Fan reaction to the trade of Kurt Thomas to Seattle has ranged from disappointment to bitter outrange. No one doubted that he is grossly overpaid, but he played pretty well in Spurs series and it leaves the Suns with a vey small lineup.
The general reaction has been that the Suns are being cheap, which is probably true. What has not been discussed is just how big a committment the team has made to speed.
The Suns started with a fast team with some amazing athletes, but in exchanging Jones for Hill and Kurt Thomas for Sean Marks (apparently), it looks like they are going for even greater speed or at least open court skills.
It's not clear this will work against the Spurs, but that is mostly due to Amare Stoudemire's inability to stay out of foul trouble. It seems clear the Suns are making a committment to find a way to have Amare guard Tim Duncan one on one when Duncan is on the floor. If that fails, they must be hoping that Sean Marks' experience as Duncan's backup will be helpful.
The small "speed" lineup is a big gamble, but if it works, the rewards are huge.
The central problem with the way the Suns lineup is structured. Shawn Marion is far better at power forward than small forward. At small forward, his limitations as a shooter and "make his own shot" scorer create a problem. Without a major offensive threat at power forward, Marion is too easy for other small forwards to guard.
But with Marion at power forward, the Suns create a major mismatch against opponents with big, but slow power forwards. Against slower power forwards he has little trouble getting by them for mid range shots or to get to the basket. He's remarkably good at fronting big guys and is a very good rebounder.
Typically a team like the Spurs would like to use their power forwards (Oberto and Elson) to guard the primary low post threat (such as Stoudemire) and not worry too much about the second big. Against the Suns big lineup, Duncan is left to simply hang around the basket and block shots. They never really worried about Kurt Thomas beating them.
The problem with defending against the Suns' small lineup is that it leaves Marion completely undefended, since the opponent's bigs cannot stay with Marion. For the Spurs, it means either using the PF's on Marion or Duncan. In short, if they can't force the Suns out of their small lineup, the Suns create major problems.
Two years ago the Spurs tried to go small against the Suns. The Suns lacked Joe Johnson and Q Richardson had a terrible series, but the solution of Duncan guarding Stoudemire was not very effective. They won, but it is not so clear their small lineup would be so effective with current Suns with a lot more offense.
With or without Kurt Thomas, it seems clear that coach Mike D'Antoni wants to force the Spurs to go small. Unlike the Mavericks who have no small ball lineup to speak of, the Spurs can play small. But they are not geared to play small.
Can the Suns figure a way to defense Duncan without Stoudemire getting into instant foul trouble? That is the $16 million question, because if they can't, there is little chance of them getting by the Spurs. But if they can for the Spurs to play small, the Spurs will have a vastly harder time stopping the Suns.
The general reaction has been that the Suns are being cheap, which is probably true. What has not been discussed is just how big a committment the team has made to speed.
The Suns started with a fast team with some amazing athletes, but in exchanging Jones for Hill and Kurt Thomas for Sean Marks (apparently), it looks like they are going for even greater speed or at least open court skills.
It's not clear this will work against the Spurs, but that is mostly due to Amare Stoudemire's inability to stay out of foul trouble. It seems clear the Suns are making a committment to find a way to have Amare guard Tim Duncan one on one when Duncan is on the floor. If that fails, they must be hoping that Sean Marks' experience as Duncan's backup will be helpful.
The small "speed" lineup is a big gamble, but if it works, the rewards are huge.
The central problem with the way the Suns lineup is structured. Shawn Marion is far better at power forward than small forward. At small forward, his limitations as a shooter and "make his own shot" scorer create a problem. Without a major offensive threat at power forward, Marion is too easy for other small forwards to guard.
But with Marion at power forward, the Suns create a major mismatch against opponents with big, but slow power forwards. Against slower power forwards he has little trouble getting by them for mid range shots or to get to the basket. He's remarkably good at fronting big guys and is a very good rebounder.
Typically a team like the Spurs would like to use their power forwards (Oberto and Elson) to guard the primary low post threat (such as Stoudemire) and not worry too much about the second big. Against the Suns big lineup, Duncan is left to simply hang around the basket and block shots. They never really worried about Kurt Thomas beating them.
The problem with defending against the Suns' small lineup is that it leaves Marion completely undefended, since the opponent's bigs cannot stay with Marion. For the Spurs, it means either using the PF's on Marion or Duncan. In short, if they can't force the Suns out of their small lineup, the Suns create major problems.
Two years ago the Spurs tried to go small against the Suns. The Suns lacked Joe Johnson and Q Richardson had a terrible series, but the solution of Duncan guarding Stoudemire was not very effective. They won, but it is not so clear their small lineup would be so effective with current Suns with a lot more offense.
With or without Kurt Thomas, it seems clear that coach Mike D'Antoni wants to force the Spurs to go small. Unlike the Mavericks who have no small ball lineup to speak of, the Spurs can play small. But they are not geared to play small.
Can the Suns figure a way to defense Duncan without Stoudemire getting into instant foul trouble? That is the $16 million question, because if they can't, there is little chance of them getting by the Spurs. But if they can for the Spurs to play small, the Spurs will have a vastly harder time stopping the Suns.
