Suns Stun Wolves On The Road; Long Season Still Ahead

Bennett, McGary Lead Charge In First Win

Anthony Bennett netted the third 20+ point game of his young career

Out of the Suns' 14 losses this season, just 3 have come by 5 or fewer points. It's been epicly putrid basketball in Phoenix. But last night, at the Target Center, in the city where GM Jestor began his lengthy, nomadic academic career, the young Suns finally beat someone, topping the Timberwolves 98-92 in a game that saw Phoenix completely dominate the first half, 52-30, before giving back 20 points of that luxurious lead in the third quarter. Finally, they righted the ship in the fourth period and ensured that they would at last put a 1 in the W column.

Leading the charge was much-maligned #3 overall pick Anthony Bennett, who pounded his way to 21 points and 6 rebounds on 8 of 17 shooting while holding Kevin Love to an awful 3 of 16 night to mar the 13 point, 13 rebound, 5 assist, 1 block showing by the Timberwolves' star. Mitch McGary, up against one of the CSL's top defensive bigs in Andrew Bogut fought his way to an 18 point, 16 rebound, 3 assist night, while Otto Porter narrowly missed the double-double in putting up 13 points, 9 rebounds, a steal, and 2 blocks and making Chandler Parsons chuck his way to 6 of 16.

No, it was not pretty offensively for either team, the Suns beating down the T-Wolves to just 37% shooting, and only Phoenix's bench, notably Alessandro Gentile (10 points, 5/9) and Royce White (4/5, 8 points, 4 rebounds) carrying the efficiency flag. And yet, for all the overall ugliness from his team on offense, and for all the excitement of finally breaking into the win column on an away game against one of the fierce Northwest teams, Jestor was remarkably tranquil in the post-game presser.

"It's great to get it, but this is a learning season, a growing season. We're not expecting much out of this year than to teach our young players how to adjust to life to the CSL. Right now it's not even about Jestorball - we don't have the players or the talent to run it yet, so we haven't been implementing it. But we'll get there over the next few seasons," he said.


Mitch McGary is starting to emerge as a star in the desert

Before the season began, the Suns coaching staff and front office met, and all agreed that this would be a breakout season for Mitch McGary, whom they deemed their most important offseason pickup and their most vital player acquisition of anyone else in the Jestor regime. After a shaky first few games, that's proving to be eeriely accurate, with the second year player averaging 20.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks on 49.6% shooting. Want to call it being the best of a bad team? Go ahead. But opposing teams should be scared that he's producing this level of efficiency despite Phoenix's lack of point guard play. And his 21.5 PER ranks #23 overall in the league

"There are two important things in every successful Jestorball team ever," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The first, and most important, is a brilliant floor general at point guard. The second is a scoring big with high percentage shooting accuracy. Obviously we're nowhere near having the first. But the second? Yeah, he's here already, and he'll be a Sun for life. This is the type of big Jestor specializes in making a force, and we're seeing those dividends pay off this season. Once we do more work on his form and get a true floor general in here, watch out."

For an example of this phenomenon under the league rules the CSL operates, witness the NSL version of Jestor's Suns, who rode Steve Nash, Marcin Gortat, and a raft of cast-offs to one game off the Pacific title and a shocking second round playoff showing. And that was with a team that literally had only the 1 and 5 the system demands. There's an even better baseline of potential talent here than that squad had.

That greater talent begins with Otto Porter, averaging 18.4 points and 6.4 rebounds out of the SF spot, shooting 47.3/37.3 while holding down an 88.4% drive stop rate, 0.9 PA/SF and 2.3 TOFC per game. Although the Suns received "a very intriguing offer" for Porter that they're allegedly still mulling over, he's been precisely the two-way force and glue presence Phoenix hoped for when they traded down to the 6th overall pick and grabbed him.

Anthony Bennett is off to a terrible start, true - his 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds currently come at an unacceptable 38.5/34.8 conversion rate, but he's shooting 49.4% inside and is playing a perhaps non-optimal position at PF. Whether he stays at the 4 or shifts to the 3 remains to be seen, but there's enough there that the front office will be patient with the raw youngster who should have excellent shooting mechanics once he develops. A case of a Year 1 bust who should flourish with time and a proper floor general point guard.

Beyond that, Kendall Williams has the makings of a 3 point sniper if his 45.8% 3 point shooting holds up, and once he develops his passing and handling, he'll grow into that 6th man combo guard Jameer Nelson type of role the latter played on that NSL Suns version. Other than that, the roster is made up of players who won't be around once their contracts expire in all likelihood, even though there's a defensive and rebounding stalwart big in Kendrick Perkins, and Beno Udrih is a capable backup point guard forced into a starting role.

It will take time, but the foundation pieces are there - it just needs more developing and the right point guard to bring it all together - like say, what Isiah Thomas would have been had not a miscommunication error ended Phoenix's chances to lure him in.

This was on the road? No wonder Minny weren't keen.

Tough pill for Jake to swallow.

Nice win, looks like your team or rather your players are starting to settle into the offense and their specific roles.

Also regardless of overall League sentiment, I like Bennett and really think he could become a really good player in this League.

That one stings a little bit.

wow - this is the most unbelievable win so far this season. On the road also. Wolves are very good but it happens. I also lost at home last season to an awful MEM team so I feel your pain

Mitch McGary is definitely proving to be a stud in the making. No doubt that Jestor will be able to turn him into an ultra-efficient scoring big man.

Like said I like those NYK style teams a bit more compared to teams like the Wolves or OKC.

DennisJ (BOS) wrote:Like said I like those NYK style teams a bit more compared to teams like the Wolves or OKC.

Care to explain the NYK style of team?

Rizzo (NO) wrote:

DennisJ (BOS) wrote:Like said I like those NYK style teams a bit more compared to teams like the Wolves or OKC.

Care to explain the NYK style of team?

Teams like yours or New Yorks or Houston, a team that fits well together. A stud/two studs surrounded by role players with low usage etc.
Dont like teams where everybody needs the ball. In Minny for example I would love if Kevin Love would get more touches like Rubio gets in New York.
Just as example. Just like well rounded teams that fit together more than teams where I cant exactly see the gameplan.
Thats why we in Boston need to make Changes too.
Just my opinion, no offense at all.

IMO you rizzo, Jamal and Willy did a really good job forming a team thats able to compete.
Edit: or Andrei's blazers with his last additions.

I think Dennis means teams where players fit each other based on their skillsets i.e. you have your stars that are the face of the team and role players that are there to complement the stars. Thats NYK style.
I think by OKC/MIN style he means teams that have a lot of stars and think they can win by getting all the top scorers and big names on the same team rather than finding balance and clearly defined roles for all...

This is based on his past comments

Ahh ok I understand now. When I first got the game I created the Seattle Supersonics again with league expansion and tried building a team. I was grabbing all the biggest names I could (Rudy Gay, Paul George, Marc Gasol, Anderson Varejao, Kyle Lowry) and could never win. I would get into the playoffs and get bounced 2nd round. I've quickly learned from that mistake and know that there needs to be a clear cut hierarchy on the team.

Great job! I like mcgrary and your filosofy. Good luck

Pd: you want change mcgrary for favors jejejeje