Game 49: Phoenix Suns @ Milwaukee Bucks, Sunday, Feb 2, 12pm MST

[bwgood77]

Yeah, I mentioned earlier, especially when we have like 5 rotation players out.

Is there another team trying to make the playoffs with all these players out constantly? I really feel like the FO and coaches are using this season as one long preseason. Especially once the Ayton suspension happened. Sit guys out with "injuries" they'd be playing through on teams in the W/E conferences top 8 to evaluate the other guys and then switch out the roster 10 games later.
Also play chicken with other teams during trading time. "We'll sit this guy if you are all interested."

Well, Zion was out, Nurkic is out, Towns was out, Fox and Bagley were out, Curry and Klay have been out. Memphis and SA seem like the only ones who have been relatively healthy. I think we have tried playing through them and they were not as good. Rubio and Baynes were probably playing with injuries, Bridges came back from an injury early, but seemed to work his way through it. Ayton even came back from injury but I don't think it's been bothering him.

[grumpysaddle]

Just watched. That was always going to be a rough game with the injuries, especially. They did better than you'd think, but most of the game looked like kids trying to play against adults. That was just unfair.

[bwgood77]

Those clamoring for Ayton to get more touches take note. 10/27, bad game yes but damn that’s a lot of shots, it also didn’t help Kelly was 5/20.

But yes let’s point to Booker being the problem with a 9/15 game and a bunch of scrubs on the floor.

Booker wasn't the problem, though the turnovers hurt. He had a good game, certainly the best of anyone, as indicated in my Nashty vote. I am glad Ayton got a lost of shots, but he just had a bad game shooting against a bunch of bigs and no one really spreading the floor for him to operate. He also had a 13/15 game lately. He did contribute in other ways though, battling for boards and getting 14, altering some shots and getting a block and a steal. If he hits 4-5 more shots, he would have had a decent game and at least 2-3 and probably more missed ones were when he was batting 2-3 guys inside trying to tip it back in but it was tough with so many defenders.

And then Oubre, yeah...AWFUL game. 5-20? If he made as many shots as Ayton he was on pace for for 10-40. Ayton actually started 2-10...very bad start, but from there on out, 8-17, which isn't terrible.

[Saberestar]

I don’t understand how Booker and Oubre play more mins than any Bucks player in a game in which the Suns lose by 21.

Wtf type of coaching and minutes distribution is that? Usually the team that does the blowing out is the one that plays their players more mins to ensure the blowout while the losing team waves the white flag early.

This would be stupid even if they had tomorrow but the fact their playing tomorrow on a back to back makes this even more dumb.

Monty Williams is truly clueless. It’s a damn **** shame that he didn’t join the Lakers.

It was totally obvious that Book was out there to pad his stats. He demanded every ball and took every shot in garbage time. Cant blame Monty for anything else than yielding to his "star player".

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

[bwgood77]

I guarantee the Suns have the lowest paid ( or close to it) front office staff in the league.

probably undermanned too that a department that needed 10 people to operate competently Bob would hire 5 or less.

I remember last season Sarver fired McDonough and almost all of the scouting department. Did Sarver hire any more scouts?

I know of two stepien guys who worked as scouts for awhile but no longer do. Not sure who else was there. Cole Zwicker was one of them and he usually pegs the draft pretty well.

[grumpysaddle]

The gameplan for Ayton going forward should be to make him use his power , if he doesn't, you sit him. I don't care if he commits offensive fouls, everything he does should be trying to overpower players until he realizes he can do that to almost anyone in the league. He should be going up with the intent to pull the basket down every time he touches it. Just do that repetitively until it clicks. If you foul out with 6 offensive fouls in the first quarter while being a beast, I don't care. Also, stop **** tapping at the ball. It's not volleyball. GRAB THE BALL WITH BOTH HANDS. I don't hate Ayton, I just expect more out of him.

[bwgood77]

I don’t understand how Booker and Oubre play more mins than any Bucks player in a game in which the Suns lose by 21.

