Phx-Suns.Net

I like Jevon. I know some don't and he can be frustrating but he reminds me of an old school 90s PG that just digs in on D and can hit a few shots. Looks like Tim Hardaway out there, reminds me of Anthony Carter. And the shots he was hitting last night were icing on the cake.

I still want to see Ty Jerome get the lion's share of the backup PG minutes. But Carter played a great game. I don't expect him to consistently hit shots like that, but if he plays hard on D and doesn't make too many silly mistakes, he will still be situationally useful for us.

We didn’t play anyone last night that didn’t deserve to be on the court.

Is it possible it was us that asked for the Carter-Melton swap to be included in the JJ dump? I still like Melton better as a long term project, but Carter is definitely better right now. Seems very on brand for James Jones.

I too would like to see Ty Jerome eventually be the backup pg, but I’m perfectly willing to choose a backup situationally or by who’s got it going that particular day.

L'Oréal?

Shaquille L'Orneal?

Not gonna lie, I had to take a cold shower after I saw that last night.

From here on out, every night is opening night. We are unstoppable on opening nights.

I still can't believe someone was dumb enough to guarantee Ariza $13M. Did the Kings watch any games of his after our season opener last year? The contract we gave him was, after the fact, one of the worst "veteran presence" signings I've ever seen. Props to his agent.

Shabazz wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:52 am

I still can't believe someone was dumb enough to guarantee Ariza $13M. Did the Kings watch any games of his after our season opener last year? The contract we gave him was, after the fact, one of the worst "veteran presence" signings I've ever seen. Props to his agent.

I’m glad he was booed unmercifully last night.

Alright, I just finished watching the game, and I haven't read the thread yet. Here are my reactions:

Whatever Oubre is on, I want some. His energy and focus were crazy.
Rubio has good shoes, plays good defense, and the offense kept him out of spots where his shooting would hurt us.
Carter had a very nice game.
Booker, Ayton, Kaminsky and Saric all played much better defense than I expected. Aside from Hield torching us in the first half, I don't think the Kings ever found a guy they could isolate and pick on.
I'm thrilled with how we came out after half time. Even during summer league, we adjusted well at half time and played well after a time out.
Oubre gets the game ball, but I can't stop talking about Booker and Ayton actually trying to play D.
It was so awesome to see the Suns full squad plying and not just Devin carrying us.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:13 pm

I’m not really into the Igor hate. I’m not upset that we moved on, think this team needs a guy like Monty, but I feel bad for Igor. I don’t think last year was his fault. We set him up to fail unfortunately.

He was awful. I won't harp on it much but he had a better roster than Triano, and his team never even competed.

Aztec Sunsfan wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:03 am

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:58 pm

Guys, are we sure Luke Walton is a good coach?

His offense looked like garbage as soon as Hield stopped hitting every shot and his rotations were questionable. Trevor Ariza played 21 minutes.

I think he's still eating off of that successful stint with one of the greatest teams of all time.

Yeah, that same tought striked me somewhere in the 3rd, there wasn’t any adjustments on their part to secure the lead after halftime, while we were slowly taking control of the game, then we open the big lead and they still didn’t adjust at all.

Hard to defend the Walton acquisition. Especially after watching so many former Lakers shine for the Pelicans two nights ago.

O_Gardino wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:42 am

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:13 pm

I’m not really into the Igor hate. I’m not upset that we moved on, think this team needs a guy like Monty, but I feel bad for Igor. I don’t think last year was his fault. We set him up to fail unfortunately.

He was awful. I won't harp on it much but he had a better roster than Triano, and his team never even competed.

Agree. I'm harping on it now but I won't any longer. Igor sucked. He never stood up for his team and kept quiet with the officials. Monty was riding the officials a few times last night. I remember watching timeouts and the huddle would have several guys disengaged. I think the language barrier and lack of relating with NBA player culture really hurt Igor more than anything.

Marty [Mori Chu] wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:29 am

Pert Plus, great hair, no fuss.

