RealGM

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 6:31 pm**

This is the worst season in Suns history. Record-breaking losing streaks and the worst record in franchise history are basically inevitable at this point. We're poorly constructed with more potential than production, but there's no reason for it to be this bad. All offseason we heard about the Suns "flipping the switch and winning games," yet we're having a worse season than when we were actively trying to lose. You'd be right to pass blame on Sarver, McDonough, Jones, Kokoskov, Booker, Ayton, and any of the players for this embarrassment. We're stuck with Sarver, so who falls on his sword?

Kokoskov is a popular answer. I'll preface this by saying I think he has a good basketball mind, continuity is important, and coaching isn't our biggest problem. His rotations have definitely been questionable, but he can also only play the cards that he's dealt. Ayton's not being utilized, but that falls on both coaches putting him good positions and players looking at him. I just don't know if he's the right head coach for a young, underdeveloped team. Young players respond to passion and energy, and Igor's not that type. Sometimes I think there are communication issues with the team too. This team could use an experienced hard ass to shape them up and push them, and I'm not sure Igor has that in him. We'll look dumb firing another coach, but we'll look dumber if we continue to suck this much.

James Jones is probably the most obvious. He may be well-respected around the league and destined for a front office job eventually, but he's only 2 years out of the league. It's hard to imagine him being the best option for rebuilding this franchise. It's tough to judge his body of work right now, but reports around the deadline made it sound like the front office is way behind the rest of the league. I don't know how you task someone with as little experience as him for this important of a job, but it's not like experience was a pre-requisite for Sarver before.

Booker and Ayton are likely safe this year, but they deserve criticism. Booker wants to lead a team, but it rings hollow when he puts in so little effort on defense. It's ridiculous how many times he gets beat for easy lay-ups and open 3s because he's just staring at the ball. Ayton's had a solid statistical season, but he's probably about as passionate and energetic on the court as Igor is on the sidelines (which is not at all). Our defensive anchor is caught standing straight up with his hands at his side for uncontested lay-ups and offensive rebounds at least half the time. They're young and will improve, but it's tough to build a winning team when your leaders put more pride in talking about defense than playing it.

Our problem is that we also have an optics problem to go with our basketball problems. There are only 30 jobs, but what respectable coach is chomping at the bit to take over a <20 win team that fires their first-year coach every season? What GM candidate is dying to work with Squeaky Sarver? It might look better if we completely cleaned house and let our new GM pick his guy, but is anything going to change if Sarver is just hiring more puppets? Ideally Sarver writes a bunch of blank checks, finds a firm to hire whoever we need, and stays far away from basketball operations after seeing 15 years of his meddling culminate in one of the worst seasons in NBA history, but we all know that's expecting too much of him.

So who survives? Is it going to be a(nother) year of massive roster turnover, new coaches, and a new front office? Or will Bobby Sarver continue to use this dumpster fire to warm his hands while he counts the league revenue sharing money and understaffs an already abysmal franchise? I'm sure the popular opinion is to burn it all down.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:23 pm**

It is a good question and I can tell you that I have no idea.

Everything can happen.

I can see James Jones, Kokoskov and most of the roster coming back next season...waiting for internal improvement with a low-salary roster and the same GM/HC because of continuity. It would help that both are cheap and obedient.

But I can see an absolute different team next season with a new GM, HC and a ton of different faces on the roster.
The bad news are that Sarver is not gonna spend money on the team... but I am pretty sure that can't be worse than this season, so I wouldn't be afraid of big changes.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:45 pm**

I have no idea who survives.

I mentioned the Kings in another post, who finally win now that they have a big chunk of players in their prime, 26-30, with two others at 25 and only two really young ones in rotation (Fox, Bagley).

We have mostly players between 20-23. We only have a couple at 25 (TJ and Holmes). Of course many want to trade TJ which takes our best 3 pt shooter and scorer and most experienced talent and to go younger.

Also, the Kings have continuity....finally after 6 coaches in 5 years they have Joerger for a 3rd year who finally is taking the team further.

The Nets are another team...with a number of players between 25 and 30, and LeVert/RHJ at 24 and only two really young ones (Russsell and Allen).

AND, a coach in his 3rd year after two years with wins in the 20s.

