Game 7: Suns vs Lakers

[AtheJ415]

Think we could trade Knight for Crawford or Lou Williams?

We're rebuilding. Why would we want those guys? At least Knight is 24.

[OnceUponADime]

Think we could trade Knight for Crawford or Lou Williams?

At a certain point, even at his cheap contract $15M/yr, Knight will be a liability to trade so Suns may need to add a first rd pick even if its highly protected to rid themselves of him.

[DaleyBlind]

The truth with Knight is he isn't as bad as he's playing. Say what you want about his style of play and hating him, but he's never been the worst player on the court for us, and so far this year he has arguably been that. He is better than he's playing, and it's unfortunate because he should be excelling in this role. I'm not one for selling low on him but at this point you move him if you can get good value.

Bolded is just simply untrue.

[DaleyBlind]

One game at a time. These are the ups/downs we will have to deal with but I had expecations that it would be at the cost of our youngsters as we watch them grow. There could be a business side to the NBA that we don't know but wishing Watson will adjust to play more of our youth once we get closer to 20 games.

I've seen a couple of times people say that maybe we want to sell more tickets so we are playing guys like Barbosa and Tucker. I can tell you right now if I lived in Phx I would buy far more tickets if I knew Bender and Ulis were playing over those two. I don't know about the general fanbase, but if they continue to see what they provide, I can't see the upside for financial reasons.

IM sorry, what special people are buying tickets to see Tucker and Barbosa play

[TeamTragic]

The truth with Knight is he isn't as bad as he's playing. Say what you want about his style of play and hating him, but he's never been the worst player on the court for us, and so far this year he has arguably been that. He is better than he's playing, and it's unfortunate because he should be excelling in this role. I'm not one for selling low on him but at this point you move him if you can get good value.

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

[OnceUponADime]

The truth with Knight is he isn't as bad as he's playing. Say what you want about his style of play and hating him, but he's never been the worst player on the court for us, and so far this year he has arguably been that. He is better than he's playing, and it's unfortunate because he should be excelling in this role. I'm not one for selling low on him but at this point you move him if you can get good value.

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

I think Len is worse than Tucker. Tucker at least plays with some sort of effort while Len sometimes looks like he hates basketball and doesn't want to be out there.

Knight, Len, Tucker, Barbosa.

That's our 4 worst players in order imo.

[MilotheSlayer]

A few tweaks I'd like to see us do over the next week. 1. It wouldn't upset me one bit to never see Knight touch the ball again. Him being the lead ball handler of the second unit is killing the team. Either him or Barbosa need to be moved. (personally I keep Barbosa)

2. I want to see Dudley and Tucker swapped. Tucker starts with Dudley off of the bench. We'd benefit from PJ on D guarding the better PFs. And our 2nd unit would benefit with Dudleys ball movement. PJ on offense can go back to being in the corner 3 position. Dudley can move to the 3 position in the second unit and help with the spacing that the 2nd unit needs big time.

3. Ulis needs to run the show for the 2nd unit. He pushes the ball and runs the court well. Always makes the extra pass. A second unit of Ulis, Barbosa, Dudley, Chriss/Bender, and Len would have much better ball movement than the current one. Good smart ball movement leads to easy buckets for Len and the rooks.

Keep feeding Book and Warren. Chandler is killing it.

[DaleyBlind]

The truth with Knight is he isn't as bad as he's playing. Say what you want about his style of play and hating him, but he's never been the worst player on the court for us, and so far this year he has arguably been that. He is better than he's playing, and it's unfortunate because he should be excelling in this role. I'm not one for selling low on him but at this point you move him if you can get good value.

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

he is not our worse player, but with the role he has and the money he is being payed he is absolutley the worse player on our team if you know what i mean.

[asudevil]

I cant help but respect the Lakers. Walton is going to be the next Pop.

I feel like this Lakers team is a half season ahead of the Suns.

Injuries/Coaching last season didnt let this team meld. Basically what remains of this roster from last season (Booker/Len/Chandler/Tucker) hasnt had a chance to grow with the injuries/additions that we've had this season (Chris/Bender/Dudley/Knight/Bledsoe/Ulis/Warren/Dudley).

