Preseason Game 4: Lakers @ Suns, Friday, Dec 18, 8:30 PM

[spanishninja]

I dont mind losing to Lakers & Jazz knowing that both will be top 4 in the West.

Lakers
Nuggets
Clippers
Jazz
Mavs
Suns
Warriors
Grizz/Blazers/Pels

Jazz seemed to have been vastly underrated and overlooked in the offseason. And this season they seem to be placing a big focus on 3s.

[Mulhollanddrive]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

[grumpysaddle]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

Hopefully we can eke out Chris Paul actually playing games this season. I didn't want him in the first place, but kind of disappointing to have him play so little when the Suns desperately need to work out their offense/defense for the season with a lot of new pieces.

Very disappointing pre-season, but... it's the pre-season, so we'll see in a few weeks if things are looking any better.

[SunsRback4Good]

I dont mind losing to Lakers & Jazz knowing that both will be top 4 in the West.

Lakers
Nuggets
Clippers
Jazz
Mavs
Suns
Warriors
Grizz/Blazers/Pels

Jazz seemed to have been vastly underrated and overlooked in the offseason. And this season they seem to be placing a big focus on 3s.

That's correct and with an uninjured Bojan last year in the playoffs would've beaten the Nuggets and the Clipps as well.

[SunsRback4Good]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

Hopefully we can eke out Chris Paul actually playing games this season. I didn't want him in the first place, but kind of disappointing to have him play so little when the Suns desperately need to work out their offense/defense for the season with a lot of new pieces.

Very disappointing pre-season, but... it's the pre-season, so we'll see in a few weeks if things are looking any better.

Chris Paul is the last point guard I wanted and yet here he is. He's 35 years old and should have a few decent years left in him. Only reason we signed him was to please Booker and get him into the playoffs. At least when we signed Nash he was still in his prime at a tender age of 30. Just once would be nice to draft a stud pg or to trade for one younger than 28.

[grumpysaddle]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

Hopefully we can eke out Chris Paul actually playing games this season. I didn't want him in the first place, but kind of disappointing to have him play so little when the Suns desperately need to work out their offense/defense for the season with a lot of new pieces.

Very disappointing pre-season, but... it's the pre-season, so we'll see in a few weeks if things are looking any better.

Chris Paul is the last point guard I wanted and yet here he is. He's 35 years old and should have a few decent years left in him. Only reason we signed him was to please Booker and get him into the playoffs. At least when we signed Nash he was still in his prime at a tender age of 30. Just once would be nice to draft a stud pg or to trade for one younger than 28.

I mean... I was totally fine with Ricky. I liked having him on the Suns and enjoyed watching games with him. I feel like they should have kept Ricky and upgraded other spots, but I don't know how many upgrades they get if they don't do the Paul trade. Seems like Crowder only came because CP and Booker, I dunno if that happens if it's just Booker. CP will get no love from refs for his helifloptering in Phoenix. And I have a feeling his exalted defense he's known for will be called much differently with a Suns jersey on.

[suns12345]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

Hopefully we can eke out Chris Paul actually playing games this season. I didn't want him in the first place, but kind of disappointing to have him play so little when the Suns desperately need to work out their offense/defense for the season with a lot of new pieces.

Very disappointing pre-season, but... it's the pre-season, so we'll see in a few weeks if things are looking any better.

More likely to play games this season if he doesn't play excess minutes in the preseason...

Seriously guys, relax.

[Saberestar]

It was a fun game to watch. The first half was amazing and I could not believe that we were up by 20, but AD played a monster third quarter and who cares who wins.

Ayton with a decent game. Not bad, but we need more for him.

Booker is hyped like a kid about the start of the season. Full of energy. I love his passion for the game.

Carter's contract is gonna be an steal. He defends so well, he is probably already better than Beverley who has lost an step.

And tough game for Stix, but he is trying.

[suns12345]

It was a fun game to watch. The first half was amazing and I could not believe that we were up by 20, but AD played a monster third quarter and who cares who wins.

Ayton with a decent game. Not bad, but we need more for him.

Booker is hyped like a kid about the start of the season. Full of energy. I love his passion for the game.

Carter's contract is gonna be an steal. He defends so well, he is probably already better than Beverley who has lost an step.

And tough game for Stix, but he is trying.

And hopefully carter pans out to be the better shooter.

Stix just needs to see a couple shots go down.

[NTB]

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[Adrao]

Preseason is over and I'm really happy with the last match. Things to improve of course but the team has a very high potencial and a good actual.
I don't fear other teams hits but our own mistakes.

[bwgood77]

We just need to eek out 15 minutes of PG play from Booker and Payne without collapsing.

Hopefully we can eke out Chris Paul actually playing games this season. I didn't want him in the first place, but kind of disappointing to have him play so little when the Suns desperately need to work out their offense/defense for the season with a lot of new pieces.

Very disappointing pre-season, but... it's the pre-season, so we'll see in a few weeks if things are looking any better.

Chris Paul is the last point guard I wanted and yet here he is. He's 35 years old and should have a few decent years left in him. Only reason we signed him was to please Booker and get him into the playoffs. At least when we signed Nash he was still in his prime at a tender age of 30. Just once would be nice to draft a stud pg or to trade for one younger than 28.

