What are your positive and negative thoughts with the team so far?

[bwgood77]

This is probably the worst time to start this thread, but I think there are quite a few positives from at least my expectations coming into the year, and of course, some negatives.

So if you could divide your thoughts, be rational and list what you see of both, I'd like to see people's opinions.

Positives:

Teletovic and Leuer are both FAR better than I expected.

Even though I predicted 2-4 on this road trip, and these last string of losses have been brutal, we were really only a handful of plays away from winning them all. Maybe the coach can be blamed some, but I'm not sure I expected us to be right there in every game either...no credit for that? And some of the losses have definitely come down to bonehead plays (2 by Knight) and at least one by Markieff that likely cost us the game.

Booker, looking good, and playing far more than I expected, being the youngest guy in the nba.

Warren getting more minutes, and often times, more than Tucker.

Len looking clutch tonight....maybe turning the corner?

Negatives:

Cannot close out games....our team folds in the 4th. Personally I feel this has more to do with the mentality of the players than the coach blowing it (except perhaps the game where that bench unit was on fire and he brought back in the starters). I mean, a coach doesn't coach well for three quarters and then forget to coach in the 4th. Player execution, nervousness, I don't know what it is, but some of these guys just are not ready for big game moments...Bledsoe NEVER hits those end of qtr or game shots. Leuer with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds misses BOTH free throws. Knight had a chance to tie it the other night at the line and missed 1 or 2 of I think three. Knight turning it over.....NONE of these things lie on the coach.

Markieff - this situation has REALLY hurt us. I think if he was benched all year we'd have a few more wins.

Weems - seems to suck

Warren - defense still sucks, so hopefully that improves

Neutral -

Tyson - injured...when in there he seems to be really solid...getting tons of boards, being vocal, etc, but without him our team folds at the end....we need him healthy

Hornacek - I don't feel much of this season is his fault. The Markieff situation makes it tough on him, especially since it seemed he was being told to play him. He has to play Bledsoe and Knight because they are here for years but they are not high iq. He can't magically make them high iq. He has played Booker quite a bit more than I expected which is good. He may play Tucker too much, but sometimes he seems like he is the only one who cares on D or will chase down tough boards.

I feel he hasn't always made the best rotations though. Sometimes too much Price. Sometimes he seems not to call timeouts soon enough. I am not entirely sure many coaches would be doing too much better. Maybe some would have closed out games better, but would they have had this team IN the game or leading in much of it? Who knows? I don't think firing him mid season would do much, unless help the tank, because I can't imagine any of these assistants having a chance at getting through to these guys. At a minimum, I think (hopefully) they trade Kieff and perhaps some others, and see how he can do after that.

[StarMaker]

Without Markieff and Chandler, our team doesn't have any ability to win at least 2 more games out of 9 games? I don't think so.

For example, if Markieff is a jerk in a game, Hornacek can exclude him. But he hasn't been doing it except injury issues.

I don't beleive his coaching skills and ability. I feel he can't make the Suns better we want. So I am sure that it's time to say goodbye.

[8on]

good:
1. Jon Leuer. as far as i can tell, the best backup 4 in the league (for this specific season).
2. Devin Booker
3. T.J. Warren
4. Bled and Knight. as far as two top scorers go, you couldn't do much better than these guys. our defense without TC is what's losing us games.
5. shooting. sometimes it's Bled, sometimes it's Knight, sometimes it's Booker, often it's Leuer, other times it's Mirza, but somebody always gets crazy hot. i love that.
6. Tyson Chandler. i think we're seeing just how much we need him.

bad:
1. defense without TC
2. ability to close games
3. paint defense (even with TC we were mediocre. HUGE problem)
4. the either/or conundrum with BledKnight
5. inflating the value of our early schedule. so we beat the Nuggets and Trail Blazers, and barely escaped the Lakers. i should've taken a step back
and
6. Kieff-er Bummerland. i have him on one of my fantasy teams. this guy is killin me. if he doesn't do well with his next NBA team, i'm definitely dropping him. it's definitely part of the reason i drafted him

