The CSL

Heading into today’s game 5 against the Utah Jazz, the Suns find themselves trailing 3 games to 1 and need to rally just to make the series last a little longer. So how did the #2 seed in the West find themselves in such a hole against the #6 seed?

After struggling for much of the first half the season with injury woes, the Suns made several blockbuster deals at the trade deadline that shook much of the CSL world and remolded the Suns into a very different team. Out were all-rising Star Andrew Wiggins, sharp-shooter Hollis Thompson and some draft picks. In were reigning DPOY Okaro White and versatile 3&D guard CJ McCollum. The moves transformed the Suns into a defensive powerhouse that feasted on turnovers, while still having the scoring depth to score efficiently (the Suns ended the year as the 3rd best offense in terms of pts/100 possessions). The result had the Suns finishing the year 23-7 after the all-star break and shoot up the standings to capture their 1st Pacific crown and grab the #2 seed.
While the Suns eyed a legitimate post-season run for the first time, fate had other plans, as Okaro White suffered a broken arm on 12Apr. Just like that, White’s season was over, and with it, a vital cog on the Suns team. White’s defensive prowess is well known, but his offense is a bit overlooked. While he has no 3-point range to speak of, he has an excellent jumper to go along with an efficient inside game. After arriving in Phoenix, White scored 10.6 points on 54% shooting in 25 games. While those aren’t offensive numbers that would scare opponents, they do show the kind of scoring depth he provided for the Suns. While defenses focus on stopping Bledsoe, Wright and Austin, White routinely contributed efficient scoring to ease the scoring burden for a team that’s built on taking advantage of the offensive mismatch, wherever that may be.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Suns were able to sneak by the Blazers in 6 games, while playing guards at the SF position to make up for White, as the team feels 2nd year player Hilliard is not ready for big minutes at the SF spot yet. Through 4 games in the second round, it appears the Jazz are just too good and too deep for the Suns to overcome.

We’ll never know what could have been for this Suns team had they stayed healthy, but that’s a part of the game. Several teams have to deal with critical injuries at inopportune times on an annual basis, and you either find a way to overcome them or you find yourself watching another team put on the crown.

Man, now that us one styling jersey okaro is wearing.

I stopped writing articles like that after it happened two times to us, at some point it gets boring. Hail DDS3.

Dennis wrote:I stopped writing articles like that after it happened two times to us, at some point it gets boring. Hail DDS3.

Well after reading the playoff sim results thread and seeing that 2/3 of the league somehow thought it was an upset that I was losing (presumably because they didn't know Okaro was injured), I felt the need to enlighten the league.

GreenBear wrote:

Dennis wrote:I stopped writing articles like that after it happened two times to us, at some point it gets boring. Hail DDS3.

Well after reading the playoff sim results thread and seeing that 2/3 of the league somehow thought it was an upset that I was losing (presumably because they didn't know Okaro was injured), I felt the need to enlighten the league.

Haha, wasnt meant to sound harsh.. More that Im still pissed about all those injuries..

I'll say it again, I feel your team is more dangerous without Okaro in the lineup - just my opinion though. Your paint defense is sound and with Bledsoe your perimeter defense on the ball is sound. That three guard lineup was killer in Round 1.

As I stated in my insider that had rougly 4 whole replies, I think many forget that you won 53 games with all of the injuries you faced... that's impressive in its own right, so I guess I can see where the upset talk is coming from - I'd embrace it, it means your team is well respected by some, lol

What Andrew said, it also shows that Detroit isn't respected at all. No one considers a Westiless Boston leading 3-1 against the Pistons as an upset. Javalee McGee for MVP.
Now that I said that he will most likely go down for 300 days.

I feel for you man, as Okaro would have helped a ton. Never know though, you can still come back haha.

Dennis wrote:What Andrew said, it also shows that Detroit isn't respected at all. No one considers a Westiless Boston leading 3-1 against the Pistons as an upset. Javalee McGee for MVP.
Now that I said that he will most likely go down for 300 days.

Thats not true, its a huge, gigartuan upset

GreenBear wrote:

Dennis wrote:I stopped writing articles like that after it happened two times to us, at some point it gets boring. Hail DDS3.

Well after reading the playoff sim results thread and seeing that 2/3 of the league somehow thought it was an upset that I was losing (presumably because they didn't know Okaro was injured), I felt the need to enlighten the league.

You are right there. First round you upset POR without and now on the brink against Utah. Thats super impressive man

lakeshowak7 wrote:I'll say it again, I feel your team is more dangerous without Okaro in the lineup - just my opinion though. Your paint defense is sound and with Bledsoe your perimeter defense on the ball is sound. That three guard lineup was killer in Round 1.

