Preseason Game 5: Phoenix @ San Antonio

[PackSuns]

Everyone stop caring about stats it's useless

[Safety Pickle]

Overall Warren cannot even keep up with Leonard. Warren has really, really bad lateral quickness, anytime Kawhi moves with the ball, Warren is already behind.

As I say that Leonard crosses him over pretty badly and drills it from mid range.

If Warren can't shoot or play defense, how long could he last in the NBA? Its the same complaint that people have for Goodwin and yet lot more noise for Goodwin than Warren.

Kawhi is one of the best overall SFs in the league. A second year player like Warren not being able to keep up with him should pretty much be a given

[PackSuns]

Don't introduce logic to this conversation. This is a squabble between a homer(me) who looks at hard data(+21 tonight) and a habitual pessimist. I just read a cpl hundred posts. Sorry. I'm bored.

[suns91fan]

Warren is fine. I doubt priority over the summer was to extend his range. He can shoot those midrange jumpers nicely. His mechanics are ok, and when the time comes for him to start shooting threes, i'm sure he won't have much problem there. Right now, it's all about defense. He's smart, and i have no doubts he'll get better on that end as the season goes on.

[SunsFanSSOL]

Of all our prospects the one I'm most worried about is Len. I think the Suns are concerned too, otherwise they wouldn't have hired a player development coach this season specifically for Len and signed Chandler to mentor him. I think we are going to regret passing over Noel for a long time.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Many mindsets seem set on jumping on the bad games as needed reasons for change...often without valid solutions...so you hear less from them after a good game which is frankly disappointing...

Sorry, I was at the Bucks/Wolves game, and so could not watch this one. But please, jump to conclusions, and criticize people rather than their opinions. Great job, mod.

Extremely encouraging. High assist numbers. Fast break points. So far, it seems the team goes as Keef goes. Two points for Hornacek, I guess (since I couldn't watch). Swish.

So, did this game prove how good we are, how bad we are, or how the preseason is meaningless?

Obviously it is meaningless, but it showed our potential... So it is meaningless in the sense it has no relevance, but it showed that we can compete, with a premier team who also looked like they were trying to compete.

[Revived]

Lol who is this new ball boy PackSuns....sure feels like a dupe. He's starting to make me hate Warren now just cause I said he's not good defensively right now and that he needs to extend his range lol.

[Saberestar]

I saw the game and I was very happy with our work against a really good team.
I know that it is preseason, but the last two games of the preseason are usually serious games that are really important to establish a mindset.

My favourite starting five is
Bledsoe, Weems, Warren, Markieff and Chandler.
Knight has not impress me until now.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I saw the game and I was very happy with our work against a really good team.
I know that it is preseason, but the last two games of the preseason are usually serious games that are really important to establish a mindset.

My favourite starting five is
Bledsoe, Weems, Warren, Markieff and Chandler.
Knight has not impress me until now.

Weems has been consistently impressive. I suspect we'd be better off starting him at the 3 over PJ.

[RaisingArizona]

Here is the Knight article...

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2015/10/10/brandon-knight-runs-clean-game-phoenix-suns-point/73743826/

Makes sense why he's not going 100% in the preseason then.

[bwgood77]

Many mindsets seem set on jumping on the bad games as needed reasons for change...often without valid solutions...so you hear less from them after a good game which is frankly disappointing...

Sorry, I was at the Bucks/Wolves game, and so could not watch this one. But please, jump to conclusions, and criticize people rather than their opinions. Great job, mod.

I guess you misread. I was saying it is good to see when people give the team props after a good game. So my intent was the opposite of your assumption.

[bwgood77]

Overall Warren cannot even keep up with Leonard. Warren has really, really bad lateral quickness, anytime Kawhi moves with the ball, Warren is already behind.

As I say that Leonard crosses him over pretty badly and drills it from mid range.

If Warren can't shoot or play defense, how long could he last in the NBA? Its the same complaint that people have for Goodwin and yet lot more noise for Goodwin than Warren.

MIN 31 PTS 15
AST 7 OREB 4
DREB 3 REB 7
BLK 0 STL 3
TO 0 PF 3
FG 7 FGA 14
FG% .500 FTM 1
FTA 1 FT% 1.000
3PM 0 3PA 2
3P% .000

This is why. On the other hand Kawhi didn't have a good game.

He turned it around but still, I can't see him playing this well once teams figure out that he has no outside game and only inside the arc game.

I think HE can play well. Many players (not my favorites) like Melo and Kobe never had a great long range game but were effective. The problem with not having spacing is it will make it tougher for others like Bledsoe or Knight to operate, with people more crowded in the paint. So in the grand scheme of things, he needs that range, but I still think he will be able to score regardless if he gets PT.

[MathiasPW]

Many mindsets seem set on jumping on the bad games as needed reasons for change...often without valid solutions...so you hear less from them after a good game which is frankly disappointing...

