NBA News: Week 14 (1/19 - 1/25)

[ShelC]

Nurk has his limitations but he's a good player and was scapegoated by a lot of the fan accounts on social. He wasn't the problem some thought he was.

[Split T]

He was awful in Bud’s system, but that might be because of what we asked him to do…more and more I just think Bud might’ve been the worst coach in suns history (at least in my time).

[TOO]

He was awful in Bud’s system, but that might be because of what we asked him to do…more and more I just think Bud might’ve been the worst coach in suns history (at least in my time).

Yeah, he was freaking terrible., Earl Watson bad.

[Split T]

We’ve had some rough ones…Terry Porter, Lindsey Hunter…Ott is such a nice change.

[LazarusLong]

Watson was bad, but he was inexperienced as a head coach. He also had marginal talent to work with.

Budenholzer had an impressive coaching resume, and an Arizona connection.
With all that going for him, he instead appeared as a totally clueless, vapid, Dilbert-like character.
His failure was an abject inability to connect with the talent at hand.

[Kryptonic]

Watson was bad, but he was inexperienced as a head coach. He also had marginal talent to work with.

Budenholzer had an impressive coaching resume, and an Arizona connection.
With all that going for him, he instead appeared as a totally clueless, vapid, Dilbert-like character.
His failure was an abject inability to connect with the talent at hand.

The guy always looked like he just came from happy hour. Was such a disappointment and was really hoping for the storybook career here for a guy whom was from AZ but nope. Real bummer.

[Superbone]

Watson was bad, but he was inexperienced as a head coach. He also had marginal talent to work with.

Budenholzer had an impressive coaching resume, and an Arizona connection.
With all that going for him, he instead appeared as a totally clueless, vapid, Dilbert-like character.
His failure was an abject inability to connect with the talent at hand.

The guy always looked like he just came from happy hour. Was such a disappointment and was really hoping for the storybook career here for a guy whom was from AZ but nope. Real bummer.

Yeah, such a sad story. I remember so many wanted him before he went to the Bucks. Maybe he would have been better then. I think the death of his brother took the life out of him unfortunately.

[JJ Slim]

We’ve had some rough ones…Terry Porter, Lindsey Hunter…Ott is such a nice change.

Remember Frank Johnson? Mori, remember?

[INFORMER]

The "no shit ...!" statement of the day.

It's like saying, "Hey, did you know 250 million people want to win the Powerball?"

His post would have been easier if he wrote the teams that didn’t want Giannis lol

Well, he listed 29 teams. That is every team other than the Bucks. He wouldn't have had a tweet.

I think you are all missing what he was doing with that post.

[Superbone]

The "no shit ...!" statement of the day.

It's like saying, "Hey, did you know 250 million people want to win the Powerball?"

His post would have been easier if he wrote the teams that didn’t want Giannis lol

Well, he listed 29 teams. That is every team other than the Bucks. He wouldn't have had a tweet.

I think you are all missing what he was doing with that post.

I think pickle got it:

It’s a tongue in cheek tweet I guess. To mock some of the breaking news tweets.

[Mori Chu]

Clip of crowd reaction before the Wolves game ... Posting this because it is directly related to an NBA game, but putting it in a spoiler tag because it relates to current events and politics.

Spoiler: show/hide

[Superbone]

[specialsauce]

Anddd contrary to some on this board's prediction, Ryan Dunn was not selected for the Rising Stars. He is just not a high end prospect and is nowhere close.

[Shabazz]

Anddd contrary to some on this board's prediction, Ryan Dunn was not selected for the Rising Stars. He is just not a high end prospect and is nowhere close.

That just means he isn't one of the 11 best sophomores - and he isn't. And that's OK. He was drafted 28th.

I don't think anyone here thinks he's a star in the making, but I do think he can become a very high end role player. He needs to get his confidence back, though. He's been playing tentatively for a while now.

