Suns News: Week 22 3/23-3/29

[ShelC]

Maybe trying to devalue him to keep him? Seems like he never got the consistent minutes he had maybe earned from last season. Or maybe Marcus and his contract won out over a contract year guy.

[LazarusLong]

Green did well last season when he was starting next to Dragic, and in a lineup including Frye. That group shared the ball more, and spread the floor better. Earlier this season, he was on the floor with IT and Marcus, neither of whom is famous for terrific passing. And the Three PG mousketeer ball deprived him minutes at guard, so he was stuck playing wing, when he played. It was a perfect storm for him. He'll get a look somewhere else and revive his career.

[Mori Chu]

Green is a great bench SG to play with a distributing PG and a more defense/rebounding oriented frontcourt. We don't really have the best roster to maximize his contributions right now; we have too many chuckers and ballhogs and not enough guys who can distribute and work well with a guy like Green to get him open shots. I really wish we could keep him but it seems like he'll want out after being benched so much to end the season.

[ShelC]

He'd actually be a nice fit for the Clips. Could you imagine him on GS?

[TOO]

He'd actually be a nice fit for the Clips. Could you imagine him on GS?

Nope, you have to defend for GS.

[SDC]

bill simmons talks about how great pj tucker's defense was vs james harden in that last houston game at the 14:00 minute mark. like i said before, tucker's overpaid if the team is in rebuilding mode, but he'd be a valuable asset to any playoff or championship team.

http://c.espnradio.com/s:5L8r1/audio/24 ... 40.64k.mp3?

[SDC]

“The whole purpose of it was to give all three guys rest, so that they’d have gas in the tank for a playoff run,” says Suns coach Jeff Hornacek. “That was the plan, anyway. It was surprising for Goran [Dragic] to say he wasn’t going to sign back. It forced us to make some moves.”

haha... #cluelesscoach

[SDC]

Second-guess McDonough at your peril. He’s a whip-smart basketball guy, he loves Knight, and he has a plan. I can’t wait to see what it is.

makes me question whether zach lowe is smart himself.

[jkalldaway]

How do you block someone's messages?

[TOO]

Click that person and add them to foe list.

[Cap]

Second-guess McDonough at your peril. He’s a whip-smart basketball guy, he loves Knight, and he has a plan. I can’t wait to see what it is.

makes me question whether zach lowe is smart himself.

Nobody can figure out what the fuck McD is thinking, so it must be brilliant.

[pickle]

i understand that suns fans have had a lot of frustrations with the front office, but i don't think it's fair to say that lowe is not a smart basketball mind just coz he praises mcd... at the very least, sitting where he does, covering all teams and needing insider info to probably help him with the excellent reporting job that he does, lowe has no real incentive to unnecessarily antagonize a GM who isn't on the hot seat at the moment... let's cut him some slack guys.

[SDC]

Second-guess McDonough at your peril. He’s a whip-smart basketball guy, he loves Knight, and he has a plan. I can’t wait to see what it is.

makes me question whether zach lowe is smart himself.

Nobody can figure out what the fuck McD is thinking, so it must be brilliant.

lol, i think originaloriginal has figured it out.

[Shabazz]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /70470738/

In its first year of single-team partnership, Suns D-League affiliate Bakersfield is 33-13 with four games to play in the regular season.

Second-round draft pick Alec Brown has played for the Jam since finishing his shoulder rehabilitation. The 7-foot, stretch-shooting big man is averaging 18.6 minutes, 6.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks off the bench in 13 appearances. He is shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 31.3 percent on 3-pointers.

#IGNITETHEFUTURE

[carey]

On most nights I feel like this…

-Bledsoe is the turnover king and our offense under his sole leadership has been abysmal. Bottom 5 in the NBA. His defense is also highly overrated. How can we win with a PG that can’t get his teammates involved.