AmareIsGod wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:49 am

O_Gardino wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:42 am

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:13 pm

I’m not really into the Igor hate. I’m not upset that we moved on, think this team needs a guy like Monty, but I feel bad for Igor. I don’t think last year was his fault. We set him up to fail unfortunately.

He was awful. I won't harp on it much but he had a better roster than Triano, and his team never even competed.

Agree. I'm harping on it now but I won't any longer. Igor sucked. He never stood up for his team and kept quiet with the officials. Monty was riding the officials a few times last night. I remember watching timeouts and the huddle would have several guys disengaged. I think the language barrier and lack of relating with NBA player culture really hurt Igor more than anything.

I remember listening to him talk and thinking players were going to struggle understanding him.

AmareIsGod wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:49 am

O_Gardino wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:42 am

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:13 pm

I’m not really into the Igor hate. I’m not upset that we moved on, think this team needs a guy like Monty, but I feel bad for Igor. I don’t think last year was his fault. We set him up to fail unfortunately.

He was awful. I won't harp on it much but he had a better roster than Triano, and his team never even competed.

Agree. I'm harping on it now but I won't any longer. Igor sucked. He never stood up for his team and kept quiet with the officials. Monty was riding the officials a few times last night. I remember watching timeouts and the huddle would have several guys disengaged. I think the language barrier and lack of relating with NBA player culture really hurt Igor more than anything.

I agree with both of you that Igor didn’t do a very good job. I’m just also saying he was given almost an impossible job to do in the first place. I also thought moving on was the right call, I’m just not going to blame Igor for last season. That team sucked, regardless of the coach. I blame Sarver, McD the most...then Igor and the players.

Yes, the roster was slightly better than the roster Triano had, but it was still relying on rookies and teenagers and G league point guards. It’s also not like Triano’s team competed more. They finished 30th in offense and 30th in defense and had essentially the exact same point differential.

It appears Igor struggled with the communication aspects of the job and maybe that makes him more suited to being an assistant.

I think Igor's a fine basketball mind but looking back, it was just another example of McD having no feel for the type of coach needed for the roster. To be fair, I don't know many coaches who would've done a whole lot better with point guards like Canaan, Melton and Okobo or "vets" like Ariza and Anderson to start the season. But again, it was McD completely whiffing on a coaching hire.

Split T wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:18 am

AmareIsGod wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:49 am

O_Gardino wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:42 am

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:13 pm

I’m not really into the Igor hate. I’m not upset that we moved on, think this team needs a guy like Monty, but I feel bad for Igor. I don’t think last year was his fault. We set him up to fail unfortunately.

He was awful. I won't harp on it much but he had a better roster than Triano, and his team never even competed.

Agree. I'm harping on it now but I won't any longer. Igor sucked. He never stood up for his team and kept quiet with the officials. Monty was riding the officials a few times last night. I remember watching timeouts and the huddle would have several guys disengaged. I think the language barrier and lack of relating with NBA player culture really hurt Igor more than anything.

I agree with both of you that Igor didn’t do a very good job. I’m just also saying he was given almost an impossible job to do in the first place. I also thought moving on was the right call, I’m just not going to blame Igor for last season. That team sucked, regardless of the coach. I blame Sarver, McD the most...then Igor and the players.

Yes, the roster was slightly better than the roster Triano had, but it was still relying on rookies and teenagers and G league point guards. It’s also not like Triano’s team competed more. They finished 30th in offense and 30th in defense and had essentially the exact same point differential.

It appears Igor struggled with the communication aspects of the job and maybe that makes him more suited to being an assistant.

Triano's team competed way more. They had to tank at the end of the season to get 21 wins. They were 16-26 when we started sitting guys out, and they were competitive in about half of their losses. They sucked, but Triano had their attention and effort from day one.

Igor's team had to go on a hot streak to get 19. Igor never had his team at all. I'm not "blaming" him for any part of last season besides his coaching job, but to me he is there with Watson and Porter as a guy who is just not a head coach.

There's no point in bashing him, so I'll leave it at that.