Game 11: Phoenix Suns (7-3) @ Washington Wizards (2-8) l Monday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ

[bigfoot]

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

Hard to argue with 7-3

[alamin330]

Bridges is their second best player so I have no issue with his shot attempts.

If you have an issue with how many 3s they take I'd pick another team (or sport) to root for or something because that ain't changing. It's not only how the NBA is played now but it's specifically how this team was built to play.

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Bruh. We lost a game for taking too many 3s. The team isn’t adapting to defense. It’s not a winning formula. Bridges is definitely not the 2nd best player on the team. Thing is this formula won’t work in the playoffs. What’s your explanation for Booker only getting 16 shots a game? That’s the same amount as malik Beasley for crying out loud. Serge ibaka is getting more shots than Ayton. Balance is life. Whenever there’s an imbalance in something it’s a recipe for disaster. This team is as unbalanced as I’ve seen in years. If suns want to seriously consider themselves as contenders they need to pick up the pace and have a more balanced attack.

[alamin330]

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

Hard to argue with 7-3

7-3 is good. But we’ve had a relatively easy schedule so far

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Suns need to get Ayton the ball and let him get more shots. Cp3, bridges and cam can’t be 2,3 and 4 in shot attempts. This team is on a crash course if they don’t fix this offense. How is your star player and 2nd best player taking less than 25 shots a game combined? Booker should be taking about 20 shots per game alone and ayton 15. Tok many 3s. This team is starting to look more and more like a regular season team than a playoff team.

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

I agree and disagree. I think Paul is looking for Ayton, but like a lot of our guys, they're trying to get him the lob and dunk rolling to the rim. That ain't his game.

A lot of people talk about getting Ayton more low post touches, but (a) that's not really very viable in modern basketball and (b) let's be honest - that ain't Ayton's game, either. He's got a high center of gravity. Duh. So what some great centers do now is operate from the high-post out to the three point line - okay, that's pretty much just Jokic right now. That ain't Ayton's game either.

So what is Ayton's game? It's off the ball as a passer, pick setter and offensive rebounder + quick interior to mid-range shots.

Putting Ayton in a position to get more and more of those quick interior shots are what Paul and the coaching staff have to figure out. Those little bunnies, and especially that turnaround J of his, have been great so far this year. Get him repeat touches like that and make defenses start jumping on the shot. At that point, Ayton will finally be in a position to use some counters and footwork, go to the basket and draw contact. I like that option as a go-to move when the defense is good and we're not getting any quick looks from 3.

Paul's been looking for Ayton, but he's gotta recognize that not all Deandre's are the same. Ayton can't convert the dunks Jordan did. There are other things he can do, though, so let's focus on those.

[alamin330]

If suns don’t start getting more FTA and easy buckets in the paint I don’t see us being a top 4 seed. Well be fighting for the play in

[bigfoot]

Suns need to get Ayton the ball and let him get more shots. Cp3, bridges and cam can’t be 2,3 and 4 in shot attempts. This team is on a crash course if they don’t fix this offense. How is your star player and 2nd best player taking less than 25 shots a game combined? Booker should be taking about 20 shots per game alone and ayton 15. Tok many 3s. This team is starting to look more and more like a regular season team than a playoff team.

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

I agree and disagree. I think Paul is looking for Ayton, but like a lot of our guys, they're trying to get him the lob and dunk rolling to the rim. That ain't his game.

A lot of people talk about getting Ayton more low post touches, but (a) that's not really very viable in modern basketball and (b) let's be honest - that ain't Ayton's game, either. He's got a high center of gravity. Duh. So what some great centers do now is operate from the high-post out to the three point line - okay, that's pretty much just Jokic right now. That ain't Ayton's game either.

So what is Ayton's game? It's off the ball as a passer, pick setter and offensive rebounder + quick interior to mid-range shots.

Putting Ayton in a position to get more and more of those quick interior shots are what Paul and the coaching staff have to figure out. Those little bunnies, and especially that turnaround J of his, have been great so far this year. Get him repeat touches like that and make defenses start jumping on the shot. At that point, Ayton will finally be in a position to use some counters and footwork, go to the basket and draw contact. I like that option as a go-to move when the defense is good and we're not getting any quick looks from 3.

Paul's been looking for Ayton, but he's gotta recognize that not all Deandre's are the same. Ayton can't convert the dunks Jordan did. There are other things he can do, though, so let's focus on those.

Very true ... I think Ayton is shooting over .600 from 3-10 feet. That appears to be his game as you indicated.

[alamin330]

Suns need to get Ayton the ball and let him get more shots. Cp3, bridges and cam can’t be 2,3 and 4 in shot attempts. This team is on a crash course if they don’t fix this offense. How is your star player and 2nd best player taking less than 25 shots a game combined? Booker should be taking about 20 shots per game alone and ayton 15. Tok many 3s. This team is starting to look more and more like a regular season team than a playoff team.

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

I agree and disagree. I think Paul is looking for Ayton, but like a lot of our guys, they're trying to get him the lob and dunk rolling to the rim. That ain't his game.

