Suns News: Preseason 2019

[Superbone]

And now we wait. Regular season starts a week from Wednesday.

[O_Gardino]

This preseason showed we have tons of depth. I don't know how good we will be, but I saw 12 Suns who could play on any given night.

Who are your predictions for Odd Man Out?

I think Kaminsky, Carter, and Cam are going to see a lot fewer minutes than they did in the preseason. They all played great, but I don't think they can sustain that production against tougher competition. So I think those are situational guys.

Code: Select all

Rubio (32)     Ty Jerome (16)      Carter
Booker (36)    Tyler Johnson (12)  Cam
Bridges (30)   Oubre (18)          Cam
Saric (26)     Oubre (12)          Kaminsky
Ayton (32)     Baynes (16)         Kaminsky

That leaves us 10 minutes left over, and I think on any given night you will see different looks from the 3rd string.

[Mori Chu]

Kaminsky was our best big man in the preseason. I could see them cutting back Baynes and Saric's minutes to give Kaminsky more run.

Tough to say what the minutes distribution will be. I don't think Carter will play. I don't know how they will find minutes for Cam Johnson with Oubre and Bridges ahead of him. Maybe just a few minutes a night unless somebody gets injured.

[ShelC]

This preseason showed we have tons of depth. I don't know how good we will be, but I saw 12 Suns who could play on any given night.

Who are your predictions for Odd Man Out?

I think Kaminsky, Carter, and Cam are going to see a lot fewer minutes than they did in the preseason. They all played great, but I don't think they can sustain that production against tougher competition. So I think those are situational guys.

Code: Select all

Rubio (32)     Ty Jerome (16)      Carter
Booker (36)    Tyler Johnson (12)  Cam
Bridges (30)   Oubre (18)          Cam
Saric (26)     Oubre (12)          Kaminsky
Ayton (32)     Baynes (16)         Kaminsky

That leaves us 10 minutes left over, and I think on any given night you will see different looks from the 3rd string.

Agree. I think that'll be the plan going into the season.

[Superbone]

More talk from Ayton:

[Superbone]

From the "see ya, we hardly knew ya" department:

[Superbone]

Now this is just funny:

[Split T]

Kaminsky is for sure gonna be in the rotation. He was very good in preseason. That means Carter/Ty/Cam are fighting over 1 spot. Might just come down to what we need that night.

I think Tyler can handle the backup pg minutes, so if we need shooting, Cam is probably gonna be playing. If we’re getting torched by someone like Lou Williams off the bench, we ma turn to Carter. Ty is nice that he can be a shooter or a pg.

It’s also important to remember that we’ll probably not be 100% healthy very often. Being 12 deep for a 10 man rotation is a good thing.

Diallo and Okobo will be deep bench that we dust off for injury issues. Hopefully Okobo gets some good run in the G league. I also think it’s pretty clear from preseason/comments by Monty that Okobo is no longer a pg. He’s a 2 going forward. I imagine Lecque will spend most his time in the G League.

[pickle]

I would love to be proven wrong about Kaminsky!

[Split T]

I would love to be proven wrong about Kaminsky!

What would being proven wrong about him entail? I assume it means you don’t think he will be useful?

I was pretty underwhelmed with the signing. I figured he’d be fine as spot player, but didn’t think he’d be good enough to warrant regular rotation minutes. However, if preseason is any indication, he’s proving to be worthy of those minutes. I’ll wait to see if the production holds up over the course of the regular season, but he could be what we were hoping Ryan Anderson was last year.

Luckily, we have enough depth that I don’t think we are depending on him for rotation minutes. If he sucks, we can always slide Bridges, Oubre, or Cam over to the 4 to fill in minutes behind Saric.

[Indy]

More talk from Ayton:

Perfect title, Bone.

[pickle]

I would love to be proven wrong about Kaminsky!

What would being proven wrong about him entail? I assume it means you don’t think he will be useful?

I was pretty underwhelmed with the signing. I figured he’d be fine as spot player, but didn’t think he’d be good enough to warrant regular rotation minutes. However, if preseason is any indication, he’s proving to be worthy of those minutes. I’ll wait to see if the production holds up over the course of the regular season, but he could be what we were hoping Ryan Anderson was last year.

