One of my favorite things to watch with this team is the Monty/Ivey relationship. Monty seems to be pushing him to be great on both ends. When Ivey comes off the court in timeouts or after a sub, Monty always seems to be the first coach to pull him aside and talk to him. You see the results in the effort on the defensive end last night, a night when Ivey wasn’t really involved much in the offense. He was great even without scoring, something you never said about him last year. The signs are there.

When Monty took over the Suns, Booker was a talented scorer but not a winning player and you saw the leap Book took towards the end of that year in the bubble. Not saying Ivey is going to become Booker but from all the reporting he seems like a player who will respond to the pressure from Monty and not fold. Expecting big things this year from the kid even if it isn’t showing in the box score right now.