ESPN Insider Rumor Central: Nene to Suns?

[B-Dogg]

I dont get all of this center talk, other than Shaq and the Lakers and lets not forget they had Kobe, the teams that have won championships did not have a dominant center, The Pistions, Ben Wallace, barley tall enought to be a PF, the great Bulls teams, Longley and Cartwright, hardly dominant, the Spurs you could argue David Robinson but by the time they won Duncan was the dominant player on that team. Amare can be every bit as dominant as Duncan. The teams that have won have kept there core together and thats what the Suns need to do.

 

[Joe Mama]

I dont get all of this center talk, other than Shaq and the Lakers and lets not forget they had Kobe, the teams that have won championships did not have a dominant center, The Pistions, Ben Wallace, barley tall enought to be a PF, the great Bulls teams, Longley and Cartwright, hardly dominant, the Spurs you could argue David Robinson but by the time they won Duncan was the dominant player on that team. Amare can be every bit as dominant as Duncan. The teams that have won have kept there core together and thats what the Suns need to do.

That may be true, but those teams also did not have their 6'7" small forward guarding the other team's power forward. many of us believe that in order for the Phoenix Suns to be a championship caliber team they need to at least have the ability to field a good, functional, traditional lineup.

I think good passing skills would be a luxury for a center for this team. They need somebody that can play defense like Hunter. The only thing I wish he could do that or he is hit a 15 foot jump shot, so defenses wouldn't be able to collapse the middle against Amare Stoudemire.

Joe Mama

 

[Errntknght]

Joe, "They need somebody that can play defense like Hunter. The only thing I wish he could do that or he is hit a 15 foot jump shot, so defenses wouldn't be able to collapse the middle against Amare Stoudemire."

It would be great if Hunter had decent 15 ft 'j' but Amare isn't living down on the low block like he did before so his and Steven's games don't clash too badly. Hunter does pretty well hanging out down low, having demonstrated that if his man forgets him he'll pop to an open spot near the hoop, catch the ball and finish quite well. He's also getting a fair number of put backs. Of course, his man will be near the hoop to help on Amare's drives but he has to leave Steven pretty early because Amare finishes so darn fast. I could see Amare laying the ball off to Hunter for an easy shot when that happens. I recall him doing it once already - and they haven't been on the floor together very many minutes.

That passing big man the Suns could use will turn out to Amare if it's anyone. It's a pity the coaches haven't been working on his passing game since the day it was clear he was going to distort opponents defenses.

 

[Joe Mama]

Joe, "They need somebody that can play defense like Hunter. The only thing I wish he could do that or he is hit a 15 foot jump shot, so defenses wouldn't be able to collapse the middle against Amare Stoudemire."

It would be great if Hunter had decent 15 ft 'j' but Amare isn't living down on the low block like he did before so his and Steven's games don't clash too badly. Hunter does pretty well hanging out down low, having demonstrated that if his man forgets him he'll pop to an open spot near the hoop, catch the ball and finish quite well. He's also getting a fair number of put backs. Of course, his man will be near the hoop to help on Amare's drives but he has to leave Steven pretty early because Amare finishes so darn fast. I could see Amare laying the ball off to Hunter for an easy shot when that happens. I recall him doing it once already - and they haven't been on the floor together very many minutes.

That passing big man the Suns could use will turn out to Amare if it's anyone. It's a pity the coaches haven't been working on his passing game since the day it was clear he was going to distort opponents defenses.

I agree that Amare Stoudemire should probably be that big man who can distribute the ball decently, but he isn't there yet. I'm just not sure how you know that it's a result of the coaches not working with him on it. I think it's entirely possible that he just isn't good at recognizing the help defense coming over to him. Also, it's important to note that his teammates, specifically JJ, coupler Québec, and to a lesser extent Shawn Marion to not do a very good job of getting themselves into good scoring position one Amare does attract all of the defensive attention.

Joe Mama

 

[Errntknght]

Joe, "I'm just not sure how you know that it's a result of the coaches not working with him on it."

