Before his first game as the Phoenix Suns’ interim head coach, Jay Triano had told forward Marquese Chriss he expected more out of him.
The honest assessments have continued since then.
Triano has since admitted that Dragan Bender used to need coercing to work on his game following team practices. He was open about Devin Booker’s effort on defense leaving something to be desired.
On Tuesday, he told the latest honest truth, this time about rookie forward Josh Jackson.
“We sat down and talked and I said, ‘I don’t have a lot of confidence in you right now. You’re playing fast. You’re doing what we want you to do, but you’re supposed to be a defender and I think you’re trying to score,'” Triano told Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
“It was just one of those things where I said, ‘I need to have more confidence in you as a person,’ and he said, ‘I appreciate that Coach. I appreciate you telling me that.'”
Triano didn’t play Jackson in his first game after that conversation, a 104-103 comeback win against the Atlanta Hawks.
Fascinating. I wonder what this team would look like if we had a real coach last year to bring Bender and Chriss along, and a training camp to set a system in place.
i'll dare to speculate further and wonder what this team would look like if we had a real coach THIS year to more often motivate and (respectfully) criticize player performances when they need it
i really don't know if Triano is too soft. clearly, the team is improving and he deserves credit. but it is possible that this story exemplifies, not only what this team has been missing in the past, but what this team still needs more of -- strong leadership
Superbone wrote:The site feels like it's screeching to a halt.
You mean this site, phx-suns.net? Our Game Day threads are a little lame, but I suspect that's partly because our games don't mean very much this season. I didn't even renew my NBA League Pass this year because I knew we'd be bad. I watch games on stream, but it has been hard; we're so bad, and have been for years. It feels like we aren't that far away, maybe 1-2 more years, but in the meantime it's rough. I do appreciate all the die-hards who keep coming here to talk Suns and NBA even though it's lean times right now. I do think it'll pick back up once the team improves and becomes exciting to watch again.
It definitely isn't hopping like Soses joint but nobody likes following a loser. I suspect the younger crowd back then all have families now too so time is precious to spend on a bad team.
Superbone wrote:Guys... Relax... There must have been some maintenance going on as the site was refreshing veeeeeerrrryyyy slowly. Seems to be back to normal. LOL.
It's crazy Bone. We have a team that is playing good basketball, as of late, and have been entertaining to watch with progress and growth from some of our young players. You'd think Triano was an aloof poor coach based on the reactions around here, even though he's actually holding accountability and coaching our players.
You'd think we were getting crushed night in and night out, Booker was playing poorly, our young guys were all laying eggs every night, coach wasn't getting effort and growth from our young players.
It's pretty sad that all of these years of bad teams have prevented people from seeing actual positive progress lately. Keep enjoying the games. I know I am.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
Superbone wrote:Guys... Relax... There must have been some maintenance going on as the site was refreshing veeeeeerrrryyyy slowly. Seems to be back to normal. LOL.
Haha, oh, my bad. Yeah I use a shared web hosting provider named DreamHost that hosts this site on the same physical box as some other sites, so if one of those other sites gets a huge flood of traffic, it can slow us down. Normally not an issue, but maybe earlier they had a server outage or upgrade or traffic rush. Glad it's better now.
Heh, I thought our traffic here has been pretty good for a while now. Sose's site was understandably hopping during the 7 seconds or less days. Everybody loves a winner. We'll get back there again. I'm just glad to have you diehards to talk to in the meantime.
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
The NBA season is still always fascinating even when the Suns themselves are not doing so well. This season is fun because it doesn't feel QUITE as much of a foregone conclusion that the Warriors will win it all. You have 2-3 teams in each conference who are debatably contenders:
Out West you have the Rockets and then on the fringe there's the Spurs.
In the East you have the Celtics and on the fringe are the Raptors.
I think it'll be another fun Playoffs. I expect Cleveland not to make the NBA Finals, which should be fun. There will be a few frisky 1st round teams like the Bucks, Wolves, (maybe) Thunder.
Yeah, I actually feel there has been an uptick in activity the past few months. Theres definitely a positive relationship between traffic and winning percentage, but the quality of the conversation has generally been high regardless.
Superbone wrote:Guys... Relax... There must have been some maintenance going on as the site was refreshing veeeeeerrrryyyy slowly. Seems to be back to normal. LOL.
lolol
The league needs heroes, villains... and clowns. -- Aztec Sunsfan
Spend a good chunk talking about the suns on here.
For those who don't want to listen:
They both think booker is a stud and a future star in the league. They talk about who else on the team should be a part of our core alongside booker. Kevin O'Connor is still a big fan of bender and thinks he'll be a very good player. Then they said you've got to hope Jackson and chriss come along too.
Chris Vernon then has some good praise for Warren. He loves him and loves his game and the fact that he doesn't shoot 3's. KOC thinks Warren needs a 3 pt shot and caps out as a go to bench scorer without one.
Side note: They spend the first 15 minutes on butler, Wiggins and the wolves. Is there a bigger disappointment over the last few years than Wiggins? His numbers were better as a rookie than they are this year, he still doesn't defend, and he's starting a 5 year 150 million dollar contract next year. Yikes! They bring up a comparison that I made when Wiggins was a rookie: Rudy Gay. Wiggins needs to start doing something or he'll be in danger of worst contract in the league.
Spend a good chunk talking about the suns on here.
For those who don't want to listen:
They both think booker is a stud and a future star in the league. They talk about who else on the team should be a part of our core alongside booker. Kevin O'Connor is still a big fan of bender and thinks he'll be a very good player. Then they said you've got to hope Jackson and chriss come along too.
Chris Vernon then has some good praise for Warren. He loves him and loves his game and the fact that he doesn't shoot 3's. KOC thinks Warren needs a 3 pt shot and caps out as a go to bench scorer without one.
Side note: They spend the first 15 minutes on butler, Wiggins and the wolves. Is there a bigger disappointment over the last few years than Wiggins? His numbers were better as a rookie than they are this year, he still doesn't defend, and he's starting a 5 year 150 million dollar contract next year. Yikes! They bring up a comparison that I made when Wiggins was a rookie: Rudy Gay. Wiggins needs to start doing something or he'll be in danger of worst contract in the league.
Thanks, Split. The Suns stuff starts at 18:33 btw.
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
I didn't realize Wiggins' contract was $30M a year. I didn't think you can get that much coming off your rookie deal. Booker is going to make more in his 5th year than he did in the first 4 combined by a wide margin.
carey wrote:I didn't realize Wiggins' contract was $30M a year. I didn't think you can get that much coming off your rookie deal. Booker is going to make more in his 5th year than he did in the first 4 combined by a wide margin.
Current state of .netters reaction and analysis predition:
Is this an idirect swipe at his teammate, TJ Warren? Do I sense issues with the chemistry and Booker isn't too thrilled with all of the 2-pointers Tony Buckets is taking? Let's hope not otherwise we've got big problems internally and I could smell a trade brewing. Coach needs to start reigning in these guys and holding them accountable. It's turning into a bit of a frat house lately with guys doing whatever they want and not listening to coach. I don't like it one bit.
I'll be curious to see how the azsports.com community takes the post, as it's the near opposite of my typical comments.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