-Len went from having these 6 block games to being lucky to have a 1 block game. I don’t understand how he’s been so mediocre the last 15 games or so. He’s not aggressive. He rushes his shots when he does get them. He goes up soft a lot in the lane. We see flashes of interesting things like that reverse layup from the wrong side of the backboard, but those are few and far between lately. At least he rebounds a bit.

-Keef’s favorite shot seems to be the contested mid-range jumper. He’s good at it, but I wish he would diversify a bit. Last night I got so tired of seeing LMA get 2nd and 3rd chances at a basket because he was so much longer than Keef. Those alligator arms….

-People keep saying Knight is a good shooter but I sure haven’t seen it. Sure the stroke is pretty but he’s shooting 43% from the field on the year and 37.5% as a Sun. That is brutal. Just brutal. And he wants a $14M a year deal? Lets not even talk about his defense. Staying in front of his man is a foreign concept. He tries at least, so points for that I guess, but I don’t think he’ll ever be a good defender. Especially at the 2 where longer and bigger guards are going to eat him alive.

There are some bright spots. Goodwin’s play. Warren’s play. We’re in a hard spot now though. We divested ourselves of a bunch of assets for a player that doesn’t seem to be exceptionally good at anything. We’ll have a little bit of cap space but not enough for a max FA unless we trade Tucker and release the rights of Wright. The following Summer every team is going to have money, and we have nothing that makes our team more attractive than any other team in the league with an actual star or two on it. Why would a big name FA sign here?

Again, these are all thoughts that go through my head while watching the game. I still enjoy my Suns, I still root for them. It just feels so… dire at the moment I guess? The only thing I can hope for right now is rapid improvement by the players we do have. For McDonough to nail his #14 pick. For Bogdanovic to be the real deal when he comes over in ‘16. For Len to go back to the old Len defensively and make giant strides offensively (please, please stop dropping the ball below your waist every time you get it in the paint.) For Warren to prove he’s more than Ceballos and just maybe become Marion 2.0. For Bledsoe to figure out it’s ok to not stare down the guy you’re about to pass it to. For Goodwin to continue to work on that jump shot and open up his offensive game. And finally, for the Suns to make good moves this Summer. Please no panic moves. Don’t overpay guys. Be smart.

[Indy]

You are sure asking for a lot there, Carey.

[carey]

You are sure asking for a lot there, Carey.

Yeah, well... it's my position that if that stuff doesn't happen we'll be in the same spot next year. If you go to the season prediction thread you'll see that I predicted the Suns would finish 41-41 and it looks like we are right on course. I see another season like that ahead, and though everything I said is basically obvious to anyone that watches the Suns, I don't think I'm alone in my assessment by any means.

[Superbone]

I'm hoping the every other year pattern continues. Two years ago we were miserable. Last year was a big surprise. This year was a let down. So, I expect next year to be better than last year. I don't know how but McMiracle needs to pull one. And for the record, I don't see us getting better with the current core. That means changes need to come.

[Mori Chu]

I agree with pretty much all of your post, carey. The biggest downer to me is Knight. We paid so much to get him that you just *know* they aren't going to let him walk. They'll sign him to a big contract and he'll have all the leverage because we don't want to look stupid for giving away so many assets to get him this year. So then we'll have two starting guards making big money, and I still don't know if these two actually go together well. We barely got any audition for Knight before he got injured, and when he was out there, I didn't see enough to really want to commit big salary and years to him. I'm very concerned that next year will be another step back unless we make a huge splash of some kind during the offseason.

[Shabazz]

-Len went from having these 6 block games to being lucky to have a 1 block game. I don’t understand how he’s been so mediocre the last 15 games or so. He’s not aggressive. He rushes his shots when he does get them. He goes up soft a lot in the lane. We see flashes of interesting things like that reverse layup from the wrong side of the backboard, but those are few and far between lately. At least he rebounds a bit.

I think there's been a noticeable drop-off in his lift since the original ankle injury. That's affecting all aspects of his game, particularly his rim protection.