Suns News: Week 3 11/4-11/10

[carey]

The Suns are a couple shots away from being 6-0. Can we take down the only undefeated team in the league Monday night? Lets find out as we start a 6 game home stand tonight versus Philly. The Suns don't go back on the road for 2 weeks. Good teams string together a bunch of wins during these stretches so lets hope we do the same.

Last Week's Games

vs. Utah LOSS 96-95
@ Golden State WIN! 121-110
@ Memphis WIN! 114-105

This Week's Games

Monday, November 4th vs. Philadelphia 9:00 PM EST
Thursday, November 7th vs. Miami 9:00 PM EST
Sunday, November 10th vs. Brooklyn 8:00 PM EST

Suns Stories

In case you were wondering how ESPN has us in the power rankings, we've moved up 5 spots but still somehow are not in the top half of the league - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/279 ... ay-perfect

Center of the Sun: Winning ways continue through week 2 - https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2019 ... ek-two-nba

A 6-game home stand will show us what is real and not real about the Suns’ strong start - https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2019 ... rong-start

NBA power rankings; Suns high as 3? (On Fansided, Lol. I can't believe AZ Central would even link to that since it's basically a random blogger.) - https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 154873002/

A Phoenix Suns Q&A with Gerald Bourguet - https://www.libertyballers.com/2019/11/ ... d-bourguet

[carey]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/279 ... tments-far

1. What has been your biggest takeaway from the first week of games?

Bobby Marks: Three teams projected to finish at the bottom of their conferences -- Minnesota, Cleveland and Phoenix -- failed to get the message. The general manager of a playoff squad told me last week that the teams with new head coaches and low expectations are the ones you do not want to face early in the season. Teams with a fresh start can surprise before the middle part of the season, when losing becomes a habit and players start looking toward the offseason.

2. What has been the biggest surprise so far?

Marks: The Suns. Their biggest offseason addition was not Ricky Rubio, Dario Saric, Aron Baynes or Kelly Oubre. That honor goes to new head coach Monty Williams. In Saturday's win against the LA Clippers without Rubio and Deandre Ayton, Williams used the next-man-up approach in steering the team to a win. Remember this is the same Phoenix that didn't win its second game until Nov. 2 last year.

Pelton: Even though I was higher on the Suns than most because of their strong statistical projections, I didn't expect them to start 2-2 against a difficult schedule with a win over the Clippers and a pair of one-point losses to Denver and Utah. Phoenix has been shockingly competent on defense and has thus far survived Ayton's suspension without missing a beat.

[Mori Chu]

In case you were wondering how ESPN has us in the power rankings, we've moved up 5 spots but still somehow are not in the top half of the league - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/279 ... ay-perfect

Stuff like this makes me question what the point of power rankings even is. Why so low after the blistering start we've had? You can say something like, "I want to see more sustained success from them before deciding," fine, but I thought the power ranking is supposed to be about how they are doing right now, this past week, etc. as well as for the season overall. If it's supposed to be about how teams are playing right now, we absolutely should be much higher. If it's about historical performance or something, why not list the Golden State Warriors #1? They sure were great last year. So which is it? Either way, having us that low makes no sense whatsoever.

[Split T]

It’s just some guy with no basis for how he ranks them. He doesn’t believe in the suns, so it doesn’t matter how good they do in the short term, he’s going to keep them lower. He thinks the Nets are good, so even with the bad start, he’s going to keep them higher in the rankings.

[Nodack]

10. Phoenix Suns

Last Week: 16

At the risk of looking back on this observation with deep regret, it's time to consider the possibility that the Phoenix Suns are a good basketball team.

Despite Deandre Ayton's suspension, Phoenix is 4-2 with the NBA's third-best net rating. Even its losses have been impressive, a pair of one-point slips against top-end opponents in the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz. Aron Baynes has been terrific replacing Ayton, as evidenced by his 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in Wednesday's 121-110 win in Golden State.

But Phoenix's hot start is about more than a theoretical reserve playing like a starter.

The Suns are assisting on 68.8 percent of their baskets, a figure that leads the league and represents a significant improvement over last year's 59.5 percent assist rate. That stat doesn't necessarily mean a team's offense runs perfectly, but it points to a collective approach. Worth noting: The Suns whipped the ball around during a shocking 30-1 run in the first quarter against the Warriors.

