Duane Rankin: “Kobe is with me every day.” Devin Booker. #Suns
Phoenix Suns Rumors
StatMuse: The Suns are 4-0 in the bubble. In that span: Booker — 28 PPG, 7 APG, 40 3P% Ayton — 18 PPG, 9 RPG, 59 FG% Rubio — 17 PPG, 6 APG, 50 3P% Saric — 15 PPG, 8 RPG, 53 FG% Cam Johnson — 13 PPG, 9 RPG Cam Payne — 12 PPG, 54 FG%, 53 3P% pic.twitter.com/V9Xr8l1Uso
Few could have imagined the red-hot start that both the Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns have gotten off to in the NBA bubble with 3-0 records. For Pacers forward T.J. Warren, the setting in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, suits him perfectly: all basketball, all the time. Never mind the fact that he’s facing his former team that traded him to Indiana last summer for cash considerations. Warren says he just wants to hoop.
“Even with all that in the past, I was always self-motivated,” Warren told ESPN by phone Wednesday. “Never allowed nobody to put a limit on my talent. No matter what the political stuff was or anything from high school, college to the NBA, you always face adversity, but I feel like it’s how you respond, how you rise to the occasion and I feel like me, personally, I just always feel like I’m able to adapt and respond in a positive way with my game.
Booker nailed a buzzer-beating, turnaround jumper over Paul George to cap a 35-point performance in a 117-115 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Even as impressive as he has been, Booker still finds the time to chat regularly with his old teammate as they’re looking forward to the clash. “We still communicate. We still talk a lot,” Booker said of Warren. “This relationship, that’s for life. It’s a respectful relationship. I’m happy the situation that he’s in and the opportunity that he’s getting and the way he’s performing.”
Gina Mizell: Ricky Rubio on Devin Booker’s game-winner: “Beautiful. I was in the corner watching, and then probably watched it like 10 times in the room. The footwork is amazing. I just got goosebumps. It reminds me of Kobe Bryant. … That happened because he put a lot of work in.” #Suns
ESPN Stats & Info: Devin Booker hit a game-winning buzzer-beater to beat the Clippers yesterday and finished with 35 points. It was the 3rd time in his career he scored 30+ and hit a game-winning buzzer-beater. The only players with more such games are Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Duane Rankin: “You pretty much seen the shot. He got to his spot, pivoted and shot a fadeaway.” Kawhi Leonard describing Devin Booker’s winner in #Suns 117-115 thriller over #ClipperNation .
1d
Trae Young: Damn Book ! That’s Tough💪🏽
Bradley Beal: D Book my goodness!!! SPESHA
Rob Perez: DEVIN BOOKER. GAME. pic.twitter.com/IklvCYeT8Y
DeMarcus Cousins: Book 🔥🔥
Bobby Portis: D Book is special
Duane Rankin: I asked Monty Williams if Aron Baynes had done enough in practice to play today as #Suns face #ClipperNation. “No it doesn’t look like it. Had a really light practice yesterday. Didn’t do much on the court at all. 3-on-3, 4-on-4, 5-on-5. So not at this point.” pic.twitter.com/O78nHTSvJh
Lou Williams clears quarantine
Shams Charania: Clippers guard Lou Williams has cleared his 10-day quarantine and will make his NBA restart debut today against the Suns, his agent Wallace Prather tells @The Athletic @Stadium.
Lou Williams clears quarantine
Shams Charania: Clippers guard Lou Williams has cleared his 10-day quarantine and will make his NBA restart debut today against the Suns, his agent Wallace Prather tells @The Athletic @Stadium.
Duane Rankin: Still wow. Absolutely wow. #Suns 117, #Mavs 115 F Luka Doncic 40. Kristaps Porzingis 30. Led by as many as 15. 33-of-37 FTs. 6-31 on 3s. Devin Booker 30 (Fouled out) Ricky Rubio 20 points, 9 boards, 7 dimes. Cam Johnson 19 and 12. 29 fouls. 37 bench points. Up next? LAC 8/4. pic.twitter.com/XJuO2gTjaz
Kellan Olson: Kelly Oubre Jr. said on FSAZ’s pregame show that he’s in the bubble to play basketball and doing everything possible to accomplish that. Said he’s getting better and his knee feels fine. “Some reactionary stuff” he has to hone in on after quarantine
Since the Pacers returned to Indianapolis and then headed down to the bubble, teammates have been talking up Warren, how focused and prepared he seemed to be after the long layoff, but this … well, this was out of this world. This was Harden-esque. Or LeBron-esque. T.J. Warren? Really nice player, an amazing acquisition from the clueless Phoenix Suns, who gave him away for “cash considerations,” but you could have gotten a trillion-to-1 odds on Warren going for 50-plus on the very first regular-season game in the bubble. Or in any game. Anywhere. “We fed the dragon,” Oladipo said, smiling. “A guy that hot, you try to get him the ball, and I thought all our guys were trying to do that,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “T.J. was as hot as I’ve ever seen him. And I thought his teammates did a good job of sacrificing, of screening and getting him the ball and giving him proper spacing. You’ve got to milk him. I thought our point guards (Aaron Holiday and T.J. McConnell), they combined for 18 assists, we had 44 assists in the game, so our ball movement was good, and a lot of that was ending up in T.J.’s hands.”
