Suns News: Week 11 1/5-1/11

[carey]

Current record 20-16 - Our first nationally televised game (unless you're counting NBATv) this year comes in week 11 after 37 games played. Also, yay another road trip! This one is not so easy. The Bucks have a similar record and have won 3 out of the last 4 with a close loss to Indiana last Friday. We all know San Antonio and Memphis are good, especially at home.

Last Week.
Tuesday, December 30th @ New Orleans L110-106
Wednesday, December 31st @ Oklahoma City L137-134
Friday, January 2nd vs. Philadelphia W112-96
Sunday, January 4th vs. Toronto W125-109

This Week.
Tuesday, January 6th @ Milwaukee 8:00PM EST ON NBATv
Wednesday, January 7th @ Minnesota 9:30PM EST ON ESPN!
Friday, January 9th @ San Antonio 8:30PM EST
Sunday, January 11th @ Memphis 6:00PM EST

Suns News.
I'm a little late on this one, but apparently Bryan Gibberman wrote a piece at BSotS about why more losses might be better for the Suns: LINK

To which Marcus tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/MookMorris2/status/551596134091988992 Seth Pollack had his own response, No losing allowed: LINK

Hot shooting Suns bury road-weary Raptors: LINK

The Suns led the Raptors by as much as 28 in moving to 4-1 at home against teams with winning percentages of at least .600.

[Shabazz]

If Markieff Morris hits his shot and Middleton and Griffin miss theirs, Suns are 23-13.

[Ring_Wanted]

Yeah, I've told that to myself too. But at some point that starts to ring hollow.

Ha!

[Indy]

That is a lot of "ifs."

But that stat of Kieff's clutch shooting is no surprise.

[Ring_Wanted]

He has go to moves. That's pure gold when you need a basket. That's why they call them that way, after all, right? Shooting a three is not that, unfortunately.

[INFORMER]

2nd-year stud Archie Goodwin

[Indy]

Yeah, I literally rolled my eyes as I read that too.

[Mori Chu]

Get me and Pollack in a room together and maybe we can stir up a balanced take on Archie. The "lost cause stud!"

[Shabazz]

Seth Pollack has a man crush on Archie. It's a little tongue-in-cheek.

[carey]

You'll want to read this one: LINK

Bledsoe said they took "a look in the mirror" about how they played last season. They seem to be recapturing that, showing chemistry instincts that come with familiarity.

"When we (were) losing, I think our guards, me in particular, weren't competing," Bledsoe said. "I thought every time somebody came in, we pretty much went out there with a nonchalant attitude. (In Sunday's win against Toronto), we just were playing and competing every minute, all 48 minutes."

Bledsoe is easily a superior defender to Dragic but does not always exert himself like Dragic does on that end. Like the team, his intensity at both ends rises for marquee teams and players.

"It's when we're playing lesser teams that he kinds of goes to cruise control," Hornacek said. "We need him to be that aggressive attacker no matter who we're playing. I think he's done that. He's made quick decisions on his penetrations and not a lot of dribbling it and hesitating."

With so much made of Dragic being off the ball more (including by himself), his stats have been quite similar for some time to what he produced when he was an All-NBA third-team selection last season. Over his past 17 games, Dragic is averaging 19.4 points and 4.8 assists with 52.8 percent shooting and 40.5 percent 3-point shooting. Last season, he averaged 20.3 points and 5.9 assists with 50.5 percent shooting and 40.8 percent 3-point shooting.

[OE32]

One of Coro's better articles this year. The way those two have been playing over this stretch has given me hope that we'll be able to convince Goran to stay. He's been very effective as a 2 guard for us, and he's pretty close to an ideal match with Bledsoe, imo.

I was skeptical that this would work out early on; specifically, Goran's getting torched by Courtney Lee had me worry about putting him at the 2. Now I tend to think that it's pretty obvious that he should play the 2, given the glut of PG's in the league, the lack of 2's, and Goran's height and scoring capabilities. It'll be "interesting" to find out his true thoughts on the matter once he's a free agent.

[Ring_Wanted]

...he should play the 2, given the glut of PG's in the league, the lack of 2's, and Goran's height and scoring capabilities. It'll be "interesting" to find out his true thoughts on the matter once he's a free agent.

