Bigger Transition than 2004-05

[Mainstreet]

It appears Steve Nash may think the Suns have a bigger transition than the 2004-05 team. IMO, he might have the biggest challenge to make especially if Porter likes to hold the reins. After playing for running teams with Nelson in Dallas and D'Antoni in Phoenix, Nash might have to change his style somewhat. It might be a tough transition for him. See article from Paul Coro dated 10-01-05.

• Nash said this could be a bigger initial transition than 2004-05, when he said "Mike (D'Antoni) maybe wanted us to run but he didn't necessarily have a clear-cut plan. I think he adjusted to how he thought we'd be good and let it happen. That's where Mike did a great job. He let us identify ourselves and tweaked it. He said, 'This is a new group of young guys. Let me get out of their way a bit.' "

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/10/01/20081001spt-sunsnotes.html

 

[Chaplin]

Nash is a 2-time MVP. I see no need to worry about any kind of transition for him.

 

[95pro]

im not worried. nash has a great basketball iq. he should adjust fine.

its the guys with the lower bb iq im kind of worried about

 

[Irish]

I don't think Nash is expressing doubts, just stating a fact. I'll have to go back and look at some of the things being said, but just a few items seems likely to stand out.

1. Shift to Motion Offense: Porter is making it clear that this will not be just "Pick and Roll" plus Nash on "waltabout" in the half court. Motion will mean the ball will go through the hands of a lot of guys and be less reliant on Nash making plays. The nature of their offense remains unclear, but it should be easier than trying to get someone to play like Steve.

2. Get the Ball to Shaq: Last year Shaq was mostly an afterthought. They will get him the ball to score or pass.

3. No More "Seven Seconds or Less": It sounds like there will be more emphasis on finding the open man rather than shooting as quick as possible. (My complaint was that quick shots often let opponents get back into the game extremely quickly).

4. Defense: It's easy to say Porter is being overly optimistic when saying his goal is to get the Suns into the top 5 teams defensively, but all signs indicated he stick to defense longer than D'Antoni did. Team defense will become a priority.

 

[cly2tw]

Nash did quite well in the last 20 games last season. He visibly scaled back his drives and found even energy for improved defense. Only in playoffs did he revert back to his being-figured-out-by-@#$$ing-Spurs self, where we realized that we needed more systematic transition from free-running to a new era with Shaq on the team. I fully trust that Nash would get his part done perfectly in the transition.

 

[NBAFanAddict]

Vets. The suns have so many vets that they can transition without too many issues

 

[NBAFanAddict]

I don't consider Nash old though. Hill and Shaq are old...

 

[Irish]

I don't consider Nash old though. Hill and Shaq are old...

Hill is said to be completely healed from his appendectomy/hernia problem. Without joint issues, it seems likely he will return to the just under 16 ppg offensive skills he had prior to te operation) except that Barnes will take some of his minutes.

As for Shaq being too old, everything is relative. Here are the stats of some other guys at 36:

Karl Malone - 25.5 ppg, 50.8%, 9.5 rpg (played until 40)
Moses Malone - 15.6 ppg, 47.4%, 9.1 rpg (played until 39)
Kareem Abdul-jabbar - 21.5 ppg, 57.8%, 7.3 rpg (played until 41)
Patrick Ewing - 17.3 ppg, 43.5%, 9.9 rpg (played until 39)
Robert Parrish - 15.7 ppg, 58.0%, 10.1 rpg (played until 43)