He surveyed his overseas options, choosing the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association because it was a successful team that would pay him a solid salary, brother Tony said. Payne focused on “reinventing” his habits, from eating right to spending extra time in the gym to ensuring he stayed injury-free. “It gave him that drive,” Tony said. “Like, all this talk … it just made him want to shut everybody up, honestly.”
While lounging in the pool a few weeks ago, Payne unexpectedly received a call from Williams. “I jumped out of that pool so fast,” Payne recently recalled with a smile. They spoke about their time together in Oklahoma City, and about how much Williams values consistency, maturity and practicing gratitude. The Suns offered Payne a two-year contract, which covers the Orlando restart and includes a $2 million team option for the 2020-21 season (per HoopsHype’s database). “It was almost like a weight lifted off my back,” Payne said, “because the only thing I wanted to do is be back in the NBA. … “I don’t know what it is, but (Williams) always has the right things to say to me. And for whatever reason, it triggers me to just turn into a different mode. I appreciate that (phone call) from him.”
Duane Rankin: “They’ve got some really good players that put us in some tough positions. The big fella, he was hard to stop. He’s active, he can shoot 3s. He does a great job of rolling. He knows how to pick his spots. He was a problem.” #RepTheDistrict Scott Brooks on #Suns big Deandre Ayton. pic.twitter.com/w6AvfMQFWd
Gina Mizell: Monty Williams on the #Suns’ win over Washington: “There were moments for us that are gonna be great for us tomorrow in film session, because we won an ugly game against a team that plays really, really hard … We basically played against ourselves.”
Duane Rankin: “I’ve been working on this my whole life. I could’ve been shooting the 3.” Deandre Ayton letting it be known that the system in place now enables him to pull the 3. Hit two today in #Suns win over Wizards.
Gerald Bourguet: Final: PHX 125, WAS 112. Booker: 27 Pts, 6 Reb, 4 Ast. Ayton: 24 Pts, 12 Reb, 3 Blk. Rubio: 15 Pts, 9 Ast. Saric: 16 Pts, 6 Reb. Suns are 1-0 in the bubble.
As the Phoenix Suns begin their NBA restart “seeding” schedule Friday in Florida, the franchise has confirmed laying off an unspecified number of employees. “We’ve been working on restructuring a number of departments since early this year,” Suns Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Dean Stoyer, told The Republic, in confirming the layoffs. “We found that some of the roles were redundant, some roles were outdated and there were some roles impacted for performance reasons.”
Stoyer wouldn’t confirm the number of layoffs. However, sources have informed The Republic close to 30 employees were laid off Monday and sports360az.com also reported Wednesday the team let go of 30 employees. “We are in the process now of posting new positions to hire to address new responsibilities,” Stoyer said. The layoffs come amid other cuts the franchise has made.
The Suns announced Wednesday the sale of their G League team, Northern Arizona Suns, and they no longer have assistant coaches Steve Blake and Larry Greer on Phoenix’s coaching staff. The moves come as the Suns are spending on facilities while facing lost revenue after the season was put on pause in March.
Kellan Olson: Suns are listing Kelly Oubre Jr. (right knee rehab) as out for tomorrow’s game against the Wizards. Jalen Lecque is also listed as out. No Dario Saric or Aron Baynes on the injury report.
Gina Mizell: Monty Williams on the #Suns selling G League team to Detroit: “I heard about it when it happened. It’s certainly an important piece to programs. At the same time, those kind of decisions were made with a plan in mind, and I’m sure that was the case … “
Kellan Olson: Mikal Bridges said he can compare the eight-game run over 14 days to something like a conference tournament or the NCAA Tournament where you can’t focus on the end and you have to just go game by game.
Gina Mizell: Monty shared quotes from John Lewis’ letter w/players before practice: “His phrase ‘good’ trouble’ is something that I think will stick with us for a long, long time. He’s a guy that inspires me to stand up for things when I see that they’re not right and do something about it”
Kellan Olson: Aron Baynes returned to practice today. Jalen Lecque is in Orlando and quarantining.
Kellan Olson: Dario Saric “did do more” in practice today and did some stuff on the floor yesterday as well. Monty said he looks much better than he did a few days ago. No update again on Kelly Oubre Jr. and Monty said he thinks Aron Baynes will obviously need to get some of his cardio back.
