Gentry has officially paniced

[Errntknght]

He got off to a great start, using lots of bench throughout the games to keep the tempo high. Since it worked well you'd think he'd stay with it - the only thing I can think of is that he simply panicked at the thought of putting the less experienced guys on the floor in must-win games.

It really doesn't much matter that we lost the games - the way he's running the older guys into the floor we'd have been dead meat in the playoffs anyway.

 

[binkar]

He got off to a great start, using lots of bench throughout the games to keep the tempo high. Since it worked well you'd think he'd stay with it - the only thing I can think of is that he simply panicked at the thought of putting the less experienced guys on the floor in must-win games.

It really doesn't much matter that we lost the games - the way he's running the older guys into the floor we'd have been dead meat in the playoffs anyway.

I agree. He seems to have gotten uncomfortable with his substitution pattern. No Dudley tonight. If you tell Dragic you won't pull him no matter what you can't stop playing him period. We have come to the point where it is in the best interest of the team to live or die by developing our young guys.

 

[MastersofCombat]

best to draft kids that can play! Instead of these foriegn players that take 3-4 years. Go back thru the history of the suns it literally is not a win situation to draft and expect anything from them until their first contract is over

 

[Andrew]

I have officially jumped on the "drafting Lopez" was a mistake wagon.....the kid can't seem to find a place in this game when his brother is clearly contributing to his team.

 

[Bufalay]

I have officially jumped on the "drafting Lopez" was a mistake wagon.....the kid can't seem to find a place in this game when his brother is clearly contributing to his team.

You "are" officially incredibly "late".

 

[binkar]

I have officially jumped on the "drafting Lopez" was a mistake wagon.....the kid can't seem to find a place in this game when his brother is clearly contributing to his team.

I am one of the few who isn't ready to give up on him. He may never be the player his brother is (actually he WILL NEVER be the player his brother is) but thats fine. I think he is getting a bit better as a rebounder and although he is awful now he may be a decent role player down the line.

Call it ignorance, stupidity, blindness, or whatever else you may but I am not giving up hope.

 

[perivolaki]

I am one of the few who isn't ready to give up on him. He may never be the player his brother is (actually he WILL NEVER be the player his brother is) but thats fine. I think he is getting a bit better as a rebounder and although he is awful now he may be a decent role player down the line.

Call it ignorance, stupidity, blindness, or whatever else you may but I am not giving up hope.

I kind of agree with you. How often do we see with big guys that it is the second team where the player really blossoms. Usually after the team that drafted him had given up on the player.

 

[jagu]

I have officially jumped on the "drafting Lopez" was a mistake wagon.....the kid can't seem to find a place in this game when his brother is clearly contributing to his team.

Your like 4000 miles away from the wagon, we left a while ago! Lopez sucks, Dragic sucks even worse. Sarver give me a shot at the GM position I can pick names out of a hat and pick two guys with more talent than Lopez/Dragic.

 

[AceP]

After the game was tied at 112 - 112, Gentry should have pulled either Shaq or Nash out of the game so we wouldn't been hit by a simple high pick & roll. Everyone on earth knows Adelman would call the play that way. HELL EVERYONE. I can't forgive Gentry for his poor reaction.

 

[Andrew]

Dragic actually has promise though.

 

[AfroSuns]

I am one of the few who isn't ready to give up on him. He may never be the player his brother is (actually he WILL NEVER be the player his brother is) but thats fine. I think he is getting a bit better as a rebounder and although he is awful now he may be a decent role player down the line.

Call it ignorance, stupidity, blindness, or whatever else you may but I am not giving up hope.

I am with you on this, i think the guy would make a good contributor later in his careers, so would Dragic.

 

[AceP]

I am with you on this, i think the guy would make a good contributor later in his careers, so would Dragic.

I like the optimism. The problem is, they are not contributor at all right now, while we are terribly thin on bench.

I thought our plan was to make a run this season, so it is damn hard for me to understand why we hadn't drafted some others who are more ready to contribute. By the time Lopez and Dragic fully developed, Nash and Shaq are long gone.

 

[cly2tw]

After the game was tied at 112 - 112, Gentry should have pulled either Shaq or Nash out of the game so we wouldn't been hit by a simple high pick & roll. Everyone on earth knows Adelman would call the play that way. HELL EVERYONE. I can't forgive Gentry for his poor reaction.

Sit Nash, bring in Dragic or Dudley to make a defensive stop. TO. Insert Nash back for last shot. So simple can coaching be. Why must Gentry revert back to DA and Porter in insisting on Nash proving himself at end of game defense?!

He got off to a great start, using lots of bench throughout the games to keep the tempo high. Since it worked well you'd think he'd stay with it - the only thing I can think of is that he simply panicked at the thought of putting the less experienced guys on the floor in must-win games.

It really doesn't much matter that we lost the games - the way he's running the older guys into the floor we'd have been dead meat in the playoffs anyway.

Dragic and Dudley didn't even come off the bench and thus unavailable for end game substitution for Nash to shore up defense.

 

[Errntknght]

AceP,

I thought our plan was to make a run this season, so it is damn hard for me to understand why we hadn't drafted some others who are more ready to contribute.

