Suns News: Week 9 12/21-12/27

[carey]

Week 8 is over and Markieff Morris is still wearing a Suns uniform. How much longer will it continue? If I were a betting man I would change my bet to a day or two before the trade deadline (February 18th.) They went 1-3 on the week bringing their record to 12-17, 5 games below .500. This is a light week for the team with 3 games instead of the usual 4. The Suns are actually tied for the most games played so far this season at 29.

Last Week's Games

@ Dallas Mavericks LOSS 104-94
vs. Golden State Warriors LOSS 128-103
vs. New Orleans Pelicans WIN 104-88
vs. Milwaukee Bucks LOSS 101-95

This Week's Games

Monday, December 21st @ Utah Jazz 9:00PM EST
Wednesday, December 23rd vs. Denver Nuggets 9:00PM EST
Saturday, December 26th vs. Philadelphia 76ers 9:00PM EST

Suns Stories

Suns turnover issues pile up in home loss: LINK (If you watch the video on this link, please comment on how ugly Bledsoe's shirt is.)

The Suns make the third most turnovers in the NBA, getting worse as of late with 17.8 turnovers per game in their past 12 games of 4-8 play.

“We have to do something about that at practice, which we haven’t had a lot of,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Cool excuse, Jeff.

It was a fear coming into the season with a two-playmaker system headed by two Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, whose assist-to-turnover ratios have been among the worst for point guards in the NBA over the past two seasons. Again this season, Bledsoe and Knight are among the bottom eight of 45 qualified NBA point guards for assist-to-turnover ratio.

So, you knew it would happen, but you haven't done anything to change it?

* Even after going 5-12 since a 7-5 start, the Suns enter tonight’s game at Utah just one game behind the eighth-place Jazz.

I guess there's that...

[OE32]

The discouraging thing about our record is the same thing that was so discouraging last year (when our record was substantially better, and we were still managing to hold onto the 8th seed) - specifically, our schedule has been pretty easy so far. The tough part of our schedule is still ahead. We're running out of time to turn this thing around.

[Ring_Wanted]

We have plenty of time... to pursue lotto odds.

Just drop it already. Knight-Kieff-PJ-Teletovic out for the best possible combination prospects and draft picks.

Play Bledsoe-Booker-Warren-Leuer-Len 30+mpg the rest of the season and find out if Hornacek deserves a new contract.

[carey]

Play Bledsoe-Booker-Warren-Leuer-Len 30+mpg the rest of the season and find out if Hornacek deserves a new contract.

I'm behind this strategy, but I don't think Hornacek would do it. Nothing about his coaching so far suggests he would even consider it.

[Mori Chu]

That is our best starting lineup for sure.

[OE32]

One thing that has really stuck out to me is how little pressure our perimeter defense has been able to put on shooters. We were right to think that Brandon Knight wouldn't be posted up too frequently, but an ability to bother shooters with length on defense is something this team has sorely lacked - which is why I understand our interest in Brewer. Bled-Knight's potent offense would make up for the problems with our defense if they didn't turn the ball over so much. They're both really good young point guards, but do they belong on the same team? Maybe not.

You know who commits very few turnovers? TJ Warren. Wonder if that would hold up with more touches. Even if he's having an inefficient night - hey, at least he gets shots up!

[Shabazz]

From David Aldridge's weekly column:

But, the Clips are all in to win it all, right now. Unless they can wrangle, say, P.J. Tucker from Phoenix (and many other teams, with more to offer, are in on the chase for him), there aren't a lot of substantive threes out there.

Are there really teams offering anything of substance for Tucker and if so, why the F have we not moved him yet?

[OE32]

From David Aldridge's weekly column:

But, the Clips are all in to win it all, right now. Unless they can wrangle, say, P.J. Tucker from Phoenix (and many other teams, with more to offer, are in on the chase for him), there aren't a lot of substantive threes out there.

Are there really teams offering anything of substance for Tucker and if so, why the F have we not moved him yet?

This is McD's way, you know. He holds, and he waits.

[MightyMoog]

Better question is what do the clippers have, that we would want? They've already mortgaged all their future assets.

[carey]

Better question is what do the clippers have, that we would want? They've already mortgaged all their future assets.

Not a thing, really. Which I assume is the reason Tucker is still here.

[Gladiator]

Suns are down to 22nd in ESPN's Power rankings

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings/_/year/2016/week/8

The Suns are 5-12 since their 7-5 start. And they're 0-10 when they fail to crack the 100-point barrier. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight are one of just three tag teams in the league in which both players are averaging at least 20 PPG and 5 APG ... but here's the flip side: Phoenix's frontcourt is last in the league at 24.8 PPG.

[Gladiator]

Suns 21st in SI's Power Rankings
http://www.si.com/nba/2015/12/21/nba-po ... nl_siextra

Early in the season the Suns could score but not guard, and now they can’t do much in the way of either. The return of big-money signing Tyson Chandler to the lineup hasn’t moved the needle much, as the veteran center is averaging just 4.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in five games since returning from a hamstring injury

Both ESPN and SI, rightly, have us trending downwards. Surely it's just about time to hand the keys of the car over to the kids

[pickle]

I would say if we are trying to move Tucker, then putting him on the court is the best way to showcase him to potential suitors. He does have some value to the right team, but what that team is gonna be willing to put up would depend a lot on Tucker's ability to hit that corner three. He has never been an offensive juggernaut but that corner three gave him some utility on that half of the court. If he can go back to shooting about 40% and string together a few games of 10+ pts on decent efficiency, I can totally see a team like the Thunder running with him over Morrow and Roberson.

