Bring Nash Off the Bench

[nashman]

Chris Paul is the only PG that has moved in front of Nash as the best in the league. D. Will is not there yet. Paul only gets the not for his speed and steals otherwise Nash is still right there at the top with him. Deron doesn't have the court awareness yet imho.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Chris Paul is the only PG that has moved in front of Nash as the best in the league. D. Will is not there yet. Paul only gets the not for his speed and steals otherwise Nash is still right there at the top with him. Deron doesn't have the court awareness yet imho.

Of course Laker fans and the like are very quick to want to bury Nash in the heirarchy, what else do you expect? these are the same tools that tell us to give away Amare because he is a cancer all the time too. What is more likely? Nash was hurting and had a new system to deal with on the fly and didn't play all that well? Or he suddenly got old and sucked?

Nash didn't have a great playoffs, but he was still statistically dominant, 17/11, 50% FG's, once he gets into the new offense and gets it down, I could easily see Nash jumping back up next season and challanging Paul for the title of best point guard.

 

[nowagimp]

Chris Paul is the only PG that has moved in front of Nash as the best in the league. D. Will is not there yet. Paul only gets the not for his speed and steals otherwise Nash is still right there at the top with him. Deron doesn't have the court awareness yet imho.

I think how good a PG performs has to do with several factors. Raw skills, athletic gifts, and complementary players.

Steve nash is 2nd behind paul and then there is a dropoff to DWil.

Tony Parker: does not play a conventional PG, the offense is often run by Tim Duncan or manu. Parkers inconsistent outside shot causes the passing lanes to be tight, but he improved this year some. Parker is the best finisher at PG by a comfortable margin.

Nash: gets great passing lanes with his shooting/passing threat, but needs better screens to rub off his man if a long defender is used against him. The suns screens suck(wimpy screens) compared with the pistons or spurs, those guys create some physical screens to slow down the defender. If Nash had parkers screens, he'd be nasty, and his man would get beat up a bit. Nash has been hurt by the lack of consistent 3 pt shooting by the suns 2's and 3's this year. Nash has the worst 3pt shooting support of these PG's, this causes spacing problems in the offense. Nash is easily the suns best 3 pt shooter, while the Jazz have Korver+ Okur, hornets have Peja+mo Pete, and spurs have Bowen+ Barry(+finley, manu). The suns poor spacing on offense leaves less room for him operate, leads to more turnovers.

DWil: great physical skills, energy. Plays with an unsurpassed passion. A work in progress in vision and decision making. Passing skills are good, but hes not on Nashs or CP3's level there. He may pass nash next year w/ sloans help.

CP3: speed and handles are unequalled in the NBA, these create alot of space, making passing easier. He is also an excellent passer, 2nd to nash. Add to that the hornets deadly 3pt shooters and DWest in the low post and the combination is killer. The hornets get great spacing on offense. Even if you take away just Peja, the spacing for CP3 will shrivel up pretty quickly. Peja is dangerous, he's too big a cover for many guards and shot 65% from 3pt range in the playoffs. Mo Pete is also clutch from downtown.

Calderon: Takes care of the ball better than anybody, great shot, good passer. Toronto has a nice array of shooters to create space. He does not create of the dribble as well as the others, but his instincts are spot on. With more experience, he could be a "nash-like PG" in a few years, but that takes time. Calderon does not have the althletic gifts of CP3 and Dwil, so he will have to do more above the shoulders, like nash.

 

[AfroSuns]

Stupid, Stupid Stupid idea. Nash off the bench for Calderon? None of your arguments makes sense either. Limit Nash playing time? fine. No PG sees the court like he does CP is close, the only reason his assist went down was due to the mid-season changes with O'neal. Watch it go up again next season when he's got a good grasp of the system

 

[mojorizen7]

Caulderon isn't better than Nash at this point in his career. I've lost faith in quite a few of you.

There are 2 PG's in this league you can start over Nash right now. Chris Paul and Deron Williams. THAT'S IT!

What a shame.

Who said that?........

 

[Irish]

I have to admit that the issue about Nash's back is a real concern. I'd be interested to know how effective he is when he returns in the 2nd and 4th quarters after sitting on the bench. I honestly don't know.

Before deciding the idea is just stupid, let me reinterate the initial premise, ie that the Suns could convince Calderon that he should come to Phoenix but he insists on starting. The other premise is that Toronto is willing to accept Barbosa because Calderon refuses to go to a crappy team like the Heat. That is a lot of "if's" and it is certainly a long shot at best. But my premise is that IF it was possible and that's what Calderon wants, is it worth changing the rotation to get him.

Some comments totally miss the whole point. This is not what Toronto wants to do. BC wants to keep him and is likely to match any reasonable offer. Calderon can only make a move to the team of his choice if he threatens to stay one year to become an UFA and is taken seriously. Calderon being a RFA means a sign and trade deal is for whatever the Suns can give in contracts. This is not a standard trade and it cannot include the #15 since free agency does not open until after the draft.

Considering how many things have to fall into place to make such a deal work, it seems to me that letting Calderon start is the least of the problems. IMHO, if that was the only way to get a second PG of his talent, it would be worth doing if only for a while.

