Phoenix Suns, Booker & Durant Survive Rough 4th To Put Away Hornets | Suns At Hornets Postgame
Warning the people you’re about to see and hear are not who you expect them to be the usual cast of lovable characters are off watching a man we call girth get married so for one night and one night only you’ll be on this ride that is son’s basketball with a different group
Of lovable Misfits now with that out of the way let’s hit that sexy sexy sack hello and welcome in to another edition of the phnx Suns podcast we got the sexy Sachs as always but a new cast of characters to groove to it that is myself Eric Ruby usually just producing
For the show and I’ve got the two legends from Suns Twitter I got Aaron Edwards and I got Stephen Pion guys the Suns pulled out a win over the Charlotte Hornets it was 10796 they needed it bad after boss but we got a tradition around here and it’s going to make the people
Mad if I don’t let the sexy Sachs ride so for the next couple of seconds I need yall to Group oh yeah it’s feeling good listen guys Vibes are high go ahead and hit that like button make sure you subscribe to phnx don’t worry the usual crew that you’re here to yell out or love will be back on Sunday as the Milwaukee Bucks in the Phoenix Sun square off for a morning
Game but for now it’s an OG’s flavoring Friday shout out to OG’s and all the Fantastic stuff that they’ve got going on guys they’ve got a couple new products out there for you including this new cannabis gummy the OG’s Naturals which is vegan aka the Chris
Paul gummy and the big ogs which is a big big gummy perforated in 10 little pieces if you’re trying to have a fun time guys leave a comment if you want super chats will get read on screen go ahead and do that but let’s get into it
Right away I’m just going to throw it to you Aaron initial reactions to what was a pretty ugly game um other than the fact that it sounded like it was in an empty gym um it was KD just has some of these games sometimes I think it was
Kind of we took the lead that we all thought we were going to take but we all know how our fourth quarters are so we were expecting what we ended up getting and the just the overall Vibes and energy of that game was weird the entire time definitely weird the entire time
Vibes and energy here though on point and that includes my man Steven Steven your main takeaways yeah we saw kind of like the Cleveland game where they played they played to the level of the competition and then coming out that third quarter they had a big turnaround the energy
Looked different the fervor was different the connectivity was different the tempo was different and it looked more like the team that we expect to see uh down this home stretch especially going against some of the the heavyweights that they have lined up in the schedule the rest of the
Way well you mentioned the heavyweights and you mentioned the energy in the third quarter and to be honest with you like was watching and I was like okay good like it was just one of those games where in the first half you play down to your opponent the Phoenix Suns tend to
Do that and then you come on and you turn it on and that’s great and they did and then you get to the fourth quarter and once again they just disappeared and I know it’s it’s it’s a win it was 10796 but I don’t know if you guys got like
Good vibes from this game because I I personally I really didn’t and and I’m a big like look for the positive types of guy me and flex get along great Flex is always Mr positivity I usually line up with him and the win is a win especially
When you look at the standings in the west but Aaron man there was just certain points of that game where they were turning the ball over in a bunch of silly ways the offensive flow wasn’t there and like th those are the games to me that really stick out even though it
Was still the win yeah I mean they played a really physical team yesterday and it was a back toback so like I think that you kind of have to take that into account that you played probably one of the most physical teams in the NBA last last night and you’re playing today so
Yeah like you kind of you kind of got to take some of that part into it it’s just you played Boston and of course you might have came out a little slow because KD is 35 I don’t hold all that against them like KD is older and this
Was a back toback and he had like he did his best yesterday but for the most part I really can’t be that mad about this game because yeah it’s a grind and they’re on the East Coast road trip and this game was probably always going to
Look like this do you play into that Stephen the fact that it’s the second end of a back-to-back you just played the best team in the NBA the night before and this game was physical like Charlotte is a team that liks to muck it up in fact Steve Clifford even admitted
That his talent level isn’t that great and so they have to try really really hard in order to get wins is it just one of those games where style of plays clash it’s a back toback and you just kind of write it off and say at least
They won yeah I’m I’m always big on applying that context to things and we talked about in pregame the fact that it was somewhat of a trap game in a sense coming behind behind a matchup with the Boston Celtics being obviously the second night of a rad back to back that
They lost the first half of there’s pressure for them to just want to get that win and like we talked about win three out of four in this road trip against the Charlotte team that was obviously eager to make things happen especially without a few of their better
Pieces particularly with lamelo ball not being in the lineup so there’s a lot of little micro adversities that kind of added up to a hurdle for the Suns to kind of work themselves over and it took them have to kind of get acquainted with it and then when we saw them finally put
Their foot down we saw a team like we talked about they were starting to have more of an expectation to see a more consistent consistent So speaking of expectation a lot of people are just I mean they’re in the chat and they’re not happy and that includes psycho Hawk 2000
Listen great name you should be happier with a great name like that psycho Hawk 2000 but says pathetic performance no matter how you want to cut it and then like just the straight face Aaron would you call this game pathetic no I mean they came out slow I
Think it was just both teams made it ugly like I I can’t take like I can’t take away the back-to-back part of it especially with the way like KD is one of our best players and the back-to-backs are just going to be tough for him we that’s just going to be a
Thing especially this late into the season with the minutes he’s played early on so like yes it’s frustrating but they they still go on the long stretches of getting bucket and that’s like why we could still trust them because they’ll go in a stretch of going
Off and we can always trust them to at least do that especially against a bad team like yeah against Boston it was a struggle but they’re going to get Buckets and even when they have lows they’re always going to probably click enough to get some B some buckets off I
Mean like let’s not gloss over the fact that they did win and and they limped they limped to the end but that third quarter showed a lot that can be built upon and there was some pretty evenly spread out good performances I don’t think anybody really stood at like we
Were discussing star of the game which we’ll get to in a second but nobody really stood out and was like wow they won that game because blank one person that’s it nerk was in playing heavy on the boards he was able to get some putbacks in there set some physicality
Get some tchs Eric Gordon came back shot really well from outside of the arc Grayson Allen turned it on a little bit in the second half as well book not his best shooting percentage night from the field still did end up in a double double but KD back to back like you
Mentioned Aaron was just uh was just not not what you to see from him but he’s allowed to have those kinds of nights but let’s stick to the positive end Stephen what like uh schematically did you see the Suns Implement tonight that you think that they can build off of as
They approach a hopeful playoff run yeah well we saw we saw more of Kevin Durant in movement and if anybody follows me on Twitter or follows me on YouTube one of the in points of emphasis for me especially post All-Star break was eliminating a lot of those static
Post touches where Kevin Durant has the ball and he’s just holding it essentially conceding for the defense to send two to him which they almost do every single time he touches the ball rather than having those as the only kind of Base that they’re getting the
Ball to him in on within their offensive process it’s starting to blend in a little bit more him coming off of dribble handoffs and floring into three-player actions like that flowing off of stagger screens from the Baseline and just generally keeping him in movement including the dhos with nerkish
And the uh in the empty corner I think just keeping a healthy blend of those things in addition to those main stay uh post Touches for him where there’s not much movement going on from him in particular is important because obviously he can be he could be easily
Targeted in terms of the defense having essentially a big portion of their game plan set up to take the ball out of his hands so the more you can mitigate those stagnant touches and keep him in movement the more Dynamic your offense gets and the more you make him a
Movement Target uh just it adds so much abundance to the offensive process so I think that was maybe one of the bigger things in addition to Devin Booker continuing to play well off of Garner extra attention that he does in pick and roll and I think using guys like Kevin
Durant more off the ball like you said instead of a stagnant post up especially when you’ve seen him struggle a little bit when doubles have been sent to him and making that quick decision and that Quick Pass leading to some turnovers getting him to move a little bit more
And guys it’s less energy to just move around the court than it is to move and dribble the ball and dribble the ball and dribble the ball and have two guys sent to you and now you’re getting physically beat up and you’re thrown around over there but a big part of that
Working is Yousef nurkic and he did grab a lot of rebounds today but he had some pretty nice passes and he kind of unlocks everything Aaron from your perspective here on nerk like just how much of a different element does he bring to maybe some other centers either
On the roster or in uh Sun’s past um like book said on JJ pod like once he gets the Blitz and ner comes to the middle they trust him to make the next decision after that and he pretty constantly makes the better decision I mean it’s kind of easy when you’re
