Game 64: Phoenix Suns (34-29) @ Chicago Bulls (29-34) l Friday l 6:00pm l BSAZ

[bigfoot]

Need a heart transplant… landale’s for Ayton’s

Heart, brain, either one works

[Slim Charless]

Worst Ayton showing in a while. Seemed non-existent out there.

That's cause you're looking at stats. He's held Vuc to 6-16 shooting. The same Vuc who killed us in the 1st half. Defense is gonna be what wins us the chip.

I mean, I definitely watched the game, and yeah, sure, he held Vuc to a crappy game too, but Ayton is better than what he showed tonight. Luckily the Suns didn't need him tonight.

Yeah he does need to rebound more. Alot of the ones he misses are due to boxing out but still more fire is needed by him. He should find his way as these last 20 games go along hopefully.

[lonea]

this is why KD is KD... never seen so many double/triple team in a suns game

[sunsbum]

That's cause you're looking at stats. He's held Vuc to 6-16 shooting. The same Vuc who killed us in the 1st half. Defense is gonna be what wins us the chip.

I mean, I definitely watched the game, and yeah, sure, he held Vuc to a crappy game too, but Ayton is better than what he showed tonight. Luckily the Suns didn't need him tonight.

Yeah he does need to rebound more. Alot of the ones he misses are due to boxing out but still more fire is needed by him. He should find his way as these last 20 games go along hopefully.

why is 20 games going to flip the switch for him in your opinion?

[Slim Charless]

I mean, I definitely watched the game, and yeah, sure, he held Vuc to a crappy game too, but Ayton is better than what he showed tonight. Luckily the Suns didn't need him tonight.

Yeah he does need to rebound more. Alot of the ones he misses are due to boxing out but still more fire is needed by him. He should find his way as these last 20 games go along hopefully.

why is 20 games going to flip the switch for him in your opinion?

Well, he hasn't been nearly as bad as everyone makes him look for 1. But I think he's gonna have a more defined role as well as wide open shots. Lastly, as guys start to realize they have a real shot at winning a title, they start to play a little harder.

[sunsbg]

Turns out Suns can shoot 3s if needed too. 47 with average 32 for the season last I checked. Seeing Book take 10 and make 6 was nice. CP3 should focus on 3s in practice too. KD double, tripple team will often end with open 3, so hitting those is key. PnR with DA will not be used as often now, so both need adjustment in the new offense. Okogie's play is bitter sweet. Suns need more games like this one to have a shot at the title, but then it means he's gone in the summer. Sad to lose another player who's breaking out in same season. Still think Monty can use DA in second unit to get him more involved. Book-only led second unit didn't look too good. One of those games with foul trouble when he plays passive. If he's fine he should come with a big game vs Mavs weak frontcourt.

[SunsRback4Good]

Turns out Suns can shoot 3s if needed too. 47 with average 32 for the season last I checked. Seeing Book take 10 and make 6 was nice. CP3 should focus on 3s in practice too. KD double, tripple team will often end with open 3, so hitting those is key. PnR with DA will not be used as often now, so both need adjustment in the new offense. Okogie's play is bitter sweet. Suns need more games like this one to have a shot at the title, but then it means he's gone in the summer. Sad to lose another player who's breaking out in same season. Still think Monty can use DA in second unit to get him more involved. Book-only led second unit didn't look too good. One of those games with foul trouble when he plays passive. If he's fine he should come with a big game vs Mavs weak frontcourt.

Who’s gone after season DA or Okogie?

[sunsbg]

Turns out Suns can shoot 3s if needed too. 47 with average 32 for the season last I checked. Seeing Book take 10 and make 6 was nice. CP3 should focus on 3s in practice too. KD double, tripple team will often end with open 3, so hitting those is key. PnR with DA will not be used as often now, so both need adjustment in the new offense. Okogie's play is bitter sweet. Suns need more games like this one to have a shot at the title, but then it means he's gone in the summer. Sad to lose another player who's breaking out in same season. Still think Monty can use DA in second unit to get him more involved. Book-only led second unit didn't look too good. One of those games with foul trouble when he plays passive. If he's fine he should come with a big game vs Mavs weak frontcourt.

