Bakersfield Jam

Sunsss · Post #1 » by **Sunsss** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:46 pm

Jam opens the season today. Warren and Ennis will be playing tonight and tomorrow.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/532967494647304193[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/532978243394342912[/tweet]

With their D-League affiliate arrangement, the Suns have taken control of basketball operations to make for seamless shifting of young roster players who are outside the regular rotation. This weekend's Bakersfield home games worked out ideally with Warren and Ennis able to rejoin the Suns on the team's Sunday flight from Los Angeles, where the Suns play Saturday night.

Unlike Archie Goodwin's trips to Bakersfield last season, when five teams shared the affiliate, everything that Warren and Ennis have learned with the Suns since training camp now ties in to what they will do for the Jam. Bakersfield coach Nate Bjorkgren spent time with the Suns staff at summer league, training camp and part of the preseason.

"Nate's got great ideas too," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "I told him anytime he comes up with something for one of the guys, if he wants to run something and says this plays runs really well with this guy, we'll take a look at it and may use it here."

Warren and Ennis are arrived on the eve of the Jam's opener but the transition is also smoothed by familiar faces. Suns preseason players Earl Barron, Joe Jackson, Casey Prather and Jamil Wilson are on the Bakersfield roster. The Jam also has Ricardo Barbosa, the nephew of Leandro Barbosa, and Elijah Millsap, the younger brother of Paul Millsap.

"It's not like they're just going down there to play," Hornacek said. "They're going to learn stuff we do. When we bring them back and they're playing for us, they'll have the experience of actually running it a bunch of times.

Sunsss · Post #2 » by **Sunsss** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:39 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHVb-lhqBU[/youtube]

Boxscore: http://basketball.realgm.com/dleague/bo ... eld/193398

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brI9knRrunA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9V3xGD6GI[/youtube]

Maystack · Post #3 » by **Maystack** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:48 am

Jeez TJ with 40 points in 40 minutes. I guess people were right when they called him a point a minute player.

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Fo-Real · Post #4 » by **Fo-Real** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:13 pm

DAMN!!!! Both of them puttin In WORK!!!!!!!!

jcsunsfan · Post #5 » by **jcsunsfan** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:18 pm

Ennis looked really good. In control, great shot selection. Good quick moves to the hoop. Had a little Nash in him.

Blackification · Post #6 » by **Blackification** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:40 pm

Warren was just a bully all game. I caught a couple minutes of it and he got like 3 and 1s. I read a stat from hornacek yesterday saying he hit 90% percent of game winners from mid range during practice. So hyped to see him in a couple of years, I bet he is developing a 3 pt shot so he can become deadly

Revived · Post #7 » by **Revived** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:08 pm

I don't understand why Warren can't play right now.

We aren't competing for a title, we aren't even gonna make playoffs. ALL other non playoff teams develop their lottery picks, the Suns glue them to the bench or send them to Bakersfield.

jcsunsfan · Post #8 » by **jcsunsfan** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:26 pm

SF88 wrote:I don't understand why Warren can't play right now.

We aren't competing for a title, we aren't even gonna make playoffs. ALL other non playoff teams develop their lottery picks, the Suns glue them to the bench or send them to Bakersfield.

Too many players with similar abilities. As weird as it sounds, an injury to someone right now would probably ease up the logjam.

Saberestar · Post #9 » by **Saberestar** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:27 pm

I really want to see Warren on the court 15-18 minutes per game. I think he is prepared to play in the NBA and he has a serious star power in him. His all around game and personality makes him a better prospect right now than Len, Goodwin or Ennis....we need to found him minutes. Tolliver is not going to be part of our future, it is obvious, and he is not better than T.J.
Tolliver out, Warren in. At least 10 minutes per game.

Revived · Post #10 » by **Revived** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:23 am

jcsunsfan wrote:
SF88 wrote:I don't understand why Warren can't play right now.

We aren't competing for a title, we aren't even gonna make playoffs. ALL other non playoff teams develop their lottery picks, the Suns glue them to the bench or send them to Bakersfield.

