Dear Nash, quit sucking.

[Shzm13]

Seriously.. These past few games, you've been the worst defensive player in the league. Man the F up.. You're quick to question our heart, yet you don't show a damn lick of defense at any point of any game.


I know its gonna take time to adjust to Shaq.. But even when he's out you're struggling. Sucking at shooting.. Making half-assed passes.. and turnovers galore.


Shouldn't Shaq and Amare drawing in ppl in the lane have made you more accessible to make the big shot?

 

[Treesquid PhD]

can dan dan tony write this up quick?

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Bad defense, insanely horrible turnovers...I have no clue what's wrong with him...but it has to stop or we wont make the playoffs.

I can't believe that after tonight, I'm actually worried about being in the playoffs.

 

[GorrilaLips]

Bad defense, insanely horrible turnovers...I have no clue what's wrong with him...but it has to stop or we wont make the playoffs.

I can't believe that after tonight, I'm actually worried about being in the playoffs.

"being?" at this point....and how tight the western conference is, we might not even see a playoffs. Losing to the 76ers from a back to back game at home. God Im so pissed at the suns right now

 

[Bufalay]

Mr. Steve "I was in too good of shape last year so I'll play this year out of shape" Nash has followed up his best season (last year) with a pretty bad one this year. He has been pretty awful all year long. Shaq's presence is magnifying his suckiness. I am glad to see sarver failing at life right now.

 

[Chaplin]

Mr. Steve "I was in too good of shape last year so I'll play this year out of shape" Nash has followed up his best season (last year) with a pretty bad one this year. He has been pretty awful all year long. Shaq's presence is magnifying his suckiness. I am glad to see sarver failing at life right now.

How can anyone be happy hoping for someone's misery, someone who is in control of your theoretical favorite team? If you'd rather them lose just so Sarver can "fail at life", there are PLENTY of crappy teams in the league that would love the fickleness of your fandom.

 

[Bufalay]

Grow the F up. How can anyone be happy hoping for someone's misery, someone who is in control of your theoretical favorite team? If you'd rather them lose just so Sarver can "fail at life", there are PLENTY of crappy teams in the league that would love the fickleness of your fandom.

Sarver is an arrogant ass who thought that success was inevitable and that he could succeed while also pinching pennies.

I am sorry I offended you and I will work on growing up. Thank you for your advice.

 

[GorrilaLips]

lol @ announcers bringing up our old theory....for some reason, every team that plays against the suns...their regular bodies are all of a sudden all-stars!

 

[Shzm13]

Lol like the day the Marion trade was announced.. Chambers was like "We all loved Shawn.. But he did have a tendancy to disappear in the playoffs.."





For the record, im not turning on Nash.. He revived this franchise. He made us contenders for a couple years and won a lot of games for us.. I am, however, calling him out for his bad play.. Its not him. He usually hid his defensive liabilities well with his outstanding offensive ones.. He hasn't been doing that lately.

 

[95pro]

i'm getting tired of nash OVER dribbling the god dayum ball. how many turnovers did he have? the 3rd qtr was pretty sad/stagnent.

near the end of the 4th(desperation time) he didnt hold on to the ball too long. he moved it and made some passes there. ball movement was/is key for them to win and get in rythm.

that's just what i've been noticing in the recent losses. nash's over dribbling leads to turnovers(trapping,passing lane cut-off,etc) & no ball movement.

 

[BillsCarnage]

I don't necessarily think Nash sucks this year, but more that he appears mentally exhausted from carrying this team and playing at such a high level the past 3 seasons. That's what causing the sloppy play missed shots. I mean, how clutch was he last year and now he seems 50-50 in big shots this season.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I wonder if a week or 10 day stint of 'back spasms' would be good for Nash right now. He just doesn't look as sharp as he does normally. Most of the team got a bit of the break with the all star break but I don't think Nash really did.

 

[passenger]

Well,I am a huge fan of Nash,he changed the destiny of this franchise.
But today's game,Philadelphia has 13 steals and 10 turnovers,we have only 2 steals and 18 turnovers.Nash 6,o'neal 4 turnovers.I am more about O'neal fitting in,because it's simply not working.

 

[MiamiHeat]

hope is not lost until the playoffs come

 

[passenger]

hope is not lost until the playoffs come

"let's look from that view,if we don't make the play-off's Mike D'antoni will have more time than other coaches to fit Shaq in,to start a team defense until November"I hope we won't be talking those in April.

