Suns News: Week 3 10/29-11/4

[UglyTruth]

[Split T]

I'm with Gambo, except I put top 4 protection on the '19 pick and try to go get Kemba or Rozier.

Desperation makes even smart people do stupid things.

The next year's draft is projected to be WEAKER than the 2016 and 2013 drafts.

Huh? It's too early to know what this class will eventually look like, but there appear to be some good prospects in this draft. I don't see it being as bad as 13 or 16

[INFORMER]

And 16 still produced Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown in the top 5.

19 looks to have 4-5 premium prospects at least. I'd take Zion Williamson right now. And Cameron Reddish could be the facilitator we need.

[UglyTruth]

Zion and Ayton together looks like a poor fit on paper.

[Split T]

And 16 still produced Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown in the top 5.

19 looks to have 4-5 premium prospects at least. I'd take Zion Williamson right now. And Cameron Reddish could be the facilitator we need.

I like Reddish. I'm curious how he looks defensively this year. Fantastic offensive talent though

[SDC]

rj barrett is the best player in college today. but zion is the most entertaining.

[da_suns_fan]

I think we have to realize that this is a very different organization than the one we all remember. This is Sarver's team and this is the way he runs it.

This isnt a "lost decade" as I once thought. Its just what we can expect as long as Sarver owns the team. They have a real problem acquiring and keeping top talent.

[Superbone]

Finally some good news.

[Drewsprocket]

Finally some good news.

I hate watching Canaan play, please don’t start him. He does very little helping his teammates. He’s a brief heat check guy who can put together 10 minutes of basketball off the bench.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Point Booker is not a good idea. Just go back and watch the Denver game when they trapped him every time he touched the ball 40 feet from the hoop. He's not a good enough ball handler and passer and the players around him aren't good enough to make teams pay for that defensive tactic consistently.

Canaan is pretty damn bad, but we can't just expect Booker to solve every backcourt problem. I think Igor has to go with Okobo and deal with the growing pains.

[Ring_Wanted]

What exactly did you expect from Trevor freaking Ariza? He is a 3 and D guy, which means he stands in the corner and shoots on offense and he guards his man on Defense, which most nights is the best player of the opposing team, which on most nights is unstoppable anyway. It’s not his fault the Suns signed him to that ridiculous contract. We had wings, we didn’t even really need him.

Honestly, I never expected more than hitting 3s, playing D and putting in effort. He's doing none of those things.

At 33-34, expected to play out of position and on a bloated and expiring contract, Ariza is not going to be elevating a terrible team. In HOU he was surrounded by two of the best creators in the league. He had the easiest job in the business. Here it is basically the opposite, as he is essentially on his own, which was already a disaster the one year it happened during his prime in his first stint in HOU.

[pickle]

I think we either have to make a move in the next week or this season will be lost. And, like INF said, maybe that's not the worst thing. I watch all 82 games, but unlike the end of last year when I watched with a pretty detached attitude - the SG/SF combo of Troy Daniels and Danuel House will do that - I find myself getting angry watching this year's team. They made moves and used up cap space to acquire players who were supposed to make us competitive and provide "leadership" this year, but they seem to have given up on the season halfway through the second game. I've never seen such a lack of heart from a team.

Like everyone else, I like watching Ayton and think he's got a really bright future, but his interior defense is so freaking bad. And we have no one to help him there. Ryan Anderson and TJ Warren are not viable defensive frontcourt partners. The fact that we're forced into giving developmental minutes to our rookie guards this early in the season is, again, organizational negligence. The roster is a mismatched mess. Jackson and Bender have both regressed badly. What confidence should we fans have that we have a good player development program in place, especially given what the last few drafts have yielded? Is Robert Sarver paying top dollar for player development coaches or is he looking to squeeze a little more margin out of that role as well? (that was rhetorical). We keep drafting players, not putting them in a position to succeed and then getting upset at the results. Are we going to fuck up Ayton too? We're off to a good start.

What a fucking dumpster fire this team is right now. We can fix things on the periphery, but I think we all know that it's rotten at the core and there's not much we can do about it.

And Chandler needs to go. There are a ton of decent centers and power forwards languishing on benches around the NBA that could give us 5X what he is. We either need to use his contract in a trade or buy him out and let him go to LA. I don't see him playing good soldier and collecting DNP-CDs two weeks into the season.

/rant.

