Wolves @ suns

[jcsunsfan]

Bringing Knight back is the biggest sign that nobody, from Sarver to Watson, has intentions to tank.

Chances are, we'll nab the 4th seed. No matter how bad we are, we just can't get worse than Brooklyn. It's a shame they bought out JJ. He's worth a few wins.

Can't see how Knight has helped us in any wins.

[Qwigglez]

To make ya guys feel better Nets play Sixers tomorrow night and then the following night. They don't have Okafor so I expect a two game win streak for the Nets!

They'll probably rest Lopez and Young the 2nd night.

That's not correct. They play against each other tonight, just that, only one game.

You are correct. What sucks is I looked at the rest of the Nets schedule and they have stiff competition. Maybe they can beat the Knicks, Magic, Pelicans, and Wizards. Really just need them to win one more game then us the rest of the way. Perhaps their last home game against the Raptors, the Raptors rest their starters because they are already locked into their playoff seeding.

[rsavaj]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

I would have been rooting for the win were it not such a terrible game. The refs were awful. Every little bump was a foul. Made it painful to watch. No flow at all.

No ref should fall in love with the sound of his own whistle.

[saintEscaton]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

You can’t say that with any certainty, I don’t have a crystal ball either but we are projected to finish with a better record than Brooklyn by a margin of 1, we have at least 5-6 winnable games remaining on our relatively easier schedule. Gotta take matters into our own hands, can’t rely on any favors.

[bwgood77]

Bringing Knight back is the biggest sign that nobody, from Sarver to Watson, has intentions to tank.

Chances are, we'll nab the 4th seed. No matter how bad we are, we just can't get worse than Brooklyn. It's a shame they bought out JJ. He's worth a few wins.

Well he alone almost kept the tank alive last night.

[bwgood77]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

Yeah, many fans are fans for entertainment when they go see a game, or watch a game on tv. Not "potential" slightly better future entertainment at the expense of not enjoying what they can now.

[bwgood77]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

You can’t say that with any certainty, I don’t have a crystal ball either but we are projected to finish with a better record than Brooklyn by a margin of 1, we have at least 5-6 winnable games remaining on our relatively easier schedule. Gotta take matters into our own hands, can’t rely on any favors.

Do you like someone MUCH better at 3 than 4? Or do you think there is certainty we get a top two pick finishing 3rd and zero chance if we finish 4th or 5th? The difference if fairly negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I would have rather lost but it is hilarious that some get their panties up in a bunch for winning. Like some of the rants I woke up to this morning. I mean wow.

[saintEscaton]

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

You can’t say that with any certainty, I don’t have a crystal ball either but we are projected to finish with a better record than Brooklyn by a margin of 1, we have at least 5-6 winnable games remaining on our relatively easier schedule. Gotta take matters into our own hands, can’t rely on any favors.

Do you like someone MUCH better at 3 than 4? Or do you think their is certainty we get a top two pick finishing 3rd and zero chance if we finish 4th or 5th? The difference if fairly negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I would have rather lost but it is hilarious that some get their panties up in a bunch for winning. Like some of the rants I woke up to this morning. I mean wow.

No I‘m just not paranoid/ fatalistic enough to think the lotto is rigged against us so it doesn’t matter where we finish or superstitious just because the team with the most losses rarely lands the #1 pick. I don’t mind not catching up to the Lakers that was always a long shot and hardly improves our odds to move up. But getting overtaken by Brooklyn would make this abomination of a season fruitless, Celts fans would get it both ways. That increases our likelihood to drop to 5 or 6 from 30% to over 50% which is mathematically significant. If that happened we would have to settle drafting a guard as BPA or reaching for a position of need

[King4Day]

Bringing Knight back is the biggest sign that nobody, from Sarver to Watson, has intentions to tank.

Chances are, we'll nab the 4th seed. No matter how bad we are, we just can't get worse than Brooklyn. It's a shame they bought out JJ. He's worth a few wins.

Can't see how Knight has helped us in any wins.

He's 'supposed' to be our what? 3rd or 4th best player? He can get hot at any time as we saw a couple of games ago. He'll get us a win or two before the season is over.

