Game Day: Magic (18-20) @ Suns (14-23), Fri 1/10/20

[ShelC]

Kind of at a loss after the lineup thing and watching this game. Great that we won, kinda sucks it was ugly and we needed Devin to pull us thru against a depleted Magic team.

Monty said afterward about the starting lineup that he wanted/needed Ayton as an "anchor" with the bench guys. Also said that Ayton is a starting center in the league but they need to work him in properly. All of that makes sense but so does wanting to get back to playing the way we were earlier in the year and maybe showing Ayton that nothing will be given to anyone. Ayton looked to me to be working harder in the first half when he got out there. His offense wasn't there early, tho the team offense looked smoother with him than in previous games, and I thought he was doing pretty well defensively. We'll just have to see how this all plays out. I still like Monty tho and have faith in him leading the team through all of this.

Even tho Bridges doesn't start, he's closing games. +17 off the bench making a difference down the stretch. I was never in the "Bridges is untouchable" camp and still think he's relatively expendable but there's no denying his impact in games. I wish he were a bit bigger to play the 4 tho. I love our SFs Oubre, Bridges and Cam, but we don't have that real faceup smallball 4 other than Dario. If Bridges were 6-9 he'd be near perfect.

Bottom line to me is that we need to start shooting and making more 3s. Cutting to the basket for layups and Book midrange shots are nice but we're exchanging 2s for 3s for stretches of games which leads to closer games throughout and tight wins/losses. For all the shooters we've added, our numbers have gotten progressively worse from 3 with Cam and Baynes cooling off and getting almost nothing from Bridges and Dario.

Completely agree with that part. After watching the last game when Ayton got 1 board in the second half; I just wouldn't reward that by benching the other guy. I don't mind mistakes, but DeAndre has to play with effort through the whole game.

Did he bench Booker when he went through his s*** stretch? Or Kelly when he plays wild and shoots 6-18? No. Maybe for a few minutes, but not relegated to the bench. Ayton is our future. Instead of circling the team around him, he’s marginalizing him. What a clown.

I think it's more about accountability for a young player in Ayton and reinforcing the plan and "the program". Obviously you're not going to bench Book or Oubre for shooting poorly or turning the ball over. Monty's not embarrassing Ayton or marginalizing him or giving up on him. But his progress can't come at the expense of the team. To be honest, Ayton should've been coming off the bench from the time he came back to get a good 8-12 games under his belt - get his wind, his rhythm, work into the offense, get his timing on defense.

[specialsauce]

Kind of at a loss after the lineup thing and watching this game. Great that we won, kinda sucks it was ugly and we needed Devin to pull us thru against a depleted Magic team.

Monty said afterward about the starting lineup that he wanted/needed Ayton as an "anchor" with the bench guys. Also said that Ayton is a starting center in the league but they need to work him in properly. All of that makes sense but so does wanting to get back to playing the way we were earlier in the year and maybe showing Ayton that nothing will be given to anyone. Ayton looked to me to be working harder in the first half when he got out there. His offense wasn't there early, tho the team offense looked smoother with him than in previous games, and I thought he was doing pretty well defensively. We'll just have to see how this all plays out. I still like Monty tho and have faith in him leading the team through all of this.

Even tho Bridges doesn't start, he's closing games. +17 off the bench making a difference down the stretch. I was never in the "Bridges is untouchable" camp and still think he's relatively expendable but there's no denying his impact in games. I wish he were a bit bigger to play the 4 tho. I love our SFs Oubre, Bridges and Cam, but we don't have that real faceup smallball 4 other than Dario. If Bridges were 6-9 he'd be near perfect.

Bottom line to me is that we need to start shooting and making more 3s. Cutting to the basket for layups and Book midrange shots are nice but we're exchanging 2s for 3s for stretches of games which leads to closer games throughout and tight wins/losses. For all the shooters we've added, our numbers have gotten progressively worse from 3 with Cam and Baynes cooling off and getting almost nothing from Bridges and Dario.

Completely agree with that part. After watching the last game when Ayton got 1 board in the second half; I just wouldn't reward that by benching the other guy. I don't mind mistakes, but DeAndre has to play with effort through the whole game.

