Suns News: Week 4 11/14-11/20

[carey]

In2: Who is that caped fellow in your avatar?

All American Boy, but now he's just Mr. Boy.

Played by a famous Canadian!

[O_Gardino]

Phoenix Suns' T.J. Warren improves defense, play
...
Warren is proving most valuable to the Suns, averaging a team-high 35.7 minutes per game. He has no problem handling the extra time. The NBA tracks how far players travel during games and Warren covers more ground than any NBA player, averaging 1.27 miles per game run on defense.

“Guarding the ball, we feel like he’s one of the best in the NBA at his position and we feel like he’s going to continue to get better,” Suns coach Earl Watson said.
...
Rookie Dragan Bender has been a part of the rotation in Chandler’s absence, averaging 5.0 points in 13.3 minutes per game on 8-of-18 shooting and playing with confidence.

“We have to find a way to get him more minutes and it has to happen now,” Watson said.
...

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /93808692/

OK, coach. Play Bender already. It's not "finding a way" it's choosing to limit the minutes of either Duds or Tucker or Warren.

To be fair, it is tough to run so many players each game without killing momentum with bad substitutions etc.

[sunshoopjunky]

I agree I feel like bad subs have derailed our momentum a few times this year and prob cost a couple games that we could have stolen.

[Cap]

AASE dead last out of 420 players in VORP.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... anced.html

[carey]

https://twitter.com/Suns/status/799279919981178884 Happy Birthday, Dragan. May more playing time be in your future!

[O_Gardino]

Happy birthday, old man.

[Cap]

You still have to carry the bags, rook.

[Mori Chu]

AASE dead last out of 420 players in VORP.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... anced.html

Wow. Stunning. What an embarrassing stat to be a part of. We have to ship this guy out ASAP.

[Cap]

AASE dead last out of 420 players in VORP.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... anced.html

Wow. Stunning. What an embarrassing stat to be a part of. We have to ship this guy out ASAP.

After last night, he's no longer last. 11th from the bottom now. The new VORP cellar dweller is... Klay Thompson? His .313 3FG% is well below his usual rate, and his defensive numbers are pretty bad, but that is still very surprising.

[ShelC]

McD says Knight is going to come on soon. So we'd better hold onto him.

[Shabazz]

From Zach Lowe:

4. The state of Brandon Knight

It just isn't working out, notwithstanding a breakout against Denver on Wednesday. Knight is shooting 38 percent, and heaving the usual dose of infuriating foot-on-the-line long 2s. Teams are obliterating the Suns whenever Knight is on the floor, and the damage is even worse when he shares the court with Eric Bledsoe in what was once Phoenix's dream backcourt. He has the third-worst raw plus-minus in the league, ahead of only Evan Turner and Jeff Green -- now annoying his fifth fan base!

The evidence is piling up that Knight doesn't quite have the feel to be a lead guard -- the wayward lobs to a moping Tyson Chandler, bounce passes that miss their target or hit people in the feet, and barfy pull-up jumpers early in the shot clock. Knight isn't big enough to start on the wing, which means he's probably living out his destiny as a score-first sixth man in the Jamal Crawford lineage. He just has to you, you know, score.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1806 ... hunder-nba

[Superbone]

Thanks for the Lowe-lights, 'Bazz. Kellan Olson on the Empire of the Suns podcast had a interesting take on Brandon Knight. He thinks if you did a Men in Black on everybody and erased their memories at the start of this season that Knight would be everybody's 3rd or 4th favorite player. He says he's playing really hard especially on defense. He thought his playmaking in the Brooklyn game was really good and he thinks his offense is going to come around. He kind of sounds like McD about him. He does admit that he's "on Brandon Knight island, all alone and in need of supplies."

I did a thought exercise last night and tried to watch him as if I had never seen him play before. It actually worked out pretty well for that particular game because he got really hot and played quite well against the Nuggets. One of our few bright spots along with Booker. His defense was quite good. We'll see.

http://arizonasports.com/category/podca ... f+the+Suns

[Split T]

I don't have anything against Knight, but he hasn't been very good at all this year. His scoring and shooting will come around, but he's never going to be a good play maker. He's going to turn the ball over (1 of every 8 possessions) but if he can shoot/score like he did last night, he's very useful as a 6th man.

[ShelC]

We've probably devalued him by playing at the 2 and then moving him to the bench. I thought he was solid and still improving in Milwaukee, so maybe there's a team that likes him?

[Split T]

I think there are probably quite a few teams that would take him, the question is whether we can get anything of value back. The 76ers would seem to be the best trading partner in my mind. They've got an overload of big men and not enough guards. With playmaking forwards like Simmons and Saric, Knight would not have to shoulder the playmaking responsibilities. A trade centered on Knight for Noel seems to make sense. I'd then look to move Len and put Noel in the backup/future starting 5 role that Len currently occupies.

[ShelC]

I was thinking Philly but thought they wouldn't want the salary. Was also thinking about Orlando since they need scoring in general. Maybe Dallas but I doubt they'd take him. I do think he could be a good fit under Carlisle tho.

[Shabazz]

Sacramento.

[Mori Chu]

The best things you can say about Knight are that (a) he has nights where he "gets hot" and scores 20+ and really looks great on offense, and (b) he's still quite young (only 24!) and may actually "figure it out" at some point in the next couple of years.

[carey]

Anyone hear Gambo say that Knight is gone by the end of the year? I don't have time to comb through the podcasts for it, but a friend told me he said it.

[Cap]

Assuming he said it, it's only speculation.