Game Day: Suns (15-18) @ 76ers (14-19), Mon 1/6/24

[Flagrant Fowl]

This Philly team is a mess and they played a bunch of no-names and bums off the bench.

Finish off the road trip with high effort wins.

[AmareIsGod]

Is this actual? Saw it floating around Reddit.

[specialsauce]

Beal looks super AI

[JeremyG]

Is this actual? Saw it floating around Reddit.

Nope, the jersey is all wrong. No “AL” patch among several other things.

[Bucktastic365]

I get Marion vibes with Dunn, and Oso has some Diaw in him.

[Bucktastic365]

I would love some props for seeing how well Dunn and Oso fit our lineup.
I believe I even said they should start; they are perfect complimentary players, and will only get better.

Get on the Dunn train now

[Gladiator]

Paul George is a worse contract than Brad Beal. He looks cooked.

I thought Dunn played him very well when they were matched up.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[Kryptonic]

Glad Beal played well…. Hopefully this will help teams buy in on him more and up his trade value.

[Drewsprocket]

Wow. Hey, wha happened?! I step away and Suns are total trash. Book mailing it in, Beal can’t stay on the court, and Tyus Jones is basically a SF. Is it time to get excited about Corbin Burnes?

[Mori Chu]

I watched this one start-to-finish on DVR delay so I couldn't comment during. What to make of a game like this? Nice to get a win, for one thing. I was excited to see if the new starting lineup would shake things up. At first, we looked absolutely horrible and got into a big hole. But then the guys stabilized and kind of figured it out, and we looked much better, especially in the 2nd half. I think mostly it's because Philly blows, but I do think this is a better rotation and that we should stick with it. Specific thoughts:

- I love Dunn and Oso so much. This was one of their best combined games of the season. Dunn was playing great D, he hit several 3s, he was pumping his fists and shouting, and the starters were high-fiving and encouraging him. Loved it. And Oso was cutting to the basket and had multiple nice finishes. I really just want to see these two play as much as possible. That's what this season has become for me, just enjoying our two fun rookies and watching them develop. That's what makes me happy and gives me any hope for our future. Just play Dunn 30 min and Oso 25 min a night. Please?

- Have to give Beal credit; he took his benching like a total professional. Scored 25 points on 10/15 shooting and looked like a star out there. He could have pouted, bagged it, put up a bad low-effort game, to try to show Coach that he isn't going to accept being benched. But he went out there and did everything he could to help the team. As much as everybody hates on Beal this season, quietly I think Booker is actually having the worse season for us so far. Beal is actually playing pretty well I think, though I know he doesn't fit in very well in the old starting lineup.

- Booker had a horrible shooting night. What is up with him lately? He was even missing back-to-back FTs. Seemed like he was sick or nursing an injury or something like that. Hope he's okay.

- KD had kind of a quiet / subdued game tonight, but I think this was almost exactly how I'd like him to be used. Be a finisher, hit some open 3s and shots for us, finish a few plays. Don't try to run the offense. He had 23 points on 9-14 shooting; magnifique.

- A bit lost in all the other rotation changes, but I liked how we found 22 minutes for Monte Morris tonight. He's been kind of buried on the bench for us but I think he is a weapon we can utilize. Tyus Jones has not been playing well lately and Morris brings more size and strength, and he's a good shooter and finisher. Keep playing him.

- Kelly Oubre for All-Star? He was just cooking us all night. Kept getting to the basket and getting chip shots and and-1s.

Pessimistic take: We sucked in the 1st quarter, and we weren't able to dominate a Philly team that sucks and was missing some of its best players. Optimistic take: If Booker had had a normal shooting night, this would have been a blowout.

Anyway, it was nice to get a win, but win or lose I think I just want to see the right guys playing the right way. And we mostly got that tonight. More, please.

[ShelC]

I don't think all the basketball Booker's played up to this point, which includes the Olympics, should be overlooked. He might just be burnt out.

[wpmiller42]

Beal moving to the bench opens up A LOT more avenues for us in terms of upgrading the roster. I'm totally fine keeping Beal if he's coming off the bench playing like a 6th man of the year candidate. Then maybe you try to pry Vucevic from the Bulls or maybe even Cam Johnson back from Nets... That could really help turn the season around, and we wouldn't have to rely on the Jimmy Butler craziness.

[specialsauce]

Beal moving to the bench opens up A LOT more avenues for us in terms of upgrading the roster. I'm totally fine keeping Beal if he's coming off the bench playing like a 6th man of the year candidate. Then maybe you try to pry Vucevic from the Bulls or maybe even Cam Johnson back from Nets... That could really help turn the season around, and we wouldn't have to rely on the Jimmy Butler craziness.

