Suns News: Playoffs Edition

[Mori Chu]

What? Why would Damian Jones get a ring?

[specialsauce]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

Playing GREAT? Lmao. He’s wild, has tunnel vision, and his defensive acumen is AWFUL. He’s literally a poor man’s Kelly Oubre.

[specialsauce]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

That’s not in Saucy’s nature. Once he targets a player, he gives them no mercy. That’s like asking the scorpion not to sting the frog.

Dude. It’s Abdel Nader. He is dumb as they come on the court. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he is not a rotational player for this team if the goal is to win.

[Indy]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

Playing GREAT? Lmao. He’s wild, has tunnel vision, and his defensive acumen is AWFUL. He’s literally a poor man’s Kelly Oubre.

It is all relative. We are talking about the 11th man (in mpg) on the team. Of course he isn't playing like a starter or even primary rotation guy on a great team. But he was very good for a guy averaging less than 15 minutes a game.

And his defense is pretty good--better than an average NBA player for sure.

[specialsauce]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

Playing GREAT? Lmao. He’s wild, has tunnel vision, and his defensive acumen is AWFUL. He’s literally a poor man’s Kelly Oubre.

It is all relative. We are talking about the 11th man (in mpg) on the team. Of course he isn't playing like a starter or even primary rotation guy on a great team. But he was very good for a guy averaging less than 15 minutes a game.

And his defense is pretty good--better than an average NBA player for sure.

His defense is not better than an average NBA player. He has the KO effect, he gets fancy blocks and steals so you think he must be good at defense. He fouls jump shooters far too often, makes the wrong rotations, falls asleep on his guy, etc.

And yes he’s an 11th man, the problem is Monty used him as his 8th man last game.

[Indy]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

Playing GREAT? Lmao. He’s wild, has tunnel vision, and his defensive acumen is AWFUL. He’s literally a poor man’s Kelly Oubre.

It is all relative. We are talking about the 11th man (in mpg) on the team. Of course he isn't playing like a starter or even primary rotation guy on a great team. But he was very good for a guy averaging less than 15 minutes a game.

And his defense is pretty good--better than an average NBA player for sure.

His defense is not better than an average NBA player. He has the KO effect, he gets fancy blocks and steals so you think he must be good at defense. He fouls jump shooters far too often, makes the wrong rotations, falls asleep on his guy, etc.

And yes he’s an 11th man, the problem is Monty used him as his 8th man last game.

9th, but who is counting?

And we only have 2 guys on this team that can take the ball and get to the rim on their own. Book and Payne. That's it. We needed someone else to try and do that to get some wrinkles into the offense.

[Indy]

And while no aggregate defensive stat is great, the bbref DRTG stat seems reasonable.

And it has Nader at 157th out of 540 players this year.

[Bucktastic365]

If it's Nader or Craig then there isn't a choice for me.
Craig does EVERYTHING better than Nader.

[Indy]

If it's Nader or Craig then there isn't a choice for me.
Craig does EVERYTHING better than Nader.

Not attacking the basket.

They are about equal at shooting (.603 TS% for Craig, .605 for Nader).

I would say Craig is a better defender of 4s, Nader of 3s.

Craig is a better rebounder, though.

[Superbone]

Funny that we didn't hear any quotes from George like we did after game 2's "If anything, I'm even more confident." How about now, buddy?

That being said, no messing around. Knock them out early. I don't know if I can take another nailbiter. Let's take care of business in front of our raucous crowd!

[Nodack]

Nader was playing great and was in the regular rotation before getting hurt. I like Craig and him. Craig has been a little off this series. Nader is aggressive going to the hole. CP3 had a week off and is taking a little while to get his groove. Nader has been out how long? He adds another dimension to the team. Give him a little break.

That’s not in Saucy’s nature. Once he targets a player, he gives them no mercy. That’s like asking the scorpion not to sting the frog.

Dude. It’s Abdel Nader. He is dumb as they come on the court. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he is not a rotational player for this team if the goal is to win.

Monty played him over Craig the last game. Are you saying Monty wants to lose or are you saying Monty is a dumb ass and doesn’t know what he’s doing?

[Split T]

What? Why would Damian Jones get a ring?

Because he played for us this year. I think anyone who plays at all gets one

[Split T]

Here’s the thing with Nader…he is a capable defender, but he does foul too much. Craig is definitely the better defender. However, out of all our wings, Nader is pretty easily the best at putting the ball on the floor and going to the rim. I think having someone who can do that is pretty important in this series as scoring has been tough to come by. I think that’s why Monty played him over Craig.

[Shabazz]

I’d be happy to have both Nader and Craig back next year.

[Wormwood]

Nader is a situational 9th or 10th guy. He posted the 45th best RPM among SFs last year, and the 35th best the year before that. He's s high energy pest on defense, and a solid 3 point shooter. Has the speed to defend 2's, enough size to work against smaller 3's.

As for playing him... sure. If you're looking for a 3 and D guy to guard a larger, stronger 2 like Mann, that probably works better than Carter, if you're not going to be counting on Nader to do primary or secondary ball handler duties (which we wont, during the playoffs we usually have two of CP3, Payne, and Booker on the court at any given time). If Beverly or Rondo was killing us, we might take a look at Carter.

But, your 9th or 10th guy almost never makes or breaks you, even in the playoffs, unless they're God-awful. (See: Marcus Banks, Damien Jones). You wouldn't want Nader starting, but for 10 spot minutes a night to give your second unit some energy and defense, and not clog up the lanes, sure, perfectly fine for that role.

[Superbone]

I'm glad to see most of us are on the same page regarding Nader.

[specialsauce]

If it's Nader or Craig then there isn't a choice for me.
Craig does EVERYTHING better than Nader.

Yes he does, including playing within the .5 offense and avoiding stupid fouls.

Seems most of phxsuns has discovered upon some good ass cocaine today

[JeremyG]

I like Nader and was glad Monty was willing to go to him even though he hadn't played in months.

[Superbone]

If it's Nader or Craig then there isn't a choice for me.
Craig does EVERYTHING better than Nader.

Yes he does, including playing within the .5 offense and avoiding stupid fouls.

Seems most of phxsuns has discovered upon some good ass cocaine today

Yeah, it's not you. It's all of us.

[specialsauce]

If it's Nader or Craig then there isn't a choice for me.
Craig does EVERYTHING better than Nader.

Yes he does, including playing within the .5 offense and avoiding stupid fouls.

Seems most of phxsuns has discovered upon some good ass cocaine today

Yeah, it's not you. It's all of us.

I’m glad we agree!