Game Day: Suns (12-9) @ Heat (10-10), Sat 12/7/24

[ShelC]

Bud's offense has Book and Beal starting 30ft from the basket. They don't all of a sudden suck. His offense sucks.

[Mori Chu]

We suck. This team sucks.

[TOO]

This team has more talent than it's showing. Bud just sucks.

Already on Bud huh? I'm not sure what else he's supposed to do if his "star" players are either hurt or not making shots. The role players showed up, they scored 111, that should be enough to win, this isn't Buds fault, this is on Booker and Beal. Booker is 12/36 his last 2 out, but yeah, the coach.

[SunsShine]

This team is depressing to watch. Even with significantly lowered expectations, it’s not fun. Also, Bud’s challenges have to be among the worst in the league. You would expect Booker and Beal to step up in Durant’s absence, but they’ve been total disappointments.

[LazarusLong]

After this game and New Orleans, I'm beginning to wonder what we could get for Booker in a trade.
Seriously.
He just seems to be going through the motions...

[specialsauce]

Bitch 1 and bitch 2 showed no gut no heart no balls tonight yet again!!! Robbing Ishbia with that supermax money. Keep posting instagrams about your sick shoes though

[specialsauce]

Bud's offense has Book and Beal starting 30ft from the basket. They don't all of a sudden suck. His offense sucks.

There's nothing all of a sudden about it. Bookers been ass for 2 years now.

[iLLmatic]

This team has more talent than it's showing. Bud just sucks.

Already on Bud huh? I'm not sure what else he's supposed to do if his "star" players are either hurt or not making shots. The role players showed up, they scored 111, that should be enough to win, this isn't Buds fault, this is on Booker and Beal. Booker is 12/36 his last 2 out, but yeah, the coach.

I’m shocked to see we’re blaming the coaching here lol. What are Booker and Beal getting paid combined and what were their stats for tonight?

[iLLmatic]

Bitch 1 and bitch 2 showed no gut no heart no balls tonight yet again!!! Robbing Ishbia with that supermax money. Keep posting instagrams about your sick shoes though

His shoes are ugly in my humble opinion.

[iLLmatic]

After this game and New Orleans, I'm beginning to wonder what we could get for Booker in a trade.
Seriously.
He just seems to be going through the motions...

Yeah, I’ve said it before..I miss 2021-2022 Booker.

[specialsauce]

This team has more talent than it's showing. Bud just sucks.

Already on Bud huh? I'm not sure what else he's supposed to do if his "star" players are either hurt or not making shots. The role players showed up, they scored 111, that should be enough to win, this isn't Buds fault, this is on Booker and Beal. Booker is 12/36 his last 2 out, but yeah, the coach.

I’m shocked to see we’re blaming the coaching here lol. What are Booker and Beal getting paid combined and what were their stats for tonight?

Exactly. We have two "supermax" players out there playing like hot garbage. Have got to get rid of them. THE PLAY MUST JUSTIFY THE PAY

[Superbone]

Are we having fun yet?

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

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[ShelC]

This team has more talent than it's showing. Bud just sucks.

Already on Bud huh? I'm not sure what else he's supposed to do if his "star" players are either hurt or not making shots. The role players showed up, they scored 111, that should be enough to win, this isn't Buds fault, this is on Booker and Beal. Booker is 12/36 his last 2 out, but yeah, the coach.

Trying to get him to play like Luka or Harden is because of the coach/system. He's not the ballhandler or effortless 3pt shooter those guys are. None of this was a problem 2 years ago. Truth is Vogel won a title in the bubble with LBJ and AD and Bud won a title because Giannis was the best player in the world who could barrel his way to the basket and get fouled 15 times a game. They're the same.

Random basketball doesn't lead to efficient, methodical offense when you need a basket. We used to scheme to get Book ISO'd on a switch or let him work for a turnaround J in the post because that was reliable, go-to offense. Now we watch him get doubled over and over 30ft from the basket because of DHOs and act like it's his fault. We have a great young big who can roll to the basket or make passes out of the short roll and we hardly use him that way. Instead it's Tyus setting screens and getting the pass in the paint. We should be playing inside out, not scrambling around trying to shoot 3s just to shoot them. And now teams know to double Book and Beal and run guys like Royce and Allen off the line and make them the scorers.