I think Igor has had his problems but I think any coach would with a team with THIS many young guys. It is VERY rare a team is THIS young. Philly was for a few years when they won 19, 18 and 10 under Brown but then they jumped to 28 and then 52 after playing under him and developing.

Personally I would keep Igor because I think he's smart and I think players will learn, get his system in place, and with a veterans (in prime, not over the hill) it could really help him give him something to work with. And a PG and PF of course.

And of course if he is fired, it only makes finding a candidate harder. I imagine the Suns would be crucified across the league for the decision and their reputation would sink further, particularly among coaching circles.

Spoiler:

As for players, it depends on who is available and what trades there are out there. But I'd keep Ayton, Booker, Warren, Bridges, Melton and Okobo unless they were needed in a big trade. Okobo could be a throw in but he's a super cheap guy we control 4 years with a ton of upside.

Oubre I might keep depending on money. Holmes the same.

Jackson is tough. His usage is far too high for how bad his offense is. Now if you don't mind playing him quite a bit and accepting that he probably contributes to losing more games..but you think it's worth some chance of him being a useful player in the future, keep him. Otherwise, I'd probably move on, especially if we keep Oubre.

James Jones - I think we keep but may bring in another GM..

I do fear if we win the lottery he will trade the pick. Ashley Nevel seems to talk highly of James Jones and also says we don't need Zion but need vets...almost sounded like a mouthpiece...it's in her tweets. Scary.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:13 pm**

All I know is that many Suns fans won't survive.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:23 pm**

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:34 pm**

Spoiler:

bwgood77 wrote:I have no idea who survives.

I mentioned the Kings in another post, who finally win now that they have a big chunk of players in their prime, 26-30, with two others at 25 and only two really young ones in rotation (Fox, Bagley).

We have mostly players between 20-23. We only have a couple at 25 (TJ and Holmes). Of course many want to trade TJ which takes our best 3 pt shooter and scorer and most experienced talent and to go younger.

Also, the Kings have continuity....finally after 6 coaches in 5 years they have Joerger for a 3rd year who finally is taking the team further.

The Nets are another team...with a number of players between 25 and 30, and LeVert/RHJ at 24 and only two really young ones (Russsell and Allen).

AND, a coach in his 3rd year after two years with wins in the 20s.

I think Igor has had his problems but I think any coach would with a team with THIS many young guys. It is VERY rare a team is THIS young. Philly was for a few years when they won 19, 18 and 10 under Brown but then they jumped to 28 and then 52 after playing under him and developing.

Personally I would keep Igor because I think he's smart and I think players will learn, get his system in place, and with a veterans (in prime, not over the hill) it could really help him give him something to work with. And a PG and PF of course.

And of course if he is fired, it only makes finding a candidate harder. I imagine the Suns would be crucified across the league for the decision and their reputation would sink further, particularly among coaching circles.

This guy makes good points..(thread of posts)

Read on Twitter

As for players, it depends on who is available and what trades there are out there. But I'd keep Ayton, Booker, Warren, Bridges, Melton and Okobo unless they were needed in a big trade. Okobo could be a throw in but he's a super cheap guy we control 4 years with a ton of upside.

Oubre I might keep depending on money. Holmes the same.

Jackson is tough. His usage is far too high for how bad his offense is. Now if you don't mind playing him quite a bit and accepting that he probably contributes to losing more games..but you think it's worth some chance of him being a useful player in the future, keep him. Otherwise, I'd probably move on, especially if we keep Oubre.

James Jones - I think we keep but may bring in another GM..

I do fear if we win the lottery he will trade the pick. Ashley Nevel seems to talk highly of James Jones and also says we don't need Zion but need vets...almost sounded like a mouthpiece...it's in her tweets. Scary.

You make a lot of good points. We're way too young to win in a grown man league and you don't know what you have from a coach in a poorly constructed roster of young players in one year. Very few coaches are successful their first year, much less with this bad of a team. I've seen people criticize Igor's player development, but it's not like he's even had the time with the team to develop anyone.

I will say that Kenny Atkinson was very highly thought of in Budenholzer's staff and Dave Joerger was already a good coach for Memphis, but Igor does have a solid resume of his own. I just worry about his demeanor and how our players respond to him. I think he deserves another year with a roster more suited to his system, but I also wonder if he was the right hire in the first place for the core we're building if we knew we were taking Ayton.