[batsmasher]

Positives:
- Leuer (although he made a few stupid mistakes late toady)
- Book & TJ
- Bled's midranger
- Markieff is happy
- We're only 2 games out of the playoffs and Gobert is injured
- Bled wants to lead the team
- PJ might still have enough value to net something from a contender
- Getting another game on ESPN so we can be schooled by the Dubs

Negatives:
- Archie buried behind Price
- Chandler's injury hurting us when we needed him the most
- Horny's rotations and subs and general in game decisions
- Markieff forgot how to play basketball
- Knight's bipolar play
- Losing 4th quarter leads
- Suns fans

[Funky Tut]

Markieff is happy?

[Qwigglez]

I'll break mine down by players
Positives:
I enjoy watching Bledsoe play aggressive. He looks like he wants to be the leader and when that switch is on he's definitely an all-star. B-Knight has been exciting this year also, he makes dumb plays now and again but I think that can be improved with a little better coaching and more experience. Same with Bledsoe.
TJ Warren has definitely been a bright spot. He can score in bunches, but when defenses hone in on him I'm not sure if he can switch gears. I've seen numerous times where TJ makes his move and his opponent is still on him so TJ dishes the ball back out. I don't like that, I think he should stay aggressive and try a counter-move to score on his guy. I caught this during the Bulls game I believe and another game recently. Next year I expect big things from him.
Booker is definitely prime time. I enjoy just watching him shoot. I can't wait til he develops his handles a bit and has the green light to continue shooting even thru his misses.
Alex Len has actually been playing well IMO while he is starting for an injured Tyson Chandler. His defensive presence is there when he isn't fouling, but I'd like to see him continue to work in the post. I know he has a good work ethic so I'm not giving up on him for another three to four years.
Jon Leur. I actually thought in my head when we initially got him that he was gonna have a surprise season with us like Miles Plumlee did when we first got him. I've said this multiple times in game threads that he is a poor mans version of Kevin Love. I actually like him starting, and do not miss Kieff at all.
Mirza has been a good signing as well. I enjoyed watching him play last year for the Nets and was thrilled when we signed him. He had a rough start to the year because his shot was just off, but he's hitting them now at a more consistent rate and he gives an effort.
Tyson Chandler is a good leader and I liked the signing. I understand why McD went after him and I stand behind the signing. Yeah it sucks he is injured right now, but the positive to that is we get Len to play more. We need Chandler's mentoring for the entire squad though.

Negatives:
Markieff Morris. I predicted this would happen when rumors started flying about us going after LMA. Then when his bro got traded it got worse. I tried to have a better outlook and thought maybe, just maybe he would come out pissed and play like a man on fire, but that didn't happen. I can't wait til he's traded, I don't even give a crap about the BS he's gonna give the media about how his heart wasn't here all season. He's gonna say how his heart left when his brother left, or some homo garbage.
Archie Goodwin is damaged goods. The MoBros got into his head early and he's basically one of them now. It sucks because I thought Archie could have been a good player for us. Unfortunately that won't happen just because the system we run. I don't even think a change of coach will make things better, he just needs to find a different home.
PJ Tucker has some good games and then some bad games. He hasn't been the worst player but as one of our older players I expect a bit more leadership from him and I just haven't seen that. His numbers are down across the boards, and I just want him gone, mostly because we have a ton of young guys that need developing.
Sonny Weems hasn't been a factor for our team so far. I didn't expect him to be honestly, and I don't have any ill will towards him but this wasn't a good signing so far.

All in all, I think we are just one piece away from being a playoff team, and with the right chemistry maybe become a contender. We lack cohesion and maybe thats because we have our two best players as PG's. We need more balance and we need more passing. I expect a trade soon, and it can't come soon enough.

