2021 Playoff and Offseason Speculation - the playoffs. PLAYOFFS????

[suns12345]

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And yet it feels like this is the most negative i've seen this board in a few years... pretty funny

[Frank Lee]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

[lilfishi22]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

Sounds crazy because he's being paid $41m and obviously has a very very big ego/pride but I think we need to cut CP3 minutes in the 1st quarter probably by half. The 1st quarter is when we should be setting the tempo, setting the pace and building a buffer but the way we've played, we're playing like it's the final 2min in a Game 7. Everything is slow and methodical, we take forever to get into sets and CP3 is walking the ball up past half court like there's 15sec in the game. I'm fine with that approach late in the 4th quarter when each possession is important but teams are piling onto us in the 1st half because we have no flow and no rhythm.

We're a rhythm team (like most teams are) and we're rarely in rhythm until the 2nd unit comes in and starts moving and whipping the ball around.

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking - reducing CP3 minutes helps when Ayton plays with less "sets" and more freedom
Booker struggling to find a flow - reducing CP3 minutes helps the ball move around faster and getting Booker more touches per posession.
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf - I don't think this is a big problem quite honestly.
No real sign of a system or coherent offense - reducing CP3 minutes helps by giving back our offensive identity of being a high powered offense. Last season we were 10th in pace, this season we're dead last.
Lazy minded center - reducing CP3 minutes helps when Ayton plays with less "sets" and more freedom. I think Ayton is slowed down by CP3 trying to get into every set in the play book.
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness - reducing CP3 minutes helps
Seemingly stubborn coach - reducing CP3 minutes would mean Monty isn't being stubbon.

OKC pace
2019 (pre-CP3): 6th in pace
2020 (CP3 season): 22nd in pace
2021: 12th in pace

[Revived]

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And yet it feels like this is the most negative i've seen this board in a few years... pretty funny

We have the same record as we did last season after the same amount of games. I think many people expected us to better than we were last season.

[bwgood77]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

It's a big concern. If not for our bench we would almost certainly be below 500. Our starting unit last year once we put in Bridges at SF and moved KO to PF then replaced him with Cam was among the leagues best (with KO or Cam at PF). Ayton was scoring over 18 ppg..Booker was more in sync.

Other than Paul, the only difference is Crowder, so it might be worth starting Cam, though that might take away from bench firepower, but it's more important we figure out the starting unit.

[lilfishi22]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

It's a big concern. If not for our bench we would almost certainly be below 500. Our starting unit last year once we put in Bridges at SF and moved KO to PF then replaced him with Cam was among the leagues best (with KO or Cam at PF). Ayton was scoring over 18 ppg..Booker was more in sync.

Other than Paul, the only difference is Crowder, so it might be worth starting Cam, though that might take away from bench firepower, but it's more important we figure out the starting unit.

Sounds insane just typing this out but we might need Cam in the starting line up for some dynamism and athleticism. I'd try that just to wake up our starting unit.

[bwgood77]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

It's a big concern. If not for our bench we would almost certainly be below 500. Our starting unit last year once we put in Bridges at SF and moved KO to PF then replaced him with Cam was among the leagues best (with KO or Cam at PF). Ayton was scoring over 18 ppg..Booker was more in sync.

Other than Paul, the only difference is Crowder, so it might be worth starting Cam, though that might take away from bench firepower, but it's more important we figure out the starting unit.

Sounds insane just typing this out but we might need Cam in the starting line up for some dynamism and athleticism. I'd try that just to wake up our starting unit.

Yeah it is funny he might be our second most athletic guy behind Bridges, who isn't the most athletic himself. Ayton is athletic when he's in better shape. Booker has gotten more athletic.

But overall, we lack athleticism.

[King4Day]

Looking at the last handful of games, we went down 31 to LAC, blew a 23pt lead against Detroit, and now this blowout loss.
We def have some major issues that are being masked by the winning. Still early but we'll need to figure things out before we get to a point of no return.

[lilfishi22]

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[spanishninja]

so the same point in last season, we started 7-4 and went 2-7 afterwards. I think we can do better than that this time but we better figure some things out if we aren't content with being a .500 team.

[Blackification]

I'm already preparing myself for when we miss out on being in the top 6 because of a couple games and end u choking away in the play in games and missing the playoffs.

[Bogyo]

So what will it be.... 15-20 games in and then does this offense become a concern?

