RealGM

Discuss what you think of our season so far and what you hope to see regarding player rotations, etc, and what you think of past games and how we played and how you think we will do in games coming up.

They need to trade Morris asap and likely add one of the guards, try to get shooting.
Start Booker and give Knight the Jason Terry role.

Quick thoughts

Isaiah Thomas is better than Brandon Knight and 1/3 the price

We have no identity

Our offensive scheme sucks.. Our only set play seems to be Markieff postup

Defence still bad

Booker is going to be a star

DRK wrote:Quick thoughts

Isaiah Thomas is better than Brandon Knight and 1/3 the price

We have no identity

Our offensive scheme sucks.. Our only set play seems to be Markieff postup

Defence still bad

Booker is going to be a star

But that was a terrible signing that cost us Goran Dragic...

MrMiyagi wrote:

DRK wrote:Quick thoughts

Isaiah Thomas is better than Brandon Knight and 1/3 the price

We have no identity

Our offensive scheme sucks.. Our only set play seems to be Markieff postup

Defence still bad

Booker is going to be a star

But that was a terrible signing that cost us Goran Dragic...

If it cost you Dragic then all the more reason to keep Thomas. Not trade him for a meaningless pick and Marcus Thornton. Thomas and Bledsoe had great chemistry too.

Lindecision wrote:

MrMiyagi wrote:

DRK wrote:Quick thoughts

Isaiah Thomas is better than Brandon Knight and 1/3 the price

We have no identity

Our offensive scheme sucks.. Our only set play seems to be Markieff postup

Defence still bad

Booker is going to be a star

But that was a terrible signing that cost us Goran Dragic...

If it cost you Dragic then all the more reason to keep Thomas. Not trade him for a meaningless pick and Marcus Thornton. Thomas and Bledsoe had great chemistry too.

This is the second time you've trolled the Suns board with extremely uninformed posts. So it's probably time to post elsewhere.

bwgood77 wrote:This is the second time you've trolled the Suns board with extremely uninformed posts. So it's probably time to post elsewhere.

Don't worry, I'm beating him in fantasy. That's all that matters.

batsmasher wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:This is the second time you've trolled the Suns board with extremely uninformed posts. So it's probably time to post elsewhere.

Don't worry, I'm beating him in fantasy. That's all that matters.

I wouldn't ever worry in fantasy about someone uninformed who may make a lin decision.

This thread might be a bit early. **** it. Might as well release the rage early

bwgood77 wrote:

Lindecision wrote:

MrMiyagi wrote:But that was a terrible signing that cost us Goran Dragic...

If it cost you Dragic then all the more reason to keep Thomas. Not trade him for a meaningless pick and Marcus Thornton. Thomas and Bledsoe had great chemistry too.

This is the second time you've trolled the Suns board with extremely uninformed posts. So it's probably time to post elsewhere.

Nothing uninformed about citing the trades McD shouldn't have made.

I'm actually pretty good at fantasy ya know.

batsmasher wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:This is the second time you've trolled the Suns board with extremely uninformed posts. So it's probably time to post elsewhere.

Don't worry, I'm beating him in fantasy. That's all that matters.

Oh, burn.

But Lance hit a 3 so we're all tied up.

DRK wrote:Quick thoughts

Isaiah Thomas is better than Brandon Knight and 1/3 the price

We have no identity

Our offensive scheme sucks.. Our only set play seems to be Markieff postup

Defence still bad

Booker is going to be a star

If you look back at those threads from the deadline, I was openly supporting us trade IT and keep Dragic or trade both if there are fantastic offers for both.

However, seemed weird to me we traded IT for basically an early 2nd rounder after trading Dragic. IT even said it himself after that he was surprised he was traded when he wasn't the one complaining. Some Celtics fans on their forum thought acquiring IT for so little was a bigger coup than the trades Boston did to put their big 3 together.

I hate to say your right but IT sure does look a lot better than Knight from end of last season to the first game of this season so far. Our only hope can be that IT is older than Knight so Knight will eventually progress to be better than him.

Saw this on another forum

Sure glad we got rid of the problem children that Hornacek could not meld into a winning team.

Gerald Green 5 for 8 from three - 19 points - Miami Wins
Goran Dragic 8 pts 6 assists 1 TO - Miami Wins
Isaiah Thomas 27 Pts 7 assists - Boston Wins
Marcus Morris 10/27 18 & 10 - Detroit Wins
Marcus Morris 10/28 14 & 6 - Detroit Wins

Sure glad we dumped those guys, our team is so much better.

