Game Day: Magic (8-6) @ Suns (9-5), Mon 11/18/24

[Superbone]

The best player on either team tonight had 32/5/8.

Devin Booker scored a whopping 18.

Booker is not a top 15 player in this league. Way too easy to shut him down and get him to make stupid decisions.

We had enough talent on this team to beat a Magic roster without Banchero or WCJ. The problem is our supposed franchise player isn't good enough to be a franchise player.

Did you think he made bad decisions? They doubled him every touch…I really don’t know what you guys expect Booker to do. He didn’t have a good game, I won’t try to say otherwise, but being doubled every possession without another teammate who can create their own shot is a recipe for disaster. I’m impressed we had it within 10.

Maybe if Booker practiced against double teams in pick-up games instead of complaining about them he would be better equipped to handle them.

Not his finest moment.

[Superbone]

...and Beal mentally and physically can't put together a stretch of more than 10 games without begging for attention with a fake injury

Give me a break. Way to make assumptions you know nothing about.

[specialsauce]

...and Beal mentally and physically can't put together a stretch of more than 10 games without begging for attention with a fake injury

Give me a break. Way to make assumptions you know nothing about.

A break? Something Beal knows nothing about. Just strains.

Never seen a player miss so much time due to an inability to tolerate any discomfort.

[Wally_West]

Saucey is just mad at Beal because there’s been clear and purposeful effort on Beal’s part to not be shirtless at practice anymore. Dude been covering up, wearing hoodies and shit. Where are those sweet 6 pack abs we’re used to seeing? What gives?

Even Book is wearing undershirts and headbands. Clear down turn in skin showing from are stars. Where is Saucey supposed to get his chesticle fix now? From Grayson pale obese ass? Gross.

[specialsauce]

No lies told

[TOO]

What happened to this place? Lol.

[Superbone]

What happened to this place? Lol.

This is what happens when the Suns aren't playing well. Looking forward to our next surge. The season started out so promising...

[In2ition]

It was a disappointing game last night, but it was coming off a back-to-back that kind of got stolen right out from under them. The team is a bit undermanned with the way it was constructed. If one of Beal or KD were back, it would be a different story right now. We may have been at least 3-3 in the last 6 games, instead of 1-5, imo. JO has been cold as ice, after starting off pretty hot. Even Dunn hasn't shot as well as he did the first 8 games. We also went through a small stretch where Book was sick, and clearly not feeling well. It's been a struggle in a lot of ways, and hopefully, these last few games is giving more confidence to the young guys that probably wouldn't get the same amount of development time if everyone was healthy.

[Kryptonic]

...and Beal mentally and physically can't put together a stretch of more than 10 games without begging for attention with a fake injury

Give me a break. Way to make assumptions you know nothing about.

A break? Something Beal knows nothing about. Just strains.

Never seen a player miss so much time due to an inability to tolerate any discomfort.

You seem to forget our former #1 with bruised ribs, bad mattress and was made uncomfortable by Icy roads. But I digress.

[Superbone]

It was a disappointing game last night, but it was coming off a back-to-back that kind of got stolen right out from under them. The team is a bit undermanned with the way it was constructed. If one of Beal or KD were back, it would be a different story right now. We may have been at least 3-3 in the last 6 games, instead of 1-5, imo. JO has been cold as ice, after starting off pretty hot. Even Dunn hasn't shot as well as he did the first 8 games. We also went through a small stretch where Book was sick, and clearly not feeling well. It's been a struggle in a lot of ways, and hopefully, these last few games is giving more confidence to the young guys that probably wouldn't get the same amount of development time if everyone was healthy.

I like your even-keel take. Good stuff. Makes me feel a little better about the situation. Just hope this upcoming six days off after the Knicks on Wednesday helps out on the injury front.

[SunsRIt]

Did you think he made bad decisions? They doubled him every touch…I really don’t know what you guys expect Booker to do. He didn’t have a good game, I won’t try to say otherwise, but being doubled every possession without another teammate who can create their own shot is a recipe for disaster. I’m impressed we had it within 10.

Maybe if Booker practiced against double teams in pick-up games instead of complaining about them he would be better equipped to handle them.

Bringing out a classic from half a decade ago. He’d also probably be better in the clutch if he’d stop complaining about mascots as well.

This is not the same Devin Booker from the Finals run and even the year after. At one point he was the best shooting guard in the league and was emerging to a top 5 status in my mind.

