Game 56: Phoenix Suns (29-26) @ Chicago Bulls (34-21)

[JTrain]

I've been told Archie is a good defender. I've been told Knight is a good defender. Our defense still looks pretty bad to me.

The defensive system in place blows plus the Morris twins and Green are all some of the worst defenders to ever play for this franchise.

What is the defensive system?

[SunsFanSSOL]

I hope the 0 minutes for Thornton are a sign of things to come.

[NTB]

I hope the 0 minutes for Thornton are a sign of things to come.

Thornton would be better instead of Green. But Hornacek never would do that so it will only make Goodwin be benched. So i guess you are right with hoping that.

[Cutter]

I still don't see Markieff as the long term answer at PF.

31 last night. Be more reactionary.

Not being reactionary, I'm being realistic. Just like there were a lot of Dragic fans who thought he was the future core of the team, there are also fans who think the Morris twins are a core going forward. Guess what? Dragic was given the boot in the ass to get him off the team, and the Morris twins will eventually be traded also. I like Markieff a lot, but there is nothing wrong with questioning whether he is starting material or not. Markieff is not consistently good enough at PF to get at team deep into the playoffs.

Man, the fanboy'ism on this board is out of control. What ever happened to being a team fan first?

[MGA]

People calling for Jeff to be fired are crazy. Absolutely crazy. Look at our starting lineup. How many coaches could do better?

How many excuses can you make before you admit that Hornacek is not a good coach during a rebuild?

We almost just beat a contender with a far superior roster, in their arena, on the second night of a b2b. Great coaching, not talent, gave us the chance to win.

Just looking at other team boards, it seems like every person wants their team's coach fired.

[SunsFanSSOL]

SO DAMN STUPID to have the Morris twins in during crunch time, while we're down. They're terrible defenders, terrible rebounders and inconsistent as hell and that is Jeff's fault. Bledsoe/Knight/Tucker/Wright/Len should have been in during the final minutes.

[JTrain]

On the bright side, Archie looked pretty good offensively

And he is hustling defensively. It makes it easier to leave him on the court. I'm glad he got all that time in the DLeague, he seems like a different player from the start of the year.

Wow you are unbelievable. You know why he looks like a different player now? BECAUSE HE IS GETTING MINUTES. All this year I have been screaming to play this guy. Finally he gets minutes and everyone is like oh my, where did Goodwin come from. Every time he has gone to the D-League since the start of the year he has dominated. Now Hornacek is forced to play him and look what he does. If not for the trades the Suns made, Goodwin would still be on the bench and you would still tell me I do not know what I am talking about and if he was good enough he would have earned his rotation spot by now. Huh? Isn't that right? Back to back games he has actually outshined Bledsoe. I cannot believe your comments. Why don't you look at Goodwin's game log and see how productive he has been this year when he gets at least 9 minutes. He has only played eight games this year where he had at least 9 minutes. In five of those eight games he has scored in double figures. And the most minutes he has played in a single game was yesterday when he played 21 minutes and had 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Those are nearly Dragic's statistics per game on the season except Dragic plays 33 minutes per game, not 21. Not to mention how exciting Goodwin is to watch. He should have been playing much earlier in the season. There is no reason why he should have been on the bench.

First of all, do you have something against this?



I don't quite understand what is "unbelievable" about someone being glad that Archie played D-League minutes. Whether it improved his game is up for debate, but surely it could not have hurt him. I mean, knowing Horny wasn't going to play him, would you prefer he was playing in the D-League or sitting on the bench?

[sunsbum]

Let'sgosuns acting like he scouted Archie in preschool and the trade finally forces Jeff to unleash his secret weapon lol.

No one was "forced" to play Archie. There were three significantly better players in front of him.

[letsgosuns]

And he is hustling defensively. It makes it easier to leave him on the court. I'm glad he got all that time in the DLeague, he seems like a different player from the start of the year.

