G23: Phoenix Suns at LA Lakers | Friday, December 9th, 9:30 PM, MST, ESPN

darealjuice · Post #141 » by **darealjuice** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:08 am

Yeah **** Watson, how dare he want to win games at the expense of our precious rookies

Post #142 » by **ATTL** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:11 am

Good win, I'm sure it feels good to get one on national TV.

carey · Post #143 » by **carey** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:16 am

darealjuice wrote:Yeah **** Watson, how dare he want to win games at the expense of our precious rookies

We're 10 games below 500 already, dude. All there is is player development right now. We're riding guys like Tucker, Chandler, Barbosa and Dudley most of the game. The only kids getting real playing time are Booker and Len. Maybe you're good with winning 1 in 4 games watching this stuff but if that's the amount of winning we're going to do I want the kids in.

Jdiddy701 wrote:

People try so hard to knock on Watson.

I don't even need to try hard. He's doing this to himself. Playing Tucker entire quarters at a time, then 40 minutes some nights, 25 the next. One rookie starts and even still barely plays while the other 2 only see garbage duty for the most part. When Warren comes back we'll likely not see Bender again until Tucker is moved.

darealjuice · Post #144 » by **darealjuice** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:43 am

carey wrote:
darealjuice wrote:Yeah **** Watson, how dare he want to win games at the expense of our precious rookies

We're 10 games below 500 already, dude. All there is is player development right now. We're riding guys like Tucker, Chandler, Barbosa and Dudley most of the game. The only kids getting real playing time are Booker and Len. Maybe you're good with winning 1 in 4 games watching this stuff but if that's the amount of winning we're going to do I want the kids in.

We're only a quarter of the way through the season and have played 10 games without our best/2nd best player that's due to return soon, dude. I'm not going to get all pissy because our team wants to win games lol. Chriss would have gotten more minutes if he wasn't a foul machine anyways, he played himself off the court with those early fouls. Bender's impact is so crazy overstated here too, I swear people seriously think that he's one of the best players on the team already lol. Token playing time for the sake of "player development" is so overrated by this forum, it drives me nuts. CJ McCollum barely even touched the floor his first 2 years in the league after coming out of school as a senior, but look at the leap he made going from his 2nd to 3rd year. Not everyone needs to get handed in game minutes to become a better player.

GMATCallahan · Post #145 » by **GMATCallahan** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:48 am

MilotheSlayer wrote:TBH, I thought it was an okay call. If we were in the Lakers position and it wasn't called we'd be fired up about it not being called.

Although a no-call would have been the better option.

At first glance, I assumed that it was a foul, but on the replay, there was nothing there—incidental contact. What has happened in the NBA in recent years is that whenever there is contact or a guy hits the ground, the referees assume that a foul occurred. But basketball is a contact sport, and sometimes the contact is completely clean and no foul should be called, even if someone falls down.

The game was not always officiated in this manner ...

GMATCallahan · Post #146 » by **GMATCallahan** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:50 am

grumpysaddle wrote:Barbosa has done a good job on Williams.

He did, but I felt that the key was getting Chandler back in the game. Chandler understood that you have to help aggressively on Williams rather than laying back the way that Len and some of the other front-court Phoenix defenders had been doing.

GMATCallahan · Post #147 » by **GMATCallahan** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:51 am

Bledsoe made about three excellent reads and passes off the pick-and-roll in the third quarter. Hopefully he can do that sort of thing more consistently.

carey · Post #148 » by **carey** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:53 am

darealjuice wrote: We're only a quarter of the way through the season and have played 10 games without our best/2nd best player that's due to return soon, dude. I'm not going to get all pissy because our team wants to win games lol. Chriss would have gotten more minutes if he wasn't a foul machine anyways, he played himself off the court with those early fouls. Bender's impact is so crazy overstated here too, I swear people seriously think that he's one of the best players on the team already lol. Token playing time for the sake of "player development" is so overrated by this forum, it drives me nuts. CJ McCollum barely even touched the floor his first 2 years in the league after coming out of school as a senior, but look at the leap he made going from his 2nd to 3rd year. Not everyone needs to get handed in game minutes to become a better player.