I was just poking fun at SunsRIt for bringing up some random pickup double team comment from over 5 years ago. The Booker haters are stuck on that for some reason.

Also I’m not sure he is different. He hasn’t been great this year, but it’s still early and most of his struggles have come playing with an under manned roster and while playing sick. If he’s still struggling when KD and Beal get back I will worry.

My comment was mostly in jest also…but it seemed like a good time to break it out.

[Split T]

But please, you were saying?

Booker is better than Luka confirmed!

If you paid attention to my post it was responding to people saying he was on a downward trend the last few years. I did not have any stats from this year in my post. I was showing that he has not in fact been on a downward trend. Yes he hasn’t been good this year. I haven’t said otherwise.

[Split T]

Maybe if Booker practiced against double teams in pick-up games instead of complaining about them he would be better equipped to handle them.

Bringing out a classic from half a decade ago. He’d also probably be better in the clutch if he’d stop complaining about mascots as well.

This is not the same Devin Booker from the Finals run and even the year after. At one point he was the best shooting guard in the league and was emerging to a top 5 status in my mind.

I was just poking fun at SunsRIt for bringing up some random pickup double team comment from over 5 years ago. The Booker haters are stuck on that for some reason.

Also I’m not sure he is different. He hasn’t been great this year, but it’s still early and most of his struggles have come playing with an under manned roster and while playing sick. If he’s still struggling when KD and Beal get back I will worry.

My comment was mostly in jest also…but it seemed like a good time to break it out.

The timing made sense…I just find it funny when Booker haters constantly bring up the double team comment and the raptors mascot…not the best looks for Booker, but quite tame when compared to some other players issues.

[Mori Chu]

I really don't get all the Booker hate around here lately. I'm not a blind Booker apologist, and I wouldn't say he has had a great season so far. But he's playing on tired legs and was sick very recently, and he's being asked to carry our team without 2-3 starters. Plenty of other guys are not playing up to our hopes and expectations:

- Grayson Allen, who just got a new contract and has mostly stunk up the joint since then
- Nurkic, our starting center who is almost unplayable
- Royce O'Neale, who is in a heck of a shooting slump
- Brad Beal, who wasn't looking very good before he went out with yet another injury

And so on. Maybe you'd say that most of these other guys are role players, and Book is supposed to be our superstar. And yeah, I get that. The thing I see in recent years with Booker is that he has white hot patches and cooler patches. He's going to go on a tear this season and have like 10 straight games of 30+, and he'll have stretches like right now where he is under 20 points multiple times. I wish he were consistently in the 25-30+ range but that's life.

I think part of the problem is that you get to know your own superstar so intimately that you know all of his flaws, while you don't really know the flaws of other teams' superstars. You think, say, Jayson Tatum is so great? Trae Young? Joel Embiid? Donovan Mitchell? Everybody in the NBA has their flaws. There aren't a lot of guys in the NBA I would trade Devin Booker for. I still think he can be a #1 / 1A guy on a title team. He needs help around him, but so did Tatum on the champion Celtics, who were extremely stacked around him last year.

[iLLmatic]

I think you guys are confusing the suns downward trend with Booker. Here’s Bookers last 4 seasons(not counting this year):

20-21: 26/4/4 on 48/34/87 shooting. .587 TS
21-22: 27/5/5 on 47/38/87 shooting. .576 TS
22-23: 28/5/6 on 49/35/86 shooting. .601 TS
23-24: 27/5/7 on 49/36/89 shooting. .611 TS

Where exactly is the downward trend?

It's not passing the eye test for me. Last year he looked off and it's sad to see but he's continuing that trend this year. I was hoping with Coach Bud and renewed optimism things would be better but he hasn't been dominating like I'm used to him doing.

[Ring_Wanted]

I think you guys are confusing the suns downward trend with Booker. Here’s Bookers last 4 seasons(not counting this year):

20-21: 26/4/4 on 48/34/87 shooting. .587 TS
21-22: 27/5/5 on 47/38/87 shooting. .576 TS
22-23: 28/5/6 on 49/35/86 shooting. .601 TS
23-24: 27/5/7 on 49/36/89 shooting. .611 TS

Where exactly is the downward trend?

It's not passing the eye test for me. Last year he looked off and it's sad to see but he's continuing that trend this year. I was hoping with Coach Bud and renewed optimism things would be better but he hasn't been dominating like I'm used to him doing.

We have had a worse team these last two seasons compared to the homegrown era with Mikal, Cam, Ayton and a still relevant Paul. Not an excuse, just a factor to consider.

