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Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 2:13 pm
by Superbone
Wow, that was quick!
https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1047216059974004736

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 2:42 pm
by Cap
Uh oh. If he plays Game 2, he’s gonna blow my “mark it” prediction.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:02 pm
by Mori Chu
I hope he isn't rushing back before it has fully healed. We can get by without him for a handful of games if needed. I hope he rests it fully until it is 100%.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:12 pm
by specialsauce
Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:02 pm
I hope he isn't rushing back before it has fully healed. We can get by without him for a handful of games if needed. I hope he rests it fully until it is 100%.
Groan

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:23 pm
by Superbone
specialsauce wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:12 pm
Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:02 pm
I hope he isn't rushing back before it has fully healed. We can get by without him for a handful of games if needed. I hope he rests it fully until it is 100%.
Groan
And he wasn't even trying!

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:40 pm
by iLLmatic
Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:02 pm
I hope he isn't rushing back before it has fully healed. We can get by without him for a handful of games if needed. I hope he rests it fully until it is 100%.
Well now that you're a dad you can at least use that for an excuse..

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:31 pm
by pickle
Speaking of unintended puns, and I know this is off topic, but if you guys will allow me...

10 years ago I worked at the Beijing Olympics for NBC and one of the engineers had lost his right hand, looks like from about elbow down. He wore a fake left hand and I never asked how. I was handling things reasonably well, treating him like a normal person. One day he was standing behind a rack of cables, hooking things up to patch some video signal through. It was a real mess, and I almost asked him "can I give you a hand" but I caught myself before the words actually came out of my mouth. I"m sure he's heard of it all, but I still would've felt bad had I said that.

Anyway, back to the regularly schedule programming of worrying about Booker's injury.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:24 pm
by Superbone
https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/1047537883827986432

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:34 pm
by Superbone
Dragan Bender regressing in third NBA season
The Phoenix Suns will have a difficult decision to make by end of month, whether to guarantee Bender’s 2019-20 season

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2018 ... ce=twitter

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:05 pm
by In2ition
If he doesn't show significant signs of getting it, it's not a difficult decision at all.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:14 pm
by Flagrant Fowl
If I were making the call, I'd be leaning toward keeping him through next year.

We're going to have a fair chunk of cap space next summer, so his guaranteed salary isn't impossible to work with if needed. The 2020 summer is when we really want to have a lot of cap space because there are a ton of good UFA's and RFA's on the market that year. So I think it's worth guaranteeing him for one more year to find out if Igor and his staff can get something out of him.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:11 pm
by The Bobster
Let's see if Igor can light a fire under his butt before we give up on him.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:25 pm
by bajanguy008
Two weeks to get clearance for contact is the main thing as I'm sure he will be in rhythm and have his touch back shortly
https://twitter.com/esidery/status/1047654827105243136

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:31 pm
by Mori Chu
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:14 pm
If I were making the call, I'd be leaning toward keeping him through next year.

We're going to have a fair chunk of cap space next summer, so his guaranteed salary isn't impossible to work with if needed. The 2020 summer is when we really want to have a lot of cap space because there are a ton of good UFA's and RFA's on the market that year. So I think it's worth guaranteeing him for one more year to find out if Igor and his staff can get something out of him.
I am really disappointed in Bender so far this season. But I still think the upside of keeping him outweighs the benefit of getting rid of him. His salary for next year isn't very much, and we aren't likely to command some max-level free agent, anyway. Despite everything the dude is still not even old enough to drink alcohol. I know other guys the same age are showing much more than Bender has, but some big men just take longer. He hasn't had a good system to learn in, hasn't had a good coaching staff to bring him along, hasn't had mentors and teammates to show him the way. It'd be much more shocking if he *were* already a productive NBA player. I say give him a little more time before we give up on the guy.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:35 pm
by Split T
5.9 million is a decent amount. I guess I'd lean towards keeping him at that salary, but only because I think we could dump him on someone without taking on salary.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:10 pm
by O_Gardino
A lot of guys play 4 years in college because they just aren't ready, then they go on to have productive NBA careers. Bender obviously just wasn't ready two seasons ago, and I wish we had put him in the G-league or let him stay in Europe. I'm not going to declare that season 3 is a regression before the season even starts. He definitely looked bad the other night. Let's see if he gets more comfortable as the season goes on.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:11 pm
by Cap
O_Gardino wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:10 pm
A lot of guys play 4 years in college because they just aren't ready, then they go on to have productive NBA careers. Bender obviously just wasn't ready two seasons ago, and I wish we had put him in the G-league or let him stay in Europe. I'm not going to declare that season 3 is a regression before the season even starts. He definitely looked bad the other night. Let's see if he gets more comfortable as the season goes on.
DNP so far tonight. Compared to Monday, that’s an improvement.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:20 pm
by specialsauce
Marty [Mori Chu] wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:31 pm
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:14 pm
If I were making the call, I'd be leaning toward keeping him through next year.

We're going to have a fair chunk of cap space next summer, so his guaranteed salary isn't impossible to work with if needed. The 2020 summer is when we really want to have a lot of cap space because there are a ton of good UFA's and RFA's on the market that year. So I think it's worth guaranteeing him for one more year to find out if Igor and his staff can get something out of him.
I am really disappointed in Bender so far this season. But I still think the upside of keeping him outweighs the benefit of getting rid of him. His salary for next year isn't very much, and we aren't likely to command some max-level free agent, anyway. Despite everything the dude is still not even old enough to drink alcohol. I know other guys the same age are showing much more than Bender has, but some big men just take longer. He hasn't had a good system to learn in, hasn't had a good coaching staff to bring him along, hasn't had mentors and teammates to show him the way. It'd be much more shocking if he *were* already a productive NBA player. I say give him a little more time before we give up on the guy.
Does race play a role in why people were so quick to give up on Chriss but refuse to give up on Bender? Because he is a gentle, soft-spoken white guy?

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:21 pm
by specialsauce
Cap wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:11 pm
O_Gardino wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:10 pm
A lot of guys play 4 years in college because they just aren't ready, then they go on to have productive NBA careers. Bender obviously just wasn't ready two seasons ago, and I wish we had put him in the G-league or let him stay in Europe. I'm not going to declare that season 3 is a regression before the season even starts. He definitely looked bad the other night. Let's see if he gets more comfortable as the season goes on.
DNP so far tonight. Compared to Monday, that’s an improvement.
Love it. Make him earn it. Although I don't know who's worse so far, he or Anderson. It's pretty early. If they continue at this rate, I would ditch them both altogether and run Ariza and Warren at the 4 and Jackson and Bridges at the 3.

Re: Suns Preseason News 2018

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:22 pm
by specialsauce
Okobo/Harrison
Booker/Bridges
Jackson/Bridges
Ariza/Warren
Ayton/Holmes/Chandler