Suns News: Week 4 11/16-11/22

[carey]

Two wins last week! Lets not mention that it was the lowly Nuggets and a Paul-less Clippers team. Four games this week and next including a nationally televised game on Wednesday at home against the Bulls.

Last Week's Games

vs. Los Angeles Clippers WIN 118-104
vs. Denver Nuggets WIN 105-81

This Week's Games

Monday, November 16th vs. Los Angeles Lakers 9:00PM EST
Wednesday, November 18th vs. Chicago Bulls 10:30PM EST ESPN
Friday, November 20th @ Denver Nuggets 9:00PM EST
Sunday, November 22nd @ New Orleans Pelicans 6:00PM EST

Suns Stories

Bledsoe has hit a higher level of play for the Suns: LINK
Analyzing the Warren vs. Tucker minutes battle: LINK

[Xylus]

From BrightSide:

Through the season's first nine games, Bledsoe is posting career highs in PPG (23.2), APG (6.2), SPG (2.1), FTA (6.2), FT% (80.4), FG%(49.7), 3P% (40.0), TS% (59.5), PER (25.6) and USG% (27.9). He has been remarkably consistent, scoring at least 20 points in 6 of his first 9 games after accomplishing the same feat in only 26 of his 81 games in 2014/15.

He has developed into a deadly scorer from midrange, shooting 9/11 (81.8%) from 10-16 feet out and 18/39 (46.2%) from 16 feet to the three-point line.

[ShelC]

Consider he'd just be a 2nd yr player if he'd have stayed in college all 4 years.

[Mori Chu]

Consider he'd just be a 2nd yr player if he'd have stayed in college all 4 years.

That blows my mind. I mean, nobody stays 4 years any more, but still. Wow.

I've been super hard on Bledsoe, but it's easy to forget that young players need time to grow and mature. I try to remember this every time I see Len or Goodwin goof up a play. I was really pleased at how Bledsoe stayed in Phoenix all summer and worked on his game. He seems to be buying into the franchise leader role and walking the walk. Kudos to him.

I really want to see Knight become more consistent. His overall scoring isn't bad, but game-to-game he's unreliable a lot of times and has had several poor shooting nights. In general I think he can do better. I still cringe about that pick we gave up to get him, but if he can become more consistent during this season then we will have a nasty backcourt attack as our offensive focal point.

And the Lakers are looking SO BAD this year that we might not even have gotten that pick. They are very likely to be in the bottom-3 teams in the league, and the pick is top-3 protected. I guess i hope that the pick doesn't end up #4+ because it'll kill me if we could have had the top 4-5 pick in the draft instead of Knight.

[ShelC]

Obviously sports is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately deal and the product is out there in front of thousands of people each night. As a fan, we know it's hard to be patient but it's good to see the results paying off. And, also keep in mind, his first 2 years in the league he was a backup playing limited minutes. So while he was playing on good teams, going up against CP3 each day in practice and learning, there's no replacement for real, live, in-game experience. We're seeing it now where he's learning those nuances - how to pick his spots of when to push the ball, when to shoot, when to set his teammates up. Again, no substitute for that, which why college juniors and seniors coming out typically are more impactful sooner. They've gotten the reps, played in big games, seen different late game situations.

With Knight, I think it's definitely an adjustment playing off the ball. Again, picking his spots, shooting vs driving, watching a play develop from the other side of the court and moving off the ball instead of making things happen with the ball.

That blows my mind. I mean, nobody stays 4 years any more, but still. Wow.

Watch the Knicks' Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant. Both 4 year players, both pretty polished, poised and composed playing out there. You can tell 4 year players when they play.

[Indy]

From BrightSide:

Through the season's first nine games, Bledsoe is posting career highs in PPG (23.2), APG (6.2), SPG (2.1), FTA (6.2), FT% (80.4), FG%(49.7), 3P% (40.0), TS% (59.5), PER (25.6) and USG% (27.9). He has been remarkably consistent, scoring at least 20 points in 6 of his first 9 games after accomplishing the same feat in only 26 of his 81 games in 2014/15.

He has developed into a deadly scorer from midrange, shooting 9/11 (81.8%) from 10-16 feet out and 18/39 (46.2%) from 16 feet to the three-point line.

I don't know if anyone here has been harder on Bledsoe than I have; I am so happy that he is performing at this level. I still see plenty of ridiculous plays on his part when I watch him in-person, but he is really performing well so far.

[Cap]

I still see plenty of ridiculous plays on his part when I watch him in-person

And those aren't going to disappear overnight, but the "Yes! Nice play!" moments are coming with increasing frequency.

