Rockets @ Suns Game thread 3-09-13

[AzStevenCal]

This has actually been a fairly entertaining game so far. We have a 2 point lead late in the 3rd despite missing our big men.

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

Haddadi actually looks like he might develop into at least a decent backup.

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

Haddadi proves he's a legit big men. Bricks both free throws.

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

Beasley closes out the 3rd quarter with a 3 point shot to get us back in the lead, 77 - 76. I expect Harden to be a one man show here in the 4th and probably put us away.

Steve

 

[Folster]

Ugh! We are going to win this game. Helps the Lakers and hurts us.

 

[SirStefan32]

Hadadi is a beast!

Ok, ok, he can be a decent, affordable back-up.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Good grief. What a horrible win. There was a bright spot. This pass by Marshall was epic.
http://www.nba.com/games/20130309/HOUPHX/gameinfo.html?ls=iref:nbahpgt[0021200932]

second clip.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Who's your Hadadi?

 

[Chaplin]

So much for the tanking theory.

 

[Folster]

We should have just let Gentry finish out the season. The tenth pick is within reach, and we're on our way. We'll finish the season strong and end up with the 9th or 10th pick. We'll draft a guy like Mason Plumlee, the Markieff Morris/Kendall Marshall of the center position.

 

[Phrazbit]

All we have to do is start benching key players late under the excuse of "evaluating talent in big situations", its something countless teams have done. Instead we help the Lakers and screw ourselves to no end.

Pushing for wins right now is freaking stupid, the season is in the tubes, they have put a horrible product on the court and currently play in a half empty arena. Everything this franchise is doing, from top to bottom, right now should be aimed at the future. But its no shock to see this directionless franchise willfully shooting themselves in the foot to save face in a ruin of a season.

We could be looking at a top 3 pick and the 13th or 14th pick on top of it... instead, barring some very uncharacteristic luck in the lotto, we are working our way towards picking 9th and 30th... But hey, at least we will have some glorious wins over mediocre teams to reflect on instead of a potential stud... I am disgusted.

 

[Mainstreet]

I missed the game last night but apparently the Suns have found Hadadi.

This was a bad game for the Suns to win considering their winning is actually losing.

Two thoughts come to mind just looking at the stats. The Rockets miss Patrick Patterson and I'm glad the Suns ended up with Goran Dragic. Jeremy Lin appears to have come back down to earth from the time he played with the Knicks.

 

[Mainstreet]

Another quick thought. If the Rockets wanted to win, all they would have to do is insert Aaron Brooks. The Suns can never stop those small guards.

 

[AsUdUdE]

It's the most depressing thing in the world, to think the Suns are this bad, but can't even lose right...

They have BY FAR the least favorable outlook going forward....

The ONLY way they can keep from becoming completely irrelevant is to get a high pick this year and build through the draft...

By beating the Rockets, we screw our own position AND the potential pick from the lakers...

So depressing...

 

[AzStevenCal]

All we have to do is start benching key players late under the excuse of "evaluating talent in big situations", its something countless teams have done. Instead we help the Lakers and screw ourselves to no end.

Pushing for wins right now is freaking stupid, the season is in the tubes, they have put a horrible product on the court and currently play in a half empty arena. Everything this franchise is doing, from top to bottom, right now should be aimed at the future. But its no shock to see this directionless franchise willfully shooting themselves in the foot to save face in a ruin of a season.

We could be looking at a top 3 pick and the 13th or 14th pick on top of it... instead, barring some very uncharacteristic luck in the lotto, we are working our way towards picking 9th and 30th... But hey, at least we will have some glorious wins over mediocre teams to reflect on instead of a potential stud... I am disgusted.

I think they are doing the right thing. I will NEVER blame these guys or this organization for trying to do it the right way and intentionally losing is NEVER the right way. Playing the young guys with an eye to the future is one thing, intentionally trying to lose is another and you can bet we'd forfeit a couple of draft picks if we actually did as you suggest.

