2018 Suns Offseason News

[Shabazz]

Wow , talk about something I didn't expect to see. Hope you guys see this post early

https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/1034088698328047617

I've actually been trying to find an online video of the Celtics feed of that game. I'm taping tonight's hoping that it's that feed. If not, does anyone have any leads?

[Cap]

Wow , talk about something I didn't expect to see. Hope you guys see this post early

https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/1034088698328047617

Watching the 2010 Spurs game now. God, Nash was incredible.

[ShelC]

Damn I skimmed over those two posts. Caught the Suns-Mavs playoff game last night and recorded it for later, didn't realize the whole day was about the Suns. Feel like they never show Suns stuff on NBATV.

[Mori Chu]

Bittersweet to watch those great Suns teams. We have been so bad for so long, it's almost hard to remember when we changed the whole league.

[Cap]

Lonzo Ball ought to try this (other eye of course):

[Shabazz]

I watched the end of the "Raja Bell over Daniel Ewing" game. That was such a special team.

[Indy]

I watched the end of the "Raja Bell over Daniel Ewing" game. That was such a special team.

Who was it that kept pimping for Ewing and saying what a great player he was going to be? Did he ever play another game after that shot?

[jonh]

Devin Booker article on CBS sports:

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/devi ... ning-time/

The plug for NBA 2k19 felt forced, but he had an interesting quote about Deandre's summer league performance:

"We're in the best shape we've been in since I've been a part of the franchise," Booker said. "With the trades we've made, and with Deandre. He had an unbelievable summer league, playing the right way, not forcing it, was still dominating on both sides of the floor. He'll be the down force threat we need to open up space for everybody else."

[O_Gardino]

Devin Booker article on CBS sports:

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/devi ... ning-time/

The plug for NBA 2k19 felt forced, but he had an interesting quote about Deandre's summer league performance:

"We're in the best shape we've been in since I've been a part of the franchise," Booker said. "With the trades we've made, and with Deandre. He had an unbelievable summer league, playing the right way, not forcing it, was still dominating on both sides of the floor. He'll be the down force threat we need to open up space for everybody else."

I agree with Book. Ayton did a lot of good things and drew a lot of attention which made things very easy for the shooters.

[ShelC]

I wonder how much we'll play inside-out given we don't have a traditional PG, or even one we're all that confident in at this point. Ayton should open things up when posted and he showed he can pass out of the double and find the open man, it's just a question of who he'll be passing out to - I feel great about Booker, Bridges and Ariza taking those shots, less so about Warren and Jackson at the moment.

[jonh]

Not sure if I am going to put this in right:

https://twitter.com/CBSSports/status/1034180376623607808

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/devin-bo ... ning-time/

I just appreciate the way Booker handles himself--one step at a time

[O_Gardino]

I wonder how much we'll play inside-out given we don't have a traditional PG, or even one we're all that confident in at this point. Ayton should open things up when posted and he showed he can pass out of the double and find the open man, it's just a question of who he'll be passing out to - I feel great about Booker, Bridges and Ariza taking those shots, less so about Warren and Jackson at the moment.

It's going to be tough to play Jackson and Warren together, or any combination of Jackson / Warren / Chriss unless they improve their shooting. Maybe they will! I hope Jackson does, because he brings so much else to the table.

I'm also comfortable putting Bender on the court with Ayton. Last season he was already as good a shooter as Ariza, and I think Bender and Ayton can cover some of each others weaknesses.

[ShelC]

On paper, Bender is the ideal PF next to a guy like Ayton. I wouldn't say he's as good a shooter as Ariza. Ariza at least has a rep as a shooter. Bender has a ways to go in that regard. Odd man out may be Chriss unless he becomes an undersized center who can roll to the basket.

TJ and Jackson have the dribble drive game off the 3pt line which i like, but if defenses are going to play off and dare them to shoot it won't matter.

[jonh]

On paper, Bender is the ideal PF next to a guy like Ayton. I wouldn't say he's as good a shooter as Ariza. Ariza at least has a rep as a shooter. Bender has a ways to go in that regard. Odd man out may be Chriss unless he becomes an undersized center who can roll to the basket.

TJ and Jackson have the dribble drive game off the 3pt line which i like, but if defenses are going to play off and dare them to shoot it won't matter.

Bender looks good on paper next to Ayton as long as the paper your looking at is not his career stats sheet.

[In2ition]

Bender didn't do much or was much of a threat with the ball in his hands this summer, other than catch and shoot and he didn't get a ton of shots up. He had a couple nice off the ball moves, taking advantage of the overplaying defense to slip the screen or go backdoor where he was hit for the layup. He was a good pairing on defense with Ayton though, so his +/- numbers were pretty decent in summer league. It's just that when he had the ball, he couldn't do anything and that's what most people remember or saw at summer league.

[Indy]

On paper, Bender is the ideal PF next to a guy like Ayton. I wouldn't say he's as good a shooter as Ariza. Ariza at least has a rep as a shooter. Bender has a ways to go in that regard. Odd man out may be Chriss unless he becomes an undersized center who can roll to the basket.

TJ and Jackson have the dribble drive game off the 3pt line which i like, but if defenses are going to play off and dare them to shoot it won't matter.

If you look at their career stats, they aren't far off on shooting. Even taking into account Bender's first year as an 18 year old playing under Watson, he is a career 34.5% 3P shooter on 3.4 attempts per game. Ariza is 35.3% on 4.0 attempts per game.

if you look just at last season,

TA 36.8% on 6.9 attempts
DB 36.6% on 3.9 attempts

Other than that, their stat lines are eerily similar. Same 4.4 RPG, 1.6 APG. Trevor gets more steals, Bender more blocks (and TOs).

[O_Gardino]

Indy beat me to it!

On paper, Bender is the ideal PF next to a guy like Ayton. I wouldn't say he's as good a shooter as Ariza. Ariza at least has a rep as a shooter. Bender has a ways to go in that regard. Odd man out may be Chriss unless he becomes an undersized center who can roll to the basket.

TJ and Jackson have the dribble drive game off the 3pt line which i like, but if defenses are going to play off and dare them to shoot it won't matter.

With Jackson and especially Warren, I feel like a lot depends on how much we play through Ayton. If he's dominant, we just don't need those guys in huge roles. If we run a more balanced offense, we may need Jackson's ability to drive and Warren's ability to score on broken plays.

Ariza has the rep of a good shooter because he has won. Bender obviously has had the opposite experience in his career. We'll see if old Bendy can put those skills to good use on a winning team.

Rep aside, last year's 3pt% were very similar. Ariza shot .368, which is high(ish) for him. Bender shot .366, and should see that as a foundation to build on.

[Shabazz]

Bender is probably the best post-entry-passer on the team.

[Indy]

Bender is probably the best post-entry-passer on the team.

Ha! That is like saying who was our best PG last year.

[Shabazz]

As much as people don't like Point Booker, it might be our best shot at success. I can't think of one PG skill (passing, breaking down a defense, outside shooting, running an offense) that Knight is currently better at than Book.

A lineup of Book-Bridges-JJ/TJ-Ariza-Ayton could be really nice. Replace any of those guys with Knight and it loses its luster.