Chicago @ Phoenix - Game Thread - Sunday Feb. 11, 2007 -6:00 pm

[Louis]

- Pat Burke, ugh. It may not be fair to judge because he generally doesn't get meaningful minutes, but he has to be ready. He looked completely lost, especially on defense.

- Jalen Rose. He says he is happy. But on offense he just goes to a corner and doesn't move until the other team gets the ball. Don't know if that's the game plan but Rose was a premier player in this league for 10 years, seems like more could be done with him.

- Marcus Banks. He has had a few good games this season. But the bad far outweighs the good. He'd have to put a few of these games together when Nash and Diaw returns to show he is worth even a portion of that contract.

- Shawn Marion. Not great offensively last night. But people need to quit harping on Shawn's performance, or lack thereof, when Nash isn't in the lineup. Prior to Nash returning to Phoenix Marion was a solid 19-10 guy. Though he has never been able to create his own offense on a consistent basis.

- James Jones. Inconsistenly put up 11 pts going 3/6 from the field and 4/4 from the line. Adding 1 board, 1 assist, and 1 block to the fray.

LB is a steal at the price the Suns paid for him. I'm convinced he could average 25 on any other team in the league. And he hasn't even come close to peaking yet!

The Suns did better than expected from me. They just didn't have enough gas in the tank to finish off the Bulls.

Would like to see Jalen Rose get more minutes though.

Also wouldn't mind too much if Nash and Diaw sat out through the ASG.

Amare is a beast. KT's return is only going to help him.

 

[Covert Rain]

Jalen Rose. He says he is happy. But on offense he just goes to a corner and doesn't move until the other team gets the ball. Don't know if that's the game plan but Rose was a premier player in this league for 10 years, seems like more could be done with him.

It's a product of the system. When Junior is in there he does the same thing. I think people have forgotten how good Jalen has been through his entire career with his back to the basket. He is great at backing people down and getting to the bucket. When he is in there they need to play to this strengths. I blame that on the coach.

- Marcus Banks. He has had a few good games this season. But the bad far outweighs the good. He'd have to put a few of these games together when Nash and Diaw returns to show he is worth even a portion of that contract.

I agree. Again, I think Coach D is trying to fit guys into the system that don't play his system per say. Why not change things up according the the players you have in there? Why not slow things gown with Banks and Jalen are in there. IMO great coaches play to a players strengths versus trying to make players do something they are not capable of doing.

- Shawn Marion. Not great offensively last night. But people need to quit harping on Shawn's performance, or lack thereof, when Nash isn't in the lineup. Prior to Nash returning to Phoenix Marion was a solid 19-10 guy. Though he has never been able to create his own offense on a consistent basis.

Yep. Saying Marion is only effective with Nash is stupid. He had virtually the same numbers before Steve got here. Marion may not create his own shots by dribbling the basketball but he has always made his own points by cleaning up and by hustle.

- James Jones. Inconsistenly put up 11 pts going 3/6 from the field and 4/4 from the line. Adding 1 board, 1 assist, and 1 block to the fray.

Not to mention that Junior seems to make a bunch of stupid fouls. I am just not that impressed with James Jones as a player. He to me will always be a "potential" guy. For every instance of good play with him, I see instances of bad play. He is just too inconsistent.

Though I didn't expect this team to look it's best missing 3 key guys, I didn't really expect them to look as bad as they did at times over the last 3 games. I think Coach D not using the bench all season is coming back to bite him in the backside. If the bench is not ready to play (Per Mike's own comment) that is Mike's fault.

If the streaks really are not important then if anything we know that our bench play has to improve if we are going to win a title this year. Even if the rotation normally shrinks during playoffs, you have to have those guys ready if foul trouble or injury occurs.

I think Mike is an offensive guru. Overall I think Mike is a good coach. However, if there is one legit criticizm of Mike it's his use and development of our bench. We still have time to correct that come playoff time.

 

[BC867]

IMO great coaches play to a players strengths versus trying to make players do something they are not capable of doing.

And that's why the Suns in their 37 or so years have never won a Championship.

The Suns coach with the longest tenure, John MacLeod, never coached to the skills of his ballplayers.

No matter who was on the roster, they had to play to his limitations.

 

[se7en]

And that's why the Suns in their 37 or so years have never won a Championship.

The Suns coach with the longest tenure, John MacLeod, never coached to the skills of his ballplayers.