I'm more concerned that we really, really missed a once in a lifetime opportunity by not taking the Pelicans trade in favor of drafting Maluach, who could still turn out well, especially given we've got the center position potentially locked in for the foreseeable future with MW and Oso. Getting a top-5 pick in this draft would have single-handedly given our long term prospects a massive boost. Can you imagine starting Dybantsa, Boozer, Peterson, Caleb Wilson or Peat (to name 5) instead of Royce O'neale next season. Oof.

[BKinSJC]

Yeah. Or the Suns could've just taken Queen themselves. He looks like a very high quality player that you can run a lot of offense through, although I think he's a physical type that might always be a little bit limited defensively.

Just have to hope that Maluach takes steps and becomes an impact player. It's hard not to be disappointed so far, although I keep reminding myself that he's really really young.

[specialsauce]

We have an interesting dilemma coming up. Man Man is clearly a good prospect as seen by his ability to just stack numbers in the G league already. If nothing else he is a great shot blocker and rebounder. I think he's a great prospect. Him not getting PT is more about the depth we have there than worries about him.

Williams has been everything we hoped for really, and he's only 24. Then you have Oso who the staff are enamored with and has an extremely low ceiling but is a glue guy.

If I'm the Suns I seriously consider trading Williams or Man Mam in the offseason because I don't think Oso will net you anything of value.

[Mori Chu]

If I'm the Suns I seriously consider trading Williams or Man Mam in the offseason because I don't think Oso will net you anything of value.

Trading Williams? No freaking way. He's like our 2nd or 3rd best player this year and a big reason we are winning all these games. He's exactly the center we need. Got to re-sign and keep Williams.

And you might be right that trading Oso won't net much value, but he IS valuable to us, and on a very cheap contract, so therefore let's keep him.

I don't have strong feelings about Man Man, but it seems unproductive to give up on him so early unless we could get some valuable asset for him such as a decent future 1st.

I think the center for us to trade is Nick Richards. There is interest around the league, and we can get under the tax. But IMO that is almost certain to happen by the deadline.

[specialsauce]

If I'm the Suns I seriously consider trading Williams or Man Mam in the offseason because I don't think Oso will net you anything of value.

Trading Williams? No freaking way. He's like our 2nd or 3rd best player this year and a big reason we are winning all these games. He's exactly the center we need. Got to re-sign and keep Williams.

And you might be right that trading Oso won't net much value, but he IS valuable to us, and on a very cheap contract, so therefore let's keep him.

I don't have strong feelings about Man Man, but it seems unproductive to give up on him so early unless we could get some valuable asset for him such as a decent future 1st.

I think the center for us to trade is Nick Richards. There is interest around the league, and we can get under the tax. But IMO that is almost certain to happen by the deadline.

Ok well you drafted a center 10th who has the tools to be a high end center and you have a current young center who already is making an impact. Keeping both is a gross mismanagement of assets. Williams contract is up this season they need to pick which one they believe in more and trade the other to distribute their assets across other positions of need

Think logically about it

[Split T]

Drafting Maluach looks like a mistake to me right now. I don’t think him, Williams, and Oso makes a ton of sense long term. I don’t think it needs to be resolved this summer, but hard to see it working long term. Maluach still needs to get to the point that he is playable and hasn’t shown any indication that he’s close imo.

I think you try and get Williams on a friendly extension this summer and then you absolutely gotta start working Maluach into the rotation next year. By year 3 though, I don’t think all 3 can work unless someone develops more than expected. Honestly, Williams and Maluach both shooting would be nice as then the could be the C rotation with Oso playing a lot of 4. I don’t have any faith that Oso will ever shoot.

I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to move Williams or Maluach if a good option came along.

[Mori Chu]

I view Maluach as somewhere between a long-term investment and an insurance policy. Williams might still go down at some point with an injury, which would probably make Oso our starting C and ManMan our backup C. So he's useful in that way. And he can keep learning and hopefully contribute in a year or so. That's not a great immediate return on a #10 pick, but it isn't worthless.