Game 58: Phoenix Suns (23-34) @ Utah Jazz (36-20)

[BobbieL]

good win last night

just looked at standings and 4.5 games from Memphis. I get that is really 5.5 games but still...
also, if looking at overall records, would be drafting 11
so quite the improvement

Hopefully they can get some wins on this homestand
not the easiest homestand with Clippers, Portland, Raptors and Bucks
but maybe they can beat Detroit, GSW and find a win or two against the other four teams..

[RunDogGun]

Its crazy to win by 20 points and shoot 19 less free throws.

Good team win! Rubio with 22/11 with 7 steals, and our back court with 21 assists. I guess its easier to get assists when guys are hitting their shots. 60% from three, 56% from the floor, and 87% from the line. And we out rebounded them by 8.

[Fo-Real]

Booker is amazing but he's not clutch... Do you think it can be turned around?

The best version of this team is a dominant Ayton and Booker playing second fiddle imo

Need a LEAD guard. Whenever Rubio plays great the team functions better. When he isn't scoring we fade.

[BobbieL]

Booker is amazing but he's not clutch... Do you think it can be turned around?

The best version of this team is a dominant Ayton and Booker playing second fiddle imo

Need a LEAD guard. Whenever Rubio plays great the team functions better. When he isn't scoring we fade.

The Suns could use a backup guard like you mention that can really score the ball.

I think its a more pressing concern than a 4 unless the 4 is a total upgrade over Oubre.

[jcsunsfan]

The best version of this team is a dominant Ayton and Booker playing second fiddle imo

Need a LEAD guard. Whenever Rubio plays great the team functions better. When he isn't scoring we fade.

The Suns could use a backup guard like you mention that can really score the ball.

I think its a more pressing concern than a 4 unless the 4 is a total upgrade over Oubre.

This is good news. But for next year we have to make a decision on Baynes and Saric.

[Revived]

Need a LEAD guard. Whenever Rubio plays great the team functions better. When he isn't scoring we fade.

The Suns could use a backup guard like you mention that can really score the ball.

I think its a more pressing concern than a 4 unless the 4 is a total upgrade over Oubre.

This is good news. But for next year we have to make a decision on Baynes and Saric.

Bring Baynes back if it’s really cheap. Let Saric walk, wildly inconsistent and some stupid team will overpay for him out there.

[BobbieL]

Need a LEAD guard. Whenever Rubio plays great the team functions better. When he isn't scoring we fade.

The Suns could use a backup guard like you mention that can really score the ball.

I think its a more pressing concern than a 4 unless the 4 is a total upgrade over Oubre.

This is good news. But for next year we have to make a decision on Baynes and Saric.

I think the Suns can renounce Saric and follow-up if need be and sign him back for cheaper. Maybe see how the market plays out. Now Baynes, thats tricky. How much does he want and what will he come back for? He may want a true contender - don't blame him

[Fo-Real]

Also. Saric is a good player. I don't care what you have to say. He's the least talented guy on this team but he always tries hard. We need more players like him.

He should get WAAAAY more calls. He needs to stop being so demonstrative about it though, I think his showing them up tarnished his rep with other refs and makes all of them snub him!

[King4Day]

Man, Rubio was 4 rebounds and 3 assists shy of a quad-double. In 33 MINUTES!

[King4Day]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

[bwgood77]

The most impressive thing to me about Carter lately, since I know what kind of defender he is, is his shooting. I mean he's been on fire the last month or so. On fire enough to be our best 3 pt shooter this season by quite a bit. Shooting overall 42%. It's huge. He hit a timely one too tonight to possibly put the nail in the coffin.

He's obviously the best backup PG we have, and that's not saying much since the other two have been really awful lately. He's also best equipped to just come into the game and make an impact. He's a confident defender and a confident shooter. 4 years in college and a year under his belt seems to have helped. He shot ok from 3 last year (33%) but terribly from 2 (26%). He's still shooting terribly from 2 (40%) but he really only needs to be a 3&D guy and he's perfect for that.