I don't need Dragic to play SG more than nominally. And on defense, because he can't keep up with most of the starting PGs.

I'm also enjoying the play of Bledsoe-Dragic lately. Something that can fly under the radar, but helps Dragic a lot, is adding one more rebounder for his fastbreaks, is and Bledsoe is one of the best guards on the glass out there. Real rebounds, of course.

Speaking of rebounding, now seriously Phoenix should make a move to grab even a rental tha can help on the boards and that has at least one more reliable skill. At PF but who is able to slid to C if needed.

[OE32]

Speaking of rebounding, now seriously Phoenix should make a move to grab even a rental tha can help on the boards and that has at least one more reliable skill. At PF but who is able to slid to C if needed.

Seems to me our ability to make a trade like this hinges on how close we think our young players are - Archie, Zoran, and TJ. We need someone to be able to step into the rotation at the wing spots if we lose Gerald. At this point, I can't see us trading IT if we're vying for a title. And I don't think Ennis is a candidate to be traded before this year's draft unless a really high quality player is available.

[Ring_Wanted]

There is cap space and future assets. Could be something as small as taking a 5M contract and sending out Minni's pick. Go around with that and see what you can get that fits the descriptoin above.

[Mori Chu]

Yeah, but what decent bigs are actually available? I don't want yet another big lug who can't do much other than take up space. In a way I'm surprised we let Tolliver go. He wasn't great, but he seemed to be slowly getting more comfortable as the season went on, and I think he was fine as a bench PF for this team. He's not a defender or rebounder, but still, we barely gave the guy a chance here.

[Ring_Wanted]

Tolliver was not ok. Our rotation can't take a homeless Frye.

As for specific names, I don't know. People love to bring up Horford and stuff but I am thinking backup, if possible on a cheap rental. Denver has bodies they might be eager to move. Arthur has always been decent. Hickson could contribute although he has the aura of empty numbers. Stuff like that. I am sure there are more sellers, I'm just aware you usually can't buy gold with copper in the NBA.

[OE32]

Yeah, but what decent bigs are actually available? I don't want yet another big lug who can't do much other than take up space. In a way I'm surprised we let Tolliver go. He wasn't great, but he seemed to be slowly getting more comfortable as the season went on, and I think he was fine as a bench PF for this team. He's not a defender or rebounder, but still, we barely gave the guy a chance here.

Yeah, but why would you ever, EVER have Tolliver on the floor instead of Marcus? That, to me, was the big issue. And if your answer is, "Because Marcus is already on the floor," then is Tolliver ever the right guy to put next to Marcus instead of Tucker, Gerald, Markieff, or TJ? I thought it made sense.

One thing I noted in another forum was, trading Tolliver doesn't really enable us to pull off any move we couldn't have otherwise pulled, except for one: trading the Morrises. The poison pill provision will no longer stop a trade because we have the cap space to absorb the difference in salaries. Food for wasted thought.

[LazarusLong]

In a way I'm surprised we let Tolliver go. He wasn't great, but he seemed to be slowly getting more comfortable as the season went on, and I think he was fine as a bench PF for this team. He's not a defender or rebounder, but still, we barely gave the guy a chance here.

There's nothing that Tolliver did that Marcus couldn't do. And tightening the rotation to nine players has helped the team.

[Ring_Wanted]

One thing I noted in another forum was, trading Tolliver doesn't really enable us to pull off any move we couldn't have otherwise pulled, except for one: trading the Morrises. The poison pill provision will no longer stop a trade because we have the cap space to absorb the difference in salaries. Food for wasted thought.

I don't know if I am following this right. I am starting from the premise that the Suns could have traded the Morrii easily.

Under the provision the Morrii mean 5.5M and 4.5M, that's the cap space/salary the taker needs to use. The Suns, as the team sending out the affected players, are the ones that can only take back their current salary (6M combied), plus whatever cap space of their own they can add. Right now 6M, but before the trade we still were under the cap with Tolliver, just around 4M.

Are those 2M the 'difference in salaries' you point?

[INFORMER]

At this point, I can't see us trading IT if we're vying for a title.

I don't think they give out a title for winning the 8th seed.