Wtf type of coaching and minutes distribution is that? Usually the team that does the blowing out is the one that plays their players more mins to ensure the blowout while the losing team waves the white flag early.

This would be stupid even if they had tomorrow but the fact their playing tomorrow on a back to back makes this even more dumb.

Monty Williams is truly clueless. It’s a damn **** shame that he didn’t join the Lakers.

It was totally obvious that Book was out there to pad his stats. He demanded every ball and took every shot in garbage time. Cant blame Monty for anything else than yielding to his "star player".

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

I think Eddie mentioned something like that and I kind of laughed, but I remember thinking when we were down 16 with like 4:30 left, if we could just hit a few 3s and cut it to 7, we'd be ok, but we kept going for 2s....never would have worked. When you are down that big against a team that is 41-7, with 5 rotation players out, you are extremely unlikely to cut the lead much, much less win.

[Saberestar]

I like Ayton’s assertiveness today in taking shots but he needs to eliminate that jab step BS entirely out of his system.

He’s not a **** guard, he’s not prime Kobe Bryant to be doing jab steps from 15-20 ft out.

As much he HATES being a big and tries to be a guard, someone needs to tell him that he’s not.

His jab step is completely pointless and useless because he can't put the ball on the floor anyway.

This.

If Ayton learns how to put the ball on the floor from the elbow or the top of key and goes to the rim he will be a way better player on offense. He needs just one dribble, two at most and he will be at the rim getting a foul or scoring a layup.

He did it against the Mavs a couple games ago, but he gets away from those plays because he is not used yet. He will get there with more repitations.

[Saberestar]

It was totally obvious that Book was out there to pad his stats. He demanded every ball and took every shot in garbage time. Cant blame Monty for anything else than yielding to his "star player".

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

I think Eddie mentioned something like that and I kind of laughed, but I remember thinking when we were down 16 with like 4:30 left, if we could just hit a few 3s and cut it to 7, we'd be ok, but we kept going for 2s....never would have worked. When you are down that big against a team that is 41-7, with 5 rotation players out, you are extremely unlikely to cut the lead much, much less win.

You have to try to win, obviously it was a long shot but you have to try a last run in the fourth quarter.

Booker and Ayton just played five/six minutes in the last quarter, so it wasn't a big deal because they played less minutes than their average per game (Book played 34 and Ayton 30).

Booker 9/15 from the floor and 12/13 from the FT line. He played well and did whatever he could to win this game, but we are worse than the Bucks and we are short with so many players out.

[LesGrossman]

I don’t understand how Booker and Oubre play more mins than any Bucks player in a game in which the Suns lose by 21.

Wtf type of coaching and minutes distribution is that? Usually the team that does the blowing out is the one that plays their players more mins to ensure the blowout while the losing team waves the white flag early.

This would be stupid even if they had tomorrow but the fact their playing tomorrow on a back to back makes this even more dumb.

Monty Williams is truly clueless. It’s a damn **** shame that he didn’t join the Lakers.

It was totally obvious that Book was out there to pad his stats. He demanded every ball and took every shot in garbage time. Cant blame Monty for anything else than yielding to his "star player".

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

If he wanted to play hard so badly, he could have started to play some defense instead of the matador stuff he showed all night. If he continues to allow a layup line on his basket just to go all out taking contested 2's and you call that "playing hard" then we seem to have a different definition of playing hard. But i agree that it is the same from beginning to the end of the game.

[bwgood77]

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

I think Eddie mentioned something like that and I kind of laughed, but I remember thinking when we were down 16 with like 4:30 left, if we could just hit a few 3s and cut it to 7, we'd be ok, but we kept going for 2s....never would have worked. When you are down that big against a team that is 41-7, with 5 rotation players out, you are extremely unlikely to cut the lead much, much less win.

You have to try to win, obviously it was a long shot but you have to try a last run in the fourth quarter.

Booker and Ayton just played five/six minutes in the last quarter, so it wasn't a big deal because they played less minutes than their average per game (Book played 34 and Ayton 30).

