2024 Suns Preseason News

[Superbone]

Figured it's time to break into a new news thread since the off-season is over.

I'll start with some raves for our rookie class in preseason so far:



And this one is a little over the top:

[In2ition]

Mike is a little over the top, but he is clearly happy about Oso and Dunn, as I am as well. If you look at a few of the rookies around the league, there are a number that are showing out well in the preseason.

[Mori Chu]

Thanks for making this thread. It's exciting to have the season so close! We should also do a season predictions thread soon.

[ShelC]

Kind of a BS scouting report in SI's season preview. I don't think we'll be so bad defensively, I don't remember Book fouling a ton. But we are small and that's not going to change.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/417 ... ltics-more

Phoenix Suns
Do the high-powered Suns have enough defense to keep pace?

After Phoenix finished sixth in the Western Conference and was swept out of the first round last season, a Western Conference scout was asked how the Suns could possibly live up to the hype that they generated by trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

"They're going to have to f---ing outscore everybody," the scout told ESPN.

Phoenix was 10th in offensive efficiency last season, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions in coach Frank Vogel's lone campaign before he was dismissed. The Suns signed Tyus Jones over the summer to be their new starting point guard, joining Durant, Beal, Devin Booker and Jusuf Nurkic with the first five -- which moves Grayson Allen to the bench. Jones, with a career assists-to-turnover ratio better than 5-to-1, should certainly help organize the offense. But with Jones listed at 6-1, 195 pounds, the Suns' starters could miss the size and tenacity of Allen.

"Defensively they're going to be bad, just with the pieces that they have," the scout added. "They're going to be small as s---. ...Tyus, I don't think is a good defender. Book fouls a ton. Brad is small. Kevin is a good defender but he's going to be 37. And I think Nurk is one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league."

New coach Mike Budenholzer -- whose teams won 46 or more games in seven of his 10 seasons with Atlanta and Milwaukee -- has a proven track record that suggests he will find a way to make the offensive pieces fit, at the very least.

"Defensively they're going to be challenged," the scout said. "But offensively, they should be able to score. Bud's teams have scored. They've been good offensively." -- McMenamin

[wpmiller42]

Kind of a BS scouting report in SI's season preview. I don't think we'll be so bad defensively, I don't remember Book fouling a ton. But we are small and that's not going to change.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/417 ... ltics-more

Phoenix Suns
Do the high-powered Suns have enough defense to keep pace?

After Phoenix finished sixth in the Western Conference and was swept out of the first round last season, a Western Conference scout was asked how the Suns could possibly live up to the hype that they generated by trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

"They're going to have to f---ing outscore everybody," the scout told ESPN.

Phoenix was 10th in offensive efficiency last season, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions in coach Frank Vogel's lone campaign before he was dismissed. The Suns signed Tyus Jones over the summer to be their new starting point guard, joining Durant, Beal, Devin Booker and Jusuf Nurkic with the first five -- which moves Grayson Allen to the bench. Jones, with a career assists-to-turnover ratio better than 5-to-1, should certainly help organize the offense. But with Jones listed at 6-1, 195 pounds, the Suns' starters could miss the size and tenacity of Allen.

"Defensively they're going to be bad, just with the pieces that they have," the scout added. "They're going to be small as s---. ...Tyus, I don't think is a good defender. Book fouls a ton. Brad is small. Kevin is a good defender but he's going to be 37. And I think Nurk is one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league."

New coach Mike Budenholzer -- whose teams won 46 or more games in seven of his 10 seasons with Atlanta and Milwaukee -- has a proven track record that suggests he will find a way to make the offensive pieces fit, at the very least.

"Defensively they're going to be challenged," the scout said. "But offensively, they should be able to score. Bud's teams have scored. They've been good offensively." -- McMenamin

Yeah, I think this "scout" is ChatGPT. Lazy take for sure.

[ShelC]

Monte and Tyus post practice videos

[Superbone]

Kind of a BS scouting report in SI's season preview. I don't think we'll be so bad defensively, I don't remember Book fouling a ton. But we are small and that's not going to change.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/417 ... ltics-more

Phoenix Suns
Do the high-powered Suns have enough defense to keep pace?

After Phoenix finished sixth in the Western Conference and was swept out of the first round last season, a Western Conference scout was asked how the Suns could possibly live up to the hype that they generated by trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

"They're going to have to f---ing outscore everybody," the scout told ESPN.

Phoenix was 10th in offensive efficiency last season, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions in coach Frank Vogel's lone campaign before he was dismissed. The Suns signed Tyus Jones over the summer to be their new starting point guard, joining Durant, Beal, Devin Booker and Jusuf Nurkic with the first five -- which moves Grayson Allen to the bench. Jones, with a career assists-to-turnover ratio better than 5-to-1, should certainly help organize the offense. But with Jones listed at 6-1, 195 pounds, the Suns' starters could miss the size and tenacity of Allen.

