Game 24 : Phoenix Suns (8-15) at Boston Celtics (19-4), Saturday, December 2

[kennydorglas]

Another terrible officiating game. At least this one was fun enough.
Baby steps

[bwgood77]

The difference is Kyrie Irving. We are really close to the Celtics, but he puts them on another tier.

I don't think we are that close, but I think the biggest difference is Stevens. He has the whole team and system playing elite defense and really moving the ball well. We are the opposite of that.

[sunsbg]

With the number of lobs thrown to Chandler(4-5 this game) one has to wonder why such plays are not run for Chriss. Last year most of his points came from dunks, now all this is gone(2 points again!).

[NTB]

With the number of lobs thrown to Chandler(4-5 this game) one has to wonder why such plays are not run for Chriss. Last year most of his points came from dunks, now all this is gone(2 points again!).

He would probably miss half of those...

[jcsunsfan]

The difference is Kyrie Irving. We are really close to the Celtics, but he puts them on another tier.

I don't think we are that close, but I think the biggest difference is Stevens. He has the whole team and system playing elite defense and really moving the ball well. We are the opposite of that.

I wouldn't say "opposite". I would say 50% of that. We are doing a lot better than under Watson, but we have a long way to go.

[LukasBMW]

Wonder if we still had Bledsoe, how we might be. Point guard play is bad right now.


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Bledsoe doesn't care. Always seems to play half speed.

[Jdiddy701]

Wonder if we still had Bledsoe, how we might be. Point guard play is bad right now.


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Bledsoe doesn't care. Always seems to play half speed.

Bledsoe at 20% is an upgrade right now! Don’t miss him though. I just think we would be better. Booker need help.


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[AtheJ415]

The difference is Brad Stevens. Kyrie put up damn near identical overall numbers to Bled before going to Boston. That is not to say they are necessarily equal. It is fairly obvious kyrie is more talented than Bled, though Bled is the better athlete.

What we'd be with Bled is exactly what we have been. We are a couple of players away if those guys are top tier players. Bled is not quite that. Which is why people suggesting we are a Rubio and Noel or some other type of mediocre center away from the playoffs are way off.

[jcsunsfan]

OK. Here we go.

Boston trades Rozier and the Laker pick.
Phoenix trades DJJr and the Miami pick.

Apart from the trade (wink, wink), Phoenix buys out Chandler so he can sign with Boston (in a prearranged deal between Boston and Chandler). Monroe could be swapped for Chandler in this deal.

[kennydorglas]

Stevens is the game changer. Ainge drafted a lot of misfits for him and he somehow made this work.
Reaching that Pop level where doesnt matter who they draft... he'll make it work.

And their biggest signing isnt even playing yet.

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

[sunskerr]

We are lucky to have Booker. He has continually improved even with all the coaching turmoil/lost season from Watson.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

OK. Here we go.

Boston trades Rozier and the Laker pick.
Phoenix trades DJJr and the Miami pick.

Apart from the trade (wink, wink), Phoenix buys out Chandler so he can sign with Boston (in a prearranged deal between Boston and Chandler). Monroe could be swapped for Chandler in this deal.

In looking to upgrade at the 1 in 2018-19, I really would prefer to go the route of adding a young veteran PG, as opposed to relying on the draft to supply us with a starter. The best PG long-term in this upcoming draft is in any case likely to struggle for their first two years in the league.

I agree with you that Rozier is an ideal target. I imagine the Celtics will want to add a draft pick (and frankly, I think the Laker/SAC pick is more valuable than the Miami pick, which makes your proposal puzzling to me). I imagine McD would prefer to exchange 2/3 of Ulis, Quese and DJJ and a couple seconds to grab their target PG. But for the right guy, I imagine he'd be willing to reduce his stockpile.