Too many players with similar abilities. As weird as it sounds, an injury to someone right now would probably ease up the logjam.

Yea but that seems unlikely to happen.

I'd rather us find a way to trade Tolliver and maybe Tucker.

I like PJ's defense but I think developing Warren is more important.

And I think a Warren has different ability than our 3pt chucking forwards. He's more mid range-inside scorer.

jcsunsfan · Post #11 » by **jcsunsfan** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:42 am

SF88 wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
SF88 wrote:I don't understand why Warren can't play right now.

We aren't competing for a title, we aren't even gonna make playoffs. ALL other non playoff teams develop their lottery picks, the Suns glue them to the bench or send them to Bakersfield.

Too many players with similar abilities. As weird as it sounds, an injury to someone right now would probably ease up the logjam.

Yea but that seems unlikely to happen.

I'd rather us find a way to trade Tolliver and maybe Tucker.

I like PJ's defense but I think developing Warren is more important.

And I think a Warren has different ability than our 3pt chucking forwards. He's more mid range-inside scorer.

We can't trade Tolliver until Dec. I think. We could cut him, or just let him sit on the end of the bench. We could let Tucker sit. I think we need to send Len to D-league. Now that that team is running the Suns system purely for the point of preparing Suns players, it would be good for him to get a little more familiar with the flow of the offense on that level. Funny, I don't think they send him there because they are afraid to be without him on the regular roster. But, to me, developing Len is more important than winning games.

Revived · Post #12 » by **Revived** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:15 am

jcsunsfan wrote:
SF88 wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
Too many players with similar abilities. As weird as it sounds, an injury to someone right now would probably ease up the logjam.

Yea but that seems unlikely to happen.

I'd rather us find a way to trade Tolliver and maybe Tucker.

I like PJ's defense but I think developing Warren is more important.

And I think a Warren has different ability than our 3pt chucking forwards. He's more mid range-inside scorer.

We can't trade Tolliver until Dec. I think. We could cut him, or just let him sit on the end of the bench. We could let Tucker sit. I think we need to send Len to D-league. Now that that team is running the Suns system purely for the point of preparing Suns players, it would be good for him to get a little more familiar with the flow of the offense on that level. Funny, I don't think they send him there because they are afraid to be without him on the regular roster. But, to me, developing Len is more important than winning games.

I agree with your last sentence but I'm confused at to why you want to send Len to the D league then.

Imo Len may have the potential to be more than just a defense and some rebounding guy. Plumlee's ceiling is to become a some defense and some rebounding guy.

I'd like us to play Len more than Plumlee to see what we truly have in Len.

Sunsss · Post #13 » by **Sunsss** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 5:02 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFYH7brZLg[/youtube]

Boxscore: http://basketball.realgm.com/dleague/bo ... eld/193405

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TCYkBHhizg[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLQkriCPfDg[/youtube]

Maystack · Post #14 » by **Maystack** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 7:12 pm

SF88 wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
SF88 wrote:Yea but that seems unlikely to happen.

I'd rather us find a way to trade Tolliver and maybe Tucker.

I like PJ's defense but I think developing Warren is more important.

And I think a Warren has different ability than our 3pt chucking forwards. He's more mid range-inside scorer.

We can't trade Tolliver until Dec. I think. We could cut him, or just let him sit on the end of the bench. We could let Tucker sit. I think we need to send Len to D-league. Now that that team is running the Suns system purely for the point of preparing Suns players, it would be good for him to get a little more familiar with the flow of the offense on that level. Funny, I don't think they send him there because they are afraid to be without him on the regular roster. But, to me, developing Len is more important than winning games.

I agree with your last sentence but I'm confused at to why you want to send Len to the D league then.

Imo Len may have the potential to be more than just a defense and some rebounding guy. Plumlee's ceiling is to become a some defense and some rebounding guy.

I'd like us to play Len more than Plumlee to see what we truly have in Len.

The D-League is for developing players, hence the name. You seem to have a really negative opinion of it, but if it gives our rookies minutes to develop, then I'm all for it.

