Suns News: Week 25 - The End of '16-'17

[carey]

Last Week's Games

vs. Golden State L120-111
vs. OKC W120-99
vs. Dallas W124-111

This Week's Games

@ Sacramento 10:30 PM EST

Suns Stories

NBA lottery odds. Where do the Celtics, Lakers, & Suns check in? http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1906 ... -top-picks

Rumor Central: Brandon Knight mum regarding future with Suns.
http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/rumors/pos ... -with-suns

Suns' Knight & Chandler face uncertain futures: http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... 100286818/

Is Devin Booker the valley's next big star? http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... 100268686/

Podcast: Solar Panel episode 9 - http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017/ ... lking-dead

[n4th4n]

[pickle]

Please don't say "the end". Scared me for a moment there.

[Cap]

Please don't say "the end". Scared me for a moment there.

What, other than the season, did you think was ending? The team? The site? Carey?

[pickle]

I don't know. I have a pretty active imagination. At the very least there was Carey's run as the Godfather of weekly news...

[Split T]

Per36 numbers post all star break for our youngins:

Name PTS/REB/AST/STL/BLK/FG%/3PT%/FT%

Booker 24.5/4.2/4.1/1.1/0.2/.420/.353/.841

Warren 18.1/7.9/1.6/1.1/0.9/.560/.320/.754

Chriss 17.0/8.0/1.3/1.2/2.0/.498/.360/.615

Ulis 14.9/3.2/8.1/1.3/0.2/.432/.246/.764

Len 14.9/11.7/1.0/1.2/2.2/.490/.250/.703

Williams 18.2/14.5/1.4/1.4/1.2/.514/.000/.644

Jones Jr 10.8/5.3/0.8/1.0/0.8/.553/.273/.700

Bender 9.8/8.3/2.3/0.4/1.2/.297/.100/.333

Chriss, Warren, and Williams had great 2nd halfs. Ulis and Booker did very good as well, shooting numbers aside. Len's numbers are actually pretty good. Jones Jr. showed some stuff. Bender's stats look awful, but they were in very limited minutes and he was not in rhythm. He needs a good summer league. Summer league starting lineup should be Ulis-Jones Jr-Bender-Chriss and whoever we draft in the first round.

[Superbone]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

[Indy]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

Nobody want to throw him away like trash. They want to spend time developing someone that shows more upside than a 4th year center that still gets the ball stripped by weaker guys when he goes up to dunk the ball. He can't be an offensive liability without being great on defense. A 4th year, 7-1 Center that can't shoot 50% from the field isn't what you spend the next 4 years working on improving. And from what I read here, most are fine to keep him for ~10M/year. That is not treating him like trash.

[In2ition]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

The numbers aside, he has been a bit disappointing when there are multiple mistakes that we can see that he makes when he shouldn't. It's just frustrating when it feels he should have converted or been able to do so much better, but just doesn't. Not all is necessarily his fault, but there are many times during the game where he should be better aware or be able to catch and finish cleaner, goes for finesse when he should go hard, gets pushed out of position when we think he should be able to dominate and doesn't. Maybe we expect too much from a 7'1" center with 4 years of experience and supposedly good athleticism.

[Superbone]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

The numbers aside, he has been a bit disappointing when there are multiple mistakes that we can see that he makes when he shouldn't. It's just frustrating when it feels he should have converted or been able to do so much better, but just doesn't. Not all is necessarily his fault, but there are many times during the game where he should be better aware or be able to catch and finish cleaner, goes for finesse when he should go hard, gets pushed out of position when we think he should be able to dominate and doesn't. Maybe we expect too much from a 7'1" center with 4 years of experience and supposedly good athleticism.

Yeah, could be that he just isn't measuring up to what we think a number 5 pick in the draft should be. He's no star by any means. I just think if we can keep him for a reasonable price, you do it. If the numbers are too big and don't make sense? Let him go.

[In2ition]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

The numbers aside, he has been a bit disappointing when there are multiple mistakes that we can see that he makes when he shouldn't. It's just frustrating when it feels he should have converted or been able to do so much better, but just doesn't. Not all is necessarily his fault, but there are many times during the game where he should be better aware or be able to catch and finish cleaner, goes for finesse when he should go hard, gets pushed out of position when we think he should be able to dominate and doesn't. Maybe we expect too much from a 7'1" center with 4 years of experience and supposedly good athleticism.

Yeah, could be that he just isn't measuring up to what we think a number 5 pick in the draft should be. He's no star by any means. I just think if we can keep him for a reasonable price, you do it. If the numbers are too big and don't make sense? Let him go.

