Name your top 3 problems

NashDishesDimes

Hall of Famer
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
Posts
1,833
Reaction score
547
Name your top 3 problems with this team, i think there are way more than 3 but having problems figuring out the main catalyst:

1. Dbook at point guard - watching him walk the ball up and hold it until 7 seconds on the clock and then having to rush a shot is the sole reason theyre terrible in the fourth quarter imo. Brad beal needs to play point guard 100% of the time. At least he doesnt hold it, plays downhill and puts pressure on the defense, allows book to slide into natural position, and it keeps Beal involved instead of in a corner.

2. No offensive system - this team constantly focuses on exploiting a matchup in the iso and results in no offensive rhythm and doesnt give confidence to the others

3. Leadership - lets be honest, Book hasnt done anything without CP3. Small thing i noticed was Dbook was only guy wearing backwards hat at allstar game warmups. I love his confidence but he thinks he is better than he is after 1 finals trip. Durant leads by example but this team needs a voice and Vogel aint it.
 

Phrazbit

ASFN Icon
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Posts
19,681
Reaction score
10,482
1. Health... a team full of injury prone guys has proven to be very injury prone. They can't sustain health for more than a few games, it is hard to imagine them sustaining health in the playoffs.

2. Sloppy. A true point guard would help but this team gives the ball away like it's going out of style. Durant is especially sloppy with the ball, dribbling straight into multiple defenders and either floating passes or trying absurd bounce passes through the teeth of the defense. They give up a crazy about of live ball turnovers, plays that lead instantly to opposing points.

3. Defense. The scheme isn't great but most of the squad is are one way players. Okogie is the only high quality on ball defender and he's so bad on offense that he's hardly playable.
 
Last edited:

Ouchie-Z-Clown

I'm better than Mulli!
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Posts
60,486
Reaction score
52,296
Location
SoCal
1. Low IQ plays. This squad just doesn’t have heady play on offense or defense. I see so many boneheaded errors on both sides of the court it’s amazing they can remain in games much less win more than half of them.

2. No dawg. There’s talent but no real dawg in this team. O’Neal has some of it, and okogie too. But one is a role player and the other just isn’t a big enough part of the team on the floor to make a difference.

3. Lack of offense. With a low post bully who can pass, an incredible shooter, and three stars the suns should be putting other teams defense in a blender. They should have to scramble to choose how they want to die to our offense. But I see little motion, poor ball movement, easily trapped, iso ball. It’s the opposite of watching beautiful offense. It’s the visual equivalent of hearing nails screeching on a chalkboard.
 

nashman

ASFN Icon
Joined
May 3, 2007
Posts
10,495
Reaction score
7,196
Location
Queen Creek, AZ
Name your top 3 problems with this team, i think there are way more than 3 but having problems figuring out the main catalyst:

1. Dbook at point guard - watching him walk the ball up and hold it until 7 seconds on the clock and then having to rush a shot is the sole reason theyre terrible in the fourth quarter imo. Brad beal needs to play point guard 100% of the time. At least he doesnt hold it, plays downhill and puts pressure on the defense, allows book to slide into natural position, and it keeps Beal involved instead of in a corner.

2. No offensive system - this team constantly focuses on exploiting a matchup in the iso and results in no offensive rhythm and doesnt give confidence to the others

3. Leadership - lets be honest, Book hasnt done anything without CP3. Small thing i noticed was Dbook was only guy wearing backwards hat at allstar game warmups. I love his confidence but he thinks he is better than he is after 1 finals trip. Durant leads by example but this team needs a voice and Vogel aint it.
Book is not the problem of the 4th qtrs that’s silly. He hasn’t even played and we were still awful in the 4th, what did we score like 12 in Denver? I do agree he brings it up slow as I believe he is just overthinking as he’s not a natural PG. Beal should be bringing it up and let Book stay at SG period. You can do some PG by committee but the majority should be Beal or as much as I don’t like him Lee….
 

