Ja Jones to Start, Diaw to Sit

[DeAnna]

Interesting quotes from Nash...

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 11, 2007 12:00 AM
Suns swingman James Jones will start tonight's home game against Seattle in part to stir up the offense, but also because of Boris Diaw's recent struggles.

Shawn Marion moves to power forward, a spot in which he is more productive, and Jones has the chance to jump-start his offensive game.

Jones will take the spot Diaw has occupied most often beside the four set Suns starters - Steve Nash, Raja Bell, Marion and Amaré Stoudemire. In the season's 78th game, Phoenix, with 58 victories, will try a starting lineup not used this season as it tries to best utilize eight rotation players. advertisement

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There was a time when Diaw was a lock as a starter and coach Mike D'Antoni was committed to it for the playoffs. Diaw started every game of the 15- and 17-game winning streaks. But since Diaw's back spasms in February, the Suns sometimes look as if they are starting over.

Phoenix has, however, excelled again to the point that a win tonight would leave only the 1992-93 and 2004-05 Suns' regular seasons as more successful. But Diaw has not been as strong, going 10 for 34 from the field in the past four games and averaging 2.5 assists, nearly half of his season average (4.9) before that span.

"I want to keep encouraging him," Nash said. "We all think he's a super talent and has so much to offer our team. If he could be a little more inspired or motivated, he's going to have big nights for us."

In the first three quarters Sunday against the Lakers - Diaw sat out the decisive fourth quarter - there were long stretches when Diaw did not touch the ball, particularly if he and Stoudemire were at opposite elbows (the corners of free-throw line extended) to start a half-court set. If the offense is not engaging Diaw, it is not capitalizing on his passing, and it has a ripple effect. Diaw's defender will not respect his position on the floor (usually 18 feet from the hoop) because he is not the shooter that Tim Thomas was with the Suns last season.

"He's not getting the same responsibility or volume with Amaré and LB's (Leandro Barbosa's) emergence," Nash said. "He's not going to very often have the same sort of freedoms he had in the past, but when he is on the court, we really want him to play the same way, because he's just as good as any of us at making plays. Hopefully he can find the inspiration and really go out there and want to take over ballgames."

That is what Diaw was doing at this point last year.

To him, nothing is different. Diaw said he feels he is getting the same amount of playmaking opportunities. He does acknowledge that the chemistry is not the same but believes that is about to be fixed.

"I think it's going to change when the playoffs start," Diaw said. "Everybody is going to be more focused with what's at stake. At times, it's not moving as much, but it doesn't hurt us."

That is because, as Diaw notes, Phoenix averages nearly two more points per game than last season and already has four more wins.

 

[boisesuns]

He does acknowledge that the chemistry is not the same but believes that is about to be fixed.

.

Maybe he will turn it on in the playoffs. I think getting something out of Diaw will be huge. He was a beast last year, got his money, and hasn't been the same.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Not surprising that Boris is being bench, but it is surprising that Jr is starting vs. Barbosa.

I understand the reasoning of bring Barbosa first off of the bench though.

 

[hafey]

The whole team has generally been playing like they plan to flip the switch come playoff time.

 

[elindholm]

James Jones is not a freaking "swingman." He has never played SG and never will. It's fine to start him at SF, but tell it like it is.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Nash Said ""I want to keep encouraging him," Nash said. "We all think he's a super talent and has so much to offer our team. If he could be a little more inspired or motivated, he's going to have big nights for us."

The thing is if this was a general comment and not clearly specific to Boris Diaw, some on this board would be up in arms tying it to Stoudemire and making rash conclusions. The Golden Diaw who plays like the snuggle bear is rarely ripped, but the guy is lazy and fat and now clearly being called out as unmotivated. I don't trust him to get motivated suddenly, he got paid, game over. His finese talents may get some of yall viagra'ed out, but I want to see him shoot the layup instead of kicking it out just once.

Secondly, as far as Jones is concerned. The move would work if the guy could actually shoot, but he can't, he is a horrible shooter. I recall all the leather ball BS excuse he had, what is it now Junior???? I know, it's the suck.

All Denver or LA needs to do is double everyone on the team and let defensive rotation fail as the ball moves to Jones for the brick, he loves to launch shots even though he can't hit greater than 40%, the thing that limits his shots is time on the floor, he will single handedly pull the Suns below 50% with significant minutes.

His defense is ok, but the Suns aren't gonna win any titles on defense alone.

 

[SO91]

Damn T, you are ripping them I agree with your first paragraph, but I guess I've drank too much kool-aid already and can't give up on the Frenchman after one bad year. It's funny you say that about Amare, cuz as I read this article I immediately thought of the closed door meeting that was reported earlier this week, that was assumed to be between coach and Amare.

 

[Chaplin]

Nash Said ""I want to keep encouraging him," Nash said. "We all think he's a super talent and has so much to offer our team. If he could be a little more inspired or motivated, he's going to have big nights for us."

