Game 65: Golden State Warriors (48-12) @ Phoenix Suns (33-31)

[RunDogGun]

In the last six games, in 3 of those Suns have scored under 81 points (74,79,80). Expect to see more under 90 point games as I'll miss our usual high scoring games.

I would shake things up a bit, and start TJ and PJ as our forwards. And if any player is 1-6 and their next shot isn't a drive to the basket, they sit, or can't shoot until they grab five more rebounds, or get five assists.

[enigmatics]

Bledsoe with +/- of -30 tonight.

[saintEscaton]

Sounded like Marqeef basically received a standing ovation from the fans.

[RunDogGun]

Bledsoe with +/- of -30 tonight.

Crazy, considering he shot 6-11, 2-3, 5-6( fg, 3, ft) maybe if guys made their shots it wouldn't have been that bad for a guy who did so well shooting.

[SunsRback4Good]

In the last six games, in 3 of those Suns have scored under 81 points (74,79,80). Expect to see more under 90 point games as I'll miss our usual high scoring games.

I would shake things up a bit, and start TJ and PJ as our forwards. And if any player is 1-6 and their next shot isn't a drive to the basket, they sit, or can't shoot until they grab five more rebounds, or get five assists.

Yeah, at this point there is nothing left but to shake up our roster and see what works and what doesn't. I want to see a lineup of Len, Wright, Tucker, Knight and Bled with both Morris's, Green, Warren, Goodwin coming off the bench.

[RunDogGun]

Sounded like Marqeef basically received a standing ovation from the fans.

It would be a good move if he wore the cowbell for a week, and said he sucked tonight.

[SunsRback4Good]

I know Bled is still pretty young but what is his ceiling scoring wise. I never see him out up huge scoring numbers which makes me believe that he'll never average 20ppg maybe 18.5-19ppg the most?

[enigmatics]

Crazy, considering he shot 6-11, 2-3, 5-6( fg, 3, ft) maybe if guys made their shots it wouldn't have been that bad for a guy who did so well shooting.

Not crazy at all. I mean we're talking about the same guy who had 6 turnovers and got torched by the GS backcourt. So much for that elite defensive ability he's supposed to be flashing. Doesn't matter if they're Tyler Johnson straight out of the d-league or Steph Curry MVP candidate.....

[saintEscaton]

I know Bled is still pretty young but what is his ceiling scoring wise. I never see him out up huge scoring numbers which makes me believe that he'll never average 20ppg maybe 18.5-19ppg the most?

The best case scenario for him is averaging near a triple double while significantly cutting down his TOs. That alone would make him a fringe star. But to take his scoring game to the next level he really needs to work on his shot selection, mid-range jumper and learn to facilitate a offense by not forcing things when nothing's there only drive it in to kick out . I still see his ceiling as Westbrook lite at best

[RunDogGun]

In the last six games, in 3 of those Suns have scored under 81 points (74,79,80). Expect to see more under 90 point games as I'll miss our usual high scoring games.

I would shake things up a bit, and start TJ and PJ as our forwards. And if any player is 1-6 and their next shot isn't a drive to the basket, they sit, or can't shoot until they grab five more rebounds, or get five assists.

Yeah, at this point there is nothing left but to shake up our roster and see what works and what doesn't. I want to see a lineup of Len, Wright, Tucker, Knight and Bled with both Morris's, Green, Warren, Goodwin coming off the bench.

Wright doesn't open the floor enough, and Len is just ok from distance. I think Tucker can hold his own on any PF in the league, and TJ gives us another offensive weapon we would lose from MkMo out of the starting line up. I really don't want to see Green anymore. It's almost as if he is trying to lose games. I mean he is hustling,but it amounts to almost nothing. I think Bullock should get those minutes.

Bullock was a good defender in college, and usually drew the tougher opponent on defense. Plus he shot so well from three in the DLeague. If paired with Bledsoe, he should get similar open threes. I mean he shot 46% from three in the DL, why not see what he can do, considering Green has been so bad at both ends of the floor.

So I would rest Bledsoe first, bring in Goodwin to pair with Knight. Slash and shoot. Then when Knight rests, you pair Bledsoe with Bullock. Slash and shoot. Both pairings are pretty good defensively, just somewhat questionable defensively. Either way, Bledsoe needs to cut down the turnovers. I would also use Wright when Bledsoe sits, and see if you can get a Brandon connection going. I saw it in a few games.

[nevetsov]

Bledsoe will never be a great PG, but his job is made significantly more difficult by no one else moving off the ball. Len is the only guy that sets screens consistently. TJ shows flashes but it's all just bogged down by guys that want to get the ball and iso.

[RunDogGun]

Crazy, considering he shot 6-11, 2-3, 5-6( fg, 3, ft) maybe if guys made their shots it wouldn't have been that bad for a guy who did so well shooting.

Not crazy at all. I mean we're talking about the same guy who had 6 turnovers and got torched by the GS backcourt. So much for that elite defensive ability he's supposed to be flashing. Doesn't matter if they're Tyler Johnson straight out of the d-league or Steph Curry MVP candidate.....

Well it does if the guards are being freed by illegal screens. It isn't as if the whole team clears out and these guys are just burning Bledsoe all by himself. He had two steals as well. The six turn overs is bad, but your assumptions and reasoning seems more like hate than logic.

[tdjm]

Bledsoe will never be a great PG, but his job is made significantly more difficult by no one else moving off the ball. Len is the only guy that sets screens consistently. TJ shows flashes but it's all just bogged down by guys that want to get the ball and iso.

