LivingLegend wrote:

martin wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

BlueKnickers wrote:Dillon helped turn around the Suns. He's not considered a star player, but there it is.

Our "culture" is suffering from a bad mix of talents that cannot pull together on defense.

We played better defense earlier this season, but the collective effort has evaporated. Anytime we play good D it is only for a short stretch, a quarter at best, but it is not sustained at all.

We are now reduced to winning by outscoring teams. No team ever contends like that.

Case and point that pedigree does not necessarily translate to wins. It's why I'm strongly on team "Trade KAT". Depending on the return, it'd be addition by subtraction.

I’ve heard this story before.

Upgrade Randle to KAT and then to Giannis I guess.

Watching Giannis quite a bit lately - not clear if he is also going 70% but damn his game may not age well either. Very ball dominant, lots of standing around. Murder on the run and everything kind of stops when he puts his back to basket or has ball foul line extended.

He'd definitely get 30/10/5 here but not sure how rest of team would fall in line and who we are trading.

Kind of hoping there are other trade options out there.

What's probably going to happen is we will get past deadline - add a few pieces -- look better but collapse at some point in playoffs.

I’d be full circle back to Randle

BlueKnickers wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

martin wrote:Yep

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/jcmacrinba/status/2012716704703353182

We need a Kolek upgrade

So disappointed. Kid lost his confidence. Playing like crap lately. If he doesn't pull it together he'll be headed back to the bench

The Kolek point is off-base even if he's had a few poor games.

We have an ENTIRE front line (KAT/OG/Mikal) who can't function cleanly with the ball in their hands (piss poor handles all over the place) add in the fact that Deuce can't/doesn't create ANYTHING other than tough pull up jumpers and very tough running left-handed layups and we basically have a team that doesn't function properly. Throw in Mitch and his hands -- Jalen is mostly a scorer but you see how much he does when he's gone and lastly Josh who is often good but also often makes mind-numbing passes / decisions.

Been saying for 2-3 years -- we need some guards/wings who can walk/dribble/chew gum.

Kat is negotiating but don't think he's going to get what he wants from Leon.

ToddTT wrote:Palette cleansers.

Hahaha - GOD BLESS AMERICA and it's cheerleaders

BlueKnickers wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

BlueKnickers wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

martin wrote:Yep

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/jcmacrinba/status/2012716704703353182

We need a Kolek upgrade

So disappointed. Kid lost his confidence. Playing like crap lately. If he doesn't pull it together he'll be headed back to the bench

The Kolek point is off-base even if he's had a few poor games.

We have an ENTIRE front line (KAT/OG/Mikal) who can't function cleanly with the ball in their hands (piss poor handles all over the place) add in the fact that Deuce can't/doesn't create ANYTHING other than tough pull up jumpers and very tough running left-handed layups and we basically have a team that doesn't function properly. Throw in Mitch and his hands -- Jalen is mostly a scorer but you see how much he does when he's gone and lastly Josh who is often good but also often makes mind-numbing passes / decisions.

Been saying for 2-3 years -- we need some guards/wings who can walk/dribble/chew gum.

We're both right then, because while Kolek has been playing poorly in recent games he is also a traditional PG who thrives when his teammates know how to fill their spaces on the floor. Prior to this rough patch, Kolek made the correct pass 90% of the time which is great. It may be a simple pass, but the right one that keeps the rhythm going. With the team looking so FUBAR lately it is too much for Kolek to bring order to this mess. But Brunson wasn't either I should note.

This is becoming a coaching issue, because Brown started out on what I expected was the right foot. He emphasized quick decision making, moving the ball immediately, moving off the ball and finding the open man. And it worked. Our offense was often scorching. And that did mask early defensive deficiencies.

Brown trusted the veterans to execute without running set plays because with the right veterans those simple rules on offense should be enough. But this crew has lost the script and now they are settling for ISO and standing around watching as often as not. Not what I want to watch. I hated it under Thibs and I'll hate it under Brown if this continues for much longer.

So it's a coaching issue now, because the trust Brown gave to these veterans is being taken for granted and abused. They play sloppy and without focus as if the demands of the schedule have made them age prematurely.

Brunson is not quite the alpha we may be looking for after all. Clutch as he is, he is still first and foremost a gunslinger. He is otherwise a fairly stone-faced guy who may not be able to get guys like KAT on to the same page. And Hart is a lead by example leader, but maybe not a locker room lawyer. If he's off the court his impact is negated.

Bridges is a pacifist in the middle of a long brutal military campaign and while OG has outbursts where he does what he can to carry us he can be erratic and go along with bad play by his teammates. Neither are leaders.

KAT is a hot mess. I won't repeat what has been already said, but one thing for sure is he has no leadership abilities.

Because the team's veteran status has failed to produce leadership from within it now falls back on Brown to impose more structure. And that can blow up everything too. So this is going to be a rocky season.

Still, Kolek lost focus too and I expect more from him simply because his game is grounded in good fundamentals. He lost focus and has been making bad decisions he did not make earlier. He can fix that even if the team remains broken for now.

Agree with a lot of post and especially bolded. Alpha leader on court seems missing. It’s a vet group but who is stepping up, both vocally and within play on court?

Hard to do when you can’t dribble. Hard to do when you can’t play defense at all. Harder to do when you not an offensive machine. Hard to do from bench while injured.

SergioNYK wrote:Losing sucks but I thought we had a much better effort and response to the physical play and this was a very winnable game but we really miss Captain Clutch late in games. Clarkson had two really good open threes and he just missed. And Allen once again made the clutch hustle play with that tip pass. I thought we were in good shape after that 16-0 run in the 3rd led by Deuce but that run by the Suns to end the quarter was a killer. The bench led us down. Kolek was not good and gave up some key buckets to Gillespe. And we gave up too many offensive rebounds including that one by Williams down 6 with about 5 minutes left that led to O'Neal's three.

Good sign from KAT hitting some threes but the way the zebras don't give him calls is really infuriating. Brown might need to start calling them out in the postgame and pay the fines cause it's not being called fairly.

We're definitely in a bad slump and this **** happens during the season to almost every team and the injuries don't help but I thought we showed some signs last night.

I also thought the Alum Night was kind of cool but who decided it was a good idea to invite Mike Sweetney and Roger Mason Jr? They couldn't find ANYBODY else?

I would have preferred they invited X-Man back over those guys, but he said he never got a call.