Either deciding between KD or Beal after you get the ball in the middle from the blitz but I think just trusting him enough to make those decisions is a really big deal for your Center cuz they’re not going to stop blitzing book They’re not going to stop blitzing KD
Like they’re not going to stop doubling so giving nerk the confidence to make those type of decisions once he gets the ball at the free throw line that’s a big deal because he usually does kind of make the right choice now let’s ignore the free throw line and and nerkish for
A little bit because we’re gonna talk positive here we are going to name youf nurkic our big bright shining star I am a big bright shining star 13 points 21 rebounds two assists but two really nice passes and of course he gets a lot of hockey assists as well Yousef nkit does
You see him right there with the sunglasses go ahead and drop a like for use of nage back to you Stephen do you feel like in order for nerk to really be able to succeed guys like Katie guys like book even Beal Grayson all of that
Kind of have to learn a little bit more how to move off the ball and get open and maybe play off of each other outside of the three-point line outside of the paint and give him space to back down throw it out yeah I think that is one of
The most important layers of offense in addition to what we talked about with Kevin Durant in the previous topic figuring out how to optimize the usage of Yousef nerkish he’s not just a screener though he’s one of the better screeners in the entirety of the NBA
He’s not just a handoff hub though he’s also one of the better front Court pieces to operate in that connecting type of manner you can literally run offense through him whether he’s initiating off of a grabb and goal getting into dribble handoffs or getting into five out delay action and
Initiating dribble handoffs you could pit it to him in the post which we saw him do a little bit in the second half and play the splits and when he’s the person with the ball inside the inside the three-point line he has four players spaced out in different variations based
Off of who’s on the floor with them those four players are all optimized because all four of those players naturally are either shooting guards small forwards or power fors or like hybrid fors like Kevin Durant now they’re able to play off of cuts you attract attention differently and you’re
Ining the off so the angle at which the defense is playing at is completely different than what their game plans to guard you against which is a pick and rooll and things of that nature so getting the most out of nerkish and optimizing him as well in addition to
The others with him having the ball in his hands and make playmaking decision is extremely important absolutely important for him and he brings so much like you said he is a great screener it’s not all he brings but his he’s like 300 lbs and he’s wide and you see the difference of
A guy like him setting a screen even somebody like EU Banks and if you’re going to the complete opposite spectrum of the body thickness range uh then you have bu bu who doesn’t really even set screens he just kind of stands there and then runs towards the pain or picks and
Pops uh but but nerk imposes that physical presence he bangs down low and he’s doing all this during Ramadan so big shout out to him a lot of these games that have been played over on the east coast well it’s you know it’s it’s middle of the day over here it was a
Four o’clock Arizona tip off over there uh it’s just about Sundown when these games are tipping off so I would assume he’s not getting a lot of food in or if he is it’s his first food after fasting from sun up to sun down so that is a
Huge factor for him but Aaron I I’ll I’ll go over to the negative side a little bit and appease aasar chat because they do like to to to nitpick a little bit but is it nitpicking to worry about nerk either foul trouble or his trouble at the foul line I mean you’re
Just gonna have I think the foul shooting stuff is going to figure St out like they were saying like his shot looks good it’s not like a hitch it’s not ugly he has a smooth shot at the free throw line they’re just not falling right now it’s the fouling like I got a
Lot of blazers friends and they’re they told me from the start I was like those playoff games yeah you got them for Jo joic but yic fouls him out a lot and it’s going to be just the constant thing that you have to deal with like he’s
Going to be in foul trouble regardless of who he play against that’s kind of just the part that you’re gonna have to deal with him his feet just aren’t great enough to run with dudes getting on switches and stuff like that so he reaches a lot and he takes a lot of
Chances and you kind of have to take that if you’re going to have the rebounding too if you’re just joining us now 15 minutes into the show make sure you hit a thumbs up subscribe to phnx sports the main crew is going to be back on Sunday I’m Eric Ruby that’s Aaron
Edwards that’s Stephen pan guys they are out there the main crew is they are celebrating Gerald bouray’s wedding day it’s been months and months in the making so big shout out to girth big happy congratulations to them those guys Espo’s getting it on the dance floor
Right now I’m sure he’s throwing back a Four Peaks or two I know Saul’s probably getting it as well I know he’s sneaky good on the dance floor so just make sure leave a like while you’re here and if you miss the o crew guys you’re going
To come back early morning on Sunday you’ll get them but same question to you Stephen are nurs free throws and fouls something to be concerned of especially if you’re trying to go deep in the playoffs the free throws not as much I feel like it’s just kind of a uh just
Kind of a little bit of a low for him on that end but the fouls the fouls was something in addition to his finishing around the basket was something that I was just kind of keeping an eye on in terms of monitoring over the course of
The season when they acquired him in the trade over the offseason I feel like I feel like that is important because he’s so important to so much of what they do not just on the offensive end but on the defensive end I know for some viewers uh
He leaves more to be desired in terms of his activity levels and in terms of how he’s just able to operate defensively but the proof is in the pudding in terms of the stats they’re at some of their best defensively as a team when he’s on
The floor on the defensive side of the floor uh compared to they are when he’s off the floor and I think optically and even just watching film it stands out and it looks the same and matches the stats so him being available for them and obviously seeing the rebounding
Discrepancy working against them when he’s off the floor versus when he’s on especially in those waning moments is important so he has to be available for this team honestly I I would go as far as to say he’s potentially one of the X factors for this team going into the
Playoffs this season I mean I don’t think that this team goes deep in the playoffs without ner playing his best B basketball and you can say that just because you look at who’s behind him fad young is getting no burn none at all and then we have drew Eubanks who every
Single person who watches Sun’s basketball is wondering why he continues to get so many minutes and the part with with Eubanks that’s interesting is because he’ll have a good block he’ll have a good dunk every once in a while and you’ll think to yourself like okay I
Get why the sun’s tampered for him and even in the offseason you thought to yourself this would be a really good pickup just the way that it fits in but Stephen you mentioned the numbers when nur’s on the court with those starters that best fiveman unit for Phoenix if
You just take him off and you put Drew Eubanks in there and you sub it in it’s basically the other end of the spectrum it goes from extremely high net rating extremely high defensive rating offensive rating all of that to completely opposite on the other end and
I do think that’s in part to Drew EU bankton his inability to find a rhythm on the floor but it’s also because Yousef nkit just does so much and yeah he has his flaws and at the beginning of the Season I’ll be honest my expectations for him were a lot lower
Than how he’s been playing like he has easily exceeded what I thought he could do and I remember James Jones in the press conference after the da trade and they were talking about fit and they like Yousef nurkic is a better fit for this team than they were basically
Saying DeAndre Aon and the way that he plays you’re going to see it and a lot of people were really really doubting that I don’t think that there is another Center that would I would say on the same Pace scale and play like look Nicole yic would be a better fit with
These guys right but as far as like pay and ability and like resources go for this team to get Aaron do you feel like Yousef nurkic is the best option that they could have at Center yeah even like kind of before we were talking about way
Worse Centers before we got nerk when we were talking about getting rid of Aiden we were talking about well Miles Turner and stuff like that like I think we still ended up on top of this Center wise regardless of how people felt earlier because I was his finishing
Around the rim was really bad to start the season his feet were slow on defense Anthony Davis was absolutely cooking him at the beginning like we like the problems that we knew he had were pretty like noticeable to start the season but you can tell he’s been actually working
He’s aggressive he’s been dunking the ball like in a really physical manner like this last couple months so you can see like he hears the criticism and he knows the stuff that he’s terrible at and I think this was like the best case scenario to get after Aon and he’s also
Like a really good teammate I I feel like I probably right now cuz I’m not able to check Twitter like I usually do when I’m producing and see if anything else is going on I I I’m sure that Yousef nerkish has probably tweeted something funny yet insightful and supportive of his teammates because
That’s just kind of what he does and Stephen I know you’re really big X’s and O’s guys I I know that you like to look at the way people play together look at the numbers look at the sets look at the actions and all of that but from a guy
Who looks at the game in your way how important is it that off the court you have somebody like Yousef nurkic who is just oh I mean plain and simple just a really good chemistry guy yeah those those things are equally as important as the fit in terms of the context of the
Team and how those puzzle pieces fit together to ultimately make you know this team what it what it’s going to be at the end of the season whenever their season ends those things are important you know we talked about the leadership bit and how some of the national pundits