I don't think he's shown anything to say that he is still going to improve, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be able to still. I'm with you, if the price is right, then go for it, otherwise wish him luck on his journeys. And personally, I don't care about where he was drafted, when you see him, he should be better and just isn't improving like he should. Why doesn't he have a better midrange shot? Why doesn't he chin the ball on rebounds and gets it stripped? Why does he not understand leverage and dominate guys 6 inches shorter than him?

[Superbone]

Len's numbers are actually pretty good.

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

The numbers aside, he has been a bit disappointing when there are multiple mistakes that we can see that he makes when he shouldn't. It's just frustrating when it feels he should have converted or been able to do so much better, but just doesn't. Not all is necessarily his fault, but there are many times during the game where he should be better aware or be able to catch and finish cleaner, goes for finesse when he should go hard, gets pushed out of position when we think he should be able to dominate and doesn't. Maybe we expect too much from a 7'1" center with 4 years of experience and supposedly good athleticism.

Yeah, could be that he just isn't measuring up to what we think a number 5 pick in the draft should be. He's no star by any means. I just think if we can keep him for a reasonable price, you do it. If the numbers are too big and don't make sense? Let him go.

I don't think he's shown anything to say that he is still going to improve, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be able to still. I'm with you, if the price is right, then go for it, otherwise wish him luck on his journeys. And personally, I don't care about where he was drafted, when you see him, he should be better and just isn't improving like he should. Why doesn't he have a better midrange shot? Why doesn't he chin the ball on rebounds and gets it stripped? Why does he not understand leverage and dominate guys 6 inches shorter than him?

All good points but then I remember that big men take longer to develop and hold out hope that it comes together at some point. But it maybe never will. Thus the dilemma.

[In2ition]

And yet people want to just throw him away like yesterday's newspaper.

The numbers aside, he has been a bit disappointing when there are multiple mistakes that we can see that he makes when he shouldn't. It's just frustrating when it feels he should have converted or been able to do so much better, but just doesn't. Not all is necessarily his fault, but there are many times during the game where he should be better aware or be able to catch and finish cleaner, goes for finesse when he should go hard, gets pushed out of position when we think he should be able to dominate and doesn't. Maybe we expect too much from a 7'1" center with 4 years of experience and supposedly good athleticism.

Yeah, could be that he just isn't measuring up to what we think a number 5 pick in the draft should be. He's no star by any means. I just think if we can keep him for a reasonable price, you do it. If the numbers are too big and don't make sense? Let him go.

I don't think he's shown anything to say that he is still going to improve, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be able to still. I'm with you, if the price is right, then go for it, otherwise wish him luck on his journeys. And personally, I don't care about where he was drafted, when you see him, he should be better and just isn't improving like he should. Why doesn't he have a better midrange shot? Why doesn't he chin the ball on rebounds and gets it stripped? Why does he not understand leverage and dominate guys 6 inches shorter than him?

All good points but then I remember that big men take longer to develop and hold out hope that it comes together at some point. But it maybe never will. Thus the dilemma.

I agree and I wish I had a crystal ball.

[O_Gardino]

Statistically, Len is one of the better rebounders and shot blockers in the NBA, and he's one of the more efficient scorers when he is right under the basket.

I think folks get frustrated with him because he doesn't pass the eye test. he doesn't seem to have that aggressive attitude we want to see, and thus we see all for those valid complaints about not playing to his size and not dunking, etc.

I think we all agree that he isn't untouchable. He's not a transcendent player, and since we are deep in the rebuilding mode, we've got to be brutal with guys who aren't stars. If there's a trade that can bring us back a valuable asset, we should take it. If he is taking floor time from a guy who might become a star, we should trade him or let him walk. Looking at the starting centers that have played int he last 2 finals, I think we can come up with guys that good when we are ready to contend.

[Mori Chu]

Len is still very young. If you get rid of him now you're saying you don't have the patience to develop big men.

[Split T]

Or that he's not worth $15 million a year to develop

[Indy]

Or that he's not worth $15 million a year to develop

Ding.

[O_Gardino]

Or that his upside isn't worth the opportunity cost of who else you could be developing.

[Split T]

Found this tidbit in a mvp article on ESPN

The award for "best game in a losing effort" goes to Devin Booker, whose 70-point explosion in March's blowout loss to the Celtics registered a 54.5 game score. It was the highest game score of any player this season and more than 10 points higher than any other player recorded in a loss.

I looked it up and by gamescore, bookers game ranks 5th all time. The top 4:

A 69 point, 18 rebound, 6 assist, 4 steal game from Jordan where he shot 23/37.
Kobe's 81 point game.
A 61 point, 18 rebound game from Malone on 21/26 from the field.
A 59 point game from Jordan on 21/27 from the field.

[carey]

Watson exit interview: http://www.nba.com/suns/video/teams/sun ... -interview

If you let the video cycle McDonough comes up next.