Around the League: Week 14 1/26-2/1

[Split T]

Also shows how ridiculously deep the western point guard class is

Which also shows the foolishness in pouring the majority of your resources into a position that is overabundant.

That's a good point. Even a quick scan of teams to see who might be in the market for a pg via trade leaves you very underwhelmed as just about every team has a good one or one they think will become a good one.

[JCSunsfan]

LOL, check this out. J.R. Smith admits that part of his crappy play on the Knicks was due to going out partying late before games. Shocker of the year. I called this one, that he'd magically play better in Cleveland because he wouldn't be able to go out as much.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/27/j-r-smith- ... th-knicks/

Wow. It take some growing maturity to admit that. Did not see that type of growth coming from JR Smith.

[Ring_Wanted]

Also shows how ridiculously deep the western point guard class is

Which also shows the foolishness in pouring the majority of your resources into a position that is overabundant.

That's a good point. Even a quick scan of teams to see who might be in the market for a pg via trade leaves you very underwhelmed as just about every team has a good one or one they think will become a good one.

It's a flawed one, in my opinion, if you want to apply it to the Suns. For starters because the system matters, and it is not the same 'just' having two PG than being able to use them at the same time by design. And if I don't want to move a player, the importance of his market status is much more relative (although obviously everybody loves having the best bang for the buck).

But even if you want to label Dragic just a SG, among those he still is
#7 in scoring
#8 in assists
#3 in TOs
#4 in FG% (after Davis, Vucevic and Z-Bo) with top notch driving %s
#4 3pt (counting in Kevin Martin)

I don't know about you, but to me that smells much better than 'average' SG. The problem comes when you factor in D+R, but I want no part of Goran defending the current batch of PGs. I don't fear the size of regular SGs nearly as much as I do the speed of today's regular starting PGs.

And if you plan on adding some role player SG to do the dirty job against PGs, you are losing the 20-5-6 ability that Bledsoe provides, which doesn't grow on trees, precisely.

Looking at the way those two fit together, the thing I find foolish is not paying 30M per to keep Bledsoe and Dragic together. It's paying to keep IT3 (who doesn't fit alongside anyone, and actually you have to fit players around him) and using a #18 in 2014 on Tyler Ennis.

[Indy]

Also shows how ridiculously deep the western point guard class is

Which also shows the foolishness in pouring the majority of your resources into a position that is overabundant.

That's a good point. Even a quick scan of teams to see who might be in the market for a pg via trade leaves you very underwhelmed as just about every team has a good one or one they think will become a good one.

It's a flawed one, in my opinion, if you want to apply it to the Suns. For starters because the system matters, and it is not the same 'just' having two PG than being able to use them at the same time by design. And if I don't want to move a player, the importance of his market status is much more relative (although obviously everybody loves having the best bang for the buck).

But even if you want to label Dragic just a SG, among those he still is
#7 in scoring
#8 in assists
#3 in TOs
#4 in FG% (after Davis, Vucevic and Z-Bo) with top notch driving %s
#4 3pt (counting in Kevin Martin)

I don't know about you, but to me that smells much better than 'average' SG. The problem comes when you factor in D+R, but I want no part of Goran defending the current batch of PGs. I don't fear the size of regular SGs nearly as much as I do the speed of today's regular starting PGs.

And if you plan on adding some role player SG to do the dirty job against PGs, you are losing the 20-5-6 ability that Bledsoe provides, which doesn't grow on trees, precisely.

Looking at the way those two fit together, the thing I find foolish is not paying 30M per to keep Bledsoe and Dragic together. It's paying to keep IT3 (who doesn't fit alongside anyone, and actually you have to fit players around him) and using a #18 in 2014 on Tyler Ennis.

I agree with that last point. When looking at our back court for next year, I would much rather have Green on our team at 5-7 million than IT at 7. And I think I would be happy with a primary rotation of those 3, with some Tyler thrown in. If we had an injury, we would really need to get a lot out of the young guys, though.