Well first, he was injured to start his rookie year. And second he was playing behind Wesley Matthews and made that leap when Matthews left to play in Dallas. You know.. when he got minutes? Bender and Chriss are playing behind Tucker and Dudley! It isn't even remotely the same. I'm also not advocating for "token" minutes. I think they should be playing 25 minutes per game.

darealjuice · Post #149 » by **darealjuice** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:30 am

carey wrote:
darealjuice wrote: We're only a quarter of the way through the season and have played 10 games without our best/2nd best player that's due to return soon, dude. I'm not going to get all pissy because our team wants to win games lol. Chriss would have gotten more minutes if he wasn't a foul machine anyways, he played himself off the court with those early fouls. Bender's impact is so crazy overstated here too, I swear people seriously think that he's one of the best players on the team already lol. Token playing time for the sake of "player development" is so overrated by this forum, it drives me nuts. CJ McCollum barely even touched the floor his first 2 years in the league after coming out of school as a senior, but look at the leap he made going from his 2nd to 3rd year. Not everyone needs to get handed in game minutes to become a better player.

Well first, he was injured to start his rookie year. And second he was playing behind Wesley Matthews and made that leap when Matthews left to play in Dallas. You know.. when he got minutes? Bender and Chriss are playing behind Tucker and Dudley! It isn't even remotely the same. I'm also not advocating for "token" minutes. I think they should be playing 25 minutes per game.

Does that change the fact that he barely touched the court and still somehow became a better basketball player? If he was always as good as he is now, he never would have been behind Wes in the first place. PJ is heading right back to the bench when TJ is healthy again anyways, the only reason he's getting minutes like this is because he's the only healthy person on the roster that can remotely play SF. Dudley has said multiple times that he's more than willing to take a backseat role once the rookies show they're ready to take over, and they haven't done that yet. Bender and Chriss were two of the youngest, rawest players taken in the lottery, there's no reason to destroy their confidence by watching them get manhandled for 25 minutes a game each. I'm perfectly content being patient bringing them along. It's not like either of them are lighting it up when they're getting on the court now anyways, they both look raw as advertised and have large holes in their game that will be filled through putting in work in practice and on their own.

LukasBMW · Post #150 » by **LukasBMW** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:36 am

Great win. We needed this. I don't care if DAR was out. WE. NEEDED. THIS. WIN.

-Bledsoe played great
-Booker will be fine. Growing pains.
-I wish we had a guy who could get us points in the paint.
-Nice to sender Bender go to the rim for once.
-The Lakers are not as good as their record indicates.
-Can't get too excited over this win - It's a young team VS young team
-As many of you stated before, the Suns/Laker rivalry of the future will be epic!
-Brandon Knight shot almost 50% from the floor!!!!! ...but he was -19.
-Brandon Knight still sucks

gaspar · Post #151 » by **gaspar** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:51 am

carey wrote:
darealjuice wrote:Yeah **** Watson, how dare he want to win games at the expense of our precious rookies

We're 10 games below 500 already, dude. All there is is player development right now. We're riding guys like Tucker, Chandler, Barbosa and Dudley most of the game. The only kids getting real playing time are Booker and Len. Maybe you're good with winning 1 in 4 games watching this stuff but if that's the amount of winning we're going to do I want the kids in.

We're 7-16, last year the Blazers were 11-20 at Christmas and made it to the 2nd round in the play-offs. It's not that I think that we are gonna make a big run this year, but it's waaay too early to give up on the season. A lot of teams that are ahead of us look vulnerable.

DEEP3CL · Post #152 » by **DEEP3CL** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:03 am

LukasBMW wrote:Great win. We needed this. I don't care if DAR was out. WE. NEEDED. THIS. WIN.

-Bledsoe played great
-Booker will be fine. Growing pains.
-I wish we had a guy who could get us points in the paint.
-Nice to sender Bender go to the rim for once.
-The Lakers are not as good as their record indicates.
-Can't get too excited over this win - It's a young team VS young team
-As many of you stated before, the Suns/Laker rivalry of the future will be epic!
-Brandon Knight shot almost 50% from the floor!!!!! ...but he was -19.
-Brandon Knight still sucks

So I guess the Suns are better than their 7-16 record ?

We have wins against good teams when we played them at full strength. We beat the Hawks twice, beat the Warriors, beat the Bulls, beat the Thunder and the Pelicans....all teams that were projected to be better than us and some are. But when you play hard in basketball you can beat anybody on any given night. We have 4 rotation players out no way we're going to compete at the same level we did when the season started.

YouTube · Post #153 » by **Kerrsed** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:09 am

DEEP3CL wrote:So I guess the Suns are better than their 7-16 record ?

Nope, honestly i think we are also worse than our record indicates. :lol:

The Lakers actually remind me of the 2013 Hornacek Suns that Surprised the s*** out of everyone. No one expected anything from us, and we really shouldnt have won as many games as we did, but for some crazy reason we did and it worked.

