EVT: Suns not making any moves.

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Surprise surprise.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/105916

Suns plan to stand pat


Jerry Brown, Tribune

Ask fans and analysts what the Suns need and you’ll get a variety of responses. Some scream Phoenix is short a big man to cover Amaré Stoudemire’s defensive deficiencies.

Others want to add another outside shooter (the departed James Jones leads the NBA in 3-point shooting with Portland) or make the annual request for a backup to Steve Nash at the point.

But after spending the past several weeks closely examining their cards and measuring their stacks against the rest of the title contenders — with the luxury tax chip also playing a major role — anyone waiting for that deadline trade or veteran signing to bolster Phoenix’s ranks shouldn’t hold their breath.

A source within the brain trust said the decision has been made: With 23 wins in the first 32 games, the Suns will stand pat and play the hand they’ve been dealt.

That means no rugged vets like P.J. Brown coming in off the couch. No deals for a sharpshooter like Gordan Giricek or Kyle Korver — two players the Suns coveted who were swapped for each other last week.

No understudy to spell Nash.

Would the Suns like to tweak things a bit? Sure. But they don’t have an expiring contract on the bench or an intriguing, reasonably priced player to dangle in a deal. The roster is made up of untouchable core players, untradeable contracts and players at or near minimum salary that don’t help get trades done.

And with any free-agent addition costing twice the going rate thanks to the luxury tax, simply adding payroll is not an option that interests ownership.

So any improvement will have to come from within.

Raja Bell (35 percent from 3-point range) and Leandro Barbosa (36.6 percent) need to regain their outside shooting touch and get closer to their 41 percent career averages. The Suns averaged 9.6 3-pointers per game last season, a number that is down to 8.3 this season.
Stoudemire needs to maintain his current torrid offensive run, which has him averaging 30.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and a boatload of oohs and ahs during this recent four-game winning streak over Western Conference bottom feeders.

Stoudemire’s play has been more about a soft spot in the schedule. His energy and activity on both ends and more dominant moves around the basket have shown the way for the Suns, who are otherwise still not playing with their usual sharpness. As a result, the ball is finding him more and in better position.

Whether it’s going all out in practice, attacking his off-court work with a renewed vigor or backing up his own tough talk with actions, the Suns are riding his back to wins.

“I want to get to my full potential,” Stoudemire said after a 34-point, 11-rebound effort against the Sonics Thursday night. “Due to the injuries and minor setbacks, at the start of the season I started off a little slow. I missed preseason and wasn’t quite as healthy as I wanted to be for the first 15 or 20 games. But now I’m starting to feel better, my legs are back, my conditioning level is where it should be and I should go higher from there.”

The caliber of opposing centers will also spike upward. Tyson Chandler and New Orleans visit tonight, followed by Marcus Camby and Denver on Monday and Jermaine O’Neal of Indiana on Wednesday.

“He’s been unbelievable, and that’s a level that we are accustomed to, so sometimes you aren’t as impressed as you should be,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said of Stoudemire. “If he sustains this energy level, he can be a pretty good defender, and if he does that he becomes an MVP-caliber player because he’s one of the best finishers in the game.”

At least the Suns are doing a great job of getting to the free-throw line — they have taken five more than their foes this year, as opposed to 75 less last year — but have already missed 165 free throws (.769) and are under 60 percent in the fourth quarter, a bad playoff omen.

“We just haven’t rounded into shape. I think we’ll iron all that out, I really do,” D’Antoni said.

Throw in the usual bugaboos, defense, rebounding and a penchant for playing to the level of their opponent, and 23-9 fits the Suns just fine heading into a run of opponents that features the Hornets, Denver and Utah before they get another shot at the Lakers in Los Angeles on Jan. 17.

 

[Louis]

What can anyone expect?

This is the same team that sat on their thumbs when Amare was out for the year, KT was basically done for the year, and the trade deadline was fast approaching.

They had the trade exception from Atlanta, they had JJax' expiring contract and instead chose to stand pat. They actually waived JJax.

This is the same team that has traded KT and a 1st rounder for nobody. Essentially traded James Jones and a 1st rounder for nobody.

Gave Boston a 1st rounder for nobody.

Those are the last major moves this organization has done.

And the things are going it would not be surprising to see Diaw, Banks, and the Atl 1st to be sent packing this off season for nobody.

 

[Lefty]

Do you guys enjoy reading Jerry Brown's articles? I believe he writes crap just to stir up the fans.

 

[mojorizen7]

One can only hope that this article is BS.

 

[Mainstreet]

Do you guys enjoy reading Jerry Brown's articles? I believe he writes crap just to stir up the fans.

I believe Jerry Brown of the East Valley Tribune writes articles pointing out areas of legitimate concern about the Suns without twisting the knife. However, IMO, Bickley of the Arizona Republic writes articles that mostly just throws salt in a wound.

