Knicks Suns 1/7/11

[JS22]

Who else are they going to spend on? It's not like there are many "great" Power Forwards to choose from. Warrick "seemed" pretty good at first.

Warrick is what he is. A decent backup who can shine from time to time. What I didn't know, is that he is absolutely AWFUL defensively. Turk was too big of a risk. Chemistry problems were almost inevitable since he needs the ball to be effective. Though I'll admit I was intrigued by the move at the time. Frye was overpaid immensely. I'm pretty sure most everyone knew this.

The Suns could have signed Warrick + Amundson and given themselves some extra cap room to play with. But I'm sure the "Sarver is cheap" crowd would have been out in full force. I don't think he's particularly cheap. Just terrible. He seems to make drastic cost cutting moves, only to follow them up with "panic" moves, which I just don't understand.

 

[mojorizen7]

I don't know why I feel that way and I could be way off. I just get that feeling about this game for some reason. Like something will happen if the Suns get steam rolled by the Knicks.

Like maybe Nash will covertly climb aboard the Knicks team bus after the game....

 

[desertdawg]

Like maybe Nash will covertly climb aboard the Knicks team bus after the game....

Now we are getting somewhere.

 

[FArting]

Go Suns!

 

[jagu]

Go Suns! I hope Gortat does a good job on Amare. Will the non-gimpy Robin Lopez please stand up?!!!!!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Warrick is what he is. A decent backup who can shine from time to time. What I didn't know, is that he is absolutely AWFUL defensively. Turk was too big of a risk. Chemistry problems were almost inevitable since he needs the ball to be effective. Though I'll admit I was intrigued by the move at the time. Frye was overpaid immensely. I'm pretty sure most everyone knew this.

The Suns could have signed Warrick + Amundson and given themselves some extra cap room to play with. But I'm sure the "Sarver is cheap" crowd would have been out in full force. I don't think he's particularly cheap. Just terrible. He seems to make drastic cost cutting moves, only to follow them up with "panic" moves, which I just don't understand.

Sarver's the very definition of penny-wise, pound foolish.

 

[AfroSuns]

Go Suns! I hope Gortat does a good job on Amare. Will the non-gimpy Robin Lopez please stand up?!!!!!

After having Amare for so many years, we know that Amare will mostly get his. Suns should concentrate on limiting the other players.
Somehow, i just dont see how we can beat them except the Suns play good defense, they have more and better scorers. Our only hope is, its still a D'Antoni team after all; mediocre defense on both sides of the court.

 

[joshstmarie]

No I can tell because in the past I would stay up late to catch the games, or set my alarm to wake up early to watch the late games.

This team right now I watch the first half and fall asleep or turn it off.

This team is just a poopy old patchwork team with no future. There is no point watching them closely until the front office brings in players we can look forward to in the future or creates a contender.

Right now we have nothing and are an eternity away from changing either. Basically we are in the worst position possible.

- Not a championship contender? Check
- Not a playoff contender? Check
- Not over 500? Check
- Not in the high% lottery ranks? Check
- No Allstar? Check
- No young player with star potential? Check
- No young player with starter potential? Check
- No decent rookie since 2002 or 2003? Check (Amare or Barbosa depends on opinion)
- No young player with potential acquired since 2001? Check (JJ unless you consider a trade in the late first round to draft Barbosa..)
- gave away young players with potential? Check (Iguodala/Deng, Rondo etc)

Youve been spouting the same ******** for 6 years.

 

[Mainstreet]

Sarver's the very definition of penny-wise, pound foolish.

I totally agree and have said this before. Sadly the only Suns player who could have played Amare tough on defense was Amundson and the Suns chose not to re-sign him even on the cheap. I'm not sure what went through Sarver's brain when Amundson's market price dropped and the Suns did not offer him a contract.

 

[AfroSuns]

The stipulation addressed the Suns' concerns about Stoudemire's knees and right eye, all of which have had surgeries. "If they were looking to rebuild and thought I was the guy they wanted to rebuild with, then we could've came to an understanding," Stoudemire said. "But apparently it wasn't that way. It felt like I wasn't wanted. It felt like I wasn't appreciated. I felt like my play on the court was overlooked.
"If you have the best training staff and brag about the situation, my knees really weren't much of a concern. It was something that didn't make him (Managing Partner Robert Sarver) comfortable and he made a decision. I don't want to get involved in an amount-of-minutes situation because it becomes a control issue. You want to be able to play free."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AiEqBZ8hEygF7VEL455yA2y8vLYF?urn=nba-304832

Is Amare saying he would have dropped his price tag if the team had shown him he is important?
Money may be his primary reason, but the above kinda indicate that the team did little to reassure him of his future here.

 

[Griffin]

Amare on playing the Suns: "Its gonna be great. They have no one that can stop me and nobody can stop us as a team."

The problem is not so much that we have no one to stop him. Amare is averaging something like 26 ppg, so few teams have anyone to stop him. That's always been the case. The problem is that we have no one to force him to work hard on defense. We really have no one who can go off on him and have a career night on the other end like so many players had done before. So his point production will be hard to offset.

 

[Chaplin]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AiEqBZ8hEygF7VEL455yA2y8vLYF?urn=nba-304832

Is Amare saying he would have dropped his price tag if the team had shown him he is important?
Money may be his primary reason, but the above kinda indicate that the team did little to reassure him of his future here.

That's a load of bull. We were perfectly open to giving him the max, as long as he stayed healthy. And again, why is it so upsetting that we were cautious about the back end of a max contract? Smart business is smart business.

 

[AfroSuns]

That's a load of bull. We were perfectly open to giving him the max, as long as he stayed healthy. And again, why is it so upsetting that we were cautious about the back end of a max contract? Smart business is smart business.