Have made that like a hot word in relation to the Suns I mean those things that you see Yousef nerk is doing both on the floor and off the floor on Twitter for the public eye but also behind closed doors those are very much bits of leadership it might not
Necessarily come from the people from the persons on the team that outside external people expect it to come to and it might not come in the manner in which other people expect for it to come to or would like for it to to come to the team
But nerkish is very much brings all of that in addition to all of the skills that we see every we on the floor okay let’s keep the nerk love fest going here guys I I I am loving it because I do feel like sometimes a player like that
Will have a couple bad parts to their game and that’s what solely gets focused on and I want be more funny to kind of show his voice here he says I feel like we could win a series without one of the big two but he doesn’t think that they
Could win without nerk simple agree or disagree Aaron um we’ve seen it depends on who’s missing out of the big two honestly but I can see us winning a series without one of them with nerk in it I think see getting giving Eubanks 35 minutes in a
Game is just a recipe for disaster so I think if you try switch those minutes out for nerks minutes and just have Eubanks out there with anybody I think that’s just a nightmare waiting to happen so I kind of agree it just depends on who are the big to Stephen what do you
Think I I I tend to agree with that I think like Aaron said it depends on which of the big three is missing from that from that mix but I do think that with nerkish in there versus with him out like we talked about with the number discrepancy is you just can’t replace
What he does you can somewhat replace what one of the big three does by having one of the other two step up but you can’t replace what Nish brings with anything that you have on the raster right now all right guys we’re going to keep the fun going just a reminder it’s
Eric Ruby right here in the middle I got my boy Steven Pion rocking the dreamville beanie and then with the dope diamond back Jersey right over there that’s Aaron Edwards guys I mentioned it earlier they are off the main crew is at Gerald bouray’s wedding and I know for
An absolute fact guys that Four Peaks is being served to that wedding and it is being served uh rather graciously I would say and four beaks it Four Peaks is the official beer of phnx we have a lot of really cool stuff in the works with them my personal favorite I love
The wow wheat uh I’m a lighter beer kind of guy when when I first started drinking beer I tried to tell myself I was a darker beer kind of guy uh and then I I came to my senses for me personally but if you like a darker beer
They have the kiltlifter they have a Suns Brew specifically a Cardinals one as well and a diamondback one um plus they have a great Pub over there in 10p they have food it’s a rotating menu all the time and uh they also have a collab with bad birdie it’s the uh bad birdie
Juicy golden ale more of the type of beer that I like espo always likes to say they’re super drinkable which most beer should be but I will go out there and I will say this Four Peaks is the most drinkable beer out there you can visit for peaks.com locator to find all
Your favorite beers and events or check out at Four Peaks Brew or Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona’s Hometown Brewery guys uh as always when it comes to alcohol you must be 21 years or over to enjoy but speak of enjoy
There’s a brand new uh promotion over at Arizona Lottery that I’m actually loving I love the outdoors guys I love to go out there and touch grass as some of the people say in Arizona Lottery is combining making money touching green with going outside touching grass and
You can do that in a couple different ways way number one is you can buy a regular scratcher featuring one of three iconic Arizona Landscapes and you can win up to $50,000 with that cool you can just do that end of your day throw your scratcher out after you win perfect or
You can go to a geolocated hike or landscape and you can check in on their website asadventure docomond in cash and travel prizes and the best thing is it’s actually a win-win win because every ticket that you buy part of the proceeds is going going towards conserving the environment
In Arizona and other fantastic projects around here so make sure you check out Arizona Lottery Wing yourself some money go outside before it’s 95 degrees outside because we all know that’s going to be happening sooner rather than later and visit asadventure to figure out where those geolocated
Events are that you can check in at and go have some fun guys besides Yousef nerkish let’s open up the floor here who else stood out for you we’ll go to You Stephen as far as good play for the Suns tonight and we’ll maybe get into some more disappointing performances
Later yeah for me is also uh Grayson Ellen uh we talked a little bit about him pregame we talked about how his three-point shooting Stills the plot in terms of people assessing his season but it’s he’s so much more than just a three-point shooter we saw him using in
Some movement actions today and how his how important his drives continue to be for this team because naturally if he has the ball not unlike when nerkish has it that means that the big three are all spaced around them how many teams are going to be comfortable conceding help
From one of those from one of those three to stop a Grayson Allen Drive in addition to that Grayson Allen has uh plenty ability and self-creation off the dribble to get past his initial Defender that puts the defense in compromise it gets early offense paint touches and
When the suns are able to play off of multiple drives and get an early offense paint touch they’re arguably the best offense in the NBA now it looks different than other teams go about it with movement and action and things like that but it’s equally effective because there’s so much complexity within the
Simplicity of their offense just off of the Personnel so Grayson Allen for me in addition to the defense that he brings he’s just so on time and on schedule with everything he does and just is such an important uh piece of everything they do did you just say complexity and the
Simplicity you need to go to dreamville that’s a bar oh my God that was Inc no I’m sorry I got to stop for a second and be like that was hot okay Aaron I asked you in our pregame show which if you missed it we had a
Good time you could check that out as well I asked you if you were a bll lever from the beginning when they signed in this off season I also want to go over to Grayson Allen because Grayson Allen is somebody who’s brought so many different parts to the game that that to
Be honest I wasn’t expecting uh I I was obviously expecting the shooting I knew he was going to shoot I knew he was going to play hard um but his defense his passing hell he had 14 assists one game like his just ability to be a really smart player and above all else
Drive to the rim when it is smart to drive to the rim has caught me off guard like I wasn’t expecting all this at the beginning are are you in the same boat as me um I watched a lot of college basketball when he was at Duke okay and
It was like one of those things where I knew what he could do like no other team was gonna ask him to do what he had to do here and I just wanted to know if he still had it in him like I had seen like
He we knew he could get Buckets we knew he had bounc we knew he can get to the rim but he hadn’t been asked to do that in a lot of years and we kind of knew that the way the floor was going to be spread that they might ask Grayson to do
That and I I I won’t say that I thought that he could do this but I wanted to know if he could like flip that switch again and get back to being the Grayson Allen that probably was the man at his high school the man at his college and
See if he can actually go back to playing the way that he probably knows that he could probably do for a lot of teams but he just never was asked he was playing with Giannis is get in the corner and make shots and and he did
That now he gets to do a lot more on a team with a lot of space and he can get to the rim and run and make decisions that he hadn’t been able to make in a really long time and it’s a team that always needs him to do it now at this
Point because they don’t always need his three-point shooting I mean listen when you go and you hit like eight straight threes in the first half like definitely that helps that can open a lot of things up but he just makes the right play and a lot of times with the Suns especially
In their half court offense the ball is either like whipping around like they’re the 2014 Spurs or it’s just one person has the ball they’re dribbling and it’s an ISO and it’s a pull-up shot and usually it doesn’t feel like a lot of in between unless Grayson Allen touches the
Ball and when Grayson Allen touches the ball it’s a lot of Drive kick relocate like everywhere that he is it’s smart and to your point like yeah he did that in college he did that in Duke but a lot of guys are the man in college but then
They have to be built around a specific skill set in the NBA and they find their role and Grayson did he started for one of the best teams if not the best team in basketball with the Bucks that year but at the same time now you come to Phoenix and Phoenix completely opens
Everything up for you and you could still argue that he could use some more responsibility a bigger role and somebody who was asking for a bigger role through the media at the beginning of the season was Eric Gordon who came back tonight after missing a couple
Games and he was one of the main reasons why the suns were actually able to lead at halftime I’m wondering I’m wondering your guys’s thoughts overall on Eric Gordon just Eric Gordon’s game how it fits with this team and then specifically when it comes down tonight
Aon I’ll throw back to you let’s start with tonight what did you like from EG uh my biggest thing it’s not even the shot making like we know that’s what he got here for he wasn’t ball watching on defense and he gets caught doing that a
Lot for the most part and giving up cuts and just sort of just having slow feet and not taking the defensive side of the ball serious and today he didn’t get caught just looking and ball watching and dudes getting the jump on him and so that was probably the thing I like the
Most today from him he wasn’t a minus on defense and just giving up open stuff Stephen is that the same thing that you took away from EG’s game yeah and I think that that part is important because Eric has the ability to strengthwise guard up a couple of
Positions uh than what his his height suggests just because he’s he has a low center of gravity and he’s a stronger you know type of guard especially later on in his career so being able to play in the post also had a versatility again like Aaron said when he’s paying