[ShelC]

If teams don't know what Tucker is by now...I do agree that he seems to fit the mold of a team like OKC, Memphis, maybe Dallas, LAC. He needs to go a team that's contending or close, with good enough players around him where he can just be a 3 and D guy. He's like Dudley where he can't make a bad team good, but he can make a good team better.

[pickle]

I know that we don't much like what Hornacek has been doing for this team, so setting that aside, how do you improve turnover issues? It's easy to point to specific drills to improve shooting or dribbling or even passing, but turnovers, are there specific things that can be done for it? I am genuinely curious, as I can't think of anything other than 5 on 5 practices where you drill specific scenarios into these young players' brains that might get Bledsoe to stop leaping before passing or to toss the ball at Len's ankles.

To bring a bit of a personal angle to this, throughout my day, my brain is constantly turning, as I have a real inability to focus. No matter what I'm doing, I'm also thinking of something else at the same time. The only time this doesn't happen is when I play basketball, because I'm just not physically or mentally gifted enough to be able to see the court and allow the game to come to me. As a result I make repeated mistakes that takes many many repetitions to correct, if at all. I can imagine that had I been gifted with physical tools, I would absolutely use them to correct my mental deficiencies, which is to say if I could jump high, I may very well use that to try to beat a bigger guy, only to realize right away -- oh fuck.

So, to summarize, how does a player cut down on turnovers?

[pickle]

If teams don't know what Tucker is by now...I do agree that he seems to fit the mold of a team like OKC, Memphis, maybe Dallas, LAC. He needs to go a team that's contending or close, with good enough players around him where he can just be a 3 and D guy. He's like Dudley where he can't make a bad team good, but he can make a good team better.

I agree with you Shel, only thing is, I think he hasn't been hitting whatever few shots he's been taking this year and that has really hurt his value. I don't know if Memphis would be a good fit. I mentioned OKC in the past and mention them again, because that is a team with too many scorers (or rather, a few scorers with ultra high usage rates) and need a few people who can play defense to balance them out. I'm not sure he would make Memphis better tho as Memphis needs perimeter scoring and playmaking in the worst way. I like the Dudley comparison, only that Dudley seems to have better basketball IQ. I thought about Tucker's fit in Washington in my previous post as well. And maybe the Pacers could use him too, to bang with the big boys and let PG13 play his preferred small forward position.

[carey]

Suns 21st in SI's Power Rankings
http://www.si.com/nba/2015/12/21/nba-po ... nl_siextra

Early in the season the Suns could score but not guard, and now they can’t do much in the way of either. The return of big-money signing Tyson Chandler to the lineup hasn’t moved the needle much, as the veteran center is averaging just 4.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in five games since returning from a hamstring injury

Both ESPN and SI, rightly, have us trending downwards. Surely it's just about time to hand the keys of the car over to the kids

I've been posting the power rankings every week in the Around the League news thread, btw.

[specialsauce]

If teams don't know what Tucker is by now...I do agree that he seems to fit the mold of a team like OKC, Memphis, maybe Dallas, LAC. He needs to go a team that's contending or close, with good enough players around him where he can just be a 3 and D guy. He's like Dudley where he can't make a bad team good, but he can make a good team better.

I agree with you Shel, only thing is, I think he hasn't been hitting whatever few shots he's been taking this year and that has really hurt his value. I don't know if Memphis would be a good fit. I mentioned OKC in the past and mention them again, because that is a team with too many scorers (or rather, a few scorers with ultra high usage rates) and need a few people who can play defense to balance them out. I'm not sure he would make Memphis better tho as Memphis needs perimeter scoring and playmaking in the worst way. I like the Dudley comparison, only that Dudley seems to have better basketball IQ. I thought about Tucker's fit in Washington in my previous post as well. And maybe the Pacers could use him too, to bang with the big boys and let PG13 play his preferred small forward position.

Except his D is so overrated and he has no 3. He is just a body that rebounds and then plays way out of his role on offense.

[pickle]

Except his D is so overrated and he has no 3. He is just a body that rebounds and then plays way out of his role on offense.

Shhhhhhh!

[Gladiator]

Suns 21st in SI's Power Rankings
http://www.si.com/nba/2015/12/21/nba-po ... nl_siextra

Early in the season the Suns could score but not guard, and now they can’t do much in the way of either. The return of big-money signing Tyson Chandler to the lineup hasn’t moved the needle much, as the veteran center is averaging just 4.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in five games since returning from a hamstring injury

Both ESPN and SI, rightly, have us trending downwards. Surely it's just about time to hand the keys of the car over to the kids

I've been posting the power rankings every week in the Around the League news thread, btw.

Sorry for the double-up - my bad