Suns News: Week 4 (11/7 - 11/13)

[Mori Chu]

Last Week's Games

vs. Pelicans WIN! 112-100
vs. Rockets WIN! 123-111
vs. Hawks WIN! 121-117

This Week's Games
Mon Nov 8 - Suns @ Kings, 7:00 PM PST (oops, we already won this one)
Wed Nov 10 - Suns vs Blazers, 6:00 PM PST
Fri Nov 12 - Suns @ Grizzlies, 5:00 PM PST

Suns Stories

The Guardian: I'll gladly tell Robert Sarver why he can't use the N-word.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/ ... ations-nba

AZ Sports, Suns Notebook: Ayton out; Grueling Nov stretch begins; New balls.
Suns notebook: Ayton remains out, grueling November stretch begins, new balls

Bright Side: Ayton remains out; return unknown:
https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2021 ... te-unknown

USA Today: Who is Robert Sarver? Getting to know the Suns' shitty owner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 234255001/

[Mori Chu]

Can anybody volunteer to do the Around the League and Suns News threads for next week? And/or any unclaimed week in the spreadsheet below? Thanks a lot!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

[Flagrant Fowl]

USA Today: Who is Robert Sarver? Getting to know the Suns' shitty owner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 234255001/

You clickbaited me, Mori. I had to check if that was the headline used by USA Today.

[Split T]

Haha, well they did use the word “explosive”

[ShelC]

Wonder if Monty reaches for Payton again if Shamet can't go. Would need Payne off the ball more in that case.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I just shook my head when I saw that play during the game because of course it was Damian Jones. That guy barely knows how to play NBA basketball and is prone to reckless fouls.

[Mori Chu]

I winced when I saw that player fall on Shamet. I was really scared he'd tear something in his leg. Glad he's mostly okay but sitting out a game or two is fine.

[Mori Chu]

USA Today: Who is Robert Sarver? Getting to know the Suns' shitty owner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 234255001/

You clickbaited me, Mori. I had to check if that was the headline used by USA Today.

LOL, I may have editorialized a bit on that one. Wondered whether somebody would notice.

[Split T]

Small sample size, but we’re killing it in clutch time…

[JeremyG]

And this...

[Flagrant Fowl]

The clutch rating makes sense for this team because playoff games are essentially one clutch possession after another. I think part of their early season slump was due to transitioning back into regular season basketball that's more erratic and less risk adverse.

[Split T]

The clutch rating makes sense for this team because playoff games are essentially one clutch possession after another. I think part of their early season slump was due to transitioning back into regular season basketball that's more erratic and less risk adverse.

Ya I think Booker or maybe Crowder even had a quote saying as much.

[Superbone]

I just shook my head when I saw that play during the game because of course it was Damian Jones. That guy barely knows how to play NBA basketball and is prone to reckless fouls.

Yep, he fouled him too and they didn't call it. He was riding Shamet and shoving him with his arm down below. Dangerous play on his part.

[Superbone]

AZ Sports, Suns Notebook: Ayton out; Grueling Nov stretch begins; New balls.
Suns notebook: Ayton remains out, grueling November stretch begins, new balls

Bright Side: Ayton remains out; return unknown:
https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2021 ... te-unknown

USA Today: Who is Robert Sarver? Getting to know the Suns' shitty owner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 234255001/

I was expecting to see:

Bright Side: Ayton remains out; return unknown, new balls.

And I was surprised to see USA went with that title.

[Indy]

I am not advocating for this, or suggesting this guy even knows what he is talking about. But a lot of Suns twitter is talking about it today.

[Split T]

It’s interesting…I think when optimized Ben Simmons is more valuable than Ayton, but I don’t think we have the roster to optimize him. You could bring him off the bench as a small ball 5, but I don’t think going forward with McGee/Kaminsky as our only true centers is ideal.

Also why would Philly do this unless there is a 3rd team involved.

Also we’d have to include more salary to make it work..thought that’s probably just Saric.

As much as I’ve been only so-so on Ayton, I don’t think I do this trade. It is intriguing to me as I think Simmons has been woefully misused, but no reason to take the risk in my opinion. Unless Ayton is checked out and won’t play for a team run by Sarver.

[Indy]

Yeah I don't think anything would make sense for either team as a 2-team trade. And that part about Ayton refusing to play for Sarver is likely just conjecture. It could also be the other way around, where Sarver is saying "trade that guy."

[ShelC]

It would take more than just DA as far as salaries go. And I agree that Simmons doesn't necessarily fit well with our roster. We have the shooters for him to take advantage of, but he's so ball dominant that I'm not sure he could work with CP. If we didn't have CP it might make more sense. Not apples to apples but he's like a larger version of Payton and Rubio (who's actually become a somewhat reliable scorer/3pt shooter).

Unless there's really something brewing with DA not wanting to play, we don't seem to be in the "blockbuster trade" phase of our run. And relying on Javale and Frank as our main 5s would be risky even with the thought of Simmons as a frontcourt 4/5.

[bajanguy008]

Well ya know me and rumours
Lol

Love that stat and trend though which shows the growth we expect from going through the Playoffs. Early season struggles focusing for the full 48 but good to know that we playing our best stuff late in games

[bajanguy008]

Another thing we like to track