Game 19: Phoenix Suns (8-10) @ Detroit Pistons (9-9)

[NTB]

Gobert is out indefinitely! It's not good to be happy about a player injury but I don't care. They will fall from playoff spot without him I think. They may make a comeback when is back though.

[lilfishi22]

Booker and Warren might under the right coach. But I agree, we're still missing something. I bet McDonough is going to be busy this holiday season.

Well considering they are playing so well, THEY might be under the right coach. I don't know if some of the others would be right under any coach.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/672261444486828032[/tweet]

Well at least Hornacek can see the problem.

That second unit of Price, Booker, Warren, Tele, and Leur was a pleasure to watch. Tons of ball movement, tons of cutting, and full effort on both sides of the ball.

I hate hate hate how Bledsoe and Knight stop the ball. Hate it. It's a major problem. Unless Bledsoe becomes Westrbook 2.0 and Knight becomes pre firearm charges Arenas 2.0, we'll never win. That's because mediocre players don't win games in isolation.

The issue is we don't have a quality big man who can get us points. Someone mentioned earlier about Knight/Bledsoe being Jennings/Ellis 2.0 and it's hard to fault that comparison when you consider the shot attempts by both pairs. The Jennings/Ellis back court took 37% of all FGA for the Bucks in that season. That's over a third of all shot attempts going to the pair. Knight/Bledsoe on the other hand are taking 38% of all FGA so far this season. I'm not saying they are all bad shots but the fact that almost 40% of all shot attempts come from the same guys who bring the ball up the court, that usually means the ball is not touching as many hands as possible.

We need a quality PF who can score for us and give us a different look.

[nevetsov]

We need a quality PF who can score for us and give us a different look.

... or a Center...

[lilfishi22]

We need a quality PF who can score for us and give us a different look.

... or a Center...

That would also work.

[thamadkant]

Trade.

Knight, Morris, Tucker
For
Love, Delavedova

Cavs get huge depth and 2 scorers and a hard nose defender.


Suns get Love ... The proper PF suns need to compete.


C: Chandler / Len
PF: Love / Leuer / Teletovic
SF: Warren / Booker / Teletovic
SG: Goodwin / Booker
PG: Bledsoe / Delavedova / Price

Goodwin should play more patient knowing he doesnt have to prove he deserves minutes. He gets to be developed as a slasher who can brrak down defenses and draw fouls and a defender.
Booker plays big minutes as a SG/SF.
Bledsoe controls the ball when he is on... No need to take turns.

Warren becomes the 3rd scorer.... Chandler helps Love defensively. Love goes back to being the main scorer.


Cavs match Warriors depth wise... Wins a ring.

[RaisingArizona]

Problem is we're so reliant on our guards to bail us out.

[Qwigglez]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lkfzlvpt5w[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tukMH1ZWWY[/youtube]

BTW Jon Leur is a poor man's Kevin Love. He's definitely earned the start... for now.

[sunskerr]

Though I've been calling for Leur to start for over a month (yeah Im bragging out about that), I'm surprised at his ability to attack the rim with aggression. He is pretty quick off the first step, now that we actually get to see him in for extended minutes.

[batsmasher]

I think Horny's biggest problem and the reason he cops so much flack is because he's not a "new-gen" type like Stevens or Vogel. We're stuck in no man's land trying to make it work with pieces that might be superstars and might not, basically just emulating Boston. The problem is Horny isn't as savvy with his rotations nor bold enough to keep chopping and changing until something works. He's a very traditional coach in that sense and it's hurting us at the moment.

Of course the only success he's had in the league was the 48 win season where everyone on the team had a massive leash and Horny promised to be patient, the result was a career year for Dragic, Green, Bled etc.

But now the penny has dropped and Horny's hand is being forced. He has to be a bolder coach. Show less patience with guys like Kieff and PJ. Play guys on form, like Stevens does and avoid situations like tonight and last night where you sub the hot hand late in the game (Bled, Leuer).

I have no doubts Horny can coach and has a pretty good handle on everything, but his rotations are killing us and you're setting your team up for failure when you don't put your best option right then and there on the floor.

[bwgood77]

BTW Jon Leur is a poor man's Kevin Love. He's definitely earned the start... for now.

I love Leuer but for whatever reason the starters have played worse with him on the floor. I'd probably start Telly and bring in Leuer with the bench. Still give him a ton of minutes though.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Booker doesn't even need the rim. He's basically what people thought McLemore would be. I think he can be a solid Redick or Korver type easily.

[SunsRback4Good]

I would go crazy if he becomes a solid peja type shooter just without all the fade aways. One can only dream, can't he?