Post #15 » by **lilfishi22** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:38 am

I know it's D-League but it's still really impressive to see The WarWagon put up those points and do it efficiently.

Flying Colors · Post #16 » by **Flying Colors** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:03 am

jcsunsfan wrote:
SF88 wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote:
Too many players with similar abilities. As weird as it sounds, an injury to someone right now would probably ease up the logjam.

Yea but that seems unlikely to happen.

I'd rather us find a way to trade Tolliver and maybe Tucker.

I like PJ's defense but I think developing Warren is more important.

And I think a Warren has different ability than our 3pt chucking forwards. He's more mid range-inside scorer.

We can't trade Tolliver until Dec. I think. We could cut him, or just let him sit on the end of the bench. We could let Tucker sit. I think we need to send Len to D-league. Now that that team is running the Suns system purely for the point of preparing Suns players, it would be good for him to get a little more familiar with the flow of the offense on that level. Funny, I don't think they send him there because they are afraid to be without him on the regular roster. But, to me, developing Len is more important than winning games.

I don't have much issue with the rookies getting some burn in the d league because there is such a huge log jam in their positions, but i don't think this is the case with Len, who right now is sitting on a good chunk of minutes as the back up C. I'd say Actual NBA minutes are worth 4 or 5 times more than D league minutes, because you are actually going up against NBA talent.

JTrain · Post #17 » by **JTrain** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:24 am

Revived · Post #18 » by **Revived** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:45 am

Maystack wrote:
SF88 wrote:
jcsunsfan wrote: We can't trade Tolliver until Dec. I think. We could cut him, or just let him sit on the end of the bench. We could let Tucker sit. I think we need to send Len to D-league. Now that that team is running the Suns system purely for the point of preparing Suns players, it would be good for him to get a little more familiar with the flow of the offense on that level. Funny, I don't think they send him there because they are afraid to be without him on the regular roster. But, to me, developing Len is more important than winning games.

I agree with your last sentence but I'm confused at to why you want to send Len to the D league then.

Imo Len may have the potential to be more than just a defense and some rebounding guy. Plumlee's ceiling is to become a some defense and some rebounding guy.

I'd like us to play Len more than Plumlee to see what we truly have in Len.

The D-League is for developing players, hence the name. You seem to have a really negative opinion of it, but if it gives our rookies minutes to develop, then I'm all for it.

Very, very few players, if any, have went to do the D league and came back as even a borderline star player.

Maybe I have too high of expectations for Warren but I think he's well capable of being a star player or close to it eventually in his career.

jcsunsfan · Post #19 » by **jcsunsfan** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:44 pm

SF88 wrote:
Maystack wrote:
SF88 wrote:I agree with your last sentence but I'm confused at to why you want to send Len to the D league then.

Imo Len may have the potential to be more than just a defense and some rebounding guy. Plumlee's ceiling is to become a some defense and some rebounding guy.

I'd like us to play Len more than Plumlee to see what we truly have in Len.

The D-League is for developing players, hence the name. You seem to have a really negative opinion of it, but if it gives our rookies minutes to develop, then I'm all for it.

Very, very few players, if any, have went to do the D league and came back as even a borderline star player.

Maybe I have too high of expectations for Warren but I think he's well capable of being a star player or close to it eventually in his career.

Very few teams have used the D-League as a true developmental tool. And very few teams have the roster logjam that the Suns have. The Suns have alot of good players but no superstars. It makes sense to get some potentially great players some burn in D-League.

I am very impressed by Ennis. I would be glad to have him as our third pg. If we can find a good deal for one of the three ahead of him (that nets a pf) I would very much consider it.

JTrain · Post #20 » by **JTrain** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:22 pm

D-League hasn't really been around for that long. It's only been the full size it is now since 2006. The reason you won't see that many big players there is that all the top five draft picks play for awful teams, so they can already start or play big minutes there. But Gerald, Danny Green and Lin played in the D-League. And I think you'll continue to see more and more guys drafted in the lower first round make short stints there. Especially for teams like the Suns who now have their own team.