Suns: Summer League

[carey]

At what point do we start taking Thon Maker more seriously. I liked him as a prospect, but man he's been strong so far.

Summer league impressions so far:

Ben Simmons is going to be a beast. He's going to be a superstar if the work ethic is there and he's looked fully engaged so far.
Kris Dunn has impressed so far
Maker showing glimpses of Greek Freak.

Disappointments
Hield had a bust 1st game. Lets see him rebound
Bender I guess you'd have to put on the list
Ingram...Kinda expected, but needs to put on more weight.

Dunn and Maker are 5 years older than Bender. Bender looked rough tonight, I want to see the rest of the week play out and see if he fights through it.

[Superbone]

Yep, Bender really struggled. Especially tonight.

[INFORMER]

At what point do we start taking Thon Maker more seriously. I liked him as a prospect, but man he's been strong so far.

Summer league impressions so far:

Ben Simmons is going to be a beast. He's going to be a superstar if the work ethic is there and he's looked fully engaged so far.
Kris Dunn has impressed so far
Maker showing glimpses of Greek Freak.

Disappointments
Hield had a bust 1st game. Lets see him rebound
Bender I guess you'd have to put on the list
Ingram...Kinda expected, but needs to put on more weight.

Dunn and Maker are 5 years older than Bender. Bender looked rough tonight, I want to see the rest of the week play out and see if he fights through it.

I didn't realize Maker's older age rumors had been confirmed or even substantiated.

[Superbone]

From what I've seen so far, Simmons is going to be a superstar. Once he gets an outside shot, watch out!

[carey]

I didn't realize Maker's older age rumors had been confirmed or even substantiated.

If it's a hoax it's the greatest hoax ever pulled. Several year-book photos of him graduating from HS in 2011. Then he enrolls in a different HS and basically goes another 4 years. I suppose there could be 2 Thon Maker's that are 7-feet tall out there. He's also grown only 1 inch since he was "15."

[Sunsfan4life]

At what point do we start taking Thon Maker more seriously. I liked him as a prospect, but man he's been strong so far.

Summer league impressions so far:

Ben Simmons is going to be a beast. He's going to be a superstar if the work ethic is there and he's looked fully engaged so far.
Kris Dunn has impressed so far
Maker showing glimpses of Greek Freak.

Disappointments
Hield had a bust 1st game. Lets see him rebound
Bender I guess you'd have to put on the list
Ingram...Kinda expected, but needs to put on more weight.

Dunn and Maker are 5 years older than Bender. Bender looked rough tonight, I want to see the rest of the week play out and see if he fights through it.

By no means am I considering it this week a failure for him or even surprised he's struggling very very early in a brand new league, but all things being equal he hasn't played well. I actually thought showed some good glimpses in game 1. Tongiht he struggled badly with the speed of the game. He'll adjust.

[Indy]

I need to read the game thread, but my 3 biggest takeaways from tonight:

1) Ulis is a player and could run a team right now better than several starting PGs (including 3 that started for us last year)

2) Alan Williams has tremendous hands on both ends of the court. I was especially impressed with his ability to get his hands on so many passes and drives on the defensive end.

3) Being a Boston fan and putting a lot of hopes in Brown would suck. The only thing at an NBA level I saw showcased tonight was his body. Not a single skill looked ready for prime-time, not even a flash of it.

[Indy]

Bender was pretty bad tonight too.

[Sunsfan4life]

Indy I'm curious, its still realy really early so maybe this is a silly question, but I remember us having a lengthy debate about Simmons and what his potential was in the NBA. I was a big fan, you liked him as well but didn't think he might be worth the 1st pick in another draft. Has your opinion changed at all? Have you seen him play in Vegas?

[Sunsfan4life]

I need to read the game thread, but my 3 biggest takeaways from tonight:

1) Ulis is a player and could run a team right now better than several starting PGs (including 3 that started for us last year)

2) Alan Williams has tremendous hands on both ends of the court. I was especially impressed with his ability to get his hands on so many passes and drives on the defensive end.

3) Being a Boston fan and putting a lot of hopes in Brown would suck. The only thing at an NBA level I saw showcased tonight was his body. Not a single skill looked ready for prime-time, not even a flash of it.

Ulis is the best PG on our roster. Now read it carefully he isn't a better "player" then EB and Knight, but I think he can run a team better. Supper stoked about him.

[Indy]

I need to read the game thread, but my 3 biggest takeaways from tonight:

1) Ulis is a player and could run a team right now better than several starting PGs (including 3 that started for us last year)

2) Alan Williams has tremendous hands on both ends of the court. I was especially impressed with his ability to get his hands on so many passes and drives on the defensive end.

3) Being a Boston fan and putting a lot of hopes in Brown would suck. The only thing at an NBA level I saw showcased tonight was his body. Not a single skill looked ready for prime-time, not even a flash of it.

Supper stoked about him.