[pickle]

i was never that upset with the deal that bledsoe signed, and wasn't that upset with his performance as some of the others, but i have to say the fact that i didn't follow the team that closely the last two seasons and therefore did not witness the team's overall drop off from the cinderella season to last year's thugfest definitely made it a little bit easier to be more objective.

having said all that, i like that eric is working on his game, but from the games i have been watching last season and this young season, it is pretty obvious that he is not a traditional pg in the style we are used to, where the pg always looks to set his teammates up and only looks for his shot when nothing materializes. too many times he goes on offense and launches a shot without so much as even attempting a pass. which may be okay in this day and age, but that he looks for his shot first and second and passes as a third option makes it difficult for the rest of the team to get going... he's kind of like iverson in that sense -- even when he averaged 8 assists per game nobody mistook iverson for a pg -- and i'm concerned. sadly, just echoing what everyone else has already observed, knight is the same way and price may be the only true pg on the court. bledsoe's game has improved markedly this year, and hopefully his decision making will improve, but i see the same issues that we've always complained about... he's not able to make the players around him better, and he doesn't show a lot of fire/leadership (and his outside jumper is slow, which is gonna be an issue against elite wing defenders imho, but that's a minor point). his salary has become a lot more palatable, but again, as the unquestioned leader on the court, i feel like his shortcomings are difficult to improve upon. he's putting up all star worthy numbers, but unless we have an unorthodox big at the 3/4/5 positions who can help create offense, like a grant hill/blake griffin/marc gasol, this lineup's mileage is gonna be limited.

i don't know if i should be really depressed about this, or just continue to bury my expectations (which i've gotten really good at ever since sarver took over).

[Indy]

I still see plenty of ridiculous plays on his part when I watch him in-person

And those aren't going to disappear overnight, but the "Yes! Nice play!" moments are coming with increasing frequency.

agreed

[Indy]

i was never that upset with the deal that bledsoe signed, and wasn't that upset with his performance as some of the others, but i have to say the fact that i didn't follow the team that closely the last two seasons and therefore did not witness the team's overall drop off from the cinderella season to last year's thugfest definitely made it a little bit easier to be more objective.

having said all that, i like that eric is working on his game, but from the games i have been watching last season and this young season, it is pretty obvious that he is not a traditional pg in the style we are used to, where the pg always looks to set his teammates up and only looks for his shot when nothing materializes. too many times he goes on offense and launches a shot without so much as even attempting a pass. which may be okay in this day and age, but that he looks for his shot first and second and passes as a third option makes it difficult for the rest of the team to get going... he's kind of like iverson in that sense -- even when he averaged 8 assists per game nobody mistook iverson for a pg -- and i'm concerned. sadly, just echoing what everyone else has already observed, knight is the same way and price may be the only true pg on the court. bledsoe's game has improved markedly this year, and hopefully his decision making will improve, but i see the same issues that we've always complained about... he's not able to make the players around him better, and he doesn't show a lot of fire/leadership (and his outside jumper is slow, which is gonna be an issue against elite wing defenders imho, but that's a minor point). his salary has become a lot more palatable, but again, as the unquestioned leader on the court, i feel like his shortcomings are difficult to improve upon. he's putting up all star worthy numbers, but unless we have an unorthodox big at the 3/4/5 positions who can help create offense, like a grant hill/blake griffin/marc gasol, this lineup's mileage is gonna be limited.

i don't know if i should be really depressed about this, or just continue to bury my expectations (which i've gotten really good at ever since sarver took over).

I would be fine if Eric looked for his opportunity first, but he just doesn't run an offense well. Or maybe I should say he didn't used to. I've been traveling a lot lately and have only watched half our games so far.

[pickle]

maybe i'm on the motion offense bandwagon. watched the atlanta utah game last night, and despite atlanta losing, it was just more pleasing to see their offense where with plenty of spacing and movement anyone is able to score and you can more or less plug and play players of reasonable talent and similar size. bazemore was not a well known name and he's doing essentially everything that carroll gave them last year, and they are as successful as they have been.

we have this hero ball thing where our two starting pgs take turns going one on five. i'd love to see at least a bit more catch and shoots or something.

i do understand that the spurs/hawks type offense require specific personnel which we lack. i'm just ... griping now.

[da_suns_fan]

They just need to get rid of Markieff and put that whole mess behind them.

[Superbone]

Undefeated without Markieff. Coincidence?

[TOO]

Undefeated without Markieff. Coincidence?

Yup.

[Mori Chu]

He's a BUM!

[Superbone]

He's a BUM!

This is the news thread. Tell us something we don't know!

[Cap]

It annoyed me that Keef was leading the team in +/-, but since we've had a couple of comfortable wins in his absence he has dropped to 5th.

[The Bobster]

And in Marcus news, he's now shooting 38% overall and 27% on 3's and averaging 14.5 points in 37+ minutes a night.

Blech.

[Superbone]

And in Marcus news, he's now shooting 38% overall and 27% on 3's and averaging 14.5 points in 37+ minutes a night.

Blech.

Back to earth. That's the Marcus we know and "love."

[Cap]

And in Marcus news, he's now shooting 38% overall and 27% on 3's and averaging 14.5 points in 37+ minutes a night.

Blech.

AASW. Almost an All-Star for a Week.