Let the season begin!! Kings @ Suns

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I'm surprised by the negative comments about TJ's defense - I thought he was great on that end. Huge improvement. And early on, our team defense was much improved overall, with active hands inside. I don't like that our centers don't go out on shooters ever - we need to be able to trust our help - but otherwise, I was happy with our defense.

Our offense, OTOH, was disappointing. Way too much standing in the corner, wondering what to do, waiting to decide who will set what screen where, running a set only to end up with nothing and having to start over with no time left on the clock - not good. I don't know how to fix.

I liked Len's passing and active hands on the interior - it's strange that after three years in the league, he's still undergoing a lot of growth as a player. Marquese Chriss and Devin Booker were ineffective - the stats don't tell the whole story there. Obviously, the biggest story was Ulis. Dude changes everything when he's on the court.

On to the next!

[NavLDO]

Totally down to trade away vets for picks and go all in on a youth movement if we aren't .500 by 1/1/2017 which is likely.

Bender, Ulis, and Chriss are all going to make a ton of mistakes and get handled most of the time they are in the game. That said, all 3 players showed us they could be very special.

Bender finally seemed to relax and play more freely. Once he gains full confidence, I think he will show why he was the #4 pick. I loved to see him play outside and inside this game. He's not a pussy like Diaw.

Ulis has the heart of a lion. He's going to make it in this league.

I'd rather see our rookies grow then watch Brandon Knight and PJ Tucker.

And don't forget Warren, DJ Jr, Jenkins, Big Sauce, and Booker. We can run an 8 man rotation, + Bledsoe and Len, so we have ONE vet:

Bledsoe / Ulis
Booker /Jenkins
Warren / DJ Jr.
Bender / Chriss
Williams / Len

Basically, give Len this season to see if he can improve at all...may as well, since we own him for under $5M this year...this can be his LAST chance look. We'd look REALLY ugly, but I don't care at this point. Our young guys would get valuable playing time, and after Bender's performance last night, I'm not worried about hurting his 'psyche', and it's clear that Ulis an Chriss are extremely confident, so not worried about their psyche either.

We'd be lucky to reach 20 wins, but it's not about this year; it's about next. I get that Williams isn't likely a starting 5 in this league; the hope would be that Len pulls his head out. Warren should be ready to break out; same with Booker. Bledsoe can HOPEFULLY provide some semblance of leadership, as can Dudley and Tucker. I'd trade Chandler, Knight, and Barbosa for what ever we can get...another youth and an overpaid Vet on a shorter contract like...a Gay, Millsap, Amir Johnson, Pekovic, Monroe, Heyward, Jeff Green, etc.

I'm confident we have the makings of a "Big 3" within the group of--Booker, Warren, Bender, Chriss, Ulis, or DJ Jr.--3 of those 6, I believe, will develop into high-level starters, which is why I am dead-set against trading any of those 3 this year; we can re-evaluate next summer.

[King4Day]

It was fun to watch this team finally.
I don't think it'll be long before Ulis is a regular rotation player. He keeps playing with that energy and so forth and my guess is, Knight will not be a Sun to start next season.

Booker is learning to play with Bledsoe now. Gotta remember, he was great last year without having the talent around him that he had last night.
So once he adjusts, he'll be back to his normal self.

Warren looked very high energy last night. He might need to slow it down a tad. He missed many easy shots too. It looked like he was trying hard on defense. I saw a lot of passing lanes interrupted by our D tonight.

There were def good things to take from this one.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I said that once Tyler gets PT, he'll never lose it.

I also said that if the season goes down the drain, just hand the reins to Tyler and see what happens.

Milwaukee, Orlando, Houston. If we must abandon our veteran guards, those are the teams that may want them.

[JJ13]

Do I speak for the majority when I say the only players I have interest watching this season...

Bledsoe
Ulis
Booker
Chriss
Bender
TJ

And that I immediately want to change the channel watching...

Knight
Dudley
PJ
Chandler
Len

?

[kennydorglas]

I wouldnt put Dudley on the unwatchable list, but I think u have a fair point.
We just want to watch our young boys unleash.

[darealjuice]

Watson replacing LB and PJ in the 2nd team with Ulis and Bender already lol. Can't say I'm mad though, PJ doesn't look like he's in basketball shape and LB has looked bad in preseason and even worse last night.

[TheXgasm]

Knight was out there trying to make a statement by ensuring the offense just stopped when he was in the game. He's more interested in getting his than winning, it looked like. Every time he was on the floor as the main ball handler, we suffered. He needs to be brought in as an off-ball/2-guard.

