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Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup

Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22

Who should start, Tucker or Warren?

Tucker
11
48%
Warren
12
52%
 
Total votes: 23

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Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#1 » by bwgood77 » Mon Nov 16, 2015 1:02 am

Interesting write up here. Does a write up including a lot of numbers for the year from each player...it didn't seem to clearly make a case for either starting until the end...from Samuel Cooper...link for full article at bottom..the most interesting thing was a poll of fans about who should start...I thought fans would easily pick Warren, but it was about 70% to 30% in favor of Tucker. I wonder if people here would come up with a different poll result.

We are only nine games through the season, so any stats involving team lineups need to come with a disclaimer due to the small sample size. However, the Suns' starting lineup of Bledsoe, Knight, Tucker, Chandler and Morris has played 127 minutes together and boasts an offensive rating of 110.5 and a defensive rating of 95.5. That net rating of +15.0 is among the best in the NBA.

Replace Tucker with Warren and you get a much different result. The four starters plus Warren have logged just 23 minutes together through six games, but that makes them the 3rd-most commonly used Phoenix lineup. And the results so far have been disastrous, as that unit has a net rating of -28.6 and an effective field-goal percentage of just 40.2 percent.

As long as the Suns continue to have such an effective starting lineup, there's no reason for a change. I think most would agree that T.J. Warren is playing better than P.J. Tucker and that he has a very promising future. But due to match up reasons it simply makes more sense to keep Tucker in the starting lineup until it stops being an effective strategy. In the meantime, coach Hornacek can continue to reward Warren with more minutes, perhaps getting to the point where Warren's playing time will actually eclipse Tucker's. Warren can also be given more of a taste of playing time in clutch situations, but Tucker should still be the go-to option at small forward in key moments.


http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2015/11/15/9739186/p-j-tucker-vs-t-j-warren-analyzing-the-suns-small-forward-battle-two
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#2 » by JMac1 » Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:15 am

I prefer TJ......it is not a real breaking point for me anymore with Leuer in the starting lineup. I think Leuer over Kieff is more important that TJ or PJ, especially if Bledsoe continues being the smooth operator.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#3 » by bigfoot » Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:26 am

JMac1 wrote:I prefer TJ......it is not a real breaking point for me anymore with Leuer in the starting lineup. I think Leuer over Kieff is more important that TJ or PJ, especially if Bledsoe continues being the smooth operator.


I agree. Ball movement is way better with Leuer. TJ and Kief would provide killer bench scoring.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#4 » by Revived » Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:55 am

Honestly, Bledsoe is having a great year and his numbers look good but his numbers, specifically his assist numbers, should look even better if we had a SF that can knock down open 3s.

Bledsoe's done an amazing job of driving and being crafty with the ball and finding wide open shots for the 3 that's on the floor. Knight's a good shooter so opposing players don't leave him but players usually dont stay that close with Tucker.

Its a pipe dream but damn if we had a guy like Kyle Korver, I think Bledsoe would be averaging 8-9 assists a game.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#5 » by Damkac » Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:51 pm

I want Warren to get more minutes. If he starts or come of the bench don't matter for me.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#6 » by RaisingArizona » Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:06 pm

Warren but Tucker has played better as of late. Read today he had the highest +- last week.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#7 » by Scutt » Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:27 pm

I just want him to get more minutes to develop. I am nervous that if he becomes a starter and we miss out on the playoffs, we will see another situation like with Len, and he will lose his role to some 30 year old in a bid to increase the chances at capturing the illustrious 8th seed. Young players need consistent defined roles, and I hate to think our young guys might not reach their full potential because the Suns keep straddling the fence on trying to be a playoff team and developing their draft picks.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#8 » by bwgood77 » Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:50 pm

Scutt wrote:I just want him to get more minutes to develop. I am nervous that if he becomes a starter and we miss out on the playoffs, we will see another situation like with Len, and he will lose his role to some 30 year old in a bid to increase the chances at capturing the illustrious 8th seed. Young players need consistent defined roles, and I hate to think our young guys might not reach their full potential because the Suns keep straddling the fence on trying to be a playoff team and developing their draft picks.


I imagine his minutes will slightly increase throughout the season. I think being the sixth man is perfect for his development because he will always be the primary scorer, unless he is playing with one of our starting guards, but even then he will be the secondary scorer. I don't really want his role to be reduced to the 4th option on offense.

The same reason Bowen started over Manu all those years, when obviously Manu was the better scorer.

When/if he does eventually start, we will need to make sure we have some more scoring punch off the bench though.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#9 » by jeff2020 » Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:03 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
Scutt wrote:I just want him to get more minutes to develop. I am nervous that if he becomes a starter and we miss out on the playoffs, we will see another situation like with Len, and he will lose his role to some 30 year old in a bid to increase the chances at capturing the illustrious 8th seed. Young players need consistent defined roles, and I hate to think our young guys might not reach their full potential because the Suns keep straddling the fence on trying to be a playoff team and developing their draft picks.


I imagine his minutes will slightly increase throughout the season. I think being the sixth man is perfect for his development because he will always be the primary scorer, unless he is playing with one of our starting guards, but even then he will be the secondary scorer. I don't really want his role to be reduced to the 4th option on offense.

The same reason Bowen started over Manu all those years, when obviously Manu was the better scorer.


I was thinking the exact same thing. I could see TJ being a career 6th man like manu or Jamal Crawford. He is a pure scorer like Crawford and is so valuable off the bench. Put him in the starting 5 and he's not nearly as valuable because like you said, he is now the 4th option. Ideally I would love a SF who has better range other than just a corner 3 and has more of an offensive game but right now PJ is our best option to start and warren is best served as our 6th man
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#10 » by Saberestar » Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:17 pm

I prefer Warren playing 30 minutes per game.
I don't care if he comes off the bench or starting but I think we would be a better team with him staying more minutes on the court.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#11 » by bwgood77 » Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:23 pm

Saberestar wrote:I prefer Warren playing 30 minutes per game.
I don't care if he comes off the bench or starting but I think we would be a better team with him staying more minutes on the court.


In tonight's game it could make sense to play him and Tucker together at times...let Tucker guard Randle and put TJ on whoever is playing the 3.

Generally, TJ should be in the game any time one of Bledsoe, Knight or Kieff sits.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#12 » by Cutter » Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:31 am

As of now, TJ should come off the bench and play 25-30 minutes per night.
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Re: Tucker vs Warren in starting lineup 

Post#13 » by PackSuns » Sat Dec 5, 2015 8:35 pm

Wow

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