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Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas.

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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#961 » by matt131 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:58 am

darealjuice wrote:
Read on Twitter


We got the Jazz tomorrow at 5 PM for our first game in the SL Playoffs, if we win we go up against the Grizz. Excited to see more of Donovan Mitchell, wonder who'll end up guarding him for us?


I'd be so stoked if Josh can contain him on D. I hope that we play with level heads and high spirits. Let's get the W!
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#962 » by Kerrsed » Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:03 am

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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#963 » by Blackification » Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:13 am

Maybe we will actually be able to make shots in Cox arena and not T&M
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#964 » by Mulhollanddrive » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:35 am

Jordan Bell makes me a bit jealous we didn't get him.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#965 » by JMac1 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:35 am

matt131 wrote:
darealjuice wrote:
Read on Twitter


We got the Jazz tomorrow at 5 PM for our first game in the SL Playoffs, if we win we go up against the Grizz. Excited to see more of Donovan Mitchell, wonder who'll end up guarding him for us?


I'd be so stoked if Josh can contain him on D. I hope that we play with level heads and high spirits. Let's get the W!


Josh should be fired up to guard him. He won't start off guarding him though.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#966 » by Saberestar » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:56 am

We have an opportunity to redeem ourselves against the Jazz.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#967 » by MathiasPW » Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:22 am

Wasn't there D (G) League team that participated in Summer League as well? What happened to them?
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#968 » by Preacherpj » Wed Jul 12, 2017 1:44 pm

Mulhollanddrive wrote:Jordan Bell makes me a bit jealous we didn't get him.


I've actually grown pretty content with the Reed pickup, I'm like 95% certain he's going to be a really good role player for this team for a long time.

And he can SHOOT which frankly very few people on our team can do consistently.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#969 » by Preacherpj » Wed Jul 12, 2017 1:57 pm

A few quick and random SL thoughts; (with the usual preface... SL doesn't really matter and SSS)

Mike James -
I get it; the dude is fighting for a roster spot, and this is probably more Phx's fault than anyone else's, but he's not a good fit for our young guys out there. A dude like TJ McConnell, somebody that really is more of a traditional point guard would fit this group so much better. James plays complete hero-ball; and he's not a bad player... I get it.... I just don't like the fit for this group.

Reed -
Love him. He's not premium fuel, but he's steady and going to fit a role for a long time. He's going to play ~15 mpg for the Suns this year.

Bender -
Even though I wish he'd play with a 'touch' more GUSTO; I've actually liked what we've seen from Bender this cycle. He's been much more decisive with catch-shoot oppos, he's gotten a couple good ORBDs, had some nice flashes as a post passer.... he's got a lot of intriguing skills that he can work with. I like where his arrow is headed, I don't think he's ever going to be a true star, but someone like Toni Kukoc would be just fine - a versatile player that helps across the statline and plays solid defense. You need a guy like that on your team. I think we have something here.

Chriss -
Meh.... I've already vented on his mannerisms, turnovers, fouls, bad shots.... but at the end of the day it is SL and he showed enough last year for us to know the tools are there. I'm more and more doubtful he ever truly puts it together. But he is still so YOUNG; he's 2 or 3 years from being 2 or 3 years from his prime, its crazy. I worry MOST that we don't have the right types of coaches to push and develop these guys.

Jackson -
I've been fascinated watching Josh Jackson play --- and what I've seen isn't quite what I expected to see. Honestly, I've been disappointed with his defense, perhaps a victim of my own expectations, but I don't love how he's closed out on 3 point shooters, how he's gotten stuck on picks and how at times people just blow by him. He also gambles in passing lanes without usually getting a hand on the ball -- for a guy labeled as the best perimeter defender in the class, its not quite what I hoped to see. However.... I've been way more impressed with his offensive game than I thought I would be... I knew he was a good passer, but he's better than I thought, really good feel for the game and where the chess pieces are lined up on the board, he's got great vision and a willingness to pass the ball - I LOVE IT. Love how he attacks in transition, really forces the defense into uncomfortable situations, he's going to be a dangerous weapon in the open court and frankly his handle has been better than I thought it would be too. Still REALLY REALLY like this pick.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#970 » by Preacherpj » Wed Jul 12, 2017 2:27 pm

Another thought on Chriss -- I wish he'd drop the 3pt attempts for right now.