I'm just really worried about backup PG. I still don't know why we never addressed it. I hope Payne can at least be decent in a regular season atmosphere where we are playing against teams really trying to beat us. We had a couple such games in the bubble in which he was decent..better against the Clips..not as good against the Mavs, but not bad.

Still really concerned with us post Paul and how we can possibly weather a Paul injury but I guess I will try not to worry about those things until the time comes.

[bwgood77]

It was a fun game to watch. The first half was amazing and I could not believe that we were up by 20, but AD played a monster third quarter and who cares who wins.

Ayton with a decent game. Not bad, but we need more for him.

Booker is hyped like a kid about the start of the season. Full of energy. I love his passion for the game.

Carter's contract is gonna be an steal. He defends so well, he is probably already better than Beverley who has lost an step.

And tough game for Stix, but he is trying.

Yeah, Carter is really impressive how hard he works and how he will lay it all out there when he is on the court. He really reminds me of a PJ Tucker...who presses full time. I think he could probably play in longer spurts if he didn't press so much, but it's just in his nature. It's too bad he doesn't have a bit more size to give him more versatility on defense like Bridges or Tucker, but just as that Beverley type who can play next to Booker.

I think we should let him, Moore and Galloway compete to be the first guard off the bench when Paul sits and Booker stays on the court, where Booker can be primary ball handler, then when Booker sits we bring in Payne and leave the other guy out there. For now that guy is Carter and it's his to lose...he has the most familiarity with our core players so let him play more early until the other guys get more acclimated to player tendencies and develop more chemsitry.

It appears we will sit Booker for 2-3 minutes at the end of the 1st and maybe the beginning of the 2nd and Payne can stay out there with an off guard...maybe Carter sits then and Galloway or Moore come in. Then Booker comes back in after 3 more minutes and maybe Paul with about 7 minutes left.

I think Paul with maybe 7-7:30 a quarter is good, that wil be 28-30 minutes. He played 31.5 last season but with the condensed schedule and not wanting to wear him out that should be enough barring a really close game.

Spoiler:

So I go

First 7:00:

Paul/Booker/Bridges/Crowder/Ayton

Next 1:30

Carter/Booker/Bridges/Cam/Saric

Last 3:30 minutes of Q1 if facing smaller team:

Payne/Carter/Moore or Galloway/Cam/Saric/

Last 3:30 if facing bigger team:

Payne/Carter/Cam/Saric/Smith or Jones

First 3:30 minutes of Q2 if facing smaller team:

Payne/Moore/Galloway/Cam/Saric/

First 3:30 if facing bigger team:

Payne/Moore or Galloway/Cam/Saric/Smith or Jones

Next 1:30:

Booker/Moore or Galloway/Bridges/Cam/Saric

Last 7:00

Paul/Booker/Bridges/Crowder/Ayton

Repeat in 2nd half.

This gives:

Booker and Bridges around 34 minutes
Paul and Crowder around 28
Cam and Saric 20
Carter around 10

Smaller team:

Moore and/or Galloway somewhere around 17 between the 2 (8:30 for each or up to 17 for 1)
None for Smith or Jones

Bigger team:

Smith and/or Jones a combined 14 between the 2 (7 for each or up to 14 for 1)
Galloway and/or Moore a combined 7 between the 2 (3:30 for each or 7 for 1)

Observations building this out:

We are a bit overloaded at the 2 (especially backup 2)
We are thin on backup PG
We are thin at legit 3/4 and/or 4/5

Ideally we use 15th spot on backup versatile 4 that could play a bit of 3 or 5 if needed

or if Payne disappoints, a backup PG

or waive Jones and get both.

We are ok at vet guard depth, but losing Paul will hurt most

We are ok at 5 depth unless we lose both Ayton and Saric at same time

We are ok at 3/4 depth unless we lose 2 of Bridges/Cam/Crowder at same time

We are most ok at 2 depth oddly enough with 3 backups

I never go that depth into minutes...not sure why I did. Biggest question mark is still is Payne for real a legit backup PG? We have 8 bubble games playoff teams were mostly treating like preseason and 4 preseason games in which he looked good to great.

Prior to that no team even wanted him as a roster spot. He didn't even play last year except those 8 games.

Before last year's 8 games:
19-20 - not signed by any team for regular season before bubble...so out of league for about 1 1/2 years
18-19 - 40 games - Bulls cut after 31, Cavs after 9
17-18 - 25 games with Bulls
16-17 - 20 games with OKC, then cut...14th pick, traded to Bulls after 20 games in 2nd year playing.

[Bogyo]

Well... If it takes the champion Lakers - who have gotten better in the offseason - 27 FTA vs our 13 FTA plus 6/7 3 pointers from Davis to beat us without CP and Saric by one point, I'm happy with that. I'm not happy with SheAndre's 0 FTA. But I kinda done caring about that dumb mitch

[wheezy]

Ayton with Diaw

Lol, DiawAndre Ayton

*Diawndre Ayton

[nevetsov]

Ayton with Diaw

Lol, DiawAndre Ayton

*Diawndre Ayton

+1 for putting the yawn in Diawndre