Game 21: Phoenix Suns (9-11) @ New Orleans Pels (6-15)

[PharmD]

The Kaminsky-Saric frontcourt is frustrating in a lot of ways but the worst, at least to my eyes, is that i don't trust either guy to make a bunny. Absolutely astonishing how many 1-footers these two guys blow.

complete void of vertical lift kills them both on both ends. Plus short arms

And somehow Dario seems to shrink in size when he shoots a layup. He never releases the ball from above 8 feet.

Even the ones he makes require getting a roll.

[PharmD]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

[hollywood6964]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

He's like- ****

[RiRuHoops]

Looks like Monty shortened the rotation. No more Carter or Tyler at SG. More minutes for Bridges and Cam.

Need to trade Tyler if he's out of the rotation. Too much money wasted on the bench.

[grumpysaddle]

The Kaminsky-Saric frontcourt is frustrating in a lot of ways but the worst, at least to my eyes, is that i don't trust either guy to make a bunny. Absolutely astonishing how many 1-footers these two guys blow.

complete void of vertical lift kills them both on both ends. Plus short arms

And somehow Dario seems to shrink in size when he shoots a layup. He never releases the ball from above 8 feet.

Even the ones he makes require getting a roll.

EJ once again pointed out the exact problem with Dario's layups. I think the Suns should throw extra money at Eddie to give all his observations to the players as fact. Saric puts spin on his layups. You do that with shots to give them more of a chance to go in, but with layups it has the opposite effect since it's so close to the rim in the first place. A lot of his layups are going in and then the spin takes the ball out of the basket. He need to just throw it up without putting a backspin on it and he'll start making more layups.

[grumpysaddle]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

That really was such a beautiful play using Booker as a decoy. There was no one without 10 feet of Kaminsky.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Looks like Monty shortened the rotation. No more Carter or Tyler at SG. More minutes for Bridges and Cam.

Need to trade Tyler if he's out of the rotation. Too much money wasted on the bench.

If it is true that they do indeed plan to use Johnson's expiring in a trade and just let him expire, Then the only two players that I'd have strong interest in trading for would be LaMarcus Aldridge and Aaron Gordon. Both only have two years left on their contracts, So any risk would be minimalized. Also neither would affect our cap space or plans for 2021 free agency. Both would also offer substantially more production for our team than what Johnson has shown to offer. And as a result would additionally bring us much greater value in any inclusive trade packages centered around their expirings in 2021.

LaMarcus Aldridge-
Would drastically improve our frontcourt presence in the absence of both Ayton and Baynes. And upon their return, would give us a very deep and potent frontcourt. Also, he'd give us another reliable veteran go to option, and help create gravity and draw defenders into the paint resulting in more open looks for our 3 point and perimeter shooters.

It could be an amazing help to both Booker and Cam in freeing them up for more open looks, possibly helping to elevate their games even more. And he'd likely at most, cost us Johnson's expiring/ Saric and a first round pick ( Top 10 Lottery protected). Perhaps in 2022 or 2023?

Aaron Gordon-
Would drastically improve our frontcourt athleticism, and rebounding in comparison to Kaminsky or Saric. He'd also give us an explosive pick and roll option with Rubio, Also an energizer in addition to Oubre to help us maintain our intensity And/or aggressive and tenacious play.

He'd also give us another young ( Only 24) high value expiring asset with immense upside and potential to possibly use in a trade for a big name player when his contract expires in 2021. Also, He likely could currently be had for relatively cheap in a trade. Maybe say Johnson's expiring/ Saric/ and a future lottery protected first.

All in all, either player would be a relatively low risk/ High reward minimal cost acquisition for us to gamble on, Whilst increasing our overall roster depth and talent level. But IF you had to choose between the two, which would you prefer? Or would you have another player entirely in mind?

[Mr Puddles]

Suns are now as close to 6th spot as they are to the 9th (1.5 games) which is pretty impressive all things considered.

Any chance that Baynes will be back for the Dec 9th game against the Wolves? Suns are playing Houston next and the Wolves the Lakers, and then facing phoenix on a B2B. A win on Dec 9th will likely mean we move up to the 7th spot.

[lilfishi22]

Suns are now as close to 6th spot as they are to the 9th (1.5 games) which is pretty impressive all things considered.

Any chance that Baynes will be back for the Dec 9th game against the Wolves? Suns are playing Houston next and the Wolves the Lakers, and then facing phoenix on a B2B. A win on Dec 9th will likely mean we move up to the 7th spot.

I think it's way too early in the season to care about playoff seeding. At this point in the season, the only thing useful to know is that we're "in the race".

[LesGrossman]

Pathetic 4th quarter. Ricky saved them in OT

Ricky had 14 assists through the first three quarters, zero in the fourth. The reason wasnt that he couldnt find guys or they couldnt finish but simply that the offense was changed massively to book vs. the world. Dumb dumb call and the price was paid. In the overtime they went to their normal offense again (hence the attempts for other guys too) and turned it around.

wait, so Book wasn't instrumental in pushing the lead to 20 in the third quarter? the guys who gave it back were Saric and Oubre. I didn't even realize Kelly was 6-21(!!!) from the game tonight. Book only shot 3 more times!

this is exactly why I get frustrated with people knocking on Book. he literally can't win. either he takes over or he isn't aggressive enough.