Attention on the defensive side of the floor not falling asleep off ball to have an impact and that obviously if he can be even even just neutral on defense the positivity that he brings when he’s knocking down multiple three-pointers and getting into his cuts and getting into his drives on offense just makes
Them a positive piece for this team and gives them that much needed punch that they often desire in that Reserve real of the roster yeah and it’s tough because EEG definitely is in the hotter cold range now at this point in his career I mean he’s averaging about 12
Points per game um but it’s usually a 20-point performance and a six-point performance and 20-point performance and a six-point performance and that is tough because when you look at all the minimum guys that the sun signed over the offse and the ones that remain which is not that many he he was
The guy that everybody was like that’s the piece right that’s the guy that you got for lower than what he probably could have signed in expected value and it’s it’s been an up and down ride and look I will admit it there have been lots of times that I’ve screamed at my
TV to get Eric Gordon off the court but uh tonight except for I think one point was not one of them and that was at the very beginning of the game and yes this could have gone to Grayson Allen but we wanted to uh show some respect for EG
And respecting our elders even though Grayson has gray hair and that is why Eric Gordon is our phnx factor of the night give it to you that’s right he’s going to give it to you big shout out to Eric Gordon guys was there anybody else in this game that you were considering
As like you know that that supplemental star that X Factor that kind of changed some things around and you can include the big three since we are not giving any of these uh very prestigious usual Awards uh Stephen I’ll throw it back to you yeah sorry microphone was off yeah for
Me I think it’s Bradley Bill Bradley Bill is continuing to everything downhill and everything at a specific Cadence that is a contrast to the tempo of play that Kevin Durant and Devon Booker operate at and I think there’s just so much value in Bradley Bill’s presence whether he’s efficient in his
Scoring or not like we saw in the game against Oklahoma City from a couple a week or a week a little bit over a week ago now he didn’t score efficiently but but because he was just so downhill with everything beating his man off the dribble every single time he touched it
There’s just so much value in that that gets a reaction out of the defense and again like we talked about when the Suns have a defense in rotation that’s when they’re at their best they can they can do that pretty much whenever they want to they just have to decide to do it
With consistency and Bradley Bill performing in the space that he’s operating in over the last week or so is important for them going forward Aaron we watched the game together and a lot of the times be was driving to the rim it was like oh yeah nice take nice take
Nice take I I I personally like I think everybody who watches the Suns who breaks down the Suns knows that Beal’s ability to get his head down and get to the rim opens up a lot but it’s still a nice change of pace when you’re watching
The game like it still stands out a lot does it not yeah I mean even like the year we went to the finals and the year that we had like the best record in the league like we didn’t have constant Rim pressure like that we were still a
Mid-range team and it’s good when things when you have LS on offense and you’re struggling you have a guy that really put pressure on the rim and you would hope get to the line I mean I don’t think he got to the line that much today but he he’s always putting pressure on
You and he’s always trying to get you make you scramble by getting to the rim or get fouled or just constantly just pressuring you to get to the rim in starting the offense that way so I think that bill is always going to come through because when you’re having lows
He’s going to try to get down he regardless and he’s trying to make you make a call yeah he’s definitely the the most aggressive at getting to the paint book book gets in that mode a lot of the times especially when he gets a little bit upset a little peeved off but he’ll
Still stay a little bit in that mid-range game more than Beal but I want to talk about the the big three because it was a really weird game from them all all of them honestly Beal was the most consistent but book did not score until about a couple minutes before halftime
He ended up actually being the leading scorer at 21 points Kevin Durant didn’t technically take a shot he took one and got fouled didn’t technically take a shot until the beginning of the second quarter so I’ll throw it kind of to you guys you could start either on Booker or
Durant but Aaron I’m just gonna I’m gonna pass it right back we’re doing a little give and go right now what what was it about today’s game that you think was just a little bit off from one of those guys it seemed like they were all
Waiting for the other one to take over in the first quarter like I said before the game I thought book was going to come out and be aggressive and just be the one to take over but then KD was kind of taking a while and they were
Kind of just like trying to see who was going to do it and Beal was the only one that was like all right I’ll do this like I’ll put pressure on the rim I’ll run the offense I’ll do all that stuff and I think that was probably like my
Biggest issue was usually they find a pretty good balance early book loves first quarters that’s why he plays the entire first quarter most of the time but it seemed like they were all just waiting for the other person to take over and that was probably the weird thing especially coming off of tough
Such a tough L yesterday I mean yeah and like you said they’re coming off a tough L they’re coming off a back toback so maybe you would expect energy to be a little bit lower but I I I don’t know if we’ve gotten through an entire first
Quarter where Kevin Durant does not have a field goal attempted on the stat sheet and like yeah he got he got fouled but at the same time like this is this is Kevin Durant here like Kevin Durant should be coming out and if it’s not on
Kevin Durant to go out and to get his shots right away it’s on the other guys right like I remember I think it was way back in one of the earlier Lakers game maybe even one of the IST games or something like that where KD reportedly
Went up to book before the game and was like stop looking for yeah stop looking for me go go be a killer right and then book went out and he was a killer and I understand that mindset and I think the reason why guys like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker get
Along so well is because they both want to dominate but they don’t want to step on the game and I think they’re both trying not to step on the game and then they were both out of their flows though and I think at that point you need at
Least one of them right like if it’s not going to be Beal who a lot of people say you know he should be the point guard if it’s book which I believe he should be the primary ball handler I know that Beal gets a lot of Rim pressure but as a
Facilitator I like Devin Booker more I need you to go out of your way if Kevin Durant does not have a shot and where’s about there’s about four or three minutes left in the first quarter now you go up to him and you say it’s your
Time to be a killer like you are trying to play and blend into this game too much and that’s not like a bad thing for Kevin Durant because usually some of the great scores the guys who could put up a bunch of shots in a game or hit a lot of
Shots in a game aren’t the ones that can blend in and and be comfortable taking a back seat and that could be a good thing or it can be a bad thing and tonight it was a bad thing and and I’m just hoping that one of them can kind of go out of
The way and just say step that up like just we need you right here right now and maybe it’s Bradley Beal because Stephen we’ve seen Bradley Beal especially when he first came out be the most outwardly vocal one of them in the media so maybe it’s on him to to go out
There and get these other guys set up I don’t know it’s kind of like a catch 22 who does what yeah I like I like when it’s Brad that’s setting the tone which we saw prior to Booker coming back naturally that put bill in a position of initiating offense more and just his
General usage going up I think the tones when they when they said it a little different by getting Bill downhill that’s forcing teams to start the game off in rotation typically teams are able to start with keeping a defensive shell intact so if you’re automatically starting the game and you’re five five
Seconds in and you’re already in rotation and now is Kevin Durant Grayson Allen uh if it’s Eric Gordon is starting if it’s if it’s obviously Devin Booker on the floor those guys I getting open looks early and whether they’re shooting those or they’re playing to keep the
Advantage with a drive and of a close out from there that’s just naturally putting them in a position to dictate to their opponents with the offensive side of things and I think it just hits different when they start games that way and I mean outside of the opening
Possession where they went to their Flex action and I think nerkish hit bill for a layup to start the game outside of that the movement was a little bit of stagnant and just the general flow was stagnant because they weren’t connected and I think that’s just kind of a little
Bit of what stem from that I think we saw it in the Boston game honestly there was a lot of Bradley Bill Rim pressure pain pressure getting up attempts driving kicks multiple driving kicks and one possession that was missing early in the game in this one and you know they
Didn’t really dictate the way that they I guess have grown accustomed to I think it’s it’s pretty easy to say that that Bradley be in most nights he he won’t be the best player on the Suns now he has the ability to he has ability to step up
And drop 50 On Any Given night but it just doesn’t seem like in his role he’s going to be the guy you’re going in day and day out be like that’s our best player but Aaron do you feel like he’s maybe the most important Cog to that offense working getting somebody
Downhill getting somebody inside so that everything else can open up so that those guys like book and Durant can can play more open and play more free yeah I mean we’ve seen it firsthand like when shots aren’t falling especially from the older Sons when we had CP like he wasn’t
At the stage where he’s going to get layups and drive by and do that and melel wasn’t ready to do that he wasn’t part of like in his career like that yet and we know book just wants to get in the middle and then kind of just Roam