Looking at alternatives -- Tl;dr - Rozier is a better option than everyone listed below, with the possible exception of the players listed last) -- here are the other vets I imagine could be in play:

- Marcus Smart has never played well against us, and so I do not like him at what I expect will be a high price tag... but maybe in exchange for Len? I actually don't think their values are very different.

- I imagine Dennis Schroder could be available for several assets. This is another buy-high scenario, and I imagine McD will be hesitant to be aggressive with BK still on the roster.

- Spencer Dinwiddie. This actually doesn't seem that impractical, if we were, again, willing to buy high. He has a significant injury history and has cooled off since starting strong. But he has good size and is cheap. I could see BKN being somewhat eager to cash in, given that they've yet to even commence their rebuild.

- Kemba Walker. This is probably not a great idea, as CHA would want a high price, he's in his prime, and he's not a great fit next to Booker (I think). But I could see CHA being open to moving on and rebuilding... if Jordan wasn't the owner!

- Immanuel Mudiay, Denver's version of Marquese Chriss. Shoots 40% from the field and 39% from 3. A high BBIQ has yet to reveal itself in the form of statistics. Since our biggest problem is obviously TURNOVERS perhaps this is not the right option.

...... perhaps none of these are the right option, then. Say, does Chris Paul like yoga?

- Austin Rivers. Uh, no.

- Mike Conley. He has a contract very much like the one we can expect Chris Paul to receive. The injury concerns are legit. Until the Grizz are willing to discuss a bargain price, I wouldn't consider it.

- Goran Dragic or Isaiah Thomas. Not really options.

- Tyus Jones. If affordable, perhaps. We would still suffer from a lack of size at the 1: it just wouldn't be as extreme.

- DJ Augustin. I don't think the Magic make him available, but if he was, he could function as a serviceable stopgap. Perhaps as part of a deal where we receive Biyombo (yuck!).

- George Hill. I think SAC would not sell at a loss and would expect an asset in return. I don't see any such deal being a step forward for us.

- Brandon Knight. As bad as he's been for us, it's true that he was at his "best" for us as the starting PG next to Booker. He has the physical tools and could work in theory. It's just that he hasn't yet. But a year is an enormous amount of time with which to recover from an ACL injury.

- Chris Paul. We did this once. Would we be willing to give him an insane contract, considering his age? I don't really think he'll turn down the biggest payday at this point in his career.

[Revived]

A 5 pt loss to the best team in the East and top 3 team in the league is pretty damn good for this young rebuilding team.

I hope this effort stays with them.

[JMac1]

I knew Booker was going to do his thing with the Celtics and the refs..didn’t matter. I still love JJ over bland and too slow Tatum.

[Revived]

OK. Here we go.

Boston trades Rozier and the Laker pick.
Phoenix trades DJJr and the Miami pick.

Apart from the trade (wink, wink), Phoenix buys out Chandler so he can sign with Boston (in a prearranged deal between Boston and Chandler). Monroe could be swapped for Chandler in this deal.

In looking to upgrade at the 1 in 2018-19, I really would prefer to go the route of adding a young veteran PG, as opposed to relying on the draft to supply us with a starter. The best PG long-term in this upcoming draft is in any case likely to struggle for their first two years in the league.

I agree with you that Rozier is an ideal target. I imagine the Celtics will want to add a draft pick (and frankly, I think the Laker/SAC pick is more valuable than the Miami pick, which makes your proposal puzzling to me). I imagine McD would prefer to exchange 2/3 of Ulis, Quese and DJJ and a couple seconds to grab their target PG. But for the right guy, I imagine he'd be willing to reduce his stockpile.

Looking at alternatives -- Tl;dr - Rozier is a better option than everyone listed below, with the possible exception of the players listed last) -- here are the other vets I imagine could be in play:

- Marcus Smart has never played well against us, and so I do not like him at what I expect will be a high price tag... but maybe in exchange for Len? I actually don't think their values are very different.

- I imagine Dennis Schroder could be available for several assets. This is another buy-high scenario, and I imagine McD will be hesitant to be aggressive with BK still on the roster.