[Years90Suns]

Well considering they are playing so well, THEY might be under the right coach. I don't know if some of the others would be right under any coach.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/672261444486828032[/tweet]

Well at least Hornacek can see the problem.

That second unit of Price, Booker, Warren, Tele, and Leur was a pleasure to watch. Tons of ball movement, tons of cutting, and full effort on both sides of the ball.

I hate hate hate how Bledsoe and Knight stop the ball. Hate it. It's a major problem. Unless Bledsoe becomes Westrbook 2.0 and Knight becomes pre firearm charges Arenas 2.0, we'll never win. That's because mediocre players don't win games in isolation.

The issue is we don't have a quality big man who can get us points. Someone mentioned earlier about Knight/Bledsoe being Jennings/Ellis 2.0 and it's hard to fault that comparison when you consider the shot attempts by both pairs. The Jennings/Ellis back court took 37% of all FGA for the Bucks in that season. That's over a third of all shot attempts going to the pair. Knight/Bledsoe on the other hand are taking 38% of all FGA so far this season. I'm not saying they are all bad shots but the fact that almost 40% of all shot attempts come from the same guys who bring the ball up the court, that usually means the ball is not touching as many hands as possible.

We need a quality PF who can score for us and give us a different look.

Let's imagine we get a quality PF or another kind of center. What can we expect from them?
Markieff touches the ball when he is open, around the 3 pt line and then has to decide whether to shoot or penetrate, penetrating being a high energy consuming task.
Len touches the ball 4/5 times during the game.

The problem here is crearly the system.
It is not posible to win important games on a regular basis by being in the hands of two small players. When they hit from everywhere, we have a good chance. When not, we are just a bunch of friends trying confront professional teams.
Groups have to be balanced and we are not.
We have very good reserves in Teletovic and Leuer. Both can play 24 minutes and Leuer can get minutes as a C or, at least, can defend many centers.
Wareen is a player than combines really well with them, as he scores near the rim while he has space, as our FC is outside the line.
We would need a better reserve point guard, or one of the two starting guards to play more minutes with the reserves with a different mindset and share the ball.

[hauntedan]

Tucker - +/- -13
Warren - +/- +17

[bwgood77]

Tucker - +/- -13
Warren - +/- +17

Look at our whole bench unit vs theirs. Look at Bledsoe's, and Knights +/- compared to Reggie Jackson's, or even Ronnie Price's. Our bench just killed their bench. Their starters murdered our's. I would have liked to see some of our bench until injected in for some of the starters down the stretch in the 4th.

For whatever reason, Leuer and the starters together have been awful this year. I think if you let Telly start and Leuer to play with Booker and Warren that might help. I'd be fine with Warren starting too, but then our bench would just have Leuer and Booker, and I guess Len, if he is healthy. I guess if Tucker could be the defensive presence with Leuer and Booker off the bench, along with Len in the middle.

Bled/Knight/Warren/Telly/Chandler
Price/Booker/Tucker/Leuer/Len

The only thing I worry about with Warren and the starters is will he get enough touches with those two guards. It's nice when Bled or Knight sits that Warren goes in to be the other scorer.

[Jarlaxle0204]

Some thoughts after watching the game late last night:

What an amazingingly fun third quarter to watch. What a soul crushingly frustrating fourth quarter to watch. I like Knight, but if he's not going to hold onto the ball for the foul at the end of the game, we should be inbounding to Bledsoe. Knight is not a playmaker and bad things happen usually when he tries to pass. Unbelievable that they get a half court 3 right before half time and Drummond sinks both clutch free throws to send it into OT. Poor final possession/shot from Bledsoe at the end of regulation. I don't understand why he didn't try and drive it and try and draw the contact/layup.

I like Tucker but he had a poor game. Good smart foul on Drummond. Bad, stupid moving screen to free up Knight in OT. Hornacek's rotations are puzzling. He doesn't ride the hot hand enough. I feel like if Gentry was our coach, we would have seen the bench finish out that game and win by 25. He needs to make the correct adjustments.

On the good side, you have to love our recent draft picks in Warren and Booker. I also like Len quite a bit. If that's what we get picking at the end of the lottery, I'm fine picking there again this year.

The obvious and real question is what do we do with Kieff?

[Jdiddy701]

Marcus Morris deleted a picture he posted on Instagram last night after the game of him having beams coming out his eyes blowing up the city of Phoenix lol this guy is crazy


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[LukasBMW]

Marcus Morris deleted a picture he posted on Instagram last night after the game of him having beams coming out his eyes blowing up the city of Phoenix lol this guy is crazy


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

LOL. I wanna see that photo so bad.

[rsavaj]

At least we have Devin Booker. That's the most I can say about this squad.

[RunDogGun]

How we didn't ride the hot hands to finish the game is beyond stupid.