[bwgood77]

You can’t say that with any certainty, I don’t have a crystal ball either but we are projected to finish with a better record than Brooklyn by a margin of 1, we have at least 5-6 winnable games remaining on our relatively easier schedule. Gotta take matters into our own hands, can’t rely on any favors.

Do you like someone MUCH better at 3 than 4? Or do you think their is certainty we get a top two pick finishing 3rd and zero chance if we finish 4th or 5th? The difference if fairly negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I would have rather lost but it is hilarious that some get their panties up in a bunch for winning. Like some of the rants I woke up to this morning. I mean wow.

No I ‘m just not paranoid/ fatalistic enough to think the lotto is rigged against us so it doesn’t matter where we finish or superstitious just because the team with the most losses rarely lands the #1 pick. I don’t mind not catching up to the Lakers that was always a long shot and hardly improves our odds to move up. But getting overtaken by Brooklyn would make this abomination of a season fruitless, Celts fans would get it both ways. That increases our likelihood to drop to 5 or 6 from 30% to over 50% which is mathematically significant. If that happened we would have to settle drafting a guard as BPA or reaching for a position of need

I don't think anyone thinks the lotto is rigged against us except maybe one person I can think of, but the top 5 or 6 are interchangeable in all sorts of rankings.

Chad Ford (ESPN) - 4-7 Murray, Ellenson, Brown, Dunn (and actually Chriss has moved up to 8 on his board)

Aran Smith (nbadraft.net) - 4-7 Bender, Dunn/Hield (swap places on big board and mock at 5/6), Murray

Jonathan Givony (draftexpress/yahoo) - 4-7 Bender, Dunn, Poeltl, Murray (Ellenson 8)

SOME team is going to value one of these guys though so that pick is definitely tradeable for something. If we don't get top two or three, (which the odds were less than 50% even sitting at 3 spot), then it might be worthy of trading anyway.

But anyway, I don't think you were getting your panties in a bunch when I made that comment.

[bwgood77]

Bringing Knight back is the biggest sign that nobody, from Sarver to Watson, has intentions to tank.

Chances are, we'll nab the 4th seed. No matter how bad we are, we just can't get worse than Brooklyn. It's a shame they bought out JJ. He's worth a few wins.

Can't see how Knight has helped us in any wins.

He's 'supposed' to be our what? 3rd or 4th best player? He can get hot at any time as we saw a couple of games ago. He'll get us a win or two before the season is over.

I think his contributions have helped us win more than lose lately though.

[King4Day]

Can't see how Knight has helped us in any wins.

He's 'supposed' to be our what? 3rd or 4th best player? He can get hot at any time as we saw a couple of games ago. He'll get us a win or two before the season is over.

I think his contributions have helped us win more than lose lately though.

That's what I'm saying. I understand he's not the best and can hurt us a lot, but when he's on fire, he's capable of carrying this team to a win.

[bwgood77]

He's 'supposed' to be our what? 3rd or 4th best player? He can get hot at any time as we saw a couple of games ago. He'll get us a win or two before the season is over.

I think his contributions have helped us win more than lose lately though.

That's what I'm saying. I understand he's not the best and can hurt us a lot, but when he's on fire, he's capable of carrying this team to a win.

I typed that wrong. I think his contributions has helped us lose more than win. I mean he played well against GS but we lost. He played like crap against Minnesota and we won despite that. And he definitely cost us a few games before, and played a big part in the losing process before he went down.

[Moochthemonkey]

For people that are against tanking and want the Suns to win every game, let me ask you this. Let's say the Suns start playing .500 ball the rest of the season and lose out on a top three pick. They not only lose out on one of the top draft prospects, but they lose out on a massive trade asset to acquire a superstar. Every team covets a top three pick. It is much harder to entice a team to part with a superstar for the 4th-7th pick in the draft.

You never really posed a question, but it's clear as to what you are getting at. Who wouldn't want the Suns to keep on losing if it *guaranteed* the next or a current Lebron James? But it doesn't work like that, and thank god for the sake of the sport, it doesn't work like that. There is no fair answer to your hypothetical scenario- one that could reciprocally reverse your conclusive hindsight regrets. From a mathematical perspective, solely in regards to obtaining a higher draft pick (and hoping that he actually pans out with the franchise that he's selected by) of course any wins from here are more detrimental than beneficial, but that's besides the point.

