Suns News: Week 10 12/18-12/24

[carey]

Last Week's Games

@ Sacramento LOSS 99-92
vs. Toronto LOSS 115-109
@ Minnesota WIN 108-106


This Week's Games

Monday, December 18th @ Dallas 8:30PM EST
Wednesday, December 20th @ L.A. Clippers 10:30PM EST
Thursday, December 21st vs. Memphis 9:00PM EST
Saturday, December 23rd vs. Minnesota 9:00PM EST

Suns Stories

Canaan comes off street to lead Suns to improbable win over Wolves: https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 958795001/

Suns' Booker & Timberwolves' Towns like brothers: https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 958375001/

Solar Panel: Who's the next Suns player to likely turn to the dark side? https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017 ... -dark-side

[Mori Chu]

https://twitter.com/sbordow/status/942793230743162882

[O_Gardino]

https://twitter.com/sbordow/status/942793230743162882

Thanks, Scott. Now I don't have to read the story.

[O_Gardino]

In today's overanlysis, here's a timeline of Josh Jackson's streaky shooting.

Code: Select all

4 games     3 games     6 games     2 games     5 games     2 games     6 games     2 games     1 game (current streak)
12.5 pts    7.3 pts     9.8 pts     4.0 pts     9.8 pts     2.5 pts     11.0 pts    4.5 pts     10 pts
44.7%       27.3%       47.1%       16.7%       46.3%       15.4%       44.2%       14.3%       44.4%

[bajanguy008]

Triano has obviously proven to be more effective so far but didn't the players do the same thing with Watson, giving a big vote of confidence for him to be the coach ?

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 961072001/

[EDC]

Triano has obviously proven to be more effective so far but didn't the players do the same thing with Watson, giving a big vote of confidence for him to be the coach ?

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 961072001/

They better interview people this time around.

[Mori Chu]

If they hire Triano after a round of interviews, fine, so be it. More power to him.

If they skip interviews and just hire him cold, I will go ballistic.

[carey]

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017 ... y-robinson

Quese has so far been the most productive of the last three Suns picks, but he still appears to most closely profile the underwhelming career of former #2 overall pick Tyrus Thomas more than anyone right now.

Before his 17-point outburst on Saturday night, boosted with 5 three-point makes in 7 attempts, Bender had not scored more than 9 points in a game in almost a month.

So far, Bender is one of the worst shooters to enter the league as a Top-10 pick since 2000.

You think Bender’s shooting is bad? Jackson’s is almost as bad.

But at least Jackson seems to have a lot of company. There are four — FOUR — other Top-10 picks from his 2017 draft shooting even worse than JJ’s 37.5% so far.

[The Bobster]

I don't think it's a mystery that Jackson, Ulis, Bender and Chriss all need to shoot the ball better. The questions are which of them will, and how much better will they get?

I think Bender will be fine, I think his problem is obvious - confidence and lack of of aggressiveness. I don't think they doing him any favors by having stand around the three-point line every possession, they need to find ways to get him more involved.

Ulis has a nice mid-range shot, but he's really streak and needs to extend his range. Not necessarily out to shooting 3's, but he needs to be able to hit those 18' open shots with regularity because he can get them wants.

Jackson's shot needs an overhaul. Part of the problem is shot selection, but undeniably, he's just not a good shooter, from either the field or the free throw. He does enough things otherwise that he can contribute while he's out there, but he's got to shoot well enough that it's not a liability.

As for Chriss, he looks great athletically, but he's got but he's got a low basketball IQ and I just don't think he's going to make a living shooting 3's. He's got to develop some sort of interior game that can get him some easy points near the basket.

[O_Gardino]

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017 ... y-robinson

Quese has so far been the most productive of the last three Suns picks, but he still appears to most closely profile the underwhelming career of former #2 overall pick Tyrus Thomas more than anyone right now.

Before his 17-point outburst on Saturday night, boosted with 5 three-point makes in 7 attempts, Bender had not scored more than 9 points in a game in almost a month.

So far, Bender is one of the worst shooters to enter the league as a Top-10 pick since 2000.

You think Bender’s shooting is bad? Jackson’s is almost as bad.

But at least Jackson seems to have a lot of company. There are four — FOUR — other Top-10 picks from his 2017 draft shooting even worse than JJ’s 37.5% so far.

Dave King has been BRUTAL on McD's draft record over the last couple of weeks. Bright Side used to mostly take the optimistic view of the Suns rebuild, but they have turned a serious corner with McD.

[O_Gardino]

Fun Fact: the terrible shooting Bender who shouldn't stand around at the 3pt line is our 3rd best 3pt shooter among guys getting regular minutes. Bender is shooting 37.7% on 3s overall, behind only Booker and Daniels. He is shooting over 45% on corner 3s, behind Daniels at 50%. Those #s are significantly better that (for instance) Quentin Richardson in his year with us.

Bender's shooting is already good enough to be a solid 3/D player. His defense is already good enough. He looks goofy out on the court, and he goes through slumps, but he plays well enough to start for a lot of teams in the league. Even if he never gets any better, he will still have a long career. But if he can increase his physical and mental toughness a little, he can still be very good.

[JCSunsfan]

If they hire Triano after a round of interviews, fine, so be it. More power to him.

If they skip interviews and just hire him cold, I will go ballistic.

Usually it doesn't work like that though. Most candidates want to know that you have moved on from your present coach (even an interim) before they will interview for a job. So the Suns will not likely get top prospects to interview unless they are willing to tell them they are NOT going to hire Triano--otherwise those coaches feel like they are just being used to make it look like an actual process is happening. The truth is, they should know whether Triano is worthy to be the coach or not by the time the season is over.