Luckily, we have enough depth that I don’t think we are depending on him for rotation minutes. If he sucks, we can always slide Bridges, Oubre, or Cam over to the 4 to fill in minutes behind Saric.

Basically. When I read that we let Holmes go, who signed what appears to be the same deal as Kaminsky got from Phoenix, I was a little upset. I loved the intangibles that Holmes brought to the table and didn't really have high expectations for Kaminsky. But from what I've read recently, if he truly brings some leadership to the locker room and has enough game to put the ball on the floor and actually make play for others than just standing outside the three point line for spacing purposes, than I would be super happy. If he doesn't show a positive contribution on the floor but still brings reason, stability, and generally positive chemistry contributions to the locker room, I'd still be happy. Either way, this is me being positive...

[ShelC]

Hoping Frank can see a Channing Frye like bump in his play/career here. Should be a good fit, no expectations so no pressure as opposed to being a lotto pick in Charlotte.

Still wish we would've kept Holmes somehow.

[OE32]

Sure, we'll play our starters more. But Kaminsky was the first player off the bench every game in preseason, whether Saric was in or out. I think that's significant. Pair that with his play, and I think you're looking at your sixth man.

Other things I think you can take from preseason are Jevon Carter being ahead of Ty Jerome in the rotation, Cam Johnson being in the regular rotation, Monty subbing 2-3 guys at a time each time he makes a substitution, the existence of a real battle for minutes among our forwards generally, and the existence of a battle for minutes among our backup guards.

Overall, we look to be much better on both sides of the ball, despite uneven development from Ayton, Bridges's apparent lack of development (perhaps due to injury), and Oubre's possible regression. I would expect somewhere around 32-34 wins for this squad as it is, with a chance for more wins if the Valley Boyz start figuring things out.

[Superbone]

Good post, OE32. Those are some of my takeaways too. Not positive about the Carter/Jerome order though.

[specialsauce]

Carter played the PG role in every preseason game. Get used to it, unfortunately

[Split T]

Ya, Carter and Jerome played a lot together, but I also noticed Carter seemed to be ahead of Jerome. For instance, he started the game Rubio sat out.

To me our 10-Man looks like this:

Rubio, Carter
Booker, T Johnson
Oubre, Bridges
Saric, Kaminsky
Ayton, Baynes

[O_Gardino]

In the preseason, coaches tend to give more minutes to the guys they aren't sure of. That's why we saw so much Jerome and Carter. Hell, we might see Johnson backing up both guard spots with Jerome and Carter each getting spot minutes situationally.

And some guys are just better in Summer league, but can't translate that to the regular season when the game is faster, smarter, and more physical. That's why I have Kaminsky so far down the depth chart despite the fact that he was our best big in every game this preseason. I don't think he can play PF in the NBA, and I don't think in real games he will beat out Baynes and Ayton for minutes. But, hey, go ahead and prove me wrong, Frank.

OE32 and Superbone, if you think Kaminsky could be 6th man, you've got to back that up with a rough minutes distribution. That's just one of the more wild suggestions I've heard.

[Superbone]

In the preseason, coaches tend to give more minutes to the guys they aren't sure of. That's why we saw so much Jerome and Carter. Hell, we might see Johnson backing up both guard spots with Jerome and Carter each getting spot minutes situationally.

And some guys are just better in Summer league, but can't translate that to the regular season when the game is faster, smarter, and more physical. That's why I have Kaminsky so far down the depth chart despite the fact that he was our best big in every game this preseason. I don't think he can play PF in the NBA, and I don't think in real games he will beat out Baynes and Ayton for minutes. But, hey, go ahead and prove me wrong, Frank.

OE32 and Superbone, if you think Kaminsky could be 6th man, you've got to back that up with a rough minutes distribution. That's just one of the more wild suggestions I've heard.

I didn't say I agreed with absolutely everything OE32 said. Not sure about Kaminsky as our 6th man. Maybe situationally.

[Shabazz]

I think Jerome is ahead of Carter, as he should be, despite what happened in the preseason. He's a much better player. Hard not to see that.