So, I drove up to the Suns’ preseason game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden this weekend – the first modern NBA outdoor game. It was a Suns home game, so the Ced Ceballos, the Gorilla, the Suns dance team and the Adio Sol Patrol were out in full force. Suns fans were spread across the arena with very few Nuggets fans dotted in. (The Nuggets fans I saw all seemed to be fairly happy about their team’s win. Congrats.)
The offense was stagnant. There were times when the team would push the ball, mostly after a defensive stop. There were probably less than five times the team ran. Which is no necessarily a bad thing, as long as the halfcourt offense is strong. But its not right now. Far from it. Instead of scoring in seven seconds or less, it would sometime take that long to swing the ball around the perimeter. At the beginning of the game especially, there was an effort to get the ball into the post. I’m not sure the Suns scored on any of these plays. I do remember Shaq throwing the ball away trying to deliver the ball to a cutter. The offense looked a lot like something you might see in a high school game. The base set is very spread out, with four players on the perimeter, who then cut through the lane. Several screens are set, including a double screen to free up a corner three for a wing player. Generally, it seemed pretty one dimensional. No drives baseline. No drives into the paint. Not many pick and rolls, but that’s a lot harder without Amare.
What made the Suns’ offense special wasn’t pushing the ball after every made basket. Any team with speed can do that, and many have tried unsuccessfully. The key was Nash. (I’m already referring to D’Antoni’s offense as dead.) Any point guard can push the ball up the court with success. It was his impact on the half court game that was unique, though most have criticized the Suns “slow-down” game in the past.
It’s not a horrible thing that Nash is being restrained. The time is fast approaching when he will no longer be with the Suns. The Suns need to prepare for that day, hopefully without sacrificing winning now. If Porter can instill a more structured offense, it may help some of the younger players who will have to adjust to the post-Nash era in a few years.
Nash’s heir apparent played about as well as I expected him too. He was a bit timid with the ball, but I believe Dahntay Jones and Anthony Carter were pressuring him most of the game, and they’re both pretty pesky. After seeing him play, I can say that he does a pretty good job of staying in front of his man, and he’ll hustle. His shot doesn’t look too bad mechanically, but it doesn’t go in very often. He had a few nice plays where he penetrated and found an open man. The year will be a learning process with him, so anyone who expects him to play like the #2 point guard in the draft or someone earning as much as a lottery pick will be disappointed. He won’t be any worse than Marcus Banks, so that’s a plus. Over the next few years he should develop into a solid starting point guard.
The one good thing on offense is that we have energetic post players. Robin Lopez and Louis Amundson crashed the boards frequently, though it doesn’t show up in RoLo’s rebounding stats.
Defensively, it would seem that the Suns have made great strides since the last few seasons, but I’m not sure that’s true. Sure, the points allowed stat may have gone down, but when has a Suns fan ever taken much stock in that deceptive stat. If my math is correct, and it always is, through the first three preseason games (one of the best indicators of post-season success), the Suns have allowed a 42% opponent FG%. Which is only about a 3% drop from their average over the past four years. First, let me say that those 3% points are the difference between an average defensive team and a team that is lauded for their defense. The kind of defense that wins champioships. That said, two of the team’s three worst defenders haven’t been playing. Their best defensive efforts thus far have come against teams missing Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. So no, I’m not ready to say the Suns will be a top 7 team on defense this season.
The Suns did swarm the ball well whenever it came into the paint. The help defense looked like it had only rarely during Dantoni’s reign. The man-to-man defense looked essentially the same. Nash was slightly better in forcing his man to help. Robin Lopez did a solid job defending his man in the post, though I wouldn’t call him a defensive “stopper” by any mean, at least not the way Kurt Thomas was. But man defense really wasn’t the problem. With Bell, Marion and Kurt Thomas on the floor, the Suns had three superior defenders. That’s pretty good. Look at the Spurs. Bruce Bowen is a fantastic defender. Tim Duncan is solid. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and whoever else are solid, but not spectacular. Their team defense concept was beter than the Suns’. I know Nash and Stoudemire’s individual defensive liabilities played a major role in this as well, but it’s not as if Parker was able to stop Nash or and Spur was able to contain Amare during the playoffs. The biggest difference is in the defensive schemes, where the Spurs were worlds better than the Suns.