You can be disgusted all you want but IMO, you've reached a point where you cannot be pleased. There is nothing on this planet this organization can do now that will please you (and you're not alone). Your mind is made up and you're going to view every decision and every action with a harshly critical eye. But there is no miracle on the horizon. We are screwed from past decisions and losing every game the rest of this season does little or nothing to change the position our history has put us in. The only thing your approach would get us would be to establish a losing mindset.

Steve

 

[BC867]

I think they are doing the right thing. I will NEVER blame these guys or this organization for trying to do it the right way and intentionally losing is NEVER the right way. Playing the young guys with an eye to the future is one thing, intentionally trying to lose is another and you can bet we'd forfeit a couple of draft picks if we actually did as you suggest.

You can be disgusted all you want but IMO, you've reached a point where you cannot be pleased. There is nothing on this planet this organization can do now that will please you (and you're not alone). Your mind is made up and you're going to view every decision and every action with a harshly critical eye. But there is no miracle on the horizon. We are screwed from past decisions and losing every game the rest of this season does little or nothing to change the position our history has put us in. The only thing your approach would get us would be to establish a losing mindset.

Steve

 

[JS22]

I can't be mad at them for winning as long as they're developing their young guys. Or at least playing them to see what they've got. On the other hand, I'd be upset if they made a stupid trade for Rudy Gay in an effort to climb near .500.

 

[Phrazbit]

I think they are doing the right thing. I will NEVER blame these guys or this organization for trying to do it the right way and intentionally losing is NEVER the right way. Playing the young guys with an eye to the future is one thing, intentionally trying to lose is another and you can bet we'd forfeit a couple of draft picks if we actually did as you suggest.

You can be disgusted all you want but IMO, you've reached a point where you cannot be pleased. There is nothing on this planet this organization can do now that will please you (and you're not alone). Your mind is made up and you're going to view every decision and every action with a harshly critical eye. But there is no miracle on the horizon. We are screwed from past decisions and losing every game the rest of this season does little or nothing to change the position our history has put us in. The only thing your approach would get us would be to establish a losing mindset.

Steve

Several franchises tank every season and avoid taking a losing mindset. The teams with supposed "losing cultures" get there because they are poorly ran and have awful personnel. When you are done in the NBA then you need to be doing everything you can towards the future, thats a part of life in the NBA. Countless teams have realized this and taken it to their advantage. The Suns do not. And this is not a new mindset for me or many others. In the NBA the worst thing you can be is mediocre. It gives you no hope now and no hope in the future. The Suns seem to strive for mediocrity.

This season is done, that win last night may cost us several draft positions and also edges the Lakers ever closer to plummeting our other 1st pick 16 slots in the draft. Past decisions have screwed us, and we screw ourselves ever harder by pretending wins are something worth achieving right now.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Several franchises tank every season and avoid taking a losing mindset. The teams with supposed "losing cultures" get there because they are poorly ran and have awful personnel. When you are done in the NBA then you need to be doing everything you can towards the future, thats a part of life in the NBA. Countless teams have realized this and taken it to their advantage. The Suns do not. And this is not a new mindset for me or many others. In the NBA the worst thing you can be is mediocre. It gives you no hope now and no hope in the future. The Suns seem to strive for mediocrity.

This season is done, that win last night may cost us several draft positions and also edges the Lakers ever closer to plummeting our other 1st pick 16 slots in the draft. Past decisions have screwed us, and we screw ourselves ever harder by pretending wins are something worth achieving right now.

Sure, teams do what you're talking about here and we're one of them. What they don't do, is yank out the best players and replace them with scrubs at the end of the game which appeared to be what you were suggesting. This organization fired it's experienced Head Coach in the middle of the season and replaced him with a guy that had absolutely no experience. Then, they started playing their younger(supposedly useless) players heavier minutes. That's all they can do to "tank" and get away with it. Anything more and I'm confident they would face Stern's ire.

Trust me (no, seriously, I mean trust me), the last thing you want to do is "give" the game away to a team that is in a playoff battle with the Lakers. We could bench our key players against Cleveland but not last night, not with the entire Lakers world watching. I'd be willing to bet that we've already been warned to play this straight. If it ever got out that we were throwing games so that we could get a better pick from the Lakers, the NBA would hit us harder than they did Minnesota for the Smith deal.