[bigfoot]

Positives

1) We are in so many close games with Kief playing the absolute worst in his career. Statistically he is one of the worst PFs in the league

2) Leuer and Telly

3) We are only four losses behind 4th place in the West. Still a chance to right the ship

Negatives

1) Unlikely to get much in return for Kief

2) Statistically we are one of the worst defensive teams in the league (points per shot, 3pt percentage, 2pt percentage)

[rsavaj]

This is probably the worst time to start this thread, but I think there are quite a few positives from at least my expectations coming into the year, and of course, some negatives.

So if you could divide your thoughts, be rational and list what you see of both, I'd like to see people's opinions.

Positives:

Teletovic and Leuer are both FAR better than I expected.

Even though I predicted 2-4 on this road trip, and these last string of losses have been brutal, we were really only a handful of plays away from winning them all. Maybe the coach can be blamed some, but I'm not sure I expected us to be right there in every game either...no credit for that? And some of the losses have definitely come down to bonehead plays (2 by Knight) and at least one by Markieff that likely cost us the game.

Booker, looking good, and playing far more than I expected, being the youngest guy in the nba.

Warren getting more minutes, and often times, more than Tucker.

Len looking clutch tonight....maybe turning the corner?

Negatives:

Cannot close out games....our team folds in the 4th. Personally I feel this has more to do with the mentality of the players than the coach blowing it (except perhaps the game where that bench unit was on fire and he brought back in the starters). I mean, a coach doesn't coach well for three quarters and then forget to coach in the 4th. Player execution, nervousness, I don't know what it is, but some of these guys just are not ready for big game moments...Bledsoe NEVER hits those end of qtr or game shots. Leuer with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds misses BOTH free throws. Knight had a chance to tie it the other night at the line and missed 1 or 2 of I think three. Knight turning it over.....NONE of these things lie on the coach.

Markieff - this situation has REALLY hurt us. I think if he was benched all year we'd have a few more wins.

Weems - seems to suck

Warren - defense still sucks, so hopefully that improves

Neutral -

Tyson - injured...when in there he seems to be really solid...getting tons of boards, being vocal, etc, but without him our team folds at the end....we need him healthy

Hornacek - I don't feel much of this season is his fault. The Markieff situation makes it tough on him, especially since it seemed he was being told to play him. He has to play Bledsoe and Knight because they are here for years but they are not high iq. He can't magically make them high iq. He has played Booker quite a bit more than I expected which is good. He may play Tucker too much, but sometimes he seems like he is the only one who cares on D or will chase down tough boards.

I feel he hasn't always made the best rotations though. Sometimes too much Price. Sometimes he seems not to call timeouts soon enough. I am not entirely sure many coaches would be doing too much better. Maybe some would have closed out games better, but would they have had this team IN the game or leading in much of it? Who knows? I don't think firing him mid season would do much, unless help the tank, because I can't imagine any of these assistants having a chance at getting through to these guys. At a minimum, I think (hopefully) they trade Kieff and perhaps some others, and see how he can do after that.

Echo pretty much everything you said.

I legitimately forgot Weems was on the roster. Not kidding. That's how little of an impact he's had.

[Scutt]

Negatives:

The whole direction of the franchise. This idea that we can somehow conbuild, that is compete while rebuilding, is a joke. We do not have the stars to compete, yet we are so desperate for every win, that our young guys get pulled as soon as they make any type of mistake. I am sick of watching a bunch of role players try and compete for the 9th seed, while our front office tries to spin how this year will be different than the last 4 have been.

Alex Lens minutes are down. I still cannot get over the fact that the Suns medical staff passed on Chandler in 2010, and yet 5 years later, gave the thumbs up for the front office to sign him to a 4 year, 52 million dollar deal. For all those claiming that all will be well once he returns, I am not so sure. Before he went down, he only had one double digit rebounding game out of the past 8, and he provides nothing on offense. I honestly believe Alex Len is just a good of player as Chandler right now, so we are overpaying him and he is limiting Lens opportunities. Oh yeah, he provides a veteran presence, so its all good.

