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

[O_Gardino]

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.

He give a ton of energy, too. In fact, I would say the only bad thing you could say about Knight is that he makes bad decisions. It's just that he makes a lot of them.

[specialsauce]

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.

He give a ton of energy, too. In fact, I would say the only bad thing you could say about Knight is that he makes bad decisions. It's just that he makes a lot of them.

Only bad thing?

How about:

He's often times an awful finisher.

He is not a good defender.

No vision for a PG.

Ball stopper.

These aren't just about making decisions. The first three are due to a lack of talent, and the last is not because of poor decisions, but rather that he does not play the game the right way.

[Split T]

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.

He give a ton of energy, too. In fact, I would say the only bad thing you could say about Knight is that he makes bad decisions. It's just that he makes a lot of them.

Only bad thing?

How about:

He's often times an awful finisher.

He is not a good defender.

No vision for a PG.

Ball stopper.

These aren't just about making decisions. The first three are due to a lack of talent, and the last is not because of poor decisions, but rather that he does not play the game the right way.

He's not a great finisher, but he's nowhere near awful.
His defense has been fine this year, but you're right that he's just ok.

He plays like barbosa did on his first stint here. He can get into the lane pretty easily but the only thing on his mind is scoring and when that option is taken away he tries to improvise and this is where most of his errors come from.

If we start viewing him like we did barbosa and stop viewing him as a pg, he's much easier to handle. I still think we should trade him, but he's not the terrible basketball player this board makes him out to be.

[Ring_Wanted]

Sacramento.

Orlando makes sense as well. Dallas too, but they have very little to trade. At least his contract is not an abomination by today's standards.

[Ring_Wanted]

So how about this:

Orlando out: Hezonja, Meeks.
Orlando in: Knight, PHX '17 2ndR.

76rs out: Okafor.
76rs in: Hezonja, Olynyk.

Boston out: Amir, Olynyk.
Boston in: Len, Tucker.

Suns out: Knight, Len, Tucker, '17 2ndR.
Suns in: Okafor, Meeks.

Why for us: balance, we get a presence in the post, youth, potential and maybe even ability to play some minutes alongside Chandler, who apparently is here to stay. One-two punch with Booker and Bledsoe. No need to pay Len.

Why for 76rs: balance. Add a nice prospect who probably can use a change of scenary as he's been underwhelming on the Magic, at a position and skill of absolute need. Like Okafor, Mario is not currently in an ideal situation but still has credit. Olynyk could become a very good role player for them, especially with Rodríguez at pick and pop. Can see Olynyk fitting well with Embiid and Noels (Ily already does from what I've seen).

Why for Boston: boy do they need rebounding and defense. Amir is not that player anymore and Olynyk could have spent his welcome already (I'm sure Zeller is avilable as well), like some of the players involved in this hypothesis. Maybe Stevens gets something consistent out of Len. Tucker would be one more hound to throw at people on defense, but his real value to the Celtics comes at the boards. They have to ride IT4 as hard as they can, given his Iverson-lite current status. This deal could offset the loss of Turner in terms of overall depth, although they sorely miss ET on that second unit.

Why for Orlando: they look like they want to compete. Knight is a young veteran who has showed he can score and shoot, wich is vital if you have Payton. Mario is not playing up to his picks and/or potential, but there have been flashes and he is almost a prototypical SG/SF, so the Magic would need something attached to Knight. If it was Bledsoe instead, I guess Orlando would owe us, but I don't see McD blowing it up to the point of moving Knight and Bledsoe, no matter what we want. I would add a high second round on a allegedly strong draft or a heavily protected 1stR down the road with a good chance of turning into two seconds.

[carey]

Knight has no feel for the game. He's in love with the long 2-pointer (the worst shot in basketball, as we all know.) He's turnover prone. He gets abused defensively with regularity. He's also a ball-stopping offense killer, which I believe is his most egregious issue. If he could figure out how to get his points in the flow of the offense, bring that FG% up to the mid 40's, and cut the turnovers down I might be alright with keeping him. For now though I still think we're a better basketball team without Knight. I'd like to see what a game looks like with Ulis taking all of Knight's minutes. Just to compare.

[Mori Chu]

Ulis is what really makes me want to get rid of Knight. It's hard to put up with Knight's ball-hoggery when we have a pass-first young PG waiting right next to him on the bench.

