Suns News: Week 4 11/16-11/22

[Ring_Wanted]

Season longa, prospectus brevis.

haha

[Sunsfan4life]

Agreed...I wasn't a fan of giving up the Laker pick either, but I always liked B. Knight as a player. Its funny too, the gameday threads have been pretty sparse to begin the year and seemed more active when we were imploding last yr.

It's probabaly because the "I hate Mcdonaugh" clan is sitting in the corner stewing now that Bledsoe and knight are playing well. I'm sure they'll come out in full force once one goes into the tank.

[Ring_Wanted]

No. It's because 13_14 was a good darn season and created hope. Almost out of nowhere.

[Sunsfan4life]

Seriously though...The suns are really set up to be a contender if you add a premier 4. Booker,Warren, and Len all have potential. Knight and Bledsoe are locked into what are pretty good contracts in todays NBA for #2 and 3 options. All they need is a premier 4 to bring it all together. I think Mcdonaugh has done a pretty good job of accumulating assets. The trade for Goran was a terrific haul after a player totally killed your leverge...and hey look, looks like Goran is declining afterall. People killed the IT trade, but hey apparently he wasn't fitting in here and they basically wiped the move off the books by garnering 1st for him.

We have a mediocre product right now, I totally agree with that all though I think its clear the suns are more gritty this year, but the suns are in a really good position to make a move. They have a lot of young pieces and all of there better players are on good-great contracts.

Marc Jackson said somthing interesting the other night about the Warriors coming in 2nd for Dwight Howard, but it improved what people thought of them around the league and said its similar to what happened with Phoenix and LaMarcus. I think their is some merit to that. The Warriors did Sign Andre Iguedola, a big time FA, shortly after.

[Sunsfan4life]

No. It's because 13_14 was a good darn season and created hope. Almost out of nowhere.

2nd half of last year, threads were still pretty packed. So I don't buy that...people love to b!tch and play armchair gm. It's easy...I get it....but if your a fan, why not show up when the team is doing well too?

[Ring_Wanted]

Not difficult to see it like that when there is winning. Ugly scares me, though.

btw people killed the IT3 trade?

[Ring_Wanted]

No. It's because 13_14 was a good darn season and created hope. Almost out of nowhere.

2nd half of last year, threads were still pretty packed.

There was plenty to complain about, if I recall correctly.

[Sunsfan4life]

But that's what I mean...They come here to complain, but not when we're winning?

Just for the record, not that I think you think this, but I'm not tlking about you.

[Ring_Wanted]

haha I know.

[Indy]

Season longa, prospectus brevis.

haha

exactly. He's had about 8 good games. I hope he keeps it up and it proves that trade was worth it.

[pickle]

Seriously though...The suns are really set up to be a contender if you add a premier 4. Booker,Warren, and Len all have potential. Knight and Bledsoe are locked into what are pretty good contracts in todays NBA for #2 and 3 options. All they need is a premier 4 to bring it all together. I think Mcdonaugh has done a pretty good job of accumulating assets. The trade for Goran was a terrific haul after a player totally killed your leverge...and hey look, looks like Goran is declining afterall. People killed the IT trade, but hey apparently he wasn't fitting in here and they basically wiped the move off the books by garnering 1st for him.

with the caveat that i didn't follow the season last year so much and don't know the chemistry issues too well out of the way, i just want to say that i liked the IT trade. it was clear that goran wanted to go and there was no saving that situation. once goran is gone, you can't really run a two pg set with IT and bledsoe. they are simply too small. it could work with bledsoe and goran coz goran is 6'4 and bledsoe is strong enough to take bigger players. but with a 5'9 and 6'1 backcourt, it just isn't gonna work. so moving IT while he still had good value and netting a first rounder in return is not bad. we got him for nothing in the summer and turned him into a first rounder, i think that's gotta be considered a positive development.

i did not support the trade for brandon knight (though once we did make the trade i supported the contract we gave him), but so far this season his play has really been good. the jury is still out, but what he's done so far has been eye-candy. if he can consistently hit shots at this level, then he's basically steph curry with slightly worse handles. they take similar shots, knight just doesn't inspire confidence in me when he launches those long three pointers.

[TOO]

Great article. Really rooting for B. Knight. I think he's a better player then Bledsoe, although Eric has looked great this yr too. Suns need a low post presence, but the backcourt is rounding into shape.

So many (almost everybody here) writing off Knight and wanting the draft pick. Knight is looking dang good. A bird in the hand folks.

Mhmm.

[Split T]

Seriously though...The suns are really set up to be a contender if you add a premier 4. Booker,Warren, and Len all have potential. Knight and Bledsoe are locked into what are pretty good contracts in todays NBA for #2 and 3 options. All they need is a premier 4 to bring it all together.

How good would Paul Millsap look in Markieffs place? Stretches the floor, can score inside, great passer, plays defense. He's basically everything we want markieff to be.

[AmareIsGod]

Such a great article about Knight. Wow. Fantastic read.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/brandon-kn ... 13201.html

“That’s what our society has drifted to – highlights. Who’s going to get crossed? Who is going to get dunked on? Truth of the matter is, everybody is going to get dunked on. Everybody is going to get crossed. Our league is too good,” Knight told Yahoo. “What gets me though is people try to define you by stuff like that. The positive will come to light, sooner or later. I’m blessed to do this. Highly favored. I don’t have any worries. People say they feel bad for me. Don’t feel for me. I’m living my life. I get paid to play basketball. I feel bad for a lot of y’all.”

