Suns News: Week 4 (11/13 - 11/19)

[Mori Chu]

I have plenty of fondness for Cam Payne. But dude is averaging 6 ppg and 2 assists this year so far. I don't remember when he averaged 7.3 assists but this year ain't it. He had some nice stretches for us, but last year he really struggled; his numbers were bad, he had tunnel vision, and he was hurt a lot. I miss him but I don't wish we had him back on the roster.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... eca01.html

[Kryptonic]

Payne’s not the kind of PG the suns need. They need a game manager, not an offensive spark-plug. And if we did have him, he certainly wouldn’t start with this roster.

With no Booker and/or Beal for these first ten games?

Payne was a very underrated game manager and playmaker. 7.3 assists doesn't just materialize out of thin air. If it did, we should have a player (besides Booker's 2 games) averaging that right now with all of the scoring talent on this team.

Please stop with this Cam Payne campaign. It's gross and he's not good.

We need a point guard…. Cam Payne is definitely not the answer.

[specialsauce]

I too think he shouldn’t play tomorrow because it’s 1 game too early.


When Devin Booker dies after tomorrow’s loss from re-aggravating his ankle-foot-calf/huge cock strain injuries for coming back 1 game too early, the blood will be on your guys’s hands.

Shame on all of you.


You guys couldn’t just wait one more game, huh? Captain Ahab has to go hunt his white whale?

Look what happened to Beal.

Got it. So if they stay out 5 games, the answer is they should’ve missed 6. If they miss 6, the answer is 7. You is a genius! Medical school schmedical schmool

Waiting one game past when the medical staff clears them would sure be working a helluva a lot better than whatever we have been doing so far.

Dr Jeremy knows it all! He knows when Booker was cleared!

[iLLmatic]

I too think he shouldn’t play tomorrow because it’s 1 game too early.


When Devin Booker dies after tomorrow’s loss from re-aggravating his ankle-foot-calf/huge cock strain injuries for coming back 1 game too early, the blood will be on your guys’s hands.

Shame on all of you.


You guys couldn’t just wait one more game, huh? Captain Ahab has to go hunt his white whale?

Look what happened to Beal.

Got it. So if they stay out 5 games, the answer is they should’ve missed 6. If they miss 6, the answer is 7. You is a genius! Medical school schmedical schmool

Waiting one game past when the medical staff clears them would sure be working a helluva a lot better than whatever we have been doing so far.

Dr Jeremy knows it all! He knows when Booker was cleared!

Aren’t you a physician? Lol

[Wally_West]

How we know Book was ready to go for the Thunder and that was the 1 game he waited? Hmm

[specialsauce]

Look what happened to Beal.

Got it. So if they stay out 5 games, the answer is they should’ve missed 6. If they miss 6, the answer is 7. You is a genius! Medical school schmedical schmool

Waiting one game past when the medical staff clears them would sure be working a helluva a lot better than whatever we have been doing so far.

Dr Jeremy knows it all! He knows when Booker was cleared!

Aren’t you a physician? Lol

Lol

[specialsauce]

How we know Book was ready to go for the Thunder and that was the 1 game he waited? Hmm

Insert Windhorst Meme

[JeremyG]

How we know Book was ready to go for the Thunder and that was the 1 game he waited? Hmm

We would have heard about the fight between he and Vogel.

[JeremyG]

I have plenty of fondness for Cam Payne. But dude is averaging 6 ppg and 2 assists this year so far. I don't remember when he averaged 7.3 assists but this year ain't it. He had some nice stretches for us, but last year he really struggled; his numbers were bad, he had tunnel vision, and he was hurt a lot. I miss him but I don't wish we had him back on the roster.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... eca01.html

It was last season, when starting:

Even with Cam Payne we probably still be 4-6. Cam Payne just isn’t that good anymore.

Wouldn’t mind adding a PG but not sure who we could realistically get with the assets we have that would make any sort difference. Might be better to see who ends up on the buyout market.