[ShelC]

Agreed. I think Ulis and Chandler could actually be a great pairing.

[O_Gardino]

I'd probably do that trade, Ring. I would prefer future draft picks, but I do like the idea of Okafor. And a 3 for 2 trade frees up a lot of minutes.

The main knock on Okafor is that he doesn't play defense. Well, if the Suns are going to be the worst defensive team in the NBA, we might as well get some post scoring to make things tough on the other team. And I feel like JO is a dude you can move later on if things don't work out.

[Superbone]

http://clutchpoints.com/brandon-knight- ... -not-easy/

Brandon Knight says transition to 6th man role hasn’t been easy
Posted By: Bruno Manriqued; Posted date: November 17, 2016

The transition to a sixth man role is always a tough one for an NBA player to make. Not getting announced in the starting lineup, likely getting less minutes and not being able to play with the best talent on the floor are some of the things a player might suffer through when being demoted.

Despite Brandon Knight looking sharp in the preseason for the Phoenix Suns in his new role, the 6-foot-3 guard has struggled to come into his own in the regular season.

“It’s not an easy transition,” Knight told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “Definitely trying to stay warm, trying to figure out when and where to attack. Just trying to figure out a routine. That’s the biggest thing. You’ve had a routine over the past five, six years. Just trying to figure out how to be successful within the time you’re playing and how to pace yourself because you can play long spurts as a bench guy.”

Read more...

[Split T]

What does everyone mean when they say Brandon Knight is a ball stopper? He has his faults, but I don't really see this one. NBA.com tracking stats show that Bledsoe and Ulis hold and dribble the ball more per touch than knight. They also show that Booker and Warren are less likely to pass and more likely to shoot the ball than knight.

Is his shot selection poor at times? Yes
Has he been shooting terribly? Yes
Does he make poor decisions passing the ball? Yes

I just don't see him standing around dribbling and refusing to pass. He shoots a lot, but he often is playing as the only real threat offensively to create his own shot.

[Nodack]

Knight was a disappointment last year. This year he was demoted and has been a yuge disappointment. I'm glad he had a decent game against Denver because he was seriously due to not suck for once. One good game out of 12 isn't going to cut it in any league.

[Ring_Wanted]

What does everyone mean when they say Brandon Knight is a ball stopper?

High usage, low assists, often a TO.

[Cap]

Knight passes plenty, especially to the other team.

[carey]

Knight passes plenty, especially to the other team.

[Split T]

What does everyone mean when they say Brandon Knight is a ball stopper?

High usage, low assists, often a TO.

He actually has a lower usage rate and higher assist rate than booker, but no one calls booker a ball stopper

[Ring_Wanted]

What does everyone mean when they say Brandon Knight is a ball stopper?

High usage, low assists, often a TO.

He actually has a lower usage rate and higher assist rate than booker, but no one calls booker a ball stopper

As the anointed best talent on the team, Booker is a ball stopper too, but it's different. You can consume possessions in the flow of the game or you can force things looking for your own by default. This is certainly not a new phenom and could be even said that it comes with the territory due to the role of microwave 6th man (look at Jamal, Barea, Bobby Jackson, Barbosa, Terry, etc), but it is really ugly when you start as cold as Knight has this season. Settling for those stepback long twos and incurring in several bonehead/bad luck engagements every week doesn't help either. Then we have the TOs, wich are particularly infuriating because many times are consequence of said brainless dynamics.

Look, I don't like to make someone an scapegoat, and god knows the Suns are losing due to many factors other than Knight, but if we are going to lose, might as well do it playing 'the right way', in an unselfish, more team oriented manner. This is why, at this point, trading Bledsoe has to be in the deck too. My problem since Dragic was traded is that we've played bad and ugly. I can take ugly and wins or loses and bad, but not ugly and bad, and I am afraid on this roster you can pinpoint pretty easily the pieces that make our play ugly.

[da_suns_fan]

Knight passes plenty, especially to the other team.

Hey Cap any idea where I could buy the cap in your avatar?

[Cap]

Knight passes plenty, especially to the other team.

Hey Cap any idea where I could buy the cap in your avatar?

NewEraCap.com

[LazarusLong]

You just heard "Cap on caps" ... a new feature on suns.net ...