 

[az1965]

Do you guys enjoy reading Jerry Brown's articles? I believe he writes crap just to stir up the fans.

What exactly is he trying stir up?

 

[arwillan]

What exactly is he trying stir up?

if anything he just wants suns fans to get a little riled up over the fact that despite some obvious needs for this team, he claims they are making no moves

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

am i correct in remembering that a similar article ran in the republic? if so, this is not just jerry brown's opinion, but it's fact coming from the suns. in which case, nice assessment by the front office. we beat up some crap teams and we're okay. let's just ignore the fact that the first good team we face beat us despite missing their best big man, coming off a back-to-back, and playing at home. oh, and let's ignore the fact that we're a paltry 1-6 against the top teams in the west (and the lone w came against a team missing tony parker).

i guess if the front office can ignore those issues it's not such a stretch to understand why the coach and team ignores amare on the court. i mean, let's not address our issues at ANY LEVEL, shall we? awesome.

and this part is addressed to skorp - i know you think this is reactive to last night's loss . . . it's not. the suns' issues are cumulative over the season. we discuss them in the wake of losses b/c they are simply more evident in the losses than the w's.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

am i correct in remembering that a similar article ran in the republic? if so, this is not just jerry brown's opinion, but it's fact coming from the suns. in which case, nice assessment by the front office. we beat up some crap teams and we're okay. let's just ignore the fact that the first good team we face beat us despite missing their best big man, coming off a back-to-back, and playing at home. oh, and let's ignore the fact that we're a paltry 1-6 against the top teams in the west (and the lone w came against a team missing tony parker).

i guess if the front office can ignore those issues it's not such a stretch to understand why the coach and team ignores amare on the court. i mean, let's not address our issues at ANY LEVEL, shall we? awesome.

and this part is addressed to skorp - i know you think this is reactive to last night's loss . . . it's not. the suns' issues are cumulative over the season. we discuss them in the wake of losses b/c they are simply more evident in the losses than the w's.

 

[overseascardfan]

Until we come to the point where our style of play doesn't work I don't see changes on the horizon. We are in third place in the West and until we are cellar dwellers ownership will be content with what we got, which doesn't make much sense because we will never be able to overtake DAL or SA with our team unless Duncan & Nowitzki go down playoff time and then we would still have to worry about UTA, LAL & HOU.

 

[BC867]

Until we come to the point where our style of play doesn't work I don't see changes on the horizon. We are in third place in the West and until we are cellar dwellers ownership will be content with what we got, which doesn't make much sense because we will never be able to overtake DAL or SA with our team unless Duncan & Nowitzki go down playoff time and then we would still have to worry about UTA, LAL & HOU.

Exactly right. Our style of play doesn't work in the post-season.

Suns management (evidently from top to bottom) doesn't see that as a need, as long as the fans (private and corporate) provide them with revenue throughout the season.

A reminder that the word fan is short for fanatic. We're frustrated and disappointed. They're making money as we go through the turnstyles or patronize their TV sponsors.

 

[Bufalay]

Well unfortunately for Mr. $arver I--a lifelong hardcore suns fan--have pretty much lost interest in watch suns games this year. This will be the first season since '89 that I won't be attending a game.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Until we come to the point where our style of play doesn't work ...

Do you watch playoff basketball? Tell me a time in which "run and gun" without defense has won a championship.

If this article is true, the run is over... the window is closing before our eyes. I can assume that we can't get past the 2nd round of playoffs (since nothing this year has convinced me otherwise) in the West. After the season ends, we had better can Coach jackass...err, D'Antoni. Sarver won't change, but the Suns still have enough players to be contenders with an off-season pickup or two and a different system.

 

[Mainstreet]

I watched local sports on Phoenix TV today quite by accident on Channel 3 (forgot name of sports caster) but he mentioned that Amare did not practice today. They showed a video clip of D'Antoni who seemingly did not have a ready reason but he finally said Amare told someone that he missed practice today for personal reasons. They also talked to Steve Nash as well and he was equally vague about Amare missing practice. Nash was not upbeat at all in the interview and actually seemed frustrated. Putting the two interviews together I think there may be some problems in paradise. Did anyone else catch it?

 

[mojorizen7]

Do you watch playoff basketball? Tell me a time in which "run and gun" without defense has won a championship.

If this article is true, the run is over... the window is closing before our eyes. I can assume that we can't get past the 2nd round of playoffs (since nothing this year has convinced me otherwise) in the West. After the season ends, we had better can Coach jackass...err, D'Antoni. Sarver won't change, but the Suns still have enough players to be contenders with an off-season pickup or two and a different system.