'By their works ye shall know them.' I don't have inside knowledge of what they do in practice but what I see on the floor tells me that they don't work at it much or they're inept. Amare has shown flashes of being fairly good at passing so to me, that makes it unlikely that he just can't learn what they're teaching.

"I think it's entirely possible that he just isn't good at recognizing the help defense coming over to him."

Well, Amare doesn't have to wait until help comes against him... there's no rule that probhibits him from passing whenever it takes his fancy.


"Also, it's important to note that his teammates, specifically JJ, coupler Québec, and to a lesser extent Shawn Marion to not do a very good job of getting themselves into good scoring position one Amare does attract all of the defensive attention."

That lends weight to my supposition that they don't practice maneuvers in which Amare passes the ball. Now if the others were regularly finding open spots and looking at Amare hopefully, we might well guess that they do practice such maneuvers.

BTW, what in the world did you say that your voice recognition interpreted as 'coupler Quebec'? It's rather fun figuring out those 'mistakes' but this one stumps me except that I imagine you are talking about Q. 'Casey or Q but'???
I suppose you must wonder yourself sometimes what you said...

 

[George O'Brien]

Amare had 8 assists against the Bobcats. On the post game show he was obviously very proud of that. It was not an accident that Hunter went 5-6 from the field.

BTW, Hunter had another one of his weird stat lines where he had only 3 rebounds in 15 minute but made 2 blocks. This season he averages 2.4 rpg in 12 minutes, but 1.44 blocks. On possibility is that he is better at blocking out than rebounding since Amare had 15 rebounds and Marion 8.

 

[PhxGametime]

I really haven't looked at this thread much but my Trade Proposal's are usually after the Media suggests that Suns are interested (I don't give it a lot of thought, although sometimes cap destroys Trades) in a player.

I really like team - there hasn't been too many Trade Proposal thread's (like in the past) but when I hear... Suns interested in ____ I usually just make my own Proposal.

I am interested in a F/C but 1. there are some decent F/C's in Draft and 2. Suns could go very far without 1 this year.

SF-
1. Hakim Warrick Syracuse
5. Marvin Williams North Carolina
7. Joey Graham Oklahoma State
8. Jawad Williams North Carolina
9. Leon Powe California (injured)
13. Charlie Villanueva Connecticut

PF-
1. Ronny Turiaf Gonzaga
2. Channing Frye Arizona
3. Andrew Bogut Utah
4. Wayne Simien Kansas
5. Torin Francis Notre Dame
6. Lawrence Roberts Mississippi State
7. Alexander Johnson Florida State
8. Sharrod Ford Clemson
9. Sheldin Williams Duke
10. James Augustine Illinois
11. Ike Diogu Arizona State
12. Daniel Kickert St. Mary's
13. Tyler Hansbrough H.S
14. David Lee Florida
15. Rashaun Freeman Massachusetts
HM Taj Gray Oklahoma
C-
1. Chris Taft Pittsburgh
2. Randolph Morris Kentucky
3. LaMarcus Aldridge Texas
4. Yi Jian Lian China (ineligible for Draft)
5. Greg Oden H.S (ineligible for Draft)
6. Tiago Splitter Brazil
7. Paul Davis Michigan State
8. Martin Iti Charlotte
9. Josh Boone Connecticut
10. Jason Frasser Villanova
11. Sean May North Carolina
12. Jermareo Davidson Alabama
13. Luke Schenscher Georgia Tech
14. Courtney Sims Michigan
15. Matt Nelson Colorado State
HM D'or Fischer West Virginia



These are some bigs I had in Draftboard from last year, some players from this year joined list or moved up but I haven't watched a lot of games this year. LOL Now everybody knows how much I like Draft

 

[Joe Mama]

Shame, shame! Bball, you know you aren't supposed to mention the draft when the Phoenix Suns are playing well.

