Superbone wrote:Get out your brooms! We swept the Magic this year. I guess the Suns decided they didn't want to set the record for road futility. They came out to play tonight!
Len with the man's game! 31 and 15 is awesome. He fought hard all game long. Vucevic has schooled him in the past. Not tonight!
Can't lose 'em all. I'll take it. Let the boys feel good about themselves tonight.
I thought Alex won both matchups with Vucevic this year:
31 and 15 IS awesome. In the second half, they decided to crowd his jump shot and ended up fouling him on the drive every time. If he gets consistent with that J (and he has been since he stopped jumping on it - I think they realized it cost him concentration, as it forced him to think about falling down on someone's foot), he'll be consistent half court offense. Next to a guy like that, you'd want a high-motor type with a penchant for weakside defense. This got me to thinking...
Could Hassan Whiteside play next to Len? I know it sounds odd, but the fact is, there just aren't many dangerous post bigs in the league... maybe it's a combo that could work? That's a daydream anyway - no reason to take our max contract over LA's or Boston's. Two other high-motor guys that come to mind are Noel and Faried. I'm sure we could get Faried if we want him, but I doubt that's a direction we want to take. I'm not sure the Sixers would be open to dealing Noel, considering his unique skill set.
... Anyhow, it was a great win. The kids need to know they can win relying on their own offense. BKN won last night, too, and I don't see us going on some incredible streak. Not that much difference between the 3rd and 4th worst record anyway.
See what happens in the draft and then we will figure out free agents.
I have a hunch that 4 rookies will not come to training camp. There will be trades this draft.
I'm pretty resigned to the fact we won't catch the Lakers. Thought it was possible, particularly if we moved Tyson and P.J. at the deadline as rumored, but it's looking like unless something unforseen happens we'll finish with the 3rd worst record.
Like others have pointed out....Brooklyn won't catch us. They have no incentive to rest players or play to lose. They don't have their pick.
“Kobe had said (after the play) I wasn’t hugged enough as a child,” Bell recalled. “My mom kind of found him after the instance and we had beat them and offered him a hug in the bowels of the Phoenix arena. She really feels a part of that story.”
Gotta give Price props for his game last night (since everybody is always ragging on him.) He played tenacious D and had 14 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 5 steals, a career high, and a blocked shot. Speaking of the blocked shot, that was a great sequence where he blocked Payton's shot, the Magic recovered the ball and then Price stole it back and sprinted down to our end for a basket.
Len had never led the team’s scoring for a game in his career until the past seven games, when he has done it four times. But Friday night was a beast feast that made him the first Suns player to have 30 points and 15 rebounds in a game since Amar’e Stoudemire in 2010.
Sunsfan4life wrote:I'm pretty resigned to the fact we won't catch the Lakers. Thought it was possible, particularly if we moved Tyson and P.J. at the deadline as rumored, but it's looking like unless something unforseen happens we'll finish with the 3rd worst record.
Like others have pointed out....Brooklyn won't catch us. They have no incentive to rest players or play to lose. They don't have their pick.
Yea but Hollis-Jefferson is now out for quite some time.
Sunsfan4life wrote:I'm pretty resigned to the fact we won't catch the Lakers. Thought it was possible, particularly if we moved Tyson and P.J. at the deadline as rumored, but it's looking like unless something unforseen happens we'll finish with the 3rd worst record.
Like others have pointed out....Brooklyn won't catch us. They have no incentive to rest players or play to lose. They don't have their pick.
I prefer the Lakers keeping their pick, it would make a bit easier to digest last year trade. Just a bit, a tiny bit. Of course, we will win the lottery, hence they will pick 3rd, still keeping their pick.
Aztec Sunsfan wrote:Timely confidence building win.
Agreed.
Teams like Minny and Sacramento lacks mental fortitude after years of losing that has eroded the confidence of the young players.
I don't think that's true. The Kings are poorly put together. The Wolves young talent has barely been in the league for over two years; Flip Saunders rebooted their rebuild.
I was speaking more along the line of a losing culture infecting those teams for years, making them losers, even when they are projected to better results. Agreed on your take about this year on both teams, altough I would venture into saying Sacramento it's still underachieving, and Minny rebooted due to their previous young talent underachieved for years.
