Suns News: Week 12 1/12-1/18

[carey]

Current record 22-18. 2 bad losses to two teams clearly better than us. Games that we really needed to win. Now I'm hearing that LeBron is going to make his return on Tuesday night, which unfortunately is when we play Cleveland. Of course. I look for the Cavaliers to be fired up, but this is the start of an unprecedented 8 game home stand. We don't get these often and we really need to take advantage of it. Then we have Minnesota, who I'm sure is looking for revenge after that heart breaking loss last Wednesday. Strangely... we only have 2 games this week so there will be a lot of time to bitch about Hornacek's rotations, IT ball hogging, Gerald, PJ, Marcus and Miles having no basketball IQ, etc.

Last Week.
Tuesday, January 6th @ Milwaukee WIN 102-96
Wednesday, January 7th @ Minnesota WIN 113-111
Friday, January 9th @ San Antonio LOSS 100-95
Sunday, January 11th @ Memphis LOSS 122-110 2OT

This Week.
Tuesday January 13th vs. Cleveland 9:00PM EST
Friday January 16th vs. Minnesota 9:00PM EST

Suns News.
Suns falter in second OT versus Grizzlies: LINK
Suns cause split personality disorder: LINK
https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/554641660848922625

[carey]

Suns notes on Brandan Wright, Marcus Morris' role with the team, and ending the string of technicals... for one evening: LINK

[Mori Chu]

Thanks carey, your links and weekly news are always great. I saw that Zach Lowe tweet, too. Maybe Horny will have to experiment to find lineups that work with Wright. Wouldn't mind him at C with Kieff as the PF, for example.

[Indy]

+1 to the thanks for you Carey. Thanks for doing this!

[INFORMER]

Are the combination of Brandon Wright and Alex Len enough to keep Oklahoma City out of the playoffs?

As of today, Phoenix has a 2.5 game lead over over Oklahoma City. Even though the Pelicans are lurking, the Suns' primary competition is likely to come from a now healthy Thunder. As last year’s surprising contributor Miles Plumlee continues to fall off, Len has usurped his role as the first option at center. The team has gone 10-5 since inserting Len into the starting lineup and defensive rating of 98.2 when the second-year big man is on the floor -- a number that would put them third overall in the league if it held up for an entire season.

Whereas Len is emerging as a defensive force, the addition of Wright, who will presumably take Plumlee’s role as Len’s backup, will boost Phoenix’s offense considerably. Though Plumlee and Wright have similar games, Wright has far more skill, length and athleticism and is also far more reliably at catching and finishing than Len. They’ll team to form a nice 1-2 punch where one or the other can finish games depending on what is needed on a particular night.

And despite being a non-shooter, Wright can create a Channing Frye-like effect for the Suns dynamic guard trio of Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe to take advantage of. Wright is such an explosive threat finishing on the roll that any big man guarding him is hesitant to leave his body -- similar to how they were with Frye, just at a different area on the floor. So even though Wright isn’t a “stretch big” he can act as a floor spacer for Suns team that has really missed Frye’s presence offensively.

Read more at http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/2 ... dSP8Lit.99

[Cap]

Wright is such an explosive threat finishing on the roll that any big man guarding him is hesitant to leave his body

Only if IT changes his game, because Wright will probably get most of his court time with the IT-Green backcourt.

[Indy]

Well, to be fair I think Green does a good job of finding cutting big men and actually passing to them. But in general I get the point.

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

[Shabazz]

Some interesting stats to play around with here regarding IT's passing:

http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/202738/tracking/passes/

He passes to Len 1.5 times per game and Plumlee 1.6 times per game for a total of 3.1 passes per game to his centers in 25.3 minutes per game. Now I'm not sure how often he's sharing the floor with those players, but I'd wager it's at least 18 MPG.

The stats I'm trying to find are his PnR breakdowns, such as how often he shoots, how often he passes to the screener, how often he passes to the perimeter, etc. Any idea where I can find those?

[Shabazz]

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

I can think of someone.

[Indy]

Non-trolls. I should have specified Bazz.

[OE32]

SDC wasn't always a troll, was he?

[Shabazz]

Ryan McDonough will be on The Beat on NBATV at 3 PST.

[Indy]

No. And he isn't all the time now. He just gets into his moods and likes to rile people up. Those moods are just more often now. Which is a shame, because he can offer some good insights.

[Superbone]

Ryan McDonough will be on The Beat on NBATV at 3 PST.

Thanks for the head up! Recording confirmed.

[Superbone]

No. And he isn't all the time now. He just gets into his moods and likes to rile people up. Those moods are just more often now. Which is a shame, because he can offer some good insights.

Unfortunately, it makes it so that you can't take anything he says seriously.

[carey]

Well, to be fair I think Green does a good job of finding cutting big men and actually passing to them. But in general I get the point.

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

I think they will make every attempt to re-sign Wright after the year actually. I do think we'll attempt to package IT, Plumlee and a youngster or two for more help. I would love Tobias Harris for instance. Martell Webster is a FA this Summer and would be an excellent addition I think.

[SDC]

https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/554641660848922625

thank you zach lowe

[SDC]

Well, to be fair I think Green does a good job of finding cutting big men and actually passing to them. But in general I get the point.

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

it wasnt a bad or mediocre move since the suns gave up little, but it was a little bit a pointless move since it doesnt address what the suns need at the bigs position.

[OE32]

Well, to be fair I think Green does a good job of finding cutting big men and actually passing to them. But in general I get the point.

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

it wasnt a bad or mediocre move since the suns gave up little, but it was a little bit a pointless move since it doesnt address what the suns need at the bigs position.

If you're looking short-term, I actually think it addresses what we need at the position very well.

If you wanted a low-post option, you'd be looking at getting rid of our whole style of play. Kieff and Green are the two players they'll let post up.

[OE32]

Well, to be fair I think Green does a good job of finding cutting big men and actually passing to them. But in general I get the point.

So I know this is only a few minutes into what will be a (very) short tenure with the Suns, but does anyone think that was a bad, or even mediocre, move by the Suns?

it wasnt a bad or mediocre move since the suns gave up little, but it was a little bit a pointless move since it doesnt address what the suns need at the bigs position.

If you're looking short-term, I actually think it addresses what we need at the position very well.

If you wanted a low-post option, you'd be looking at getting rid of our whole style of play. Kieff and Green are the two players they'll let post up.