What is with the Suns?

The Suns coaching staff completely fell apart last night in their game against the LAL.

Didn't they watch the Clippers/Lakers game on Thursday night? If I were the owner of the Suns, I might consider
firing the head coach this morning.

Why in the world did the Suns not follow the Clippers lead in beating up and knocking down Lonzo Ball just like the
Clippers did so successfully???? Any third stringer on the Suns bench could have played with the instructions of following
Beverly's lead on how to defend Ball and keep him from being a factor in what turned out to be a Suns loss.

Perhaps the Suns are "tanking" already, but letting Ball dominate the following game after his poor performance on
Thursday was inexcusable in my mind.

So, instead of pounding this kid like the Clippers did so successfully, the Suns let the kid and the Lakers off the hook
by playing him soft all night long. This approach allowed Bell 29 points and 11 assists in a Lakers win!!!!!!!

How did that work for the Suns?????????????????????????????????????

The Suns are "trusting the process" too.


KJ

I watched that game and neither team played a lick of defense.

Ball is a very talented PG.  He also has a high basketball IQ.  Beverly took him out of the first  game early and often but Beverly is known to be a real physical defender that bothers a lot of players.

Ball has the size and handling skills to be a very good player.  He can also score the basketball.  Like all of the rookies he is going to have good games and bad games.  Last night's play is not indicative of what to expect from him but neither was his first outing.

I think he will average 12-14 PPG with 7-8 assists and 5-7 rebounds.  I am pretty confident about his assist and rebounding totals because he is and excellent passer and his 6'6" height will help him rebound over smaller PG's. Also he will get a lot of minutes.

His offense will be spotty because teams watch videos and once his strengths and weaknesses are recognized he will find it more difficult to score.  

dboss

Clyde

Just a case of 2 teams relying on very young players to shoulder the leadership role. Both Lakers and Suns top 6 or 7 players " minutes per game " average under 25 years of age. Inexperience,,, inexperience,,, inexperience.

swish

kj, dboss and swish,

My point was that the Suns failed to use the very same very successful strategy that the Clippers used against Ball, and not whether he is going to become a good NBA player or how young any team may be.

There was no guarantee that pounding him around would work every night, but with the two very different strategies used it certainly showed that playing Ball "soft" allowed him to have a great night and lead his team to a fairly easy victory.

I still think that I might be questioning the Suns coaching approach after what I saw on Thursday night against the Clippers.

wideclyde wrote:kj, dboss and swish,

My point was that the Suns failed to use the very same very successful strategy that the Clippers used against Ball, and not whether he is going to become a good NBA player or how young any team may be.

There was no guarantee that pounding him around would work every night, but with the two very different strategies used it certainly showed that playing Ball "soft" allowed him to have a great night and lead his team to a fairly easy victory.

I still think  that I might be questioning the Suns coaching approach after what I saw on Thursday night against the Clippers.

wideclyde

Who knows Clyde, what would have worked. Perhaps your choice to pound him would have resulted in different numbers for Ball - but on the other hand, maybe they tried but were lacking the personnel to shut him down. We should have a better idea by the end of the year as to Bell's future potential. Like all these young (20 in a few days ) players with only a year or 2 of college ball behind them, there's so much more to learn about the mental aspect of the game.

swish

swish

Last night the Suns were beat into a pulp by...LAC 130-88

They are probably the worst team in basketball. They are still in a rebuilding mode. Their coach, former NBA player Earl Watson signed a 3 year contract in 2016.

Players are likely to fatten up their stats whenever they play against the Suns.

Their situation makes me appreciate what we have in Brad Stevens.

dboss

Eric Bledsoe‏[size=16][size=1]Verified account [/size][ltr]@EBled2[/ltr]

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I Dont wanna be here
1:44 PM - 22 Oct 2017




bob
MY NOTE:  Wow.

Watson has been fired!

Dboss

They just fired their coach

The firing was less than an hour after Bledsoe's tweet.

KJ

Eric Bledsoe sent home, unlikely to play for Suns again, per GM

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21127746/eric-bledsoe-sent-home-meeting-phoenix-suns

ABC15 Sports
ABC15 Sports
@abc15sports
McDonough RE: Bledsoe's tweet: "He said he was at a hair salon... I didn't believe that to be true. He won't be with us going forward."
11:08 AM · Oct 23, 2017



bob


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