Around the NBA

[wheezy]

Anyone has Lowes take on the Suns from his ESPN "10 things I like"? Behind paywall now, which sucks, it used to be one of the things I skimmed through every week to get a general feel for the league and the teams I don't really watch and follow.

Just a heads up, but if you do the Hulu+ that comes with Disney+ and ESPN, you get access to all the paywalled articles.

Spoiler:

5. The little moments of Chris Paul's genius
Few players put their imprint on teams as quickly as Paul. Everything makes more sense. Turnovers plummet. Sometimes pace does, too. (Phoenix is playing at a crawl.) Everyone appears to play smarter; Paul has them in the right places at the right times.

Paul is the puppet-master, and his bending the game to his will has served his teams well in crunch time. But in Houston, Oklahoma City, and now Phoenix, Paul has ceded some of the offense to others. He and Devin Booker will build chemistry so that Phoenix's offense has layers beyond "your turn, my turn" predictability. (Monty Williams is staggering his star guards, a wise move given the Suns' personnel.)

Paul is a genius improviser. He breathes momentum into wayward possessions:


Paul spots Jae Crowder with the ball on the wing -- a place where a possession might stall. Crowder pivots toward Paul, hoping for a handoff. Paul instead sets a pick for Crowder -- a point guard in the corner screening for his power forward. Weird! Paul knows the screen might catch the Kings off-guard, and generate a switch.

From there, it's academic: Paul prods at the Marvin Bagley III mismatch, draws De'Aaron Fox away from Crowder in the corner, and tosses the ball there for a triple. Paul adds the flourish of an underhand sling pass. Even that bit of style is calculated for maximum efficiency. The one-handed sling is easier to disguise. Paul doesn't stand up from his crouch, pick up his dribble in the traditional way, or gather the ball with two hands. He transitions from dribble to pass before Fox knows what's going on.

The Suns are good. They have outscored opponents by a fat 10.5 points per 100 possessions -- second overall. Phoenix is also second in the league in defense. The Suns will slip some when opponents start hitting a normal percentage of 3s, though they have done well limiting 3-point attempts. But they look solid, and their offense -- about average so far -- should improve.

Keep an eye on Mikal Bridges, averaging 15.5 points and hunting points with more confidence now that two elite guards can spoon-feed him.

[Bogyo]

^^Thanks Wheezy, much obliged. I'm in Europe, Hulu not an option for me (among other things).

As for the Lowe stuff - I guess I could become a Suns writer, he hasn't really said anything important I haven't said in the last week or so. I haven't picked apart any of our plays, but we see the games here, so no real need for that on this forum.

But otherwise good as always, that's why I liked to read these pieces.

[bwgood77]

Anyone has Lowes take on the Suns from his ESPN "10 things I like"? Behind paywall now, which sucks, it used to be one of the things I skimmed through every week to get a general feel for the league and the teams I don't really watch and follow.

They come out on Friday, so he like writes before these last two games, given the first was a late east coast Thursday game, and he does a lot of research for them. I think he will hit us next week (though I admit I didn't read this week's), but not sure he did one for New Years.

Oh, just realized you said paywall, which sucks..I don't have that either. Wish he didn't have that ESPN contract and went to the Athletic.

[bwgood77]

Anyone has Lowes take on the Suns from his ESPN "10 things I like"? Behind paywall now, which sucks, it used to be one of the things I skimmed through every week to get a general feel for the league and the teams I don't really watch and follow.

Just a heads up, but if you do the Hulu+ that comes with Disney+ and ESPN, you get access to all the paywalled articles.

Spoiler:

5. The little moments of Chris Paul's genius
Few players put their imprint on teams as quickly as Paul. Everything makes more sense. Turnovers plummet. Sometimes pace does, too. (Phoenix is playing at a crawl.) Everyone appears to play smarter; Paul has them in the right places at the right times.

