Dice To Return on Friday

[George O'Brien]

Suns.com

Feb. 18, 2004: He’s been out since Jan. 19 with tendonitis in his left knee, but Antonio McDyess says he’s back and he’ll prove it this weekend against Memphis. The forward resumed practicing with the team recently and reports no pain in his knee.

“It’ll be Friday definitely,” the forward said about his return. “I just can’t wait. It’s been a long road for me. I’ve been feeling good at practice, and hopefully things will go well tomorrow and I’ll be out there Friday. I’m totally running a lot better, moving a lot better, reacting a lot better. When I first got here last month, I couldn’t react or stop and jump. I’m doing all the things I did before I came back here. I’ll continue to get stronger and get better.”

Head Coach Mike D'Antoni shares McDyess' optimism and says the forward's quality of play will determine the quantity. After all, there's no need to "abuse him right off the bat."

"I think he looks great, a lot better," D'Antoni said. "I think he’s running a lot better. He’s going to be rusty. He’s a sensitive guy anyway, so he’s going to have to get used to playing and feeling good to get some confidence, but little by little I think he’ll do a good job."

It will be interesting to see how he develops. The Suns could certainly use the help.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I still would love to see McDyess and Stoudemire in a healthy front court together. I think their games are different enough that they could really assist each other.

Also Amare could learn a lot about rebounding from McNugget

 

[Dr. Dumas]

I'm very excited to see Dice play on Friday. I think it will take him a few games to get into the swing of things. The one thing that I really like about him, is that he usually tends to play under control, and passes well out of the double team. If he plays along side with Amare, it should open things up quite nicely.

 

[boisesuns]

i was going to go to the game here in memphis friday, but i have a jazz gig! it's going to be fun to play, but i wanted to see them play this year.

bummer....

 

[George O'Brien]

Rolling the Dice

Arizona Republic

Rolling the Dice

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 19, 2004 12:00 AM

Antonio McDyess will return to action Friday at Memphis to give D'Antoni some help and a tough decision.

Phoenix has committed to a youth movement, and McDyess is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

"We hope he is (coming back)," D'Antoni said. "We're going to go with that mind-set and go with that totally. I think you approach it like he's going to be here forever."

McDyess, 29, has played 32 games in the past two seasons due to a surgically repaired left knee.

"I just can't wait," he said. "It's been a long run."

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Who will be removed from the active roster to make room for Dice? Would they put either Harvey or Lampe on the IR?

Edit: Googs would be the most logical choice since there would no longer be a need to "showcase" himself....

I guess also what happens between now and 1pm AZ time will obviously dictate a lot as well.....

 

[Goldfield]

I think it could be very good to have a guy that is a similar athlete as Amare in practise, just to give Amare someone of his level of play to go up against. That could be the best part about it.

 

[elindholm]

Edit: Googs would be the most logical choice since there would no longer be a need to "showcase" himself....

Ah, very good point. It almost makes me wonder if that's the reason McDyess didn't come back on Tuesday, since he was reportedly feeling fine in practice before then.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by elindholm
Edit: Googs would be the most logical choice since there would no longer be a need to "showcase" himself....

Ah, very good point. It almost makes me wonder if that's the reason McDyess didn't come back on Tuesday, since he was reportedly feeling fine in practice before then.

Actually I think it may have been more related to playing Zarko inside. He did not look very good, but it makes sense.

One deal that no one brings up is the possibility that the Suns might move Harvey. He is clearly not in the team's plans and might help a playoff team.

 

[JS22]

I dont know why some people think that Mcdyess wouldnt be a decent center. Honestly, if he can stay somewhat healthy he would be better than 80% of the other centers out there.

He is certainly big enough at 6'10" and roughly 250. He is listed at 6'9 245 but he is deffinantly bigger than Amare. I think they would be a very solid frontcourt together, and like a few people here said, they would work well together. Mcdyess can hit the jumper (which is what we everyone here has wanted at center since the AZprosports days.) and he is a good defender.

If we had to take an often injured bigman I would rather see Mcdyess than Camby. The question is, is how healthy will either of them be next season?

 

[Joe Mama]

Correction. Antonio McDyess was a good defender. It remains to be seen what he can do on his gimpy legs..

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by WastedFate
I dont know why some people think that Mcdyess wouldnt be a decent center. Honestly, if he can stay somewhat healthy he would be better than 80% of the other centers out there.

He is certainly big enough at 6'10" and roughly 250. He is listed at 6'9 245 but he is deffinantly bigger than Amare. I think they would be a very solid frontcourt together, and like a few people here said, they would work well together. Mcdyess can hit the jumper (which is what we everyone here has wanted at center since the AZprosports days.) and he is a good defender.

If we had to take an often injured bigman I would rather see Mcdyess than Camby. The question is, is how healthy will either of them be next season?

At this point, I doubt that McDyess would be able to get the number of blocks that Camby does, but otherwise his overall game was vastly superior. The only question is how much of his game he has lost due to his injury.

In any case, I think Dice would be likely to sign for a lot less money and a shorter contract. I'm hopeful.

 

[SweetD]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
Correction. Antonio McDyess was a good defender. It remains to be seen what he can do on his gimpy legs..

Joe Mama

He well even with his gimpy leg. He is a better One-one Def. than Amare, his help Def. is not that good becouse he doesn't move as quick anymore. Since he is back on the Suns I hope he does well and we adds some dept to the team! Amare needs to watch Dyce and see how well he get possition before the ball even comes up court and instead of going to the ball has the ball come to him.

 

[slinslin]

Amare is a good one on one defender.

If anything Dice is a better team defender but I bet that he isn't as good one on one.

Good thing he is a big guy who can take 6 fouls on a guy like Garnett instead of Amare being forced to play against him and get fouls.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Amare is a great weakside defender, I dont know what you are talking about. He gets a lot of his blocks coming over on help defense.

He is a very poor 1 on 1 defender. Voskuhl is better than him, which is why Amare rarely guards the other teams best big man

 

[SweetD]

Amare doesn't move his feet well and is always waiting to block the ball instead of trying to alter the shot of the player, plus he slaps at the ball to much as well.