One thing about hiring a new GM is that he'll want his guy at coach. A GM's job hinges on a coach's ability to utilize and develop the talent they bring in, and a new GM probably won't leave his job in the hands of someone that was hired by someone with a history of poor decision making.

I don't think they give up on Jackson before his rookie contract ends unless he's part of a trade to fill a hole. Short term cap space means nothing to us, no one is coming here. He has a good skillset, and less than 2 years in the league isn't enough time to put on the weight he needs and fix his jump shot. He really needs to iron out his turnover problems though. I do think we retain most of the guys you mentioned.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:48 pm**

darealjuice wrote:You make a lot of good points. We're way too young to win in a grown man league and you don't know what you have from a coach in a poorly constructed roster of young players in one year. Very few coaches are successful their first year, much less with this bad of a team. I've seen people criticize Igor's player development, but it's not like he's even had the time with the team to develop anyone.

I will say that Kenny Atkinson was very highly thought of in Budenholzer's staff and Dave Joerger was already a good coach for Memphis, but Igor does have a solid resume of his own. I just worry about his demeanor and how our players respond to him. I think he deserves another year with a roster more suited to his system, but I also wonder if he was the right hire in the first place for the core we're building if we knew we were taking Ayton.

One thing about hiring a new GM is that he'll want his guy at coach. A GM's job hinges on a coach's ability to utilize and develop the talent they bring in, and a new GM probably won't leave his job in the hands of someone that was hired by someone with a history of poor decision making.

I don't think they give up on Jackson before his rookie contract ends unless he's part of a trade to fill a hole. Short term cap space means nothing to us, no one is coming here. He has a good skillset, and less than 2 years in the league isn't enough time to put on the weight he needs and fix his jump shot. He really needs to iron out his turnover problems though. I do think we retain most of the guys you mentioned.

I don't think we'd trade Jackson just for cap space, but if a team wanted him in trade. Maybe like the Pelicans. If they are truly looking at trading Jrue along with AD I think they might prefer someone like Jackson more than Warren....and I think if our goal is to win more games sooner, we should keep Warren. If we are set on playing the long game more, maybe there is an argument for JJ, but it's a big gamble.

But I agree, if not needed for a worthwhile trade, keep him.

I really wish I had more insight on the dynamics in the locker room...who likes playing with who, etc...or if all is good in that respect.

Reading into Richaun's mom's tweets, she mentions players playing more for themselves a lot...and I imagine some of that comes from Ayton through Richaun. I am very curious as to how Ayton and Booker get along.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:13 pm**

bwgood77 wrote:I don't think we'd trade Jackson just for cap space, but if a team wanted him in trade. Maybe like the Pelicans. If they are truly looking at trading Jrue along with AD I think they might prefer someone like Jackson more than Warren....and I think if our goal is to win more games sooner, we should keep Warren. If we are set on playing the long game more, maybe there is an argument for JJ, but it's a big gamble.

But I agree, if not needed for a worthwhile trade, keep him.

I really wish I had more insight on the dynamics in the locker room...who likes playing with who, etc...or if all is good in that respect.

Reading into Richaun's mom's tweets, she mentions players playing more for themselves a lot...and I imagine some of that comes from Ayton through Richaun. I am very curious as to how Ayton and Booker get along.

I think the team gets annoyed with Booker barking at them on defense when he'd our biggest liability on that end. I also don't think they like when Booker streaks down the floor and throws up a bull shot trying to draw a foul. On the other hand, you can definitely tell Booker gets frustrated when guys blow defensive rotations and forget plays. I've seen him shout at Ayton for standing and staring while the other team gets uncontested lay-ups multiple times.

I can see the "playing for themselves" thing for Booker and Oubre most. Booker still gets the assist numbers, but he's far more possession dominator than facilitator and that can be frustrating to play with when it's not winning you games. Oubre tries to shoot or drive into traffic every time he touches the ball, and his tunnel vision is pretty bad.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:50 pm**

You honestly need to revamp your entire scouting department, considering the # of busts that you have drafted in the lottery for the past 5-6 years. McDumbNut should never get a GM gig ever again. He destroyed your entire team and culture, and built this garbage team full of low bball IQ and selfish guys. If I'm Sarver, I would fire every dude, from the GM down to the ballboy, and rebuild the entire staff. I would hire a well respected GM, give him 4-5 years of guaranteed money for this rebuilt, and give him the full blessing to hire his own coaches and trade away dudes that don't fit the new vision. That means trading away D Booker and D Ayton if the new GM doesn't like them.