If you are going to win, do it with the young ones. That's good tanking.
Bad tanking would be PJ playing 40 minutes and scoring 30.
Goodwin played like 10 mins.
30 year old Price played like 48 mins (entire game) or close to it.
Is that "bad tanking"?
No. Archie is probably not part of the future. Play he guy who will help Len and Booner succeed.
Why are you so quick to give up on a 21 year old kid who is getting his first real opportunity this season?
I like Archie, but I agree that he doesn't have a role on this roster going forward. We have a combo guard already - Knight. We have a young two guard and another waiting to be brought in. Kid looks like an NBA player, but I don't think this is a good situation for him. Question is, what is his trade value? Could he be packaged with another asset for something of value? IDK.
Superbone wrote:Get out your brooms! We swept the Magic this year. I guess the Suns decided they didn't want to set the record for road futility. They came out to play tonight!
Len with the man's game! 31 and 15 is awesome. He fought hard all game long. Vucevic has schooled him in the past. Not tonight!
Can't lose 'em all. I'll take it. Let the boys feel good about themselves tonight.
I thought Alex won both matchups with Vucevic this year:
31 and 15 IS awesome. In the second half, they decided to crowd his jump shot and ended up fouling him on the drive every time. If he gets consistent with that J (and he has been since he stopped jumping on it - I think they realized it cost him concentration, as it forced him to think about falling down on someone's foot), he'll be consistent half court offense. ...
It is interesting to compare how he got his points in those two games against the Magic. In the first game all but three of his buckets were spoon fed easy dunks or layups under the basket. Compare that to the last game where only two of his buckets came that way.
He still looks goofy but those 31 points are really impressive when you consider how much of his offense he has to create on his own.
Superbone wrote:Get out your brooms! We swept the Magic this year. I guess the Suns decided they didn't want to set the record for road futility. They came out to play tonight!
Len with the man's game! 31 and 15 is awesome. He fought hard all game long. Vucevic has schooled him in the past. Not tonight!
Can't lose 'em all. I'll take it. Let the boys feel good about themselves tonight.
I thought Alex won both matchups with Vucevic this year:
31 and 15 IS awesome. In the second half, they decided to crowd his jump shot and ended up fouling him on the drive every time. If he gets consistent with that J (and he has been since he stopped jumping on it - I think they realized it cost him concentration, as it forced him to think about falling down on someone's foot), he'll be consistent half court offense. ...
It is interesting to compare how he got his points in those two games against the Magic. In the first game all but three of his buckets were spoon fed easy dunks or layups under the basket. Compare that to the last game where only two of his buckets came that way.
He still looks goofy but those 31 points are really impressive when you consider how much of his offense he has to create on his own.
EDC wrote:He still looks goofy but those 31 points are really impressive when you consider how much of his offense he has to create on his own.
Not always and that gives me hope. He had a beautiful move in the second half that ended in a little half hook that swished through on the right side of the basket. It was silky smooth.
EDC wrote:He still looks goofy but those 31 points are really impressive when you consider how much of his offense he has to create on his own.
Not always and that gives me hope. He had a beautiful move in the second half that ended in a little half hook that swished through on the right side of the basket. It was silky smooth.
Very true.
He had one where he got the ball at the free throw line then took a step to the basket was cut off and hit the hook. That was very nice.
I think I know the one you are talking about where he caught the ball in the lane and backed his guy up almost to the rim and hit an easy little hook. That move was beast mode.
EDC wrote:He still looks goofy but those 31 points are really impressive when you consider how much of his offense he has to create on his own.
Not always and that gives me hope. He had a beautiful move in the second half that ended in a little half hook that swished through on the right side of the basket. It was silky smooth.
Very true.
He had one where he got the ball at the free throw line then took a step to the basket was cut off and hit the hook. That was very nice.
I think I know the one you are talking about where he caught the ball in the lane and backed his guy up almost to the rim and hit an easy little hook. That move was beast mode.
Yeah, that was it. He also had a perfect Tim Duncan bank shot in the first half of that game.