I'm pretty hungry too.

[Indy]

And I think that's a great comparison. It speaks to what I said about Bleds earlier today.

[Ring_Wanted]

Simmons is a phoenom. His passing alone makes him a joy to watch, but he can also take any forward one on one from the perimeter and he puts defenses on skates. As advertised, he rebounds and is a terror in transition. He is one mere decent outside shot from being literally unstoppable.

Ingram, again, not a fan of his relative lack of explosion although he can make tough shots and doesn't neglect defense.

Dunn is an ankle breaker and actually plays defense. His mix of size and speed indeed looks like Westbrook or Wall. I spent a good chunk of the season wondering about what should the Suns do if whenever they pick this guy is BPA. Dunn-Lavine-Wiggins-KAT is terrifying.

Bender is a major project, though. His shot will take a toll given the change in physicallity but he can contribute in other areas. It is of the most importance that he doesn't shy away from his own game.

[Mori Chu]

I really hope Dunn makes Rubio expendable and we steal him from Minny. Said it before. I just don't know what we would offer them. Why trade Rubio for, say, Bledsoe and Tucker when you won't have a good spot to put Bled at in Minny?

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Yeah, after watching how diferent a team looks with a Pass-First PG (Ulis), I'm even more willing to deal for Rubio, by sending Knight and/or Bledsoe out. There must be a way to efectively include a 3rd team that makes sense. Or perhaps it's just about selling them the dual PG line up, with Bledsoe and Dunn... A man can dream, right?

[Cap]

Tyler's crazy stats through two games:

29.5 min
10.5 pts
4.5 reb
6.0 ast
4.5 stl
0.0 blk
0.5 to
1.0 pf

[In2ition]

From a still hopeful but skeptical wait-and-see perspective, there are some things that I'm intrigued by in the first two games.
1. It seems that the Suns play a big lineup with Bender, Chriss, Williams or Brown on the floor at the same time, it is bothering teams a lot on the defensive end. Add into Ulis really putting ball pressure on the opposing pg, and Booker denying his man from getting a direct pass is helping too, where the other team seems to be aware of all that length protecting the paint. We are doing a good job giving up only one, usually contested shot, and getting the boards. There are quite a few breakdowns, but for the most part, when they are all engaged, it's tough to score on this group.
2. For the most part, I realize that Bender and Chriss are still very young and are no way near their potential physically strength-wise. So, not seeing the aggressiveness going to the basket by Bender and even sometimes Chriss should be expected, but it's still a little disappointing. I think Bender's outside shot would fall a little more frequently if he first started attacking the rim and seeing the ball go through the hoop, and then working his way outside. Also, even though Chriss has a reportedly higher vertical leap than Amare, he doesn't use it in the same explosive way that Amare did. Sometimes, it seems he gets caught in between wanting to jump to dunk it and wanting to tip and finesse it in with one hand. Probably just needs to get stronger in the upper body.
3. I do like the nastiness and fearlessness that I see from the two youngsters, and who can't like the toughness that Ulis plays with?
4. There are enough questions and inconsistency to keep a skeptical attitude toward what these guys will ultimately turn into. I wanted Bender at #4, and although I probably wouldn't have tried to make the trade to get Chriss. I'm going to try to keep an open mind on this and let time run it's course on how they develop. I'm not sure that I would have drafted Ulis, but I haven't seen anything to tell me that it was the wrong choice so far.
5. I love seeing a pass first pg and how the offense works with one. I still hold out hope that the Suns are lucky enough to get one(I prefer Lonzo Ball) in the draft next year. I really hope that the Suns move to a more open free passing type of offense this season.

[O_Gardino]

Tyler's crazy stats through two games:

29.5 min
10.5 pts
4.5 reb
6.0 ast
4.5 stl
0.0 blk
0.5 to
1.0 pf

0 blocks? Just proves he can't defend at the NBA level.

[AmareIsGod]

5. I love seeing a pass first pg and how the offense works with one. I still hold out hope that the Suns are lucky enough to get one(I prefer Lonzo Ball) in the draft next year. I really hope that the Suns move to a more open free passing type of offense this season.

It's too bad we don't have one on the team from drafting one this year (Ulis).

[In2ition]

5. I love seeing a pass first pg and how the offense works with one. I still hold out hope that the Suns are lucky enough to get one(I prefer Lonzo Ball) in the draft next year. I really hope that the Suns move to a more open free passing type of offense this season.

It's too bad we don't have one on the team from drafting one this year (Ulis).

Oh my, obviously I wasn't clear. I didn't mean the Suns didn't have one already in Ulis, I do think he is one. I'm still skeptical that he will become an elite starting pass first pg though. I don't expect him to beat out either Bledsoe or Knight, and was speaking of the Suns having more that just Ulis and a projected starting pass-first pg. I love the way Ulis has been playing though, and don't want to see the offense go back to a ball dominate shoot first second and third pg isolation offense.