I guess you did not really read my post, or it was not formulated clear enough. In the third, Booker played within his role and so did Ricky, which is why they worked well together. In the fourth, time after time Ricky handed over the ball at mid court and from then on, bad things happened (no assists in the fourth). Booker is the scoring machine, Ricky is the point guard who sets up the offense and creates open shots. This doesnt magically change in the fourth quarter; neither does Ricky suddenly turn into a knock down corner three point spot up shooter nor does Booker suddenly grow the brains or vision or passing ability to set up people.

[lobishome]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

That really was such a beautiful play using Booker as a decoy. There was no one without 10 feet of Kaminsky.

I think is a prepared play.

[Jarlaxle0204]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

It was a really sick pass. I didn't even see Frank open under the basket watching the TV. lol

You can see how much gravity Book pulls though just by running towards Rubio for the handoff. Literally has 3 defenders there waiting.

Can't wait for this team to be full and healthy.

[LesGrossman]

Sick play action pass imo.



Jrue bites so hard he just keeps going

That really was such a beautiful play using Booker as a decoy. There was no one without 10 feet of Kaminsky.

I think is a prepared play.

You think its part of the plan that two of them jump into each other? That would be one masterfully designed play.

[MathiasPW]

I think it's a bit silly that we are arguing over Booker's decision-making (which needs some work, for sure) while this game was in danger solely because of our atrocious defense.

It's like worrying about a crack in your wall when your roof has fallen apart.

We scored 125 points during regular time. Our offense worked fine, albeit some mistakes, which tend to happen more frequently when the pressure is on.

Once again we allowed an opponent to shoot over 50% from the field, though, and over 40% from 3.

Kaminsky may be a red carpet inviting people to the lane, but I fail to comprehend why we are doing such a bad shot at closing passing lanes or drives to the elbow - something we were doing very well in the first 10 games of the season, and that depend solely on guards and wings.

[dremill24]

Kaminsky may be a red carpet inviting people to the lane, but I fail to comprehend why we are doing such a bad shot at closing passing lanes or drives to the elbow - something we were doing very well in the first 10 games of the season, and that depend solely on guards and wings.

They can’t guard in space. They get killed on simple iso penetration constantly. This leads to wide open looks at the rim or on kick outs.

It’s almost better (comparatively) when teams run PnR or other movement/screening actions because there are more bodies involved and less space created for drives. Bridges shows the contrast well when he’s blowing up PnR’s with his activity/length but gets taken all the way into the rim on iso’s.

I’m not sure there’s a remedy for someone like Cam to just be better at staying in front of Jrue Holiday though, so their help rotations have to be so much closer to perfect than they would otherwise have to be.

[spanishninja]

Ricky had 14 assists through the first three quarters, zero in the fourth. The reason wasnt that he couldnt find guys or they couldnt finish but simply that the offense was changed massively to book vs. the world. Dumb dumb call and the price was paid. In the overtime they went to their normal offense again (hence the attempts for other guys too) and turned it around.

wait, so Book wasn't instrumental in pushing the lead to 20 in the third quarter? the guys who gave it back were Saric and Oubre. I didn't even realize Kelly was 6-21(!!!) from the game tonight. Book only shot 3 more times!

this is exactly why I get frustrated with people knocking on Book. he literally can't win. either he takes over or he isn't aggressive enough.

I guess you did not really read my post, or it was not formulated clear enough. In the third, Booker played within his role and so did Ricky, which is why they worked well together. In the fourth, time after time Ricky handed over the ball at mid court and from then on, bad things happened (no assists in the fourth). Booker is the scoring machine, Ricky is the point guard who sets up the offense and creates open shots. This doesnt magically change in the fourth quarter; neither does Ricky suddenly turn into a knock down corner three point spot up shooter nor does Booker suddenly grow the brains or vision or passing ability to set up people.

the fourth quarter was rougher on Book because they started defending him might more tightly, probably recognizing that many of the other players were not actually scoring well.

[RiRuHoops]

I think it's a bit silly that we are arguing over Booker's decision-making (which needs some work, for sure) while this game was in danger solely because of our atrocious defense.

It's like worrying about a crack in your wall when your roof has fallen apart.

We scored 125 points during regular time. Our offense worked fine, albeit some mistakes, which tend to happen more frequently when the pressure is on.

Once again we allowed an opponent to shoot over 50% from the field, though, and over 40% from 3.

Kaminsky may be a red carpet inviting people to the lane, but I fail to comprehend why we are doing such a bad shot at closing passing lanes or drives to the elbow - something we were doing very well in the first 10 games of the season, and that depend solely on guards and wings.

But we stopped scoring in the 4th. Only 18 pts, while the rest of the quarters were all above 30 (38,36,33). The change in the offense was cringe-worthy. It looked ugly and hopeless.

[Mr Puddles]

Suns are now as close to 6th spot as they are to the 9th (1.5 games) which is pretty impressive all things considered.

Any chance that Baynes will be back for the Dec 9th game against the Wolves? Suns are playing Houston next and the Wolves the Lakers, and then facing phoenix on a B2B. A win on Dec 9th will likely mean we move up to the 7th spot.

I think it's way too early in the season to care about playoff seeding. At this point in the season, the only thing useful to know is that we're "in the race".

That's basically what I meant though. If we're still in the 7-8th spot by the time our team is fully healthy again, we'd have a great shot at making the playoffs.

Fully healthy, I think we're better than a lot of our direct competitors.