By adding Grant Hill and trading away Kurt Thomas, the Suns' rotation is going to be radically changed. No player will be more dramatically impacted than Boris Diaw.
The Boris Diaw story is a curious one. Drafted by the Hawks in 2003, he spent two "forgettable" seasons on the hopeless Hawks. He suffered trying to be a team player on a team of guys trying to pad their stats to go elsewhere. When the Suns asked for him in the Joe Johnson trade, the Hawks were shocked because he was not very effective.
Things changed during the summer of 2005 when he led his French national team to the Eurobasket final four and was just edged out by
Dirk Nowitzki for their MVP. What surprised people was how well he played on the inside against NBA players like Kirilenko and Okur.
In 2005-06, injuiries to Amare Stoudemire and later Kurt Thomas left Boris to play center, where he proved to be remarkably effective. His statistics improved dramatically:
2004-05 18.2 minutes (with the Hawks)
4.8 ppg
42.2% shooting
2.6 rpg
2.3 apg
2005-06 35.5 minutes
13.3 ppg
52.6%
6.9 rpg
6.2 apg
He was selected as "Most Improved Player" and got a great contract. But om 2006-07 his statistics went down, although nothing like his Hawks performance.
2006-07 31.1 minutes
9.7 ppg
53.8%
4.3 rpg
4.8 apg
In 2005-06 while playing center, Boris played mostly at the "elbow" (corner of lane next to the foul line) where he was used in the pick and roll as well as at the high post. His mid range shot was good enough to force bigger guys come out to defend him, whereby he could simply drive the basket. When smaller guys tried to defend him, he could take them down to the bakset and post them up. If anything, Boris showed more low post moves than anyone else on the team.
What happened last season? Some of it was that he came to camp out of condition and was not as quick as he had been. But the other problem was more subtle, in 2006-07 he was being asked to play small forward rather than center.
Boris Diaw looks like a small forward. He's 6'8" and under 230 pounds. But on the floor, he does not have a comparative advantage to most small forwards. Typically opposing small forwards are quicker than he is. At the same time, he's not aggressive at making shots and tends to pass rather than attack. At small forward this seriously limits his offense.
As long as Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas were playing center and Shawn Marion was at power forward, Boris was forced to play a position he was not that good at. Eventually, coach D'Antoni made the decision to start James Jones at small forward, but this did not really solve the problem of Boris.
How were they going to use Boris in the coming season. If they moved Boris to center backing up Amare Stoudemire, then what happens to Kurt Thomas? With Hill getting much of the minutes at small forward so that Marion gets most of the power forward minutes, it was going to be hard to get Kurt Thomas many minutes if Diaw was to play much. The most likely scenerio was that Kurt Thomas would see his minutes drop to closer to 10 per game from 18.
If this scenerio is accurate, it becomes all the more disconcerting to pay $8 million in salary and $8 million in luxury tax for a guy who will play at most 10 minutes a game. So while the trade was heavily motivated by the money, it was also motiviated by the declining role of Kurt Thomas that was being anticipated.
None the less, can Boris get the job done? On offense there seems to be little doubt he can. The real question is on defense where the jury is still out. In 2005-06 the team defense fell dramatically when Kurt Thomas was injured. Boris was a below average rebounder for an inside guy and was not physically able to keep guys like Brand off the glass.
Since the end of the season, Diaw has been working out with Stoudemire in preparation for his stint with the French national team. Kerr has had a lot of time to watch him try to defend against Stoudemire one on one. It is not clear what he has been seeing, but it must have been enough to plunge into the unknown by dumping Kurt Thomas.
It is a gamble that could easily blow up in Kerr's face - even before playing the Spurs. In a very real sense, Steve Kerr is betting the season on Diaw's performance at center. I would never do that, but I certainly hope he knows what he's doing.
The Boris Diaw story is a curious one. Drafted by the Hawks in 2003, he spent two "forgettable" seasons on the hopeless Hawks. He suffered trying to be a team player on a team of guys trying to pad their stats to go elsewhere. When the Suns asked for him in the Joe Johnson trade, the Hawks were shocked because he was not very effective.
Things changed during the summer of 2005 when he led his French national team to the Eurobasket final four and was just edged out by
Dirk Nowitzki for their MVP. What surprised people was how well he played on the inside against NBA players like Kirilenko and Okur.
In 2005-06, injuiries to Amare Stoudemire and later Kurt Thomas left Boris to play center, where he proved to be remarkably effective. His statistics improved dramatically:
2004-05 18.2 minutes (with the Hawks)
4.8 ppg
42.2% shooting
2.6 rpg
2.3 apg
2005-06 35.5 minutes
13.3 ppg
52.6%
6.9 rpg
6.2 apg
He was selected as "Most Improved Player" and got a great contract. But om 2006-07 his statistics went down, although nothing like his Hawks performance.
2006-07 31.1 minutes
9.7 ppg
53.8%
4.3 rpg
4.8 apg
In 2005-06 while playing center, Boris played mostly at the "elbow" (corner of lane next to the foul line) where he was used in the pick and roll as well as at the high post. His mid range shot was good enough to force bigger guys come out to defend him, whereby he could simply drive the basket. When smaller guys tried to defend him, he could take them down to the bakset and post them up. If anything, Boris showed more low post moves than anyone else on the team.
What happened last season? Some of it was that he came to camp out of condition and was not as quick as he had been. But the other problem was more subtle, in 2006-07 he was being asked to play small forward rather than center.
Boris Diaw looks like a small forward. He's 6'8" and under 230 pounds. But on the floor, he does not have a comparative advantage to most small forwards. Typically opposing small forwards are quicker than he is. At the same time, he's not aggressive at making shots and tends to pass rather than attack. At small forward this seriously limits his offense.
As long as Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas were playing center and Shawn Marion was at power forward, Boris was forced to play a position he was not that good at. Eventually, coach D'Antoni made the decision to start James Jones at small forward, but this did not really solve the problem of Boris.
How were they going to use Boris in the coming season. If they moved Boris to center backing up Amare Stoudemire, then what happens to Kurt Thomas? With Hill getting much of the minutes at small forward so that Marion gets most of the power forward minutes, it was going to be hard to get Kurt Thomas many minutes if Diaw was to play much. The most likely scenerio was that Kurt Thomas would see his minutes drop to closer to 10 per game from 18.
If this scenerio is accurate, it becomes all the more disconcerting to pay $8 million in salary and $8 million in luxury tax for a guy who will play at most 10 minutes a game. So while the trade was heavily motivated by the money, it was also motiviated by the declining role of Kurt Thomas that was being anticipated.
None the less, can Boris get the job done? On offense there seems to be little doubt he can. The real question is on defense where the jury is still out. In 2005-06 the team defense fell dramatically when Kurt Thomas was injured. Boris was a below average rebounder for an inside guy and was not physically able to keep guys like Brand off the glass.
Since the end of the season, Diaw has been working out with Stoudemire in preparation for his stint with the French national team. Kerr has had a lot of time to watch him try to defend against Stoudemire one on one. It is not clear what he has been seeing, but it must have been enough to plunge into the unknown by dumping Kurt Thomas.
It is a gamble that could easily blow up in Kerr's face - even before playing the Spurs. In a very real sense, Steve Kerr is betting the season on Diaw's performance at center. I would never do that, but I certainly hope he knows what he's doing.
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