Steve

 

[Phrazbit]

If we've been warned by the league then its complete garbage that they would do so. Teams do exactly what I am saying every year. Last year the Warriors (who needed to finish 7th or worse to keep their pick) tanked as shamelessly as any in memory, they had 3 d-league players in their starting lineup. Boston shamelessly tanked in 07. San Antonio, Chicago, Cleveland all have blatantly tanked and were richly rewarded for their "efforts".

The last thing we want to do is win against a team the Lakers are fighting for a playoff spot against. We are a team going no where, no one in this league would bat an eye if our cruchtime lineup left Dragic and Dudley on the bench so we could "evaluate" our youth in clutch situations.

 

[AzStevenCal]

If we've been warned by the league then its complete garbage that they would do so. Teams do exactly what I am saying every year. Last year the Warriors (who needed to finish 7th or worse to keep their pick) tanked as shamelessly as any in memory, they had 3 d-league players in their starting lineup. Boston shamelessly tanked in 07. San Antonio, Chicago, Cleveland all have blatantly tanked and were richly rewarded for their "efforts".

The last thing we want to do is win against a team the Lakers are fighting for a playoff spot against. We are a team going no where, no one in this league would bat an eye if our cruchtime lineup left Dragic and Dudley on the bench so we could "evaluate" our youth in clutch situations.

It's one thing to want us to lose, it's another to rip the organization because we failed to lose. Golden State raided the D League because of injuries and they weren't manufactured injuries either. They still played Klay Thompson and Brandon Rush a lot of minutes. We are doing what is acceptable to tank, you're advocating we cross a line that IMO should never be crossed and despite what you claim, I don't believe it has ever been crossed. Our entire roster looks like a D League group already, heck, we might improve by bringing up the best players from the minors.

Steve

 

[Griffin]

Our entire roster looks like a D League group already

Exactly. This was a game where Haddadi, Tucker and Marshall played a combined 80 minutes, the Morris's were our starting front-court, and the Suns still managed to win. Remarkable.

 

[Mainstreet]

At some point in time opposing teams need carry their share of the burden to win games. The Suns cannot lose games on their own. Supposedly opposing teams with more talent should be beating the Suns. I don't think teams are tanking games against the Suns.

It could be the Suns are beginning to show signs they are doing things the right way by winning with a team effort. I know many Suns fans do not want to give Hunter credit (I resist), but he must be doing something right to beat a team like SA on the road. The Suns just do not have enough talent to be consistent winners. However, if the Suns ownership, FO and coaching staff are making strides forward (something Suns fans have been wanting for years), it may be better than ping pong balls.

 

[BC867]

At some point in time opposing teams need carry their share of the burden to win games. The Suns cannot lose games on their own. Supposedly opposing teams with more talent should be beating the Suns. I don't think teams are tanking games against the Suns.

It could be the Suns are beginning to show signs they are doing things the right way by winning with a team effort. I know many Suns fans do not want to give Hunter credit (I resist), but he must be doing something right to beat a team like SA on the road. The Suns just do not have enough talent to be consistent winners. However, if the Suns ownership, FO and coaching staff are making strides forward (something Suns fans have been wanting for years), it may be better than ping pong balls.

to you, Mainstreet. Building a winning mentality is part of building a winning team. If this year's roster (young and old) are accustomed to losing, one college kid isn't going to take them to the promised land.

 

[Phrazbit]

I vehemently disagree with the idea that us benching vets in the clutch of games is going to destroy the "winning" mentality of this team. Teams tank every single year, teams regularly do it by playing the kids instead of the vets. The supposed "losing mentality" has a lot more to do with the character and quality of the players on the team. There is a long long list of teams who have tanked a towards the end of a lost season and not seen their franchise fall into disaray.

Signing, drafting, trading for bad players, stupid players, lazy players, thats how you destroy the culture of a franchise.

In the NBA the cream rises to the top, the most important part of assembling a winning team is to amass talent. We have very little talent on this team right now, striving for meaningless wins is only making it harder to find more.