Suns News: Week 16 2/6-2/12

[carey]

Last Week's Games

vs. Memphis L115-96
vs. L.A. Clippers L124-114
@ Sacramento W105-103
vs. Milwaukee L137-112

This Week's Games

Monday, Feb. 6th @ New Orleans 8:00PM EST
Wednesday, Feb. 8th @ Memphis 8:00PM EST
Friday, Feb. 10th vs. Chicago 10:30PM EST ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 11th @ Houston 9:00PM EST

Suns Stories

Suns rookie Marquese Chriss learning under Tucker's tough love: Last week, after a defensive breakdown led to an easy scoring opportunity against Memphis, P.J. Tucker grabbed the basketball and slapped it with anger. “Quese!” he yelled. By now, three months into his rookie season with the Suns, Marquese Chriss knows what it means to hear his teammate’s deep voice. He’s messed up. That’s part of being a 19-year-old in this league. One night, you’re hitting corner 3s and dunking in transition, flashing your potential. The next you’re defending Blake Griffin or DeMarcus Cousins, crashing back to reality. -
http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /97534822/

Derrick Jones Jr. joins ranks of random Dunk Contest participants: Phoenix Suns guard Derrick Jones Jr. will compete in the Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star weekend despite not recording a single dunk in an NBA game. Jones has played 14 minutes in the NBA, but puts on dunk shows in practice and the NBA D-League, which was enough to get him a spot in the highlight of All-Star Saturday. He’s probably the most obscure choice to ever appear in the contest, or perhaps even All-Star Weekend. - http://arizonasports.com/story/1015926/ ... ticipants/


Alex Len is lost in an inconsistent rotation during a vital year of his NBA career:
http://arizonasports.com/story/1013299/ ... ba-career/

[jonh]

Watson's hot take:

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017/ ... basketball

[Mori Chu]

Thanks for making the news thread, carey! I saw that article about Chriss being under Tucker's wing. My sense was that Chriss was pretty wretched on D, so I am not sure what exactly Tucker is teaching him.

[Mori Chu]

Eric Bledsoe is having a career year. Do the Phoenix Suns sell high on him? - by Adam Joseph.

https://16winsaring.com/eric-bledsoe-is ... .ecxk6vsab

[TOO]

https://theringer.com/phoenix-suns-rebu ... .h0o6xabvu -Rebuilding or Imploding?

[Superbone]

Thanks for the thread carey and great articles everybody!

Speaking of Bledsoe, I keep forgetting to mention that he is getting really good at getting the "Harden" foul outside of the three point line. The one where he goes through the screen and the defender sticks his arms out and he jumps up and through it with a shot at the basket, earning himself a trip to the free throw line for 3 FTs.

[Indy]

Eric Bledsoe is having a career year. Do the Phoenix Suns sell high on him? - by Adam Joseph.

https://16winsaring.com/eric-bledsoe-is ... .ecxk6vsab

Why would you ever want to sell low?!? Of course!

[Indy]

Thanks for the thread carey and great articles everybody!

Speaking of Bledsoe, I keep forgetting to mention that he is getting really good at getting the "Harden" foul outside of the three point line. The one where he goes through the screen and the defender sticks his arms out and he jumps up and through it with a shot at the basket, earning himself a trip to the free throw line for 3 FTs.

He does so many things really, really well.

[Superbone]

Thanks for the thread carey and great articles everybody!

Speaking of Bledsoe, I keep forgetting to mention that he is getting really good at getting the "Harden" foul outside of the three point line. The one where he goes through the screen and the defender sticks his arms out and he jumps up and through it with a shot at the basket, earning himself a trip to the free throw line for 3 FTs.

He does so many things really, really well.

It's interesting. He's playing really well and having his best year, yet it still feels like something is not quite right with the team with him running the show. That's the impression I get and seems like many other do too. I can't put my finger on it.

[carey]

It's interesting. He's playing really well and having his best year, yet it still feels like something is not quite right with the team with him running the show. That's the impression I get and seems like many other do too. I can't put my finger on it.

The feeling I get watching both Bledsoe and Knight is the same. It doesn't ever feel like either of them run an offense insomuch as they believe they are the offense. The sad part is that I'm starting to get that same feeling about Booker. For as much talk as there is about the family atmosphere Watson is cultivating they rarely ever look like a team out there.

[In2ition]

It's interesting. He's playing really well and having his best year, yet it still feels like something is not quite right with the team with him running the show. That's the impression I get and seems like many other do too. I can't put my finger on it.

The feeling I get watching both Bledsoe and Knight is the same. It doesn't ever feel like either of them run an offense insomuch as they believe they are the offense. The sad part is that I'm starting to get that same feeling about Booker. For as much talk as there is about the family atmosphere Watson is cultivating they rarely ever look like a team out there.

