want Knight running PG in the starting unit regardless of the situation because his inefficiency is bad enough, but everyone else is more inefficient because he is shooting too much and turning it over too much. Some just say "he scores 20 a game! He's good!" but that comes at a big cost to the team in most circumstances.

Perhaps if Tim Frazier is on fire in New Orleans, we could do something like Knight for Holiday, who is out anyway, though they might be hesitant to trade him while he is going through such huge personal family issues and it would look bad. Then you also run the risk that if Bledsoe stays healthy, do you have another PG controversy?

There are other scenarios in my head that we could do that I will type out later.

Jarlaxle0204 · Post #518 » by **Jarlaxle0204** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:47 pm

NTB wrote:

Read on Twitter

If I'm reading this correctly, we really need to work on not fouling as much (which the eye test is already telling me).

Zelaznyrules · Post #519 » by **Zelaznyrules** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:00 pm

Jarlaxle0204 wrote:]If I'm reading this correctly, we really need to work on not fouling as much (which the eye test is already telling me).

Much of that is by design. Watson has us using our hands a lot more than we've ever done before and, just in general, playing more physically that we typically do. It will take a while for us to get a reputation as a physical team and for refs to start allowing us to play our natural style, plus we will get better at masking our physicality. And Len and Chriss are foul magnets which might never change (much). I can live with it as long as we are accomplishing something along the way and it appears we are. It's nice to listen to the other guys broadcasters and hear them complain about how physical we play.

NavLDO · Post #520 » by **NavLDO** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 6:15 pm

NTB wrote:
cosmofizzo wrote:
Beetlejuice wrote:Love me some McD, but that trade was a panic move. B Knight has all the same issues he had in Milwaukee. He hasnt changed 1 bit,
he is not worth top 10 pick. Maybe if somebody could get through to him was McD thinking, but red flags were there anyway.

IT trade was the same.

Rookie GM . Also we dont know what role exactly Sarver played in this.

I believe the thinking was - losing Dragic, we were taking a big step back in terms of competitiveness. We didn't want to do that. So we tried to make a lateral move. We didn't want to waste Bledsoe, and we didn't want to lose out on any potential FAs. It hasn't turned out well. If Brandon were even just as good as he was in Milwaukee, we'd be in good shape. But he's really played poorly here so far. Don't understand why there was such a big drop-off.

I think it has to do with East-West difference. Also he wasn't as healthy here as in Bucks.

All salient points. Bottom line, using that oh so perfect "20/20 hindsight," it was a poor trade/move for us. That said, the level of impact that LAL pick would have made for us, or in the league in general, can't be quantified...no really, it can't be quantified, because it's still that 'gold ring' that hasn't been actualized, so in all fairness, whether you like Knight or not, he has at least provided SOME wins for us, where that pick is just still waiting there...