The thing is if this was a general comment and not clearly specific to Boris Diaw, some on this board would be up in arms tying it to Stoudemire and making rash conclusions. The Golden Diaw who plays like the snuggle bear is rarely ripped, but the guy is lazy and fat and now clearly being called out as unmotivated. I don't trust him to get motivated suddenly, he got paid, game over. His finese talents may get some of yall viagra'ed out, but I want to see him shoot the layup instead of kicking it out just once.

Secondly, as far as Jones is concerned. The move would work if the guy could actually shoot, but he can't, he is a horrible shooter. I recall all the leather ball BS excuse he had, what is it now Junior???? I know, it's the suck.

All Denver or LA needs to do is double everyone on the team and let defensive rotation fail as the ball moves to Jones for the brick, he loves to launch shots even though he can't hit greater than 40%, the thing that limits his shots is time on the floor, he will single handedly pull the Suns below 50% with significant minutes.

His defense is ok, but the Suns aren't gonna win any titles on defense alone.

James Jones in the starting 5 has no need to score. Period. Why do you think it's so crucial for him to be a scoring machine if he starts? It'd be nice if he could hit a couple shots to keep the defense honest, but he won't be there to score--that's what Marion, Amare and Nash are there for.

 

[DeAnna]

All Denver or LA needs to do is double everyone on the team

Wow...that would be quite an accomplishment. No team has been able to do it this year to the Suns, btw.

 

[asudevil83]

James Jones in the starting 5 has no need to score. Period. Why do you think it's so crucial for him to be a scoring machine if he starts? It'd be nice if he could hit a couple shots to keep the defense honest, but he won't be there to score--that's what Marion, Amare and Nash are there for.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=88774

well i'm just going to have to reference this thread.

we all just went over this. too many scorers on the floor, and players becoming more selfish. not enough shots to go around ..... blah blah blah.

now, we have D'Antoni trying to fix this. he has balanced out the bench and starting lineups.

Amare - scorer
Marion - scorer
Jones - defense
Bell - scorer
Nash - distributer

Diaw - distributer
Barbosa - scorer
KT - defense

that's basically our 8 man rotation for this game. in comparing this to our previous starting/bench lineups we've seen this is much more balanced. if Jones can get his shooting touch, then great. he can score.

but having a scorer, defender, distributer off the bench to sub in helps keep the flow of the game going....along with making sure people get their shots.

what we've seen previously is too many scorers in the starting lineup, and none on the bench.
alternatively we've also seen a few lineups with too many distributers in the starting lineup, and none on the bench.

 

[Covert Rain]

My concern is that this appears to be a return to small ball. There is no way this is a perm change. This lineup simply would not work against the likes of San Antonio come playoff time. So why bother? In fact, why bother with James Jones at all? He has had maybe 2 decent games in over a month. Maybe this is a last ditch effort with D'Antoni to guage if he will be used come playoff time? Who knows.

 

[F-Dog]

Diaw is a good player--he's still second-best on the team at creating offense. If he was on Barbosa's contract, he'd make an awesome 7th man long-term.

The problem as I see it is that Boris seems to be a world-class switch-flipper in the Tim Thomas mode. If I felt confident that he would flip the switch when the playoffs start, I'd be able to live with that, but from what I remember last season, Boris didn't play to his ability in the playoffs, either, until the second half of the Lakers series. If he does that against the Spurs this season, he might not even get himself started until it's too late.

I've almost given up hope on Boris improving significantly over the course of this contract. It's too bad, because the Suns desperately need him to develop a reliable 3pt shot and learn to defend swingmen on face-ups (and even PFs) without fouling.



James Jones would have been starting a long time ago if he could hit open shots. As things stand, though, he'll probably be the Suns' Quentin Richardson this June, letting opposing teams off the hook again and again while failing to exploit mismatches and generally making life difficult for the other four Suns starters.

It's probably unfair to burden him with expectations, since he's clearly starting by default. I just wish JR would stop taking that 3pt shot from the left sideline--not only does it not go in, it generally clangs harmlessly off the right side of the target (the front of the rim), right into the arms of the opposition's help defender, kick-starting their fast break. Stick to the wing threes where you can at least get back on help D, JR.



Really, the Suns have been holding open auditions for 5th starter all year long, and I'm disappointend that Jalen Rose in particular wasn't able to step up. I also wish we'd been able to see more of Jumaine Jones at some point, but I guess D'Antoni gets to see plenty of him in practice...

 

[Covert Rain]

James Jones would have been starting a long time ago if he could hit open shots. As things stand, though, he'll probably be the Suns' Quentin Richardson this June, letting opposing teams off the hook again and again while failing to exploit mismatches and generally making life difficult for the other four Suns starters.

Why would he need to be Q of last June? So far he is being the late season/playoff slumping James Jones of last season....AGAIN.

Really, the Suns have been holding open auditions for 5th starter all year long, and I'm disappointend that Jalen Rose in particular wasn't able to step up. I also wish we'd been able to see more of Jumaine Jones at some point, but I guess D'Antoni gets to see plenty of him in practice...

Playing well 4 out of 5 games was a pretty good start for Jalen. However, I guess D'Anotoni standards are different when comparing him to guys like James Jones.

