Game 77: Jazz @ Suns

[Saberestar]

Another horrible game...another day at the office.

[NavLDO]

I'm about ready to give up on Len, but of course won't advocate gifting him away. He's worth more to us than any other team due to the investment and time we've put into his development, but this regression is a huge red flag. He's gunna be a faceup big with no post skills who shoots well below 40% on any significant volume. The bar has definitely been lowered

Len - 2015 - 22.7 min, 9.0pts, 7.6 Rebs ; Career-19 min, 6.4 pts, 6.0 Rebs, .713 FT%

Gobert - 2015 - 32.1 min, 11.2 pts, 9.2 Rebs ; Career-24 min, 7.1 pts , 8.5 Rebs, .586 FT%

Where were you 2 games ago, 17 pts, 15 Rebs...or 3 games ago, 14 pts, 13 Rebs??

How about Gobert's stellar performances like his 2 pts, 7 Rebs in 23 minutes on 3/23...or...2 pts, 7 Rebs in 27 min on 3/19...or...0 pts 8 Rebs in 22 min on 3/13...or...2 pts, 3 Rebs in 26 min on 2/23.

They all have bad games, but hey, let's just continuously whine about Len when he has a bad game...with our #3 PG in 32 minutes with 2 pts and 3 assts...

...or hey, let's dump Booker because on 3/17 he was 3 of 14 for 7 pts...or on 3/1 when he was 4 of 16 in 34 min...or 2/22 when he was 2 of 10 in 26 min...

In March alone, Len had these performances, in addition to the 2 above, making 9 dbls-dbls:

10 pts, 12 Rebs
26 pts, 13 Rebs
14 pts, 10 Rebs
19 pts, 16 Rebs
31 pts, 15 Rebs
12 pts, 13 Rebs
18 pts, 12 Rebs

and his last game in Feb...22 pts, 16 Rebs.

Gobert??? 3 dbl-dbls in March, but yeah, Gobert is soooo much better than Len, based upon one game when he has his number...ok, whatever...12 pts and 5 Rebs...one less Reb than Len, BTW, and 4 fouls, limiting his playing time...

[saintEscaton]

I'm not even gunna bother engaging in a debate if you're gunna just cherrypick boxscore slashlines out of contexton a limited sample size while disrgarding efficiency, advanced metrics and the sheer amount of touches he's been forcefed playing out of position last month. When defenders are daring you to take to those uncontested jumpers out of their own interest, you're not stretching the floor.

To even begin to quantify Gobert's impact as a rim protector you gotta look at Nylon Calculus. Opponent FG% within five feet of the basket (Gobert-40.9% trumps Len's 50.2%). Points saved per 36(Gobert's 1.88 trumps Len's 0.06)

[dremill24]

Dude if you're gonna bring up the Len/Gobert debate unprovoked (which is getting really old btw), at least wait til they're not actually playing each other lol. Rudy makes him his bitch every time. There's a reason the Suns and most other teams struggle to score on the Jazz, and it isn't Joel Ingles.

Someone being frustrated with Len's performance isn't an automatic Len/Gobert debate.

But since you brought it up... Gobert>>>Len and it's not really close. Get over it.

[LukasBMW]

I gotta say, I thought Len was a better rim protector in his very first season then he is now.

Len has shown flashes of being great, but he also has shown flashes of being a very average backup center.

Can't we extend him this year? That's gonna be a big question mark! Do we really want to pay him $15 mil a season (even with the new cap?) Or should we cash in and try to package him for a REAL max player before his ankles go bust?

[aIvin adams]

I gotta say, I thought Len was a better rim protector in his very first season then he is now.

i agree

another thing to keep in mind w Len, tho: he's a good guy. he's a gym rat. his beatiful gf is a bball player.

and seriously he showed up once at the school where my wife teaches and spent a generous amount of time w 7th and 8th graders. this school is wayyyy out west so there's almost no way it wasn't inconvenient for Len to go there. no media, no suns organization ppl. he just went bc the principal was a friend of a friend.

so anyway it's worth pointing out that Len might be a genuine person and a gym rat. as suns fans we should probably put a premium on having a decent human being in the locker room. i could go decades without another morris-type and not complain

[jcsunsfan]

I gotta say, I thought Len was a better rim protector in his very first season then he is now.

This is interesting. I think its true. He struggles scoring close to the hoop too. He certainly did against Washington. As far as I can tell, the primary reason is that he does not jump. He cannot hit the contested 0-5 foot shot because he seemst to get no lift. Are the feet and ankles a problem?