Archie Goodwin is buried behind Price. Like seriously, the Suns claim to have two starting caliber point guards, and they are giving minutes to Ronnie Price at the end of games.

PJ Tucker and Markieff Morris play too many minutes. I want them both gone.

Hornacek refusing to ride the hot hand and his horrible substitutions or lack there of. Is it really that hard to sub in defense for offense at the end of close games?

Bledsoe and Knight are nice players, but they are not point guards, and having both is redundant. Trade one. I would keep Knight because he is a better shooter, younger, and seems to be a more willing passer.

Markieff Morris is the only player in the starting lineup that was drafted by the Suns. Doesn't say much for player development.



Positives:

Booker is getting more playing time than I expected, and he is making the most of it.

Teletovic and Leuer have both been pleasant surprises, especially Leuer. At this point, I think they have proven good enough to be stop gaps at the 4 until we address the issue through the draft or FA. Markieff just needs to go away.

Sunny Weems is on the bench where he belongs. They should have never signed him in the first place with Knight, Booker, and Goodwin already on the roster. What an obviously dumb signing.

The Sunburst at center court. They still need to lose the black boarder though...

[lilfishi22]

Positives:

- Booker looking like a stud. Still raw and still need a lot of development/maturity but his talent is undieniable

- Bledsoe playing at an all-star level

- Jon Leuer looks like a really nice player and we picked him up for virtually nothing.

- TJ's offense is phenomenal. Dude just gets buckets

Negatives:

- Closing out teams

- Hornacek still hasn't improved on his play calling nor his lineup management

- Chandler has without a doubt had an effect on the team (esp when it comes to rebounding) but I will go back to my original thought that he's overpaid for what he is and what he brings.

- Kieff somehow turning in one of his worst seasons in his career, despite still being young, fairly healthy and more experienced.

- Weems being a total non-factor despite my prediction he'd play a decent role.

[AtheJ415]

I'm honestly happy with all our young guys. They've improved overall from last year in my opinion except for Archie and Markieff.
I really like Leuer on this team, but am beginning to wonder just how much he'll get offered this offseason if he keeps it up.

I'm very excited for the following players going forward:

PG--Bledsoe
SG--Knight, Booker
SF--Warren, Bogdan
PF--Leuer, ____
C--Chandler, Len

In fact, I feel comfortable enough in Booker to move Knight if we can get enough, but feel okay keeping all of them. Having 3 young, high-quality guards, 2 who can play multiple positions, is a good problem.

Negatives:

Tucker: I see no reason why a 30 year old, 1 way player with no leadership ability should have a role on this team, let alone a starting role. He will be too old to be relevant when the team is relevant, and doesn't help the youngsters the way Chandler does. I wanted him gone last year. I hope he's gone this year. He has more value to a true contender, and accordingly we should be able to get a pick or young player for him. As a rebuilding team, that has to be done. Bogdan will be able to play some 3 next year, and even Booker can play some spot minutes there at 6'6". Time for Warren to start. Yes, he's better positioned to be a bench player stylistically, but we have to see if we can make it work with him in the starting lineup. Play your best players, and adjust the system to fit their strengths. Don't play a worse player because your system can't accommodate 3 scorers at once.

Markieff: For obvious reasons. I still believe a team out there would give us a youngster we'd want or a first for him. Thank god he was stupid enough to sign that lowball contract.

Hornacek: I'm beginning to question if he's the guy. Some playcalls have been awful. Turnovers are a consistent problem. If you're shooting well and rebounding well, you should have more wins. We turn it over 20 times a night with the guard talent we have and a former guard as a coach, and it's inexcusable to me. Youth is a part of it, but improvements should be occurring more quickly in that mental area. I gave a lot of issues a pass because last year's roster had 2 of the most immature, stupidest, overly entitled players who have ever graced the NBA with their presences (the Morri). We'll see how things go once Kieff is gone.