I remember listening to Drew Hanlen who is an NBA skills coach talk about really picking a couple specific things to improve on, and when you master those, moving on to other skills. In other words, you can't get good at everything at once. This is something Kobe talks about a lot as well, when he first came into the league, really mastering a few specific things, before attacking others.

I would love Chriss to really just focus on his mid-range game, post up game and ball handling. With his spin move, athleticism and size, he should be a nightmare in the post, but that's not going to happen if he's jacking 3 pointers.

He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#971 » by jcsunsfan » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:54 pm

Preacherpj wrote:
He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


Three pointers are a legit part of Chriss's game. He needs to take them when open. BTW. Shooting 32% on threes is the same as shooting 48% on twos. Plus, it opens the floor. That is why three point shooting has become such an important part of them NBA. Its just the math.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#972 » by RunDogGun » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:55 pm

Preacherpj wrote:Another thought on Chriss -- I wish he'd drop the 3pt attempts for right now.

I remember listening to Drew Hanlen who is an NBA skills coach talk about really picking a couple specific things to improve on, and when you master those, moving on to other skills. In other words, you can't get good at everything at once. This is something Kobe talks about a lot as well, when he first came into the league, really mastering a few specific things, before attacking others.

I would love Chriss to really just focus on his mid-range game, post up game and ball handling. With his spin move, athleticism and size, he should be a nightmare in the post, but that's not going to happen if he's jacking 3 pointers.

He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.

For some reason he reminds me of Markeef, where the only real energy comes from anger. The rest of the time he just looks lazy. Chriss should be dominating the SL, after almost a full season of being a starter. I'm ok with him shooting the three, but my main problem is that no one on our team catches guys in rhythm. It seems that Chriss takes threes because he is too lazy to post up, and make a play happen from there. But he is young, and maybe he sees summer league as a waste of time for him since he was already a starter. I'll reserve judgement when the season starts I guess on him.

As for the rest of our guys, I like Jackson and Reed. I'm really interested to see us extend a camp invite to Wood. James is just meh to me, I guess I was expecting more leadership from him because of his overseas play recently. And maybe I was hoping that we'd see Ulis run our summer league.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#973 » by bwgood77 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:01 pm

Preacherpj wrote:Another thought on Chriss -- I wish he'd drop the 3pt attempts for right now.

I remember listening to Drew Hanlen who is an NBA skills coach talk about really picking a couple specific things to improve on, and when you master those, moving on to other skills. In other words, you can't get good at everything at once. This is something Kobe talks about a lot as well, when he first came into the league, really mastering a few specific things, before attacking others.

I would love Chriss to really just focus on his mid-range game, post up game and ball handling. With his spin move, athleticism and size, he should be a nightmare in the post, but that's not going to happen if he's jacking 3 pointers.

He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


32% is not THAT much of a killer...it's the equivalent of 48% from 2, which we'd be happy with from Booker I'm guessing. Bigs should overall shoot better than 48%, but with his dunks, is overall % goes up, and then if he can just get from 32% up to 34 or 35 and then maybe up the 37 or so the following year, it's worth working on. Sure he should only work on certain things but we desperately need floor spacing. I'd rather Bender give up the 3s for now and focus on other offensive stuff. He's worse at 3s for now, or was last year. He looked decent in 2 summer games...I think like a combined 6 for 13 or something, but had one really bad one. We REALLY need shooting and defense though. Spreading the floor and defense are the two biggest things we need to work on. We were like 27th in 3 pt shooting last year.

Edit: I see jc already pointed out the 48%...I typed this up and looked up our 3 pt % ranking and then got interrupted, so hadn't seen that post when I started the response.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#974 » by Preacherpj » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:04 pm

jcsunsfan wrote:
Preacherpj wrote:
He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


Three pointers are a legit part of Chriss's game. He needs to take them when open. BTW. Shooting 32% on threes is the same as shooting 48% on twos. Plus, it opens the floor. That is why three point shooting has become such an important part of them NBA. Its just the math.