If you were following the team over the summer you'd know that Kerr et al. thought they were ready to contribute. I remember when Robin was chosen for the Olympic practice team, many of us thought that was a good sign of his readiness - IIRC, he even got a few kudos for his efforts. No doubt Kerr was happier to think that than we bystanders were.

Part of it, too, is the D'Antoni legacy - in conjunction with a owner who always happy save a few bucks - of selling off draft picks and otherwise disposing of them because he had no use for rookies. It hurts in an important secondary way, too - the people who are our scouts and talent evaluators feel they do not have an important job and, to top it off, they aren't getting much feedback. That wing of the organization falls into disarray so when we do need them they are not up to the job.

To me it appears that Kerr loves to outsmart his peers and go with the non-obvious picks. Now if you go with the herd you will get average results so I have no theoretical problem with bucking trends - though, of course, if you buck them because it inflates your ego instead of because you are a superior talent evaluator all you're doing is increasing the randomness of your drafts. You're throwing darts at the board from much further away than everyone else.

Historically, the Suns have not been top-flight in that area except for the time when Dick Percudani was the chief of scouts - most the outstanding middle first round picks that we remember are his. He died c. 2001-2 (according to my none too accurate memory.) Since then some of the better arm-chair GMs on here that follow college ball have outperformed our drafting brain trust - I'm not among them. I just scream when there's no reason to believe the guy can defend at the NBA level, according to published info. Heck, I was happy with Barbosa because he was supposed to be quite a good defender and had the tools to do it and I thought Robin was a decent choice for the same reasons - quite a fallible method as you can see.

 

[AceP]

Ya. I followed the team over the summer, I posted a lot during draft. Maybe you are right, Kerr was just trying to surprise people.

At that point, I didn't know whether or not Lopez is a good pick. But I did recommand us to draft Roy Hibbert, who is much more NBA ready, would have made a perfect backup for Shaq. Obviously they passed Hibbert because they want more upside.

 

[lou_skywalker]

Gentry is not the long term solution. We need someone like Avery or JVG to shake things up a bit, including all necessary roster changes.

 

[Forrestham]

In defense of Gentry, with Amare out for the year he was thrown in to a no win situation which is an uphill battle. Even with his best coaching it may not be enough to get them ni the playofs. He probably wants to prove he deserves the job permamantly. I agreee he should win and lose with young players. Dudley has shown he can play and contribute. He reminds me of Shane Batteir or Ty Corbin. Lets remember Barbosa sucked at one time too and didnt get better until he played. Lopez and Dragic have not shown a lot at this point and should get playing time. If they play well the team may get in the playoffs. Even if we make the playoff lets be realistic about our chances. If they dont pala well we gain a few more ping pong balls.

 

[AceP]

Gentry is not the long term solution. We need someone like Avery or JVG to shake things up a bit, including all necessary roster changes.

Nash and Amare refused to transform into a defence oriented team. That's the key for Porter's failure. If there is no significant change in that part, forget about JVG who is a completely D only coach, nor Avery who also require much effort from his players to play D. JMO, no coach in the world could save this team now.

 

[Proteus]

Sit Nash, bring in Dragic or Dudley to make a defensive stop. TO. Insert Nash back for last shot. So simple can coaching be. Why must Gentry revert back to DA and Porter in insisting on Nash proving himself at end of game defense?!

Maybe they think it would be insulting/disrespectful to not have the team leader on the floor in a highly critical situation.

The only semi-reasonable thing I can think of is that they want Nash on the floor to push the ball in case of a stop. Of course, a stop is far less likely with Nash on the floor so it kind of defeats the purpose.

 

[Proteus]

The defense has been very bad under Gentry with opposing teams shooting 50%. The worst opposing teams' shooting % for the whole season is 48% for the Kings.

I know we're not a great defensive team but surely we can at least get back to our mediocre/poor 19th place season average of 46% from the field.

 

[AceP]

Maybe they think it would be insulting/disrespectful to not have the team leader on the floor in a highly critical situation.

The only semi-reasonable thing I can think of is that they want Nash on the floor to push the ball in case of a stop. Of course, a stop is far less likely with Nash on the floor so it kind of defeats the purpose.

You know and I know that is EXACTLY the reason.

I'm not sure how much Sarver and Kerr are still loving Nash. But 2 wins without Nash and 3 losses with him should have changed their mind a little bit. Very soon they will have to make the decision for that "team option".

 

[DeAnna]

Bleh, I wish people would stop blaming the coaches. It's obvious it wasn't D'Antonio's fault, nor Porter, nor Gentry.

Players have to make plays.

The only one that seems to be doing it is Lou - I was surprised vs. Houston that the first guy off the bench was <gulp> Robin!

 

[lou_skywalker]

Bleh, I wish people would stop blaming the coaches. It's obvious it wasn't D'Antonio's fault, nor Porter, nor Gentry.

Players have to make plays.

The only one that seems to be doing it is Lou - I was surprised vs. Houston that the first guy off the bench was <gulp> Robin!

yeah I was also about to puke when Lopez came in.
But I think this will never happen again as Swift gets more comfortable with the team.

 

[Black Jesus]

Dragic actually has promise though.

Yeah, I promise Dragic will suck the rest of his career.

 

[Shzm13]

Youre ridiculous