Game Day: Suns (1-4) @ Thunder (0-4), Sun 10/28/18

[Robot]

I feel like this team needed a coach or leader that was really established and could be respected. I think Igor is getting them to run things that may pay off , you can see it sometimes but -- the lack of intensity or purpose is alarming in the players as is some of the logic in rotations thus far.

I fear Igor may be a Hornacek part two

-R

[specialsauce]

Okobo
Booker
Bridges
Warren
Ayton

That’s needs to be the starting 5 going forward.

100% agree.

[specialsauce]

I think it’s really hypocritical for the coach to be a hard ass on Bender and say we’re going to make him earn minutes- then turn around and continue to gift Chandler, Ariza, Anderson and Jackson minutes when they’re looking like some of the worst players in the entire league. And I’m not a Bender fan, I just want to see him hold all players accountable and grow a pair.

[carey]

That's clearly the 5 best players but I"m not sure how they fit. Is everyone good with TJ starting at PF and leaving bench scoring to... Crawford and JJ?

[Cap]

That's clearly the 5 best players but I"m not sure how they fit. Is everyone good with TJ starting at PF and leaving bench scoring to... Crawford and JJ?

You don’t have to play five bench players at a time, especially when you don’t have ten players who don’t suck. You can start Booker, Warren and Ayton and still keep at least one of them on the floor at all times.

[specialsauce]

That's clearly the 5 best players but I"m not sure how they fit. Is everyone good with TJ starting at PF and leaving bench scoring to... Crawford and JJ?

I don’t really give a shit about bench scoring vs starters balance. How about we just try a lineup and see if it ends up with us losing by less than 10?

We don’t have enough talent on this roster to distribute it. We have 5 good players and everyone else sucks ass

[carey]

You don’t have to play five bench players at a time, especially when you don’t have ten players who don’t suck. You can start Booker, Warren and Ayton and still keep at least one of them on the floor at all times.

That's true. Guess we'll see. I'd like Okobo to get 25-30 min a night for a while to see what he's got. Same for Mikal.

[Superbone]

Whoa. We barely avoided this due to a late 4th quarter surge against OKC third stringers:

[Mori Chu]

Another rough loss. I got behind but watched the whole game on DVR again. I just look at these games differently I think. If you let go of any expectation of winning there are lots of little positive signs. Ayton is always producing. Bridges already looks like a rotation player or maybe even a starter. Okobo had a mini breakout game, though admittedly against OKC's bench in garbage time. We brought it back to 7 rather than giving up, despite missing our by-far best player.

The schedule has been really hard and we are still super young and learning. We need to give them more time. I totally agree with giving the young guys more minutes or starting them I just don't share the panic and gloom that seems to be rampant here this season.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Chandler, Crawford and Anderson should be getting DNP - CD nearly every game. I'd much rather see Holmes, Okobo and Bender because they could actually have upside and we're not winning anywhere near enough games to push for the playoffs.

This kind of stuff is exactly the reason why I was so pissed off with the playoff talk and Sarver making statements about the rebuild being "over". Everyone is optimistic in September, I get that. But optimism to the point of delusion will never help this organization get back to contention.

[SDC]

Another rough loss. I got behind but watched the whole game on DVR again. I just look at these games differently I think. If you let go of any expectation of winning there are lots of little positive signs...

true

http://www.phx-suns.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 86#p128743

[Democritus]

Fire Igor !

Really?

Yes Carey, that is my conclusion. Better now than late in the year. I had high expectations but he failed big time. I sense that he can not connect with the players. We need a proven guy. Budenholzer would have been much better I guess? Damn you Sarver and McD for this shit you made us witness.

[TOO]

Fire Igor !

Really?

Yes Carey, that is my conclusion. Better now than late in the year. I had high expectations but he failed big time. I sense that he can not connect with the players. We need a proven guy. Budenholzer would have been much better I guess? Damn you Sarver and McD for this s*** you made us witness.

I think its more to do with our roster being hot garbage, but alright.

[SDC]

5 games in, and I'm reduced to just watching the rookies.

You'd rather focus on Chandler wheeze and creak up and down the court, or Anderson fling long range bricks?

I'd rather watch the team hoping for a Suns win instead of saying, "I know we are getting blown out again, but the rooks look promising."

i find myself just looking at ayton's stats. too lazy at this point to watch his highlight clips if you know the team is getting pounded every night by 20+ points.

[Nodack]

The Suns lead the league in turnovers and they play zero defense. Not a good combination.

I do like a lot of things. Ayton is a double double machine. Warren has definitely improved his 3 pt shooting over the summer. Okobo shows promise. Offensively they aren’t horrible. It’s the turnovers and lack of defense that is mostly killing them imo.

[Indy]

Whoa. We barely avoided this due to a late 4th quarter surge against OKC third stringers:

We are only 6 games into the season. We have so many opportunities to show 48 years of history who is boss.

[Indy]

One good thing about our team this year, and Igor's offense:

We are #1 in the league in assisted FGs. We have over 67% of our FGs assisted. Last year it was 55%, and 27th in the league. Last year GSW lead with 68%, and only 2 teams were above 65% (GSW, 76ers).

On the down side, we lead the league in TO/FG at 48%. We also led last year at 41%.

[Xylus]

One good thing about our team this year, and Igor's offense:

We are #1 in the league in assisted FGs. We have over 67% of our FGs assisted. Last year it was 55%, and 27th in the league. Last year GSW lead with 68%, and only 2 teams were above 65% (GSW, 76ers).

On the down side, we lead the league in TO/FG at 48%. We also led last year at 41%.

Great observation about the offense. It's pretty remarkable that we're also top 10 in the league in effective FG % but still getting blown out every night. Averaging 18.8 TO's a game will do that, I guess.

[Mori Chu]

Do folks on here realize that we are missing our best player? If Lebron were out, the Lakers would lose games. If the Jazz were missing Donovan Mitchell, they'd lose games. And so on.

[O_Gardino]

Okobo with a huge stat line. I missed the game, how’d he look? Was his good play the reason Canaan only played 6 minutes?

He payed a smart game for a rookie. On the positive, he was very good off the ball and running plays when things were going well. On the negative, he didn't know what to do under pressure, and looked to the veterans to bail him out when he had a good defender on him. His good plays mostly came when the defense forgot about him, and even EJ commented that he will be in the scouting reports now.

All in all, he had his head up looking for ways to contribute, he played with pride, and he definitely had some rookie moments. I'm very glad he got so many minutes to work through his mistakes and get comfortable on the court. He carries himself like he belongs on the court.