A lot of people talk about getting Ayton more low post touches, but (a) that's not really very viable in modern basketball and (b) let's be honest - that ain't Ayton's game, either. He's got a high center of gravity. Duh. So what some great centers do now is operate from the high-post out to the three point line - okay, that's pretty much just Jokic right now. That ain't Ayton's game either.

So what is Ayton's game? It's off the ball as a passer, pick setter and offensive rebounder + quick interior to mid-range shots.

Putting Ayton in a position to get more and more of those quick interior shots are what Paul and the coaching staff have to figure out. Those little bunnies, and especially that turnaround J of his, have been great so far this year. Get him repeat touches like that and make defenses start jumping on the shot. At that point, Ayton will finally be in a position to use some counters and footwork, go to the basket and draw contact. I like that option as a go-to move when the defense is good and we're not getting any quick looks from 3.

Paul's been looking for Ayton, but he's gotta recognize that not all Deandre's are the same. Ayton can't convert the dunks Jordan did. There are other things he can do, though, so let's focus on those.

Good points here. To be fair Paul does look for Ayton. To be honest paul doesn’t look for Ayton the way any pg should. I feel like CP3 uses Ayton for a pick but he wants to pass out for 3 as option 1. Option 2 is for him to shoot himself and ayton is 3rd option. The only person on the team making an effort to get Ayton the ball is crowder. Booker doesn’t even look at Ayton. I feel like there’s going to be some disgruntled guys soon and Ayton is going to be top of that list

[Jdiddy701]

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

Ayton cannot get good position to save his life, hence why no one passes him the ball. If you’d watch the games, you would understand why Ayton FG attempts are down. Dude is so scared to do anything and freezes when someone passes him the ball. When he gets good position, the ball comes his way.. more than likely, he will pass out though.


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[alamin330]

I watch the games. And lately I’m just watching Ayton to see why he’s not scoring. And what I’ve noticed is that when he has his man sealed they shoot the three. When he’s ready for a lob off a pnr they shoot the 3. When he’s wide open under the basket they shoot the 3. When he has a little guy on him they shoot the 3. And it’s usually bridges and cam taking all the shots. Why do you think Booker is taking so many bad shots. Those guys ain’t passing. Bridges is really trying to take over as the number 1 it seems and he’s not even a number 3. It’s getting bad. If bridges doesn’t have a career night do we beat the pacers? I doubt it. We’ve been getting real lucky with these wins. It’s not sustainable

[NTB]

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

Hard to argue with 7-3

7-3 is good. But we’ve had a relatively easy schedule so far

How was it an easy schedule?

Mavericks, b2b Kings (they started really well, even if they will finish the season bad), Pelicans, Utah and Denver b2b on road, Clippers, Raptors, Pistons, Pacers.

Only bad teams were Pistons, Kings(they are not that bad + they started really hot) and desperate Raptors.

[King4Day]

I watch the games. And lately I’m just watching Ayton to see why he’s not scoring. And what I’ve noticed is that when he has his man sealed they shoot the three. When he’s ready for a lob off a pnr they shoot the 3. When he’s wide open under the basket they shoot the 3. When he has a little guy on him they shoot the 3. And it’s usually bridges and cam taking all the shots. Why do you think Booker is taking so many bad shots. Those guys ain’t passing. Bridges is really trying to take over as the number 1 it seems and he’s not even a number 3. It’s getting bad. If bridges doesn’t have a career night do we beat the pacers? I doubt it. We’ve been getting real lucky with these wins. It’s not sustainable

Bridges was the hot hand so you go with what's working.
It seems this team is being built to share. Each night might be someone different carrying the team.
I thought for a few games, Ayton was being fed a lot inside. It probably depends on who we're playing and what the defense is throwing at us.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a 25/15 game from DA one of these days too.

[King4Day]

With no Westbrook and no Bryant, this is a game we need to win or else it's as bad as the Pistons loss. Hopefully Bridges can pester Beal to throw him off.

[SunsLyf3]

No RW is good but it can also be a good thing for them. No Bryant to go off like he usually does though. Should be a +10 point win.

[King4Day]

As far as sustaining this success, hopefully we build the chemistry enough to where Booker knows his role better.
We're 10 games in which is around the full slate of pre-season games. Guessing another 10-20 games before we know what the finished product really is here.

I know it won't happen, but I really want to see this become Paul's team for now. Let him run the offense and Booker just be part of it.

[Barkley6]

I watch the games. And lately I’m just watching Ayton to see why he’s not scoring. And what I’ve noticed is that when he has his man sealed they shoot the three. When he’s ready for a lob off a pnr they shoot the 3. When he’s wide open under the basket they shoot the 3. When he has a little guy on him they shoot the 3. And it’s usually bridges and cam taking all the shots. Why do you think Booker is taking so many bad shots. Those guys ain’t passing. Bridges is really trying to take over as the number 1 it seems and he’s not even a number 3. It’s getting bad. If bridges doesn’t have a career night do we beat the pacers? I doubt it. We’ve been getting real lucky with these wins. It’s not sustainable

There's a reason they don't go to Ayton in those positions...he goes up soft. I've seen Ayton settle for a 12ft jumper over players a foot shorter than him. I've seen Ayton with his man sealed go up for a weak layup and miss/get blocked. If Ayton starts to actually attack the rim, he'll get the ball, but midrange shooting just isn't really the modern NBA and it seems to be the only thing Ayton is concerned with doing at the moment.