LacosteM · Post #154 » by **LacosteM** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:13 am

carey wrote:
darealjuice wrote:Yeah **** Watson, how dare he want to win games at the expense of our precious rookies

We're 10 games below 500 already, dude. All there is is player development right now. We're riding guys like Tucker, Chandler, Barbosa and Dudley most of the game. The only kids getting real playing time are Booker and Len. Maybe you're good with winning 1 in 4 games watching this stuff but if that's the amount of winning we're going to do I want the kids in.

Jdiddy701 wrote:

People try so hard to knock on Watson.

I don't even need to try hard. He's doing this to himself. Playing Tucker entire quarters at a time, then 40 minutes some nights, 25 the next. One rookie starts and even still barely plays while the other 2 only see garbage duty for the most part. When Warren comes back we'll likely not see Bender again until Tucker is moved.

It's not like this team is destined to win 30 games at best. I'm not trying to speak for others, but I highly doubt there are fans who are interested in seeing Tucker play 40 minutes in expense of the rookies PT. Watson needs to step out of the delusion cloud and realize that this season should be focused on "young guns" development and stop acting like this team is on verge of making the playoffs.

DEEP3CL · Post #155 » by **DEEP3CL** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:22 am

Kerrsed wrote:
DEEP3CL wrote:So I guess the Suns are better than their 7-16 record ?

Nope, honestly i think we are also worse than our record indicates.

The Lakers actually remind me of the 2013 Hornacek Suns that Surprised the s*** out of everyone. No one expected anything from us, and we really shouldnt have won as many games as we did, but for some crazy reason we did and it worked.

Honestly I don't know what type of team we have yet. I usually use about 35 games to see what type of team we are. Before all the injuries set in we were on a pace for about close to 23 to 29 wins before the break. But we are also entering the toughest part of our schedule. After Sunday we only have 3 more home games the rest of this month, once we come back home for Christmas we have 12 home games to get ourselves back right.

Post #156 » by **bwgood77** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:28 am

Read on Twitter

YouTube · Post #157 » by **Kerrsed** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:32 am

DEEP3CL wrote:
Kerrsed wrote:
DEEP3CL wrote:So I guess the Suns are better than their 7-16 record ?

Nope, honestly i think we are also worse than our record indicates.

The Lakers actually remind me of the 2013 Hornacek Suns that Surprised the s*** out of everyone. No one expected anything from us, and we really shouldnt have won as many games as we did, but for some crazy reason we did and it worked.
Honestly I don't know what type of team we have yet. I usually use about 35 games to see what type of team we are. Before all the injuries set in we were on a pace for about close to 23 to 29 wins before the break. But we are also entering the toughest part of our schedule. After Sunday we only have 3 more home games the rest of this month, once we come back home for Christmas we have 12 home games to get ourselves back right.

Yeah, its crazy because just like the 2013 Suns, everyone though we would be one of the worst teams in the league, we had a semi-major roster change along with a system change. Teams really didnt know what they were facing as we really didnt know what we were doing and didnt really have a known identity, but some how we used that to our advantage and won games because of it.

For the Lakers, i give a lot of the credit for their success to Lou Williams. Something lit a fire under his ass this season and he has been phenomenal. Not playing like the inefficient chucker that people labeled him as. Ive been keeping an eye on him all season as i have him on both of my Fantasy teams.

gaspar · Post #158 » by **gaspar** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:36 am

The Lakers actually have a worse NetRtg (-6.7) than the Suns (-5.3). They also have the worst defense in the league (109.4 DefRtg). Luke Walton's honeymoon is over. The team spirit is fading fast.

DaleyBlind · Post #159 » by **DaleyBlind** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:57 am

The Lakers had a good little run at the start of the year, but teams are now getting their **** together and the good/bad teams are showing themselves for the most part. They just aren't that good...

NavLDO · Post #160 » by **NavLDO** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:41 pm

Wow! This looks like a game I'll have to go back and watch. Bledsoe's stats indicate he played more like a prototypical PG last night with 9 Assts. Then to see that he went 3 for 5 from 3PT is nice. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if our rooks got much burn.

And as I've been...

...get Len 30ish minutes and he'll produce. Holy cow 5 Blks! 60% FG, Dbl-Dbl...good game from him, it appears.

Barbosa appears to have had a monster night...so as was mentioned in the previous game thread, if we played him instead of Knight, we might actually win some games...

I'm of the mindset...'don't cry over spilt milk'--the Knight trade happened, it failed, and he needs to go before his value tanks any worse, but in the meantime...Barbosa 2nd team SG; Knight 3rd team SG--that's how we need to roll forward.