Paul is the puppet-master, and his bending the game to his will has served his teams well in crunch time. But in Houston, Oklahoma City, and now Phoenix, Paul has ceded some of the offense to others. He and Devin Booker will build chemistry so that Phoenix's offense has layers beyond "your turn, my turn" predictability. (Monty Williams is staggering his star guards, a wise move given the Suns' personnel.)

Paul is a genius improviser. He breathes momentum into wayward possessions:


Paul spots Jae Crowder with the ball on the wing -- a place where a possession might stall. Crowder pivots toward Paul, hoping for a handoff. Paul instead sets a pick for Crowder -- a point guard in the corner screening for his power forward. Weird! Paul knows the screen might catch the Kings off-guard, and generate a switch.

From there, it's academic: Paul prods at the Marvin Bagley III mismatch, draws De'Aaron Fox away from Crowder in the corner, and tosses the ball there for a triple. Paul adds the flourish of an underhand sling pass. Even that bit of style is calculated for maximum efficiency. The one-handed sling is easier to disguise. Paul doesn't stand up from his crouch, pick up his dribble in the traditional way, or gather the ball with two hands. He transitions from dribble to pass before Fox knows what's going on.

The Suns are good. They have outscored opponents by a fat 10.5 points per 100 possessions -- second overall. Phoenix is also second in the league in defense. The Suns will slip some when opponents start hitting a normal percentage of 3s, though they have done well limiting 3-point attempts. But they look solid, and their offense -- about average so far -- should improve.

Keep an eye on Mikal Bridges, averaging 15.5 points and hunting points with more confidence now that two elite guards can spoon-feed him.

This isn't hulu live though right? My brother has hulu lives so I can get hulu stuff and espn through his log in and don't care about Disney.

How much does it cost?

[wheezy]

Anyone has Lowes take on the Suns from his ESPN "10 things I like"? Behind paywall now, which sucks, it used to be one of the things I skimmed through every week to get a general feel for the league and the teams I don't really watch and follow.

Just a heads up, but if you do the Hulu+ that comes with Disney+ and ESPN, you get access to all the paywalled articles.

This isn't hulu live though right? My brother has hulu lives so I can get hulu stuff and espn through his log in and don't care about Disney.

How much does it cost?

I think if you have hulu live its only a little extra to add disney/espn, but the Hulu+ package is only $15/mo or so. I don't mind posting the paywall stuff if thats cool with you and the mods though. I know a lot of people on here aren't in the country and are in the same boat as bogyo.

[spanishninja]

Magic lost and Pacers look like they will too. Now to see if Sexland can get it done against the Hawks. Philly looks like it will join us at 5-1

Sent from my SM-G955U using RealGM mobile app

[matt131]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Understand it's early but that 4% is pretty dang bad.

Didn't realize Carter was shooting that poorly either.

Also, DONCIC FOR MVP BEST PLAYER EVER

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

I do not know why he wants out of Sacto.

He is starting for them and he was given a big time contract as an undeserving #2 pick in his draft.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Read on Twitter

I do not know why he wants out of Sacto.

He is starting for them and he was given a big time contract as an undeserving #2 pick in his draft.

From what I've gathered he doesn't like Walton and his system.

Bagley should probably try to play like 25 healthy games before demanding anything lol.

I was bored and trying to think of who would have any interest in him and it's not easy. Maybe Charlotte, something around him for Miles Bridges. Basically a change of scenery deal and the Hornets could try him at C.

Someone on the kings board proposed him to Philly for Thyble. That's kind of interesting for Philly if they want to use him as a rim runner off the bench.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[King4Day]

Curry with 62

People who don't like how Book got 70...well Curry should have been taken out about 10 game pts ago in a blowout win

[spanishninja]

Interesting thing about how we're doing so far. It looks like every team except for the Lakers, Hawks, Pacers, and Suns have lost at least one game by double digits. Here's to competing every night guys!

[bwgood77]

Curry with 62

People who don't like how Book got 70...well Curry should have been taken out about 10 game pts ago in a blowout win

GS was up 8 with about 4 minutes left and 9 with like 2 1/2 minutes left. Portland was hanging around and with CJ and Dame they can close that deficity quickly.

