Suns News: Week 4 11/14-11/20

[carey]

1-3 last week and we leave for a 6 game road trip starting Wednesday versus a bunch of mediocre to bad teams. If we are going to win any games this year this will probably be the time to stretch together some W's.

Last Week's Games

@ Portland L124-121
vs. Detroit W107-100
vs. Brooklyn L122-104
@ Golden State L133-120

This Week's Games

Wed, November 16th @ Denver 9:00PM EST
Fri, November 18th @ Indiana 7:00PM EST
Sat, November 19th @ Philadelphia 7:30PM EST

Suns Stories

Center of the Sun: Suns Now 3-8 for the Season - http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2016/ ... lazers-nba

Suns teen Dragan Bender learned to earn way on defense: http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /93782014/

T.J. Warren: "We're going to figure this thing out and get wins." -
http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /93783942/

[EDC]

24. Dragan Bender clearly needs a lot more polish before he's ready for major minutes, even off the bench, but there's good news with Phoenix's rookie class. Marquese Chriss tallied the first two starts of his young career this week. He wasn't great, which hardly matters. Like I said last week, the key for the Suns is to keep playing the young guys.

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/nb ... est-111116

That comment makes it seem like Bender has been bad when he gets playing time. Do I just have rose colored glasses on when watching Bender?

[Cap]

24. Dragan Bender clearly needs a lot more polish before he's ready for major minutes, even off the bench, but there's good news with Phoenix's rookie class. Marquese Chriss tallied the first two starts of his young career this week. He wasn't great, which hardly matters. Like I said last week, the key for the Suns is to keep playing the young guys.

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/nb ... est-111116

That comment makes it seem like Bender has been bad when he gets playing time. Do I just have rose colored glasses on when watching Bender?

Bender's going to fly under the radar for a while because he doesn't make flashy plays, put up big numbers, or play on a good team.

[Shabazz]

24. Dragan Bender clearly needs a lot more polish before he's ready for major minutes, even off the bench, but there's good news with Phoenix's rookie class. Marquese Chriss tallied the first two starts of his young career this week. He wasn't great, which hardly matters. Like I said last week, the key for the Suns is to keep playing the young guys.

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/nb ... est-111116

That comment makes it seem like Bender has been bad when he gets playing time. Do I just have rose colored glasses on when watching Bender?

I feel like whoever wrote that is going off box score stats. I really like what I've seen from Bender.

[Cap]

The most important stat in the box score: He leads the team in +/-, at +20. Nobody else is better than +5.

That stat is all the more remarkable considering how many of his minutes he has shared with AASE (unsurprisingly last on the team at -87).

[UglyTruth]

Booker just doesn't look healthy at all. I don't think he'd be out there getting blocked back to back like this if he was healthy

http://es.pn/2eRQyKw

I'll say it once again, Suns are doing a huge disservice to him and themselves by not sitting him.

[specialsauce]

Booker just doesn't look healthy at all. I don't think he'd be out there getting blocked back to back like this if he was healthy

http://es.pn/2eRQyKw

I'll say it once again, Suns are doing a huge disservice to him and themselves by not sitting him.

Yes he would. He's not an above the rim player.

[UglyTruth]

Booker just doesn't look healthy at all. I don't think he'd be out there getting blocked back to back like this if he was healthy

http://es.pn/2eRQyKw

I'll say it once again, Suns are doing a huge disservice to him and themselves by not sitting him.

Yes he would. He's not an above the rim player.

Even then he'd get more lift than that. Durant ran back from almost half court to block that, and let's be honestly KD isn't exactly known for his defense, especially not his shot blocking ability.

[specialsauce]

Booker just doesn't look healthy at all. I don't think he'd be out there getting blocked back to back like this if he was healthy

http://es.pn/2eRQyKw

I'll say it once again, Suns are doing a huge disservice to him and themselves by not sitting him.

Yes he would. He's not an above the rim player.

Even then he'd get more lift than that. Durant ran back from almost half court to block that, and let's be honestly KD isn't exactly known for his defense, especially not his shot blocking ability.