"Defensively they're going to be bad, just with the pieces that they have," the scout added. "They're going to be small as s---. ...Tyus, I don't think is a good defender. Book fouls a ton. Brad is small. Kevin is a good defender but he's going to be 37. And I think Nurk is one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league."

New coach Mike Budenholzer -- whose teams won 46 or more games in seven of his 10 seasons with Atlanta and Milwaukee -- has a proven track record that suggests he will find a way to make the offensive pieces fit, at the very least.

"Defensively they're going to be challenged," the scout said. "But offensively, they should be able to score. Bud's teams have scored. They've been good offensively." -- McMenamin

Yeah, I think this "scout" is ChatGPT. Lazy take for sure.

Yeah, he sounds like an idiot who's just going off of what he saw last season.

"Defensively they're going to be bad, just with the pieces that they have," the scout added.

Yeah, we'll see pal! Good defensive schemes can make all the difference in the world.

[Split T]

The suns also weren’t a bad defensive team last year. We were 13th…average…and we were a lot better with Nurk on the floor. He’s not a guy you want playing aggressive schemes, but he was a pretty good drop defender.

[TOO]

Kind of a BS scouting report in SI's season preview. I don't think we'll be so bad defensively, I don't remember Book fouling a ton. But we are small and that's not going to change.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/417 ... ltics-more

Phoenix Suns
Do the high-powered Suns have enough defense to keep pace?

After Phoenix finished sixth in the Western Conference and was swept out of the first round last season, a Western Conference scout was asked how the Suns could possibly live up to the hype that they generated by trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

"They're going to have to f---ing outscore everybody," the scout told ESPN.

Phoenix was 10th in offensive efficiency last season, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions in coach Frank Vogel's lone campaign before he was dismissed. The Suns signed Tyus Jones over the summer to be their new starting point guard, joining Durant, Beal, Devin Booker and Jusuf Nurkic with the first five -- which moves Grayson Allen to the bench. Jones, with a career assists-to-turnover ratio better than 5-to-1, should certainly help organize the offense. But with Jones listed at 6-1, 195 pounds, the Suns' starters could miss the size and tenacity of Allen.

"Defensively they're going to be bad, just with the pieces that they have," the scout added. "They're going to be small as s---. ...Tyus, I don't think is a good defender. Book fouls a ton. Brad is small. Kevin is a good defender but he's going to be 37. And I think Nurk is one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league."

New coach Mike Budenholzer -- whose teams won 46 or more games in seven of his 10 seasons with Atlanta and Milwaukee -- has a proven track record that suggests he will find a way to make the offensive pieces fit, at the very least.

"Defensively they're going to be challenged," the scout said. "But offensively, they should be able to score. Bud's teams have scored. They've been good offensively." -- McMenamin

Yeah, I think this "scout" is ChatGPT. Lazy take for sure.

Yeah, SI laid off all their real journalists, all they have is robots.

[In2ition]

The scout needs to be fired, as it's a lazy opinion. Can you imagine a head coach ripping into their scout after they weren't able to just score at will, like the scout promised they would?

[pickle]

I don’t think that take is super controversial. We are going to be challenged on the defensive end.

[Superbone]

Don't make us lump you in with that "scout", pickle! We got better and like Split said, we weren't all that bad last year.

[Split T]

I think we will have some struggles on defense for sure, but I mostly disagreed with Nurk being one of the worst pick and roll defenders…it’s just false. He defended well last year. He’s bad if he gets switched onto a guard, but he’s good when he can stay in drop.

[Nodack]

Too early for me to judge. I was stoked last year at the start and we were swept in the first round. Once again a lot of new faces and a new coach. They will have to earn their defensive rep in games.

[TOO]

I think we will have some struggles on defense for sure, but I mostly disagreed with Nurk being one of the worst pick and roll defenders…it’s just false. He defended well last year. He’s bad if he gets switched onto a guard, but he’s good when he can stay in drop.

Yes. This team was markedly better defensively with Nurkic on the floor.

[specialsauce]

I think we will have some struggles on defense for sure, but I mostly disagreed with Nurk being one of the worst pick and roll defenders…it’s just false. He defended well last year. He’s bad if he gets switched onto a guard, but he’s good when he can stay in drop.

Yes. This team was markedly better defensively with Nurkic on the floor.

That said more about PooBanks.

[Split T]

Eubanks was bad…but it’s hard to argue Nurk wasn’t a good defender for us last year(at least in the regular season). We had a defensive rating of 113.2 when he was on the court…that was better than all our regular rotation players except Royce O’Neale(109.3). Bol Bol also had a better defensive rating, but in less than 500 minutes.

That rating had nothing to do with Eubanks(116.4 for reference and the worst rating on the team amongst regulars).

[Wally_West]

"He's been jacking recently!"

So Dunn is a gooner?

[In2ition]

Is Oso working on his shot?

[Superbone]

Is Oso working on his shot?

Sure if you add "put" to the end of your sentence.