Accountability needs to be demanded from your top players, and your top players like D Booker and somewhat D Ayton have become bums. NBA players need to be reminded that new contract extension will be judged on pure performance, not bc of your drafted slot or your individual stats on the worst team in the league. The reason that your players aren't developing properly bc they know that they will be given free mins regardless in order to pad their stats. That mentality isn't acceptable from any playoff contending team.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:52 pm**

darealjuice wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:I don't think we'd trade Jackson just for cap space, but if a team wanted him in trade. Maybe like the Pelicans. If they are truly looking at trading Jrue along with AD I think they might prefer someone like Jackson more than Warren....and I think if our goal is to win more games sooner, we should keep Warren. If we are set on playing the long game more, maybe there is an argument for JJ, but it's a big gamble.

But I agree, if not needed for a worthwhile trade, keep him.

I really wish I had more insight on the dynamics in the locker room...who likes playing with who, etc...or if all is good in that respect.

Reading into Richaun's mom's tweets, she mentions players playing more for themselves a lot...and I imagine some of that comes from Ayton through Richaun. I am very curious as to how Ayton and Booker get along.

I think the team gets annoyed with Booker barking at them on defense when he'd our biggest liability on that end. I also don't think they like when Booker streaks down the floor and throws up a bull shot trying to draw a foul. On the other hand, you can definitely tell Booker gets frustrated when guys blow defensive rotations and forget plays. I've seen him shout at Ayton for standing and staring while the other team gets uncontested lay-ups multiple times.

I can see the "playing for themselves" thing for Booker and Oubre most. Booker still gets the assist numbers, but he's far more possession dominator than facilitator and that can be frustrating to play with when it's not winning you games. Oubre tries to shoot or drive into traffic every time he touches the ball, and his tunnel vision is pretty bad.

Absolutely.

The last player that I have seen doing that before on the Suns was Brandon Knight (the season when he played as a backup for us).
Shannon Brown played like that too.

Oubre reminds me of Gerald Green. Athletic freak with superlow basketball IQ. Better defender than Green, but worse shooter.

No need to retain a player like that if he is not cheap.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:56 pm**

darealjuice wrote:
I think the team gets annoyed with Booker barking at them on defense when he'd our biggest liability on that end. I also don't think they like when Booker streaks down the floor and throws up a bull shot trying to draw a foul. On the other hand, you can definitely tell Booker gets frustrated when guys blow defensive rotations and forget plays. I've seen him shout at Ayton for standing and staring while the other team gets uncontested lay-ups multiple times.

I can see the "playing for themselves" thing for Booker and Oubre most. Booker still gets the assist numbers, but he's far more possession dominator than facilitator and that can be frustrating to play with when it's not winning you games. Oubre tries to shoot or drive into traffic every time he touches the ball, and his tunnel vision is pretty bad.

That kind of bs sounds like Jabari Parker on the Bulls. I remember him barking at Wendell Carter Jr for one missed assignment when Parker refuses to play defense. The Bulls suddenly shipped low bball IQ bum slayers like J Parker, Holiday, and Bobby Portis and added an efficiency high bball IQ guy. Suddenly, they went from the worst offense in the NBA to the #1 offense in the NBA. Sometimes, when you declare low bball IQ bum slayer as your franchise player, it literally poisons the entire well bc you're telling all the players that this garbage player habits are modeled NBA game that everyone on the team should strive for.

My honest opinion is that D Booker should definitely be on the trading block. The entire franchise from owner down to the coaches need to start demanding real high bball IQ plays from Ayton and Booker instead of being happy with them stat padding on a losing team. Garbage stat padding plays should be discouraged with more mins being glued to the bench. Blown defensive assignments should have repercussion, including harder practice and more mins on the bench. It's that simple.

Players need to understand bet good and bad basketball plays, and recognize that bad basketball plays that inflate their stats but lead to Ls won't be tolerated on this team. If any guy wants to have a word, they can gtfo.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:36 pm**

I think it’s clear that the roster IS THAT BAD.