Wow you are unbelievable. You know why he looks like a different player now? BECAUSE HE IS GETTING MINUTES. All this year I have been screaming to play this guy. Finally he gets minutes and everyone is like oh my, where did Goodwin come from. Every time he has gone to the D-League since the start of the year he has dominated. Now Hornacek is forced to play him and look what he does. If not for the trades the Suns made, Goodwin would still be on the bench and you would still tell me I do not know what I am talking about and if he was good enough he would have earned his rotation spot by now. Huh? Isn't that right? Back to back games he has actually outshined Bledsoe. I cannot believe your comments. Why don't you look at Goodwin's game log and see how productive he has been this year when he gets at least 9 minutes. He has only played eight games this year where he had at least 9 minutes. In five of those eight games he has scored in double figures. And the most minutes he has played in a single game was yesterday when he played 21 minutes and had 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Those are nearly Dragic's statistics per game on the season except Dragic plays 33 minutes per game, not 21. Not to mention how exciting Goodwin is to watch. He should have been playing much earlier in the season. There is no reason why he should have been on the bench.

First of all, do you have something against this?



I don't quite understand what is "unbelievable" about someone being glad that Archie played D-League minutes. Whether it improved his game is up for debate, but surely it could not have hurt him. I mean, knowing Horny wasn't going to play him, would you prefer he was playing in the D-League or sitting on the bench?

I would have preferred Goodwin play on the actual NBA team rather than in the D-League or ride the bench. I wanted them to do what they did on the trade deadline much earlier in the year. At least they came to their senses and shipped out those two selfish point guards who are never going to get any better than they are now and were holding the team back. It was brutal to watch that three point guard lineup out there this season. I am ecstatic that so called "experiment" is in the past.

By the way, do you realize what the Suns did tonight. They might have lost the game, but they almost beat the Bulls at home with a brand new team and a bunch of players in the their early to mid twenties. Pretty damn impressive. Just wait until this team grows together over the next couple of seasons. It is going to be really exciting.

[Cutter]

The Bakersfield Jam D-league team is a great asset to have. Being able to send rookies down to play in a system that is exactly like the Suns system, helps them learn and develop and helps them become ready when they get minutes in a regular game.

It is such old fashioned thinking to believe a rookie just goes into a game and learns as they go along. That wastes the teams time. That's like hiring an new employee at a company and saying, "we're not give you any training or practice, you're just going to be thrown into you job and sink or swim".

I want my rookies to maximize the minutes they get in a real NBA game. Sending Archie down to get experience in the D-Leage was super helpful for Archie and the Suns.

[In Len We Trust]

People calling for Jeff to be fired are crazy. Absolutely crazy. Look at our starting lineup. How many coaches could do better?

How many excuses can you make before you admit that Hornacek is not a good coach during a rebuild?

We almost just beat a contender with a far superior roster, in their arena, on the second night of a b2b. Great coaching, not talent, gave us the chance to win.

Just looking at other team boards, it seems like every person wants their team's coach fired.

It honestly amazes me how simple minded you pro-Hornacek people are.

Your reasons for him being a good coach are "We won 48 games and were expected to win 20. He must be great!" and "X wins for this roster is pretty good coaching."

Do you people even watch basketball? If you actually watch games you would see coaching mistake after coaching mistake. If you actually watch with an open mind and pay attention to detail there is NO WAY you can argue that we can't be more successful with better coaching.

[bigfoot]

I've been told Archie is a good defender. I've been told Knight is a good defender. Our defense still looks pretty bad to me.

This is the issue right now. The Bulls went on their big run with these two guys in the game. They need to learn the defensive system. It will come with time and practice but I am sure that is why they were not in at the end of the 4th quarter.

Our team was within 1 point with less a minute left to a playoff caliber team on the road. The second youngest team in the league barely lost to an NBA MVP, two time NBA champion, defensive player of the year, two NBA rookies of the year, three all-stars on a back-to-back game with a new player just learning the system and two other kids who are 20 and 21 years old.

[In Len We Trust]

If you take away all of Hornacek's crappy decision making this season then we have AT LEAST 10 more wins right now. Period.

[bigfoot]

The Bakersfield Jam D-league team is a great asset to have. Being able to send rookies down to play in a system that is exactly like the Suns system, helps them learn and develop and helps them become ready when they get minutes in a regular game.