I'm giving my trust to Watson till January. IMO, we will slowly see Chris/Bender/Ulis take minutes from the vets. And i seriously hope that by that time Len takes over from Chandler as the starter.

January lineup:

Len/Chandler
Chris/Bender
Warren/Dudley
Booker
Bledsoe/Ulis

[sunsbum]

Len has been playing great lately. Let see if he can keep it up.

[bwgood77]

The truth with Knight is he isn't as bad as he's playing. Say what you want about his style of play and hating him, but he's never been the worst player on the court for us, and so far this year he has arguably been that. He is better than he's playing, and it's unfortunate because he should be excelling in this role. I'm not one for selling low on him but at this point you move him if you can get good value.

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

Len had miscues, but 11 boards in 18 minutes (which is fairly elite) and he contained himself shooting, going 2-4, with a steal and a block. He did what we need him to do and didn't take shots. Unfortuantely the guys he played with, Knight, was 1-8 and Barbosa was 1-5.

If Len can provide what he did tonight off the bench while working on his offensive game in practice (hopeful, but not optimistic), he is valuable off the bench. Of course Alan Williams might provide rebounding at the same rate, but we don't know that.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Hey guys, great game today. Hopefully we have many more battles like this in the future, hopefully in the playoffs. Booker is so legit man....he's probably my favorite non-Laker young guy in the league right now. Dude has so much talent, so glad I drafted him in my fantasy team this year.


Not in a braggy type of way, but the Luke signing is exactly proof of the importance coaching makes. Not sure if I just caught a bad game, but I don't know wtf Earl Watson is doing....why are Bender, Chriss, and Ulis not getting minutes?


Anyways, best of luck in the rest of the season fellas!

[OnceUponADime]

Booker playing many more 45 min games is gonna wear him down physically before mid season. He's still only 20 years old.

Unfortunately because our bench is such crap, Booker has to play that much in order for the Suns to not get blown the hell out of games.

[AtheJ415]

I cant help but respect the Lakers. Walton is going to be the next Pop.

I feel like this Lakers team is a half season ahead of the Suns.

Injuries/Coaching last season didnt let this team meld. Basically what remains of this roster from last season (Booker/Len/Chandler/Tucker) hasnt had a chance to grow with the injuries/additions that we've had this season (Chris/Bender/Dudley/Knight/Bledsoe/Ulis/Warren/Dudley).

I'm giving my trust to Watson till January. IMO, we will slowly see Chris/Bender/Ulis take minutes from the vets. And i seriously hope that by that time Len takes over from Chandler as the starter.

January lineup:

Len/Chandler
Chris/Bender
Warren/Dudley
Booker
Bledsoe/Ulis

True, but I'd rather have our collection of talent honestly. I love Russell, but I'm not sold on Randle. He's had a strong start to this season but was trash before that. Ingram we'll see how he develops.

I honestly think Booker and Warren is the best young wing combo in the league. Both will be all-stars. Chriss has shown a lot of potential as well.

[OnceUponADime]

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

Len had miscues, but 11 boards in 18 minutes (which is fairly elite) and he contained himself shooting, going 2-4, with a steal and a block. He did what we need him to do and didn't take shots. Unfortuantely the guys he played with, Knight, was 1-8 and Barbosa was 1-5.

If Len can provide what he did tonight off the bench while working on his offensive game in practice (hopeful, but not optimistic), he is valuable off the bench. Of course Alan Williams might provide rebounding at the same rate, but we don't know that.

A lot of Len's rebounds are just offensive rebounds that he tries to tip in but never goes in or balls that just hit his hands because he's so tall and lengthy but gets credited with the rebound.

A lot of Len's rebounding numbers are padded like that. He also gets his hands on his own misses because he misses short and he's taller than most backup Cs in the league but he still usually doesn't finish the possession with a score, someone else will just eventually get the rebound after he gets multiple opportunities to miss.

I wonder if there's a way to see how many rebounds a player actually grabs rather than just the tipped ones and how many rebounds a player has off his own misses. In today's age of analytics, there probably is some way for it.

[bwgood77]

Hey guys, great game today. Hopefully we have many more battles like this in the future, hopefully in the playoffs. Booker is so legit man....he's probably my favorite non-Laker young guy in the league right now. Dude has so much talent, so glad I drafted him in my fantasy team this year.