In order to solve problems we have to diagnose and rank them according to how bad they are:

1) horrible roster with statistically some of the worst players in the NBA getting significant minutes (Jackson, Bender, Okobo, Crawford) and guys who should be 7th-10th in the rotation moved into the starting lineup (Bridges, Oubre, Melton). No other team boasts a roster with as few NBA level players as this team does. There is also no reliable creator to take any pressure off of Booker.

2. Then of course our best players in Book, Ayton, and TJ don’t play any D. Booker is particularly poor this year and would be amazing player if he was league average or just below it. Ayton being poor in defense is unacceptable as a center and he needs become better. TJ is at least on a cheap deal so I’ll let him slide for now.

3. And then of course Kokoskov not wanting to run some more plays for Ayton. I think we need to get an actual team for him to run before we decide on him.

I’ve been keen on ditching Ayton (and I think eventually we should if he doesn’t develop defensively) but I think from a talent perspective it puts our team back several years to get rid of him or Book right now. Because of that it’s probably easier to put the several role players around them that we need. So that’s the first and most important thing that needs to be tackled from a feasibility standpoint.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:38 pm**

MeloRoseNoah wrote:You honestly need to revamp your entire scouting department, considering the # of busts that you have drafted in the lottery for the past 5-6 years. McDumbNut should never get a GM gig ever again. He destroyed your entire team and culture, and built this garbage team full of low bball IQ and selfish guys. If I'm Sarver, I would fire every dude, from the GM down to the ballboy, and rebuild the entire staff. I would hire a well respected GM, give him 4-5 years of guaranteed money for this rebuilt, and give him the full blessing to hire his own coaches and trade away dudes that don't fit the new vision. That means trading away D Booker and D Ayton if the new GM doesn't like them.

Accountability needs to be demanded from your top players, and your top players like D Booker and somewhat D Ayton have become bums. NBA players need to be reminded that new contract extension will be judged on pure performance, not bc of your drafted slot or your individual stats on the worst team in the league. The reason that your players aren't developing properly bc they know that they will be given free mins regardless in order to pad their stats. That mentality isn't acceptable from any playoff contending team.

They already fired their director of scouting and their international scout. Maybe another one too, and of course McDonough.

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:59 pm**

bwgood77 wrote:
MeloRoseNoah wrote:You honestly need to revamp your entire scouting department, considering the # of busts that you have drafted in the lottery for the past 5-6 years. McDumbNut should never get a GM gig ever again. He destroyed your entire team and culture, and built this garbage team full of low bball IQ and selfish guys. If I'm Sarver, I would fire every dude, from the GM down to the ballboy, and rebuild the entire staff. I would hire a well respected GM, give him 4-5 years of guaranteed money for this rebuilt, and give him the full blessing to hire his own coaches and trade away dudes that don't fit the new vision. That means trading away D Booker and D Ayton if the new GM doesn't like them.

Accountability needs to be demanded from your top players, and your top players like D Booker and somewhat D Ayton have become bums. NBA players need to be reminded that new contract extension will be judged on pure performance, not bc of your drafted slot or your individual stats on the worst team in the league. The reason that your players aren't developing properly bc they know that they will be given free mins regardless in order to pad their stats. That mentality isn't acceptable from any playoff contending team.

They already fired their director of scouting and their international scout. Maybe another one too, and of course McDonough.

The problem right now is that they are rudderless without good leadership from the top including the GM and the proclaimed franchise players. No decent GM is going to come to this team unless Sarver gives that guy a 4-5 yr commitment to build the team in any shape that he or she wants. I personally would look for somebody from the San Antonio or Warrior office instead of some overrated MBA dude in Boston.

Once you get a strong GM and his designated coach in, you then need to start demanding accountability from franchise players. The thing with a bad team is that bad players get to stat pad their #s and get overpaid for these fake production. You need to be like Hinkie and figure out the bum slayers on the team. Dump all the bum slayers for assets, and keep adding players who play smart basketball. Like the Bulls earlier this season, the majority of your team is made of dumb players who are fake hustlers. There are too much stupid basketball here, that leads to a worse W-L column that the current talent of this team. There's no reason for the Phoenix Suns to be worse than the Cleveland Cavs. None.

It's no longer than a talent issue in Phoenix, but rather a culture issue that manifests from poor leadership from both the GM and the franchise players. There needs to be a massive influx of leadership and accountability from either your franchise player or GM in order to turn this ship around. That means a new GM, or every players on the block if you luck yourself into a Zion Williamson.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:58 am**

Damkac wrote:All I know is that many Suns fans won't survive.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:47 am**

I think it's pretty clear that virtually no one is without blame with the results this year. Igor deserves blame, the players deserves blame, the front office (or whatever you call that) deserves blame and imo most of all, Sarver deserves blame.