Tucker is out of shape and needs time before he plays.

Dudley looked passive and like he thinks his job is to spoonfeed the young guys.

Barbosa only played for like 3 minutes but wasn't great.

Len was terrible until that rookie unit came in, and it's like it took pressure off of him (maybe the extra length helped) and he was able to just defend and grab rebounds.

Bender looked great - fluid, long, and was really a key in stifling their transition offense, he was switching off and using his length effectively, plus he was knocking down shots and didn't look lost out there.

Chriss was all over the place - the energy was there but it needs to be focused. He got lost on defense so many times that I lost count. He'd switch off, then just kind of...stand there. The entire arena could see his man was already on the other side of the court but he was just like "WHICH WAY DID HE GO GEORGE" for a while. But man, he can fly.

Ulis is tenacious as hell. Watching him is fun, and he managed to score some as well. I'd much rather have him running point for the second unit than Knight.

[gaspar]

It was fun to watch this team finally.
I don't think it'll be long before Ulis is a regular rotation player. He keeps playing with that energy and so forth and my guess is, Knight will not be a Sun to start next season.

Booker is learning to play with Bledsoe now. Gotta remember, he was great last year without having the talent around him that he had last night.
So once he adjusts, he'll be back to his normal self.

Warren looked very high energy last night. He might need to slow it down a tad. He missed many easy shots too. It looked like he was trying hard on defense. I saw a lot of passing lanes interrupted by our D tonight.

There were def good things to take from this one.

I still think this team could be respectable this season. The Kings are our bogey team, we always struggle against them.

[bwgood77]

Lol, so now I don't know what I accomplished?



I measured my fat folds and my weight gain in a 1 year period and my fat fold actually reduced whilst my shoulders become more pronounced. My arm diameter increased from 15 inches to 16 inches. My thighs went from 24.5 inches to 27 inches. My chest also gained a lot of mass especially towards the middle.
You think 12 months is too short? lol. Bodybuilders have 3-4 months to "bulk-up" then another 3-4 months trimming the fat away in their usual cycle. It's possible and it has been done many many times.... but it requires a special process.

So look, you can go ahead and believe it's not possible, even assume I didn't accomplish what I did... what ever makes you sleep better.
But I worked my butt off for a year hitting the gym at 4:30 am every morning and following a diet that a body builder / gym trainer has provided me. You can pretend it didnt happen to make you feel right, go ahead. But what I'm telling you is fact and many other dedicated body builders will agree (a few years ago now) I know for a fact 20 pounds is easy to gain if you have the frame.
Mind you as I said, I'm 6 foot, a couple of my body building buddies are over 6'2.

Its quiet simple, our bodies are designed to lose weight or gain weight... people with mission to put on mass, muscle/fat will do it in months by lifting extensively, eating an additional 150+% amount of their daily calories and sleeping 9 hours a night.

Then cutting up must be done separately, you can maintain the muscle gains and trim off the fat by strictly keeping metabolism high for 10+ hours during day time, which is done through cardio or using caffeine pills.


a year is sufficient time and thats not theory but factual because I've accomplished it and so did many many other body builders.



For Bender, who probably runs 20-30 miles every week during practice and games WILL NOT put on weight easily, especially muscle... muscle requires resting and using the calories to build muscle mass... cardio uses up calories to replace what is used up in the muscles... but during rest... the calories are used by the body to create mass. As I said... Bender would take 3-4 years to gain 20 pounds of muscle and that is realistic.



The Robinson comment is based on my knowledge of him, as he was my favourite player growing up I have magazines and basketball cards of him showing he was 235 pounds. Then doing further research online, some sources claim he was playing over 250 pounds in his prime.

150 grams of protein at one time though is way too much. Despite your results, you would likely do better spreading out your protein intake throughout the day. It's good to get a fairly heavy does at night if you are doing casein at that point, but spreading out is good, particularly on off days.

Well you're not the only one who thought so too, a few people told me that it was too much protein intake for a meal, especially in shake-form.
The formula is usually... Weight (in kg) = Protein (grams), here in Australia which the common knowledge among body builders trying to mass up. So yes, 150 grams was ridiculous... and I suffered for it, I had digestive issues and it didnt feel right. But it only went for a couple of weeks when I was desperate to mass up my middle delts.

The key to massing up is to literally tearing up muscles and overloading in "good" calories, 50/50 carbs and protein ratio. And then absolutely putting the body in rest mode... as in all calories is used up to repair and build mass.