 

[Skumbag]

James Jones will be great...






















....FOR ME TO POOP ON!!!!!

 

[JS22]

"I want to keep encouraging him," Nash said. "We all think he's a super talent and has so much to offer our team. If he could be a little more inspired or motivated, he's going to have big nights for us."

What does that tell you? Diaw is LAZY.

 

[F-Dog]

Why would he need to be Q of last June? So far he is being the late season/playoff slumping James Jones of last season....AGAIN.

JR will have a bigger role this time around--no Tim Thomas.

Playing well 4 out of 5 games was a pretty good start for Jalen. However, I guess D'Anotoni standards are different when comparing him to guys like James Jones.

I would say Jalen shot well 4 out of 5 games, not that he played well in those games.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Diaw over the last week or so has been much more aggressive in spurts. I don't know why that is but Nash and him will run a P&R just to get the switch to get Diaw on a smaller player and let him set up on the blocks.

From there he looks to be fairly effective at getting to the hole. He probably still passes a touch too much but I like that they're getting him involved in stretches because that's all we really need him for. Sure it'd be nice if he could dominate the game start to finish but right now I'll take 5-10 minutes of solid play when Stat is on the bench over nothing.

 

[Cheesebeef]

wow - I can't believe after this long, DA still doesn't know what he's doing in regards to this team. Hopefully this does the trick, but JR getting MORE minutes is a recipe for disaster - the guy disrupts the entire flow of the offense.

man, something just smells foul about this entry into the playoffs - team chemistry problems, closed door meetings, lineup changes every other week - hopefully they can get this all figured out in the next five games and firts round before they play the Spurs otherwise that series could be really ugly.

 

[Covert Rain]

JR will have a bigger role this time around--no Tim Thomas.

Great. More missed shots, more stupid fouls. Tim Thomas didn't prevent James Jones from going into a shooting funk last season which lasted into the playoffs. So what is his excuse this year?

I would say Jalen shot well 4 out of 5 games, not that he played well in those games.

Well he played decent defense and ran up the court pretty well on top of that. The only thing that I had seen that could improve was his spacing which would come with consistant minutes.

I am not sure what else D'Antoni wants from a bench player. Evidently he requires untimely fouls, inconsistant shooting and a player who fades come playoff time.

wow - I can't believe after this long, DA still doesn't know what he's doing in regards to this team. Hopefully this does the trick, but JR getting MORE minutes is a recipe for disaster - the guy disrupts the entire flow of the offense.

I so agree with that part. Not to mention that teams are going to exploit the size more often against us if this is a perm change. How does replacing an inconsistant player in Diaw get better with putting an inconsistant player in James Jones in his place?

 

[Treesquid PhD]

James Jones in the starting 5 has no need to score. Period. Why do you think it's so crucial for him to be a scoring machine if he starts? It'd be nice if he could hit a couple shots to keep the defense honest, but he won't be there to score--that's what Marion, Amare and Nash are there for.

He does not need to be a scoring machine but he needs to stop acting like he can be. The guy is a black hole on offense, he shoots, he may not make, but he shoots. If he shoots then that means other guys who are good offensive players aren't, this isn't a team that gets a lot of second chances, they blow their load then go back to defense. Hey if Junior can muster up some brains and not take away shots from others and concentrate on rebounding and D then cool it might work out great, but if I am an opposing team I cheat off Jones and make him beat us every second he is in there. Popovich and General will certainly take advantage of this weakness.

In general, hoping he is suddenly going to be awesome on offense because he starts is as naive as buying into the whole leather ball thing, the guy has a good game once every six games he is consistent in that, and that won't cut it.

 

[Chaplin]

He does not need to be a scoring machine but he needs to stop acting like he can be. The guy is a black hole on offense, he shoots, he may not make, but he shoots. If he shoots then that means other guys who are good offensive players aren't, this isn't a team that gets a lot of second chances, they blow their load then go back to defense. Hey if Junior can muster up some brains and not take away shots from others and concentrate on rebounding and D then cool it might work out great, but if I am an opposing team I cheat off Jones and make him beat us every second he is in there. Popovich and General will certainly take advantage of this weakness.

In general, hoping he is suddenly going to be awesome on offense because he starts is as naive as buying into the whole leather ball thing, the guy has a good game once every six games he is consistent in that, and that won't cut it.

I wonder if this is more about getting Boris Diaw going than James Jones.

 

[Gaddabout]

Someone needs to take Diaw into the bowels of the arena and beat the French out of him.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Wow...that would be quite an accomplishment. No team has been able to do it this year to the Suns, btw.

Ah but they have when Nash goes out. This team struggles when they can't hit shots. If I was the other team I would cheat off Jones and make a 35% shooter beat us from the outside.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I wonder if this is more about getting Boris Diaw going than James Jones.

I actually wonder if this is about clearing space for Stoudemire and Nash to pick and roll.

Maybe the meeting was about coach saying we need to ride you and Nash. I am gonna enable this to happen.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Someone needs to take Diaw into the bowels of the arena and beat the French out of him.

Maybe we can get Imus to do it?