Igor needs to do a better job at engaging with his players and getting them to do what the system requires them to. The players need to do a better job at playing with more effort, with more purpose and they need to get on the same page. The front office imo needs an overhaul and I don't think Jones is the guy to lead us forwards, mostly because he doesn't have the experience.

Given that, I'm fairly confident Igor will survive because he'll be given an opportunity to coach with a better balanced roster which will be the aim of the front office this offseason. I think most of the roster will stay intact mainly because there's only so many positive moves we can make but I do think at least one of our wings is a goner.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:16 pm**

Who will survive? Who knows. To steal a term from Bill Simmons the Suns are in the "Tyson Zone" where they have done so many weird things in the past that nothing they do now would really shock me.

I'd put the odds of Jones and Igor surviving this at about 50/50. I do kind of feel like they are linked in that if Jones is replaced as GM it's far more likely that GM brings in their own coach. If Jones stays I could see them both basically given one more year with a revamped roster.

From a player perspective no one should be 100% safe if the right deal came along but the three most likely guys to return are Booker, Ayton and Bridges. After that who knows. While I know some feel like they will look for continuity and bring a good amount of guys back I expect a decent amount of roster turn over.

Hopefully this third attempt at a post SSOL era rebuild goes better than the first two.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:52 pm**

bwgood77 wrote:I don't think we'd trade Jackson just for cap space, but if a team wanted him in trade. Maybe like the Pelicans. If they are truly looking at trading Jrue along with AD I think they might prefer someone like Jackson more than Warren....and I think if our goal is to win more games sooner, we should keep Warren. If we are set on playing the long game more, maybe there is an argument for JJ, but it's a big gamble.

The problem with this team is that they dont have people creating for others. how many people pass Ayton the ball? JJ and after that no one does. This is the same problem with Warren he doesnt create for others. JJ is one of the few people that create for others the rest of the team start playing hero ball and Warren is one of the worst on the team of being a blackhole. His 3 pts helps but even that dropped off later in the year and he still isnt moving the ball like a win team needs. This team needs more then anything a point guard that creates for others.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:53 pm**

The NBA is a tough league with little margin for error. Opposing teams will exposed any weaknesses you have. This team's small PF lineup (Warren, Jackson, Oubre, Ariza) can't rebound. This team is losing the rebound battle every night. You can't win in this league when you're giving up 5-6 additional offensive rebound, every night. Team will also not be competitive if they're only have one good shooter on this team (Book, I am not counting Daniels).

This team doesn't have a legit PG and a legit PF. I would keep the core (ayton, book, bridges), get a legit PF, and pray for a PG. Melton, Holmes, Jackson, Okobo, Warren is not a bad bench. Give Igor another year.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:05 pm**

GoodBehavior wrote:The NBA is a tough league with little margin for error. Opposing teams will exposed any weaknesses you have. This team's small PF lineup (Warren, Jackson, Oubre, Ariza) can't rebound. This team is losing the rebound battle every night. You can't win in this league when you're giving up 5-6 additional offensive rebound, every night. Team will also not be competitive if they're only have one good shooter on this team (Book, I am not counting Daniels).

This team doesn't have a legit PG and a legit PF. I would keep the core (ayton, book, bridges), get a legit PF, and pray for a PG. Melton, Holmes, Jackson, Okobo, Warren is not a bad bench. Give Igor another year.

Your margin of error comment is spot on; especially in this years western conference where all the teams except the suns are pretty competitive. I think we undersell just how hard it is to win when you have even a couple of terrible players in the rotation. Except for a couple games when these guys have got hot all of Crawford, Jackson, Okobo, and all the minutes by guys like Anderson, Bender, Cannan have been terrible. When you get beat in minutes those guys play the decent players on the team need to out perform the other teams good players just to keep up and unfortunately the non-terrible players on this team are simply not good enough to compensate. Just simply replacing the terrible minutes they get with even average NBA players would be a big boost.

The shooting issues are very real too and made worse by the fact their supposed good shooter in Booker has not shot the 3 well this year. He needs to inch closer to 40% in the future.

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