Who’s gone after season DA or Okogie?

Both probably.

[SunsRback4Good]

Turns out Suns can shoot 3s if needed too. 47 with average 32 for the season last I checked. Seeing Book take 10 and make 6 was nice. CP3 should focus on 3s in practice too. KD double, tripple team will often end with open 3, so hitting those is key. PnR with DA will not be used as often now, so both need adjustment in the new offense. Okogie's play is bitter sweet. Suns need more games like this one to have a shot at the title, but then it means he's gone in the summer. Sad to lose another player who's breaking out in same season. Still think Monty can use DA in second unit to get him more involved. Book-only led second unit didn't look too good. One of those games with foul trouble when he plays passive. If he's fine he should come with a big game vs Mavs weak frontcourt.

Who’s gone after season DA or Okogie?

Both probably.

Damn! Losing both CamJ & Bridges broke my heart. But I don’t know what I’ll do if both leave this summer. There’s only so much my broken heart can already take.

[sunsbg]

Bazley looked bulkier in the OKC clips. A taller Shamet is his appearance in Suns uni. Haircut looks similar so I felt like Shamet is out there playing. A bit weird.

[Mr Puddles]

Who’s gone after season DA or Okogie?

Both probably.

Damn! Losing both CamJ & Bridges broke my heart. But I don’t know what I’ll do if both leave this summer. There’s only so much my broken heart can already take.

I think GP2 should be a good benchmark for what Okogie could be offered this offseason, which I believe is somewhere between 1-2 mil a year more than we can offer Okogie. However, guys like Okogie who've been in the league for a while and haven't had the chance to carve out a fit, tend to prioritize staying in a good situation. Think of Bobbie Portis is Milwaukee, or when Payne re-signed with the Suns.

I'm faintly hoping that Okogie will see the benefit of staying on a contending team as an elite role player for a couple more years, at a slight discount, with the prospect of cashing out even more when he hits his supposed 'prime age' three years from now.

[Saberestar]

What a game by Okogie. He is making that starting five a LEGENDARY lead unit, we have everything and a bit more in that lineup.

The game looks easy now for the Suns. I would say that the Bulls played a very good game but It didn't matter...we are too good for them.

Next game is gonna be exciting. The Mavs with Doncic and Kyrie...great opportunity to watch Okogie trying to slow them down.

Not worried about Ayton's numbers because his presence was enough to create space for our perimeter guys. He played well but basically wasn't needed for scoring.

And KD is amazing.Period.

[Saberestar]

Deandre Ayton.... paging Deandre Ayton...

Talk about seeing someone's game literally disappear with the KD trade.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

16 points, 16 boards with 4 assists and 1 block shooting 7/10 from the floor and 2/2 FTs with good defense against the Hornets.

No, he hasn’t disappeared at all.

[Saberestar]

The five man lineup of Paul - Booker - Okogie - Durant - Ayton has played 33 minutes in their first 2 games together. Here are their stats so far:

Offensive rating: 134.8
Defensive rating: 95.7
Net Rating: 39.1

Read on Twitter

[sashaturiaf]

Solid win over a Bulls team that has been playing well.

KD is opening the game up for everybody on the Suns. Okogie was fantastic yet again but I also really liked what I saw from Jock. Old school center like that fits well around KD, good physicality, good passing, good hands, unselfish and knows how to play the game. Just a great fit next to Durant, he's Kendrick Perkins with an offensive game, or Kevon Looney with 3 extra inches, that's very serviceable for your big guy off the bench.

[SkyBill40]

Deandre Ayton.... paging Deandre Ayton...

Talk about seeing someone's game literally disappear with the KD trade.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

16 points, 16 boards with 4 assists and 1 block shooting 7/10 from the floor and 2/2 FTs with good defense against the Hornets.