Did he bench Booker when he went through his s*** stretch? Or Kelly when he plays wild and shoots 6-18? No. Maybe for a few minutes, but not relegated to the bench. Ayton is our future. Instead of circling the team around him, he’s marginalizing him. What a clown.

I think it's more about accountability for a young player in Ayton and reinforcing the plan and "the program". Obviously you're not going to bench Book or Oubre for shooting poorly or turning the ball over. Monty's not embarrassing Ayton or marginalizing him or giving up on him. But his progress can't come at the expense of the team. To be honest, Ayton should've been coming off the bench from the time he came back to get a good 8-12 games under his belt - get his wind, his rhythm, work into the offense, get his timing on defense.

He’s far and away our best big. There’s no message sent when you bench him for inferior players.

[djy2j]

If the Suns are going to marginalize him and force him to blend in with the team instead of the other way around, they should just trade him.

I agree with that thought process I just know whoever they bring in, Monty won’t know how to use him either

[jonh]

Those two Booker 3s at the end were unbelievable.

I like bringing Ayton off the bench. Make him earn his spot. I love how much Booker wants to win, and wants to win here.

[Cap]

Those two Booker 3s at the end were unbelievable.

Booker was amazing on both ends of the court during that final minute.

[Ring_Wanted]

He’s far and away our best big. There’s no message sent when you bench him for inferior players.

The message is: you can do more, we need you to do more and we want you to do more.

[Superbone]

Guys - We are a lock for the playoffs. This team just finds ways to win. It took until March 6th 2019 to get our 15th win last year and we were 15-51, so we are two months ahead of schedule. Think about that. Two months worth of extra wins.

[INFORMER]

It kills me how little we get from Cam and Bridges.

[Superbone]

Kind of at a loss after the lineup thing and watching this game. Great that we won, kinda sucks it was ugly and we needed Devin to pull us thru against a depleted Magic team.

Monty said afterward about the starting lineup that he wanted/needed Ayton as an "anchor" with the bench guys. Also said that Ayton is a starting center in the league but they need to work him in properly. All of that makes sense but so does wanting to get back to playing the way we were earlier in the year and maybe showing Ayton that nothing will be given to anyone. Ayton looked to me to be working harder in the first half when he got out there. His offense wasn't there early, tho the team offense looked smoother with him than in previous games, and I thought he was doing pretty well defensively. We'll just have to see how this all plays out. I still like Monty tho and have faith in him leading the team through all of this.

Even tho Bridges doesn't start, he's closing games. +17 off the bench making a difference down the stretch. I was never in the "Bridges is untouchable" camp and still think he's relatively expendable but there's no denying his impact in games. I wish he were a bit bigger to play the 4 tho. I love our SFs Oubre, Bridges and Cam, but we don't have that real faceup smallball 4 other than Dario. If Bridges were 6-9 he'd be near perfect.

Bottom line to me is that we need to start shooting and making more 3s. Cutting to the basket for layups and Book midrange shots are nice but we're exchanging 2s for 3s for stretches of games which leads to closer games throughout and tight wins/losses. For all the shooters we've added, our numbers have gotten progressively worse from 3 with Cam and Baynes cooling off and getting almost nothing from Bridges and Dario.

Completely agree with that part. After watching the last game when Ayton got 1 board in the second half; I just wouldn't reward that by benching the other guy. I don't mind mistakes, but DeAndre has to play with effort through the whole game.

Did he bench Booker when he went through his s*** stretch? Or Kelly when he plays wild and shoots 6-18? No. Maybe for a few minutes, but not relegated to the bench. Ayton is our future. Instead of circling the team around him, he’s marginalizing him. What a clown.

The difference is that Ayton is an immature, 20-year-old, second year player coming off a 25 game suspension that has a lot to learn about being a pro basketball player. Your clown take is way off base here.

[Superbone]

Kind of at a loss after the lineup thing and watching this game. Great that we won, kinda sucks it was ugly and we needed Devin to pull us thru against a depleted Magic team.