Basketball players especially pros will STRUGGLE to mass up in a short time, they expend energy moving not massing up.
Sacrificing normal routines is a must for sure, its weird eating 4-5 meals in a 10 hour period then just resting.


But Bender is 7'1.... he has long limbs, torso and a decent frame.... 20 pounds to him is like 30-35 pounds to a normal average person in regards to weight gain. Just like KG in his rookie year until in his mid 20s, I think Bender can become "muscular" but lean... maybe top up at 245-250 pounds... if he can maintain his agility he'd be a beast of a player.

I have no idea how much Bender can add, and that 1 kg per body weight is for the whole day, not one meal. I do agree that someone that long should be able to put on a lot more muscle over time than your average guy. But it's also harder to add with that kind of length. If he is effective I don't care. If he is a taller perimeter guy who plays 3/4 and we have someone else who can effectively play C, that works for me.

[bwgood77]

Booker and Ulis play well together. You could tell that over Summer League and the little bit of time they spent together at the end of the game tonight, like when Booker scored on the alley-oop from Ulis and got fouled. Ulis possesses point guard instincts that Bledsoe and Knight do not have.

On another note, the game tonight felt eerily similar to last season's opener until the rookies got to play. Everything changed when they came in during the third quarter. The crowd got into it, the team made a run to eventually bring the game to within ten points, and the entire vibe went from negativity to excitement.

I am sure the organization saw that. They have to realize by now that Bledsoe and Knight are not the guys to lead this team, especially at their salaries. Idk what they are going to do, but they got to do something when it comes to those two players.

I thought you said after I suggest Booker play with Ulis that Booker needs to start which obviously means not playing with Ulis? I mean, you have to realize we are not trading Bledsoe any time in the near future despite your feelings on the matter.

I think the Suns will absolutely consider trading Bledsoe depending how he plays this year. The one year that the Suns were good with him was his first year with the team when he missed half the season and Dragic led the team. Since then, the Suns have gotten worse each year, including after the Knight trade.

Remember when the Suns were fighting for a playoff seed in 2014-15 and then Knight got hurt. They finished the season 1-10. Bledsoe had a chance to be the man and lead them to a playoff seed as the main point guard. Well in the last 11 games of the season, he averaged 15 pts, 6 ast, 3 rbs, 3 to, 40% fg, 20% 3pts, and 77% ft in 35 mpg. He played really poorly. Those shooting percentages for a point guard are awful.

Then last year when he had good statistics, the Suns were still 12-19 when he went down so his play did not translate to wins. He does not make anyone around him better the way a point guard is supposed to. Now tonight, Paul Coro said this was the worst margin of defeat in Suns opening night history. The team played dramatically better when Ulis was running the team. Everyone could see it. When you factor in the Suns regression for the last two seasons with Bledsoe and how bad they looked tonight with him in the game, why should they not consider trading him? Plus he has already had three knee surgeries. I do not think he will ever get better than he is right now. This is his fourth year on the Suns and he has done nothing for this franchise. His play has never justified the contract the Suns gave him. At this point, how much longer can the team wait around for him to make a real impact.

I never said they shouldn't consider trading him. I just don't think they will or that he has much trade value given his meniscus injury history. He's never really been surrounded with much winning talent either though. Plus that one season in between his injury seasons we had so many disgruntled people, injuries, and the big change in roster at the deadline that they still probably overachieved that year at 39-43. We have been a rebuilding team (even if we didn't do it properly until now).

But if you've paid attention to my posts I have continually said that I hope we get our PG of the future in the upcoming draft. I would love to see Ulis play a ton the rest of the year though. I don't expect him to start barring another injury to Bledsoe and perhaps a Knight trade or injury. Knight's play though bothers me 10x more than Bledsoe's. Last night Bledsoe was 5-11, 2-5 from 3 (40%), 6 reb, 5 ast and a steal (negative was the turnovers) and before the half, despite being down good he was the only guy without a negative +/-. The bench with Knight, Tucker, Barbosa, Len and Chriss is what REALLY killed us in the first half.

With the injection for Bender and Ulis instead of Tucker and Barbosa that made all the difference, except for the times Knight and Len didn't let those guys touch the ball on possessions, which was infuriating.

Bledsoe all around, is a good player. Is he the best PG or have good floor vision and turn it over too much? Yes, but he was not really the problem last night. It was Knight, Len, Tucker and Barbosa. Everyone else played well and though Warren shot poorly, he was active with rebounds, steals, etc.