[lilfishi22]

Negatives:

Tucker: I see no reason why a 30 year old, 1 way player with no leadership ability should have a role on this team, let alone a starting role. He will be too old to be relevant when the team is relevant, and doesn't help the youngsters the way Chandler does. I wanted him gone last year. I hope he's gone this year. He has more value to a true contender, and accordingly we should be able to get a pick or young player for him. As a rebuilding team, that has to be done. Bogdan will be able to play some 3 next year, and even Booker can play some spot minutes there at 6'6". Time for Warren to start. Yes, he's better positioned to be a bench player stylistically, but we have to see if we can make it work with him in the starting lineup. Play your best players, and adjust the system to fit their strengths. Don't play a worse player because your system can't accommodate 3 scorers at once.

I don't think he's bad on this team. He's not taking shots away from anyone, he doesn't stop the ball like Kieff or our guards and he still plays good D. The only reason why I think he gets hate is because he's starting for this team when some think TJ should. I disagree with him being a better bench player than TJ. I think TJ is a much better player off the bench (right now) for 3 reasons: 1. He's an awesome spark off the bench. 2. He's more effective with better ball movement which we see from our bench unit. 3. His defensive weaknesses get hidden and his offense is better against bench units.

Hornacek: I'm beginning to question if he's the guy. Some playcalls have been awful. Turnovers are a consistent problem. If you're shooting well and rebounding well, you should have more wins. We turn it over 20 times a night with the guard talent we have and a former guard as a coach, and it's inexcusable to me. Youth is a part of it, but improvements should be occurring more quickly in that mental area. I gave a lot of issues a pass because last year's roster had 2 of the most immature, stupidest, overly entitled players who have ever graced the NBA with their presences (the Morri). We'll see how things go once Kieff is gone.

I don't know about the turnovers are necessarily being an issue with the coach. Bledsoe and Knight both botch normal passes and it isn't like Hornacek is asking them to be Steve Nash and do behind the back passes. The turnovers to me is more an issue of basketball IQ. Guys just aren't making the smart passes.

[Marz11]

Positives:

Booker

TJ Warren

Len (looks better when he starts)

Bledsoe's huge improvement

Knight has been better than expected

Chandler's leadership (still too expensive)

Price's leadership (too much playing time though)

Leuer and Teletovic have been great!

The team has mostly played pretty hard and have been in most games. The team is better than its record.



Negatives:

The handling of Morris twins situation. McD said that he handled the Marcus trade like he would any other player. He seems to lack emotional intelligence. The twins AREN'T the same as any other player or situation and OF COURSE you have to handle it delicately.

Simple player mistakes, especially down the stretch

Love Hornacek but his rotations are sometimes head scratching. Still developing himself.

Archie still struggling in almost all areas. Hasn't received consistent playing time in 3 years to actually improve though.

Inconsistent defensively.

The confused direction of where the Suns are going. Do they want to develop young guys for the future or do they want to win. They aren't doing either at the moment. Is it time for a rebuild of the rebuild??

[bwgood77]

Positives:

Booker

TJ Warren

Len (looks better when he starts)

Bledsoe's huge improvement

Knight has been better than expected

Chandler's leadership (still too expensive)

Price's leadership (too much playing time though)

Leuer and Teletovic have been great!

The team has mostly played pretty hard and have been in most games. The team is better than its record.



Negatives:

The handling of Morris twins situation. McD said that he handled the Marcus trade like he would any other player. He seems to lack emotional intelligence. The twins AREN'T the same as any other player or situation and OF COURSE you have to handle it delicately.

Simple player mistakes, especially down the stretch

Love Hornacek but his rotations are sometimes head scratching. Still developing himself.

Archie still struggling in almost all areas. Hasn't received consistent playing time in 3 years to actually improve though.

Inconsistent defensively.

The confused direction of where the Suns are going. Do they want to develop young guys for the future or do they want to win. They aren't doing either at the moment. Is it time for a rebuild of the rebuild??

Well if tonight is any indication, maybe our young guys are ready to contribute to a potential run. I like Horny too, and despite mistakes, I feel he has a better chance of getting us there (than an interim assistant) after this win. I think maybe this could spark us for a run. Regardless of outcomes, his coaching had us in every game on our most brutal road trip of the season.