There's a reason Chriss is often open..... it doesn't space the floor if teams don't respect it.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#975 » by bwgood77 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:07 pm

Preacherpj wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
Preacherpj wrote:
He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


Three pointers are a legit part of Chriss's game. He needs to take them when open. BTW. Shooting 32% on threes is the same as shooting 48% on twos. Plus, it opens the floor. That is why three point shooting has become such an important part of them NBA. Its just the math.


There's a reason Chriss is often open..... it doesn't space the floor if teams don't respect it.


But if they leave him open and he knocks down at that rate for now it's fine since we are not competing with the big boys yet. If he was shooting 48% from mid range I imagine you'd be ok with that.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#976 » by Preacherpj » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:08 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
Preacherpj wrote:Another thought on Chriss -- I wish he'd drop the 3pt attempts for right now.

I remember listening to Drew Hanlen who is an NBA skills coach talk about really picking a couple specific things to improve on, and when you master those, moving on to other skills. In other words, you can't get good at everything at once. This is something Kobe talks about a lot as well, when he first came into the league, really mastering a few specific things, before attacking others.

I would love Chriss to really just focus on his mid-range game, post up game and ball handling. With his spin move, athleticism and size, he should be a nightmare in the post, but that's not going to happen if he's jacking 3 pointers.

He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


32% is not THAT much of a killer...it's the equivalent of 48% from 2, which we'd be happy with from Booker I'm guessing. Bigs should overall shoot better than 48%, but with his dunks, is overall % goes up, and then if he can just get from 32% up to 34 or 35 and then maybe up the 37 or so the following year, it's worth working on. Sure he should only work on certain things but we desperately need floor spacing. I'd rather Bender give up the 3s for now and focus on other offensive stuff. He's worse at 3s for now, or was last year. He looked decent in 2 summer games...I think like a combined 6 for 13 or something, but had one really bad one. We REALLY need shooting and defense though. Spreading the floor and defense are the two biggest things we need to work on. We were like 27th in 3 pt shooting last year.


The thing is we don't spread the floor with mediocre shooters taking extra threes. The defense just sags off, Chriss primarily only gets open catch and shoot 3s an still doesn't shoot a high percentage. The types of shots he takes are much different than the types of shots Booker gets so you really can't compare the two.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#977 » by bwgood77 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:13 pm

Preacherpj wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Preacherpj wrote:Another thought on Chriss -- I wish he'd drop the 3pt attempts for right now.

I remember listening to Drew Hanlen who is an NBA skills coach talk about really picking a couple specific things to improve on, and when you master those, moving on to other skills. In other words, you can't get good at everything at once. This is something Kobe talks about a lot as well, when he first came into the league, really mastering a few specific things, before attacking others.

I would love Chriss to really just focus on his mid-range game, post up game and ball handling. With his spin move, athleticism and size, he should be a nightmare in the post, but that's not going to happen if he's jacking 3 pointers.

He shot 32% from deep last year and took 225 of those shots, that's a killer.


32% is not THAT much of a killer...it's the equivalent of 48% from 2, which we'd be happy with from Booker I'm guessing. Bigs should overall shoot better than 48%, but with his dunks, is overall % goes up, and then if he can just get from 32% up to 34 or 35 and then maybe up the 37 or so the following year, it's worth working on. Sure he should only work on certain things but we desperately need floor spacing. I'd rather Bender give up the 3s for now and focus on other offensive stuff. He's worse at 3s for now, or was last year. He looked decent in 2 summer games...I think like a combined 6 for 13 or something, but had one really bad one. We REALLY need shooting and defense though. Spreading the floor and defense are the two biggest things we need to work on. We were like 27th in 3 pt shooting last year.


The thing is we don't spread the floor with mediocre shooters taking extra threes. The defense just sags off, Chriss primarily only gets open catch and shoot 3s an still doesn't shoot a high percentage. The types of shots he takes are much different than the types of shots Booker gets so you really can't compare the two.


My point though is that if they sag off and leave him open, shooting at that clip is fine and he will probably get better. They pay for it. Eventually they may not leave him open.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#978 » by bwgood77 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:49 pm

Well at least we get the 0-3 Jazz tonight, but Donovan Mitchell has been on fire, and Exum playing pretty well too. We better take this one or summer league will have been a monumental disappointment.
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#979 » by sunsbum » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:45 pm

bwgood77 wrote:Well at least we get the 0-3 Jazz tonight, but Donovan Mitchell has been on fire, and Exum playing pretty well too. We better take this one or summer league will have been a monumental disappointment.