No matter who was on the roster, they had to play to his limitations.

I notice that your post count goes up exponentially when the Suns lose and with the same repetitive comment over and over again. Is there a point to repeating the same tired comment in every thread? Do you have any original thoughts or anything positive to say when the Suns are on 17 game winning streaks? Or does it give you greater pleasure by savoring the misery of losing a few games?

 

[Suns_fan69]

I think Mike is an offensive guru. Overall I think Mike is a good coach. However, if there is one legit criticizm of Mike it's his use and development of our bench. We still have time to correct that come playoff time.

I agree, and to add to that, the other major criticism is the over-reliance on Steve Nash. I don't mean necessarily that he's over playing him (which I think most of us do agree he's doing to a certain extent), but that he's deliberately set this team up to run at Steve's whim. It works when he's on the floor but those precious few minutes he's out the team is generally in disarray. They have gotten better this year with the emergence of Barbosa but I would still like to see a little more structure at times even when Steve is in to make it easier for guys like Banks to assimilate into the team.

 

[fordronken]

Any word on what was going on with their jerseys?

 

[krispydude]

Any word on what was going on with their jerseys?

i was at the game and i believe they said it was something along the lines of latin night. not much was made of it that game from what i saw besides the trim on the jerseys.

but they did give out some pretty nice soccer balls to everyone that attended. so i guess that fits in with the latin theme.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I think Banks has played well lately though and is just starting to be more confident in his game. I think with his defense and speed he could be valuable to have for a few minutes here and there. Even with Barbosa Nash is playing way too many minutes. There's room to put in Banks for a little bit. Raja with us is also playing 9 minutes more per game than he ever did. I think it would be smart to put in Banks for at least 8 or so minutes a game just to rest those guys.

Well I caution to not let scoring some points to be confused good play. Banks is definately not the long term answer at point.
If you like scoring point gaurds who turn the offense into a 1:1 fest then Banks is the guy, unfortunately in general you would have to like losing too.
How many assissts has he had since Nash has been out?

 

[msdundee]

Well I caution to not let scoring some points to be confused good play. Banks is definately not the long term answer at point.
If you like scoring point gaurds who turn the offense into a 1:1 fest then Banks is the guy, unfortunately in general you would have to like losing too.
How many assissts has he had since Nash has been out?

Last night he had 7 assists, only 8 points -- more of the game we've been looking for. He also made some sharp passes that weren't finished or the assist count would have been higher.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Last night he had 7 assists, only 8 points -- more of the game we've been looking for. He also made some sharp passes that weren't finished or the assist count would have been higher.

yeah, but did any of you see those +/- stats about him in both the hawks and bulls games? whoa.

 

[msdundee]

Banks isn't there yet, but he looked better in the last game than he has so far this year so maybe he's starting to get it. We can only hope and I do think he's trying. The benchmark for PGs on this team is pretty high.

 

[DeAnna]

I'm also tired of people complaining about Shawn when he gets a double double with a high number of rebounds, 18 tonight, and ends up with something like 4 steals.

AMEN! If he doesn't score a lot, people start whining.

 

[jbeecham]

AMEN! If he doesn't score a lot, people start whining.

Without Nash & Diaw playing, if Marion doesn't score a lot then the Suns start losing....


Obviously we need good scoring games for Amare, LB & Bell also.

 

[Nasser22]

Well I caution to not let scoring some points to be confused good play. Banks is definately not the long term answer at point.
If you like scoring point gaurds who turn the offense into a 1:1 fest then Banks is the guy, unfortunately in general you would have to like losing too.
How many assissts has he had since Nash has been out?

I never said he is a long term choice, but I think he has started to play well and could be used in parts of games even when we have a healthy team, to give Nash and Bell some extra rest.

 

[JPlay]

Too major problems. No true point guard who can finish at the basket or find the open man and no shot-blocking center who can guard the rim. When Nash isn't playing the point, we can't outscore teams and our deficiencies are magnified.

Still need to draft a legit backup PG and C.

When KT and Nash are back we will be fine, but we need to develop some young talent.

This may be a time when the Suns need to explore trade options to get a true backup point like Diener or Dickau.

 

[SO91]

What exactly have those two players done to be called "true backup points"

 

[green machine]

AMEN! If he doesn't score a lot, people start whining.

It is a quiet 18 rebounds though. Like, the Suns need the scoring to come from somewhere and it doesn't come from Marion without Nash.