[Grades] Grades vs. Suns, 10/27/21

[Kingster]

People can always change their physique at least to a certain extent. It all depends on how you work out and what your ultimate goal is. He will most likely lose a decent part of his newfound muscle as the season is long and he won’t be able to work out super hard all the time and play super hard as well… the schedule is just too brutal and you risk injury at that point.

Yeah, he's definitely not working super hard. I watched that first quarter of the Phoenix game again and Chris Paul left him in the dust. If you have a 36 year old do that to a guy who has been very fast, he's definitely not playing super hard - just the opposite.

 

[Kingster]

His stupid unforced turnovers are a pain to watch but he's actually been one of the best players this year.

I don't know why Walton doesn't realize that catch and shoot Buddy is the best version of Buddy. It's how Joerger used him and he had a career year. It's exactly how he played in the first game against Portland and he scored 17pts on just 9 shots with zero turnovers.

There's no reason to have him running the offense when there are better options on the team. He should just be shooting open 3s and rebounding, which are the two things he's best at. Why even give him the opportunity to make a stupid pass when it's not even necessary half the time? That year under Joerger, he logged more miles than any other player in the league. He was all over the place and he was constantly getting high percentage shots. Never showed signs of wearing down either. I don't know why Walton decided to reinvent the wheel when he got here. He inherited an efficient 20ppg scorer who didn't need the ball in his hands all the time and turned him into a less efficient 18ppg scorer so he could try and squeeze an extra .5-1ast per game out of him.

Walton apparently doesn't know about silk purses and sow's ears. As a fan it's extremely frustrating to watch the sow's ear try, try and try to be the silk purse, but to no avail. Let's face it, he's a sow.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

I wonder if bringing Hali off the bench would be better for the team? They need him initiating the O more. He stands around way to much while playing with Fox.
Fox and buddy have synergy built. Let them do their thing to start, then bring the youngstas in and let em dominate.

 

[iowamcnabb]

Yeah, he's definitely not working super hard. I watched that first quarter of the Phoenix game again and Chris Paul left him in the dust. If you have a 36 year old do that to a guy who has been very fast, he's definitely not playing super hard - just the opposite.

I don’t think his guarding of CP3 is a good example as he can still leave anyone in the dust. The guys agility is still insane

 

[iowamcnabb]

after rewatching the second half this morning I feel a bit better about this win. They really did out play the Suns in the 3rd and held them off in the 4th. That first have was 9 game losing streak from last year bad

 

[mac]

I don’t think his guarding of CP3 is a good example as he can still leave anyone in the dust. The guys agility is still insane

There was a play where he just gave up on getting back, resulting in Bridges running full court for an easy dunk. Fox still has not shown that he is even a capable off-ball defender. All the sporadic flashes of brilliance we see are on the ball, and those are far and few between. All that said, Fox knows it and has admitted he needs to be better on that end, so just need to give him a bit more time. If he still doesn't show improvement it's only fair to criticize him, especially when he's the defacto head of the snake.

 

[iowamcnabb]

There was a play where he just gave up on getting back, resulting in Bridges running full court for an easy dunk. Fox still has not shown that he is even a capable off-ball defender. All the sporadic flashes of brilliance we see are on the ball, and those are far and few between. All that said, Fox knows it and has admitted he needs to be better on that end, so just need to give him a bit more time. If he still doesn't show improvement it's only fair to criticize him, especially when he's the defacto head of the snake.

Oh I agree, I was just point out that CP3 still has the jets. I was surprised how quick he still is

 

[Tetsujin]

Oh I agree, I was just point out that CP3 still has the jets. I was surprised how quick he still is

Right, it felt like the only one stopping CP3 last night was CP3

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1453816472589975556

Have no idea how De'Aaron wound up on this list, let alone at #2. All the other names make sense.

 

[The_Jamal]

There was a play where he just gave up on getting back, resulting in Bridges running full court for an easy dunk. Fox still has not shown that he is even a capable off-ball defender. All the sporadic flashes of brilliance we see are on the ball, and those are far and few between. All that said, Fox knows it and has admitted he needs to be better on that end, so just need to give him a bit more time. If he still doesn't show improvement it's only fair to criticize him, especially when he's the defacto head of the snake.

Disagree here. As rough as Fox's offense has been, I think he's made real strides on defense in all facets, but especially with more consistent ball-pressure. He's not Davion, so it's not getting the same buzz (and the offense is taking his headlines right now), but it's good to see his progress.

 

[mac]

Disagree here. As rough as Fox's offense has been, I think he's made real strides on defense in all facets, but especially with more consistent ball-pressure. He's not Davion, so it's not getting the same buzz (and the offense is taking his headlines right now), but it's good to see his progress.

My stance has always been that Fox's biggest main issue is his off-ball defense, and that hasn't gotten any better. He's always been a decent on-ball defender, with flashes of being good. It's off the ball that he constantly loses his man giving up easy cuts/3s.

 

[iowamcnabb]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1453816472589975556

Have no idea how De'Aaron wound up on this list, let alone at #2. All the other names make sense.

The metric tracks how much time a player spends guarding the toughest cover no? Considering we have played Cj, Dame, D Mitchell, Steph, Book and CP3 I suppose it is not a surprise that Fox and ON are at the top of the list. No one else has played 4 teams where the best players were guards if I had to guess.