Game 49: Phoenix Suns @ Milwaukee Bucks, Sunday, Feb 2, 12pm MST

[GoodBehavior]

Ayton can put the ball on the floor. I've seen it a lot in the past, and even a couple games ago. And as far as no free throws with that many shots...

Kareem shot over 27x at least 4x with no free throws, Hakeem at least twice, once with 40 attempts, Bird at least twice, Kobe at least twice, Worthy, Vince Carter, Marion. Even the great Josh Jackson.

http://bkref.com/tiny/NlklR

Not from 15-20 feet. He'd get stripped before he gets close to the rim if he tried that with any sort of regularity. I've seen him put the ball on the floor when he's back guys down in the paint and makes a move but not from a jab step 20 foot away from the hoop. He neither has the ball handling abilities nor the confidence in his quickness

I've seen it. I've seen him run a fast break all the way down the court multiple times and dunk it with no problem handling the ball. He could easily do it from 15-20 feet away just like he did in short range on that hook shot tonight and against Dallas a few times.

A center shouldn't be dribbling to the rim at those distance; it's not an efficient play and prone to turnover. Embiid gets stripped often and turn it over all the time. Most of the time, he's just baiting to get fouled.

At 20 feet away, DA should be either taking the mid range jumper (if they're not guarding him closely, which is more than half the time) and should be making them at a 60%+ clip. Or if he's guarded closely, he should find a cutter since the paint should open up. He had a beautiful pass to the cutting Bridges yesterday.

This is how jokic plays; biggest difference is Jokic is automatic at the mid-range when open and DA hasn't reached that level of consistency.

[bwgood77]

You don't think stats are important to him, even in losses? Yes, he's pissed when we lose, but he's certainly also concerned about stats...that's fairly evident if you are watching.

He cares about stats but he also cares about winning more than any player on the roster. He looks pissed and done with it after every loss while some of the other players especially Ayton can be seen laughing and joking around with the training staff and others.

Book dominates the ball a little too much to my liking and that’s indeed a fault of his. But that being said, he isn’t one of the reasons we’ve been getting our ass kicked lately. The defense collapses on him every time and not a single Sun except for Oubre occasionally is able to make them pay for it.

On another note, Brook Lopez with 9 ****ing blocks. Insane. I wish we had a rim protector like that. Will we ever see our night and shining armor #1 overall pick get that?

Oubre loves getting blocked. He just goes in without any attempt at a shot fake or a double pump or anything. It's like he wants to be blocked. Ayton also played soft, which makes it way easier to get blocked. Still 9 is a lot of blocks, but it's not like those guys made it difficult.

I wonder if there is a stat for who leads the NBA in getting their shot blocked.

[Maze]

Hes just ballin. It cant be fun for him. Dude's on an island.

THats complete nonsense. I havent seen one guy on that team who doesnt seem to care or play his heart out. Several guys play way harder on both ends than Booker, who only invests in stuff that‘ll show up in the Boxscore. Not even an attempt to stay in front, no fouls given no charges taken, no boxout. Accordingly he ends every game like superman and the games are lost. Booker doesnt take half the fire he deserves, while the sophomore gets slammed for not being a finished product in year two. If Booker cared for winning as you guys say, why doesnt he play the winning style from the years beginning?

You are trying way too hard to picture Book's D as worse than it is in reality. Others are like a broken record on this as well without taking into account he's playing better on this end now. Show me specific examples of his so bad D where he doesn't try to stay in front of his man. While surely there are examples of bad D, you can find such for every player. There are probably 10 players in the league, who boxout consistently, most of them bigs. I can give you many examples of poor PnR D from Rubio.

I hope you realize this would have been a 40pt loss without Booker's scoring. He was trying to involve Ayton thru the whole game and DA failed. Oubre took every shot he liked and failed. Bridges was his usual no-show on O. You can find a bunch of better players than Okobo in secondary EU leagues. They were still only 10-15 pt down with 5mins left. A few stops and 3s and it's a game, so the stat padding talk is dumb. The Bucks starters were in the game with a 1 min left. That's more of a stat padding if you ask me.

You also should realize Baynes and Rubio are not playing like at start of the season because of injuries or simply reverting to their usual level and not 50% 3pt shooters.

Monty doesn't have the cache to reel in Oubre's foolishness.I saw a poster call him "A poor man's J.R. Smith"...It was right on

[RunDogGun]

Yikes, the Oubre hate continues. A poor man's JR Smith? That is simply a ridiculous assessment. JR only averaged 18 points in one season in his whole career, on less efficient shooting.

Kelly's main problem is trying to do too much when the team needs someone to step up. He is boarding and getting to the line, which are two things our team is lacking. Like everyone on our team besides Diallo, Oubre has been inconsistent on his shot.