I knew we'd be bad defensively and that we would not be that good of a team though, picking 29 wins.

[ATTL]

Regarding bender getting hyuge:
Its a known fact when you pack on mass you sacrifice flexibility.

[KLEON]

This should be the rotation for the rest of the season:
Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/LB
Warren/PJ
JD/Dragan
Tyson/Chriss

I would definitely make Knight rot on the bench until they trade him and at this point I would take Elevator Ernie over Knight. Someone needs to tie up Bledsoe in a room and make him watch tapes with Steve Nash because I can't go through another season with him dribbling the air out of the ball

[TeamTragic]

Do I speak for the majority when I say the only players I have interest watching this season...

Bledsoe
Ulis
Booker
Chriss
Bender
TJ

And that I immediately want to change the channel watching...

Knight
Dudley
PJ
Chandler
Len

?

Definitely. We need to start our young guys (outside Booker/Warren). I have Chandler as neutral though.

[NavLDO]

I said that once Tyler gets PT, he'll never lose it.

I also said that if the season goes down the drain, just hand the reins to Tyler and see what happens.

Milwaukee, Orlando, Houston. If we must abandon our veteran guards, those are the teams that may want them.

Cosmo, man....it's like you're in my head, man! I seem to agree with 98% of your posts, especially as of late. That's too bad for you, though; your rep is likely to take a huge nosedive if you are thinking along the same lines I am.

But seriously...yes. I'm fine with keeping Bledsoe, but I'm not married to the notion. I'd be ok with trading him, even though I do like him as a player. But his injury history scares me, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him on a competitive team this season. He's surely getting frustrated in his 4th year on the team; especially considering how close to the playoffs we were in his 1st season w/ the Suns.

And as I posted earlier, I would likely be even more excited seeing a lime-up of young'ns being trotted out game after game; even if that resulted in some 30 pt losses from time to time. As they say, you learn more from losing than you do winning. We're losing this season anyway with our current line-up. Sorry, but that is not a playoff squad as we are currently constructed. Call me a hater all you want, but does anyone here REALLY believe that our depth chart of:

Bledsoe/Knight/Ulis
Booker/Jenkins/Barbosa
Tucker/Warren/DJ Jr.
Dudley/Bender/Chriss
Chandler/Len/Williams

...is a playoff squad, regardless of how you configure the Depth Chart?? I don't. Not this season, at least. Next year, maybe, if Bender and Chriss develop properly, and Booker and Warren take the next steps in their development, then sure, we MIGHT be able to make a run at the 8th seed, but highly doubtful this year, IMO.

[Thespianoid]

Regarding bender getting hyuge:
Its a known fact when you pack on mass you sacrifice flexibility.

one of Bender's consistent answers when asked about putting on mass is that he wants to do it slowly, to avoid precisely the issue you brought up. Was asked about it during the pre-draft process quite a bit. Think of Anthony Davis as an approach to mirror - didn't pack on the mass in a summer, but rather over a few years.

Looking at his natural playstyle and frame, the max you'd want him to weight is around 250. Any more and he'll lose the mobility that makes him special at his size.

[MrMiyagi]

Regarding bender getting hyuge:
Its a known fact when you pack on mass you sacrifice flexibility.

one of Bender's consistent answers when asked about putting on mass is that he wants to do it slowly, to avoid precisely the issue you brought up. Was asked about it during the pre-draft process quite a bit. Think of Anthony Davis as an approach to mirror - didn't pack on the mass in a summer, but rather over a few years.

Looking at his natural playstyle and frame, the max you'd want him to weight is around 250. Any more and he'll lose the mobility that makes him special at his size.

I don't even want him to weigh that much. I think he'll be perfect at 235 (if his actual weight right now is 225).

[KLEON]

I said that once Tyler gets PT, he'll never lose it.

I also said that if the season goes down the drain, just hand the reins to Tyler and see what happens.

Milwaukee, Orlando, Houston. If we must abandon our veteran guards, those are the teams that may want them.

Cosmo, man....it's like you're in my head, man! I seem to agree with 98% of your posts, especially as of late. That's too bad for you, though; your rep is likely to take a huge nosedive if you are thinking along the same lines I am.

But seriously...yes. I'm fine with keeping Bledsoe, but I'm not married to the notion. I'd be ok with trading him, even though I do like him as a player. But his injury history scares me, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him on a competitive team this season. He's surely getting frustrated in his 4th year on the team; especially considering how close to the playoffs we were in his 1st season w/ the Suns.