Booker 9/15 from the floor and 12/13 from the FT line. He played well and did whatever he could to win this game, but we are worse than the Bucks and we are short with so many players out.

With a b2b and a much more winnable game tomorrow, I would have pulled them a bit earlier, but at least the game was early giving them a little more rest. I think if anyone was questionable but could have tried to play, it was probably also a calculated move to give them rest, knowing the game was a super long shot.

[Saberestar]

It was totally obvious that Book was out there to pad his stats. He demanded every ball and took every shot in garbage time. Cant blame Monty for anything else than yielding to his "star player".

Ok, so now we prefer players that don't care and don't fight when we are losing games. Oh my...

The game was close enough until the last three minutes, everything can happen and it is always great to play hard when you are on the court. Booker plays exactly the same basketball at the first minute of the game and at the last one, and that's nice to see.

He was always our best option on offense all game long and he played the same way in the fourth quarter. The guy doesn't quit, sorry if you don't like that in a basketball player.

If he wanted to play hard so badly, he could have started to play some defense instead of the matador stuff he showed all night. If he continues to allow a layup line on his basket just to go all out taking contested 2's and you call that "playing hard" then we seem to have a different definition of playing hard. But i agree that it is the same from beginning to the end of the game.

Every single player was outplayed today. Bridges played good defense? Really? And what about Okobo? No, they didn't. The Bucks are a really tough matchup and we were small and not smart enough to give them any problem.

So yeah, Booker didn't play well on defense but no one (except Jevon Carter) was positive on that side of the ball at all. Some for their effort, some for bad execution... but we all as a team were really bad defensively. But AT LEAST Booker contributed on offense creating and scoring efficiently, and that can not be said for anyone else. He was great and our only good option on offense.

[bwgood77]

I like Ayton’s assertiveness today in taking shots but he needs to eliminate that jab step BS entirely out of his system.

He’s not a **** guard, he’s not prime Kobe Bryant to be doing jab steps from 15-20 ft out.

As much he HATES being a big and tries to be a guard, someone needs to tell him that he’s not.

His jab step is completely pointless and useless because he can't put the ball on the floor anyway.

This.

If Ayton learns how to put the ball on the floor from the elbow or the top of key and goes to the rim he will be a way better player on offense. He needs just one dribble, two at most and he will be at the rim getting a foul or scoring a layup.

He did it against the Mavs a couple games ago, but he gets away from those plays because he is not used yet. He will get there with more repitations.

Ayton can put the ball on the floor. I've seen it a lot in the past, and even a couple games ago. And as far as no free throws with that many shots...

Kareem shot over 27x at least 4x with no free throws, Hakeem at least twice, once with 40 attempts, Bird at least twice, Kobe at least twice, Worthy, Vince Carter, Marion. Even the great Josh Jackson.

http://bkref.com/tiny/NlklR

[Saberestar]

I think Eddie mentioned something like that and I kind of laughed, but I remember thinking when we were down 16 with like 4:30 left, if we could just hit a few 3s and cut it to 7, we'd be ok, but we kept going for 2s....never would have worked. When you are down that big against a team that is 41-7, with 5 rotation players out, you are extremely unlikely to cut the lead much, much less win.

You have to try to win, obviously it was a long shot but you have to try a last run in the fourth quarter.

Booker and Ayton just played five/six minutes in the last quarter, so it wasn't a big deal because they played less minutes than their average per game (Book played 34 and Ayton 30).

Booker 9/15 from the floor and 12/13 from the FT line. He played well and did whatever he could to win this game, but we are worse than the Bucks and we are short with so many players out.

With a b2b and a much more winnable game tomorrow, I would have pulled them a bit earlier, but at least the game was early giving them a little more rest. I think if anyone was questionable but could have tried to play, it was probably also a calculated move to give them rest, knowing the game was a super long shot.

Yeah, and that's why Rubio didn't play. I expect him to play tomorrow.