Yes I know the Suns might already have their franchise cornerstone in Booker and possibly even Len, but they need more than that. They need another huge piece.

This is realistically true but the same could be said for more than half of the teams in the NBA. All the vets who are 'damaging' the future hopes of bad, mediocre, and treadmilling playoff teams should be the 10th-15th rotation players on a championship team while the others construct their rosters similarly to Philadelphia's D-league all-star squad.

Perhaps the NBA should create a dynamic division I & II system and have separate playoffs for each.

[Moochthemonkey]

Lol I attended this game, started up a tank chant to combat the filthy casuals who were actually cheering on this disastrous turn of events

I must have been one of the filthy casuals you were referring to, because I was cheering hard when Mirza hit that 3.

This idea that the Suns have to lose out is ridiculous. They're not going to win many more games; this one doesn't change the ping pong ball outlook in a major way.

You can’t say that with any certainty, I don’t have a crystal ball either but we are projected to finish with a better record than Brooklyn by a margin of 1, we have at least 5-6 winnable games remaining on our relatively easier schedule. Gotta take matters into our own hands, can’t rely on any favors.

I thought you were done watching the team as long as Knight was playing?

[JohnWall2]

Cry me a freakin river we won a game.

Go Suns.

You are a terrible fan if you think a team who works their butts off for a win shouldn't because you want more lottery balls. I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am that the NBA is run by basketball minds who know that lotto balls aren't the be all and end all.

Sorry mate but you're a plum. No matter how bad this team gets, no matter incompetent they are, there you are making out like they are some sort of successful franchise bashing anyone who dare say anything negative about them. C'mom man wake up, this approach of trying to win as many games as possible to make the playoffs only to fall short since 2010, how has that gone and where has that got us today? It's got us at the bottom of the pile, needing a difference maker to prop us back up via the draft, so yes we need those lottery balls despite what you say. It's not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows, this is a god awful team right now that just beat a team of kids at home.

[bwgood77]

Cry me a freakin river we won a game.

Go Suns.

You are a terrible fan if you think a team who works their butts off for a win shouldn't because you want more lottery balls. I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am that the NBA is run by basketball minds who know that lotto balls aren't the be all and end all.

Sorry mate but you're a plum. No matter how bad this team gets, no matter incompetent they are, there you are making out like they are some sort of successful franchise bashing anyone who dare say anything negative about them. C'mom man wake up, this approach of trying to win as many games as possible to make the playoffs only to fall short since 2010, how has that gone and where has that got us today? It's got us at the bottom of the pile, needing a difference maker to prop us back up via the draft, so yes we need those lottery balls despite what you say. It's not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows, this is a god awful team right now that just beat a team of kids at home.

I kind of like Booker. I kind of like Warren too. That's what trying to make the playoffs got us the last two years. It's just tiring reading posts from babies whining after a win, even though we are all well aware that more ping pong balls is better (thanks for that nugget captain obvious). Too bad this draft sucks though.

[JohnWall2]

Cry me a freakin river we won a game.

Go Suns.

You are a terrible fan if you think a team who works their butts off for a win shouldn't because you want more lottery balls. I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am that the NBA is run by basketball minds who know that lotto balls aren't the be all and end all.

Sorry mate but you're a plum. No matter how bad this team gets, no matter incompetent they are, there you are making out like they are some sort of successful franchise bashing anyone who dare say anything negative about them. C'mom man wake up, this approach of trying to win as many games as possible to make the playoffs only to fall short since 2010, how has that gone and where has that got us today? It's got us at the bottom of the pile, needing a difference maker to prop us back up via the draft, so yes we need those lottery balls despite what you say. It's not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows, this is a god awful team right now that just beat a team of kids at home.

I kind of like Booker. I kind of like Warren too. That's what trying to make the playoffs got us the last two years. It's just tiring reading posts from babies whining after a win, even though we are all well aware that more ping pong balls is better (thanks for that nugget captain obvious). Too bad this draft sucks though.