And see when to make a decision and shoot the fadeaway like I think having a guy that’s constantly getting downhill fast and putting pressure on your Bigs like that’s really important later and having him be the only really the only person that’s GNA do that that’s going
To come in handy later yeah and I I do think that when you’re playing basketball and I know both of you play basketball and both of you play play football too I know step’s a flag football legend over there I see I see the tweets Stephen I see the tweets um
But when you play basketball with somebody sometimes you kind of like play off of what your teammates are doing right like if somebody comes out there and they’re chucking up a lot of threes and you’re shooting a lot of jump shots like you might look at that and say like
I’m gonna play more into that or you might go the complete opposite and say I need to fill a different role I feel like when you see a guy like Brad go out there and just say I am going to take probably the most difficult layups on
This team I’m going to drive I’m going to Slither in traffic I’m going to go underneath and he misses a decent amount of them because he takes some really tough shots but when you see him do that it feels like it kind of sets the tone
And I really love that from him any any other guys like X factors you want to talk about B Bowl you don’t want to talk about Lil B bow because he had uh not not the greatest B bow game tonight uh only uh eight points for him one for
Five sorry eight minutes one five for the field only three points for uh for b b but it didn’t feel like he really got a playr uh a lot of his problems and we were talking about that pregame Stephen that you kind of just need to like let
Him cook a little bit even when he’s not cooking because you you want to see what he can do even when he hits a little bit of adversity yeah I I struggle though I do understand you know why why Frank features him the way that he does
Because you can’t just you know throw balll in whatever lineup and it works the way you can with like a Kevin Durant type player he has to be insulated in a certain way for him to be effective especially depending on you know who your opponent is um I just feel like
He’s still in that space where he’s trying to earn the trust of Frank vogle and there’s like a there’s a spotlight on him for sure and I like that even regardless of a night like tonight that he’s not out there playing with hesitation he’s playing still free which
Is where he’s obviously optimized when he’s not putting a box and he’s able to just be ball and be just kind of just a random chaos Creator on offense and defense that’s when he’s at his best so I think these games like this one obviously they’re going to desire to see
More from him but they’re important in process and figuring out how to feature him going forward and what against what matchups he might work better in versus the ones that he might not work as well in so I think it’s just kind of back and forth there with that yeah like with
With bu right like I get it he wasn’t great this game usually when you’ve seen him plugged in and he’s playing with with the nerk or with the KD uh and and definitely with one of the the big three in big two guards out there as well so
He’s never just out there and it’s bu bow time right like we’re just going to go through and B B is GNA dribble it up the court like he did in Orlando and take a step back three like he didn’t like that that’s not happening right but
In a game like this where everything is so ugly like like the offense was was was ugly tonight like it had good moments but overall I mean shooting percentage wise like there was some pretty ugly bricks here man like we we were watching and Grayson Allen missed
The entire Rim Eric Gordon had the loudest brick I think I’ve ever heard in my entire life and then had good games but there those were still happening right I feel like this is the time the Charlotte Hornets on Friday March 15th you need to let bullbull play through
This type of stuff and I’m not just sitting there going and saying that because I think he’s a fun commodity and he he deserves 30 minutes a game and should be in the sun starting lineup but if you don’t look at bub right now and
Think this is a guy that can swing five minutes in a playoff series for us then then you haven’t been watching Sun’s basketball or at least you haven’t been watching it right because at his best at his Peak he can swing that but today that that wasn’t the case but he got the
Plug pulled I think he played 5 minutes in the first half three minutes in the second half and he just didn’t get a chance to go out there and get a rhythm and that’s really that’s really big for basketball players Ain I know you play basketball every single week like
Sometimes you get out there in the first five to 10 minutes that you’re hooping you’re like I’m not really feeling this that you work up a sweat you get a little bit out of breath and you start just to have it come more naturally I
Feel like they need to do that with B do you agree uh you kind of like I said earlier like you kind of have to keep a short leash like you got to let them kind of figure it out but you kind of have to keep the short Leash too in
October November December yeah you could have done this those are the easy games like but to be trying out the bbo experiment as good as it has been how how fun has as it has been how confident he looks now I think trying that now when you’re in the play in technically
And you’re trying to get out of it you can’t really test out the bu bow situation as much as you probably wanted to early on it’s kind of just too late and you got to start figuring out how the big three can click before even
Trying to make b b click but they didn’t they didn’t try it earlier right and like you’re right I listen in a perfect world I would have loved for them to initially Implement him but maybe the reason why he’s come in and be been able to have an impact is because they just
Took him aside and said we’re gonna work on you we’re gonna coach you we’re not just going to throw you in a game and let you go out there and and you know burn everything to the ground like we’re going to work on everything with you and
Then we’re going to slowly integrate you and we got to the point where where he was playing close to 20 minutes in a game right and so to me it’s it’s not just this is the bub experiment now like I think you’ve seen enough to know that
He can be a positive player for you and with Eubanks playing the way that he is with that young getting absolutely no minutes you traded away all your other big forwards like the there is room for him to be a backup here for Kevin Durant there’s room for here for him to play
With Kevin Durant you can fit him into a lot of different lineups I don’t like him playing with few Banks but he can I’d prefer nerk bull KD and I think there was some people in the uh in the chat who were asking for that lineup as
Well so I don’t know if I’m sitting here saying it’s the bullbull experiment like I get it you have you haven’t been able to see enough of him yet but from what I have seen like he is he has shown that that he can play and he can hoop so like
If you have to put on you know your your genie hat Stephen look at your crystal ball and say it’s it’s let’s say the Suns make it out of the plane or they’re not in the plan in the first place whatever and they’re playing a first round matchup in the west you’re going
To be playing somebody tough eight n 10 minutes into the game are you looking down and expecting b b to check in for the Phoenix Suns yeah I I actually wrote about B uh maybe about five or six weeks ago over a bright side of the Sun and just kind of
Assessing at that moment in time the impact that he had which had them performing with him on the floor as the best defense in the league in defensive rating there’s just for a team like I talked about in pregame that has uh a size issue in terms of how many guards
Are featured in their main rotation to have a piece that can go out and contest shots and just be affect the the def the offensive decision making of opponents when he’s on the floor with his length with his athleticism with his chaos inducing activity in addition to when
He’s featured on the floor with Kevin Durant in addition to when he’s also featured with Yousef nerkish protecting the basket that allows for him to play with that kind of Randomness defensively that is impactful and when this team is up in the the activity levels defensively and then they’re playing out in
Transition that’s some of the best that that this team can kind of uh weed through their offensive process and I think B really puts them in those positions just off of what he does as his Baseline we’re not even talking about him doing anything exceptional in
Terms of the box score just some being a presence out there on defense has so much value for this team and I think again when he’s featured the right way with nerkish and with Kevin Durant you’re able to kind of see and reap the benefits of doing so in the manners in
Which he can be featured I think it’s pretty clear that uh bub is still earning some trust from his coaching staff and and I think it’s pretty safe to say that uh bub is not in Frank vogel’s Inner Circle but gentlemen I have some great news for you you are
Both a part of my inner circle because this has been absolutely fantastic chat all of you guys are part of my inner circle as well thank you for tapping in having some fun with us on this Friday night once again your regular crew will be back on Sunday so don’t you know
Hyperventilate too much like they’re going to be back y’all but we’re just having a little bit of fun and I can tell you man since before I worked here since before I was producing for pH andx Suns I was a Circle K man through and through and then they decided to go out
There and drop the best membership in the game and that’s the Circle K Inner Circle now Stephen I know you don’t live locally but if you are ever out here sign up for the Inner Circle because if you’re driving you can get 205 cents off your first five Phillips and man gas is
Ex expensive but guess what it’s not just 25 cents off your first five fillips it’s three cents up to 5 cents when you do it a lot off of every single time that you buy gas per gallon and if you don’t drive let’s say you ride a
Scooter or something right and you just need a snack because you’re scootering real hard you can still go to Circle K you can go to Circle K and if you’re part of the Inner Circle you can get every six free on a selection of Circle K products that’s Pizza coffee ice cold
Fountain drinks basically every single time I’m driving to the office I’m texting some people here hey you need anything from Circle K do you need me to stop at Circle K because there’s two two on my 10minute drivein here they’re that convenient guys join Circle K’s Inner