“I was like, ‘OK. I’m going into my third year, trade me for a guy who is two years older than me, I’m fine with that. Do I feel he’s better than me? I don’t feel anybody is better than me,” Knight told Yahoo Sports. “I think Joe did me a favor at the end of the day. Trades can hurt you, but they can help you as well.”

Love it! I'm really starting to become a huge fan of this kid. He's turning me into a believer. And I'm finally starting to turn in favor of Bledsoe.

[DrSublime]

Such a great article about Knight. Wow. Fantastic read.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/brandon-kn ... 13201.html

“That’s what our society has drifted to – highlights. Who’s going to get crossed? Who is going to get dunked on? Truth of the matter is, everybody is going to get dunked on. Everybody is going to get crossed. Our league is too good,” Knight told Yahoo. “What gets me though is people try to define you by stuff like that. The positive will come to light, sooner or later. I’m blessed to do this. Highly favored. I don’t have any worries. People say they feel bad for me. Don’t feel for me. I’m living my life. I get paid to play basketball. I feel bad for a lot of y’all.”

“I was like, ‘OK. I’m going into my third year, trade me for a guy who is two years older than me, I’m fine with that. Do I feel he’s better than me? I don’t feel anybody is better than me,” Knight told Yahoo Sports. “I think Joe did me a favor at the end of the day. Trades can hurt you, but they can help you as well.”

Love it! I'm really starting to become a huge fan of this kid. He's turning me into a believer. And I'm finally starting to turn in favor of Bledsoe.

this kinda stuff is exactly what I was talking about a few weeks ago when I was saying I like Knight so much more than Bledsoe.. Knight gets it.

[AmareIsGod]

Such a great article about Knight. Wow. Fantastic read.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/brandon-kn ... 13201.html

“That’s what our society has drifted to – highlights. Who’s going to get crossed? Who is going to get dunked on? Truth of the matter is, everybody is going to get dunked on. Everybody is going to get crossed. Our league is too good,” Knight told Yahoo. “What gets me though is people try to define you by stuff like that. The positive will come to light, sooner or later. I’m blessed to do this. Highly favored. I don’t have any worries. People say they feel bad for me. Don’t feel for me. I’m living my life. I get paid to play basketball. I feel bad for a lot of y’all.”

“I was like, ‘OK. I’m going into my third year, trade me for a guy who is two years older than me, I’m fine with that. Do I feel he’s better than me? I don’t feel anybody is better than me,” Knight told Yahoo Sports. “I think Joe did me a favor at the end of the day. Trades can hurt you, but they can help you as well.”

Love it! I'm really starting to become a huge fan of this kid. He's turning me into a believer. And I'm finally starting to turn in favor of Bledsoe.

this kinda stuff is exactly what I was talking about a few weeks ago when I was saying I like Knight so much more than Bledsoe.. Knight gets it.

I get what you're saying but at this point, it's kind of hard to argue about Bledsoe and what he's done on the court this season. Maybe McDonough really did know what he was doing and getting rid of Lance Blanks was the part of that solution.

[ShelC]

We as fans want instant gratification so if a guy comes here and isn't a superstar and leading us to the playoffs we complain and want them out, want the coach out, want the GM out. Truth is, these things take time when you're building. Unless it's a bona fide superstar and you have pieces in place, like we had when Barkley and Nash came here or when LeBron went to Miami, it's very hard to make a trade or signing and then go deep in the playoffs.

Bledsoe is 26, Knight is 24, Archie is 21, Len is 22, Booker is 19 (!). Now you can't keep falling back on that as an excuse to buy more time, but let's keep things in perspective with regards to when this roster was put together from coaching staff on down. We're not the Spurs, Mavs, Heat where our coaching staff and system has been in place for years and we can just plug and play guys. And we'd be unwise to dump such young talent, which we've done in the past.

[Sunsfan4life]

Excellent post Shel. Every GM has a plan, its important to stick to that plan and not just keep scrapping it. I actually think the Suns are 1 piece away. I'll readily admit I'm not a fan of Bledsoe playing the point, but he's a very very good basketball player. Just an average to below average PG. I trust Knight with the ball/decision making more.

People also need to understand the changing NBA. I think it is clear now looking around the league that Ryan Mcdonaughs strengths is contracts. Bledsoe,Knight,Kieff all look like, in today's NBA, they are bargin at their current contracts. Maybe a few years ago 14mil was near max money, but in today's NBA vs 5/6 years ago, 14mil per is more like 7/8mil was in 2006. Markieff Morris and Jeremy Lamb are almost making the same amount of money. Now how Kieff is playing this yr that makes sense, but if/when he starts playing like he has.....that's outlandish.

We have young players on great contracts, a lot of picks, and a product thats competitive. The next step for Ryan is to turn all the assets we have (Picks,Space,Bogdanovic) into that alpha frontourt player.

I still would not rule out packaging Bledsoe down the line for a premier Big.

[carey]

Mirza Teletovic finds comfort level with Suns: LINK

He also was adjusting to an uptempo system for the first time since he first joined Spanish club Tau Ceramica in 2006 and thought to himself, “What’s going on?”

This time, he knew what was going on. He had chosen it for himself, knowing a system with driving point guards would set up his game nicely. He just had to get back into basketball shape for it.

“He’s probably never had to be in great shape in Europe,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Here in the NBA, we’re trying to fly up and down the court. He’s got to be able to run and get in those spots and still be able to shoot when you’re a little tired. The better shape you’re in, the easier it is.”

[Nodack]

We are never happy with anybody. The grass is always greener....