Sometimes players can feel bad if they get the impression that his HC is throwing a game way before the end.
Players can feel that he doesn't trust them as capable of going back into the game. It's always better to give them an opportunity in the fourth and rest them a couple minutes less IMO. It's not a big deal for young players.

[bwgood77]

You have to try to win, obviously it was a long shot but you have to try a last run in the fourth quarter.

Booker and Ayton just played five/six minutes in the last quarter, so it wasn't a big deal because they played less minutes than their average per game (Book played 34 and Ayton 30).

Booker 9/15 from the floor and 12/13 from the FT line. He played well and did whatever he could to win this game, but we are worse than the Bucks and we are short with so many players out.

With a b2b and a much more winnable game tomorrow, I would have pulled them a bit earlier, but at least the game was early giving them a little more rest. I think if anyone was questionable but could have tried to play, it was probably also a calculated move to give them rest, knowing the game was a super long shot.

Yeah, and that's why Rubio didn't play. I expect him to play tomorrow.

Sometimes players can feel bad if they get the impression that his HC is throwing a game way before the end.
Players can feel that he doesn't trust them as capable of going back into the game. It's always better to give them an opportunity in the fourth and rest them a couple minutes less IMO. It's not a big deal for young players.

Yeah, but if he got injured, then people would be asking "Why the hell was he in the game down _____ with _____ minutes left and another game tomorrow anyway?"

[Saberestar]

With a b2b and a much more winnable game tomorrow, I would have pulled them a bit earlier, but at least the game was early giving them a little more rest. I think if anyone was questionable but could have tried to play, it was probably also a calculated move to give them rest, knowing the game was a super long shot.

Yeah, and that's why Rubio didn't play. I expect him to play tomorrow.

Sometimes players can feel bad if they get the impression that his HC is throwing a game way before the end.
Players can feel that he doesn't trust them as capable of going back into the game. It's always better to give them an opportunity in the fourth and rest them a couple minutes less IMO. It's not a big deal for young players.

Yeah, but if he got injured, then people would be asking "Why the hell was he in the game down _____ with _____ minutes left and another game tomorrow anyway?"

I would not.

Players get injured all the time (we are the perfect proof right now) at different stages and places and no one can control that, so it is better to not think about it. Just play the game.

[handsome salary]

Does any Suns player really excite you as a fan? Like “I can’t wait cause (insert name here) is going off!”?

Based off the attendance and the empty upper deck local fans are voting NONE.

[lilfishi22]

His jab step is completely pointless and useless because he can't put the ball on the floor anyway.

This.

If Ayton learns how to put the ball on the floor from the elbow or the top of key and goes to the rim he will be a way better player on offense. He needs just one dribble, two at most and he will be at the rim getting a foul or scoring a layup.

He did it against the Mavs a couple games ago, but he gets away from those plays because he is not used yet. He will get there with more repitations.

Ayton can put the ball on the floor. I've seen it a lot in the past, and even a couple games ago. And as far as no free throws with that many shots...

Kareem shot over 27x at least 4x with no free throws, Hakeem at least twice, once with 40 attempts, Bird at least twice, Kobe at least twice, Worthy, Vince Carter, Marion. Even the great Josh Jackson.

http://bkref.com/tiny/NlklR

Not from 15-20 feet. He'd get stripped before he gets close to the rim if he tried that with any sort of regularity. I've seen him put the ball on the floor when he's back guys down in the paint and makes a move but not from a jab step 20 foot away from the hoop. He neither has the ball handling abilities nor the confidence in his quickness

[lilfishi22]

Does any Suns player really excite you as a fan? Like “I can’t wait cause (insert name here) is going off!”?

Based off the attendance and the empty upper deck local fans are voting NONE.

Probably Booker for me. Because he's really the only guy that could consistently go off.

[bwgood77]

Does any Suns player really excite you as a fan? Like “I can’t wait cause (insert name here) is going off!”?

Based off the attendance and the empty upper deck local fans are voting NONE.

Well, moreso than the last 9 years or so, but not like the 88-95 and 04-10 eras.