Obviously just 1 game but made me think, seems like Suns fans collectively don't like Brandon Knight that much but would be sadly funny if he goes off after leaving here if we traded him.

I think the main issue is the X and Os.
Even if the ball is moving... Doesnt mean its productive movement, the lack of a visionary PG really hurts... Thats what i feel and think.
Only PG who i think lacks vision today but can help the suns is Westbrook through sheer energy and aggressiveness.


I rather the suns look good making plays and moving around getting open looks and missing... Over ugly, ill-flowing plays that gets hot and hits shots for wins...

Either Bledsoe or Knight need to step back from scoring and start focusing on getting players into the right position and plays. More direction and creative play making would do wonders.

I was always MCD believer but it looks that Knight trade was a terrible move. I was hoping McD find star potential in him but so far Knight can't even play as he did before the trade. BTW that guy was drafted in 2011 and already traded twice. Would this happened if he can be good? Every time he has the ball it's a disaster going to happen. Mayby we shouldn'd look at him as a PG but like an undersized SG and use him as a shooter off the ball. One thing he is good is shooting.
McD made a terrible mistake by signing IT which destroyed team chemistry. But then he fix it by another terrible mistake by selling IT basically for free and buying Knight for a lot. I wish we had IT now for a small part of Knight's earnings together with Lakers pick.

Hornacek's deal is ending after this season right? Then I hope he won't be resigned. Outside of that one miracle season (that was just a good luck) he didn't do anyting good. Players still looks lost on the floor.

Tucker shouldn't start. He is energy guy from the bench not the starter. Mayby on team like OKC he would work but Suns don't have any elite scorer so all 5 guys on the floor must be at least decent offensive players.

And for a thousand time: trade Kieff. In similar situation IT was traded without hesitation for crap even though he dind't insult the team like Kieff did. He don't wants to be here. Waiting for his value to rise is risky it may as well fall down if he will play without willingness.

It would create a big hole on the PF spot. Mirza looks bad so far and I would give all of his minutes to Leuer.

But here comes another problem: our 3pt shooting sucks. So we may be forced to play Mirza just for spacing even if he sucks at everything else.

And the above is just one of the reason why we should give Booker his freaking minutes!

So if I had control over the team I would:
- trade Kieff for the best offer that is on the table
- limit Tucker minutes (mayby play him more at PF to fill the hole on that position)
- increase Booker and Warren minutes
- give some chances for Archie to see if he can be something good
- give all of Mirza minutes to Leuer (if Mirza don't improve)
- give some minutes to Weems
- try to finally teach the team some plays
- use Knight more as a shooter than as a playmaker
And most important: stop trying desperately to make the playoffs. Think about the future. Our future so far is Len, Booker and Warren. Not Tucker or Mirza.

One thing still I trust McD is his drafting. Mayby he will find some hidden gem next year.

My thoughts so far. I hate the game of Teletovic. In my opinion Leuer is waaaaaay better than him. Leuer played really good in the preseason and alos in the first game. He has to get minutes. Also i hope Booker and Goodwin will get some minutes. But like i know Jeff, he will play with Teletovic instead of leuer and Weems instead of Archie and Devin.

For me, Teletovic has to be out of the rotation, din't like his game and he played really bad so far.

I also think that we will trade Markieff in midseason.

What i really like is Devin Booker. I think he could really be a star in the near future. With him, Warren and Len we have a great core for the future.

Excuse me for my english, i am from germany

Damkac wrote:
So if I had control over the team I would:
- trade Kieff for the best offer that is on the table
- limit Tucker minutes (mayby play him more at PF to fill the hole on that position)
- increase Booker and Warren minutes
- give some chances for Archie to see if he can be something good
- give all of Mirza minutes to Leuer (if Mirza don't improve)
- give some minutes to Weems
- try to finally teach the team some plays
- use Knight more as a shooter than as a playmaker
And most important: stop trying desperately to make the playoffs. Think about the future. Our future so far is Len, Booker and Warren. Not Tucker or Mirza.

One thing still I trust McD is his drafting. Mayby he will find some hidden gem next year.

So basically pay him 70 million over 5 years to do what Devin Booker can go at a fraction of the cost.

We paid 70 million for a 6'2 undersized, no-defence, dumb spotup shooter

Fantastic trade.

Watch PHI get the 5th pick in next year's draft while Knight does his best Flip Murray Impression

I've been a supporter of Knight's since he was in Milwaukee...but that being said after watching him through preseason he has started to wear on me in a similar fashion that Shannon Brown did. Hope he has what it takes to turn it around.

