Phx-Suns.Net

Time: 4:30 pm AZ (4:30 pm PT / 7:30 pm ET)
Place: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
TV: FSAZ/NBALP

The Hawks have been struggling and the young Phoenix Suns or just what the doctor ordered. It's a win/win scenario.

Go Suns!!!

Dis • cuss

Booker's out tonight, per Doug Haller.

I had a feeling that was going to happen. Watson was on the radio this morning and said that he landed on someone's foot in the 4th quarter when the defender went under him on a jumpshot, idk which game(probably against the Hornets) and resprained the ankle. I hate when players do that. That is the biggest dick move if it's on purpose, and there is no place in the game for that kind of stuff.

Atlanta is struggling, we need to make sure we lose. JK, no reason to risk further injury. Let booker heal up.

Dig a deep hole, then fight our way back. This is becoming a habit.

WTF is wrong with the Hawks?

carey wrote:WTF is wrong with the Hawks?

They've contracted Dwighthowarditis.

Dayum! Chriss got dunked on there.

7 freaking posts, is that a record low?

The good:

Ulis had some excellent moves & passes and looked great at times directing things. He has to be our primary backup pg next year.
DJJ actually hit some outside shots. Though he missed a bunch also, but good that he was taking them. Shooting form looks fine.
Nice come back coupled with the customary fade out in the final minutes.
Good play from TJ except the 2 offensive fouls. The suns fan in me says those were soft, i mean they were both on eurosteps!

The bad:
We do commit a lot of fouls but also the refs seem a little too ready to blow the whistle on us for just about anything
We usually have at least 2 major offensive lulls each game, one at the end and one at the start. Also usually one soon after taking the lead
With no booker, it still took us around 5 minutes to actually run something for TJ
Chriss bobbed up now and then but seemed pretty invisible mostly. Didn't run much for him on offense, but he needs to get more involved in defense

other:
- Sad that bender wasn't out there yet, he would be benefiting hugely from these minutes
- i don't know what to make of Len. He isn't playing with much confidence. Its nice seeing him play with ulis who actually sets him up for some easy dunks. But his rim protection seems to have regressed. He seems to have had the occasional patch this season where he looks good protecting the rim, but he seems to have lost some mobility and some players don't hesitate to challenge him. I see he is trying to add the 3 to his game. But what we really need to that rim protector back. Really not sure what we do with him, and I've been a big len supporter

Danimal wrote:7 freaking posts, is that a record low?

No Booker, no reason to watch. I would've maybe cared if Bender came back for this game.

Thanks for the recap, Danimal. I'm out of town. That score margin was too close for comfort.

UglyTruth wrote:

Danimal wrote:7 freaking posts, is that a record low?

No Booker, no reason to watch. I would've maybe cared if Bender came back for this game.

I remembered there was a game in the 3rd quarter but then I saw Booker wasn't playing so I'm not going to go back and watch it.

- Sad that bender wasn't out there yet, he would be benefiting hugely from these minutes
- i don't know what to make of Len. He isn't playing with much confidence. Its nice seeing him play with ulis who actually sets him up for some easy dunks. But his rim protection seems to have regressed. He seems to have had the occasional patch this season where he looks good protecting the rim, but he seems to have lost some mobility and some players don't hesitate to challenge him. I see he is trying to add the 3 to his game. But what we really need to that rim protector back. Really not sure what we do with him, and I've been a big len supporter

Bender's development will definitely be pushed back another year due to him just not being out there enough this season. As goes the Suns tale: "Pushed back another season."

What we do with Len is sign the QO and step away. There isn't anyone out there who can throw big money at him so there's no use. I could see Indy trying to use some of their 20 mil of cap space on him but that's still a long shot. Brooklyn maybe.

Ulis needs to work all summer on his shot, especially from 3. If he had a reliable 3, he would do a lot of damage. He already has handles on par with anyone in the league, and great instincts.

Indy wrote:Ulis needs to work all summer on his shot, especially from 3. If he had a reliable 3, he would do a lot of damage. He already has handles on par with anyone in the league, and great instincts.

So true. I forgot to post that. He doesn't look that confident from 3 yet and some of his pull ups as well. But when he does he will be even more to watch

Folks are saying they didn't watch due to no booker but I thought it would be fun to see others get a bunch of shots

I just love watching ulis after years of us having to watch our PGs pound the ball into dust.

Box score link:
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900501

Warren had a strong game; 24 points on 11-20 shooting and 8 boards in 40 minutes (!). Ulis with 15 points, 10 assists, 6 boards, also in 40 minutes. Jared Dudley shot 2-for-11, and the new guy Eddie shot 2-9.

A concerning sign in the box score is that we don't really have a single consistently good 3-point shooter on the roster, except maybe Booker. A lot of 1-5 and 2-8 type of 3-point shooting stats for our guys. I think a lack of outside shooting is a huge barrier to a team being great. With Ulis able to distribute the ball much better than Bledsoe and Knight, we really need top shooters for him to pass it to.

I enjoy watching Ulis and the other guys, but it just isn't quite as fun without the threat that someone could seriously go off. I loved watching Amare when he was still young and pre-injuries, because I didn't want to miss the chance that he could go off and do something we've never seen before. I watched, but only casually while I was doing other things

Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:Box score link:
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900501

Warren had a strong game; 24 points on 11-20 shooting and 8 boards in 40 minutes (!). Ulis with 15 points, 10 assists, 6 boards, also in 40 minutes. Jared Dudley shot 2-for-11, and the new guy Eddie shot 2-9.

A concerning sign in the box score is that we don't really have a single consistently good 3-point shooter on the roster, except maybe Booker. A lot of 1-5 and 2-8 type of 3-point shooting stats for our guys. I think a lack of outside shooting is a huge barrier to a team being great. With Ulis able to distribute the ball much better than Bledsoe and Knight, we really need top shooters for him to pass it to.

I agree with this. I've been thinking that the Suns need a good outside shooter and/or backup sg for awhile now. I know a lot of you guys don't think this is a good draft for SGs, but I think it's potentially pretty deep at this position for some near starters and backups.

Malik Monk
Justin Jackson
Terrance Ferguson
Donovan Mitchell
Luke Kennard
Josh Hart
Grayson Allen
Sindarius Thornwell
Andrew White
PJ Dozier
Alonzo Trier
Kadeem Allen
Dillon Brooks
Dwayne Bacon
Zach Irvin
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
Tyler Dorsey
Marko Guduric
Peter Jok
Deonte Burton

Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:Box score link:
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900501

Warren had a strong game; 24 points on 11-20 shooting and 8 boards in 40 minutes (!). Ulis with 15 points, 10 assists, 6 boards, also in 40 minutes. Jared Dudley shot 2-for-11, and the new guy Eddie shot 2-9.

A concerning sign in the box score is that we don't really have a single consistently good 3-point shooter on the roster, except maybe Booker. A lot of 1-5 and 2-8 type of 3-point shooting stats for our guys. I think a lack of outside shooting is a huge barrier to a team being great. With Ulis able to distribute the ball much better than Bledsoe and Knight, we really need top shooters for him to pass it to.

Agree about the shooting, Dudley has been a very good shooter, but struggling lately and he's not part of the future. We've got some decent shooters(bled, Chriss, and bender are all capable), one highly promising shooter(booker) and then guys that need some work (ulis, Warren, Jones Jr.) We could really use a sharp shooter to add to our core. That's the one hesitation I have about Josh Jackson. He's probably in the warren/ulis camp as a shooter.

Should be a major focus in the offseason. We have scorers, not shooters. Bender should be the other knockdown shooter but we need more.