Muggz

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jul 7, 2019
Posts
2,467
Reaction score
3,387
Location
Tent City
1) Being EXPOSED on a nightly basis by mediocre PG's And getting destroyed by good PG's. No floor general.
2) Turnovers, lazy passes
3) I'd feel a lot better if the 4th was our best quarter.
 

wagon mound 464

Veteran
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Posts
236
Reaction score
170
1. Turnovers.....sloppy passing
2. Nurk and other bench players missing FTs.... lost points.
3. Kill instinct. Once leading by double digits, they go into
lazy mode.
 

95pro

ASFN Icon
Joined
May 10, 2007
Posts
12,125
Reaction score
3,739
Name your top 3 problems with this team, i think there are way more than 3 but having problems figuring out the main catalyst:

1. Dbook at point guard - watching him walk the ball up and hold it until 7 seconds on the clock and then having to rush a shot is the sole reason theyre terrible in the fourth quarter imo. Brad beal needs to play point guard 100% of the time. At least he doesnt hold it, plays downhill and puts pressure on the defense, allows book to slide into natural position, and it keeps Beal involved instead of in a corner.

2. No offensive system - this team constantly focuses on exploiting a matchup in the iso and results in no offensive rhythm and doesnt give confidence to the others

3. Leadership - lets be honest, Book hasnt done anything without CP3. Small thing i noticed was Dbook was only guy wearing backwards hat at allstar game warmups. I love his confidence but he thinks he is better than he is after 1 finals trip. Durant leads by example but this team needs a voice and Vogel aint it.

That first part just sounds like a copy and paste from the PHNX broadcast.

I'd say offensive scheme is one. I would love to see more off ball movement, back cuts, and screens. Hopefully it's just this squad still trying to figure each other out. New roster, inconsistent roster/lineups/subs, are probably contributing to the turnovers a bit. Some passes are just obviously telegraphed its comical.

Guys not shooting or making layups. How many times do we pass on open 3's to make a boneheaded play/pass right after? How many times, do we drive and kick out, when we say - he could have just shot it. There are so many floaters and layups we could be attempting which should be higher percentage shots. There are so many three's not being shot when our hired gunners aren't gunning.

Coaching in two different areas. One is why are we playing Saben and Roddy? Why aren't we playing Bol more? Maybe the JO and Little injuries have a little bit of influence on those decisions, but still we can't play both Saben and Roddy in a tight game against the Celtics. And the other loops back to scheme, why are we going iso with 5-7 minutes left in the 4th? This just makes it so easy for teams to guard us in the 4th, running the clock down, dumb elementary passes, turnovers, putting guys in bad spots with 0 to 4 seconds left on the clock.
 

ASUCHRIS

ONE HEART BEAT!!!
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Posts
15,066
Reaction score
11,797
1. Offensive scheme/lack of system
2. Poor/inconsistent rotations
3. No killer instinct or urgency

Not sure how to solve all of those issues but I believe coaching is a big issue in all of them.
Yep. Both motivation and system seem to be problems, and that falls mainly on coaching.
 

Proximo

ASFN Icon
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Posts
12,068
Reaction score
9,777
1. Turnovers - I don't buy it's a lack of a PG and never will. A PG would not help Nurk from getting stripped constantly, or help with KD's loose handle. I guess maybe what I am saying is this is mainly a personnel problem - but KD should not be put in a position to try and create his own shot as often as he does.

2. ISO ball. The Suns are far FAR better when the ball is moving. The tendency to force it to KD or Booker so they can go against a double team just is not producing efficient offense - this is IMO the major reason the 4th Quarters are so bad - the attempts to force it to them for ISO ball becomes an every possession occurrence.

3. Not enough 3 point attempts. We are a good 3pt shooting team, but we take a low amount compared to most teams - that's just stupid.