It is such old fashioned thinking to believe a rookie just goes into a game and learns as they go along. That wastes the teams time. That's like hiring an new employee at a company and saying, "we're not give you any training or practice, you're just going to be thrown into you job and sink or swim".

I want my rookies to maximize the minutes they get in a real NBA game. Sending Archie down to get experience in the D-Leage was super helpful for Archie and the Suns.

Yeah imagine do that with a doctor or a nurse.

[RunDogGun]

Wow you are unbelievable. You know why he looks like a different player now? BECAUSE HE IS GETTING MINUTES. All this year I have been screaming to play this guy. Finally he gets minutes and everyone is like oh my, where did Goodwin come from. Every time he has gone to the D-League since the start of the year he has dominated. Now Hornacek is forced to play him and look what he does. If not for the trades the Suns made, Goodwin would still be on the bench and you would still tell me I do not know what I am talking about and if he was good enough he would have earned his rotation spot by now. Huh? Isn't that right? Back to back games he has actually outshined Bledsoe. I cannot believe your comments. Why don't you look at Goodwin's game log and see how productive he has been this year when he gets at least 9 minutes. He has only played eight games this year where he had at least 9 minutes. In five of those eight games he has scored in double figures. And the most minutes he has played in a single game was yesterday when he played 21 minutes and had 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Those are nearly Dragic's statistics per game on the season except Dragic plays 33 minutes per game, not 21. Not to mention how exciting Goodwin is to watch. He should have been playing much earlier in the season. There is no reason why he should have been on the bench.

He got a ton of minutes in the DLeague, and it paid off. He looked bad this summer and at the beginning of the year. He earned his minutes. He is much more in control. You don't get that way just because you get minutes in the NBA. You can try and ignore all the work he he put in the DLeague, but that is very naive of you.

Earned his minutes? What are you talking about. He is playing now because Hornacek has to play him because he is the only backup point guard on the team, not because of what he did in the D-league. If Dragic and Thomas were still on the team, he would not be playing. He is much more in control now too because he knows he is not coming out of the game if he makes a mistake. He is playing relaxed. That is the way it should have been from the start. And by your logic about the D-League, the Suns might as well send Bledsoe down there to work on being out of control and cutting down his turnovers and Markieff down there to work on his defense and rebounding. Give me a break. Archie played in the D-league enough last year.

He earned his minutes in the DLeague. Jeff could have played Green more minutes if he didn't think Goodwin has improved. How the f*ck do you know what Goodwin is thinking? Get over yourself. Goodwin got the right amount of DLeague and it showed last night and tonight. So what did he do against OKC earlier this year in 18 minutes, since you are the expert?

Five points. In the summer league he was forcing shots, ramming into players. Last year he was releasing shots under the basket that had zero chance of going in. When pressed, he turned the ball over. If you haven't seen the difference, then you are blind. He is not the same player he was earlier.

[jcsunsfan]

If you take away all of Hornacek's crappy decision making this season then we have AT LEAST 10 more wins right now. Period.

Baloney. Totally disagree. Most of what happened earlier in the year was player who refused to run what Jeff called. Now they're gone. Move on.

I have seen it so many times. Every year, some fans have to have a scape goat. One or two people, coach or player, that they can blame all the problems on.

Its not Hornacek.

[bigfoot]

If you take away all of Hornacek's crappy decision making this season then we have AT LEAST 10 more wins right now. Period.

This is what I think of your Horny hate
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-23r2TLNA0[/youtube]

[ray ray]

Why wasn't Brendon Knight playing at the end of the game?? Isnt he a closer?? Isn't he better at creating shot for himself and teammates than Marcus Morris ?? .. I just don't get it

[SunsRback4Good]

If you take away all of Hornacek's crappy decision making this season then we have AT LEAST 10 more wins right now. Period.

39-17 and in 3rd seed??? GTFO with that nonsense.

[Cutter]

Why wasn't Brendon Knight playing at the end of the game?? Isnt he a closer?? Isn't he better at creating shot for himself and teammates than Marcus Morris ?? .. I just don't get it

I read somewhere that he is one of the top closers in the league scoring at an high efficiency in the last 3-4 minutes of the game. Guess Hornacek went with what was familiar. Once Knight is acclimated he will be in at closing time.