Ayton on offense reminds me of Jamal Mashburn, except as a 7ft C rather than a 6'8" SF/PF, and that's not a compliment to Ayton.

[Bogyo]

I blame Chris paul and Monty Williams.
Monty Williams being stubborn again and Chris paul doesn’t even look for Ayton. Ayton is wide open about 3 times a game and I mean not a soul next to him and they shoot a 3. It’s ridiculous. Bridges just can’t be taking more shots than Ayton. Cam Johnson definitely can’t be taking the same amount of shots as Ayton.

Ayton cannot get good position to save his life, hence why no one passes him the ball. If you’d watch the games, you would understand why Ayton FG attempts are down. Dude is so scared to do anything and freezes when someone passes him the ball. When he gets good position, the ball comes his way.. more than likely, he will pass out though.


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This. Plus even like this he is getting the 2nd most in the paint touches in the whole NBA. He just doesn't really know what to do with it - or afraid to do with it most of the time. Kinda explains hiw shooting percentage too, he only takes the sure shots there, even then he shys away from contact, hence no free throw attempts for us.

As for other players not getting him the ball a lot of times - Paul is close to 10 assists per game, Book averaged 7ish last year, Bridges and Crowder are adequate to whip the ball around in the 0,5 offense, and Payne is also OK - so there are good passers on this team. If they don't get you the ball as a collective, it must be in the strategy, or they must have realized that this effort is in vain. Also, most of the picks he sets on offense (where he could get the ball back) simply suck. Either he slips too early, without making contact, heck he turns sideways so the defenders go by him with ease - or doesn't move at all in situations when he should roll to the rim and get the easy bucket. He just doesn't have the bball instincts/iq to be a good player on O. Hopefully he'll learn something so he becomes somewhat useful on this end as well. The "middy" (god i hate this expression, dunno how it got to be so popular, it even sounds dumb) ain't gonna cut it.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Bridges is their second best player so I have no issue with his shot attempts.

If you have an issue with how many 3s they take I'd pick another team (or sport) to root for or something because that ain't changing. It's not only how the NBA is played now but it's specifically how this team was built to play.

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Bruh. We lost a game for taking too many 3s. The team isn’t adapting to defense. It’s not a winning formula. Bridges is definitely not the 2nd best player on the team. Thing is this formula won’t work in the playoffs. What’s your explanation for Booker only getting 16 shots a game? That’s the same amount as malik Beasley for crying out loud. Serge ibaka is getting more shots than Ayton. Balance is life. Whenever there’s an imbalance in something it’s a recipe for disaster. This team is as unbalanced as I’ve seen in years. If suns want to seriously consider themselves as contenders they need to pick up the pace and have a more balanced attack.

They lost because they 'missed' too many 3s That will happen at times.

Now I do agree when they did a bad job against Detroit adjusting to the zone. Hopefully they learned a lesson.

Booker should probably shoot a little more. Some of that is he's had too many turnovers which have ended his possessions. Some is him adjusting to not having to do everything on O. I think he'll be fine.

I had to laugh a little at your top 4 vs play in spot. It's awesome that we're at the point of having those expectations. But let's be real here this franchise hasn't made the playoffs in 10 years, was a bottom 5 team two years ago and was below .500 last year. I hope and think they can finish top 6 but it won't be some abject failure if they were in the play in. After the Lakers the talent gap with the rest of the west is razor thin and some damn good teams are going to finish 7-10.

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[alamin330]

Hard to argue with 7-3

7-3 is good. But we’ve had a relatively easy schedule so far

How was it an easy schedule?

Mavericks, b2b Kings (they started really well, even if they will finish the season bad), Pelicans, Utah and Denver b2b on road, Clippers, Raptors, Pistons, Pacers.

Only bad teams were Pistons, Kings(they are not that bad + they started really hot) and desperate Raptors.

Kings are not good. Don’t care if they started off good. They are not a good team. The fact that we lost to them should be a warning sign. Pistons 1-7 all they did was play zone and we lost. Suns didn’t make any adjustments. Actually they started shooting more 3s. It was the craziest thing. Utah is ok. I think they fight for the 7 and 8 seed. Pelicans are not making the playoffs. Mavs was first game of the year and they didn’t have Porzingis. Denver is 5-5 and that record was worst when we played them. Pacers would’ve been an L if Bridges doesn’t have a career high. We are getting lucky.

[alamin330]

17-52 from 3 in the Pistons game. That’s NUTS

[alamin330]

I think we should trade Booker and try to get beal or harden. Harden would definitely get the ball to Ayton.