I can see why you would think that my lineup is more dangerous without Okaro, but with Okaro at the 3, it allows me to use all 3 of my guards in a rotation at the 2 guard spots, which is key because with the way certain players on the elite teams draw fouls in this engine (i.e. KD, Exum, Harden, etc.), inevitably one of my guards will foul out. With Okaro injured, my guards are spread thin across positions 1-3, and there's a steep dropoff between them and the backups.

And Okaro is better offensively than people give him credit for. He won't drop 20+, but he'll consistently score an efficient 10 in my offense.

andrei wrote:First round you upset POR without and now on the brink against Utah. Thats super impressive man

I wouldn't say it was an upset over POR. I honestly think it was very evenly matched. The difference was that I got lucky and won an away game in OT. If I lose that game instead, it would have been 3-3 and went to a game 7.

I think I already said this when the trade happened, but White is one of the "most impactful" players on the league, and this shows why. Awesome statlines gets you headlines, players like White gets you titles.

A few things for me on this. I've tried to stay quiet as to not jinx what we've got going because I am quite surprised. Reason being, even without Okaro, I still consider us a big underdog here.

I agree that he is a difference maker that doesn't show up in the box scores and went after him pretty hard as well because he's one of the guys in this league that puts you over the hump, as Manu said.

However, we have a two game reference from the regular season where both teams had healthy and full lineups. In those, we split 1-1. Ironically, Okaro played much better in the game that Phoenix lost but in both of them, we went to the line 35 and 40x. So that isn't a major difference here. I think you are the better team, with or without Okaro, but we just happen to match-up well with you.

2 reg season games won by both home teams, for kicks. . . .

Okaro averaged 28 minutes, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 steals, .6 blocks, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls and 9 points.

Lillard averaged 36 minutes, 1.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.25 steals, 0.5 blocks, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls and 25 points (10ft/g)
Exum averaged 36 minutes, 14 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 1.5 blocks, 6 turnovers, 4 fouls and 25 points. (12ft/g)
LMA averaged 38 minutes, 9.5 rebounds, 1 assists, 0.5 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, zero fouls and 20 points. (7ft/g)

In this series:
Lillard is 26/5.5/6/1.8/0/4/4 and shooting 40%fg and 80%ft on 41 attempts (10/g)
Exum is 23/5.3/5.5/1.8/2.3/4/4 and shooting 58%fg and 79%ft on 39 attempts (10/g)
LMA is 17/9/1.5/0.5/1.5/1/4 and shooting 33%fg and 91%ft on 34 attempts (8/g)

The real unsung hero, though, is Sammie Dower, out of nowhere!
15 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block on 52%fg shooting in 22 minutes per.

I don't think this is over and honestly still see it going 7 games at this point.

We clearly have differing opinions on the subject, but I feel like I don't really need to explain that 2 regular season games is not a sample size to draw any conclusions from. Interestingly enough, I don't play my guys as much in the regular season to help prevent injuries (Wright was my team leader at 32.5 mins) yet Okaro still got injured. Playoffs are a whole different ballgame.

I think you're right that my team doesn't match up very well with yours, but if you remember I lost game 1 by 1 point. If Okaro makes ANY sort of positive impact on the game, I win that game and we're 2-2 and the series is anyone's guess.

I'm really happy with how Austin has contained LMA, but I cannot get the fouls under control. It's the biggest reason I keep losing. I've been tinkering around with my tactics (I'm sure there are certain tactics that would work), but I'm afraid I'm going to run out of time before I figure out the right ones. Hell, I reduced my pace to 1 to limit the number of possessions, and I reduced FCP to 1 to reduce fouls while keeping the DI the same as it's been (6) and somehow I set a series high in fouls. Bad luck? Bad engine? Wrong tactics? A little of everything? Who knows?

This isn't me giving up, I'll still fight. But I see this lasting until game 6 at most. I've been blown out in both games played in Utah. I don't see how I can make up those 20 points unless I get a really fluky game or something.

The thing is your core is still very young. You've got a great setup and will continue to compete for years to come in my mind.

A healthy Okaro combined with Bledsoe/Austin is a sick two way core.

No worries, the engine has winners randomly picked long before the games are played - between this and round 1 - we may have just had our number called. Still games to be played though, best of luck.

Wahhh wahhh wahhh everyone here is crying like Jeb.

donaldtrump666 wrote:Wahhh wahhh wahhh everyone here is crying like Jeb.

Shut up before I introduce you to my friend Hellfire, right up your a**, you dirty republican.

donaldtrump666 wrote:Wahhh wahhh wahhh everyone here is crying like Jeb.

Just like you when you lose the election in 3 1/2 weeks?

Incidentally, 3 1/2 inches is a measurement of a certain part of you that you can only dream about.