Here is what I do know about Triano. The team is now running an offense. You can see it on the court. He has gone 11-18 with THIS roster and no benefit of a training camp. 7 of those games without Devin Booker.

That is actually a pretty remarkable coaching job.

[Superbone]

I don't think it's a mystery that Jackson, Ulis, Bender and Chriss all need to shoot the ball better. The questions are which of them will, and how much better will they get?

I think Bender will be fine, I think his problem is obvious - confidence and lack of of aggressiveness. I don't think they doing him any favors by having stand around the three-point line every possession, they need to find ways to get him more involved.

Ulis has a nice mid-range shot, but he's really streak and needs to extend his range. Not necessarily out to shooting 3's, but he needs to be able to hit those 18' open shots with regularity because he can get them wants.

Jackson's shot needs an overhaul. Part of the problem is shot selection, but undeniably, he's just not a good shooter, from either the field or the free throw. He does enough things otherwise that he can contribute while he's out there, but he's got to shoot well enough that it's not a liability.

As for Chriss, he looks great athletically, but he's got but he's got a low basketball IQ and I just don't think he's going to make a living shooting 3's. He's got to develop some sort of interior game that can get him some easy points near the basket.

Bender has shot the ball well in the last couple of games. Hopefully, he can keep it up.

I think Ulis does need to be able to hit all the way out to 3 point range to keep defenses honest.

I have noticed Jackson's FT shooting has improved lately. He's hitting them more consistently and rarely has an 0-2 trip to the line now.

[Mori Chu]

They better lock Ulis in a gym and make him shoot 1000 jumpers a day all next summer if he wants to stick on the team. I have a lot of hope for the guy but he needs his shooting to become a fearsome weapon if he's going to make it.

[JCSunsfan]

They better lock Ulis in a gym and make him shoot 1000 jumpers a day all next summer if he wants to stick on the team. I have a lot of hope for the guy but he needs his shooting to become a fearsome weapon if he's going to make it.

I just don't have a lot of hope for Ulis. I think fatal flaws have been exposed. He is just too small. He had a short run of being really effective, but teams have figured him out and I do not think there is a solution.

[Mori Chu]

They better lock Ulis in a gym and make him shoot 1000 jumpers a day all next summer if he wants to stick on the team. I have a lot of hope for the guy but he needs his shooting to become a fearsome weapon if he's going to make it.

I just don't have a lot of hope for Ulis. I think fatal flaws have been exposed. He is just too small. He had a short run of being really effective, but teams have figured him out and I do not think there is a solution.

Or maybe he's only 21 and it's premature to talk about "fatal" flaws in his game. He may not end up being a great NBA player, but normally he'd be a college junior right now. He has a lot of years left to learn and improve. If he doesn't show more improvement this year, he may have to do it in the G-League or overseas or whatever, but we don't have to write his NBA obituary just yet.

[Superbone]

They better lock Ulis in a gym and make him shoot 1000 jumpers a day all next summer if he wants to stick on the team. I have a lot of hope for the guy but he needs his shooting to become a fearsome weapon if he's going to make it.

I just don't have a lot of hope for Ulis. I think fatal flaws have been exposed. He is just too small. He had a short run of being really effective, but teams have figured him out and I do not think there is a solution.

Or maybe he's only 21 and it's premature to talk about "fatal" flaws in his game. He may not end up being a great NBA player, but normally he'd be a college junior right now. He has a lot of years left to learn and improve. If he doesn't show more improvement this year, he may have to do it in the G-League or overseas or whatever, but we don't have to write his NBA obituary just yet.

You can't learn height.

[LazarusLong]

Ulis can improve. I've never seen him as a starter.
His value is a change-of-pace reserve.
Think Ish Smith.

[LazarusLong]

If they hire Triano after a round of interviews, fine, so be it. More power to him.

If they skip interviews and just hire him cold, I will go ballistic.

Usually it doesn't work like that though. Most candidates want to know that you have moved on from your present coach (even an interim) before they will interview for a job. So the Suns will not likely get top prospects to interview unless they are willing to tell them they are NOT going to hire Triano--otherwise those coaches feel like they are just being used to make it look like an actual process is happening. The truth is, they should know whether Triano is worthy to be the coach or not by the time the season is over.

Here is what I do know about Triano. The team is now running an offense. You can see it on the court. He has gone 11-18 with THIS roster and no benefit of a training camp. 7 of those games without Devin Booker.

That is actually a pretty remarkable coaching job.

Triano is the first guy they've had with actual head coaching experience since Gentry.
Plus he's worked with the Canadian National team.
He's the perfect guy to help evaluate talent while shuttling lineups.
He may not be the "franchise" coach of the future, but he's far better than the cast of suspects that has paraded through the locker room in recent years.
(OK, Hornacek gets a bit of a mulligan ...)

[JCSunsfan]

They better lock Ulis in a gym and make him shoot 1000 jumpers a day all next summer if he wants to stick on the team. I have a lot of hope for the guy but he needs his shooting to become a fearsome weapon if he's going to make it.

I just don't have a lot of hope for Ulis. I think fatal flaws have been exposed. He is just too small. He had a short run of being really effective, but teams have figured him out and I do not think there is a solution.

Or maybe he's only 21 and it's premature to talk about "fatal" flaws in his game. He may not end up being a great NBA player, but normally he'd be a college junior right now. He has a lot of years left to learn and improve. If he doesn't show more improvement this year, he may have to do it in the G-League or overseas or whatever, but we don't have to write his NBA obituary just yet.

His flaws have nothing to do with age or experience. I am all for giving young players time, but time is not going to overcome his height or lack of athleticism.