Game 53: Memphis Grizzlies (35-17) @ Phoenix Suns (26-26) | Feb 11 | 8:00PM

[lilfishi22]

Two reasons for this loss: silly mistakes and the refs

The other team grabbing almost 20 more rebounds than us didn't help, but that's just par for the course at this point.

I liked that we tried to "go big" inserting Bol into the starting line up next to KD and Richards and we still get smashed on the boards lol.

I've said this before but ultimately we're going to do OK more or less against the bottom 1/3 of rebounding teams and the rest will be a varying level of rebounding submission. Against the top rebounding teams, of which Memphis is 2nd in the league, oh it's going to be ugly.

That's why I was surprised we still kept it relatively close. We didn't have hot shooting on our side, we didn't win the FT battle nor did we win on bench points either so it was really down to good ball movement and taking care of the ball that kept us in the game

[Qwigglez]

Richards is simply a bench big man but because of the circumstances, he has to start for the Suns. Perhaps the Suns should just start Bol Bol at center, and go with a more agile spread offense.

[Ryu]

This gutless team wont even make the playoffs. Thats what you get with two glorified scorers who dont make teammates better as two best players.

And we doesnt have a first round pick to make up for it.

[Saberestar]

First and foremost this game is on Book...how he can play that bad in the first half? He was TERRIBLE on defense and his shot creation on offense was so bad... so we were already down by 18-20 points in the first half.

Yeah, we were somewhere in the game because KD is a **** scoring machine and he helped us a lot, his 2nd quarter was amazing.

Tyus played meh. How in the word you are with advantage in transition and you have KD on one side and Bol in the other and you passed the ball to Bol??!?!? And his small size makes him a liability on defense.

And yeah, Bol's numbers look good but he didn't play as well as those numbers say. He took too many shots IMO.

I would love to see more minutes from Dunn. For what I have seen I don't like Washington and I would prefer to play any other player over him.

We need to try our best against the Rockets tonight. Hopefully we can get an A game from a Book, we aren't winning to anyone with him playing bad and Beal out.

[Saberestar]

This was a beautiful moment in the game. The crowd understood and appreciated the feat and they cheered after the FT and in the timeout.

[sashaturiaf]

This team is such a mess starting with the coach. The Nurk benching and now starts Bol Bol after not playing him in first half of season at all. Gives minutes to some G league player. Yeah Bud, 30 games before season ends is the time to start experimenting with lineups.

Bud sucks. He makes me long for Vogel

I don't think we've played a single game all season that I watched where I thought, hmm this is a good team that can go places. We have zero identity, it's a mediocre borderline bad Toronto Raptors type team with a KD and Book that can single handedly won us a game if they go supernova. That's it

Granted I havent watched too many games in the past 2 months but even when we had that 9-1 hot start we looked like crap. Vogel with his 7 shooting guards roster put out a better product on the floor

[Calvin Klein]

Bol's blocks are nice but his BBIQ is so damn low!

This is what people who claim he should get minutes don't get. He has zero IQ. He keeps taking bad shots early in the shot clock, stupid goaltends, gets lots of defense, the 8 second violation, etc.

That's why coaches don't play him.


Also Tyus Jones on defense, a complete ghost.

[Calvin Klein]

Bud sucks. He makes me long for Vogel

Coaches can do so much. Vogel and Bud won championships. Monty won coach of the year, made it to the finals and have the best regular season ever. But somehow they all suck.

This team's problem is not the coach. It's the idiotic roster constrution.

[sashaturiaf]

Bud sucks. He makes me long for Vogel

Coaches can do so much. Vogel and Bud won championships. Monty won coach of the year, made it to the finals and have the best regular season ever. But somehow they all suck.

This team's problem is not the coach. It's the idiotic roster constrution.

No coach can make this roster a championship team. But Vogel at least had the team play hard-ish instead of this thing we have now.

Suns were in the hunt for 50 wins last season with a worse roster talent wise. That's the difference between Vogel and Bud

Vogel delivered disappointing results only if you thought this team could be a real contender.

[Calvin Klein]

Coaches can do so much. Vogel and Bud won championships. Monty won coach of the year, made it to the finals and have the best regular season ever. But somehow they all suck.

This team's problem is not the coach. It's the idiotic roster constrution.

No coach can make this roster a championship team. But Vogel at least had the team play hard-ish instead of this thing we have now.

