Phx-Suns.Net

Week in review.

March 10th @ Los Angeles Clippers L112-105
March 12th vs Cleveland L110-101
March 14th @ Boston W87-80
March 16th @ Toronto W121-113

This week.

March 17th @ Brooklyn 7:30 EST
March 19th vs Orlando 10:00 EST
March 21st vs Detroit 10:00 EST
March 23rd @ Minnesota 3:30 EST

Notes.

Do any of you remember the Gerald Green 'Birthday Cake' dunk? I vaguely do, but here it is for those that never saw it: CLICK!

At the end of this long piece on Blake Griffin there is some stuff on Gerald Green worth checking out: CLICK! I don't know if the last line in this McDonough quote is a throw away, but it's interesting to see that he considers him part of the core going forward. He's certainly been key to staying afloat during Bledsoe's injury.

""Well, we didn’t expect him to play like an All-Star," McDonough said. "We thought he’d fit in well. What we realistically thought was possible was to have him play like he did in New Jersey a couple of years ago. We certainly didn’t see that coming, nor did we expect that going forward. But he’s been great for us. We’ve got him for this year and next and hopefully for a long time.""

Also another interesting quote from McDonough addressing "tanking."

"The plan is interesting," McDonough said. "Our plan was to create an opportunity for the young guys to play and give them a chance and guys who hadn’t been given a chance, to give them a chance. I think a lot of people misconstrued that as we’re trying to lose intentionally and that wasn’t the case at all. With all the interest in the draft and the tanking buzzword that’s kind of been out there, people say, ‘Are you disappointed?’ No. If you lose a lot of games the best thing that could happen is you get a player that’s hopefully as good as some of these guys. Why don’t we just win right now and add to that?"

Who on this team didn't get a chance before? Plumlee, and in a sense Bledsoe. Ish?

The rest was just not up to the challenge until this season, the Morrii and Green in particular with the exception of his stint with the Nets.

Dragic, Frye and PJ have been starters before, and the rookies have been basically nonfactors.

So what I mean is that I don't buy that our plan was 'creating opportunities', at least with real competitiveness directly in mind.

I believe the FO was willing to spend a second season to get a high pick, but the team won and played much much better than expected and they couldn't 'afford' to blow it up in the middle of a season which obviously can't be graded as a disappointment by anyone not living in the land of the mock drafts, let alone the GM.

But I have a hard time believing they said to themselves 'why don't we just win right now and add to that?'.

Ring_Wanted wrote:But I have a hard time believing they said to themselves 'why don't we just win right now and add to that?'.

I don't. That's been Sarver's MO all along.

This week's games look pretty winnable. Brooklyn is the only tough team and we should be able to run them off the floor. I know we face an uphill battle to get to the playoffs but I think we should be able to win 3 if not all 4 of those games.

Mori Chu wrote:This week's games look pretty winnable. Brooklyn is the only tough team and we should be able to run them off the floor. I know we face an uphill battle to get to the playoffs but I think we should be able to win 3 if not all 4 of those games.

IDK about running BKN off the floor, they've been quite good since the AS break, A LOT better than us anyway.

Coro on last night's debacle: CLICK

No one tell Kieff it only gets worse from here...

"We're tired," Suns power forward Markieff Morris said after six games in six cities over nine days. "It feels like we've been on the road for two weeks. It's just one of those losses that we just say, 'Forget it,' and prepare for the next one.

Thanks for making the news thread, carey.

It certainly does look like the guys are tired. It makes sense, because nearly all of them are playing more minutes and a bigger role than they are used to. I do want the Suns to make the playoffs, but if a guy is teetering on the edge of an injury, I don't want them to push him. For example, I believe Dragic's ankles are bothering him. Maybe they should sit him for a few games and let him heal, even if it means that we might miss the playoffs.

Could Dragic be a candidate for NBA's Most Improved Player award? (Do they still give that out?)

Mori Chu wrote:Thanks for making the news thread, carey.

It certainly does look like the guys are tired. It makes sense, because nearly all of them are playing more minutes and a bigger role than they are used to. I do want the Suns to make the playoffs, but if a guy is teetering on the edge of an injury, I don't want them to push him. For example, I believe Dragic's ankles are bothering him. Maybe they should sit him for a few games and let him heal, even if it means that we might miss the playoffs.

Could Dragic be a candidate for NBA's Most Improved Player award? (Do they still give that out?)

They do give it out, Paul George won it last year. I'm not sure he's even the MIP on our team. That could be Bledsoe. That could be Green. That could be Kieff. It could even be Plumlee.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/qa-go ... h-friends/

I cant do fancy click links, Gogi and Grantland.

TheOriginalOriginal wrote:http://grantland.com/the-triangle/qa-go ... h-friends/

I cant do fancy click links, Gogi and Grantland.

No fancy click link? Pshaw!

I loved this quote:

The playoff race is obviously heated in the West. Do you check the standings every day? Do you look at the Eastern Conference standings and feel bitter you’re in the wrong conference?

I’m happy that we are in the West.

Really?

Yeah! Why not? If you want to be a good team, you have to play against the best teams. For me, personally, I want to have tough challenges. The West is a little bit stronger, and nobody expected we would even be contenders for the playoffs.

The guy is a competitor.

Eric Bledsoe's playoff push: CLICK

There was a Phoenix Suns Gorilla feature on Sportscenter this morning. Check out the 7 pm (PT/AZ) broadcast to see if they repeat it. It started at about the 37 minute mark. I'll provide a recap later.

Here's my Gorilla feature recap for those who missed it:

Henry Rojas originated the Gorilla in 1980 when he went to a game on the job as a singing telegram employee. He entertained the fans while there and ended up coming back for more and it turned into a full time gig and the Phoenix Suns Gorilla was born. He was the Gorilla for 8 years until he got tired of being behind the mask.

The Gorilla replacement came out of the ASU gymnastic program. His name is Bob Woolf and many of his ASU gymnast teammates went on to become mascots around the league. Woolf was the Gorilla for 20 years before retiring from the Gorilla as in-game entertainment. However after retiring, Woolf didn't know what to do with himself and became depressed. So, after three years out of the main role, he came back and continues to be the Gorilla today at 50 years of age.

Laz tells a good story about the original Gorilla getting into a confrontation with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that maybe he can recap.