Circle right now by down by downloading the Circle K app today some terms and conditions do apply at participating locations visit Circle k.com for more details and guys I mentioned it at the top of the show it is a flavor in Friday and we are a different flavor for the
Phnx Suns podcast but the best flavor that you can get is with our friends over at ogs much like I was a fan of Circle K before I got here over to phnx I was also a fan of ogs because guess what not only are they the best cannabis
Infused scratch made gummies that you can find in state 48 they’re just really good tasting gummies like there could be absolutely nothing that you get out of it like no THC no CBD which they do have those combinations it’s really nice they could just be candy and I would buy OG’s
That’s how good they are guys OG’s has a couple new products that you could be checking out right now made with live rosin that’s the RSO Rick Simpson Oil that’s the OG’s Naturals we mentioned Chris Paul earlier doesn’t like to get to the rim but he does like to keep it
Vegan so he can have some vegan ogs with the ogs naturals then the big ogs which is 100 milligram gummy but it’s perforated in 10 slices if you still want to break it up they got freshly squeezed juice in there as well like it’s it’s truly just a good product like
Just beyond the fact that it makes you feel good it’s just a good product it’s well done it’s well branded it’s well packaged everything like that unfortunately it’s kind of hard to find because they’re always selling out when they restock but to learn more about OG’s gummies and where you can find them
Head on over to OG’s brands.com much like some other stuff we talked about guys you must be 21 and over to participate but once you hit 21 you definitely want to check out oh ge’s all right guys uh let’s keep it moving a little bit I want to talk about the NBA
As a whole because you’re two guys that no ball your ball knowers over here you like to talk hoop like I I could tell I follow you on Twitter I know you guys and uh I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the NBA and the style of play has
Shifted a little bit post All-Star break and we did get this tweet from Adrien wowski uh before the Suns played a game today saying the NBA is telling teams in the league office did not deliver a directive to reduce scoring in Tuesday’s competition committee call but quote
This trend will continue to be monitored end quote according to a memo obtained by ESPN quote slower Pace style of play competitive intensity officiating Focus have been contributing factors identified so far all right I need you guys to break out your meters and uh Aaron I’ll start with you is uh
Is this did because I’m pretty sure Adam Silver made the call man I my favorite thing about the internet is the lies I say this all the time I love when the commissioner has to come out and lie straight to our face so yeah I’m I’m calling on this and it’s just
So noticeable they’re not calling they’re it’s not just the fs they’re calling less defens of 3 seconds too like they’ve they’re swallowing the whistles and we kind of have all been asking them to do it so I wouldn’t say it’s as a complaint it’s just as long as
It’s both ways I’m down with the ball bin like this it’s a faster Pace they’re running now and like yes the pace is slowing down a little bit but I think all the calls were just getting way too frustrating and destroying the game and so yeah if it means some of these aren’t
Going to get called then I’ll take it Stephen I imagine that you just spend your uh free time with your eyes peeled open and just NBA League Pass just rolling over the TV Non-Stop but before this before it kind of became a storyline the last couple of games did
Did you notice this kind of uh Trend happening yeah you could definitely feel it in just just watching the league as a whole and honestly I feel like post Allstar break the the officiating it kind of deviates from what we saw prior to it and it starts to gather more of a
Playoff style feel now obviously this season is a lot more dramatic and hence we’re sitting here having this conversation on this wonderful platform that we have to talk in the microphones with but I do think that this is a commonality in terms of things kind of um being more inclined towards a playoff
Style in terms of like I said officiating style of play etc etc and this is just lending itself to that which is obviously on the grander scheme in terms of U how U extreme it is Aaron do you feel like this style of play is beneficial or detrimental to how the
Suns uh play basketball I mean as Suns fans you can ask them do we get calls anyway like what are we talking about dude the amount of shoulders that were thrown into people in this game like I get it play more physical all of that but don’t call a
Foul on Bradley Beal when the man got speared like Edge in like mid 2000s WWE and falls to the ground and they call a foul of Bradley Beal like what are you doing like I don’t I don’t get that but you are right like a as longtime Phoenix
Suns fans like we can attest that like even our guy book like back when back in the days when book was busting and asked for a team that that won 20 games the man would not get Superstar calls at all and a lot of people uh pondered uh that
Was because the owner was especially cheap and maybe didn’t donate to the ref’s Christmas bonuses um but but you are right like we’re the Suns getting calls anyway but e even beyond that with the way that Suns play where they they don’t drive to the rim a ton they have a
Lot of superstars that are built around the perimeter the mid-range the three-point line and ball movement and stuff like that Stephen is that better or worse when it comes to a physical style of play almost not avoiding the inside because like we mentioned NK and and Beal and Grayson will drive but
Having your main offensive engine be outside of the paint yeah I think the I think just the way to officiating has been it lends itself to the sun’s favor um in a few context I think the first one being obviously we talked about nerkish getting a lot of fouls called on them I
Think if their whistle was as quick as it was because in early portions of the Season nurish probably would have fouled out in a couple more games than he’s already flirted with in his post Allstar break stretch for one in addition to that the Suns have I mean they’ve been
One of the teams that generate the most free throw attempts a game so naturally the whistle kind of being taken away it kind of goes against that a little bit but there’s only they’re only going to allow for so much of that to occur even in a playoff context they’re not going
To allow for it to like lose control of the game in terms of it turning into more of a football game or slam ball if you will then basketball so I do think those things kind of contrasted a little bit but I do think ultimately it’ll be
To their favor if it just allows for them to keep nerkish on the floor you can adjust to that more than the latter in my opinion well I I think it bringing up nerk again is a really good point because when nerk doesn’t play the Suns don’t win like that that’s not an
Opinion that’s a fact when Yousef nurkic does not play the Suns do not win basketball games and in a microcosm when he’s not on the court a lot of the times they’re not winning those minutes and if you again like like I said I think in
Pregame and I said it in postgame if you just switch Yousef nurkic and Drew Eubanks with the big three and Grayson Allen out there on the court the net rating is drastically different like Yousef nurkic makes a massive difference and what I’m worried about is like yes
Maybe you can get a little bit more physical style of play but it does still feel like nkit is not getting that benefit of the doubt that that maybe some guys and some big guys do it feels like he’s getting clobbered on one end and there’s not really any fouls and
Then on the other end it’s not Ticky Tac but they’re they’re still having a little bit of a tighter whistle and I would be concerned if five minutes six minutes into a playoff game nerk picks up his second or third foul and now you’re starting to struggle and wonder
Is it going to be Drew Eubanks is that young gonna come out of pseudo retirement on the sun’s bench is it going to be B bow like you’re really sitting here wondering and that’s why with all of this like I’m curious where the hell is that young like I don’t know
If I’m tripping I don’t know if my expectations were wrong but when they signed that young it felt a little bit like an Eric Gordon signing maybe to a lower level but a really solid veteran who’s going to have a reduced role and could maybe be able to thrive on that
Role on a team that generates so much other attention in other ways and besides that Rockets game like we really have not seen him out there and Stephen do you feel like he still has gas left in the tank like obviously at this point if they’re not incorporating him he’s
Probably not going to be a part of the playoff rotation but could he at least eat some minutes you know during Ramadan for nerk while he’s fasting that latter point is very relevant uh I do think that I think that uh that young does have a role for this team
Especially in the playoff context it might not necessarily show or it might not necessarily be used in the regular season but I think the template for for thus young uh you know what you’re getting from him and you know what he can unlock for your team which is
Obviously a bridging of the gap between Yousef nerkish being off the floor and the sun’s not necessarily going directly to a small ball with Kevin Durant at the five you’re able to bridge that Gap and put thatd is Young still get elements of playing with the quote unquote
Traditional Center in terms of not being entirely too small in the front court but also getting the versatility that allows for the the small ball lineups to obviously be a curveball a change of pace to everything that you do with your process lineup wise so him unlocking switching him unlocking being able to
Play on the short role U being a play a little bit closer to five out spacing than nerkish provides those little things kind of add up and I think there’s going to be games where down the stretch they’re going to call for thus Young’s impact to be felt from this team
I do think that Frank vogo will feature him a few more times down this home stretch of the regular season but I do think that the majority of his value is going to be felt more so in the playoff stage when it’s more so like grown man
Ball and you being able to counter and adjust and all those things on the fly in a vacuum I I agree with you and I I would say yeah he he should be the type of guy that you can break in case of emergency play him five maybe 10 minutes
At worst in a playoff game but Aaron he’s not he’s not getting any playing time right now even against the Charlotte Hornets like can you can you go into the playoffs like sure we’re talking about bub here at least b b’s getting some freaking minutes like d
