Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

[Indy]

Shawn's 16 year career is obviously more impressive than Mikal's 3 year career.

But the trajectory Mikal is on is already up there with anything Shawn did.

[AmareIsGod]

Matrix is undeniably better than Bridges, though. I love me some Mikal Bridges, maybe my favorite current Sun, but Marion was a way better overall player. Marion would not only guard the other team's best player, but he'd also end up with 20 points and 8-10 rebounds, he'd run the floor like a gazelle, fly through the sky for alley-oops and dunks, and had a really nice game around the rim with a variety of little flip shots, hooks, floaters, and putbacks. He did a great job in "garbage" plays where he'd jump up for an offensive rebound, grab it, land, and jump again to lay it back in before the other players had even finished jumping. Got a ton of points on little shots like that.

I do agree with the tweeters that Bridges probably has better dribbling handles than Marion, and that Bridges has a smoother overall shooting form. If Marion had become able to create his own shots and dribble a bit more smoothly, he would have been almost unstoppable. As he was, he was an extremely valuable player and arguably more important to the SSOL Suns than Amare Stoudemire, second only to Steve Nash. And he's been criminally underrated, both in his own era and still today.

I mean, overall, for their careers, sure. But if the Mikal we've been seeing lately is the Mikal we can expect regularly, he's a menace. One of the best defensive players in the NBA and he has a much better stroke than Marion. Yeah, the Matrix could rebound. But Bridges is a more versatile defender with better handles, a better stroke and a better IQ. Marion was an athletic freak but I don't think he's got the basketball IQ Bridges has.

[ShelC]

[bajanguy008]

Oh didn't know the Book socks story
That's kinda kool

[Indy]

Now I want to know what is so special about NBA socks.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I don't know who was manufacturing the socks when Booker was in high school, but anyone can buy essentially the same socks the players use from Nike. They're just missing the NBA logo.

[Superbone]

Now I want to know what is so special about NBA socks.

I've worn them. They're nice. I have at least one pair, maybe two.

[In2ition]

Gotta love Shawn responding on Twitter about a discussion of him vs Mikal

I'm not even convinced that this was Shawn actually tweeting this. It didn't have, "ya know" or "ya know what I'm saying". Just "you don't know..."

[Superbone]

Gotta love Shawn responding on Twitter about a discussion of him vs Mikal

I'm not even convinced that this was Shawn actually tweeting this. It didn't have, "ya know" or "ya know what I'm saying". Just "you don't know..."

He didn't talk about cartoons either.

[pickle]

Watching Kaminsky shoot without getting off the floor, I wonder if that's a blessing or a curse. For a guy like him, not particularly athletic and not the focal point of any offense, I guess it helps prolong his career and he's able to pull that off. Other bigs also don't seem to jump that much, guys like Jokic, LMA, also don't think Towns/Embiid get any lift on their shots.

Hate watched the Laker/Kings 3 OT game last night, and Haliburton's standing set shot definitely hurts his ability to get his shot off when tightly guarded. Any other modern wing/guard that shoots without jumping?

[Split T]

Love Mikal, it’s simply way too early to try and compare him to Shawn. Marion was a legit #2 on playoff teams and an overqualified #3. Mikal has not made it to Shawns level yet. As good as Mikal is on D, Shawn was just as good, if not better. More versatile for sure. Shawn was better on offense too, a 20/10 lock.

[JeremyG]

Even if Bridges increases his scoring, it doesn't seem that he'll ever get close to Marion's level of rebounding. Rebounding seems to be undervalued these days. It's disappointing that none of our forwards (especially Johnson and Bridges) seem to care to even be decent rebounders.

[In2ition]

Shawn had to cover for a lot of bad defenders, but I don't remember him as a lock down defender. Maybe because the team had so many bad defenders, he couldn't concentrate on locking down his matchup. His rebounding was next level though.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I’d argue that Marion defended Dirk Nowitzki better than any other defender he faced in his prime.

[Superbone]

I’d argue that Marion defended Dirk Nowitzki better than any other defender he faced in his prime.

That's why Dallas had to acquire Marion in order to win a championship.

[Split T]

Watching Kaminsky shoot without getting off the floor, I wonder if that's a blessing or a curse. For a guy like him, not particularly athletic and not the focal point of any offense, I guess it helps prolong his career and he's able to pull that off. Other bigs also don't seem to jump that much, guys like Jokic, LMA, also don't think Towns/Embiid get any lift on their shots.

Hate watched the Laker/Kings 3 OT game last night, and Haliburton's standing set shot definitely hurts his ability to get his shot off when tightly guarded. Any other modern wing/guard that shoots without jumping?

Bledsoe had a set shot right? I don’t jump when I take catch and shoot 3s, but I do jump off the dribble.

[Split T]

Even if Bridges increases his scoring, it doesn't seem that he'll ever get close to Marion's level of rebounding. Rebounding seems to be undervalued these days. It's disappointing that none of our forwards (especially Johnson and Bridges) seem to care to even be decent rebounders.

I think it’s more by design…we want Bridges leaking out in transition. We kinda let Ayton/McGee do all the rebounding. Team rebounding is important, but I think individual rebounding numbers are misleading.

[In2ition]

I’d argue that Marion defended Dirk Nowitzki better than any other defender he faced in his prime.

You could be right. I just don't remember it. Maybe it's long covid fog, haha.

[Split T]

He was also the primary defender on Lebron when dallas beat Miami in the finals and LeBron had an awful series.

We put Marion on everyone from Tony Parker to KG and Dirk. I remember him giving Dirk a lot of trouble. I remember a specific game saving block of Dirk that was just a typical Marion play.

[In2ition]

That's true.