So I’m browsing azcentral today, and I read this article about how Amare Stoudemire got poked in the eye. No biggie right? Turns out he tore his iris. How is that even possible? It sounds like some sort of unrealistic plot twist in a Ben Stiller movie. Boris Diaw needs to splurge on a nail clipper for the safety of the team. I’m sure if he asks nicely the Suns will pay for half. Not a good day for Suns fans, but definitely not horrible yet. After all, Amare’s knees are doing fine.
But then I learn that The Office won’t be on NBC because of the VP debates. Really??!?!!? NBC thinks the VP debate is more important and/or entertaining than the office? Ludicrous! I jest slightly, but I can always read about the debate in the papers or TiVo it to watch later. If they don’t air The Office, I’m screwed. You expect to get screwed by your company, but you never expect to get screwed by your girlfriend.
Leave your spam on the presidential debates below.
The end of the deluge of posts. Leandro Barbosa isn’t at training camp since he left to visit his sick mother. Amare Stoudemire is also expected to be very limited in camp because of an ankle sprain. I haven’t even read all of these articles yet, but here’s some material from the Arizona Republic, East Valley Tribune and suns.com.
The plan is to go into all this good stuff moire in depth at a yet to be determined time in the future, but if you’ve followed this blog at all, you may have seen that postings are frequently late and inconsistent. Which isn’t to say you should stop checking it out. Let me know if any of the links don’t work…
Should have had this up a long time ago… Amare Stoudemire is on Nickolodeon’s Yo Gabba Gabba! to talk about how to dribble and stuff. Here’s Paul Coro’s article on Stoudemire’s latest work. And here’s the video:
The Suns relationship with Goran Dragic has officially begun. How do I know? Because it’s on their Facebook page. Also, the illustrious Paul Coro posted it on azcentral.com. Dragic has signed his contract with the Suns and all that’s left is for him to get a work visa. Specifics of the contract haven’t been released (as far as I’m aware of), but the salary should be comparable to that of a lottery pick over the course of three years, with a team option for a fourth. So even if he’s a complete bust we shouldn’t need to trade away Amare Stoudemire and take on Stephon Marbury’s contract to get rid of him.
The honeymoon will begin next week, when he is expected to go to training camp with the team. My hope is that Suns fans don’t ruin the honeymoon. We shouldn’t expect him to be great right off the bat. The fact of the matter is, he’s a second round pick. Fans shouldn’t expect him to be the next Steve Nash, because he won’t be. Certainly not in his first season, and probably not ever. He has the potential to be a top 10 point guard in the league, but I doubt he’ll ever be considered top 5. Chris Paul, Deron William, Derrick Rose, Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas when he returns from surgery should all be better than him for the next few years, not to mention various other point guards I may have forgotten or are not yet in the NBA.
The NBA Cares. Really, it does. That’s what all the commercials say, where star after star reads to children and builds houses. And that’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it seems too staged. I’m a skeptic, yes. That’s why it’s refreshing to see Phoenix Suns of now and then doing good things in our community and beyond in a way that seems authentic, genuine and unforced. I’m a homer, yes.
Grant Hill recently teamed with Stop MRSA Now, a group that raises awareness about the deadly staph infection. Hill, who has been diagnosed with the infection before, said he’s raising awareness because he had trouble getting information about MRSA when he contracted it.
Kevin Johnson, fan favorite and member of the 93 Finals team, is helping out in Phoenix now after assisting in his hometown Sacramento the past few years. Andrew Perna reports that KJ was on hand to endorse the Phoenix Teaching Fellows program that teams regular citizens with young students to teach them math, science, language arts, etc. Sure KJ, is in the mayoral race in Sacramento, but Phoenix seems a bit far to stage a publicity stunt. Unless that’s what he wants us to think…Anyways, here’s another video to remember the good old days (though it sucks that our good old days don’t include a championship). It’s all good stuff, but KJ over the Dream is at the end if that’s all you want to see.
