Game Day: Suns (7-3) @ Wizards (2-8), Mon 1/11/21

[Split T]

The Suns suck. Ayton is a big pussy. He’s got no fire, no desire. I was hoping he wasn’t going to see the floor in the second half to make a point. He’s William Bedford 2.0. Trade him now. What a waste of a number 1 overall pick.

Welcome to the dark side!

[Split T]

I turned the game off early in the 2nd quarter when Bertans started hitting everything...feel pretty good about that decision.

[Indy]

I turned the game off early in the 2nd quarter when Bertans started hitting everything...feel pretty good about that decision.

I am so jealous.

[Indy]

Didn’t the wheels start to fall off after a 7-4 start last year too?

yep. Through 11 games we have the same record as last year, that even though we ended on an 8-0 run, finished with a 47% win percentage.

[LazarusLong]

I turned the game off early in the 2nd quarter when Bertans started hitting everything...feel pretty good about that decision.

Same here.

Washington players were focused like starving wolves smelling raw meat.

Suns exhibited the energy of week-old roadkill ...

[Indy]

Wiz entering safety and health protocols and cancelled practice today... I guess we are next.

[Mori Chu]

Uh oh. I bet at least 1-2 of our guys will be exposed. DC/Wiz seem to be a real COVID hotspot.

As for our team not playing well, is it time to bench Crowder and start Cam? I think Cam is the better player, but I do worry about whether Crowder would be upset in a bench role. My guess is that you get a higher net benefit from the two guys if you bring Cam off the bench, especially when Payne is healthy.

[Superbone]

Didn’t the wheels start to fall off after a 7-4 start last year too?

You and BK better knock it off!

[Superbone]

I turned the game off early in the 2nd quarter when Bertans started hitting everything...feel pretty good about that decision.

You need to learn to suffer with the rest of us, you bastard!

[Superbone]

Our starters used to be our strong point.

[Indy]

Our starters used to be our strong point.

of our 20 most-used 5-man lineups, our starters are 15th in net points (and -6), despite playing 9 times as much as our next 5-man lineup.

If you swap out CJ for JC (our next most-often used lineup), they are 6x as negative (-39).

BUT

If you swap CP3 for Payne, JC for CJ, and Dario for Ayton (Payne-Book-Mikal-Johnson-Dario) you get our 3rd most-used line up. In only 20 minutes this year, they are a +55.

[Indy]

Other interesting/weird things on line-ups:

There isn't a two-man lineup where CP3 is positive (well one is at 0.4), and neither does Ayton.

[Split T]

I turned the game off early in the 2nd quarter when Bertans started hitting everything...feel pretty good about that decision.

You need to learn to suffer with the rest of us, you bastard!

Haha, well I only caught the 2nd half of the Detroit game, which was the bad one, so I’ve suffered too, haha

[Mori Chu]

Chris Paul is low-key struggling for us. He's averaging 13.3 ppg and 8.7 apg. His shooting has been poor; he's shot 43.4 FG% and 28.6% on 3s. The assists are pretty impressive, and he gets a steal here and there, but otherwise the numbers are pretty mediocre.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... lch01.html

For fun, I looked up Ricky Rubio's stats so far this year in Minny. Oof, he's struggling. 6.3 ppg on 39.7 FG%, and 5.3 apg. He's playing only 24 minutes/game and has started only 3 games.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... ori01.html

[Indy]

Chris Paul is low-key struggling for us. He's averaging 13.3 ppg and 8.7 apg. His shooting has been poor; he's shot 43.4 FG% and 28.6% on 3s. The assists are pretty impressive, and he gets a steal here and there, but otherwise the numbers are pretty mediocre.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... lch01.html

For fun, I looked up Ricky Rubio's stats so far this year in Minny. Oof, he's struggling. 6.3 ppg on 39.7 FG%, and 5.3 apg. He's playing only 24 minutes/game and has started only 3 games.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... ori01.html

Paul isn't shooting when open from 3 either, and that really hurts our offense.

Through our first 11 games he is 8 for 28 from 3, for 28.6%.

Last year, Rubio thru 11 games was 12/35 for 34.3% (in about 1 less mpg).

[specialsauce]

You guys are putting it lightly. He’s flat out sucked. His style of play has been bad, his shooting worse and we’re stuck. This was the worst case scenario in acquiring him so far. We are lucky to be 7-4 but it has nothing to do with CP3, Book or Ayton (if they played half as well as our bench we’d be 9-2 or 10-1).

[Drewsprocket]

I feel like if they can get Ayton to perform better on his rolls to the bucket and he can get assists off setting better picks it will ground our offense better. His mental lapses in the game are all over the place. It’s like the game sped up on him. Or one bad play feeds into another for him. And its affecting the rest of the starters. Book and Paul both haven’t figured out how to get their shots together. Paul needs to hunt more for his own shot enough so that it relieves Book.

[BKinSJC]

Didn’t the wheels start to fall off after a 7-4 start last year too?

You and BK better knock it off!

I don't make the news. Just report it.

[Wally_West]

So that’s why Ayton was avoiding contact at all cost this game, he was trying not to get covid from the Wizards players. See that makes total sense, he was just adhering to physical distancing protocols. You guys owe this man an apology.

[Nodack]

Lol