Not in a braggy type of way, but the Luke signing is exactly proof of the importance coaching makes. Not sure if I just caught a bad game, but I don't know wtf Earl Watson is doing....why are Bender, Chriss, and Ulis not getting minutes?


Anyways, best of luck in the rest of the season fellas!

You echo the sentiments of us all.

[TeamTragic]

Bolded is just simply untrue.

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

Len had miscues, but 11 boards in 18 minutes (which is fairly elite) and he contained himself shooting, going 2-4, with a steal and a block. He did what we need him to do and didn't take shots. Unfortuantely the guys he played with, Knight, was 1-8 and Barbosa was 1-5.

If Len can provide what he did tonight off the bench while working on his offensive game in practice (hopeful, but not optimistic), he is valuable off the bench. Of course Alan Williams might provide rebounding at the same rate, but we don't know that.

Consistency is key. Even with his effort we still lost. I know the refs didn't make it easier. I'm just not sure he fits on this team unless he plays hard every single game. I don't care if he scores 2 points. We need rebounds. We need defense. We need blocks.

At least Tucker has heart. What does Len need to hear from Watson before he finally makes that jump?

[bwgood77]

Knight is our worst player. Then Tucker and not that far behind Len. We are talking about consistency here.

Len had miscues, but 11 boards in 18 minutes (which is fairly elite) and he contained himself shooting, going 2-4, with a steal and a block. He did what we need him to do and didn't take shots. Unfortuantely the guys he played with, Knight, was 1-8 and Barbosa was 1-5.

If Len can provide what he did tonight off the bench while working on his offensive game in practice (hopeful, but not optimistic), he is valuable off the bench. Of course Alan Williams might provide rebounding at the same rate, but we don't know that.

A lot of Len's rebounds are just offensive rebounds that he tries to tip in but never goes in or balls that just hit his hands because he's so tall and lengthy but gets credited with the rebound.

A lot of Len's rebounding numbers are padded like that. He also gets his hands on his own misses because he misses short and he's taller than most backup Cs in the league but he still usually doesn't finish the possession with a score, someone else will just eventually get the rebound after he gets multiple opportunities to miss.

I wonder if there's a way to see how many rebounds a player actually grabs rather than just the tipped ones and how many rebounds a player has off his own misses. In today's age of analytics, there probably is some way for it.

I looked at that earlier tonight because I figured many of his rebounds were offensive ones due to all the missed shots by Knight and Barbosa, but they were only 2 of his 11. And if he only missed 2 shots tonight, I'm not sure tonight is the best night to complain about him.

Hey, at least the Chargers won today.

[OnceUponADime]

Len had miscues, but 11 boards in 18 minutes (which is fairly elite) and he contained himself shooting, going 2-4, with a steal and a block. He did what we need him to do and didn't take shots. Unfortuantely the guys he played with, Knight, was 1-8 and Barbosa was 1-5.

If Len can provide what he did tonight off the bench while working on his offensive game in practice (hopeful, but not optimistic), he is valuable off the bench. Of course Alan Williams might provide rebounding at the same rate, but we don't know that.

A lot of Len's rebounds are just offensive rebounds that he tries to tip in but never goes in or balls that just hit his hands because he's so tall and lengthy but gets credited with the rebound.

A lot of Len's rebounding numbers are padded like that. He also gets his hands on his own misses because he misses short and he's taller than most backup Cs in the league but he still usually doesn't finish the possession with a score, someone else will just eventually get the rebound after he gets multiple opportunities to miss.

I wonder if there's a way to see how many rebounds a player actually grabs rather than just the tipped ones and how many rebounds a player has off his own misses. In today's age of analytics, there probably is some way for it.

I looked at that earlier tonight because I figured many of his rebounds were offensive ones due to all the missed shots by Knight and Barbosa, but they were only 2 of his 11. And if he only missed 2 shots tonight, I'm not sure tonight is the best night to complain about him.

Hey, at least the Chargers won today.

Melvin Gordon is the Devin Booker of the Chargers

[Lakersteve20]

Bright side: Lakers pick may be late lotto so knight trade may not look awful once the pick is conveyed.

We're the 7th seed right now and beat 3 playoff teams already.