I imagine the other two would probably do or look better if either was the full time primary backup for 25 minutes a game and didn't play like 10 minutes in some games and none in others, but we can't really be messing with that now.

Carter should just get as many minutes as we need a backup PG for.

But yes, we really need to address backup PG and maybe starting PG long term in the offseason.

I agree with all that you said in this post except for the bold part.

Jerome and Okobo are not playing 25 minutes a game because when they are on the court they usually have been terrible, not (like you suggested) they are terrible because they don't play 25 minutes per game every night. They would look even worse playing so many minutes and they would be a definitive reason to lose games.

Monty can't put a guy out there too many minutes playing as bad as they play. It is a simple correlation.

Regarding Carter, he has had his ups and downs during the season, but you know what he gives you every night. That bullgod mentality is much needed on our team, and that's why I think he is a keeper.

With all the solid PGs that are around the league I think Carter will be cheap. Something like $5M / 2 years (full guaranteed).

I'm not sure they would look really good or anything. Just better. You can never get in a rythmn if you play 10 minutes in one game and zero in some of the next things. You are thinking too much out there afraid to play. When Okobo was elevated to the backup or starter earlier in the season, and played more minutes he looked better. Few turnovers, taking it to the rim, shooting better, etc. He still has a lot of development ahead of him though being as young as he is.

Jerome has looked good a couple of times, but overall has looked terrible, but he's probably getting used to the speed of the game.

They really need a PG in the offseason. I imagine they keep Jerome since they drafted him. As for the others, I don't know. Carter, based on his play of late, looks like he would be worth keeping unless needed in a trade or someone else offers him more. Probably not worth much more than the minimum for him though. Maybe a little more, but might not be necessary if they keep Jerome and draft a PG or sign one in FA/trade for one.

Okobo they probably let go unless they have that roster spot and need a cheap contract and he looks better down the stretch. I expected less from Okobo coming into the season given his age and upside still left, and he exceeded my expectations early, but seeing him now he looks like a different player and really bad, overthinking things.

I do hope we get a better backup though to give us solid minutes and be a decent starter when/if Rubio gets injured. If we draft a guy, I suppose they can/will just keep him and Jerome and hope that's enough.

I have mentioned I expect them to keep a few cheap/minimum contracts so they can use more money on impact players, and don't really like giving up on players after two years unless they are bad on and off the court and cost a lot more money.

[bwgood77]

I was really surprised when they said it's only the second time we've beat Utah since Booker has been there. Almost 5 years. Wow.

[spanishninja]

The most impressive thing to me about Carter lately, since I know what kind of defender he is, is his shooting. I mean he's been on fire the last month or so. On fire enough to be our best 3 pt shooter this season by quite a bit. Shooting overall 42%. It's huge. He hit a timely one too tonight to possibly put the nail in the coffin.

He's obviously the best backup PG we have, and that's not saying much since the other two have been really awful lately. He's also best equipped to just come into the game and make an impact. He's a confident defender and a confident shooter. 4 years in college and a year under his belt seems to have helped. He shot ok from 3 last year (33%) but terribly from 2 (26%). He's still shooting terribly from 2 (40%) but he really only needs to be a 3&D guy and he's perfect for that.

I imagine the other two would probably do or look better if either was the full time primary backup for 25 minutes a game and didn't play like 10 minutes in some games and none in others, but we can't really be messing with that now.

Carter should just get as many minutes as we need a backup PG for.

But yes, we really need to address backup PG and maybe starting PG long term in the offseason.

I agree with all that you said in this post except for the bold part.

Jerome and Okobo are not playing 25 minutes a game because when they are on the court they usually have been terrible, not (like you suggested) they are terrible because they don't play 25 minutes per game every night. They would look even worse playing so many minutes and they would be a definitive reason to lose games.

Monty can't put a guy out there too many minutes playing as bad as they play. It is a simple correlation.

Regarding Carter, he has had his ups and downs during the season, but you know what he gives you every night. That bullgod mentality is much needed on our team, and that's why I think he is a keeper.