There is at least a chance that it would work better. There is no doubt that Nash is an exceptional offensive talent, but he is also the weak link for the Suns on defense. Starting a strong defensive unit which has exceptional firepower coming off the bench is at least something to think about as long as his back holds up.

What is the worst that could happen? The concept of having Nash coming off the bench doesn't work, so they start Nash again. The Suns can promise a chance, but the coach has to respond to what works.

 

[okhoops]

Rather than talk of Nash coming off the bench, chew on this idea. How about trading Nash to Toronto for Calderon (I for one don't think Toronto would do it). In another year or two Nash is going to have very limited trade value. If Mr's Sarver and Kerr have huge cahonas, they might lure Toronto into taking Mr. Canada to finish his career. Calderon could quarterback this team for the next ten years, and trust me, those of you who have not seen him play much (particularly when TJ was out and he was playing starter minutes), you would love his game. He is a pure point guard who has many Nash attributes but defends much better. Take the emotion out of the decision and it's a good trade for Phoenix.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

So we trade nash for a lesser PG, and still lack a backup? Come on now...

Take storyline trade ideas out of the decision and it's a bad business and talent move for Phoenix.

 

[mojorizen7]

Rather than talk of Nash coming off the bench, chew on this idea. How about trading Nash to Toronto for Calderon (I for one don't think Toronto would do it). In another year or two Nash is going to have very limited trade value. If Mr's Sarver and Kerr have huge cahonas, they might lure Toronto into taking Mr. Canada to finish his career. Calderon could quarterback this team for the next ten years, and trust me, those of you who have not seen him play much (particularly when TJ was out and he was playing starter minutes), you would love his game. He is a pure point guard who has many Nash attributes but defends much better. Take the emotion out of the decision and it's a good trade for Phoenix.

Put this guy in charge.

So we trade nash for a lesser PG, and still lack a backup? Come on now...

Take storyline trade ideas out of the decision and it's a bad business and talent move for Phoenix.

It's a bad PR move thats for sure. Business wise,i'm not so sure. IMO the SUNS are making a big mistake by not openly rebuilding this team right now.

 

[okhoops]

Listen I'm the biggest Steve Nash fan in the world. I'm a born and bred B.C. guy who watched him play in the provincial final and have followed him since. It is always a tough question on whether to hang onto star players through their decline, and it's arguable whether he is already in decline, but his market value is big right now. Will it be in two years? He'd probably consider a trade to play in Canada on a good Raptor team for his last few years. Nash is not miles ahead of Calderon anymore and he certainly won't be in two more years. Ask yourself if you'd trade Nash for Calderon in two years. As I said, it would be a courageous management decision, but good (maybe someday great), young PG's are hard to find. Food for thought.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Every year a few ASFN tools get hyped up about a player or 2 only to abandon them the very next year, last season this board was going ******* over Matt Barnes, a few years ago it was Jamal Magloire now it's Calderon. Can we pick a player that can prove success in more than one season before we start him over a returning all star 2years removed from back to back MVP's?

BTW, what happened to Matt Barnes? hell let's get him, he was so ****ing great 2 years ago! Start him over Nash but not Diaw (he had a good last 2 games and should have the O run through him), what you guys don't like Barnes anymore? WTF I thought he was tougher than Marion? oh wait he sucked this season F him, just like Calderon will next year.

 

[Irish]

Matt Barnes shot 36.6% for 3 in 2006-07 with a terrific playoff shooting 42.2%. This past season he hit only 29.3% for three. The reality is that he had not been a good long range shooter with his previous teams, so this past season may have been regression to the mean.

Calderon shoot reasonably well from the field for the past two seasons - 52.1% in 2006-07 and 51.9% in 2007-08. His three point shooting jumped from 25 of 75 in 2006-07 to 79-184 in 2007-08 (42.9%).

Unlike many Euros who come to the NBA very young, he had been around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Calderón_(basketball)

The 6'3", 210 lb Calderón spent his first six seasons playing in Europe. He made his Spanish league debut playing for CB Lucentum Alicante, and helped them win the league championship.[1] He switched teams to Baloncesto Fuenlabrada in the 2001–02 season, but seeing his playing time curtailed, he moved again the next season to TAU Cerámica.[1] There, Calderón played behind former NBA guard Elmer Bennett at point for most of the season, and in the 2003–04 season, he won the King's Cup with TAU Cerámica.[1] In 2005, he led TAU Cerámica to the Euroleague Final Four, where they finished second.

Calderón was part of the Spanish national team which finished fifth at the 2002 World Championships and second at the 2003 European Championships. [1] He was later named the team captain during the 2004 Summer Olympics,[1] and on 3 September 2006, Calderón and his Spanish squad defeated Greece, and won the 2006 FIBA World Championship along with future Raptors teammate, Jorge Garbajosa.[1] In EuroBasket 2007, Calderón and Garbajosa again featured for the Spanish team. In the knockout stages, Calderón recorded a game-high 17 points as Spain defeated Germany 83–55 in the quarter-finals.[17] In the semi-finals, Calderón scored 18 points in Spain's defeat of Greece.[18] The Spaniard led his team in points again in the final, but Spain lost 60–59 to Russia.[19]