Suns News: Week 6 11/19-11/25

[virtual9mm]

Look at the strength of schedule:

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

Tied for second hardest, with only Utah having had a more difficult schedule. And they are struggling, too.

Accounting for this, the Suns are 23 out of 30 on RPI. And this does not account for the West teams murdering each other every night, and their recent improvement. They may actually be a slightly better than average team right now.

[Superbone]

Maybe James Jones pickup of Crawford right before the season was a pretty good move for this team after all. Finally a veteran presence has an impact on the team.

Jamal Crawford’s big shot beat the Bucks and his impact was all over the Suns’ improbable victory

https://theathletic.com/672994/2018/11/ ... e-victory/

MILWAUKEE​ — The​ play​ Igor​ Kokoskov​ said​ exemplifies what Jamal Crawford means​ to​ this​ iteration​ of​ the Suns​ was​ not when​​ he drained the game-winning pull-up jumper to beat the mighty Bucks 116-114, though that confirmed he still has the big-shot swag.

It was when Crawford subbed himself out for the prior defensive possession, recognizing rangy rookie Mikal Bridges would be more effective than a 38-year-old never exactly known for his skills on that end of the floor.

“In crunch time, he wasn’t selfish,” Kokoskov said. “(Crawford was not) saying, ‘I want to stay on the court and this is about me.’ It ‘s about the team, and good things happen.”

Crawford delivered the biggest on-court moment of his limited tenure with Phoenix Friday night, his 17-footer with 0.8 seconds to play lifting the 4-14 Suns to one of the more improbable victories in the NBA this season. But the veteran guard’s impact surfaced in Deandre Ayton’s confidence to guard megastar dunk machine Giannis Antetokounmpo one-on-one with the game tied at 114 in the final minute. And in another efficient offensive output from T.J. Warren. And in the team’s collective “tough gene” after Milwaukee made its second-half charge.

Like at so many of his other stops during his 19-year career, Crawford is now spearheading the Suns’ internal development, which on Friday yielded what he called the early season’s “most gratifying win.”

“Sometimes, going from Point A to Point C is more gratifying than going (from) W to Z,” Crawford said. “Seeing the young guys take steps in the right direction, (this is) stuff that can stick with them their whole career. It can be some of the foundation pieces. … When you get wins like this, it kind of cements this and opens their ears even more.”

...

[carey]

Suns now have wins against:

Dallas (8-9)
San Antonio (9-9)
Memphis (12-6)
Milwaukee (13-5)

Of our 18 games, only 3 opponents currently have a sub-.500 record. We’re in the midst of a really tough schedule.

When you're as bad as we are that doesn't really matter.

[Superbone]

Suns now have wins against:

Dallas (8-9)
San Antonio (9-9)
Memphis (12-6)
Milwaukee (13-5)

Of our 18 games, only 3 opponents currently have a sub-.500 record. We’re in the midst of a really tough schedule.

When you're as bad as we are that doesn't really matter.

I think it does. New team, new coach. Makes it really tough to have any early success. Maybe the trial by fire will make us better in the long run.

[carey]

Anyone willing to share their The Athletic log-in with me for a while to see if I like it enough to plunk down the cash? PM me if so. I have a VPN with an Arizona log-in so I can spoof Phoenix if you're worried about it.

[Cap]

Look at the strength of schedule:

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

Tied for second hardest, with only Utah having had a more difficult schedule. And they are struggling, too.

Accounting for this, the Suns are 23 out of 30 on RPI. And this does not account for the West teams murdering each other every night, and their recent improvement. They may actually be a slightly better than average team right now.

Wow, check out the conference imbalance. Brooklyn (8-12) is currently #9 in the East, and we are the only Western team who doesn’t have a better record. Utah and Minny, at 8-11, are tied for second-worst in the West.

[jonh]

As a chronic pessimist over the past 6 months, I have to say that it really feels like the team is better than their record. The starts have been fantastic--it just feels like the team doesnt realize how to take that next step in handling the runs in the game. I honestly think that the team is a lot closer to being competitive than it seems.

[UglyTruth]

[Mori Chu]

Anyone willing to share their The Athletic log-in with me for a while to see if I like it enough to plunk down the cash? PM me if so. I have a VPN with an Arizona log-in so I can spoof Phoenix if you're worried about it.