I like both of them too, however where are we now with them in the team? If we keep getting picks in that area then in all likelihood it will take us longer to assemble a competitive roster. How likely are we to get another Booker calibre player at 12? Not very....yes I know you can strike gold later on in the piece but I'd like a high pick to compliment the Washington pick we also hopefully get which would be around that area we have usually drafted the past few years.

I saw your initial post mr moderator where you told me not to personally insult others which has since been deleted....is that before you decided to label me 'captain obvious'. Good to see you leading from the front

Anyway I'll leave the glass half full guys like yourself and batsmasher to continue to praise our fantastic vets like Tucker and Chandler while getting excited each season over our 12th or 13th pick and then wondering again the following season why we suck (yet still being full of optimism of course).

[bwgood77]

Sorry mate but you're a plum. No matter how bad this team gets, no matter incompetent they are, there you are making out like they are some sort of successful franchise bashing anyone who dare say anything negative about them. C'mom man wake up, this approach of trying to win as many games as possible to make the playoffs only to fall short since 2010, how has that gone and where has that got us today? It's got us at the bottom of the pile, needing a difference maker to prop us back up via the draft, so yes we need those lottery balls despite what you say. It's not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows, this is a god awful team right now that just beat a team of kids at home.

I kind of like Booker. I kind of like Warren too. That's what trying to make the playoffs got us the last two years. It's just tiring reading posts from babies whining after a win, even though we are all well aware that more ping pong balls is better (thanks for that nugget captain obvious). Too bad this draft sucks though.

I like both of them too, however where are we now with them in the team? If we keep getting picks in that area then in all likelihood it will take us longer to assemble a competitive roster. How likely are we to get another Booker calibre player at 12? Not very....yes I know you can strike gold later on in the piece but I'd like a high pick to compliment the Washington pick we also hopefully get which would be around that area we have usually drafted the past few years.

I saw your initial post mr moderator where you told me not to personally insult others which has since been deleted....is that before you decided to label me 'captain obvious'. Good to see you leading from the front

Anyway I'll leave the glass half full guys like yourself and batsmasher to continue to praise our fantastic vets like Tucker and Chandler while getting excited each season over our 12th or 13th pick and then wondering again the following season why we suck (yet still being full of optimism of course).

I wanted to lose last night, and was upset that we won. We tried to tank the year we were good. I'd like a higher pick. We all would. Philly got high picks but where are they? Whoever gets Simmons is going to need luck on their side no matter where they stand when the lottery takes place.

Nobody is happy about where the team is right now. As a matter of fact, if you are glass half empty guy, I would expect you to be happy about this season because we do look to get a top 5 pick.

Yes, you shouldn't personally insult others, and you've been warned about that in the past. Yes, those who are pointing out more lotto balls is better are stating the obvious.

Best case scenario is our young guys play well and we lose, like against Golden State.

And about "continuing to praise Tucker and Chandler"...that is a crock. I certainly didn't do that. I mean I didn't whine like a baby about him playing well, but that is far from praising him. He played well. I can't really fault him for that.

I'm not sure why the GM and coach are playing those guys so much and why they are not trying out more of John Jenkins and then at the 4 or 5 position, other then Len, guys on 10 day contracts so we can "see if these guys can make the team" and more likely lead to losses and ping pong balls than playing Tucker and Chandler big minutes. I'm not sure what purpose at all they have Telly even playing since he is a FA. No need to have HIM winning games for us.

If fingers should be pointed ANYWHERE about "accidentally" winning games it should be at the front office for not trying to control the situation better...but they seem to put us in a losing situation when they claim to be wanting to win and in a position with more of a chance to win when we should be trying out raw guys that will likely lead to losses, but will also let us see what guys potentially have for the future.

Pointing a finger at a player for being at fault and complaining about a player for winning a game is pointless. That was batsmasher's point...these guys, if the GM puts the coach in position to play vets huge minutes and it leads to wins, blaming vets for playing well, especially a guy like Tucker who is likely playing for his next deal, is fruitless because the players are not going to intentionally try and lose.

The bigger question and more important one is, at this point in the season when lotto balls are important, why play these vets heavy minutes at all? That's not the vets fault.

I wish you and some others understood this.