Phx-Suns.Net

Suns are shooting 9/45 after two full quarters of basketball and have recorded 27 points.

Jalen Smith has 2 of those 27.

I would also bet that that have as many missed layups and alley oops as they do made FGs. No joke

When I squint really hard, Jalen Smith's shadow kind of resembles younger Pascal Siakam.

First step is getting him to fit into a bench role, but right now it's hard to project him past that.

Earl Watson coaching this team?

LazarusLong wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:17 pm

Earl Watson coaching this team?

Feels like it. Not much ball movement. Confusion on offense. Players out of control. Keeping the ball out of their best players hands. Probably yoga at halftime…

Jalen Smith is a bust. I'm calling, time of death.

Suns lose despite shooting 24%…

Stix 5-15 with 15 rebounds. But don’t let that fool ya the Jazz only shot 35%. There were plenty of rebounds to go around.

Stix was an absolute mess out there. I’d probably look to move him because it’s going to take a few years for him to develop if he ever does. He just doesn’t look comfortable or confident.

He looked lost. He floated. He does not look like an NBA player, and certainly not like a first round pick or anything close to being a rotational backup 4 any time soon.

Tyshon showed some great moments though

djy2j wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:42 pm

LazarusLong wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:17 pm

Earl Watson coaching this team?

Feels like it. Not much ball movement. Confusion on offense. Players out of control. Keeping the ball out of their best players hands. Probably yoga at halftime…

Who’s their best player?

Or are we calling someone the best player based off draft status and not actually on production?

Are you referring to Alexander?

What was James Jones thinking?

specialsauce wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:14 pm

djy2j wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:42 pm

LazarusLong wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:17 pm

Earl Watson coaching this team?

Feels like it. Not much ball movement. Confusion on offense. Players out of control. Keeping the ball out of their best players hands. Probably yoga at halftime…

Who’s their best player?

Or are we calling someone the best player based off draft status and not actually on production?

Are you referring to Alexander?

Stix and Alexander based on having actual NBA contracts I guess. I don’t understand not starting Tyshon he looked ok-ish when he was out there.

None of the other players having any business shooting a basketball.

Smith’s problem is he doesn’t have a single definable NBA skill.

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:20 pm

Smith’s problem is he doesn’t have a single definable NBA skill.

His goggles game is next level.

Yep, gotta admit. These games aren’t boosting Stix’ standing.

That was one painful game to watch.

Nodack wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:17 pm

That was one painful game to watch.

I feel like Alec Guinness in Star Wars. “These aren’t the Suns you’re looking for.”

Stix is a 5. He should be screening up top and diving to the rim or popping. The 4 in our system usually just flares out to the corner and waits to shoot. So we're not taking advantage of any of his size, quickness or athleticism. They either need to play him at the 5 or move him because playing him like he's Jae or Cam is hurting everyone involved.

And whoever put this SL together should've thrown at least 1 solid PG on the roster who can set guys up. They just threw together a bunch of undersized SGs from overseas.

I like what I've been seeing from Ty-Shon tho. He looks bigger and stronger and his midrange jumper seems steady. Looks a little like Raja out there.

ShelC wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 3:35 am

Stix is a 5. He should be screening up top and diving to the rim or popping. The 4 in our system usually just flares out to the corner and waits to shoot. So we're not taking advantage of any of his size, quickness or athleticism. They either need to play him at the 5 or move him because playing him like he's Jae or Cam is hurting everyone involved.

I agree that he's a 5 for a SL team, but what does it matter if he's practicing a role he's not likely to compete for in November? He's competing with Cam Johnson for minutes and the backup 4 role is the development plan he's on right now. My hope is that he's a backup 4 with smallball 5 upside by next April.

There's a lot going against him right now. He's clearly not going to be really good anytime soon and he'll probably never leading the league in anything.

He was drafted for his size, shooting skill and coachability. I think it's OK to still be optimistic about Smith's development. For some context, Cam Johnson is 4 years older than Jalen Smith who just had his first legal drink this past March. With the veterans on this roster and a seemingly strong culture, it's going to be hard for him to truly fail.

The problem is a few similar guys selected after him have looked significantly better so far, and I don't think the Suns would hesitate to include Smith in a trade for a more dependable veteran.

I'm not even convinced he can't be good soon. But you can't tell a guy to go out there and hoop and then play him out of position doing things he's not used to. I get that's part of the point of SL, but let's have him establish what he's good at first and then work on the other things. I don't think there's much of a competition with Cam as the backup 4 and you can legitimately have 5 three point shooters out there if Stix is the backup 5 next to Cam at the 4. Yea we have McGee this year, but Stix could still see time against smaller 5 that McGee has trouble with.

I'm still a Stix fan. I really hope we carve out a role for him or trade him somewhere that has a big role in mind and we get a more useful piece back. I fell asleep early last night so missed the game. Alexander looked good?