Markieff should be setting more screens, but that's a coaching thing. This year his pick setting technique has really surprised me. He sets some great illegal screens but he's just not called on to set enough of them.

[RunDogGun]

I know Bled is still pretty young but what is his ceiling scoring wise. I never see him out up huge scoring numbers which makes me believe that he'll never average 20ppg maybe 18.5-19ppg the most?

The best case scenario for him is averaging near a triple double while significantly cutting down his TOs. That alone would make him a fringe star. But to take his scoring game to the next level he really needs to work on his shot selection, mid-range jumper and learn to facilitate a offense by not forcing things when nothing's there only drive it in to kick out . I still see his ceiling as Westbrook lite at best

Since the trades, it seems as if he is trying to get other guys involved more. He isn't taking many shots since the trade as one would think considering we got rid of almost forty points off our rotation players. But man he shot 6-11 and had 19 points. As far as offense goes, he did pretty well. Maybe he should have been more selfish? Curry took 24 shots.

[RunDogGun]

Bledsoe will never be a great PG, but his job is made significantly more difficult by no one else moving off the ball. Len is the only guy that sets screens consistently. TJ shows flashes but it's all just bogged down by guys that want to get the ball and iso.

Markieff should be setting more screens, but that's a coaching thing. This year his pick setting technique has really surprised me. He sets some great illegal screens but he's just not called on to set enough of them.

You want him to set more illegal screens? Who do you think he is Dray Green? Markieffs problem with screen setting is his slow release. If he had a quicker release, it would make more sense for him to screen more. However, he should be attacking the glass more, instead of falling in love with a fade away. Almost none of our guys follow their shot. That isn't a coaching issue, that's a player issue.

[tdjm]

Following your shot is only desirable in certain situations at the NBA level. If you do it too much you'll get smoked on the fast break.

As far as the illegal screens go, every team sets them, you can't be good if you don't and it will be that way until they actually call it. Markieff sets some nasty picks that get guards free but the coaching staff is trying to use him in the low post because we don't have anyone else who can do it. That's a mistake. He can roll or pop or do pretty much anything else with the ball. Miscasting him as mostly a post up player is really wasting what he can do.

[nevetsov]

Following your shot is only desirable in certain situations at the NBA level. If you do it too much you'll get smoked on the fast break.

As far as the illegal screens go, every team sets them, you can't be good if you don't and it will be that way until they actually call it. Markieff sets some nasty picks that get guards free but the coaching staff is trying to use him in the low post because we don't have anyone else who can do it. That's a mistake. He can roll or pop or do pretty much anything else with the ball. Miscasting him as mostly a post up player is really wasting what he can do.

Should be using Len in the low post and Keef up top setting the screens that Len is (and getting called for too)...

[RunDogGun]

Following your shot is only desirable in certain situations at the NBA level. If you do it too much you'll get smoked on the fast break.

As far as the illegal screens go, every team sets them, you can't be good if you don't and it will be that way until they actually call it. Markieff sets some nasty picks that get guards free but the coaching staff is trying to use him in the low post because we don't have anyone else who can do it. That's a mistake. He can roll or pop or do pretty much anything else with the ball. Miscasting him as mostly a post up player is really wasting what he can do.

He rarely ever pops, even when he has the room to do so. He likes to draw the defender in, and then drive to one of the blocks, usually the left block, and take a fade away over his player. I've actually seen him travel more than he does illegal screens.

As for following your shot, I find it's worse to watch it, because you are not watching you man anyways. Usually I've found that the shooter has the best eye on how the ball will be bouncing, and if you are shooting from one of the corners or closer to the block, you really aren't giving your opponent much of an advantage of space. The guy at the top of the key should be one of the first guys back. Plus we don't even hustle back on defense anyways, so what are we really losing by following our shots? I've seen Markieef jog back after a missed shot that he watched, and his man made the easy layup on the other end. josh Smith did it to him a few times the last time we faced Houston.

I'm all for setting more screens, but in no way would I want any of our guys to do illegal screens, we actually get called for them.

[lilfishi22]

I know Bled is still pretty young but what is his ceiling scoring wise. I never see him out up huge scoring numbers which makes me believe that he'll never average 20ppg maybe 18.5-19ppg the most?

I think he can be a legit 20ppg scorer on decent efficiency. He doesn't have many big scoring games because he's out there trying to figure out how to run a team like a true PG but if he was given the role as a pure scoring PG (ala IT), he would average 20ppg. If Goran can find a balance between passing and shooting like he has this season, there's no reason why Bledsoe couldn't do the same.

[RunDogGun]

Following your shot is only desirable in certain situations at the NBA level. If you do it too much you'll get smoked on the fast break.

As far as the illegal screens go, every team sets them, you can't be good if you don't and it will be that way until they actually call it. Markieff sets some nasty picks that get guards free but the coaching staff is trying to use him in the low post because we don't have anyone else who can do it. That's a mistake. He can roll or pop or do pretty much anything else with the ball. Miscasting him as mostly a post up player is really wasting what he can do.

Should be using Len in the low post and Keef up top setting the screens that Len is (and getting called for too)...

We should be setting two screens, and shockingly more back screens like Horny did in Utah. It gives the guards more options, like we had last season. Again, the problem is Markieff has a much slower release than Frye did, and Len often gets ignored when he makes the roll. Maybe our guards are increasingly concerned with the pass, and/or lack of ability to make the good pass. It would be interesting to see if TJ could set those screens. Ideally, it should be PJ, because he can level pretty much anyone,and he has the range. His issue is he is much better in the corner, or following missed shots.

There has to be some sort of a solution, but tough to figure out when most of the team is in a slump shooting, or radically inconsistent.