Agreed

[Ring_Wanted]

Speaking of Bledsoe, I keep forgetting to mention that he is getting really good at getting the "Harden" foul outside of the three point line.

He is getting more respect this season, while also playing more focused. He's made a clear progress at not messing it up once he gets under the basket. Those terrible sequences where he used to crash into a defender in the paint, then spend a lot of time on the floor were one of his biggest flaws and it seems to be under control.

[Indy]

Speaking of Bledsoe, I keep forgetting to mention that he is getting really good at getting the "Harden" foul outside of the three point line.

He is getting more respect this season, while also playing more focused. He's made a clear progress at not messing it up once he gets under the basket. Those terrible sequences where he used to crash into a defender in the paint, then spend a lot of time on the floor were one of his biggest flaws and it seems to be under control.

Exactly. He spends so much less time on the floor this year. It seems stupid to applaud that, but it really makes a difference. Part of that is he is getting better at finishing, another part is he is getting more respect from the refs, and then he also doesn't wallow on the floor after every non-call.

[Mori Chu]

I'm glad that Bledsoe is having a good year (after a somewhat mediocre start). I would be much more positive about his progress if it also included an increased emphasis on assists and passing. He has had some decent games of 7-8 assists, but to me he still fails the "eye test." It just doesn't look like he makes passing to teammates a priority. Passing is his second option if he himself can't get a look he likes. And I sort of fundamentally reject that mindset for a starting NBA point guard.

[JCSunsfan]

It's interesting. He's playing really well and having his best year, yet it still feels like something is not quite right with the team with him running the show. That's the impression I get and seems like many other do too. I can't put my finger on it.

The feeling I get watching both Bledsoe and Knight is the same. It doesn't ever feel like either of them run an offense insomuch as they believe they are the offense. The sad part is that I'm starting to get that same feeling about Booker. For as much talk as there is about the family atmosphere Watson is cultivating they rarely ever look like a team out there.

Is this because of the players or the offensive system? I agree with you on the condition, I am just not sure about the cause. This whole team lacks in passing and finding the open man. There is way too much one-on-one stuff going on.

[pickle]

I think Bledsoe is talented enough that he can be an effective passer. He's adding to his game and can eventually learn to use his own attack game as a threat to open more passing lanes. Passing doesn't come as a first instinct with him, of course, but it's not necessarily a fault in the modern game, and he's definitely shown marked improvements this year. But I still advocated trading him in another thread, not only because of his mismatched career timeline, but also for the fact that I don't think he's a natural born leader. He works very hard and puts his head down, and some of that certainly rubs off in the locker room I imagine, but he just doesn't strike me as the type of guy who would put enough pressure on the rest of his team such that they want to fall into line behind him. This is pure conjecture of course, but it's my opinion of him, and I don't think leadership is something that you can force yourself into over time. You have to really want it and believe in your own voice and presence. I don't want to wait 3 more years for that to develop.

I've been a Knight defender in the past and I still sympathize with the guy. But his basketball skills are not advanced enough that he's actually playing one step ahead. In fact I would say he's either always in his own rhythm or playing catch up. When he's confident and shooting well, playing at his own rhythm can be a useful tactic. When his one fall back skill -- long range bombs -- fails him, then he's pretty useless.

I'm not that worried about Booker. His primary role in the team right now is not to set others up, but he's shown the propensity to do so anyway. I haven't watched enough games this year, but from the few I did see, I haven't gotten the sense that he's out there looking to get his.

[Superbone]

I'm not worried about Booker at all. In fact I think he's usually too unselfish with the ball most of the time. He's quick to give it up. He'll occasionally force shots but I want him taking a lot of the shots. He had some nice assists last night.

[UglyTruth]

It's interesting. He's playing really well and having his best year, yet it still feels like something is not quite right with the team with him running the show. That's the impression I get and seems like many other do too. I can't put my finger on it.

The feeling I get watching both Bledsoe and Knight is the same. It doesn't ever feel like either of them run an offense insomuch as they believe they are the offense. The sad part is that I'm starting to get that same feeling about Booker. For as much talk as there is about the family atmosphere Watson is cultivating they rarely ever look like a team out there.

This is why I said that we need to trade Knight ASAP in the other thread because he's a such a bad influence. Same with Bledsoe but it's not as bad.

[Split T]

TJ Warren lands at #47 and Marqueese Chriss at #45 in the #nbarank countdown of top 50 players under 25.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/nb ... tars-41-50

[carey]

I hope this is bullshit. A Croatian journalist is reporting that Bender will have season ending surgery. I am always leery of foreign journalists on stuff our own guys haven't reported yet, but we've seen stuff like this break over there first before in regards to Goran.