D’Antoni lashes out at Suns bench

[JoRain]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=82243&source=rss&dest=STY-82243


While the fans were thoroughly enjoying the final moments of Thursday’s runaway win over Cleveland, Suns coach Mike D’Antoni wasn’t smiling a bit.

D’Antoni was upset that the end-of-the-bench reserves — who have had precious few opportunities to play until recent blowouts — were jacking up shots without running the offense in an attempt to appease the crowd. He felt they are wasting a chance to be evaluated and judged should a need to use them in pressure situations arise, and got his point across in no uncertain terms during a late timeout.

Center Pat Burke hoisted up a few of the early shots, while other Suns also drew D’Antoni’s ire.

“They need to play and they need to play right and earn some time,” D’Antoni said. “It becomes a circus. There are a couple of guys trying and a couple of guys not trying and our fans are laughing.

“I want our guys to be serious and play basketball. They don’t get a whole lot of chances anyway. When you go in, you want to play. You want to respect the game.”

Eight is enough

The recent contributions of James Jones has given the Suns three solid players off the bench and could afford D’Antoni to rest his starters more as the season wears on. Jones, Leandro Barbosa and Kurt Thomas combined for 37 points, 11 rebounds and four assists without a single turnover against Cleveland while logging over 62 minutes.

“The last two games, we’ve increased our lead when Steve (Nash) was on the bench and that’s huge for us. James is a big part of that,” D’Antoni said. “We have had five guys for at least 30 points this season and James went for 25 (Tuesday against Seattle). We are unpredictable, and that makes us a dangerous team.

 

[sunsfn]

This also happened a few games ago. The bench was letting the other team back in the game and D'Antoni called a time out and they played much better after that.

When Jalen Rose plays he plays serious and I doubt that he or Ju. Jones were screwing around. It had to be Burke and maybe Banks, but of course Banks looks like he is screwing around when he is playing serious.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Yeah, i was at the Cleveland game and I saw D'Antoni flip out after Burke's shot and I knew this was coming.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Good. The coach is right. A 6-11 player shouldn't be standing out at the 3 point line jacking up contested 3 pointers making a mockery of the game, the competition, and himself.

 

[BC867]

Good. The coach is right. A 6-11 player shouldn't be standing out at the 3 point line jacking up contested 3 pointers making a mockery of the game, the competition, and himself.

He does it because he's been allowed to. I'm glad D'Antoni took charge.

 

[jbeecham]

I've been saying this since the 1st time it happened, it's great to hear the coach feels the same way.

 

[boisesuns]

We wonder why these players never get playing time. Coach D won't play you unless you show up.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I agree, Pat Burke might be a fun loving jokester and relish his role as the token guy off the bench that the fans just love to hoist up threes, but if he pulls this crap again I would hope his ass gets cut to send a message.

This season is about the title, act like a part of it.

 

[msdundee]

The Burke part is obvious, but I wonder who else he felt wasn't trying. Banks may look bad but he usually looks like he's "trying" (which can be very trying in the other sense of the word).

The part about the bench not running the offense and jacking up quick shots is probably the big thing. Even with a couple of minutes to go, they should make an effort to look like they all know what they're doing and are capable of running a play.

 

[Mainstreet]

Good. The coach is right. A 6-11 player shouldn't be standing out at the 3 point line jacking up contested 3 pointers making a mockery of the game, the competition, and himself.

Agreed.

IMO, the poor play at the end of the bench can be attributed almost entirely to Pat Burke's play. It's almost like the saying... monkey see, monkey do. If Pat Burke is not going to play serious basketball and he becomes a black hole when he receives the ball, there's not a even flow nor much incentive for the other players to execute the system.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The Burke part is obvious, but I wonder who else he felt wasn't trying. Banks may look bad but he usually looks like he's "trying" (which can be very trying in the other sense of the word).

The part about the bench not running the offense and jacking up quick shots is probably the big thing. Even with a couple of minutes to go, they should make an effort to look like they all know what they're doing and are capable of running a play.