Slin has me intrigued with Bogut. He has the size and shot blocking to play center for the Phoenix Suns. He is a pretty good rebounder, and more importantly he has some nice midrange shot. Of course I haven't seen him play more than once or twice. I actually think he plays Arizona this weekend through, or is that someone else?

Joe Mama

 

[PhxGametime]

Arizona played Utah today - my mom was supposed to tape it but it was early, so I'm not sure if she did...

 

[slinslin]

I went to the Cats board and one of them said Bogut looked 3-4 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Radenovic.

 

[Joe Mama]

I went to the Cats board and one of them said Bogut looked 3-4 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Radenovic.

I watched bits and pieces of the game today. If I had to guess I would say that he is around 7-0, 250 pounds. He may not be that heavy though. He looked pretty good especially posting up the smaller players for inside shots. As George pointed out in another post he did a very nice job of keeping the ball up and going straight up to the basket. I did not see any midrange or outside game from him. However I did not see the entire game.

Joe Mama

 

[PhxGametime]

Of all the games I've seen of Bogut (haven't watched today's, she did tape it ) - I like his length and his passing ability. In the NBA, posting up - doesn't come as easy and his dominant rebounding in College could take a hit but he his always in position for rebounds. He's not the athlete ala a Stoudemire is but with positioning (BIM?) and length he'll still be a good rebounder.

I haven't seen the Frasser's, Iti's, Davidson's, Sims' of College Basketball at least THIS year (taped a few) and there are always players that step up - Taft is getting a lot of respect right now but until I see more... I haven't seen a Amare Stoudemiresque talent.

Hansbrough the H.S Prospect I saw recently is more Googs than typical H.S to NBA talent (he's rated 1 of the top H.S players) - I don't think it's that dumb to consider a Trade for a Kwame Brown, Dalembert, Chandler, Nene, Curry but Taft, Bogut, etc. would really help the Suns. I wouldn't want to talk about the Draft though during a Championship year though

 

[PhxGametime]

George, unless Suns Draft an International player - I should have plenty of game-film on a Prospect... if you wanted to do an article. I've taped about 35-45 games so far LOL.

I know you watch College Basketball but having some game-film you could really get in detail on a Prospect.

 

[George O'Brien]

George, unless Suns Draft an International player - I should have plenty of game-film on a Prospect... if you wanted to do an article. I've taped about 35-45 games so far LOL.

I know you watch College Basketball but having some game-film you could really get in detail on a Prospect.

Intriguing, but impossible. I am now the events manager of the Irish Cultural Center, which means even less time to watch the NBA let alone college games.

I have to admit that college games frustrate me in that I don't watch teams enough to know how much a good performance is due to talent and how much just due to weak opposition. Last summer I was very high on Okafor (hardly alone I might add) because I had seen him play in quite a number of games against different types of opponents. But he played on an extremely visible team and was on TV a lot. Usually, I rely on the consensus of scouts on guys because they see players more than I do.

 

[PhxGametime]

Well I am no scout and it doesn't always pan out this way but I always look at athleticism, length, defensive ability, and then look at stats near end of season to get a better feel for some of the talent. Watching a few games of each player, gives you more of an idea but A LOT of the top tier players are always great athletes, have great size (height, length, or muscle), stat sheet stuffers, and/or defensive ability.

I've finished watching 1st half and Andrew Bogut looks pretty impressive - not a great athlete but pretty decent for a 7-Footer, great size (not the biggest F/C Prospect but great height, length), has made 1 3PTer (I will check stats for 3PT shooting on year), I want to check shotblocking numbers but it's early on year (okay just showed during UofA TD game, 2.4 on year ) , I really liked his passing ability last year, etc. can play both PF and C and should be able to play high-post while having decent numbers in Blocks and Rebounding...

 

[PhxGametime]

Stat-sheet stuffer:

PTS 16.3 REB 9.9 AST 3.0 STL 1.1 BLK 2.4 FG .60 FT .72

His two 3PTers were his 2 first of year. That's impressive stats IMO. I haven't seen Turiaf this year but I might just put Bogut and Frye above him.