Young’s getting none can can you rely on him just say you know what we’re saving you for the playoffs we didn’t really incorporate you at all now come out here and play on the biggest stage like are you comfortable doing that I think it’s really one of those
Breaking uh in case of emergency things it’s like um I think he’s trying to figure out the eight that he’s goingon to go with I can see him having a really short leash with a lot of these dudes even b b like I think he’s gonna go with the Mike balone
Uh uh level of coaching and just get his eight or seven and a half yeah and just stick with them throughout the playoffs and I think there’s really no wiggle room when it comes to Frank I really just think he’s trying to figure out who’s getting all these minutes cuz I
Think once the playoffs start dudes are going to be playing some high minutes because he’s big time on trust and it doesn’t seem like he trusts that many of the guys at the end of the bench well I mean it’s also a product of having uh
Your top three guys make the amount of money that they make right and youf nerkish and Grayson Allen have been incredible we’ve talked about them a very large portion of the show I’d say we’ve actually talked about the big three the least but you know when you have Superstars getting paid that much
And and you have end of rotation guys like you’re not going to have bountiful pickings at the end and that’s why I’m I’m clamoring for more bu bow minutes because I want to see him play through adversity like yes the games matter if they lost tonight they would have
Dropped like these games are not unimportant but they’re not playoff games the same thing with that young like I would have loved to see five minutes just F that that’s the bar for me five minutes of Thad young so I can see who he plays best with because Thad
Young is a veteran ultimate Pro guy like he’s been around for a long time he knows his role he can pass he can defend he can rebound and all that you don’t know who he has chemistry with when it comes to actual NBA games you only can
Base it off of practice it’s like I I need to see bigger minutes I need to see bigger numbers but uh speaking of big numbers only one person has big numbers when it comes to the bets for our PHX show none of us made any bets and
Everybody did lose so let’s take a look at the BET MGM leaderboard all right chat get your Jabs in at Flex now I know a lot of people already have espo still leading the way after everybody lost at $ 22350 Saul currently dropping a little bit lower between a behind $178 76
Lindsay further into the negative at $17.77 and then Flex all the way down there Flex $186 And1 and just uh just in his his memory I would like to uh I’d like to just drop this for him no flex so that’s just that’s it you know that’s all I
Have to drop there because I’m I’m sorry Flex man I’m sorry but yes uh everybody lost but if you want to be a winner and you can be a winner go ahead and download the BET MGM Sportsbook app I personally do all of my betting on the
BET MGM Sportsbook app and right now if you sign up with code phnx you can get a brand new offer with March Madness approaching sign up deposit at least $10 that’s $10 into your bmgm Sportsbook account on betmgm.com or the bmgm Sportsbook app and you can place your first rager and
Receive up to $1,500 back in bonus bets if that bet loses guys it’s literally free money like yes it’s bonus bets but you can still get that back if your bet loses and I don’t know about you but when I lose I still like to get something about it call it participation
Trophy culture I still like to get something if I win so make sure you guys right now download that bet MGM Sportsbook app you can check out the show notes for details up to $1,500 paid back in bonus bets if your $10 deposit bet does not win those bonus bets do
Expire in seven days and the offer is only for new customers like I said check out the show notes for full details and now you can hear the disclaimer gambling problem call 18800 Gambler available in the US call 8778 Hy or text Hy 467 369 New York call 800 32755 Massachusetts 21
Plus only please gamble responsibly call 1800 next up Arizona 1800 betof Iowa 18800 270 7117 for confidential help Michigan 1800 981 0023 Puerto Rico subject to eligibility requirements rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 Days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel see bgm.com for terms us promotional
Offers not available in DC Mississippi New York Nevada Ontario or Puerto Rico kids stuffed onario that’s for all the espo Fanatics out there no I am not wearing purple pants and uh guys it it’s pretty safe to say that uh that Flex has hit the floor when it comes to his
Bedding and uh I think while he’s down there he should remodel it and he can do that with Empire Today flooring guys now listen personally I don’t own a house yet uh I want to working on it and uh when I do my flooring is going to be one
Of my biggest Investments because right now I can’t switch up my flooring in my apartment uh much to my chrin and uh it’s uh it’s it’s not exactly what you would like it’s not very durable it’s not the right color you know doesn’t match everything that we have going on
In our furniture and and I would love to have the luxury to use Empire today but if you do have the ability to do that and you’re looking to get some new flooring you should check out the easy quick and convenient Empire today and right now if you go to empiretoday.com
Phnx you can get $350 off that’s a pretty big chunk of change off of Empires flooring they have a lot of really great things for you to check out one of them is their uh virtual home visual izer to where you can like hold your phone up to your room and you can
See what your floors are going to look like because if there’s one thing you don’t want to invest in it’s floors and then you go you know they did a great job installing it like Empire Today does but I’m looking at it and it just doesn’t look the way that I wanted to
You don’t want to go through all that time that energy and that effort just to get nothing and you don’t have to do that with Empire today because they have great customer service they’re going to walk you through they’re not trying to upsell you on anything and sure there
Are other people who are out there trying to sell you we’re trying to do what Empire Today does but they just they just can’t match Empire today and they also can’t match $350 off big thing empire.com PHX to check that out all right guys let’s uh let’s wrap up this
Very fun Sons postgame show I hope Chad is having as much fun as we are I want to thank Aaron Edwards and step Pion to uh for joining me go ahead and hit that Thumbs Up Button guys make sure you subscribe but the Sun’s next game is
Going to be taking on the Milwaukee Bucks and and and Stephen I don’t know if I heard this right you’re going to be in the building for that did did I did I interpret that right yes he did I I I would be in the
Building for that game it would be a fun one it’ be a fun one to kind of gauge from a from a media perspective but also just as a genuine fan of basketball two of the best teams in the league some top end talents prime time Sunday what more
Can you ask for well I want to ask you what are you looking for I mean look the Suns just beat the Charlotte Hornets by 11 points and put up 15 points in the in the fourth quarter man you you can’t play like that against Milwaukee what
Are you expecting them to come out and shift from tonight’s win yeah uh starting with setting a tone I think that is like we we talked about it a few times in this postgame episode today you have to set a tone regardless of the opponent that has to be a part of
The son’s identity which is still kind of being shaped and shifted a little bit you know it’s still not as concrete as you would desire for it to be at this Mark in the season in the latter third of it uh so seeing them come out against the Milwaukee Bucks team team that’s
Finding a stride under Doc Rivers starting to see more pick and roll between Damen Lillard and yanis SAS Tumo we’re starting to see them grow more nuanced in their approaching their attack manipulating space around it we’re also starting to see the Bucs as a whole play better defense more connected
Uh much better communication a ton more activity showing a little bit more scheme versatility as they get into their rotations and lineups those things are going to add up to being a beast of a team for the Suns to go up against on Sunday especially at their home court so
Seeing the Suns come out set of tone Yousef nerkish had another 20 plus rebound game tonight I think that’s going to be equally as important in that game against Milwaukee because he has to set that tone in the paint in addition to seeing obviously on offense players
Like Bradley Bill getting it going and getting downhill early as well so seeing them put forth a two-way process where they’re setting the tone on both ends of the floor it’s G to be important maybe as important as anything else in that one all right Aaron before I get to what
You’re looking for I do want to mention with nerk going out and setting the tone for this entire week the Suns have been playing some earlier games out there on the East Coast has been right around sunset uh Yousef nerkish is fasting for Ramadan and if you don’t know what that
Entails you basically fast from sun up to sun down every day for for practically a month and Sunday’s game is going to be in the middle of the day out there in Milwaukee it’s a 10 o’clock tip here I believe it’s one o’clock out there where Steven’s time is and that’s
Going to be a pretty big deal because in all of these games this week since Ramadan has started nerk has been able to either eat something on the bench or eat something at halftime and you’ve still seen his minutes go down you have seen especially in that Celtics game at
The end he got really gassed so if if nerk comes out tomorrow and he doesn’t set that tone like we would expect him to I don’t want to or Sunday I don’t want to see everybody overreacting to that because that might be so many more things at play but but besides that
Aaron over to you what are you looking for either taking from this game or looking ahead to the Bucks that the sun should uh maybe be focusing on on on Sunday um not focusing on but I expect KD to come out pretty energetic on Sunday I think he usually is pretty
Energetic against Milwaukee in general even on both sides of the ball he usually takes it upon himself to guard Giannis either the first half or the second half or the entire game and I think with just the day’s rest he’s going to come out especially after a
Game like today I can see KD being really aggressive on Sunday and coming out like I thought Booker would come out today I think the day’s rest is going to help a lot and I think just the fact that he always comes out and he’s pretty hyped to play against Giannis and Dame