No, he hasn’t disappeared at all.

When I checked his stats at the time of my posting, he had six points and three rebounds in 24 minutes.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

[Saberestar]

Deandre Ayton.... paging Deandre Ayton...

Talk about seeing someone's game literally disappear with the KD trade.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

16 points, 16 boards with 4 assists and 1 block shooting 7/10 from the floor and 2/2 FTs with good defense against the Hornets.

No, he hasn’t disappeared at all.

When I checked his stats at the time of my posting, he had six points and three rebounds in 24 minutes.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, he didn't put good numbers on this one but he played great against the Hornets with KD already on the court.

[sunsbg]

16 points, 16 boards with 4 assists and 1 block shooting 7/10 from the floor and 2/2 FTs with good defense against the Hornets.

No, he hasn’t disappeared at all.

When I checked his stats at the time of my posting, he had six points and three rebounds in 24 minutes.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, he didn't put good numbers on this one but he played great against the Hornets with KD already on the court.

At this point it's not worth responding to Ayton-hater-trolls.

[bwgood77]

I mean, I definitely watched the game, and yeah, sure, he held Vuc to a crappy game too, but Ayton is better than what he showed tonight. Luckily the Suns didn't need him tonight.

Yeah he does need to rebound more. Alot of the ones he misses are due to boxing out but still more fire is needed by him. He should find his way as these last 20 games go along hopefully.

why is 20 games going to flip the switch for him in your opinion?

Ayton had a bad rebounding game and has a bad one here and there, but in his last 10, had 16 boards twice (including his previous game), 15 once, and 11 or more in 4 others. So 7 out of last 10, double digit rebounds between 11 and 16. In his 5 games before that he had a 13, 14 and 20 rebound game.

As people often say "he only gets rebounds that go right to him"...which is ridiculous to talk about 15-20 rebounds happening like that (and as if it doesn't happen to others), there are games where rebounds do just bounce straight to other players often, like Paul or Book or others. It's not often those guys are in there boxing out and battling for them, though Craig for a while had a few games with some great offensive rebounds when flying in.

Even with poor rebounding games here and there, and a few games he left with injury early after a few minutes, he still averages over 10 rpg.

[irish22022]

Yeah he does need to rebound more. Alot of the ones he misses are due to boxing out but still more fire is needed by him. He should find his way as these last 20 games go along hopefully.

why is 20 games going to flip the switch for him in your opinion?

Ayton had a bad rebounding game and has a bad one here and there, but in his last 10, had 16 boards twice (including his previous game), 15 once, and 11 or more in 4 others. So 7 out of last 10, double digit rebounds between 11 and 16. In his 5 games before that he had a 13, 14 and 20 rebound game.

As people often say "he only gets rebounds that go right to him"...which is ridiculous to talk about 15-20 rebounds happening like that (and as if it doesn't happen to others), there are games where rebounds do just bounce straight to other players often, like Paul or Book or others. It's not often those guys are in there boxing out and battling for them, though Craig for a while had a few games with some great offensive rebounds when flying in.

Even with poor rebounding games here and there, and a few games he left with injury early after a few minutes, he still averages over 10 rpg.

The idea that he only gets boards that right to him is def casual talk. Often times he'll be the only one there because he got position so smaller guys don't even bother and just start running back. Perhaps it looks lucky, but that's very much a reward for getting good position.

As for okogie, I overvalued Payne in his contract year on this board, thinking he'd be getting 13 mil a year and I believe he settled on something like 8 if I recall. Hopefully okogie realizes he's getting this burn and these open looks because he's playing with 3 first ballot hall of famers in his lineup. But the Mid level? I dunno, seems small for what he does in this league. If he keeps this up I can def see him as a 10 million guy. Isn't CP partially guaranteed next year? How does that work? Can we rework his deal since it's not fully guaranteed like they do in the NFL?