Suns were in the hunt for 50 wins last season with a worse roster talent wise. That's the difference between Vogel and Bud

Vogel delivered disappointing results only if you thought this team could be a real contender.

Let's say we agree. Who made the decision to bring Bud and fire Vogel?

[bwgood77]

That was almost kind of a nice comeback last night. Great game from KD. Great game from Bol, mostly. Seriously, thinking about us last night, and with our limited options and just watching his skills, especially if we fall out of the playoff race, this guy needs to get a lot of minutes. I know Shaq always kind of jokes about it, but he really can do a lot. He can block shots, rebound, handle, hit 3s. Now he needs work probably on little things, iq, defense, etc, but why not give him a lot of minutes and let him learn, watch tape, get coached? I mean, his skills/size in many ways are similar to Wemby and even a poor man's Wemby is a good player.

I think most teams he has been on just had prospects they felt were better, and maybe he's been slow to learn, but he's still only 25.

Lets feature this guy. There is really nothing that exciting about this team, but I think with him, there could be. It's fun.

It felt like Tyus had a good game, but looking at the box, I guess he didn't shoot that well. Book felt a little absent, but I guess he did end up with 9 assists.

I will say I think we mainly got back into it because Memphis couldn't buy a shot in much of the second half and 4th, until they really needed to, but they are a tough team, and if you watched the TNT broadcast you saw the graphics of how highly they are rated in so many categories. So not that bad of a loss.

[bwgood77]

Richards is simply a bench big man but because of the circumstances, he has to start for the Suns. Perhaps the Suns should just start Bol Bol at center, and go with a more agile spread offense.

I made my post without reading anything, but I thought about this too. I think we need to scout the hell out of the draft and find a C, but I would consider starting Bol Bol. But hopefully we can find a Missi or Edey or some good young C this year.

We desperately need it. I mean, we need a lot of things. But interior presence, defense, finishing, rebounding, is really something we need.

Richards is a bargain so hard to let go, but we have to find something better if we want to compete.

Now, if we can make a trade of KD and get a C back. I still think if Minnesota can figure out a way to get under the apron, a trade with them makes a lot of sense, for Naz Reid and Randle if they pick up their options. I love Naz Reid. Him and Bol up front would be fun. We might need a little more muscle and try an get some from the draft.

Though I guess Naz isn't a great rebounder, though Randle would be.

Actually I was thinking we could get two firsts from them. I still can't believe they didn't get more for Towns. How did NY get Towns for 1 first and neutral contracts and pay 5 firsts for Bridges?

Minnesota has 1 first this year coming from Detroit. It's protected 1-13 but they look like they will be a playoff team, so it will probably be late teens.

So a trade with Minny could get us that, those players, and perhaps they can trade their 2031 1st, but I don't know if they want to give up that for only a year of KD, given they have given up so many picks and swaps.

Maybe Houston takes KD if they flame out and we are not trading Book. It will be interesting to see how we play against them tonight. They did lose 6 in a row, but FVV has been out, who is pretty important to their team as a shooter/vet/ball handler. Not sure if he will be back or not.

[bwgood77]

This gutless team wont even make the playoffs. Thats what you get with two glorified scorers who dont make teammates better as two best players.

And we doesnt have a first round pick to make up for it.

We don't have OUR first round pick, but we do have Clevelands!

[bwgood77]

This team is such a mess starting with the coach. The Nurk benching and now starts Bol Bol after not playing him in first half of season at all. Gives minutes to some G league player. Yeah Bud, 30 games before season ends is the time to start experimenting with lineups.

Bud sucks. He makes me long for Vogel

I don't think we've played a single game all season that I watched where I thought, hmm this is a good team that can go places. We have zero identity, it's a mediocre borderline bad Toronto Raptors type team with a KD and Book that can single handedly won us a game if they go supernova. That's it

Granted I havent watched too many games in the past 2 months but even when we had that 9-1 hot start we looked like crap. Vogel with his 7 shooting guards roster put out a better product on the floor

Bud hasn't been good (though he doesn't have a whole lot to work with defensively and with Cs), but I certainly don't long for Vogel.