Curry did hit 2 consecutive 3s around the minute mark to put it away when Portland was down by about 13. They could have pulled him with a minute left, but I don't know if it's completely out of the question if Dame or CJ couldn't have hit two quick 3s if they get a steal to quickly close it to 7 if you don't have Curry in there to take the fouls or shoot.

People just thought the Book game was cheap at the end....Boston was up by like 18 with 4 minutes left, and then the team just started force feeding Booker and fouling to stop the game and stuff and he scored like 18 in the final 4 minutes when there was zero chance we were going to win.

I remember thinking about 56 came within the flow and they should have let him get 60 or so. It's fine to get 70 but it wasn't really in the flow and you knew many people would find it a bit of a cheap way to get 70. Still a great game though for the vast majority of it.

[Saberestar]

Curry with 62

People who don't like how Book got 70...well Curry should have been taken out about 10 game pts ago in a blowout win

GS was up 8 with about 4 minutes left and 9 with like 2 1/2 minutes left. Portland was hanging around and with CJ and Dame they can close that deficity quickly.

Curry did hit 2 consecutive 3s around the minute mark to put it away when Portland was down by about 13. They could have pulled him with a minute left, but I don't know if it's completely out of the question if Dame or CJ couldn't have hit two quick 3s if they get a steal to quickly close it to 7 if you don't have Curry in there to take the fouls or shoot.

People just thought the Book game was cheap at the end....Boston was up by like 18 with 4 minutes left, and then the team just started force feeding Booker and fouling to stop the game and stuff and he scored like 18 in the final 4 minutes when there was zero chance we were going to win.

I remember thinking about 56 came within the flow and they should have let him get 60 or so. It's fine to get 70 but it wasn't really in the flow and you knew many people would find it a bit of a cheap way to get 70. Still a great game though for the vast majority of it.

Booker's 70 game was amazing because the Celtics knew since the start of the game that he was our only weapon on offense and they could not stop him at all.

IIRC TJ Warren was out for this game just the same day and we did not have anyone more who could score. Len, Chriss, Dudley, Ulis...our team at that moment was ridiculously bad.

It was a sign of greatness that the Celtics could not stop Book in the last quarter knowing that we would try to give him the ball everytime...but they just could foul him and send him to the line where he scored a lot of his points.

It is a beautiful memory from a terrible season.

[King4Day]

Curry with 62

People who don't like how Book got 70...well Curry should have been taken out about 10 game pts ago in a blowout win

GS was up 8 with about 4 minutes left and 9 with like 2 1/2 minutes left. Portland was hanging around and with CJ and Dame they can close that deficity quickly.

Curry did hit 2 consecutive 3s around the minute mark to put it away when Portland was down by about 13. They could have pulled him with a minute left, but I don't know if it's completely out of the question if Dame or CJ couldn't have hit two quick 3s if they get a steal to quickly close it to 7 if you don't have Curry in there to take the fouls or shoot.

People just thought the Book game was cheap at the end....Boston was up by like 18 with 4 minutes left, and then the team just started force feeding Booker and fouling to stop the game and stuff and he scored like 18 in the final 4 minutes when there was zero chance we were going to win.

I remember thinking about 56 came within the flow and they should have let him get 60 or so. It's fine to get 70 but it wasn't really in the flow and you knew many people would find it a bit of a cheap way to get 70. Still a great game though for the vast majority of it.

True.
I know the final 3 was unnecessary. Like 30 seconds left and around a 13pt lead I think.
I'm not complaining. And especially because they won, there's nothing I could say to make it seem on the level of what Book and the Suns did. I get that.

[bwgood77]

Curry with 62

People who don't like how Book got 70...well Curry should have been taken out about 10 game pts ago in a blowout win

GS was up 8 with about 4 minutes left and 9 with like 2 1/2 minutes left. Portland was hanging around and with CJ and Dame they can close that deficity quickly.

