Re: Game Day: Suns (2-9) @ Pelicans (5-6), Sat 11/10/18
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:18 am
Less than Anderson? How?
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I agree that you play TJ, Booker, Ayton and Bridges as many minutes as they can take. Surprisingly, that 4-man lineup doesn't crack our top 20 used... that is the frustrating thing about Igor so far.Split T wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:34 amRight. I'd play Ariza and Warren at the 4... Maybe even Holmes. Really the guys I'd give minutes to, in order: Booker, Ayton, Warren, Bridges, Ariza, Holmes. Canaan and Okobo get minutes because we have no other option at PG. Honestly, I might call up George King and see if he could handle a few minutes at the 4. I'd do that before playing Bender.
I assume we made Anderson promises about opportunities to get him to drop his $$ for next year. Not a good reason, but there is something else there. It isn't like anyone watches him play and thinks he is helping. But there probably is the hope that he turns it into what he was doing for Houston the first half of last year where he was shooting pretty good and still had a net +/- above zero.Marty [Mori Chu] wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:54 pmI think this team gave up on Dragan Bender too soon. Yes, he looked horrendous in summer league. But I just don't see how you can't work with the guy and try to get him through it. He is a pretty decent defender and he was working on his 3-point shot. I think he was the kind of player who could have really helped us at the PF spot next to Ayton and our other core guys. I find it frustrating that we have given minutes to other guys like Ryan Anderson who don't contribute anything. Even if Bender stinks, he won't stink any worse than the guys we have been playing.
Igor's under pressure to turn this thing around and he's already pretty much cut Jackson's and Anderson's minutes. Next on his list is to get Bridges in earlier and play him more. Then he has to figure out this pg problem. I agree that he should try playing Bender more, but he must be really playing like crap in practice to not get any time except as the human white flag.Shabazz wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:23 pmLast year vs OKC, Bender had a game where went for 20-6-4-3-1 on 7-9 shooting and 6-8 from 3. This year he's been DNP-CD twice.
On the flipside, he averaged 1.5 points in the other 2 games he played against OKC last year in 35 mpg. Yeesh.
He did average 13 and 10 in our last 5 games last year on .533 shooting (.467 from 3). I think he's worth throwing out there for a few non-garbage-time minutes to see what we have. In theory he'd be a very solid fit next to Ayton. Preseason is a different animal. Ayton was actually defending with passion in the preseason.
IMO, when you're 2-11, you have a responsibility as a coach to try everything. Bender is the only player on the team that hasn't played a single non-garbage-time minute.
Just like coach, eh?Split T wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 9:19 amSure, go ahead and play him. He's just not going to do anything
Kokoskov's rotations and substitution patters have been bad enough that I don't trust him to see who is ready to play and who isn't.In2ition wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:39 pmIgor's under pressure to turn this thing around and he's already pretty much cut Jackson's and Anderson's minutes. Next on his list is to get Bridges in earlier and play him more. Then he has to figure out this pg problem. I agree that he should try playing Bender more, but he must be really playing like crap in practice to not get any time except as the human white flag.Shabazz wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:23 pmLast year vs OKC, Bender had a game where went for 20-6-4-3-1 on 7-9 shooting and 6-8 from 3. This year he's been DNP-CD twice.
On the flipside, he averaged 1.5 points in the other 2 games he played against OKC last year in 35 mpg. Yeesh.
He did average 13 and 10 in our last 5 games last year on .533 shooting (.467 from 3). I think he's worth throwing out there for a few non-garbage-time minutes to see what we have. In theory he'd be a very solid fit next to Ayton. Preseason is a different animal. Ayton was actually defending with passion in the preseason.
IMO, when you're 2-11, you have a responsibility as a coach to try everything. Bender is the only player on the team that hasn't played a single non-garbage-time minute.
The team seems to come out flat every game and they've shown very little resiliency when things start to go south. The "veteran leaders" have been coasting since game 2.Split T wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:20 pmWhat more do you think Igor could be doing? Maybe he gave Anderson too much time to get going, but I'm not gonna be overly critical about him getting 7 games or so to see if his shot would start falling. Maybe it took him too long to realize Bridges needed to play, but he's playing now.
We're 12 games into the season and Anderson and Jackson, our two worst players so far, have been replaced by Warren and Bridges in the rotation. I'd still like to see Bridges get more minutes, but I don't really have any other complaints. We just don't have good players.
I think that's fair. We definitely have issues, I just don't think minute distributions are at the topShabazz wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:29 pmThe team seems to come out flat every game and they've shown very little resiliency when things start to go south. The "veteran leaders" have been coasting since game 2.Split T wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:20 pmWhat more do you think Igor could be doing? Maybe he gave Anderson too much time to get going, but I'm not gonna be overly critical about him getting 7 games or so to see if his shot would start falling. Maybe it took him too long to realize Bridges needed to play, but he's playing now.
We're 12 games into the season and Anderson and Jackson, our two worst players so far, have been replaced by Warren and Bridges in the rotation. I'd still like to see Bridges get more minutes, but I don't really have any other complaints. We just don't have good players.
Strategy and rotations aside, it seems like the right motivational buttons are not getting pushed.