 

[ecutch]

I've thought all along that Steve was part of the "chemistry problem" at the beginning of the year. My theory is saw how great KG was doing for the Celtics and was ticked that management couldn't make the deal happen.

 

[Covert Rain]

Something is definitely wrong with Nash. I have about 10 games on TIVO. He is missing EASY passes. I am not talking about behind the back, thread the needle, no look passes. I am talking easy passes that used to be routine for him.

Also, the timing of his turnovers at crucial points in games. He has had the ball stolen from him so many times over the past 10 games. It has impacted this ability to go to the rim. Does anybody else remember the last time Steve had any games like last year where he has had layup after layup?

Another thing is his scoring. Sorry but what makes Nash so dangerous is that he used to pick his shots and score when the team is struggling. Where has that been this year. Nash is gone from the offensive game for entire quaters and a few times for an entire half.

Even a blind man can see something is wrong. I hope it's not age has finally caught up with him. Bad coaching by D'Antoni could impact all of those things above except the easy turnovers by Nash.

I don't know what the hell is going on but D'Antoni might be getting exposed more then ever with his limited basketball coaching skills.

In addition, we are missing Marion's perimeter defense, filling the lane and getting steals. Say what you want about Marion but that part of this game is missing big time since the trade.

 

[OldDirtMcGirt]

I've thought all along that Steve was part of the "chemistry problem" at the beginning of the year. My theory is saw how great KG was doing for the Celtics and was ticked that management couldn't make the deal happen.

By almost every account, Nash was the leader in the locker room, and I'm not sure why anybody would dispute that.

That said, he needs to shut it down for awhile. Unless his talent just disappeared from him in the middle of the night, he has to be injured. He should take a week off to recoup.

 

[95pro]

Something is definitely wrong with Nash. I have about 10 games on TIVO. He is missing EASY passes. I am not talking about behind the back, thread the needle, no look passes. I am talking easy passes that used to be routine for him.

Also, the timing of his turnovers at crucial points in games. He has had the ball stolen from him so many times over the past 10 games. It has impacted this ability to go to the rim. Does anybody else remember the last time Steve had any games like last year where he has had layup after layup?

Another thing is his scoring. Sorry but what makes Nash so dangerous is that he used to pick his shots and score when the team is struggling. Where has that been this year. Nash is gone from the offensive game for entire quaters and a few times for an entire half.

Even a blind man can see something is wrong. I hope it's not age has finally caught up with him. Bad coaching by D'Antoni could impact all of those things above except the easy turnovers by Nash.

I don't know what the hell is going on but D'Antoni might be getting exposed more then ever with his limited basketball coaching skills.

In addition, we are missing Marion's perimeter defense, filling the lane and getting steals. Say what you want about Marion but that part of this game is missing big time since the trade.

yes they are trapping him behind the 3point line. he's holding the ball too long. trying to dribble out of it.

i just dont see the ball movement like the previous years. now he's trying too hard to find someone open and by doing so, is over dribbling.

 

[WuRaider]

(On state of team): “We’re funky right now. We don’t have a lot of energy, we’re not tough, and we know we’re not really cohesive at the moment. So, there’s a lot of things going against you and we have to find a way to overcome those things and right now we’re just struggling. It’s not going our way and we probably don’t deserve it to go our way the way we played. We just have to keep fighting and have a great attitude about it regardless and try to find some emotion somewhere. Because right now we don’t have a lot of emotion and we need a little more.”

(On sense of urgency): “There is and there isn’t. You don’t want to push the panic button and get yourself all messed up. But at the same time we realize how tight it is and we can’t play like this for too long and put ourselves out of the playoff picture. But if we keep the consistency with our attitude and come in everyday and work hard I think there will be a time this week or in the next couple of weeks where we see some improvement. And if this team improves we’re going to win some games so we just need to hang in there.




I was hoping to read the Post Game quotes and find Nash saying "This loss is on me. I had too many turnovers and bad decisions that cost us the game".

 

[Covert Rain]

I was hoping to read the Post Game quotes and find Nash saying "This loss is on me. I had too many turnovers and bad decisions that cost us the game".

He contributed but it didn't cost us the game. D'Antonis usage of the bench, his lack of being able to figure out the offensive half court game for quarters at a time has cost us more then Nash's turnovers.

It's almost as if the NBA basketball gods have taking everything that could possibly go wrong and said "the Suns shall experience it all".