And as I posted earlier, I would likely be even more excited seeing a lime-up of young'ns being trotted out game after game; even if that resulted in some 30 pt losses from time to time. As they say, you learn more from losing than you do winning. We're losing this season anyway with our current line-up. Sorry, but that is not a playoff squad as we are currently constructed. Call me a hater all you want, but does anyone here REALLY believe that our depth chart of:

Bledsoe/Knight/Ulis
Booker/Jenkins/Barbosa
Tucker/Warren/DJ Jr.
Dudley/Bender/Chriss
Chandler/Len/Williams

...is a playoff squad, regardless of how you configure the Depth Chart?? I don't. Not this season, at least. Next year, maybe, if Bender and Chriss develop properly, and Booker and Warren take the next steps in their development, then sure, we MIGHT be able to make a run at the 8th seed, but highly doubtful this year, IMO.

For some strange reason I really think that this team can do something special and make it into the playoffs this season. The West is slightly weaken this season with KD going to the Dubs. The Spurs, Clips and GSW are locked to be in the playoffs and I think it 4-8 is wide open. The only thing i wish would happen is for Watson to bench Knight and give his minutes to Ulis and LB.

[Thespianoid]

Regarding bender getting hyuge:
Its a known fact when you pack on mass you sacrifice flexibility.

one of Bender's consistent answers when asked about putting on mass is that he wants to do it slowly, to avoid precisely the issue you brought up. Was asked about it during the pre-draft process quite a bit. Think of Anthony Davis as an approach to mirror - didn't pack on the mass in a summer, but rather over a few years.

Looking at his natural playstyle and frame, the max you'd want him to weight is around 250. Any more and he'll lose the mobility that makes him special at his size.

I don't even want him to weigh that much. I think he'll be perfect at 235 (if his actual weight right now is 225).

yeah I think 235-240 is probably the best range as a faceup 4, the maximum upper estimate was in case he was asked to play C, but that would be 10+ years into the future.

I'm always concerned with teams bulking European prospects too quickly as they view them as too frail to compete (despite having more fight than their domestic counterparts), but don't do the same for domestic prospects who have the same weaknesses.

[NavLDO]

I said that once Tyler gets PT, he'll never lose it.

I also said that if the season goes down the drain, just hand the reins to Tyler and see what happens.

Milwaukee, Orlando, Houston. If we must abandon our veteran guards, those are the teams that may want them.

Cosmo, man....it's like you're in my head, man! I seem to agree with 98% of your posts, especially as of late. That's too bad for you, though; your rep is likely to take a huge nosedive if you are thinking along the same lines I am.

But seriously...yes. I'm fine with keeping Bledsoe, but I'm not married to the notion. I'd be ok with trading him, even though I do like him as a player. But his injury history scares me, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him on a competitive team this season. He's surely getting frustrated in his 4th year on the team; especially considering how close to the playoffs we were in his 1st season w/ the Suns.

And as I posted earlier, I would likely be even more excited seeing a lime-up of young'ns being trotted out game after game; even if that resulted in some 30 pt losses from time to time. As they say, you learn more from losing than you do winning. We're losing this season anyway with our current line-up. Sorry, but that is not a playoff squad as we are currently constructed. Call me a hater all you want, but does anyone here REALLY believe that our depth chart of:

Bledsoe/Knight/Ulis
Booker/Jenkins/Barbosa
Tucker/Warren/DJ Jr.
Dudley/Bender/Chriss
Chandler/Len/Williams

...is a playoff squad, regardless of how you configure the Depth Chart?? I don't. Not this season, at least. Next year, maybe, if Bender and Chriss develop properly, and Booker and Warren take the next steps in their development, then sure, we MIGHT be able to make a run at the 8th seed, but highly doubtful this year, IMO.

For some strange reason I really think that this team can do something special and make it into the playoffs this season. The West is slightly weaken this season with KD going to the Dubs. The Spurs, Clips and GSW are locked to be in the playoffs and I think it 4-8 is wide open. The only thing i wish would happen is for Watson to bench Knight and give his minutes to Ulis and LB.

I guess it's not impossible, but I think if we do make the playoffs, it's as the 8th seed, in a sea of 4-5 teams between 40-42 and 38-44, and we stumble in on an improbable win...

...OR...

...It would involve us trading Knight and Len/Chandler for an expiring player like Gordon Hayward or Rudy Gay or Iguodala at the deadline and they propel us forward into the Playoffs.