FYI I think they have a free trial that lasts 7 days or so.

[O_Gardino]

The "core rotation" problem would only be one if we were expected to compete and were underperforming. As it is, we have no point guard, a glut of SFs and no PFs worthwhile. So Igor's experimenting. I think he knows he'd rather play Bridges 30minutes instead of Ariza and keep Canaan on the bench if he had the choice but he doesn't.

Agree that the weird roster makes it tough to find a core. Disagree that Igor is experimenting. He plays the veterans as much as possible and only tries new lineups when someone is out injured.

[O_Gardino]

Maybe James Jones pickup of Crawford right before the season was a pretty good move for this team after all. Finally a veteran presence has an impact on the team.

Jamal Crawford’s big shot beat the Bucks and his impact was all over the Suns’ improbable victory

https://theathletic.com/672994/2018/11/ ... e-victory/

MILWAUKEE​ — The​ play​ Igor​ Kokoskov​ said​ exemplifies what Jamal Crawford means​ to​ this​ iteration​ of​ the Suns​ was​ not when​​ he drained the game-winning pull-up jumper to beat the mighty Bucks 116-114, though that confirmed he still has the big-shot swag.

It was when Crawford subbed himself out for the prior defensive possession, recognizing rangy rookie Mikal Bridges would be more effective than a 38-year-old never exactly known for his skills on that end of the floor.

“In crunch time, he wasn’t selfish,” Kokoskov said. “(Crawford was not) saying, ‘I want to stay on the court and this is about me.’ It ‘s about the team, and good things happen.”

Crawford delivered the biggest on-court moment of his limited tenure with Phoenix Friday night, his 17-footer with 0.8 seconds to play lifting the 4-14 Suns to one of the more improbable victories in the NBA this season. But the veteran guard’s impact surfaced in Deandre Ayton’s confidence to guard megastar dunk machine Giannis Antetokounmpo one-on-one with the game tied at 114 in the final minute. And in another efficient offensive output from T.J. Warren. And in the team’s collective “tough gene” after Milwaukee made its second-half charge.

Like at so many of his other stops during his 19-year career, Crawford is now spearheading the Suns’ internal development, which on Friday yielded what he called the early season’s “most gratifying win.”

“Sometimes, going from Point A to Point C is more gratifying than going (from) W to Z,” Crawford said. “Seeing the young guys take steps in the right direction, (this is) stuff that can stick with them their whole career. It can be some of the foundation pieces. … When you get wins like this, it kind of cements this and opens their ears even more.”

...

I didn't get to see this one, but I looked at the play by play and was really encouraged to see the series of late substitutions. I thought Igor was starting to coach the team. I'm disappointed but not surprised to read that Crawford was doing the subbing.

First 10 games under Igor:
- Play the vets as much as humanly possible.
- No subs during the quarter - even end game when we are getting blown out.
- Nobody understands the offense.
- Don't feed the big guy.
- Nobody plays hard enough on defense for us to even tell if they understand the defensive scheme.
- Don't rebound at all.
- Lose by 20 every night.

Recently:
- Booker runs the offense.
- Crawford makes end game substitutions.

Maybe Ryan Anderson can earn his contract by running practice for Igor.

[Split T]

The "core rotation" problem would only be one if we were expected to compete and were underperforming. As it is, we have no point guard, a glut of SFs and no PFs worthwhile. So Igor's experimenting. I think he knows he'd rather play Bridges 30minutes instead of Ariza and keep Canaan on the bench if he had the choice but he doesn't.

Agree that the weird roster makes it tough to find a core. Disagree that Igor is experimenting. He plays the veterans as much as possible and only tries new lineups when someone is out injured.

Who’s been out injured when we started booker at pg?

I also didn’t realize Anderson was still playing “as much as possible”

He plays the veterans that are actually impacting the game. If we had a young guy getting no court time because a crappy vet was taking all the minutes, then complain away, but that’s not happening here.

Our vets are Ariza, Crawford, and I guess Canaan. I don’t see any issues with ariza and Crawford’s playing time. He could experiment more with the Canaan spot, but honestly, we just don’t have a good option there.