He was good as a starter. We were 9-6 when Payne started last season, and 2-2 in the playoffs. That's better than 4-6.

One of his starts was only 15 minutes on April 7. When he started 14 games in a row, he averaged 15.1 ppg on .395 3FG%, 7.3 apg, 1.0 spg, 2.2 t/o in 31.5 mpg with a 9-5 record.

Oh and it would have been "free" to keep him. We gave up a 2nd rounder to dump him. Are you gonnna tell me that Bol Bol is worth a roster spot over Payne?

[Split T]

It would’ve cost Ishbia 20 extra million. He just wasn’t that good anymore.

[JeremyG]

That's 0.29% of his net worth. He still would have had 99.71% of his wealth left intact and a point guard. And I disagree that he wasn't that good anymore.

[Split T]

Let’s say you have a net worth of 100k and you’ve got a pair of shoes worth about $30, but in order to keep them you’d have to pay $300 for them…They were great shoes 2-3 years ago but not so much anymore. They are your only pair of running shoes though…. You gonna spend the money?

[iLLmatic]

Love Cam Payne but he couldn't stay healthy for us.

[Kryptonic]

Payne’s time had come and gone…. He was never consistent and couldn’t rely on him. I agree we need a pg but Payne was definitely not an answer for us.

[Furlanfufi]

I don't think we need a PG so badly, but it's mostly because I expected the team to run more.
All the "we're gonna get in transition" didn't come to fruition at all.

[ShelC]

Felt like we were pushing the ball better in the first few games but may have slowed down in recent ones. We're 19th in pace right now I think.

[Carno]

While I think this team would be better off with Payne, I'm not going to play the "what if" game of lamenting past decisions. Where can the Suns get a PG that helps today? AIG alludes to McConnell but avoids proposing a realistic scenario for acquiring him. Allen makes a similar salary, but I would rather have Allen. Maybe you can get him for Little and change, but why would Indiana give up their backup PG for that? We could do this for every backup PG in the league and come to same answer. Even if a trade could happen, the Suns only get a backup quality PG. So, do the Suns start a backup PG? Play him in clutch situations in the 4th quarter? That solves the Sun's problems? I'm not buying it.

Booker, Beal and KD playing together most likely solves the problems. I'll see what that looks like after at least a month before concluding a major roster change is needed.

[JeremyG]

Let’s say you have a net worth of 100k and you’ve got a pair of shoes worth about $30, but in order to keep them you’d have to pay $300 for them…They were great shoes 2-3 years ago but not so much anymore. They are your only pair of running shoes though…. You gonna spend the money?

If I felt like it would give me a better chance of winning the marathon than running barefoot.

[Split T]

Ha, fair enough.

[AmareIsGod]

While I think this team would be better off with Payne, I'm not going to play the "what if" game of lamenting past decisions. Where can the Suns get a PG that helps today? AIG alludes to McConnell but avoids proposing a realistic scenario for acquiring him. Allen makes a similar salary, but I would rather have Allen. Maybe you can get him for Little and change, but why would Indiana give up their backup PG for that? We could do this for every backup PG in the league and come to same answer. Even if a trade could happen, the Suns only get a backup quality PG. So, do the Suns start a backup PG? Play him in clutch situations in the 4th quarter? That solves the Sun's problems? I'm not buying it.

Booker, Beal and KD playing together most likely solves the problems. I'll see what that looks like after at least a month before concluding a major roster change is needed.

To be fair, I never thought through how we get any viable PG options, especially considering our current salary restrictions, etc. I was simply using McConnell as an example of possible near starting quality PGs out there that aren't really getting the opportunity they are probably afforded based on their current abilities.

I don't know what the answer is. Only that the problem is that our offense has looked very poor with no real plan or identity. It shouldn't look this bad with 1 of the big 3 missing. We are no longer down 2 of our big 3. It seems we had no identity or strategy for reimplementing Beal other than dribble iso and maybe drive and kick.