With all the solid PGs that are around the league I think Carter will be cheap. Something like $5M / 2 years (full guaranteed).

I'm not sure they would look really good or anything. Just better. You can never get in a rythmn if you play 10 minutes in one game and zero in some of the next things. You are thinking too much out there afraid to play. When Okobo was elevated to the backup or starter earlier in the season, and played more minutes he looked better. Few turnovers, taking it to the rim, shooting better, etc. He still has a lot of development ahead of him though being as young as he is.

Jerome has looked good a couple of times, but overall has looked terrible, but he's probably getting used to the speed of the game.

They really need a PG in the offseason. I imagine they keep Jerome since they drafted him. As for the others, I don't know. Carter, based on his play of late, looks like he would be worth keeping unless needed in a trade or someone else offers him more. Probably not worth much more than the minimum for him though. Maybe a little more, but might not be necessary if they keep Jerome and draft a PG or sign one in FA/trade for one.

Okobo they probably let go unless they have that roster spot and need a cheap contract and he looks better down the stretch. I expected less from Okobo coming into the season given his age and upside still left, and he exceeded my expectations early, but seeing him now he looks like a different player and really bad, overthinking things.

I do hope we get a better backup though to give us solid minutes and be a decent starter when/if Rubio gets injured. If we draft a guy, I suppose they can/will just keep him and Jerome and hope that's enough.

I have mentioned I expect them to keep a few cheap/minimum contracts so they can use more money on impact players, and don't really like giving up on players after two years unless they are bad on and off the court and cost a lot more money.

Yeah I think we end up keeping all the backups except for maybe Okobo. Remember he was one of the guys on the bubble to begin with going into the season, and he hasn't been consistent enough to take himself out of that. Jerome will get more chances and we can't afford to lose Carter until we get a better backup.

[ATTL]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Still alot of season left too. I was getting frustrated getting the 13th-14th pick every year but I'd like to get back there.

[Slim Charless]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Hopefully we break that mark on Friday with a revenge game against Detroit

[Slim Charless]

The Suns could use a backup guard like you mention that can really score the ball.

I think its a more pressing concern than a 4 unless the 4 is a total upgrade over Oubre.

This is good news. But for next year we have to make a decision on Baynes and Saric.

Bring Baynes back if it’s really cheap. Let Saric walk, wildly inconsistent and some stupid team will overpay for him out there.

Let's say that Baynes wants out and Rubio's reverts back to his bad shooting ways. If our medical staff gives the thumbs up. Is it COMPLETELY insane for us to do a Wall-Rubio swap- IF they were to also give us their 2020, 2022 and 2024 picks? We should have enough cap room for him. I know his game is built off speed but I look at how well CP3 has worked for the Thunder and it makes me wonder. It's a monster gamble but if it works a healthy John Wall is exactly what we need at the point.

[RunDogGun]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Hopefully we break that mark on Friday with a revenge game against Detroit

They are 2-8 in their last 10 games, and some of that was before they traded or released everyone. Hopefully we can beat them down.

[Slim Charless]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Hopefully we break that mark on Friday with a revenge game against Detroit

They are 2-8 in their last 10 games, and some of that was before they traded or released everyone. Hopefully we can beat them down.

I like our chances. We lost that last one b/c of Drummond and Jackson both are gone now and Detroit has no interest in winning games this year.

[BobbieL]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Still alot of season left too. I was getting frustrated getting the 13th-14th pick every year but I'd like to get back there.

My next two goals for the team - I think playoffs are still unrealistic unless they go 5-1 on this homestand. But two next goals

1) 33 wins so they don't have 50 losses
2) like you said, getting the 11th or lower number of ping pong balls

[Fo-Real]

"With their 24th win, the Suns have now tied their highest win total in the last five years" (from ESPN)

Crazy how bad we've been

Hopefully we break that mark on Friday with a revenge game against Detroit

I hope that is the game that we prove to the Pistons that beating the clippers on Wednesday WAS NO FLUKE!!