Really, the second apron is just brutal. Losing the ability to combine contracts in trades is an indescribable hard blow. Might be worth it if you are left with a well balanced roster, but that was obviously not our case. If you remove the two big pieces for which we mortgaged everything, the result is a flawed and overall weak roster that very few stars could lead to consistent good results. Booker is not one of those, but then again, how many are?

[Split T]

I think you guys are confusing the suns downward trend with Booker. Here’s Bookers last 4 seasons(not counting this year):

20-21: 26/4/4 on 48/34/87 shooting. .587 TS
21-22: 27/5/5 on 47/38/87 shooting. .576 TS
22-23: 28/5/6 on 49/35/86 shooting. .601 TS
23-24: 27/5/7 on 49/36/89 shooting. .611 TS

Where exactly is the downward trend?

It's not passing the eye test for me. Last year he looked off and it's sad to see but he's continuing that trend this year. I was hoping with Coach Bud and renewed optimism things would be better but he hasn't been dominating like I'm used to him doing.

I don’t disagree, the whole team looked off last year, but the numbers show he was scoring, rebounding, assisting, and shooting at or above what he was doing in previous years. Perhaps it was just more noticeable because the team was struggling. Booker was not playing during the chunk of time in 22-23 that the team really struggled.

I think I’m just holding on to it being very early. He was also looking quite good early in the season when KD was playing. I remember his vastly increased 3pt attempt rate and it was translating to a higher efficiency.

I am just not going to evaluate the team when it’s undermanned. I think it’s clear we need KD, I’ll focus on what we look like when we have KD and Book. So far we are 8-1 when they both play I believe.

[Kryptonic]

I think you guys are confusing the suns downward trend with Booker. Here’s Bookers last 4 seasons(not counting this year):

20-21: 26/4/4 on 48/34/87 shooting. .587 TS
21-22: 27/5/5 on 47/38/87 shooting. .576 TS
22-23: 28/5/6 on 49/35/86 shooting. .601 TS
23-24: 27/5/7 on 49/36/89 shooting. .611 TS

Where exactly is the downward trend?

It's not passing the eye test for me. Last year he looked off and it's sad to see but he's continuing that trend this year. I was hoping with Coach Bud and renewed optimism things would be better but he hasn't been dominating like I'm used to him doing.

I don’t disagree, the whole team looked off last year, but the numbers show he was scoring, rebounding, assisting, and shooting at or above what he was doing in previous years. Perhaps it was just more noticeable because the team was struggling. Booker was not playing during the chunk of time in 22-23 that the team really struggled.

I think I’m just holding on to it being very early. He was also looking quite good early in the season when KD was playing. I remember his vastly increased 3pt attempt rate and it was translating to a higher efficiency.

I am just not going to evaluate the team when it’s undermanned. I think it’s clear we need KD, I’ll focus on what we look like when we have KD and Book. So far we are 8-1 when they both play I believe.

Here's the problem.... We're never going to be fully manned at a consistent rate. Just isn't going to happen, unfortunately.

[Split T]

You’re probably right, but we are also not going to win anything unless we are. I’ve accepted that. Bare minimum we will need KD and Book healthy in the playoffs if we expect to do anything.

[Superbone]

I think you guys are confusing the suns downward trend with Booker. Here’s Bookers last 4 seasons(not counting this year):

20-21: 26/4/4 on 48/34/87 shooting. .587 TS
21-22: 27/5/5 on 47/38/87 shooting. .576 TS
22-23: 28/5/6 on 49/35/86 shooting. .601 TS
23-24: 27/5/7 on 49/36/89 shooting. .611 TS

Where exactly is the downward trend?

It's not passing the eye test for me. Last year he looked off and it's sad to see but he's continuing that trend this year. I was hoping with Coach Bud and renewed optimism things would be better but he hasn't been dominating like I'm used to him doing.

We have had a worse team these last two seasons compared to the homegrown era with Mikal, Cam, Ayton and a still relevant Paul. Not an excuse, just a factor to consider.

Really, the second apron is just brutal. Losing the ability to combine contracts in trades is an indescribable hard blow. Might be worth it if you are left with a well balanced roster, but that was obviously not our case. If you remove the two big pieces for which we mortgaged everything, the result is a flawed and overall weak roster that very few stars could lead to consistent good results. Booker is not one of those, but then again, how many are?

Sounds like my fantasy team!