Suns News: Week 15 1/21-1/28

[Vladimir_Taltos]

Somebody can fill in the details...but the trade article...and the thoughts on Ntilikina...peaked my interest.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/10 ... spartanntp

8) Frank Ntilikina, G, Knicks
Ntilikina, the Knicks’ first-round draft pick in 2017, seems to be at a crossroads with the organization. He’s a good defender and a pass-first point guard, but he’s slipped to the bench under David Fizdale and the team might be tempted to see what they can get for him.

[Superbone]

Funny you should mention him tonight. I just got done watching the Knicks/Rockets game and after what I saw, I thought to myself, stay far away from this guy. He just can’t shoot the ball. His shots weren’t even close. Hard pass.

Speaking of this game, Tucker almost single-handedly gave the game away. First he fouls Trier behind the three point line late in the game and then he inexplicably doesn’t pick up the ball on an inbounds pass, acting like he can’t touch it. Vonleh picks it up and scores the basket turning it into a 5 point play.

Houston needed some late game heroics including a big three point shot from Gordon on a night when Harden scored 61 points.

[SDC]

tucker donaghy-ing the game.

[Superbone]

tucker donaghy-ing the game.

One of the strangest things I've seen in the NBA. I have no idea what was going through his head.

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/p-j-tucker-i ... cks-video/

[The Bobster]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2583 ... -utah-jazz

Let's see how the NBA applies their rules in this one. Especially since Denver's next opponent is the Suns.

There's no way all three (Jokic, Harris & Murray) will all get suspended. We'll probably get some league office double-talk about the definition of "immediate bench area".

[carey]

tucker donaghy-ing the game.

One of the strangest things I've seen in the NBA. I have no idea what was going through his head.

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/p-j-tucker-i ... cks-video/

Tucker seemed stoned. Like honest to god high. Maybe not on pot but he was out of it.

[Indy]

Yeah, I literally have no idea what he was thinking.

[Superbone]

Interesting read:

Suns first-year head coach Igor Kokoskov still trying to establish credibility

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 652887002/

[INFORMER]

Funny you should mention him tonight. I just got done watching the Knicks/Rockets game and after what I saw, I thought to myself, stay far away from this guy. He just can’t shoot the ball. His shots weren’t even close. Hard pass.

ShelC approves this message.

[Superbone]

Funny you should mention him tonight. I just got done watching the Knicks/Rockets game and after what I saw, I thought to myself, stay far away from this guy. He just can’t shoot the ball. His shots weren’t even close. Hard pass.

ShelC approves this message.

Makes sense. ShelC watches him more than any of us.

[INFORMER]

Funny you should mention him tonight. I just got done watching the Knicks/Rockets game and after what I saw, I thought to myself, stay far away from this guy. He just can’t shoot the ball. His shots weren’t even close. Hard pass.

Against Brooklyn he had two great feeds to Lance Thomas. One play he intercepted a pass, was falling out of bounce, saved it to Vonleh, got it back from Vonleh, pushed the ball, and threaded and one-handed pass to Thomas on the fastbreak for a dunk.

[Superbone]

Funny you should mention him tonight. I just got done watching the Knicks/Rockets game and after what I saw, I thought to myself, stay far away from this guy. He just can’t shoot the ball. His shots weren’t even close. Hard pass.

Against Brooklyn he had two great feeds to Lance Thomas. One play he intercepted a pass, was falling out of bounce, saved it to Vonleh, got it back from Vonleh, pushed the ball, and threaded and one-handed pass to Thomas on the fastbreak for a dunk.

I don't want a one dimensional PG that everyone can layoff and dare to shoot. His shot is really bad. He does have good defensive and passing instincts but that's not good enough. I'd rather stick with Melton over Frank.

[INFORMER]

As has been discussed, I don't think the decision is Ntilikina vs. Melton. I don't think anyone would swap Melton for him.

[INFORMER]

I also don't think you take on Ntilikina thinking his jumper is a finished product.

[Superbone]

I also don't think you take on Ntilikina thinking his jumper is a finished product.

Not likely he makes great strides at this point. Let's not repeat the Mr. 29 points experiment.

[INFORMER]

Let's also not go to extremes. Jason Kidd, Michael Finley, Channing Frye, TJ Warren, Shawn Marion are just a few examples of Suns players alone that once upon a time couldn't shoot but changed that. I agree that caution should exercised when looking at a player who plays a perimeter position but struggles with his shot, but you also have to be able to objectively and accurately assess the risk/reward of an acquisition.

[INFORMER]

And Mr. 29 Points problem wasn't just his lack of jumper. He lacked basketball skills in general, which was painfully obvious once he went through conference play in his only year at Kentucky. The Suns should have known better. And still, drafting him at the end of the 1st round wasn't the end of the world; the misstep was not recognizing soon enough that the decision wasn't going to yield anything of value.

[In2ition]

And Mr. 29 Points problem wasn't just his lack of jumper. He lacked basketball skills in general, which was painfully obvious once he went through conference play in his only year at Kentucky. The Suns should have known better. And still, drafting him at the end of the 1st round wasn't the end of the world; the misstep was not recognizing soon enough that the decision wasn't going to yield anything of value.

Agreed

[Superbone]

I can get behind your last two sentiments, INF.

[ShelC]

Jason Kidd, Michael Finley, Channing Frye, TJ Warren, Shawn Marion are just a few examples of Suns players alone that once upon a time couldn't shoot but changed that.

Difference is they are/were basketball players.

Frank can pull some passes out of his ass, play some defense for stretches but again, I'm not sure there's a legit basketball player there. Good athlete but no offensive feel whatsoever. If he pans out, he'll be a role playing 2/3 that can handle the ball. He's not a starting PG. He was drafted to be a triangle guard that brings the ball up and passes it off. Phil liked bigger guards/swings for his triangle (Shaw/Harper) and that's why Frank was drafted where he was. Maybe best case he's Thabo or Evan Turner. Worst case he's DJ Strawberry. Nothing against the kid, but Knicks fans stan for him so hard and hate that he's not "getting a fair shot" and make up excuse after excuse after excuse (age, KP's injury, poor development by Hornacek and now Fiz, refs call too many fouls, bad lineups); those coaches see him every day in practice. If he's not getting PT it's because they don't think he can play and contribute. He's basically the Knicks' version of Bender.