Most of these are mostly coaching related - so really it's primarily one problem in my book.
 

Proximo

ASFN Icon
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Posts
12,068
Reaction score
9,777
Health, continuity and on-court leadership. We aren't a team, we're a collection of players and that's a problem made even worse when you have no real "quarterback" out there.
I don't buy this at all.

PG's don't exist anymore, and most teams don't have a leader, nor do they need one.

90% of winning in today's NBA is generating good 3pt looks and knocking down a good percentage of them.
 

Proximo

ASFN Icon
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Posts
12,068
Reaction score
9,777
Book is not the problem of the 4th qtrs that’s silly. He hasn’t even played and we were still awful in the 4th, what did we score like 12 in Denver? I do agree he brings it up slow as I believe he is just overthinking as he’s not a natural PG. Beal should be bringing it up and let Book stay at SG period. You can do some PG by committee but the majority should be Beal or as much as I don’t like him Lee….
Well, I think he somewhat is. His lack of wanting to give up the ball to anyone but KD stalls the offense out. Granted outside of the big 3 we don't have guys that are good at generating their own shot, but if nothing else they should be driving and kicking to each other, not trying to ISO to get off a contested 15 footer.
 

taz02

All Star
Joined
May 8, 2007
Posts
889
Reaction score
401
I don't buy this at all.

PG's don't exist anymore, and most teams don't have a leader, nor do they need one.

90% of winning in today's NBA is generating good 3pt looks and knocking down a good percentage of them.

That's why most teams don't win championships. You are not winning one without a strong leader.

If it's not a PG /floor leader then we will need a better coach.
 
OP
OP
N

NashDishesDimes

Hall of Famer
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
Posts
1,833
Reaction score
547
1. Turnovers - I don't buy it's a lack of a PG and never will. A PG would not help Nurk from getting stripped constantly, or help with KD's loose handle. I guess maybe what I am saying is this is mainly a personnel problem - but KD should not be put in a position to try and create his own shot as often as he does.

2. ISO ball. The Suns are far FAR better when the ball is moving. The tendency to force it to KD or Booker so they can go against a double team just is not producing efficient offense - this is IMO the major reason the 4th Quarters are so bad - the attempts to force it to them for ISO ball becomes an every possession occurrence.

3. Not enough 3 point attempts. We are a good 3pt shooting team, but we take a low amount compared to most teams - that's just stupid.

Most of these are mostly coaching related - so really it's primarily one problem in my book.

Agreed. I dont buy the lack of point guard or health as an excuse. Dbook, durant, and brad beal are three of the top players in the NBA with tons if experience. Most point guards are combo guards anyways.

Overall when you have this many problems that arent improving, have to look at coaching
 

Bobster

All Star
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Posts
570
Reaction score
564
Location
Phoenix, AZ
1 Poor roster construction

2 Turnovers (which points to the roster construction)

3 No killer instinct (no lead is safe when the fourth quarter rolls around)
 

Hoop Head

ASFN Icon
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Posts
16,102
Reaction score
11,070
Location
Tempe, AZ
All time Suns hated coaches:

#1. Lindsey Hunter
#2 Earl Watson
#3 Frank Vogel

#1 Terry Porter
#2 Earl Watson
#3 Frank Vogel

Vogel is closing in on Watson fast. I often forget Hunter coached this team since it was like 30 games in a season that was essentially over.
 

Chaplin

Better off silent
Joined
May 13, 2002
Posts
44,886
Reaction score
14,488
Location
Round Rock, TX
#1 Terry Porter
#2 Earl Watson
#3 Frank Vogel

Vogel is closing in on Watson fast. I often forget Hunter coached this team since it was like 30 games in a season that was essentially over.
Porter and Watson didn't take on a supposed contender. Vogel has and he has been terrible at it. That makes him my least liked coach ever.
 

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
537,267
Posts
5,268,326
Members
6,275
Latest member
Beagleperson
Top