Game Day: Kings (14-23) @ Suns (14-22), Tues 1/7/20

[Superbone]

Watching Ariza ignite the comeback was the most painful part of an especially painful watch. I'd call it a revenge game, but that would imply Ariza cares about anything other than the 1st and 15th of every month.

Right on.

[3rdside]

Hoooh boy .... Galinari for TJ and a protected first plus whatever garbage we can get rid of to shake things up. Do it before this gets any worse.

[3rdside]

If we could trade coaches I'd probably be interested in that too.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Hoooh boy .... Galinari for TJ and a protected first plus whatever garbage we can get rid of to shake things up. Do it before this gets any worse.

OKC is a playoff team right now. Why would they make that deal? They don't need more draft picks.

[3rdside]

I thought he was on the block?

Someone mentioned it the other day as well, so just going by that.

[Nodack]

Very disappointing.

[Pips]

Bunch of clowns, atleast i wont waste any more time on them.

[3rdside]

Actually ayton to Minnesota in return for KAT and all the firsts necessary to get it done.

That guy deserves to get shipped to somewhere freezing fucking cold.

[Indy]

Watching Ariza ignite the comeback was the most painful part of an especially painful watch. I'd call it a revenge game, but that would imply Ariza cares about anything other than the 1st and 15th of every month.

this

[Indy]

Great post Split.

Yeah let’s ignore he was a -14. Again, everything i hate all flash no substance

Ayton was also a -14, guess he’s trash too..

Oubre has won us quite a few games this year. Saying no substance is just not true. It’s flat out wrong.

Sauce would never cop to Ayton being trash.

One of them was obviously a negative on the court tonight. The other was a victim of this players ineptitude and inability to pass the ball

He had a total of zero rebounds the last 20 minutes of the game. He was taller than anyone on the floor, weighs more than anyone on the floor, and is athletic as anyone on the floor.

he was great for 5 minutes in the 1st Q, and about 5 minutes in the 3rd. Other than that he was a ghost on both ends. It wasn't about touches. He was fighting to get open in the first and was getting the ball from everyone. Then he decided to coast.

[The Bobster]

This is what the Suns do with Ayton on most possessions - they either have him 25 feet from the basket setting a screen for somebody, or they have him post him up 5 feet from the basket and nobody can make an entry pass to him.

Monty has show zero creativity when it comes to getting him offensive opportunities. The motion they had in their offense early in the year had all but disappeared. The "0.5" rule is pretty much ignored now.

[Wormwood]

It's time to admit the team, as constructed, can't be fixed with a single trade. The players we are built around have such glaring holes in their game that we can't really improve.

Rubio can't shoot
Booker can't defend
Oubre Jr. is $15M per year for a player who, while frenetic, isn't efficient on offense and is so-so on defense
We know our PF position is borked
Ayton is a dreadful defender and gives highly inconsistent effort. Neither seems likely to improve

A single trade won't fix all of these crippling flaws. Maybe the right PF will give us 3-4 extra wins, but right now we're on a pace for 31 wins. If we keep going at the rate we are over the past 45 days, I'll be collecting on my bet with Superbone.

When do we admit that we actually have to tear down and start again? The core we have now is not "fixable".

[LazarusLong]

The good news:
The Coyotes are doing well.
Pitchers and catchers report in less than five weeks.

[The Bobster]

I was thinking they might win 35 games this year, but now they would have to go 21-24 the rest of the way and I don't see that happening. To make the playoffs they'd probably have to finish with 40 wins, and 26-19 the rest of the way is a pipe dream.

Some players are young and will undoubtedly improve over time (Ayton, Okobo, Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jerome, Diallo), the question is by how much and which of them are worth keeping? And I think the decision to bring in mediocre veteran talent (Rubio, Baynes, Saric) doesn't help the team in the long run.

This team is still left with big long-term questions at PF and PG. They're going to need improvement from their young players, and they're going to need to be smart with their money since they just gave $30 million a year to two players (Rubio and Oubre) who really don't move the needle and $30 million a year to a player who looks like he will never be adequate defensively (Booker). Those are some big obstacles to overcome moving forward when it comes to managing the salary cap and building a team.

[Cap]

When do we admit that we actually have to tear down and start again? The core we have now is not "fixable".

We have a new coach, a new GM, and a mostly new roster. Tearing down the crap and starting over with different crap is something we do frequently.

[The Bobster]

When do we admit that we actually have to tear down and start again? The core we have now is not "fixable".

We have a new coach, a new GM, and a mostly new roster. Tearing down the crap and starting over with different crap is something we do frequently.

The only thing we can change that will make a difference is the owner.

[O_Gardino]

This is what the Suns do with Ayton on most possessions - they either have him 25 feet from the basket setting a screen for somebody, or they have him post him up 5 feet from the basket and nobody can make an entry pass to him.

Monty has show zero creativity when it comes to getting him offensive opportunities. The motion they had in their offense early in the year had all but disappeared. The "0.5" rule is pretty much ignored now.

Very similar to how he coached in NO a few years back. They didn't get the ball to Davis in big moments, and the perimeter guys didn't stay in the system.

[Indy]

It's time to admit the team, as constructed, can't be fixed with a single trade. The players we are built around have such glaring holes in their game that we can't really improve.

Rubio can't shoot
Booker can't defend
Oubre Jr. is $15M per year for a player who, while frenetic, isn't efficient on offense and is so-so on defense
We know our PF position is borked
Ayton is a dreadful defender and gives highly inconsistent effort. Neither seems likely to improve

A single trade won't fix all of these crippling flaws. Maybe the right PF will give us 3-4 extra wins, but right now we're on a pace for 31 wins. If we keep going at the rate we are over the past 45 days, I'll be collecting on my bet with Superbone.

When do we admit that we actually have to tear down and start again? The core we have now is not "fixable".

His so-so defense has created over 50 steals and over 25 blocks so far this year. There are only 8 guys in the league that have done that this year.

And he is scoring 1.296 PPS, which puts him right above Kawhi and right below Jokic for guys scoring at least 18 points per game this year.

I am not sure if he can keep this up, but he is easily worth the 15 per at this rate. Our problems are elsewhere.

[Indy]

This is what the Suns do with Ayton on most possessions - they either have him 25 feet from the basket setting a screen for somebody, or they have him post him up 5 feet from the basket and nobody can make an entry pass to him.

Monty has show zero creativity when it comes to getting him offensive opportunities. The motion they had in their offense early in the year had all but disappeared. The "0.5" rule is pretty much ignored now.

Very similar to how he coached in NO a few years back. They didn't get the ball to Davis in big moments, and the perimeter guys didn't stay in the system.

And the same as we played last year, with a different coach and many different players. Maybe it is less about the coach and more about Ayton getting in the right spot in the post and sealing his guy? If he gets down too low, it is easy to overplay him to prevent the pass, and once he misses his first attempt at posting, he moves out to set a screen to keep the plays running. He doesn't seem to work very hard for very long at anything.

[In2ition]

So DA is having a hell of a game and he doesn’t even touch the wall basically in the fourth quarter. This entire team is a joke

Did he start pouting for not getting the ball, and is that the reason he only had 1 board in the 2nd half? This for a guy that supposedly can sleep walk into getting 12 boards against a depleted team in the front court. Maybe the Kings never missed, so he couldn't get a defensive board, but the truth is that he got super passive and lost all his energy for the game. Maybe that's because he would post and not get the ball, but that means he was pouting and is incredibly immature, which we kind of all knew. The ball finds energy, and he didn't give it to even try to get an offensive rebound to compensate for not being involved in the offense.