Either way, I really hope he doesn't get run out of town, for he plays with the most heart on the team.

[IzzyT]

Kelly da GOAT. The Scape Goat.

Sure, he’s a frustrating guy because if you took away his negative plays, the positives are overwhelming. With a lot of the rest of these guys, in order for them to improve, they need to add whole dimensions to their game. Kelly needs to subtract negatives. Most of these guys need to add the positives in the first place.

Bridges no offense. Ayton no aggression. Ricky no shooting. Dario no athleticism.

Kelly? Bad decisions. But he shows up every game, scores, gets boards and plays hard. It’s weird blaming him when he’s one of the only legitimate NBA rotation players on the team. Should he have such a big role? Probably not. You really want Dario, Rubio, and Mikal taking his usage? Ayton chucking zero-dribble, insta-shoot mid-rangers?

I’d like to see Kelly making better decisions, too, but you have to put your players in a position to succeed. When he and Booker are the only guys on the team that can create off the dribble, it isn’t surprising when they both sometimes dominate the ball and make poor decisions. Kelly can’t stay in a 3&D role on this team. There aren’t any other creators.

[schnakenpopanz]

Kelly is a very good player, just not what people would like him to be.
Same with Ayton or Booker.
They are not bad, they are not suited to play with eacht other in their roles as of right now.

[schnakenpopanz]

And for the PPG discussion, the scoring since 2014 increased a lot.
You can not compare players and numbers from the mid 2000s with now.

[schnakenpopanz]

while the avg total for a NBA game was around 200 in 2014 now it is at 221.

[LesGrossman]

Kelly da GOAT. The Scape Goat.

Sure, he’s a frustrating guy because if you took away his negative plays, the positives are overwhelming. With a lot of the rest of these guys, in order for them to improve, they need to add whole dimensions to their game. Kelly needs to subtract negatives. Most of these guys need to add the positives in the first place.

Bridges no offense. Ayton no aggression. Ricky no shooting. Dario no athleticism.

Kelly? Bad decisions. But he shows up every game, scores, gets boards and plays hard. It’s weird blaming him when he’s one of the only legitimate NBA rotation players on the team. Should he have such a big role? Probably not. You really want Dario, Rubio, and Mikal taking his usage? Ayton chucking zero-dribble, insta-shoot mid-rangers?

I’d like to see Kelly making better decisions, too, but you have to put your players in a position to succeed. When he and Booker are the only guys on the team that can create off the dribble, it isn’t surprising when they both sometimes dominate the ball and make poor decisions. Kelly can’t stay in a 3&D role on this team. There aren’t any other creators.

there have been plenty super athletic guys with good touch which Ended up in China. The brain is simply the toughest muscle to train and - and this is often overlooked - the nba game is first and foremost an intellectual challenge and not a pole jump contest. Kelly unfortunately failed so far. And I can’t see ANY progress throughout the year. Either he isn’t getting coached at all or he is literally dumb as a brick. Look at Jared Dudley for a guy overweight totally unauthentic but about 10x as smart as Kelly. Who will get a ring first?

[Maze]

Kelly da GOAT. The Scape Goat.

Sure, he’s a frustrating guy because if you took away his negative plays, the positives are overwhelming. With a lot of the rest of these guys, in order for them to improve, they need to add whole dimensions to their game. Kelly needs to subtract negatives. Most of these guys need to add the positives in the first place.

Bridges no offense. Ayton no aggression. Ricky no shooting. Dario no athleticism.

Kelly? Bad decisions. But he shows up every game, scores, gets boards and plays hard. It’s weird blaming him when he’s one of the only legitimate NBA rotation players on the team. Should he have such a big role? Probably not. You really want Dario, Rubio, and Mikal taking his usage? Ayton chucking zero-dribble, insta-shoot mid-rangers?

I’d like to see Kelly making better decisions, too, but you have to put your players in a position to succeed. When he and Booker are the only guys on the team that can create off the dribble, it isn’t surprising when they both sometimes dominate the ball and make poor decisions. Kelly can’t stay in a 3&D role on this team. There aren’t any other creators.

Kelly's no scappegoat.We all know the real problem is ownership.Kelly's frustrating to watch because he's a low IQ player.His so called "heart" is detrimental to the team more than 50% of the time.Just the state of the Phoenix Suns.Middling players like Kelly Oubre play too much of a prominent role on this team.He'd be coming off the bench on a playoff team.Not tossing up 20 wild shots a game like he's doing as a member of the Suns.He's not totally useless, but he needs a strong minded coach to reel him in.Monty doesn't seem to be the guy right now.

[Desertfox]

Did anyone notice that the five starters where the five guys on the team last year (3 of them rookies)? And that that is one of the best lineups the Suns have rolled out? JJ is absolutely terrible.