You can't get either without Beal's contract.

[SunsSince92]

I watched this one start-to-finish on DVR delay so I couldn't comment during. What to make of a game like this? Nice to get a win, for one thing. I was excited to see if the new starting lineup would shake things up. At first, we looked absolutely horrible and got into a big hole. But then the guys stabilized and kind of figured it out, and we looked much better, especially in the 2nd half. I think mostly it's because Philly blows, but I do think this is a better rotation and that we should stick with it. Specific thoughts:

- I love Dunn and Oso so much. This was one of their best combined games of the season. Dunn was playing great D, he hit several 3s, he was pumping his fists and shouting, and the starters were high-fiving and encouraging him. Loved it. And Oso was cutting to the basket and had multiple nice finishes. I really just want to see these two play as much as possible. That's what this season has become for me, just enjoying our two fun rookies and watching them develop. That's what makes me happy and gives me any hope for our future. Just play Dunn 30 min and Oso 25 min a night. Please?

- Have to give Beal credit; he took his benching like a total professional. Scored 25 points on 10/15 shooting and looked like a star out there. He could have pouted, bagged it, put up a bad low-effort game, to try to show Coach that he isn't going to accept being benched. But he went out there and did everything he could to help the team. As much as everybody hates on Beal this season, quietly I think Booker is actually having the worse season for us so far. Beal is actually playing pretty well I think, though I know he doesn't fit in very well in the old starting lineup.

- Booker had a horrible shooting night. What is up with him lately? He was even missing back-to-back FTs. Seemed like he was sick or nursing an injury or something like that. Hope he's okay.

- KD had kind of a quiet / subdued game tonight, but I think this was almost exactly how I'd like him to be used. Be a finisher, hit some open 3s and shots for us, finish a few plays. Don't try to run the offense. He had 23 points on 9-14 shooting; magnifique.

- A bit lost in all the other rotation changes, but I liked how we found 22 minutes for Monte Morris tonight. He's been kind of buried on the bench for us but I think he is a weapon we can utilize. Tyus Jones has not been playing well lately and Morris brings more size and strength, and he's a good shooter and finisher. Keep playing him.

- Kelly Oubre for All-Star? He was just cooking us all night. Kept getting to the basket and getting chip shots and and-1s.

Pessimistic take: We sucked in the 1st quarter, and we weren't able to dominate a Philly team that sucks and was missing some of its best players. Optimistic take: If Booker had had a normal shooting night, this would have been a blowout.

Anyway, it was nice to get a win, but win or lose I think I just want to see the right guys playing the right way. And we mostly got that tonight. More, please.

I totally agree with your points regarding Beal/Booker. I feel like he's being made the scapegoat this season when Booker has actually been playing worse. Booker had no excuse not to perform last night as he didn't need to compromise any of his game to accommodate Beal and yet he posts another dud. Meanwhile Beal goes out and produces the sort of performance that enticed us to trade for him in the first place, despite being benched.

I get what Book has meant to this organisation over the years but all too often his failings are brushed under the carpet by management and the fans in favour of protecting the 'face of the franchise'. It feels like we've reached a point where we need to start scrutinising his performances a bit more - for all the furore over the 2021 finals run, we've also had the humiliations against Dallas, Denver and Minnesota all of which have one common denominator.

[specialsauce]

Booker may be on drugs. Or he's washed. He's lost and he's slower than some 40 year olds. So which is it?

[AmareIsGod]

I watched this one start-to-finish on DVR delay so I couldn't comment during. What to make of a game like this? Nice to get a win, for one thing. I was excited to see if the new starting lineup would shake things up. At first, we looked absolutely horrible and got into a big hole. But then the guys stabilized and kind of figured it out, and we looked much better, especially in the 2nd half. I think mostly it's because Philly blows, but I do think this is a better rotation and that we should stick with it. Specific thoughts:

- I love Dunn and Oso so much. This was one of their best combined games of the season. Dunn was playing great D, he hit several 3s, he was pumping his fists and shouting, and the starters were high-fiving and encouraging him. Loved it. And Oso was cutting to the basket and had multiple nice finishes. I really just want to see these two play as much as possible. That's what this season has become for me, just enjoying our two fun rookies and watching them develop. That's what makes me happy and gives me any hope for our future. Just play Dunn 30 min and Oso 25 min a night. Please?

- Have to give Beal credit; he took his benching like a total professional. Scored 25 points on 10/15 shooting and looked like a star out there. He could have pouted, bagged it, put up a bad low-effort game, to try to show Coach that he isn't going to accept being benched. But he went out there and did everything he could to help the team. As much as everybody hates on Beal this season, quietly I think Booker is actually having the worse season for us so far. Beal is actually playing pretty well I think, though I know he doesn't fit in very well in the old starting lineup.

