Antonio McDyess

[George O'Brien]

Zarko certainly doesn't look like he has the frame for adding a lot of useful strength - and if he doesn't it'll be a miracle if he can defend at any position. He has some nice skills and he seems quite astute on the offensive end but a guy that can't defend gets attacked relentlessly in the playoffs - the fate Cedric Ceballos, and we along with him, suffered. Even his very high scoring rate couldn't bail him out in the playoffs because he was exploited on every possession he was on the floor.

One of the most significant problems the Suns have had since the beginning is that they have never given primary consideration to the NBA game as it in the playoffs. JC liked to brag, when it was true, that the Suns had the best or second best regular season record over some number of years. Big deal, you might as well brag about your winning record in pre-season games. Gimmicks like small ball or finesse ball may work in the regular season but in a sequence of seven game series, some coach - probably the first one you face - is going to take it apart. And the refs aren't going to help you.

Nowdays a defensive genius of a coach might be able to hide Zarko in the middle of a 2-1-2 zone for long enough stretches to be a slightly useful member of the team even in the playoffs. We don't have a coach like that and probably never will have as long as the C's are running the show. So what are the odds that Zarko will ever be a benefit to the team?

Keep him around another year to see if a miracle seems to be in the making but don't make him a major building block until you see it happen. In short, don't worry much about whether McDyess, or anyone else, might cut into his minutes. There are much more important things to worry about. Like finding out just what Lampe can do. Not to mention finding a coach for this seemingly talented young crew.

I think it is too early give on Zarko learning to play defense, but I agree the Suns need more than just yelling "play harder" to be effective. Offense is fine, but defense wins championships.

 

[jorje29]

nice game by Dice

Dice had a nice game, as starting C, vs Memphis. He finished with 16 pts - 11 reb - 3 stl - 2 blk - shooting 7-12.

for more details : phoenix @ Memphis boxscore

 

[elindholm]

for more details : phoenix @ Memphis boxscore

I've been looking all day for that! Is there an easy way to find last night's NBA box scores on line?

 

[BC867]

But those 30+ minutes were primarily all in the first 3 quarters. No matter what he did, Ainge wouldn't let him in the game at crunch time.

You're absolutely right, Chaplin. I don't blame Dice at all for leaving, under those circumstances.

Do you have any idea why he was left on the bench with the game on the line, night after night?

 

[devilalum]

You're absolutely right, Chaplin. I don't blame Dice at all for leaving, under those circumstances.

Do you have any idea why he was left on the bench with the game on the line, night after night?

Yeah,

The Suns were trying to win.

 

[F-Dog]

IMO Cabarkapa is already strong enough and long enough to guard most of the small forwards in the NBA. He just needs work on his defensive skills. That's where I think he should be spending most of his time anyhow. I really do not like him at power forward unless they have to do it because of injuries or foul trouble.

Joe Mama

I don't think it's useful to try and shoehorn Zarko into one position. The Suns will need to find minutes for Zarko at SF, PF, and possibly SG or C for him to be effective.

Most teams have a player or two coming off of their bench who isn't a great one-on-one scorer. Those are the guys the Suns will need to match Zarko against if they want to get him onto the court next year. (Yes, even after an entire summer of working on his defensive skills.)

 

[George O'Brien]

I don't think it's useful to try and shoehorn Zarko into one position. The Suns will need to find minutes for Zarko at SF, PF, and possibly SG or C for him to be effective.

Most teams have a player or two coming off of their bench who isn't a great one-on-one scorer. Those are the guys the Suns will need to match Zarko against if they want to get him onto the court next year. (Yes, even after an entire summer of working on his defensive skills.)

Someday Zarko will be able to play several positions, but right now he needs to prove he can play one. At least he did OK against the Mavs (3 of 4 in 19 minutes plus 2 rebounds). Lampe was more impressive, 5 of 6 and 5 rebounds. But neither guy can play defense.

 

[Joe Mama]

Someday Zarko will be able to play several positions, but right now he needs to prove he can play one. At least he did OK against the Mavs (3 of 4 in 19 minutes plus 2 rebounds). Lampe was more impressive, 5 of 6 and 5 rebounds. But neither guy can play defense.

Lampe probably will never be a great defender, but with a good summer he and Amare Stoudemire could be much better by next season. Both of them are supposedly hard workers who want to be the best players they can be. Lampe is also desperate to play more minutes, and he's got to know that becoming a better defender is the best thing he can do to get them.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Lampe probably will never be a great defender, but with a good summer he and Amare Stoudemire could be much better by next season. Both of them are supposedly hard workers who want to be the best players they can be. Lampe is also desperate to play more minutes, and he's got to know that becoming a better defender is the best thing he can do to get them.

Joe Mama

Lampe also needs to block out, crash the boards, dive for balls, set picks, and do the rest of the "dirty work" that an inside guy needs to do. As I said, it is as much a question of attitude.

BTW, I think defense is the area that Dice will need to focus on the most this summer. He used to be a top defender, but he is no where close to that right now. Some of this is physical (I'm guessing he needs to work on his conditioning), some of it is learning to work with the other players, but some of it is psychological following his injury.

On other side of the ball, I've noticed that with Dice or Lampe in the lineup, teams aren't zoning the Suns as much. As usual, the Suns are having to learn how to take advantage of their shooting skills and use them to drive the offense.

 

[Errntknght]

George, "Lampe also needs to block out, crash the boards, dive for balls, set picks, and do the rest of the "dirty work" that an inside guy needs to do. As I said, it is as much a question of attitude."

I watch Lampe carefully - I record the games so I can do that - he almost invariably blocks his man or rebs and he sets lots of picks. (He doesn't defend opponents bigs that much so his blocking out isn't very noticeable.) Where he is most lacking is in leveraging his size and strength to create and hold space - Etan Thomas, for example routinely moved him under the rim and had him off balance. He's going to need lots of game PT to learn, especially if we get rid of White, because there'll be no one on the roster to practice against.

Lampe probably won't be a stellar defender but lumping him with Zarko is way off the mark - Z can't defend anyone yet, being vulnerable to either strength or quickness, while Lampe holds his own against all but the strongest players. And he's 3-4 years younger than Zarko.


"On other side of the ball, I've noticed that with Dice or Lampe in the lineup, teams aren't zoning the Suns as much. As usual, the Suns are having to learn how to take advantage of their shooting skills and use them to drive the offense."

The Suns are seeing less zone but I think it's more the case that teams are so little concerned about the Suns that they don't worry about defending them in the optimal fashion - it's not like they are going to run into them in the playoffs.__________________

 

[George O'Brien]

"On other side of the ball, I've noticed that with Dice or Lampe in the lineup, teams aren't zoning the Suns as much. As usual, the Suns are having to learn how to take advantage of their shooting skills and use them to drive the offense."

The Suns are seeing less zone but I think it's more the case that teams are so little concerned about the Suns that they don't worry about defending them in the optimal fashion - it's not like they are going to run into them in the playoffs.__________________

With the Suns having only 7 healthy guys, I 'm not sure what difference it makes. Still the Suns problems have mostly been on defense rather than on offense since Dice and Lampe have been seeing time at center.