Curry did hit 2 consecutive 3s around the minute mark to put it away when Portland was down by about 13. They could have pulled him with a minute left, but I don't know if it's completely out of the question if Dame or CJ couldn't have hit two quick 3s if they get a steal to quickly close it to 7 if you don't have Curry in there to take the fouls or shoot.

People just thought the Book game was cheap at the end....Boston was up by like 18 with 4 minutes left, and then the team just started force feeding Booker and fouling to stop the game and stuff and he scored like 18 in the final 4 minutes when there was zero chance we were going to win.

I remember thinking about 56 came within the flow and they should have let him get 60 or so. It's fine to get 70 but it wasn't really in the flow and you knew many people would find it a bit of a cheap way to get 70. Still a great game though for the vast majority of it.

Booker's 70 game was amazing because the Celtics knew since the start of the game that he was our only weapon on offense and they could not stop him at all.

IIRC TJ Warren was out for this game just the same day and we did not have anyone more who could score. Len, Chriss, Dudley, Ulis...our team at that moment was ridiculously bad.

It was a sign of greatness that the Celtics could not stop Book in the last quarter knowing that we would try to give him the ball everytime...but they just could foul him and send him to the line where he scored a lot of his points.

It is a beautiful memory from a terrible season.

Yeah, it was amazing. But the end of it force feeding him and fouling and that stuff made it a little cheaper than it otherwise could have been.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Josh Jackson and the league's worst record. Name a more iconic duo.

[SunsRback4Good]

Josh Jackson and the league's worst record. Name a more iconic duo.

Josh Jackson is a stud. He needs to leave to a better team and be their 2nd/3rd option at worst. If Phoenix had him, we'd all be talking about championship aspirations.

[Saberestar]

Looking around the league I think we can be very proud about all the roster decisions that James Jones did this last offseason.

Ricky Rubio is not playing well and the Wolves are 2W-5L already. He does not look on a great condition.

Kelly Oubre is not helping the GSW, he is not passing the ball and his shooting has been terrible for now.

Aron Baynes does not look good out there and he is being exposed as an starting C for the Raptors.

No one from Lecque, Jerome, Okobo or
Diallo is doing ****.

It is early in the season and a lot can change yet, but for now we can say that we are not missing anyone from last year and we are a way better team now.

[Bogyo]

Looking around the league I think we can be very proud about all the roster decisions that James Jones did this last offseason.

Ricky Rubio is not playing well and the Wolves are 2W-5L already. He does not look on a great condition.

Kelly Oubre is not helping the GSW, he is not passing the ball and his shooting has been terrible for now.

Aron Baynes does not look good out there and he is being exposed as an starting C for the Raptors.

No one from Lecque, Jerome, Okobo or
Diallo is doing ****.

It is early in the season and a lot can change yet, but for now we can say that we are not missing anyone from last year and we are a way better team now.

Remember, it's always easier to play with better teammates. And you look better doing it too.
Rubio - I'm not really surprised he is not even trying on that dumpster fire team, especially since they are not playing to his strenghts. He is not even starting there. Terrible decision by them - although good for tanking, they ain't going anywhere in this west, but the lottery. Winning 5-10 more games with a better lineup and style does not do any favors for them.

Kelly will bounce back a bit as the effort is always there - but I never believed he should get a large contract. The situation is somewhat similar, but the other way around as it was with Barnes in GSW. He looked great on a good team, not so much in Sactown.

Baynes was never starter material, but a very effective backup. The same thing would happen if you'd make Payne a starter elsewhere. (Like Elfrid in NY - he is a starter, he is not good. He would be an adequate backup I think, with all his limitations).

I bet they'd be a lot better if they played their last yr role on the Suns - although I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be 5-2. 3-3 likely 4-3 or 3-4 maybe.

[King4Day]

Minny was doing good until KAT went down.
They're about a year away from him demanding out if they don't turn it around.

Wolves 1st is top 3 protected this year if I'm not mistaken (GSW has it). So they could have a terrible season and their pick goes to the Warriors. Then suddenly the Wiggins trade flips in the Warriors favor instead.