How come no other stars/teams have these issues? The Mavs won how many games over the past two weeks while Luka was out? Now Book and Beal are just ass all of a sudden? Not buying it.

[Mori Chu]

I don't think it is Coach Bud's fault. In general I think he has handled in-game adjustments, challenges, play calling, etc. better than Vogel at least to my untrained eyes. But we just have a misshapen roster that isn't built to contend. We're too small, too fragile, too weak on defense, too enamored with iso ball and 1-on-5 offense. We work too hard to get our baskets despite having elite scorers and shooters. And we too often let the opponent waltz to the basket for easy layups and putbacks. The math just doesn't add up for us to get lots of wins.

I do think a concrete thing Bud/we could have done better would be to put a bunch of focus on giving the ball to the PG to start the offense. I hate the fact that we still have guys like Plumlee or KD taking the ball up the court as if they were a PG. I've lost track of how many times Tyus Jones is right there ready to receive the inbounds pass but they instead give it to KD or Booker. Stop doing that! We have this gift of a pretty darn good PG who came here on a minimum contract, and we're just letting him go to waste. Plus Tyus is undersized and a net minus on D, so if you don't even use him to run your offense, you're hurting your team having him out there.

I also think we probably ought to be making sure that every FA we sign and every rookie we draft is big for their position and plays above-average D. Dunn and Oso are good starts in this regard. Royce O'Neale. Okogie. We need big tall strong mofos who can defend their man and play hard every night. It turns out that having $150 tied up in three precious gunners who love to chuck the ball is not a great way to build a team.

[TOO]

We all see what we wanna see I guess. Devin Booker hasn't gotten better handling the ball over the last 5 seasons, it's a poor skill that gets him in trouble with big defensive wings. This isn't new. He lets himself get trapped, different coach same Booker.

[ShelC]

Agree about Tyus but he's also really a high end backup. All things being equal, I'd start Monte. He's got more size, plays some better defense and just plays with more juice. I think he'd be a better roleplayer off the stars. But to your point, it doesn't matter if Book, Beal and KD are just going to ignore him and bring the ball up themselves to run offense.

This team would be better if it were stripped down to Monte, Book, Dunn, KD and Plumlee starting with Jones, Allen, Royce, Oso off the bench. Run a more traditional offense with Book and KD getting their shots, better defenders with Monte and Dunn and a catch and dunk, rebounding big like Plumlee. Pare it all down. We'd still be small and need another frontcourt player but less is more.

[Superbone]

We all see what we wanna see I guess. Devin Booker hasn't gotten better handling the ball over the last 5 seasons, it's a poor skill that gets him in trouble with big defensive wings. This isn't new. He lets himself get trapped, different coach same Booker.

Yeah, he's lousy with double teams. I don't see why he can't get better but he never seems to. Just get rid of the ball earlier! But yeah, not great with the ball. How many times yesterday did he put it out in front of him and get it stripped? He needs to go back to his Olympic play but when he does get open, take the shot.

[Superbone]

And yeah, we're not going to win many games with a defense as porous as ours. Teams seem to be able to score on us at will. I don't think it's all personnel either. We don't scramble like other teams and we need better schemes.

[Ring_Wanted]

For a second rate superstar, Booker's handle is not tight and he is not physically strong. Still outputting 25-4-6 this season but if teams can afford to put all their focus on him, his efficiency is going to drop as he is not in that bonafide superstar class that can impose his will. At the same time, and this is solely on him, he is slow to react and lets doubles get to him. Again, enabling him off the ball should be a priority for the coach.

As for defense, we have what we have. The only real plus defenders for their position are Dunn, KD and maybe O'Neale.

And obviously, Durant and Beal are on their way to miss 50% of the games so far.