And those I can see KD just coming out pretty good last time suns and Bucks played on the Suns home court earlier this season that was a really good game you definitely saw those guys battle it out and KD has has been really incredible in the last week and a half
Like really good almost averaging 40 points per game for a little stretch there I don’t expect him to dip that often and and sometimes that back toback is tricky uh before we get out of here psycho blue kind of Echoes uh something that I’m going to be looking for on
Sunday I’ve been looking for in every single game however he says it very differently so guys I know you’re not familiar with psycho bl’s game fantastic one of the best supporters of the show that we have out there he’s a die hard he’s in our Discord if you’re not a part
Of the Die Hard Discord what are you doing seriously what are you doing they are absolutely fantastic one of the best parts about what we do here at phnx but here’s psycho blue psycho blue says basketball cthulu I’m not doing the voice psycho blue basketball cthulu
Doesn’t know how the yankes of the world get so much leeway from coaches like they won’t share their fate being cast into basketball Purgatory at season’s end # wins thus listen man I am looking for a little bit of thus s I’ve made that pretty clear on this podcast I just
I like to have an idea of everybody who who could contribute in the playoffs I I want to have a better idea of what they can do and it’s a really hard job to balance for Frank because yes you’re in the middle of this playoff race in the
West there’s a lot going on you lose one you win one you move up you move down like that’s a lot of pressure but at the same time the suns are the type of Team um see psycho blue said I didn’t put in quotes because no one could do the voice
That’s right psycho there’s a complete basketball through the voice but I just got sidetracked anyway um I I just I want to see what they have right and I think we can all agree that thus young could bring something I’m looking for him to play and and like all of you guys
Said like I’m looking for them to set the tone I don’t need a bad first quarter I don’t need a bad fourth quarter and the the Suns usually get up to play against the best losing to the Celtics that might have uh might uh motivate them to play against the Bucs a
Little bit more but speaking of motivation y’all have me ready to run through a brick wall in chat I appreciate all of you guys being here and checking into this very unique and different edition of the hnx Sons postgame show guys Aaron Stephen I want to give the floor to you guys you’re
Volunteering your time with us what do you have going on where can people find you let’s uh let’s start with you Aaron um I have the uncle show at Valley bar uh March 31st me and LR Newton’s gonna be really fun but I don’t really care
About me you killed it today man oh you did great oh thank you you came out and you B this thank you I’m gonna get the attention off of me I’m I’m you’re passing it to me I’m passing it right back where they can find you where can they find you on Twitter
Oh you can find me uh Aon Ed a y r o n e d um I’m usually just talking about how the nice guys need the sequel so if you want to see that just come on through hey Ryan Gosling casting the MCU maybe nice guys is gonna be in that Universe
Huh and uh speaking of nice guys you can just tell that this guy Stephen is one of the nicest in basketball media not only is he one of the nicest and uh he’s definitely one of the smartest somebody I’ve been following for a very very very long time so Stephen tell the people
Where they can find you and uh what you’re up to yeah well I’m going to do the same thing as Aaron and preface by saying uh great job to you not just hosting but also producing and also watching the game and being able to articulate what you’re
Seeing uh for the people in the chat that are not familiar with the things that go on behind the scenes that is one hell of a task to be able to execute so I want to give you your flowers Eric before I even say anything about myself
That was on my heart shout out to Aaron as well Aaron you did your thing my guy appreciate the time I spend with y’all um y’all can find me on Twitter at stay true S3 uh doing film threads film sessions all of that fun stuff uh you
Can also find me writing at Bright Side of the Sun doing game recaps diving into the Wi on x’s and nose um Trends all of that fun stuff as well as on Twitter or as well as on YouTube rather uh my first name Stephen uh last name Pon and then
Last name as well my hyphenated last name gner and the number three on YouTube I do all my film sessions on there I also clip them and put them on YouTube so that’s pretty much all I got going on in addition to the take that fataa podcast with Gerald shout out to
Gerald for being a newlywed you know that’s dope that’s a great life experience we all likely uh want to get there at some point so shout out to jald we’ll be back probably either next week or the week after that with that but yeah that’s what I got going on and if
You have not listened to the take that for data podcast like I I’m usually the one I’m just sitting in the zoom and I’m I’m just recording them and I’m just sitting there and I’m like I I’m just getting so much smarter like just so just so much smarter like genuinely guys
Uh you guys are awesome chat everybody in here is awesome please make sure that you hit the thumbs up please make sure you subscribe I will be back producing on Sunday with our usual cast of characters they’re all boogying on the dance floor right now drinking some Four
Peaks I’m very sure that a lot of them have taken some ogis as well uh it’s it’s a good time to celebrate guys big shout out to Gerald Borg uh I know how much work has gone into this wedding I know excited everybody here was to do it
I appreciate the opportunity do this I’ve been a lifelong Phoenix Suns fan I followed a lot of these guys on on suns Twitter since uh I don’t want to make people feel old but since I was in high school like I this is a kind of a really
Cool uh culmination Point uh for me and hopefully you know there’s more in the future but of course it’s a great time producing every single show being in talking about the Suns observing the game everything like that uh again make sure you hit that like button and
Remember guys follow at pH nxor Suns you can follow me at e r a k Ruby Y and uh this man yes this man is getting married today win win win win win curve everything else win win win win oh Hoy Hoy we all sitting like the Mayor
The Phoenix Suns were barely able to bounce back and take down a lowly Charlotte Hornets team 107-96. Booker, Durant and almost the whole team struggled to get a rhythm until the 2nd half, when they woke up and broke away. Join Erik Ruby, Aaron Edwards and Stephen PridGeon as they fill in for the usual PHNX Suns crew.
0:00 Intro
0:30 Instant reaction so an ugly Suns win
10:00 Recapping a good game from Nurk
24:00 Who else had good games for the Suns?
30:00 Beal was good, But Kevin Durant & Devin Booker need to find better ways to get into killer mode
40:00 Bol Bol needs consistent run… where is Thad Young?
50:00 Did the NBA Change their rules? They say no.
1:05:00 Previewing Bucks/Suns
An ALLCITY Network Production
SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube
ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports
PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/
Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes!
PrizePicks – Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200
Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.
https://www.michelobultra.com/
Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.
Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with code PHNX20 at https://www.Manscaped.com
Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.
Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!
OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.
Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.
Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/
When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX! (betmgm.com/phnx).
Place your first BetMGM Sportsbook wager through BetMGM Sportsbook mobile application for at least $5. You will receive $150 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager’s outcome!
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA). 21+ only. Please gamble responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ). 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA). 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI). 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First bet offer for new customers only. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See betmgm.com for terms. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico.
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKaPEqS_Mc6eGNNBQN1QgQw
Website:
PHNX Locker:
PHNXLocker.com
Social
Twitter: @PHNX_Sports
Instagram: @PHNX_Sports
12 Comments
Phoenix suns frank Vogel need to start playing length and size the player he have because he got 13 games with size and length he need to start now playing udoka azubuike
First things first. Vogel is a terrible coach. This team needs to play team basketball and play defense.
Who the heck are u guys??!!
Should have kept CP3
Producer did a great job as a host on this episode. Go Suns!
Disappointing team.. I really don't see improvements like you guys are talking about…they don't even have solutions in their fourth quarter struggles which are their problem since the beginning…. I lost hope in this team… 😔😔😔 Sorry guys.. This is trash team
The one common denominator to the suns falling off in every 4th quarter is Booker not starting. Don’t overthink it Vogel. Just start him once and you’ll see the turnaround. It will only take one time experimenting with that to see.
I Repeat my self as Knicks fan from Monte Carlo. i like KD and i wanna see him win with the suns: BUTTT, Beal should come of the bench and help the second unit, like Russ did. Vogel should drop a new big man on starting line. i believe KD is not take so many shoots cuz of beal and booker playing in the same time. Beal should come of the bench my opnion.
in order for the Suns to have a chance to win a championship or go deep in the layoffs Durant Booker and Beal need to play 40 minutes each and well. Nurk has to play 35 minutes and Allen needs to play 30 mintues. Eric Gordon, Royce Oneil, Bol Bol and Eubanks have to play well in their limited minutes off the bench
Great job hosting Erik!!
Y’all gotta come back and do another episode together!
Imo I feel like Beal should run the point and stop freestyling the pg position 😭🤦♂️ they needa get KD,Book and there spots and have Beal and nurk run pnr that’s only thing I think that would make the offense consistent