I don't know where you've gotten an idea of Booker being a big leaper, but he's consistently gotten his shot blocked since he was at Kentucky. He got blocked several times driving into the lane last year too.

[youtube][/youtube]

blocked there

[youtube][/youtube]

again not much lift.

[youtube][/youtube]

[UglyTruth]

Booker just doesn't look healthy at all. I don't think he'd be out there getting blocked back to back like this if he was healthy

http://es.pn/2eRQyKw

I'll say it once again, Suns are doing a huge disservice to him and themselves by not sitting him.

Yes he would. He's not an above the rim player.

Even then he'd get more lift than that. Durant ran back from almost half court to block that, and let's be honestly KD isn't exactly known for his defense, especially not his shot blocking ability.

I don't know where you've gotten an idea of Booker being a big leaper, but he's consistently gotten his shot blocked since he was at Kentucky. He got blocked several times driving into the lane last year too.

I never said he's a big leaper. I know he's not Vince Carter or Gerald Green or something.

That said, he still got more lift in his game than he's shown this season. Dudley can probably out jump him right now and that shouldn't be the case cause Booker's definitely more athletic than that

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

[virtual9mm]

If Booker is the kind of player who can score 20 ppg while dealing with double teams with a bad wheel, we're dealing with potentially the best SG in the league if he's healthy.

[carey]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /93808692/

Bench boost

The Suns bench has benefited from adding Jared Dudley to the unit.

His 3-point shooting has been the most noticeable part, making 11 of 19 3-point tries in the past three games to move to a tie for second in the NBA for 3-point percentage at 50.0, trailing only Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins (54.8).

“We have more space. For me and Brandon Knight, it’s much better because we can go to the hole,” Suns guard Leandro Barbosa said. “Sometimes, the bigs come to us and there’s an open shot for JD and Dragan. I love to play with my guys right now. The second unit really has a good chemistry.”

Without Chandler, the second unit of Barbosa, Knight, Dudley, Bender and P.J. Tucker has outscored opponents by six points and shot 59 percent when playing together.

“We just have a great dynamic and most importantly we communicate,” Watson said of the bench.

3-point difference

The Suns have the NBA’s third-worst 3-point percentage (29.8) and allow the NBA’s third-highest opponent 3-point percentage (37.8).

The Suns are being outscored on 3s by an average of 10.9 points per game.

“That’s what the game has turned into,” Booker said. "I feel like we need to live with some of the tough layups instead of the wide-open kickouts. That’s just how the game of basketball is today, especially when you’re playing a team like the Warriors.”

[Mori Chu]

I agree with you guys that the article is underrating Bender. His numbers don't jump off the page, but he's been savvy and useful out on the floor. I'm actually really encouraged by what we have seen from him. I want to see the dude get more minutes regardless of his numbers.

[JCSunsfan]

I agree with you guys that the article is underrating Bender. His numbers don't jump off the page, but he's been savvy and useful out on the floor. I'm actually really encouraged by what we have seen from him. I want to see the dude get more minutes regardless of his numbers.

I agree with you. I could see Bender in the future as a 7-1 Ginobili type of player. He could come off the bench for any one of the three front line position and provide a mix of annoying defense and saavy offense.

[UglyTruth]

Bender's been really good in his short minutes thus far. I hope his minutes don't decline and he can take all of Tucker's minutes soon.

[In2ition]

Bender's been really good in his short minutes thus far. I hope his minutes don't decline and he can take all of Tucker's minutes soon.

Agreed. It doesn't seem that they've actually seen him play. I've been pleased so far and could see him becoming a fantastic player as he he gets experience and matures physically.

[Mori Chu]

In2: Who is that caped fellow in your avatar?

[carey]

In2: Who is that caped fellow in your avatar?

Never seen Sky High???

[In2ition]

In2: Who is that caped fellow in your avatar?

All American Boy, but now he's just Mr. Boy.

[Superbone]

Yep, I'm seeing what you guys are seeing when it comes to Bender. And he's really progressed since Summer League. It's very encouraging!