Phoenix is also doing it together on D, where it ranks seventh in points allowed per 100 possessions.

The longer this goes on, the harder it gets to write off the Suns' stellar start as a fluke.


https://www.si.com/nba/2019/11/04/nba-p ... s-warriors
15. Phoenix Suns – Ricky Rubio can’t shoot a lick, but it’s amazing what even competent point guard play will do for a roster. Rubio is plus-8.5 points per 100 possessions and Phoenix is over .500 entering the season’s third week. 30 wins is certainly in play.


https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba- ... team-left/
8.
Suns After another one-point loss -- this time to the Jazz -- the Suns beat up on the lowly Warriors and Grizzlies. It may not seem like much, but it wasn't long ago that the Suns were the ones getting beat up on, so this is quite a positive step. Monty Williams has his team third in the NBA in net rating (they finished 29th last season), and has staked his claim as the early Coach of the Year favorite

Ya, the rankings are all opinion based so our rank is all over the place. I can’t fault some of them for not believing the Suns are real yet. SI picking teams ahead of us with 2/4 records is insulting but, without a doubt the Suns have moved the needle for even the most skeptical people. Beating The 76ers would definitely move the bar.

[ShelC]

We just need to keep playing the way we've been playing. We'll hit some rough patches, but anyone watching the games can see these aren't fluke wins from a fluke team. Just gotta sustain.

[Nodack]

Haters are gonna hate. Winning cures all.

[Mori Chu]

It'll take a while to get people to respect us. Even if we beat Philly, they'll say it was just because they were missing Embiid, even though we are also without our starting big man. Oh well. Eventually they'll have to come around.

[Superbone]

I wonder if we had started 6-0 if that would have made an impact on these power rankings?

[Nodack]

I’m sure some. There are a dozen different Power Rankings out there. One will have us at 8 and another at 15. It’s all whatever some dude thinks and not based on scientific data.

[Democritus]

F*ck the power rankings..Who cares what anybody says about my beloved team. We are kicking ass right now and that's all that matters to me. I couldn't endure those 8 miserable years if cared about what the national media has to write or say about us.

[carey]

F*ck the power rankings..Who cares what anybody says about my beloved team. We are kicking ass right now and that's all that matters to me. I couldn't endure those 8 miserable years if cared about what the national media has to write or say about us.

I kind of care. With the respect of the national media will become resumed national interest which will mean more nationally televised games for those of us out of market and, hopefully, more respect from the officials.

[rhylek]

Suns are #1 in our hearts and that's the only thing that matters <3

[JCSunsfan]

Suns are #1 in our hearts and that's the only thing that matters <3

Awwwwwww. How sweeet!

[Superbone]

For You, Mama by Ricky Rubio (lost his mom to cancer in 2016)

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us ... foundation

[Superbone]

There's nothing special about the Phoenix Suns
And that's a really, really good thing

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/11/4/ ... -they-good

[Xylus]

Devin Booker's shooting splits:

.535/.500/.903

[Superbone]

Devin Booker's shooting splits:

.535/.500/.903

Wowser.

[jonh]

Devin Booker's shooting splits:

.535/.500/.903

Wowser.

Yeah, he is good if you are into that empty stats kind of thing.

[The Bobster]

Remember when they were criticized for getting rid of these guys? -

Warren - 34.5 Min, 43.8 FG%, 12.5 3P%, .714 FT%, 15.0 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Holmes - 23.7 Min, 68.36 FG%, 00.0 3P%, 71.4 FT%, 11.4 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Daniels - 15.5 Min, 32.4 FG%, 26.9 3P%, 100.0 FT%, 5.0 Pts 1.0 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Chriss - 14.5 Min, 47.6 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 83.3 FT%, 5.2 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Melton - 4.5 Min, 00.0 FG%, 00.0 3P%, 00.0 FT%, 0.0 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Bender - 0.0 Min. 00.0 FG% 00.0 3P%, 00.0 FT%, 0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Jackson - 0.0 Min. 00.0 FG% 00.0 3P%, 00.0 FT%, 0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast

Holmes is the only one I really miss, and Baynes has more than made up for him.