[Shabazz]

The "core rotation" problem would only be one if we were expected to compete and were underperforming. As it is, we have no point guard, a glut of SFs and no PFs worthwhile. So Igor's experimenting. I think he knows he'd rather play Bridges 30minutes instead of Ariza and keep Canaan on the bench if he had the choice but he doesn't.

Agree that the weird roster makes it tough to find a core. Disagree that Igor is experimenting. He plays the veterans as much as possible and only tries new lineups when someone is out injured.

Who’s been out injured when we started booker at pg?

I also didn’t realize Anderson was still playing “as much as possible”

He plays the veterans that are actually impacting the game. If we had a young guy getting no court time because a crappy vet was taking all the minutes, then complain away, but that’s not happening here.

Our vets are Ariza, Crawford, and I guess Canaan. I don’t see any issues with ariza and Crawford’s playing time. He could experiment more with the Canaan spot, but honestly, we just don’t have a good option there.

At this point all Canaan minutes should go to some combination of Okobo/Melton/Jackson. And the Canaan/Crawford backcoirt should never see the court again (Melton makes a lot more sense in Canaan’s spot).

[Cap]

The "core rotation" problem would only be one if we were expected to compete and were underperforming. As it is, we have no point guard, a glut of SFs and no PFs worthwhile. So Igor's experimenting. I think he knows he'd rather play Bridges 30minutes instead of Ariza and keep Canaan on the bench if he had the choice but he doesn't.

Agree that the weird roster makes it tough to find a core. Disagree that Igor is experimenting. He plays the veterans as much as possible and only tries new lineups when someone is out injured.

Who’s been out injured when we started booker at pg?

I also didn’t realize Anderson was still playing “as much as possible”

He plays the veterans that are actually impacting the game. If we had a young guy getting no court time because a crappy vet was taking all the minutes, then complain away, but that’s not happening here.

Our vets are Ariza, Crawford, and I guess Canaan. I don’t see any issues with ariza and Crawford’s playing time. He could experiment more with the Canaan spot, but honestly, we just don’t have a good option there.

At this point all Canaan minutes should go to some combination of Okobo/Melton/Jackson. And the Canaan/Crawford backcoirt should never see the court again (Melton makes a lot more sense in Canaan’s spot).

What has Melton done that you’re so convinced he’s ready to play in the NBA? So far all he’s done is:

Code: Select all

                                                                     
G   MP FG FGA 3P 3PA 2P 2PA FT FTA ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
4   42  4  14  2   8  2   6  0   0   0   8   8   2   4   1   4  7  10

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/25/2018.

[Shabazz]

His skill-set (namely, defense) fits a lot better with Booker and Crawford. Also, he’s supposedly part of our future so I’m ok with going though some growing pains so he can develop.

[Split T]

I wouldn’t have a problem with Canaan being benched for Bridges/Melton/Okobo but I don’t think Igor is being negligent by playing Canaan.

[Mori Chu]

I don't see much yet from Melton to demonstrate why he should get minutes. Canaan is mediocre and unimpressive, but he is far more NBA ready than Melton right now. And unlike Melton, Canaan at least doesn't chuck up shots every time he gets the ball.

[In2ition]

I don't see much yet from Melton to demonstrate why he should get minutes. Canaan is mediocre and unimpressive, but he is far more NBA ready than Melton right now. And unlike Melton, Canaan at least doesn't chuck up shots every time he gets the ball.

We must be watching different games. I'd rather Melton jack up open jumpers than have to watch no defense, no passing, no anything that matters Canaan the tank commander.

I have a new nickname for Canaan. Let me know how you like it. "Captain Canaan" and you have to say it like you are saying "Captain Caveman".

[Indy]

I wasn't on the "Canaan is the worst thing ever" the first 10 games or so. But lately, we just can't play him and expect to maintain a lead. He hasn't been doing anything well lately.

Since his explosion in the Spurs game, he has gone:

5-24 from the field in 108 total minutes, with a combined +/- of -50. We fall behind by a point for every 2 minutes he plays.

[Superbone]

If he's not hitting 3s, he's a negative for us. Not what you want out of a point guard.