Game Day: Heat (20-19) @ Suns (20-19), Fri 1/6/23

[djy2j]

At this point I just don't see us getting anything for Crowder. 2nd round pick is his worth at this point.

[ShelC]

Postgame quotes and videos

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[bajanguy008]

Yeah....

We're to the point where we have to be happy the team didn't just roll over but at least competed. That unfortunately has now become the silver lining in these losses so to that point they were indeed battling
What's crazy to me is that you can just see the reality slowly unfold every game and it's something EJ been saying last couple seasons

"Most NBA games come down to the last 4mins and then it's a matter of who can execute. The Suns have repeatedly shown that with Devin and Chris Paul the team is almost guaranteed to get a quality look each time down. That's why we are one of the best clutch teams and what separates the good teams from the bad teams"

Remember those days ?!? Sigh smh
So watching I just feel like yeah we're to that point where we gonna struggle to run the offense late, things bogging down and inevitably another single digit loss

[bajanguy008]

Washington Jr box score doesn't change my opinion on if he should get minutes every night

Just looking at it will make some says he was out there chucking but that wasn't the case
Yes the kid is always looking to attack but he is literally one of the only people able to consistently get open off the dribble. Other guys out there basically struggling to get off a shot

My boy Mikal is struggling
I found earlier in the season he would take his time and work to his spot and do his turn around or pull up jumper which was fairly efficient
Now he seems to be rushing most the time and shooting off balance lots of the time. It's good that he put the work in to have a quicker release now but some of his shots I'm like Dang Mikal, didn't have to pull that quick (especially 3s) which is crazy saying that the guy we wish was more aggressive now taking bad shots

Then there's the passing
Man this post entry thing is disastrous
He was floating them from the first quarter, even Van Gundy said on one assist to DA that the pass was nearly stolen and Bridges has to put more force on the pass

So fact that the inbound pass got stolen as a result of that same thing was disappointing

[bajanguy008]

DA was working hard
Ain't really nothing to question

The double teams tho are really getting him off balance tho. I think he is maybe using the spin move too often also and the guards are helping down on that alot. Always feels like he might lose it getting knocked away from behind and that's been a decent amount of his turnovers tbh

There was that 3 or 4 game stretch where it seemed like he was dunking much more and most of us were fairly excited on here. He's kinda stop now again and that means he's leaving some potential And1's out there

[TOO]

Ayton is the empty calorie hooper that people think Booker was.

[SunsRIt]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

[ShelC]

Ayton is the empty calorie hooper that people think Booker was.

Feels like it. Even his post game is still pretty elementary. Unless he's sealed deep 6-8feet away where he can put up that baby hook shot for the easy 2, he just turns and settles for jumpers. No advanced moves or countermoves, can't feel out his defender, can't read the defense for kickouts to shooters, doesn't pass out and repost for better positioning.

I'm sure we'll see some random clips now from JeremyG of more advanced moves he made a year or 2 ago in some random games, but he's not a go-to post player who makes others better with his inside play.

[TOO]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

You would think that a team that was in the finals 2 years ago and had the best record in the league last year would be able to acquire better fringe players than what they've acquired. They signed dudes that bad teams cut/released. Just sad work on Jones' part.

[Drewsprocket]

Ayton is a great role player surrounded by great playmaking, shooters, and a chorus of coaches and teammates to sing his praises and keep him focused. And we paid market value for him. : - /
It’s a lot to hold onto if we can’t find Book another number two.

[ShelC]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

You would think that a team that was in the finals 2 years ago and had the best record in the league last year would be able to acquire better fringe players than what they've acquired. They signed dudes that bad teams cut/released. Just sad work on Jones' part.

Lee, Okogie and Londale weren't playing well in their roles when we were healthy? We know they're not starters/20+mpg guys.

[Split T]

Ya I have issues with how Jones built the top half of the roster, but no problem with the Lee, Landale and Okogie signings. They’ve given us good play as 9/10th men…problem is having to use them as more featured.

[The Bobster]

Ya I have issues with how Jones built the top half of the roster, but no problem with the Lee, Landale and Okogie signings. They’ve given us good play as 9/10th men…problem is having to use them as more featured.

I wouldn't have a problem with their signings if we weren't depending on Shamet and Lee to be rotation players. I don't think either of them are for a good team. Landale has probably played about as well as any of us could have asked for. Okogie is a great defender with zero offense. Washington is just a mess.

Keep in mind they filled a bench that already had a recovering Saric and Wainright, who is another fringe player. Then throw in Crowder not wanting to play and the pnly established players on the bench are Payne, Craig and Biyombo. And that's just not going to get it done.

[Split T]

Lee did play rotation minutes for GS last year as they won the title. He’s the guy who plays 15-20 minutes a night in the regular season and has his minutes cut each round. He played through the WCF, but basically was out of the rotation in the Finals. So essentially an 8th/9th man.

[ShelC]

Okogie, Lee, Landale, DWJ are still upgrades over guys Elf Payton, Etwuan Moore, Langston Galloway, Abdel Nader. They're at least playable with some specific skillset.

And Lee is leading the league in 3pt%.

[TOO]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

You would think that a team that was in the finals 2 years ago and had the best record in the league last year would be able to acquire better fringe players than what they've acquired. They signed dudes that bad teams cut/released. Just sad work on Jones' part.

Lee, Okogie and Londale weren't playing well in their roles when we were healthy? We know they're not starters/20+mpg guys.

No I do not think the bench was playing all that great when everyone was healthy, it was ok, but you'd be counting the time down til the starters could get back in because they'd piss away the lead.

[specialsauce]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

You would think that a team that was in the finals 2 years ago and had the best record in the league last year would be able to acquire better fringe players than what they've acquired. They signed dudes that bad teams cut/released. Just sad work on Jones' part.

Lee, Okogie and Londale weren't playing well in their roles when we were healthy? We know they're not starters/20+mpg guys.

No I do not think the bench was playing all that great when everyone was healthy, it was ok, but you'd be counting the time down til the starters could get back in because they'd piss away the lead.

None of these losers should be getting any minutes. We have monster issues.

Issue 1 is that our top guys aren’t “top” enough except Booker even when we are fully healthy

Issue 2 is that our front end bench has the talent level of most championship contenders 10-15 guys, and there’s really no difference between our sixth man and our fifteenth man. We just have a talent problem, and that’s on James Jones.

Monty doesn’t have anybody playing better than they “should,” and that’s on him.

[Superbone]

DA was working hard
Ain't really nothing to question

The double teams tho are really getting him off balance tho. I think he is maybe using the spin move too often also and the guards are helping down on that alot. Always feels like he might lose it getting knocked away from behind and that's been a decent amount of his turnovers tbh

There was that 3 or 4 game stretch where it seemed like he was dunking much more and most of us were fairly excited on here. He's kinda stop now again and that means he's leaving some potential And1's out there

He's just too tentative going up to slam the ball. A couple times if he had gone up quickly and dunked it with force, he would have had an easy basket. The commentators talked about that as well.

[Superbone]

This is what you get when your summer acquisitions consist of fringe players like Lee, Washington, Okogie and Landale rather than looking for anyone who has established that they can be a consistant contributor.

Those fringe players weren’t supposed to be in the position they are in. We are still down 3 starters due to injury.

You could even say we're down 4 starters but one to dumbassery.

[Superbone]

We just have a talent problem, and that’s on James Jones.

Maybe. Or it could be on Sarver and the hold for the impending ownership change. Either way, we should find out soon.