Sounds like he was also having an issue with Barbosa for not taking charge. Jalen Rose also seems to put up ill-advised shots at garbage time.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I agree, Pat Burke might be a fun loving jokester and relish his role as the token guy off the bench that the fans just love to hoist up threes, but if he pulls this crap again I would hope his ass gets cut to send a message.

This season is about the title, act like a part of it.

Unfortunately, there might be a time this season when we need Burke to play some real basketball. There is no way the coach can really know what he can do in a real game situation, when he behaves like that on the floor. The guys on the end of the bench need to run the offense, and extend the lead if possible.

 

[schwalbhimself]

i hate burke

 

[jbeecham]

I would put Jumaine Jones in the category of jacking up bad shots and being a black hole as well. It's probably not entirely his fault because if Burke got the ball then it wasn't coming back to him.

 

[az1965]

I will be very happy when Burke is cut from this team. What a joke he is. I absolutely agree that every single guy needs to be focused on what the ultimate goal this season is. Even one joker can create an atmosphere of non-seriousness and loss of focus.

 

[Mainstreet]

I would put Jumaine Jones in the category of jacking up bad shots and being a black hole as well. It's probably not entirely his fault because if Burke got the ball then it wasn't coming back to him.

Yes, you have it!!!

How can you have team basketball when Burke plays with this attitude. Too bad the other Suns players just don't refuse to pass him the basketball.

This actually would force Burke to play underneath the basket and rebound to score (if D'Antoni must play him). Personally, I would like to seem him on the inactive list the rest of the year.

 

[Forrestham]

Why not give Marks or Piatkowski a shot at being 12th man. We should be happy if this is the teams worst problem right now

 

[sly fly]

In my humble opinion, whoever chants for Pat Burke or any other scrub... are complete and utter bozos.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Why not give Marks or Piatkowski a shot at being 12th man. We should be happy if this is the teams worst problem right now

Yes, but every good coach has to find something to gripe about. Otherwise they'll think you are soft.

 

[HooverDam]

Its pretty obvious that D'Antoni is talking mostly about Burke here. But the weird thing is that often when D'Antoni is emptying the bench, he'll put Burke in before Jalen or JuJones- that seems completely insane to me. I too would like to see more of Marks, or Piatkowski- since he's signed to an insane 2 year deal.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Its pretty obvious that D'Antoni is talking mostly about Burke here. But the weird thing is that often when D'Antoni is emptying the bench, he'll put Burke in before Jalen or JuJones- that seems completely insane to me. I too would like to see more of Marks, or Piatkowski- since he's signed to an insane 2 year deal.

Honestly, I think the coach has two categories of players on the end of the bench. Scrubs for garbage time (now Burke and Banks), and veteran players who he knows can play if called upon (JuJones and Rose). He prefers the scrubs in during garbage time.

With players like Rose and JuJones, coach considers almost insulting to make them play in garbage time. He did this with Jim Jackson too.

 

[F-Dog]

Burke is better at the 3pt line than he is anywhere else, but he was forcing shots the other night because of the crowd. Jumaine is trying to shoot his way back into the rotation, and Banks is taking bad chances trying to make something happen...

But the real problem with the garbage time players is Jalen Rose IMO. He's really the PG for that unit, and because he doesn't give a ****, it just radiates out from him to the rest of the team.


The sad thing is, the Suns could really use Jalen, if he would buckle down and get himself into shape. I guess they should have just left him at home until the injuries hit.



I'd like to see more of Marks, too. From what I've seen, he's better than Burke, and he has a history of taking his PT seriously, whenever it comes.

 

[az1965]

Jalen is not the point guard of the garbage time, Banks is.

But who cares... its garbage time. I just want to see whoever is in there to show some seriousness and respect for the game, if you don't have any respect for yourself.

 

[Suns_fan69]

It still baffles me that Marks is in streetclothes while Burke is getting court time. Has Marks even entered a game yet this year? I thought the guy had a chance to contribute...

 

[Bufalay]

the last game that they played against portland was the only time that the end of the bench guys played well. Ironically, Burke was the one in street clothes that game and it was Marks who played instead. errr maybe not ironically.