Re: Suns News: Season Resumes
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:19 am
what browser? I am using chrome on both my mac and windows machines and don't see it that way.
A place for fans of the Phoenix Suns
https://www.phx-suns.net/
what browser? I am using chrome on both my mac and windows machines and don't see it that way.
Thanks, Marty. I'll give those a shot. I do have uBlock Origin but disabled it for this site. It suddenly started happening. I'll let you know my findings.Mori Chu wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:53 amBone: Sometimes various browser plugins and extensions interfere with formatting of pages. Have you tried another browser just as a sanity check? Or viewing the page in Chrome's Incognito Mode, which often disables most of your extensions? Curious if you're able to get it to look right in another context.
If it looks right in another browser / Incognito, consider looking at chrome://extensions in a tab and trying to selectively disable some of them to see if any is the culprit.
I just googled about this problem, and I found one forum where a user said that the problem may be with third-party cookies. If you have those disabled in your browser security settings, it may make it so that embedded tweets don't show up properly. Another possible cause I saw is for people running "uBlock Origin" which may interfere with displaying embedded tweets. I also saw people saying that "Disconnect" and "Tracking Blocker" interfered with tweet displaying; they say that white-listing "platform.twitter.com" in your block list can help. There are a few things to possibly look into.
Here come the Suns, Do Do Do Do
That’s “do,” by the way, not the typical “doo-doo” that we’re used to seeing from the Phoenix Suns of old.
It has been 17 months since ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz revealed the goats-gone-wild tale that came to symbolize the Suns’ systemic shortcomings, with owner Robert Sarver filling the office of former general manager Ryan McDonough with goats that — while intended to send a message about their need to find great players — would ultimately soil his carpet in the kind of way that wild animals tend to do. But on Thursday, when the Suns’ win over Indiana made them the only team thus far to win its first four games in Orlando, it was the latest sign yet that progress is being made here.
Devin Booker is playing like the bonafide star that he has been for quite some time now, averaging 28 points, 6.5 assists and 3.8 rebounds during the restart (eighth in scoring league-wide). The Suns have a plus-9.2 net rating when he’s on the floor.
Big man Deandre Ayton is doing No. 1-pick types of things at the perfect time, averaging 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks (23 points, 10 boards and four blocks against the Pacers) after his second season was marred by a 25-game suspension due to a violation of the league’s anti-drug policy (by testing positive for a diuretic). Ricky Rubio. Cameron Johnson. Mikal Bridges. Dario Saric. The contributions — even with the absences of Aron Baynes and Kelly Oubre — have rolled in from there.
It’s virtually impossible to not want good things for first-year Phoenix coach Monty Williams, whose story of loss, strength, faith and humility I covered during a trip to the desert in November. And while this Orlando surge certainly doesn’t guarantee his Suns a spot in the postseason — they’re now 1 ½ games back of Portland for the ninth-place spot that would lead to the play-in tournament against the eighth-place team — it’s real evidence that he’s building something substantive here.
As Suns general manager James Jones told me during that November visit, he and vice president of basketball operations Jeff Bower (who was with Williams previously in New Orleans) saw this as the perfect fit during the search that led to his May 3, 2019 hire.
“I needed it to be great for him from his perspective,” Jones said. “I wanted him to say, ‘You know what? I want that opportunity with you guys,’ because he had multiple opportunities. Not just (with) us, (but) other teams (like) Philly. He could have retired. He has a bunch of options, but I wanted him to see everything that we had, put everything on the table and say, ‘Hey, you’re an architect, you’re a builder. You’re a guy who has the ability to shape and transform this thing. Is this something you can work with? Is this something you can do? If so, what do you need?’
“That’s where those conversations started. And they finished with, ‘I need a great staff. I need you guys to embrace the things that I’m about,’ which was not hard. Being professional. Showing up on time. Defending. Sharing the ball. High character guys. Elite NBA skills. Shoot, pass, defend, that type of stuff. Those types of conversations are easy to have, and that’s when we knew it was a match.”
It’s impossible to quantify the value of Williams’ personal touch, but that trip to Phoenix left me convinced that the owner, front office and players alike were buying into his style and message. But this is a results-based business, and the fact that the Suns lost 27 of 42 games after their 11-12 start was a significant step in the wrong direction.
Now with four games left — Miami on Saturday followed by Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Dallas — we’ll see if Williams’ well-respected ways can continue yielding returns.
“Monty is not just great in those three hours of gametime,” Jones had said back then. “He’s great in those other 21 (hours) as well. And that’s when you’re in practice, and that’s when you’re in film. That’s when it comes out, and it shines throughout the course of the day. On the plane. He’s a great person, and that’s how players connect.
“We always talk about the locker room, but when you grow with your teammates it’s not because you’re in the locker room talking Xs and Os. It’s because you’re in the locker room with the guys every day — three or fours hours a day, five hours a day, just talking about life, talking about friends. You’re laughing. You’re giggling. You’re vulnerable, talking about your fears, your excitements, your passion. That’s where the locker room grows, and I think that’s where the guys connect with Monty because he’s a great person. That’s the part of the human being that you’re drawn to. And then, oh by the way, you can also help me with this basketball thing and put me in a position to be successful?”
And Dallas lost yesterday with that bounce, so they will not be happy. But even if Dallas win, and Utah loses, they can't catch them. So no matter what, Dallas is playing the Clips in the first round.