Offseason Thread 7: A Tale Of Two Dragons

[SideSwipe]

Len doesn't have the defensive instincts of Noel but he does seem a lot more in tune offensively. He has some moves, he's work on range and his shooting form looks decent for a big man.

I think Len's will have a chance to be a much better man-to-man defender than Noel, because of his size, length and width. Width causes horrible problems for players on the block- too much distance to get around. Len's shoulders look like they are a dry cleaning rack, Noe'ls look like the hanger from my 11 yr olds closet.

I'm not Len apologist, but from a potential stand-point man-to-man defense and overall offense (shooting, finishing with power) Len has to have the higher upside. Noel will kill it on weak side and perimeter defense and offensive putbacks- maybe some slashing.

[lilfishi22]

I can see that from a man to man defensive standpoint. But as it stands now, Noel's weak side help and shot blocking is a significantly better skill than what Len has shown. Noel will always be a good weak side shot blocker because of his quickness and length so at least he'll have that value to a team. Len, will have to get much better in at least ONE thing to equal Noel's value going forward.

[aIvin adams]

watching pacers cavaliers and i agree w Frank Lee about david west. would look great in a suns uni

[phrazbit]

Len doesn't have the defensive instincts of Noel but he does seem a lot more in tune offensively. He has some moves, he's work on range and his shooting form looks decent for a big man.

I think Len's will have a chance to be a much better man-to-man defender than Noel, because of his size, length and width. Width causes horrible problems for players on the block- too much distance to get around. Len's shoulders look like they are a dry cleaning rack, Noe'ls look like the hanger from my 11 yr olds closet.

I'm not Len apologist, but from a potential stand-point man-to-man defense and overall offense (shooting, finishing with power) Len has to have the higher upside. Noel will kill it on weak side and perimeter defense and offensive putbacks- maybe some slashing.

Knowing where to go and reading the opposition has way more to do with successful defense than a few pounds or inches. Noel seems have strong defensive instincts, last season Len displayed a complete lack of defensive instincts. Noel is offensively raw and looks frail, but I think his impact on D will not be questioned. Len might have a coat rack for shoulders but he has not shown anything you can "hang" on in terms of skill and understanding of the game.

I also think people need to prep themselves for Len missing a lot more than a "week" with his broken finger. They said it would be a week before they reevaluated him, not before he got on the court. I doubt we see him during the preseason.

This quote from Len is very concerning; "As soon as I landed, I thought it was the same finger," Len said. "It was still sore from before because it wasn't healed all the way yet."

It had been just under 3 months since his summer league injury, and his finger was still sore and hadn't healed all the way... that ain't good.

[JTrain]

If you can't hang on a coat rack then what can you hang on?

[NaturalBuns]

i know this is off topic, but has anyone played nba2k15? just got it yesterday and i'm pretty sure alex len was left out of the game. when i go for substitutions he is not listed. ive played with the suns every time iv'e played, even in mycareer (cuz suns drafted me ) and no sign of our injury prone friend.

I play it and he's definitely in there. When you are in MyCareer mode, you start in the middle of the season so it's possible he's traded or injured when you join the team.

He doesn't suit up.
DNPs.

[Saberestar]

This is what has given Earl Barron a chance to make the regular-season roster despite the Suns already having 15 guaranteed contracts. After getting 13 rebounds in 24 minutes at Houston, Barron has been the preseason's top Suns rebounder. The 33-year-old journeyman, who started six games for Phoenix in 2010 while Robin Lopez was hurt, has a reliable mid-range shot, too. He could be competing for a 15-man roster spot with Shavlik Randolph, who has a guaranteed $1.23 million salary.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /17331337/

It seems that Barron can make the team, big surprise for me because I think Randolph is an slightly better player, it was here last year and he has a guaranteed contract.

Paul Coro didn't say anything regarding Alex Len, I think he will not play today for sure.

[lilfishi22]

This is what has given Earl Barron a chance to make the regular-season roster despite the Suns already having 15 guaranteed contracts. After getting 13 rebounds in 24 minutes at Houston, Barron has been the preseason's top Suns rebounder. The 33-year-old journeyman, who started six games for Phoenix in 2010 while Robin Lopez was hurt, has a reliable mid-range shot, too. He could be competing for a 15-man roster spot with Shavlik Randolph, who has a guaranteed $1.23 million salary.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /17331337/

It seems that Barron can make the team, big surprise for me because I think Randolph is an slightly better player, it was here last year and he has a guaranteed contract.

Paul Coro didn't say anything regarding Alex Len, I think he will not play today for sure.

Once, it shows how poor our C rotation is when a 33yo journeyman can come in and outplay them.

[NTB]

This is what has given Earl Barron a chance to make the regular-season roster despite the Suns already having 15 guaranteed contracts. After getting 13 rebounds in 24 minutes at Houston, Barron has been the preseason's top Suns rebounder. The 33-year-old journeyman, who started six games for Phoenix in 2010 while Robin Lopez was hurt, has a reliable mid-range shot, too. He could be competing for a 15-man roster spot with Shavlik Randolph, who has a guaranteed $1.23 million salary.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /17331337/

It seems that Barron can make the team, big surprise for me because I think Randolph is an slightly better player, it was here last year and he has a guaranteed contract.

Paul Coro didn't say anything regarding Alex Len, I think he will not play today for sure.

Once, it shows how poor our C rotation is when a 33yo journeyman can come in and outplay them.

We had 2 journeymen who overachieved and let us win 48 game. Green and Tucker.