Great rant. The line I bolded is exactly why I advocated for Doncic over Ayton (there are other reasons but this was the deal breaker for me) -- the fact that I think Doncic is a proven winner with an attitude who cannot be fucked up, who can actually bring an infectious comeptitiveness to the team that Ayton cannot. Oh well. I still really really hope that Ayton will develop a defensive game and be the anchor we've always needed. I want him to do well.

[pickle]

What exactly did you expect from Trevor freaking Ariza? He is a 3 and D guy, which means he stands in the corner and shoots on offense and he guards his man on Defense, which most nights is the best player of the opposing team, which on most nights is unstoppable anyway. It’s not his fault the Suns signed him to that ridiculous contract. We had wings, we didn’t even really need him.

Honestly, I never expected more than hitting 3s, playing D and putting in effort. He's doing none of those things.

At 33-34, expected to play out of position and on a bloated and expiring contract, Ariza is not going to be elevating a terrible team. In HOU he was surrounded by two of the best creators in the league. He had the easiest job in the business. Here it is basically the opposite, as he is essentially on his own, which was already a disaster the one year it happened during his prime in his first stint in HOU.

He's also not a defensive anchor type player who can change the tone. I thought Tyson was that guy, but even he couldn't have motivated the young 'uns on the team to play D. Ariza is the type of vet who is willing to defend positions 1 through 4 without making glaring mistakes. He's a defensive plus in that he has versatility and won't be a net negative, but he isn't the type to get the others to play a particular system and to cover an entire area like a Gobert or Kawhi could. So his play has been uninspiring but I guess we as a team is probably the worst case scenario for his particular talents.

As a Suns fan, I've learned to always expect the worst, and I keep on being proven right. I hate being right.

[pickle]

And 16 still produced Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown in the top 5.

19 looks to have 4-5 premium prospects at least. I'd take Zion Williamson right now. And Cameron Reddish could be the facilitator we need.

What's your take on Zion's prospects in the NBA? What will his future role be? At this point, he has plus athleticism. What else? Is he going to be a solid to plus defender? Now that draft express was bought out by ESPN I can't even find scouting reports anymore...

[Superbone]

https://theathletic.com/627577/2018/11/ ... -nba-life/

Deandre Ayton’s lessons: First two weeks give Suns rookie a crash course in NBA life

As​ Deandre Ayton​ loaded​ up​ on​ the​ postgame food spread inside the​ Suns​ locker​ room​ late​ Wednesday, he​ received​ one last​​ coaching session from Mark West.

West, the former Suns big man who is now the organization’s vice president of player relations, thought Ayton let San Antonio standout LaMarcus Aldridge get too deep in the post during a 120-90 loss in which Aldridge scored 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Ayton thought he had been repeatedly “hooked” by Aldridge’s long arm, a complaint he voiced to reporters a few minutes later.

“I gotta add that to my game,” Ayton said, “because it’s so slick.”

[SDC]

we gonna ruin zion too

[SDC]

who will lead the much needed suns players only meeting...

[Split T]

And 16 still produced Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown in the top 5.

19 looks to have 4-5 premium prospects at least. I'd take Zion Williamson right now. And Cameron Reddish could be the facilitator we need.

What's your take on Zion's prospects in the NBA? What will his future role be? At this point, he has plus athleticism. What else? Is he going to be a solid to plus defender? Now that draft express was bought out by ESPN I can't even find scouting reports anymore...

Haven't spent a lot of time looking into prospects yet, but the athleticism and creation ability from the 4/5 remind me of Blake Griffin. We'll see defensively how he does. He's more of a shot blocker than Blake ever was.

[n4th4n]

who will lead the much needed suns players only meeting...

At least we know a players-only meeting with this group won't get very... defensive.

[Mori Chu]

who will lead the much needed suns players only meeting...

At least we know a players-only meeting with this group won't get very... defensive.

2018-19 Suns players-only meeting: Booker doesn't show up (hamstring). Josh Jackson stands in the center of the group and says most of the total words spoken despite making only a small fraction of the good points. Jamal Crawford tries to initiate a game of beer pong, but he can only occasionally get the ball into the cup. Ryan Anderson arrives with a fresh haircut and stands in front of TJ Warren, obscuring him from view, while saying almost nothing. Warren makes some great points from the back of the room, but is asked to sit down after 18 minutes. Chandler knocks over the table, spilling the snacks all over the floor. Bender decides to leave; several players say, "Who's that guy?" before deciding to leave as well. Ayton tries to stop them from exiting but everybody gets right by him.

The next day, a beautiful collage has been created out of macaroni and Elmer's glue. James Jones signs his buddy Mario Chalmers to solve our PG problems, saving our season.