Sorry, I was at the Bucks/Wolves game, and so could not watch this one. But please, jump to conclusions, and criticize people rather than their opinions. Great job, mod.

I think bwgood is trying ot encourage posters to reduce the bashing and emotional posting and be more thoughtful of posts, or at least balance the negative ones with equal numbers of positive posts.

A forum with an overall positive vibe is much more probable to bring in more good posters than one that constantly criticizes the team we are supposed to be rooting for.

I think you are doing a great job with a lot of effort put into it, bwgood.

[jcsunsfan]

Everyone stop caring about stats it's useless

Are you drunk? It's only drunk people who pick this kind of fight.

[jcsunsfan]

I saw the game and I was very happy with our work against a really good team.
I know that it is preseason, but the last two games of the preseason are usually serious games that are really important to establish a mindset.

My favourite starting five is
Bledsoe, Weems, Warren, Markieff and Chandler.
Knight has not impress me until now.

Weems has been consistently impressive. I suspect we'd be better off starting him at the 3 over PJ.

He is actually a pretty good ball handler and distributor. He is not a bad sg option in a two pg system

[MathiasPW]

I think HE can play well. Many players (not my favorites) like Melo and Kobe never had a great long range game but were effective. The problem with not having spacing is it will make it tougher for others like Bledsoe or Knight to operate, with people more crowded in the paint. So in the grand scheme of things, he needs that range, but I still think he will be able to score regardless if he gets PT.

We must keep in mind that Bledsoe worked a lot on his long range during Summer. Even if Warren does not develop that part of his game during this season, he can still be deadly in the midrange if Bledsoe and Knight keep screening for each other at the high key and force the wings to cover for one another to avoid na easy 3pt shot by one of our guards. That will open a lot of room for Warren's cutting to the rim.

[bwgood77]

I'm not saying everyone has to be positive. I want people's true feelings. I was just stating that sometimes posters seem to go nuts and want everyone's head after a bad game and then they either don't chime in at all after a good game or nitpick things after beating a premier team.

The preseason doesn't mean much, but it should mean just as much when we beat SA as when we lose to Denver. People seemed to think it meant a lot when we lost to Denver, but when we beat SA, it's just a meaningless preseason game.

It's all fairly meaningless since it has no impact on regular season record, but there were some nice positives last night and it is probably good for the team to have a win like that going into the regular season.

But for the most part, people have been pointing out positives. As for Warren, I thought he had a great game. Doesn't mean he doesn't need to continue getting better from long range and defensively, but he is young and is a hard worker, so I have patience he improves in those areas. But everyone has strengths and weaknesses...hopefully the team can compensate for one another and we can find the right lineups to balance strengths with weaknesses.

[Qwigglez]

Warren doesn't need a reliable three point shot to be a threat on the court. Evan Turner is a SG/SF who has a difficult time shooting the three and 2013/14 season he averaged 17.4 points a game as a Sixer. I know it was one of the worst basketball teams ever assembled, but he still got his points. I think Warren can quietly rack up 12-20 points a night and it would hardly get noticed.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

The preseason doesn't mean much, but it should mean just as much when we beat SA as when we lose to Denver.

I completely agree.

People seemed to think it meant a lot when we lost to Denver, but when we beat SA, it's just a meaningless preseason game.

This is where you and I had very different perceptions. We were all happy with Len and Booker's play, and we got excited when TJ nearly brought us against Houston. But it seemed to me that people weren't paying attention to the negatives, so I drew attention to them - a few days after the game, btw. I'd had time to stew on the disappointment.

I think the preseason is meaningful, and I think it is fairly predictive of a team's trajectory heading into the regular season. This stands in contrast to summer league, from which relatively little can be learned. So, the Nugs game was relevant, and so was the Spurs game.

I post on various boards, so some of my perception has to do with responses I've received elsewhere. But I completely agree that all games, good and bad, are equally relevant.

I think this has been a constructive discussion. I felt that you were discussing me specifically, since I had initiated and sustained the questioning of Hornacek's leadership. And while I wasn't able to watch the SA game, I am happy about it, and I would have responded accordingly today.

... One thing I noticed, just in the highlights, on a play where TJ left Kawhi in the corner - Longo appears to be yelling at TJ. TJ then defends himself to Horny, and Horny appears to yell something back to Longo. It's evident they're talking a lot about team defense off the court - and there may be some disagreement amongst the coaches about our approach. If Hornacek gets this team to play to its potential, I'll be right there with the rest of you calling for his extension.

[Qwigglez]

I saw the game and I was very happy with our work against a really good team.
I know that it is preseason, but the last two games of the preseason are usually serious games that are really important to establish a mindset.

My favourite starting five is
Bledsoe, Weems, Warren, Markieff and Chandler.
Knight has not impress me until now.

I think this is the most well balanced starting unit.
Knight/Booker/Tucker/Leur/Len is a good second unit.
All in all, I like our entire squad, I'm just not sure if they know how to play effectively together just yet.