• Nash's turnovers
• Nash's diasspearance from the offense for quarters/halfs.
• No perimeter defense (since Marion gone)
• No filling the pasing lanes for easy steals (again since Marion gone)
• Crappy rotation (Skinner riding the bench)
• Inconsistance 3 point shooting (Bell not looking good)
• Crappy defense getting worse (Again see Bell)
• Lack of any offensive cohesion in the half court offense

Those to me are the major factors. D'Antoni needs to get his act together and even make changes in the rotation if he has to. He can't message egos (like Bell) if he really wants a title. He needs to put the best rotation out there and OH BY THE WAY learn how to utilize it.

 

[Chaplin]

I'm convinced that Shaq playing the high post is our single biggest problem on offense. It's not like he can roll for a 15-footer like KT did.

On defense it's all about the perimeter. It's amazing the way fortunes have changed. With Marion, our perimeter defense was decent but our interior defense was non-existant. With Shaq, our interior defense is great, but our perimeter defense has suffered greatly. Is that because Marion isn't around? Maybe. But Giricek isn't going to solve that problem. Maybe Lue (if he's signed) and Linton Johnson (if he's retained) could help, but the coach doesn't know how to play guys like that.

 

[Covert Rain]

I'm convinced that Shaq playing the high post is our single biggest problem on offense. It's not like he can roll for a 15-footer like KT did.

I agree Chap. That is key in halfcourt sets. What kind of threat is Shaq from the top of the Key? Kurt could hit that shot. Amare could hit that shot. Shaq isn't fast enough for the pick and roll. However, you can't send Shaq to the 3 point line either or to the left or right side of the block without clogging the lane for Amare.

On defense it's all about the perimeter. It's amazing the way fortunes have changed. With Marion, our perimeter defense was decent but our interior defense was non-existant. With Shaq, our interior defense is great, but our perimeter defense has suffered greatly. Is that because Marion isn't around? Maybe.

There is no maybe. Without Marion our perimeter defense has been non-existant. Even the Marion haters can't deny that. Let's not forget how many time have we seen steals in the lane for easy points like Marion used to get every game? Where has that been since the trade?

But Giricek isn't going to solve that problem. Maybe Lue (if he's signed) and Linton Johnson (if he's retained) could help, but the coach doesn't know how to play guys like that.

Giricek supposedly is a decent perimeter defender so he could definitely help. Lue could actually give us some legit back up minutes as well. However, it's not like these guys are HIGH IMPACT IMO.

The only thing that can turn us around is D'Antoni's ability to figure things out and make some changes. God help us.

 

[malooga]

You guys really make me laugh. Yeah, Nash is having a really bad year:

3PT&% - 46% - #6 in NBA

Know where Kidd, Paul, Parker rank? They don't, not even in the top 50.

FT% - 89.5% - #7 in NBA

Only Paul is close. Kidd is #50 and Parker doesn't rank.

FG% - 51% - #23 in NBA (He is one of the top PG's)

He is ahead of Paul and Parker and Kidd is not in the top 50.

Assists - 11.5 - #1 in NBA

What is there to say.


Yes, Steve is 2nd in the NBA in turnovers, but what would you expect from someone who plays the way he does. Wanna see the top 10 in turnovers? Look:

1 Dwyane Wade - 4.4
2 Steve Nash - 3.9
3 Jason Kidd - 3.6
4 Deron Williams - 3.6
5 Carmelo Anthony - 3.5
6 Josh Smith - 3.4
7 LeBron James - 3.4
8 Kobe Bryant - 3.4
9 Ming Yao - 3.3
10 Allen Iverson - 3.3

Prettty good company, isn't it? The point is that to be a great offensive player in this league, you have to take a lot of chances and handle the ball a lot and when you do that you turn it over at a higher rate than most everyone else.

Does Steve play great defense? No, that's been a given since day one. He's not superman. He can't do everything. But to blame him for the team's problems and to say that he's having a bad year are ridiculous statements. He has been the best point guard in the league for many years. The only guy who can be argued as better this year is Chris Paul. He is 22 years old and is the MVP of the future. But to blame Nash for the team's troubles is unfair to him and just not in line with reality.

 

[Chaplin]

You're missing the point. Yes, it's expected that Nash will get some turnovers. But not as many as he's getting now. You understand, his turnover average for February was the highest in his entire career!