[Gladiator]

On another note, Derrick Rose was absolutely brutal. Shot 13-33 from the field, committed 11 turnovers and dished out only 1 assist.

And hit the game winner. It's a funny game sometimes

[Split T]

Also shows how ridiculously deep the western point guard class is

Which also shows the foolishness in pouring the majority of your resources into a position that is overabundant.

That's a good point. Even a quick scan of teams to see who might be in the market for a pg via trade leaves you very underwhelmed as just about every team has a good one or one they think will become a good one.

It's a flawed one, in my opinion, if you want to apply it to the Suns. For starters because the system matters, and it is not the same 'just' having two PG than being able to use them at the same time by design. And if I don't want to move a player, the importance of his market status is much more relative (although obviously everybody loves having the best bang for the buck).

But even if you want to label Dragic just a SG, among those he still is
#7 in scoring
#8 in assists
#3 in TOs
#4 in FG% (after Davis, Vucevic and Z-Bo) with top notch driving %s
#4 3pt (counting in Kevin Martin)

I don't know about you, but to me that smells much better than 'average' SG. The problem comes when you factor in D+R, but I want no part of Goran defending the current batch of PGs. I don't fear the size of regular SGs nearly as much as I do the speed of today's regular starting PGs.

And if you plan on adding some role player SG to do the dirty job against PGs, you are losing the 20-5-6 ability that Bledsoe provides, which doesn't grow on trees, precisely.

Looking at the way those two fit together, the thing I find foolish is not paying 30M per to keep Bledsoe and Dragic together. It's paying to keep IT3 (who doesn't fit alongside anyone, and actually you have to fit players around him) and using a #18 in 2014 on Tyler Ennis.

My point about the trade market was mostly referring to IT. If we looked to move him, I'm not sure we'd find anyone willing to give up much of value. Which is mostly because of the pg depth, everyone has a starting pg and its not easy to pair IT with another pg because he's so small. I've actually been very pleased with his production this year, but its impossible to maximize the talents of all 3 PG's because they are all at their best with the ball in their hands. And unfortunately their trade value is minimized by the depth of point guards. So we are kinda stuck in this situation of not being able to maximize the value of our players, either on the court or off the court. But you're right, the situation was created by signing IT and adding him to Goran and Bled.

[Superbone]

And funny this loss comes on the heels of Steph Curry talking about getting bored with winning.

What the...?!

On another note, Derrick Rose was absolutely brutal. Shot 13-33 from the field, committed 11 turnovers and dished out only 1 assist.

And hit the game winner.

[ShelC]

Not how you start it's how you finish!

[Superbone]

Not how you start it's how you finish!

You're only as good as your last game!

[Indy]

Not how you start it's how you finish!

You're only as good as your last game!

Or in this case, your last shot.

[carey]

Kyrie scored 55 tonight.

[Cap]

Kyrie scored 55 tonight.

11-19 from 3.

LaMarcus put up 38/11 in a losing effort. Must've been a hell of a show.

[Mori Chu]

Wow. I wonder whether a game like that is good for Kyrie, or whether it will make him more stubborn and resistant to working with Lebron and within the offense.

[SDC]

OKC loses to NY.

[SDC]

DENVER beats NOH

[SDC]

dallas lost and LAC "might" lose

[SDC]

Suns thriving with three-PG lineup
Point guard-led small-ball lineup has been key to Phoenix's late-game success
by amin elhassan

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... uccess-nba

for real, amin?

[SDC]

and if the Suns weren't going to be able to retain Bledsoe, Thomas was a reasonable facsimile for a fraction of the price who could play running mate to Goran Dragic.

for real? i thought green would be elevated to the starting spot after having a good 2nd half of last season (filling in for injured bleds), and IT would be the 3rd guard ala microwave.

[Sunsfan4life]

Mavs lost again tonight. This time to Houston. We're only 3 back of them.

[Mori Chu]

The Mavs have quietly struggled a bit since they acquired Rondo. I don't have the record in front of me, but they're something like 11-9 since they got him.