- Spencer Dinwiddie. This actually doesn't seem that impractical, if we were, again, willing to buy high. He has a significant injury history and has cooled off since starting strong. But he has good size and is cheap. I could see BKN being somewhat eager to cash in, given that they've yet to even commence their rebuild.

- Kemba Walker. This is probably not a great idea, as CHA would want a high price, he's in his prime, and he's not a great fit next to Booker (I think). But I could see CHA being open to moving on and rebuilding... if Jordan wasn't the owner!

- Immanuel Mudiay, Denver's version of Marquese Chriss. Shoots 40% from the field and 39% from 3. A high BBIQ has yet to reveal itself in the form of statistics. Since our biggest problem is obviously TURNOVERS perhaps this is not the right option.

...... perhaps none of these are the right option, then. Say, does Chris Paul like yoga?

- Austin Rivers. Uh, no.

- Mike Conley. He has a contract very much like the one we can expect Chris Paul to receive. The injury concerns are legit. Until the Grizz are willing to discuss a bargain price, I wouldn't consider it.

- Goran Dragic or Isaiah Thomas. Not really options.

- Tyus Jones. If affordable, perhaps. We would still suffer from a lack of size at the 1: it just wouldn't be as extreme.

- DJ Augustin. I don't think the Magic make him available, but if he was, he could function as a serviceable stopgap. Perhaps as part of a deal where we receive Biyombo (yuck!).

- George Hill. I think SAC would not sell at a loss and would expect an asset in return. I don't see any such deal being a step forward for us.

- Brandon Knight. As bad as he's been for us, it's true that he was at his "best" for us as the starting PG next to Booker. He has the physical tools and could work in theory. It's just that he hasn't yet. But a year is an enormous amount of time with which to recover from an ACL injury.

- Chris Paul. We did this once. Would we be willing to give him an insane contract, considering his age? I don't really think he'll turn down the biggest payday at this point in his career.

Rockets will match any CP3 offers I’m sure.

[MathiasPW]

Game was much better than expected. Couple of things I noticed:

Only saw 2 other Suns fans besides myself. And then a guy with a Joe Stockton Jazz jersey...

Jaylen Brown tried to stop Booker and put a lot of effort into it. To no avail. Our kid is so smooth. Booker also did a good job defensively, from what I could tell. Those last two fouls were everybody else's fault, not his. Somebody should have been there.

Chris did not look uninterested, he looked just lost. Like those wide eyes you have when you are struggling to make sense of the situation. Think the coaching change might have had the most effect in him, in a bad way. We might need some extra patience.

Tatum is not slow. He is smooth. Very much like Booker in that. He is shooting like 50% from 3 in the season. Think he is gonna be good.

Jackson seems very comfortable and confident. It's a matter of experience for him. Think he will pan out.

Scalabrine is such a nice dude. Gives a lot of attention to everyone who talks to him.

[thamadkant]

The difference is Kyrie Irving. We are really close to the Celtics, but he puts them on another tier.

I don't think we are that close, but I think the biggest difference is Stevens. He has the whole team and system playing elite defense and really moving the ball well. We are the opposite of that.

lol

yeah I agree, how the heck are the Suns close to Celtics?


Celtics do that consistently because they have a system.... Suns do that when Booker and Warren are firing up... which is very hard to replicate.

[RaisingArizona]

WE NEED TO PUT A COMPETITIVE TEAM AROUND BOOKER. BUILD AROUND BOOKER NOW, NOT 3 YEARS FROM NOW. PLEASE.

[Sunsdeuce]

Wonder if we still had Bledsoe, how we might be. Point guard play is bad right now.


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Bledsoe doesn't care. Always seems to play half speed.

Bledsoe at 20% is an upgrade right now! Don’t miss him though. I just think we would be better. Booker need help.


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Not sure if serious?!