The Lakers under Magic,Worthy,Scott,Cooper and Jabbar were the closest example of this IMO. However they played defense every night,payed attention to rebounding, and could score at any tempo.
At this point in time i'd be hard pressed to favor the SUNS in a 7-game series against the SPURS, HORNETS, JAZZ, LAKERS, ROCKETS( ok maybe),and NUGGETS.
Not to mention the CELTICS,PISTONS and MAGIC.

 

[overseascardfan]

Do you watch playoff basketball? Tell me a time in which "run and gun" without defense has won a championship.

If this article is true, the run is over... the window is closing before our eyes. I can assume that we can't get past the 2nd round of playoffs (since nothing this year has convinced me otherwise) in the West. After the season ends, we had better can Coach jackass...err, D'Antoni. Sarver won't change, but the Suns still have enough players to be contenders with an off-season pickup or two and a different system.

Okay people are missing my point. I didn't say this system works, I am stating what management is rationalizing out team at this point of the season. This is not a championship caliber team, but management sees a 23-10 record and probably feels D'Antoni can weather the storm. News flash he can't, he needs to develop a bench but is too hard headed to realize this. Add the fact that team chemistry is non existant (see today's AZ Republic article).

Suggestion, we need to make some trades (Marion, Diaw, Barbosa, and maybe Amare) the only guy who is untouchable in Nash, at least listen to some offers for Amare.

The only thing that separates us from the Knicks is Steve Nash, everyone else is becoming too selfish or just don't care about how well they are playing.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Okay people are missing my point. I didn't say this system works, I am stating what management is rationalizing out team at this point of the season. This is not a championship caliber team, but management sees a 23-10 record and probably feels D'Antoni can weather the storm. News flash he can't, he needs to develop a bench but is too hard headed to realize this. Add the fact that team chemistry is non existant (see today's AZ Republic article).

Suggestion, we need to make some trades (Marion, Diaw, Barbosa, and maybe Amare) the only guy who is untouchable in Nash, at least listen to some offers for Amare.

The only thing that separates us from the Knicks is Steve Nash, everyone else is becoming too selfish or just don't care about how well they are playing.

Dude, blasphemy.

 

[Skkorpion]

ouchie, I've long believed Sarver has made a mess of the front office situation. We'll see If Steve Kerr can fix the mess.

For now, the decision to do nothing mid-season is one I agree with. The idea that one or two bench additions would solve our problems is one I reject.

If we need to rip apart the current coaching/player mix and start over, so be it. Let's do it in the off-season.

One of Jerry Colangelo's great weaknesses was panicking and trying to fix things mid-season. Been there, done that many times. Zero titles.

 

[overseascardfan]

Dude, blasphemy.

Sorry but Marion wants to be the go to guy, Barbosa thinks he is the go to guy, Amare can dominate when he wants to, even Nash has criticized the effort of his teammates and he is the most humble down to Earth guys in sports. Not that he is wrong for doing so, someone has to light a fire under their a****.

It is just frustrating that these guys don't realize they are close to a title and should be playing like it and their coach needs to re-think his philosphy which doesn't work in the playoffs. Maybe a team overhaul is necessary this offseason.

CHI could use Amare and we could use some of their young talent
UTA or LA could use Marion
In order to rid ourselves of Diaw I would package LB for the right return.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Dude, blasphemy.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Personally, I have a hard time understanding why this team (outside of Skinner) refuses to crash the offensive glass. You crash the glass, you aren't set on defense because you are crashing the boards, inviting the other team to run and now they are playing into your strengths.

Retreating after the first shot attempted is silly.

Minor changes to this scheme is all thats needed IMO.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Man I really hope the suns atleast try to add another defender type player because if we don't I don't think we will go very far in the playoffs imo. Has anyone heard any news on P.J. Brown at all recently?

 

[overseascardfan]

Man I really hope the suns atleast try to add another defender type player because if we don't I don't think we will go very far in the playoffs imo. Has anyone heard any news on P.J. Brown at all recently?

Latest is that he has zero interest in un-retiring. That plus the surprising impact of Brian Skinner doesn't make it much of a priority to Suns management but to me it is a necessity, we need some interior toughness right now.

 

[TucsonDevil]

We won in great fashion tonight based on two things (IMO): #1 Marcus Banks came in and made a huge contribution, especially in the 2nd half. #2 The Suns had an incredible first half (led by Marion) with a strong sense of urgency. The first is in direct contradiction with Coach's history, and #2 doesn't happen too often this season... I blame coach for that.

Conclusion: if the team plays to its potential AND Coach D'Antoni changes his stubborn style slightly - this team can contend. Look closely at the numbers and you will see the typical Suns' deficiencies - out rebounded 52-42, and allowed 23 Offensive Boards (pathetic). The team doesn't need to make big moves IF Coach D'Antoni changes his approach. I am convinced of it.