[lilfishi22]

I guess we should all hope Earl Barron can be those guys then.

[fuzzy1]

I'm a Hawks fan, caught wind of some Horford rumors. I'll say I don't think we're great trade partners to begin with, mostly because we're both playoff teams in the "stockpile-assets-for-a-trade" mode.

Dragic, the Lakers pick and perhaps Bledsoe are the only things that would REALLY interest us, we've already got plenty of depth. We'd rather trade for Dragic and add him to our core (or sign him, I suppose), not give up Horford for what is probably a lateral move.

yah i got the impression from other suns fans that we were all fantasizing about a horford trade in the event there was some disfunction over there; no bad vibes intended. maybe if a new owner came in and wanted to clean house against yer team's own best interest.

we are similarly hoping that the Kings finally implode and Boogie demands a trade

Yea, we're hoping for somebody to shake loose as well. As far as dysfunction goes, as long as Budenholzer is here I think we'll be fine. Plus, injuries and lack of depth (on the wings especially) wrecked us last year and we've hopefully addressed that this year. We're gunning for a top-3 seed at first at least.

[Big NBA Fan]

You guys are lucky to have Budenholzer as your coach; I was EXTREMELY impressed by the job he did last season despite all the injuries and the departure of Joe Johnson.

Too bad the Suns chose Terry Porter over him in 2008.

[RaisingArizona]

Why not bring in Jermaine O'Neal? He was good for us 2 years ago and with our training staff, he may be effective. Even if he gave us 10 minutes a game, it'd at least be 10 productive minutes. I'm kind of worried about our bigs if Earl Barron makes our squad.

[RaisingArizona]

I'm a Hawks fan, caught wind of some Horford rumors. I'll say I don't think we're great trade partners to begin with, mostly because we're both playoff teams in the "stockpile-assets-for-a-trade" mode.

Dragic, the Lakers pick and perhaps Bledsoe are the only things that would REALLY interest us, we've already got plenty of depth. We'd rather trade for Dragic and add him to our core (or sign him, I suppose), not give up Horford for what is probably a lateral move.

Just hoping because our bigs are trash and Horford is a stud. Nothing personal-- other boards did it to us with Bledsoe and now are doing it with Dragic now. It's just nice to dream.

[Puff]

You guys are lucky to have Budenholzer as your coach; I was EXTREMELY impressed by the job he did last season despite all the injuries and the departure of Joe Johnson.

Too bad the Suns chose Terry Porter over him in 2008. :banghead:

Yep, Thanks Steve Kerr.

I wonder why Steve didn't bring in Terry Porter as one of his assistants in GS.

I was always anti Popovich in the day when we were competing with him. In recent years I have been able to look at what he has accomplished with an open mind and it is impressive. Not only has he won a lot of games and five Championships but his assistant coaches are getting head coaching gigs and doing well.

In addition to Budenholzer I believe Clifford in Charlotte and Brown in Philadelphia are both from Pop's staff. Clifford got his team to the playoffs and Brown just does not have much to work with at this point. When I consider great coaches in addition to wins and losses I like to look at how their assistant coaches have done elsewhere. For example Bobby Knight had numerous assistant coaches go on to success elsewhere.

What assistant coach for Phil Jackson has enjoyed any success elsewhere? What team not associated with Phil Jackson has or is running the Triangle?

Just asking

[aIvin adams]

will the Suns-Spurs game tonight be on the Rise network?

[NTB]

Wow, omg radio again. I think we will find a stream which will not have any commentator. Like the Nuggets game.

[Christine-In-AZ]

Steve Kerr should have demanded (rather than just suggest) that D'Antoni accept Tom Thibodeau as an assistant in '07. Mike probably knew he and Tibs would clash.

Instead of Porter, it could've been Thibodeau taking the reins in '08. Not sure how that would have gone. Can't see Nash and Thibodeau staying together for that long. No matter what, '08 to '13 would have played out very differently.

Can you imagine a Phoenix Suns team with a foundation of relentless, hard-nosed defense and rebounding?

Yeah, me neither.

[Big NBA Fan]

The only assistants under Phil who have coached in the NBA in recent years were Kurt Rambis in Minnesota and Brian Shaw in Denver.

Shaw was very underwhelming last season and Rambis was a disaster with the Timberwolves as they didn't have the players to play in the triangle system.

Not only did Kerr choose Porter over Budenholzer, he also chose him over Hornacek and Mark Jackson who also got interviews that summer.

He settled on the worst possible fit!

The 2009 Suns were probably the most unhappy team in NBA history during Porter's tenure as evidenced by all of the complaining that was going on.

But I agree that it's a shame that MDA didn't want Thibs and that Kerr should have forced him to hire him.

The interesting thing is that the Knicks and Lakers made MDA hire defensive-coordinators in Mike Woodson and Kurt Rambis respectively.

Too bad MDA is such a stubborn person.

I will say, however, that Porter DID try to install a more defensive-mindset in Phoenix, but the players didn't like his system or his practice drills so they never bought into it.

Best case scenario, in hindsight, should have been Kerr choosing Gentry from the beginning or going with Jackson/Budenholzer/Hornacek.

Anyone of those decisions would have been better than Porter.

Porter just never clicked with the team.

[JTrain]

How can Earl make the team? We can only have 15 players (with two inactive) right?

1. Dragic
2, Dragic
3, Morris
4. Morris
5. PJ
6. TJ
7. Plumlee
8. Len
9. Green
10. Tolliver
11. Bledsoe
12. IT
13. Archie
14. Ennis
15. Shavlik