Oh stop it. Monumental lol.

It's frustrating to see that the kids don't look as good as we'd like 1 year later, I agree there. I think we've just got a witches stew of....not great things so its kinda magnifying the summer situation.

Lets us review.

DBook took a pretty historic step from season 1 to 2. There's a reason people are calling him the next Kobe, he ain't a normy.

Chirss was told to put on weight over the off season, I doubt he just showed up 2 months later and they were like....oh **** hey veruca salt when do you turn blue? I know Jmac said there are different ways to gain weight but who knows, I feel like our trainers have their **** together so I will trust them with that situation.

More on the Chriss thing, it has to be frustrating hes not able to do things his body is used to doing, he probably feels like his feet are cemented in bricks. His shot is off because of his weight I can definitely see that. As someone mentioned most of his shots are very strong off the back rim. Maybe that is why we are seeing the poor body language.

Uh, mike james is a butthole. Terrible for this team, terrible for Mcd to even think about picking up another combo guard.

Bender is basically a rookie. I remember Dragic had the same euro deer in headlights look for a few years untill he figured things out. He just needs confidence. Could you imagine moving to a different country at 19? I can't even fathom it at my ripe age of 36 !!


On a positive note, I'm seeing things I like out of Chriss/Bender. Chriss is able to take a hell of a lot more contact down low. I've seen him make a few bull like and 1's that he definitely wouldn't have last year. Bender has made some great stong moves to the hole that have really surprised me. Once he gets his shot going it's going to open his lane up that much more. Mike james, is still a turd. Annnnnnd I'm 100% loving the JJ pick!
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Re: Summer League: Vegas baby, vegas. 

Post#980 » by bwgood77 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:58 pm

sunsbum wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:Well at least we get the 0-3 Jazz tonight, but Donovan Mitchell has been on fire, and Exum playing pretty well too. We better take this one or summer league will have been a monumental disappointment.


Oh stop it. Monumental lol.

It's frustrating to see that the kids don't look as good as we'd like 1 year later, I agree there. I think we've just got a witches stew of....not great things so its kinda magnifying the summer situation.

Lets us review.

DBook took a pretty historic step from season 1 to 2. There's a reason people are calling him the next Kobe, he ain't a normy.

Chirss was told to put on weight over the off season, I doubt he just showed up 2 months later and they were like....oh **** hey veruca salt when do you turn blue? I know Jmac said there are different ways to gain weight but who knows, I feel like our trainers have their **** together so I will trust them with that situation.

More on the Chriss thing, it has to be frustrating hes not able to do things his body is used to doing, he probably feels like his feet are cemented in bricks. His shot is off because of his weight I can definitely see that. As someone mentioned most of his shots are very strong off the back rim. Maybe that is why we are seeing the poor body language.

Uh, mike james is a butthole. Terrible for this team, terrible for Mcd to even think about picking up another combo guard.

Bender is basically a rookie. I remember Dragic had the same euro deer in headlights look for a few years untill he figured things out. He just needs confidence. Could you imagine moving to a different country at 19? I can't even fathom it at my ripe age of 36 !!


On a positive note, I'm seeing things I like out of Chriss/Bender. Chriss is able to take a hell of a lot more contact down low. I've seen him make a few bull like and 1's that he definitely wouldn't have last year. Bender has made some great stong moves to the hole that have really surprised me. Once he gets his shot going it's going to open his lane up that much more. Mike james, is still a turd. Annnnnnd I'm 100% loving the JJ pick!
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Well losing a game in a tournament to an 0-3 summer league team has nothing to do with Booker. I was talking about a monumental disappointment for me that our summer league is already over and we got knocked out of the tournament in the first round.

I've seen some good things too, and I've mentioned them. I'm not saying necessarily that I'm disappointed in the play, except for our extremely poor sub 40% shooting from our 3 top 8 picks and also Chriss' turnovers. There were some good things, but I'll be monumentally disappointed it's over and we are not moving on.

Will you or NTB not be disappointed if we are knocked out? If so, why not?

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