Revived wrote:AtheJ415 wrote:Revived wrote:Suns need to consider bringing Booker off the bench. He has the worst net rating on the team and it kills ball movement.
None of that is true, and at the time of this post, the issue was throwing the ball to the other team, not lack of movement. Book started the game 1/2 with 3 points, 4 assists, and 0 TOs. Jackson had 4 TOs in 6 minutes. Melton had 2-3 on high passes to Ayton.
On the season, the worst players on this team who play routinely are Jackson, Crawford, and Oubre. 2 of those are quite popular on this board. Those are the guys with the worst net rating. Booker is the only one in the top 50 in the NBA in total adjusted stats.
I don't understand why we have so many fans who need a scapegoat so badly they throw it all on certain players, or who wildly diverge blame or cheering for a player on a day to day basis. But just fyi, no, Booker actually has the BEST (or 2nd, not going to check to see where Mikal is now that he has had to run with the starters and picked up heavier minutes on a horrible team) net rating on the freaking team.
For the season perhaps not but lately, he does;
Right, but why does "lately" take precedence over YEARS of performance for the franchise player who is the best offensive player at his position on the year in terms of efficiency + volume combined at the age of 22? That is what I don't get. The reactionary attitude of the fans here has been somewhat concerning. I don't know how they survive being that reactionary in the real world in a business environment, in regular life, etc.. Also, Book often has to play with the starters. Him having to play usually the most minutes on a bad team has a big impact on his all in numbers like that. If you notice our runs, they typically occur because we have an elite defensive unit relative to other teams' mixed bench lineups (often at the end of the 3rd quarter). Those lineups would not be nearly as impactful against starters in this league. Look at Bridges--when he was in with those lineups he literally was #1 in all of the NBA in +/-, because he is a clear starter who wreaked havoc against benches by forcing turnovers and getting easy offense. As a starter, he is still solid, but those overall +/- and net rating #s have dropped substantially since then. I don't think he's worse. I think he's just playing against better starters.
The one way to guarantee this team remains mediocre for years is to do something to piss off Book like benching him. If you are Book, you'd basically be thinking the team won't stand by you and your struggles for 2-5 freaking games when he has stuck by the Suns and their struggles for like 5 years. The one thing the Suns have going in its relationship with Book is loyalty. They maxed him as soon as they could, they are building the team around him, and they've done stuff like drafting his preferred guys (Ulis, even though it ended badly, and Jackson and Ayton).
I understand people are tired of losing, but rebuilding in the West is really tough. And while McD didn't do a good job in the draft, look at the current roster in terms of long-term outlook v. the roster coming in with its best players being the Morris twins, Gortat, and Scola. I mean he bombed Chriss/Bender, and that really killed us, though I think the rest are overstated b/c Len is a capable bottom tier starter and Booker, Warren, Ayton all look like 2 stars and a potential semi-star if Warren improves in other areas, though I think that may happen elsewhere. Also have potential elite role guys like Bridges, Melton, Jackson, and he did trade for Holmes who is the most effective backup C in the league aside from maybe Boban but with Holmes he is more multi-dimensional and flexible.
If we had a bunch of players playing at Book's level we'd be winning. He's the best player on the team and frankly a top 25 player in the league and a top 3 under 25 player in the league. That is clear given his history as a player. If we had a bunch of guys at the same level as certain fan favorites (PJ Tucker, Josh Jackson, Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Rajon Rondo, etc.), we'd be losing, and probably by worse. A team of current Josh Jackson level guys would be the worst team in basketball history. Some of the guys who are deemed solutions are just so freaking bad. The reality is that many of the eye test fans are just horrendously wrong, because if your eye test was undefeated, it would show up in the numbers at some point. Guys like Jackson show for their career how bad they have been. I get the optimism over his FUTURE, and I don't believe he will remain that bad going forward, but blasting Booker in favor of him and Oubre is an abhorrent misuse of basketball knowledge and flies in the face if their entire histories playing the game.
And lastly, Book's supposed "hero ball"is also a misnomer, b/c while he has had a habit of doing this down the stretch of games in the 4th, he's still been super efficient as a scorer in those scenarios. Guys like Oubre (worst passer on the team), Jackson (turnover machine of near historic proportions), who the fans want to play over Warren and Booker, are worse for ball movement. Oubre attempts less passes than even Warren, and Jackson attempts passes more often but fails a hell of a lot more by giving it away. Book is actually the best freaking passer on this team in terms of passing to assist opportunities, near the top in attempted passes, etc.. Anybody's eye test who says otherwise needs to retire their eye test. You don't see Pop, Durant, the league's universal stars, and Team USA going out of their way to say a single good thing about the rest of this team. Their eye tests are far more valuable.
This team would be a bit better with a PG, but really, like most teams, it is a star away. Free Agency is big this year to get another star to pair with Booker and a developing Ayton. Striking out in FA repeatedly has slowed this rebuild down more than anything. The Kings did not suddenly pass us by for instance. Fox is great, but they are winning right now playing vets over guys like Bagley. That is why they have more wins. They brought in the right vets who aren't above playing hard. Their core is not better than ours (Fox, Bagley, Bogdan, Giles) v. (Booker, Ayton, Bridges, Melton, Warren).