Who knows what Sarver will do though. He is so unpredictable. I think if we trade Markieff and Tucker, this team could take off.

Hopefully we can go on some sort of run now and there

[Damkac]

Positive: Suns have a great group of very young and talented players. Most of them already looks good and should improve every year. Just as Bledsoe who finally plays on All Star level. Knight can score 30 points with ease and while he makes stupid mistakes sometimes he just turned 24 few days ago. I'm sure he will mature and improve his bb iq with time. Len has good and bad games but the potential is here. Warren is a scoring machine inside and at mid range and it looks his outside shot is also improving. Booker looks amazing for his age. When he was drafted I was afraid he is another Jimmer/Stauskas. But he looks more like another Klay Thomson instead. Hard not to be hyped. On the other hand Archie is disappointing he don't looks like he improved his game much since coming to the league. But he was drafted with 29 pick so it's not a big deal for me.
And Leuer is positive suprise this season. Just like Plumlee 2 seasons ago.

Negative: If we want to win a championship we need a superstar, hall of fame player. As much as I like Suns players none of them have much chance to become such a player. McD has done great job so far but geting a superstar will be hard.
I'm tired of players complaining and making problems. I hope Kieff is gone soon and team chemistry is repaired for good.
And I'm tired of losing close games.
And of finishing at 9th spot. I wish Suns would just stop trying to make playoffs so desperately and use this season to develop players and team chemistry.

[bwgood77]

Negative: If we want to win a championship we need a superstar, hall of fame player. As much as I like Suns players none of them have much chance to become such a player.

Have faith in Booker. Who else can shoot THAT well and also has some pretty good passing skills. I can only think of one guy.

[JMac1]

Negatives:

The whole direction of the franchise. This idea that we can somehow conbuild, that is compete while rebuilding, is a joke. We do not have the stars to compete, yet we are so desperate for every win, that our young guys get pulled as soon as they make any type of mistake. I am sick of watching a bunch of role players try and compete for the 9th seed, while our front office tries to spin how this year will be different than the last 4 have been.

Alex Lens minutes are down. I still cannot get over the fact that the Suns medical staff passed on Chandler in 2010, and yet 5 years later, gave the thumbs up for the front office to sign him to a 4 year, 52 million dollar deal. For all those claiming that all will be well once he returns, I am not so sure. Before he went down, he only had one double digit rebounding game out of the past 8, and he provides nothing on offense. I honestly believe Alex Len is just a good of player as Chandler right now, so we are overpaying him and he is limiting Lens opportunities. Oh yeah, he provides a veteran presence, so its all good.

Archie Goodwin is buried behind Price. Like seriously, the Suns claim to have two starting caliber point guards, and they are giving minutes to Ronnie Price at the end of games.

PJ Tucker and Markieff Morris play too many minutes. I want them both gone.

Hornacek refusing to ride the hot hand and his horrible substitutions or lack there of. Is it really that hard to sub in defense for offense at the end of close games?

Bledsoe and Knight are nice players, but they are not point guards, and having both is redundant. Trade one. I would keep Knight because he is a better shooter, younger, and seems to be a more willing passer.

Markieff Morris is the only player in the starting lineup that was drafted by the Suns. Doesn't say much for player development.



Positives:

Booker is getting more playing time than I expected, and he is making the most of it.

Teletovic and Leuer have both been pleasant surprises, especially Leuer. At this point, I think they have proven good enough to be stop gaps at the 4 until we address the issue through the draft or FA. Markieff just needs to go away.

Sunny Weems is on the bench where he belongs. They should have never signed him in the first place with Knight, Booker, and Goodwin already on the roster. What an obviously dumb signing.

The Sunburst at center court. They still need to lose the black boarder though...

I second this post

[aIvin adams]

but if i had to give an answer: i'm tired of having a team that regularly gets as many TOs as assists. maybe we need more point guards..?