Red flags are there

Ayton / Paul duo not clicking
Booker struggling to find a flow
Slow unathletic bigs in Saric and Crowder. No other valid back ups at center or pf
No real sign of a system or coherent offense
Lazy minded center
Dirt old PG who looks to either be running at 85% or has lost a little quickness
Seemingly stubborn coach

Truly, the only highlights I’m seeing is by Bridges, Johnson , and Payne

Y’all can point to the record... but this squad is struggling even in the Ws.

It's a big concern. If not for our bench we would almost certainly be below 500. Our starting unit last year once we put in Bridges at SF and moved KO to PF then replaced him with Cam was among the leagues best (with KO or Cam at PF). Ayton was scoring over 18 ppg..Booker was more in sync.

Other than Paul, the only difference is Crowder, so it might be worth starting Cam, though that might take away from bench firepower, but it's more important we figure out the starting unit.

Sounds insane just typing this out but we might need Cam in the starting line up for some dynamism and athleticism. I'd try that just to wake up our starting unit.

I liked your other idea better. Cut CP's minutes. He is the reason we are not running at all. Cam in the starting unit is just a band-aid, plus Crowder is such a good defender that he is a bit of a "waste" on a 2nd unit. Who is he going to guard there? His shooting is a bit worse than Cam's for sure, but he moves the ball around a bit better, so even the offensive output might be a bit of a wash.

As you highlighted in the CP3 post of yours, limitation of his minutes is a more adequate way to go. Plus we have a coach who is supposed to be on very good terms with him - maybe Monty telling him to run more when he is on the court could work too. We are dead last in tempo, and we have 5-6 young guys who could fly up and down a bit. Changes the flow, gets easier transition buckets, which are high % shots, even gets you to the line a bit more. CP should be playing a bit less (3-5 minutes? especially in the begining of the games), and he should run (and make the team run) a lot more in the first half when he is playing. This is a coaching issue. Let Monty work with it, if he is all so respected and that good of a coach.
(Btw he isn't all that better than Igor, players just listen to him better becouse he has been in the league, and not some unknown eastern european middle aged white guy with a funny accent. Case in point: he preached the same 0,5 offense that Monty did, but he had to do that with no point guard, no shooters, no defenders, just rookies and the Jacksons and Benders of the world.)

[sasquatchBob]

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Ayton doesn't know how to run pick and roll or shoot jump hooks as the guy states but he's right about him finding himself on the offense. I think everyone including himself still doesn't know what to make of it and what's his true ceiling. Sometimes he shows glimpses but overall he's just way too passive. Remember when before the season Ayton said now he can finally start dunking on people with CP3 here? Maybe Dominayton is something to motivate himself? I think the guy is just confused about who he is.

[Saberestar]

He did it before and I think that he will do it again... Monty Williams will put Ayton on the bench.

Saric is not athletic but is smart and can work well next to CP3. It is worth to try it.

Ayton would play more minutes with the second unit and he will get more shots.

Crowder is not a problem in the first unit because he is low usage guy and a very good defender. But yeah, we can start Cam over him and I would not hate the move.

[Saberestar]

BTW, I think that Monty will wait a bit more before doing that change in the starting lineup.

If we lose against the Hawks our current starting unit will be done. Ayton or Crowder out.

But if we get a win in Atlanta I think Monty will wait a bit longer to see if they finally have made click as a unit.

[Jsbath]

Trade ayton for Collins okonwu

[alamin330]

As far as I’m concerned Chris paul came to the suns. If he’s refusing to pick up the pace then bench his punk ass. His way is obviously a losing situation and it’s pissing me off

[alamin330]

He did it before and I think that he will do it again... Monty Williams will put Ayton on the bench.

Saric is not athletic but is smart and can work well next to CP3. It is worth to try it.

Ayton would play more minutes with the second unit and he will get more shots.

Crowder is not a problem in the first unit because he is low usage guy and a very good defender. But yeah, we can start Cam over him and I would not hate the move.

Crowder is the problem. He’s trash. Always has been. All he does is shoot 3s. He’s a bad passer. Bad ball handler. Can’t create for himself or others. Defense is suspect. Bench him and Paul. Start Payne and Saric next to Ayton. This team will start winning

[alamin330]

You could even bench Mikal and start Nader. Mikal don’t pass.

[alamin330]

We should go
Cp
Booker
Nader
Saric
Ayton

This way teen wolf Mikal and teen wolf Cam can come off the bench together and we let our true star Booker and future star Ayton be who they are supposed to be.