Not to mention other good things Suns players have done this summer, including Boris Diaw hosting a camp in Senegal, Steve Nash doing anything and everything and Amare Stoudemire visiting schools and stuff (I think. It’s more on the PR side anyways).
There’s still about a month before the preseason starts, and everything basketball-related has slowed to a Piston-esque crawl. I was browsing through other WordPress blogs, and I saw a blog entry about an all-Atlantic Division team. So I figured why not take a weeks or two to look at the Pacific division and some of the Suns’ competition in the division, both this year and in the future. To kick things off, here are my picks for the 2008-2009 All-Pacific Division Team.
Starters
PG: Steve Nash. Gotta go with the hometown guy. There’s been a lot of talk about Chris Paul and Deron Williams surpassing him, but they’re in a different divisions, so I won’t even go into that. Maybe later.
SG: Kobe Bryant. The consensus best player in the league. Has done a lot to improve his image by playing in the Olympics, with an injury no less.
SF:Stephen Jackson. Now I actually have to start explaining myself a little. He plays good defense and is may have been the MVP of his team even with Baron Davis. His rep has skyrocketed since the bral in the Palace incident. Last year I don’t know he makes this list with Artest and Marion in the division.
PF: Amare Stoudemire. One of the best offensive big men in the league. Has improved his shot drastically in the last few years. Hopefully his defense will follow suit with new coach Terry Porter.
C: Andris Biedrins. Toughest choice of the starting 5 and the most controversial. A monster on the boards, runs the floor, and I haven’t heard anything horrible about his defense. There’s several solid centers in the division, including Andrew Bynum, Brad Miller, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, and Pau Gasol, depending on how you classify each player. Biedrins is young and uninjured, which is why he got the spot. Bynum will get this spot in my book if he returns to form this year.
Bench
Baron Davis
Monta Ellis
Kevin Martin
Corey Maggette
Al Thornton
Pau Gasol
Marcus Camby
Andrew Bynum
The plan is to go a little more in depth on the other teams and players in the division in the upcoming weeks. Don’t worry though, I’ll still be writing about the Suns a lot. Even in the previews of other teams I’ll try to discuss how the Suns match up with them. I’ll try to get player analysis in the roster section eventually to, so we shall see.
With Dan Majerle’s move to the Phoenix Suns’ bench alongside Terry Porter, Scott Williams moved into the team’s vacant color analyst position alongside Tom Leander in games aired on my45. Eddie Johnson and Gary Bender will reportedly still work games on FSN AZ.
Williams has worked as a color analyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers and did pre/post game analysis for the Milwaukee Bucks. I don’t remember much about Scott Williams from when he played with the Suns, and I know zilch about his skills as a color analyst. I’ve seen a few sites that have mentioned the Bucks were sad to see him go, so that’s something I guess. The man has spent 15 years in the league, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t based on an overwhelming amount of talent, so I’m guessing he must have been a hard worker and a high character guy. Obviously, that has little or nothing to do with how well he does covering the game, but it does give him a unique perspective and one that I can respect. He’s also played with megastars like Lebron and MJ and volume scorers like Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury; shooters like Michael Redd and Ray Allen and point guards like Tim Hardaway and Avery Johnson, who now coaches the Dallas Mavericks. He also played with the Suns’ own Amare Stoudemire, so I’m sure Suns fans will hear a lot about how much better Amare is now than he was in 02-03. In case you were wondering, Amare is the only player on that roster still with the Suns now.
I’m sure Scott Williams will do a decent job as color analyst for the Suns. It would take an awfully lot for me to mute the TV during a Suns game anyways, though Al McCoy is a pretty tempting alternative. I look forward to hearing Williams’ opinions during the broadcast, if for no other reason than it means the season has started.
Also, I was able to find what is quite possibly the only Scott Williams tribute video ever made.
