Hunter seeks D'Antoni's trust

[azdad1978]

Center working for more playing time

David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 7, 2004 12:00 AM

Center Steven Hunter wants to quickly earn coach Mike D'Antoni's trust and consequently more playing time.

His performance Sunday night vs. Portland - nine points, six rebounds and two blocks (his specialty) in 20 minutes - helped that cause.

"He was a force last night," D'Antoni said after Monday's practice. "I'd be kind of stupid not to play him. We can play big, too. It's not like we just have to go one way."



Hunter, like fellow big man Jake Voskuhl, went from fighting for a starting job in training camp to fighting for playing time after the Suns decided on a non-center lineup.

"I'm just getting to know Coach, and Coach is just getting to know me," Hunter said. "The trust level has to be made."

Hunter spent the latter part of Monday's practice working on his one-on-one post-up moves with assistant Marc Iavaroni.

"I think he understands that he has to continue to work hard, and that minutes are going to come the harder that he works," said guard Quentin Richardson, also a teammate of Hunter's at DePaul. "He has got to be able to keep his head up regardless if he plays 20 minutes or 10 minutes."

Hunter said his skills complement the Suns' up-tempo style.

"This team fits my game," Hunter said. "I'm very athletic, and I can run the floor. I'm not a big burly guy who can't move. . . . When I go out there I just want to show the coach giving me more playing time would be beneficial to the team."

Montgomery's move

D'Antoni on rookie coach Mike Montgomery's transition from NCAA powerhouse Stanford to NBA cupcake Golden State, tonight's opponent:

"It's not easy," D'Antoni said. "You have to have guys that have been together for a while, and you have to be lucky. There are 30 teams, and I don't know how many teams you are going to outcoach. You can outplay them, but I don't know if you can outcoach them. Everybody's pretty prepared, and everybody is ready to go. That's why they say it's a players league."

Prior to Monday, Montgomery had already lost 12 games this season. He lost only 11 in his final two seasons at Stanford.

OK with no plays

Portland Trail Blazers forward Darius Miles said Sunday that the Suns were a difficult team to defend because they play "streetball" and "they don't have any plays."

D'Antoni doesn't dispute that.

"That's how it should be," D'Antoni said. "We don't want people to be able to scout us. I don't even want to know what we're doing."

Added Steve Nash: "When I was growing up this is how everyone played. Times have changed but you've got to play to your strengths, and this is the type of team that we have."

Free throw

The Suns have scored 115 or more points in three of their past four games.



http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1207sunsnb1207.html

 

[George O'Brien]

This all but confirms that D'Antoni was concerned about Hunter's work ethic. It is good that this may start to be resolved.

 

[StatsAmare]

"He was a force last night," D'Antoni said after Monday's practice. "I'd be kind of stupid not to play him. We can play big, too. It's not like we just have to go one way."

Awesome, I'm gettin' excited!!!!!!!!

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[George O'Brien]

Awesome, I'm gettin' excited!!!!!!!!

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[AZZenny]

D'Antoni seems to have a nice, dry sense of humor. He also seems fairly patient and maybe a bit watchful - which I think is good with a young team - but he doesn't seem inflexible.

 

[SweetD]

Well see in the next couple games if Hunter gets more time or not.

 

[slinslin]

What a difference 2 days can make huh?

 

[Errntknght]

"He was a force last night," D'Antoni said after Monday's practice. "I'd be kind of stupid not to play him. We can play big, too. It's not like we just have to go one way."

It's refreshing to see this after his categorical statement that the Suns lose if they go big a few days ago.

I still don't like his thinking that it's unqualifiedly better to have no plays. I realize he was joking to some extent since we do run several variations of the pick & roll/fade - and the team is now using the pinch post maneuver some tho the execution is pretty poor. If you have Steve Nash and he's able to penetrate into the middle you can have a good half court game with few plays but it's pretty obvious that when he's sitting our half court game is reduced to long jumpers and individual efforts. Just like last year. Come the playoffs Steve is going to have to go long minutes in every game, I'm afraid - and if a team figures out how to keep him out of the middle it's going to shackle the Suns in the half court.

I didn't find his remarks on coaching too comforting either. True, a coach can't take a team beyond the limits of it's talent but we've seen many coaches over the years who didn't get the anywhere near the most out of their players. And in a playoff series the coaches very often make the difference between winning and losing if the teams are fairly evenly matched. He hasn't experienced that first hand yet and hopefully he'll learn quickly when he does.

 

[George O'Brien]

Sometimes I think D'Antoni is too honest, but other times he gets cute. The fact is that he has done a great job of getting the Suns maintain their intensity and building the team around Steve Nash's special skills. He could say that this is a very young team that cannot really absorb too much too quickly, but that would be too self serving.

In any case, the Timberwolves admitted that they constantly switched defensive schemes to confuse the inexperienced Suns. It is like a football defense trying to confuse the offensive. With more experience by the offense, that becomes less and less effective.