- Booker had a horrible shooting night. What is up with him lately? He was even missing back-to-back FTs. Seemed like he was sick or nursing an injury or something like that. Hope he's okay.

- KD had kind of a quiet / subdued game tonight, but I think this was almost exactly how I'd like him to be used. Be a finisher, hit some open 3s and shots for us, finish a few plays. Don't try to run the offense. He had 23 points on 9-14 shooting; magnifique.

- A bit lost in all the other rotation changes, but I liked how we found 22 minutes for Monte Morris tonight. He's been kind of buried on the bench for us but I think he is a weapon we can utilize. Tyus Jones has not been playing well lately and Morris brings more size and strength, and he's a good shooter and finisher. Keep playing him.

- Kelly Oubre for All-Star? He was just cooking us all night. Kept getting to the basket and getting chip shots and and-1s.

Pessimistic take: We sucked in the 1st quarter, and we weren't able to dominate a Philly team that sucks and was missing some of its best players. Optimistic take: If Booker had had a normal shooting night, this would have been a blowout.

Anyway, it was nice to get a win, but win or lose I think I just want to see the right guys playing the right way. And we mostly got that tonight. More, please.

I totally agree with your points regarding Beal/Booker. I feel like he's being made the scapegoat this season when Booker has actually been playing worse. Booker had no excuse not to perform last night as he didn't need to compromise any of his game to accommodate Beal and yet he posts another dud. Meanwhile Beal goes out and produces the sort of performance that enticed us to trade for him in the first place, despite being benched.

I get what Book has meant to this organisation over the years but all too often his failings are brushed under the carpet by management and the fans in favour of protecting the 'face of the franchise'. It feels like we've reached a point where we need to start scrutinising his performances a bit more - for all the furore over the 2021 finals run, we've also had the humiliations against Dallas, Denver and Minnesota all of which have one common denominator.

This is something that I somehow seem to overlook all of the time, simply because of what Booker has done in the past (and it's been about a season and half since he looked like himself). He's really declined. I tend to get upset at Beal and put the blame on him but the reality is that Booker has been a far larger culprit in terms of playing bad basketball. Defensively, offensively. He looks a bit like a shell of himself and has for awhile.

[Mori Chu]

I'm not, like, "out" on Booker or whatever. I love the guy and want him to stay here and retire a Sun, maybe the greatest Sun of all time by the time it's done. But I also just want to have an honest conversation about how he's currently playing, especially in the broader context of assigning blame for our disappointing season. Frankly I think Booker's poor play is one of the biggest reasons we have had a bad season. Here are some of his stats:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... ede01.html

Comparison to last season:

- scoring: 27.1 -> 24.1 (-3 ppg)
- shooting: .552/.364/.886 -> .482/.339/.888 (-7% 2pt, -3% 3pt)

The numbers are down modestly, but by the eye test he's really taken a step back. He's more tentative, he misses important shots, he gets double-teamed and loses the ball. His turnovers aren't up statistically but it's really striking if you watch him closely. Something is off.

None of this means I dislike Booker or think we should trade him or whatever. I just think we don't mention him enough when we are talking about this failure of a season and who shares the blame for it.

[Kryptonic]

I'm not, like, "out" on Booker or whatever. I love the guy and want him to stay here and retire a Sun, maybe the greatest Sun of all time by the time it's done. But I also just want to have an honest conversation about how he's currently playing, especially in the broader context of assigning blame for our disappointing season. Frankly I think Booker's poor play is one of the biggest reasons we have had a bad season. His shooting

Here are his stats:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... ede01.html

Comparison to last season:

- scoring: 27.1 -> 24.1 (-3 ppg)
- shooting: .552/.364/.886 -> .482/.339/.888 (-7% 2pt, -3% 3pt)

The numbers are down modestly, but by the eye test he's really taken a step back. He's more tentative, he misses important shots, he gets double-teamed and loses the ball. His turnovers aren't up statistically but it's really striking if you watch him closely. Something is off.

None of this means I dislike Booker or think we should trade him or whatever. I just think we don't mention him enough when we are talking about this failure of a season and who shares the blame for it.

Great point and agree he’s been a stinker this season. I was worried about the Olympics putting too much wear and tear on KD but looks like I should have been equally concerned about Book. Who would have thought after his play in the Olympics that he’d be struggling this bad?

After last nights game you’d almost wonder what it would bring to the team if we traded booker and kept Beal and KD. We’d prob be able to fill out our roster better.

[JeremyG]

Maybe Booker is the one who should have been benched.