Monty said afterward about the starting lineup that he wanted/needed Ayton as an "anchor" with the bench guys. Also said that Ayton is a starting center in the league but they need to work him in properly. All of that makes sense but so does wanting to get back to playing the way we were earlier in the year and maybe showing Ayton that nothing will be given to anyone. Ayton looked to me to be working harder in the first half when he got out there. His offense wasn't there early, tho the team offense looked smoother with him than in previous games, and I thought he was doing pretty well defensively. We'll just have to see how this all plays out. I still like Monty tho and have faith in him leading the team through all of this.

Even tho Bridges doesn't start, he's closing games. +17 off the bench making a difference down the stretch. I was never in the "Bridges is untouchable" camp and still think he's relatively expendable but there's no denying his impact in games. I wish he were a bit bigger to play the 4 tho. I love our SFs Oubre, Bridges and Cam, but we don't have that real faceup smallball 4 other than Dario. If Bridges were 6-9 he'd be near perfect.

Bottom line to me is that we need to start shooting and making more 3s. Cutting to the basket for layups and Book midrange shots are nice but we're exchanging 2s for 3s for stretches of games which leads to closer games throughout and tight wins/losses. For all the shooters we've added, our numbers have gotten progressively worse from 3 with Cam and Baynes cooling off and getting almost nothing from Bridges and Dario.

Completely agree with that part. After watching the last game when Ayton got 1 board in the second half; I just wouldn't reward that by benching the other guy. I don't mind mistakes, but DeAndre has to play with effort through the whole game.

Did he bench Booker when he went through his s*** stretch? Or Kelly when he plays wild and shoots 6-18? No. Maybe for a few minutes, but not relegated to the bench. Ayton is our future. Instead of circling the team around him, he’s marginalizing him. What a clown.

I think it's more about accountability for a young player in Ayton and reinforcing the plan and "the program". Obviously you're not going to bench Book or Oubre for shooting poorly or turning the ball over. Monty's not embarrassing Ayton or marginalizing him or giving up on him. But his progress can't come at the expense of the team. To be honest, Ayton should've been coming off the bench from the time he came back to get a good 8-12 games under his belt - get his wind, his rhythm, work into the offense, get his timing on defense.

Thank you.

[Superbone]

If the Suns are going to marginalize him and force him to blend in with the team instead of the other way around, they should just trade him.

I agree with that thought process I just know whoever they bring in, Monty won’t know how to use him either

Sounds like a great plan you guys have got brewing. Thank god you have no power to pull it off.

[Superbone]

Those two Booker 3s at the end were unbelievable.

I like bringing Ayton off the bench. Make him earn his spot. I love how much Booker wants to win, and wants to win here.

[Cap]

Refs need to communicate better. If you change the score in the final minute, everybody has to know.

[Indy]

There’s a difference in benching a player and bringing them off the bench. I don’t agree with bringing Ayton off the bench, but he still played over 30 minutes. He was still very involved in the game plan. Again, I’d start him, but his reasons do make some sense. He wants an offensive anchor for the 2nd unit.

So bring Oubre off the bench.

Do the Lakers bring Davis off the bench?
Do the Blazers bring McCollum?

You don’t bench your second best player and #2 piece of your core.

If Ayton were half as good as either of those two, he wouldn't be on the bench.

[Indy]

It kills me how little we get from Cam and Bridges.

Because they are capable of so much more, or because you think they are busts?

[Indy]

He’s far and away our best big. There’s no message sent when you bench him for inferior players.

The message is: you can do more, we need you to do more and we want you to do more.

This. so many times this.

[Ring_Wanted]

It kills me how little we get from Cam and Bridges.

Because they are capable of so much more, or because you think they are busts?

We paid A LOT to get them.

[JCSunsfan]

I love Bridges game. Not sure the frustration. Cam is fine for what he is too.

[INFORMER]

It kills me how little we get from Cam and Bridges.

Because they are capable of so much more, or because you think they are busts?

We paid A LOT to get them.

Yep. And the return is minimal at best.

[AmareIsGod]

It kills me how little we get from Cam and Bridges.

Because they are capable of so much more, or because you think they are busts?

We paid A LOT to get them.

Yep. And the return is minimal at best.

On Bridges? You clearly haven't been watching or following him lately. And Cam is a rookie. Pump the brakes. This is even extreme for you INF.