Phx-Suns.Net

I think it's more of a matter of Ish just playing better. He's been really effective the last few weeks.

And don't look now, but Gerald Green is averaging 20 ppg over his last 5 games.

Randolph shows glimpses of why Suns signed him: Here

Markieff Morris is the Suns' "biggest key": Here

As good as Goran Dragic and Gerald Green has been, I would still nominate Markieff to be our most improved player overall, simply because of the surprise factor. It seemed like most Suns fans at the beginning of the season had given up on Chief Kieff, pegging him as a player with a low ceiling, or even worse, a player with a high ceiling and no idea how to reach it. Since Bledsoe went down, he's been such a consistent force off the bench.

I never thought I'd find myself wanting the Suns to run the offense through Kieff in the late stages of the game, but here we are. Coach Hornacek closes out every 4th quarter with the taller Morris on the floor, and we're a better team as a result.

@CraigAZSports: Another day of 5-on-5 for #Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe; it's his 2nd in 3 days and continues to make progress pic.twitter.com/Z5bBb9zh9f

^^^Bone-On-Bone Care.

Bledsoe working after practice:

Xylus wrote:As good as Goran Dragic and Gerald Green has been, I would still nominate Markieff to be our most improved player overall, simply because of the surprise factor. It seemed like most Suns fans at the beginning of the season had given up on Chief Kieff, pegging him as a player with a low ceiling, or even worse, a player with a high ceiling and no idea how to reach it. Since Bledsoe went down, he's been such a consistent force off the bench.

I never thought I'd find myself wanting the Suns to run the offense through Kieff in the late stages of the game, but here we are. Coach Hornacek closes out every 4th quarter with the taller Morris on the floor, and we're a better team as a result.

It's pretty amazing when you think about how many guys are having career years for us right now. Dragic, Green, the Morrii, Plumlee, ... Many of these guys are just getting more minutes and more opportunities than before, I get that. But we sure have a lot of overachievers on this team. Some credit definitely goes to Hornacek for putting in such a great system to help these guys thrive. I can't believe how much better he is than L*****y H****r...!

Culburn369 wrote:^^^Bone-On-Bone Care.

Scares the heck outta me. Cubster, if Bledsoe wanted to join your beloved Lakers, what's the most you'd pay him? Or would you not touch the guy with a 10-foot pole?

Xylus wrote:As good as Goran Dragic and Gerald Green has been, I would still nominate Markieff to be our most improved player overall, simply because of the surprise factor. It seemed like most Suns fans at the beginning of the season had given up on Chief Kieff, pegging him as a player with a low ceiling, or even worse, a player with a high ceiling and no idea how to reach it. Since Bledsoe went down, he's been such a consistent force off the bench.

I never thought I'd find myself wanting the Suns to run the offense through Kieff in the late stages of the game, but here we are. Coach Hornacek closes out every 4th quarter with the taller Morris on the floor, and we're a better team as a result.

Totally agree. Kieff has been a complete surprise. He looked too small to be an NBA PF and too slow to be a SF, seemingly destined to be a 9th man who plays 10 minutes a game. But now he is the mismatch opposing teams have to worry about. Although I do think it's a tiny bit of fools gold because he is often matched up against the opposing teams second unit. And I don't think it's a coincidence that we struggle against teams with big PFs - he and Channing get pretty beat up down there. But overall, when his energy is up, the offense and defense is just better with him out there.

Remember when we all though Faried was light years better than Kieff? Ooops. Maybe Blanks knew what he was doing? Nah...Let's not forget we could be stuck with Raymond Felton right now if he had his way. *shudder*

My question is, do you think Kieff would play better or worse as a starter? Should he be starting for this team right now?

INFORMER wrote:I think it's more of a matter of Ish just playing better. He's been really effective the last few weeks.

And don't look now, but Gerald Green is averaging 20 ppg over his last 5 games.

Gerald has been looking good which brings up the question, what do we do with him once Bledsoe comes back? I think Hornacek will still start Gerald Green and bring Bledsoe off the bench midway through the 1st.

Channing Frye on 620: Here

Would you prefer me to link articles, interviews, and radio segments in the original post or just add them as I find them in subsequent posts like I've been doing?

Big Jake Little Jake wrote:My question is, do you think Kieff would play better or worse as a starter? Should he be starting for this team right now?

He sure isn't spending much time on the bench as it is. I think it's working pretty well the way it is now.

carey wrote:Channing Frye on 620: Here

Would you prefer me to link articles, interviews, and radio segments in the original post or just add them as I find them in subsequent posts like I've been doing?

I like the way you're doing it. I'm not likely to go back to the original post.

Superbone wrote:

carey wrote:Channing Frye on 620: Here

Would you prefer me to link articles, interviews, and radio segments in the original post or just add them as I find them in subsequent posts like I've been doing?

I like the way you're doing it. I'm not likely to go back to the original post.

I would agree.

iLLmatic wrote:

INFORMER wrote:I think it's more of a matter of Ish just playing better. He's been really effective the last few weeks.

And don't look now, but Gerald Green is averaging 20 ppg over his last 5 games.

Gerald has been looking good which brings up the question, what do we do with him once Bledsoe comes back? I think Hornacek will still start Gerald Green and bring Bledsoe off the bench midway through the 1st.

I'd move Green up front & start Bledsoe.

Culburn369 wrote:

iLLmatic wrote:

INFORMER wrote:I think it's more of a matter of Ish just playing better. He's been really effective the last few weeks.

And don't look now, but Gerald Green is averaging 20 ppg over his last 5 games.

Gerald has been looking good which brings up the question, what do we do with him once Bledsoe comes back? I think Hornacek will still start Gerald Green and bring Bledsoe off the bench midway through the 1st.

I'd move Green up front & start Bledsoe.

Green is a scorer, and Bledsoe also likes to have the ball in his hands. Do you think Green would be a weak link at the 3, since we're used to having a more defensive minded player like Tucker in there? Green's offensive barrages have often carried us.

Ideally Green would make a powerful bench mob with the Morrii. If Bledsoe is healthy, there is enough ammo so you can put Tucker on the biggest perimeter threat. Also, I wouldn't do without PJ's hustle in my starting unit if it includes Channing Frye and Goran Dragic.

Markieff has taken great strides, but if we start to really bet on him and depend on him, he will break our hearts. I still don't think he is consistent enough.

I still think you guys are ignoring how unimpressive Green has been as a bench player.