Damkac wrote:I was always MCD believer but it looks that Knight trade was a terrible move. I was hoping McD find star potential in him but so far Knight can't even play as he did before the trade. BTW that guy was drafted in 2011 and already traded twice. Would this happened if he can be good? Every time he has the ball it's a disaster going to happen. Mayby we shouldn'd look at him as a PG but like an undersized SG and use him as a shooter off the ball. One thing he is good is shooting.
McD made a terrible mistake by signing IT which destroyed team chemistry. But then he fix it by another terrible mistake by selling IT basically for free and buying Knight for a lot. I wish we had IT now for a small part of Knight's earnings together with Lakers pick.

Hornacek's deal is ending after this season right? Then I hope he won't be resigned. Outside of that one miracle season (that was just a good luck) he didn't do anyting good. Players still looks lost on the floor.

Tucker shouldn't start. He is energy guy from the bench not the starter. Mayby on team like OKC he would work but Suns don't have any elite scorer so all 5 guys on the floor must be at least decent offensive players.

And for a thousand time: trade Kieff. In similar situation IT was traded without hesitation for crap even though he dind't insult the team like Kieff did. He don't wants to be here. Waiting for his value to rise is risky it may as well fall down if he will play without willingness.

It would create a big hole on the PF spot. Mirza looks bad so far and I would give all of his minutes to Leuer.

But here comes another problem: our 3pt shooting sucks. So we may be forced to play Mirza just for spacing even if he sucks at everything else.

And the above is just one of the reason why we should give Booker his freaking minutes!

So if I had control over the team I would:
- trade Kieff for the best offer that is on the table
- limit Tucker minutes (mayby play him more at PF to fill the hole on that position)
- increase Booker and Warren minutes
- give some chances for Archie to see if he can be something good
- give all of Mirza minutes to Leuer (if Mirza don't improve)
- give some minutes to Weems
- try to finally teach the team some plays
- use Knight more as a shooter than as a playmaker
And most important: stop trying desperately to make the playoffs. Think about the future. Our future so far is Len, Booker and Warren. Not Tucker or Mirza.

One thing still I trust McD is his drafting. Mayby he will find some hidden gem next year.

Agree with everything except keeping Thomas. Wasn't a fan. I'm just generally not a fan of shoot first point guards. I'd rather have Ennis and not done the Knight trade and still have the Lakers pick in our pocket.

Still hopeful Knight turns it around though. Last year with Milwaukee he had gotten to over and 18 PER with 17.8 pts, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game. There is no real reason to think he really regressed that much since then. He likely still needs time to get used to playing with the team and completely coming back from his injury. He's gotten better every year so hopefully that continues.

Watch PHI get the 5th pick in next year's draft while Knight does his best Flip Murray Impression

It could be even worse than that. Next year the pick becomes unprotected right? The Lakers will probably still be terrible, so there's a half decent chance they get the first or second pick.

I believe I am probably the engineer of the Fire Hornacek Train. One reason I am still willing to give Knight some benefit of the doubt is that he played very well in Milwaukee. Why the drop off here? It's not like Milwaukee was overflowing with sharpshooters and other talent. I suspect Hornacek has not designed a very good system. And I believe we may have to let him go to see what these guys are made of.

I too am becoming very scared about the costs of the Knight trade. I need to see him play well to set my mind at ease.

I think Len and Booker need to play more. Len is our only low-post option, and we ought to give him a chance. At this point, he even seems to be a better rebounder and rim protector than Chandler. It's strange, but it looks like our bench may actually be better than our starters. Booker gives us desperately-needed scoring. Warren creates more offense than either of our point guards. And Len, discussed above. That is all to say, if we need to blow things up half-way through the season, we've got the players to start over with.

If everything goes south, I could see us trading one of the two PG's, Tucker, Kieff, and Chandler. I wonder whether we would be better starting Booker even at this point in his career. But we have all seen how mindful Hornacek is of seniority. That's one aspect of his coaching I really hate.

This is all way too early. I know that. I'm speculating about the possibility of a dismal start to the season. I remember when we let Cotton go early after a bad start and made a blockbuster deal for Kidd...

One more thought about Hornacek. We read how he said the days of Run n' Fun Suns were offer, that we were going to re-focus on defense. Well, the rest of the league has embraced that style, while our offense last season, and so far this preseason and in our first game, has stunk up the joint. I don't care how it happens, but I for one would like to enjoy watching Suns basketball again.