[Frank Lee]

If you rerun this game, I’d bet you would see 15+ shots we took without one person ever cutting to the hoop. Too many times the shot would go up with all 5 guys on the perimeter and absolutely nobody going for a rebound, instead they watch and hedge back on D. This is the mesmerizing effect of KD and to a lesser extent Booker. One play in particular, 4th Q, when KD threw the pass out of bounds. It looked like a stupid pass, yet if TJones was watching, looking for a pass he had a lay up. KD passed it where he should have been. Also, there is no penetration. Book just doesn’t have the athletic ability to shake tenacious D and doubles, and often has to pass out of his shot attempt wasting more than half the shot clock. This team plays better in the open court, at least Book does, but we don’t have the horses to run. It’s a mess, and as mentioned, our best hope is Book or KD go off. (Pun not intended, but applicable) I just don’t know if Bud can coach his way out of this.

[bwgood77]

Bol's blocks are nice but his BBIQ is so damn low!

This is what people who claim he should get minutes don't get. He has zero IQ. He keeps taking bad shots early in the shot clock, stupid goaltends, gets lots of defense, the 8 second violation, etc.

That's why coaches don't play him.


Also Tyus Jones on defense, a complete ghost.

Seems like he should be able to get this with minutes and coaching and reviewing tape though. There is just so much to work with. Obviously completely different circumstances and players, but it reminds me of Bill Simmons talking about Westbrook and his bad iq, taking too many 3s, etc, early in his career....he said he is so dynamic and so good at so many things, that even though the 25% is bad, the other 75% is SO good, it makes up for it.

Now Bol is no young Westbrook but he's a guy that should be able to be coached, watch tape and learn. Or you would think. He puts in effort. And when he did mess that 8 second, his idea was right, and he had learned from getting the ball stripped earlier, to hold the ball up, he just need to learn not to hold it for 4 seconds now. Baby steps.

[bwgood77]

Bud sucks. He makes me long for Vogel

Coaches can do so much. Vogel and Bud won championships. Monty won coach of the year, made it to the finals and have the best regular season ever. But somehow they all suck.

This team's problem is not the coach. It's the idiotic roster constrution.

Yeah, I mean pick your big name legendary coaches, they won't do much with this.

The main thing would be not to start Tyus. But with a starting C that bad and older non athletic role players who are solid, but not dynamic, athletic, super hustling defenders, etc, so many other teams are just better at all that stuff. You can say that's coaching, but it's also the player's mental makeup. The only guy we have like that is Dunn, maybe Oso.

[schnakenpopanz]

I am 100% sure if the suns had an avg micic that game and not washingto they could have won this. this is how bad the bench looked last night

[KLEON]

Bol's blocks are nice but his BBIQ is so damn low!

This is what people who claim he should get minutes don't get. He has zero IQ. He keeps taking bad shots early in the shot clock, stupid goaltends, gets lots of defense, the 8 second violation, etc.

That's why coaches don't play him.


Also Tyus Jones on defense, a complete ghost.

That 8 sec violation was on Tyus. Your big rebounds as the PG you should be there to recieve the ball. As it relates to Bol. He's a good player, other than Jokic, Embiid and maybe A.D you don't see bigs like him with that type of skill set. I'm not saying he's on those players level but I always believed that if he worked with one of those legendary bigs like the Dream, Tim Duncan and maybe Nowitzki he'll be one best bigs today. Btw I also felt that way about Mcgee too.

[ChuckS]

This gutless team wont even make the playoffs. Thats what you get with two glorified scorers who dont make teammates better as two best players.

And we doesnt have a first round pick to make up for it.

I absolutely accept your right to your opinions, and am only addressing my concern now because yours is the most recent in a series of similar statements. So please consider this just a dissenting thought. Durant and Booker are "glorified" because Durant is one of the greatest scorers of all time, and Book the greatest in franchise history.

I think you minimize what that means in sports when points decide who wins or loses. And I in no way am implying that defense and other factors are not also critically important. I just think that exceptional scorers are important because they most draw the attention of opposition defenses, giving lesser players more opportunities to achieve than they would have otherwise. I also think that making other teammates better is somewhat nebulous, and deserves further scrutiny.

The great "Popeye" once said "I y'am what I y'am". I subtracted KD, Book, and the rookie Dunn, from our ten leading rotational players for the year. The average age of the remaining was 30 years. Kevin and Devin have played with them for two years or less. It seems illogical to me not to realize that they are what they are. I think, if anything, they would universally agree that playing with such greats is a benefit.

I also, personally, could never consider this team or its players "gutless". I think they play hard, and to be trite, "leave it all on the floor" in every game. We lose because of the strength of some exceptional teams, as has always been the case, and in spite of (or because of) what they and their families must read online during and after every game.