Umm, i guess we wont know if it's smart business say till next season, when season tickets go on sale. i have little doubt that merchandise sales will be down compared to last season and if the team performs poorly this season and no major improvement to the team in the off-season, attendance will go down too. Quite a few season tickets holder are given away their tickets more than usual already this season.

 

[elindholm]

Youve been spouting the same ******** for 6 years.

Yes, but at least now it's finally true.

 

[Cheesebeef]

That's a load of bull. We were perfectly open to giving him the max, as long as he stayed healthy.

sorry, chap but i think the above, while not a load of bull, is probably a pile of it. uh, then we weren't perfectly open to giving him the Max. In the NBA, all MAX contracts are fully guaranteed. we gave him a contract that had major qualifiers. i mean, what if he broke his arm and couldn't play, or had a bad fall in a game and broke something else not related to his knee or eye? no player in the nba takes this kind of deal because they play in a contact sport and injuries DO happen and considering every time amare got hurt, he came back with FLYING colors, it was pretty petty on our part to offer a contract that no other superstar player in the league would touch and then turn around and say, well, we offered him the max.

And again, why is it so upsetting that we were cautious about the back end of a max contract? Smart business is smart business.

i don't know how smart this business is. we're now bad, on the way to being terrible and being terrible for years as we have no pieces on this team that have any future. so, what would have been better business wise? Probably two more years of contending for a title with the outside chance that we're bad for three years because amare might get injured... or being bad for five years because we didn't sign him and then turned around and STILL spent the same amount of money on guys who have long-term contracts and have little to no value?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Yes, but at least now it's finally true.

ha, was just going to write that.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Umm, i guess we wont know if it's smart business say till next season, when season tickets go on sale. i have little doubt that merchandise sales will be down compared to last season and if the team performs poorly this season and no major improvement to the team in the off-season, attendance will go down too. Quite a few season tickets holder are given away their tickets more than usual already this season.

That's a good point. Also playoff games generate more revenue too, something that the Suns probably won't be able to capitalize on, given their current trajectory.

 

[Trifecta]

Youve been spouting the same ******** for 6 years.

Yeah Slin sure does love whinging about the Suns no doubt. I actually think he is enjoying the Suns current predicament because he gets to whinge with inpunity now.

 

[Griffin]

To get back on topic, what should be the game plan?

I think the Suns should at least try to get the pick-and-roll going with Gortat and/or Warrick and stop settling for outside jump shots. Nash and Carter need to be more aggressive driving to the hoop as well. And crash the boards on both ends. The Suns generally don't go after offensive rebounds, but in this game I'd like to see a better effort in that area. Basically, attack Amare where he is weakest and take advantage of the fact that they don't really have another quality big to help out.

What should be the defensive strategy on Amare? Do we double-team him every time? They do have good shooters, but I think I rather have guys like Chandler go off than Amare. Amare is also turnover prone, and that can generate some easy points on the other end. In this game I think coaching will be key. Both coaches are very familiar with the other team's strengths and weaknesses.

 

[elindholm]

To get back on topic, what should be the game plan?

I think the Suns should at least try to get the pick-and-roll going with Gortat and/or Warrick and stop settling for outside jump shots.

As long as we're going to talk about the current game -- as futile as that seems -- then I'll go ahead and disagree. The Suns need to play to their strengths. Pick-and-roll with Gortat is not a strength. He has bad hands, can't finish, and is a lousy free-throw shooter. It's silly to bend over backward to run an offensive play that produces such inefficient results.

The roster has a bunch of three-point shooters on it. We can complain about how and why the roster was assembled, but that's not going to change anything for this game. If the strength of the team's offense is three-point shooting, then so be it: bomb away. Otherwise, you're putting players in situations where they really don't have the skills to succeed, and that's a guarantee for failure.

I haven't watched much in the last couple of weeks, but before then, I saw the wings slash to the hoop over and over and miss dozens of shots in the paint. It was painful. Not all NBA players are adept at finishing in traffic, and insisting on that kind of flawed game plan because it's more macho than three-point shooting is the kind of strategic error that generates long losing streaks. Once the Suns take themselves out of their offensive comfort zone, it makes the opponent's job that much easier.

 

[Griffin]

The Suns need to play to their strengths. Pick-and-roll with Gortat is not a strength. He has bad hands, can't finish, and is a lousy free-throw shooter. It's silly to bend over backward to run an offensive play that produces such inefficient results.

I don't disagree with your assessment of Gortat, but I think he can still improve in some of those areas. But we still have Warrick, and he has done a decent job on pick-and-rolls when given the chance. He hasn't been playing mostly because he doesn't bring anything on the defensive end, but against Amare, does it really matter? The Suns need to be able to offest some of the easy points that Amare will get, and the best way to do that, imo, is to take advantage of Amare's defensive liabilities on the other end the same way teams have done against us in the past. But that won't happen if all we do is take three-pointers. Whatever our strengths may be with the current squad, the game plan has to depend to some extent on the strengths and weaknesses of the team we are playing.

 

[AfroSuns]

He has bad hands, can't finish, and is a lousy free-throw shooter. It's silly to bend over backward to run an offensive play that produces such inefficient results.

Gortat is better at PnR than you give him credit for. I disagree that he has bad hands, he just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. He needs to time his drive to the hoop better. I do agree that his problem is with his finishing, what Amare would dunk and get and one, Gortat cant. i think this may be due to him not getting major minutes until now and hopefully he will get better

 

[AzStevenCal]

Gortat is better at PnR than you give him credit for. I disagree that he has bad hands, he just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. He needs to time his drive to the hoop better. I do agree that his problem is with his finishing, what Amare would dunk and get and one, Gortat cant. i think this may be due to him not getting major minutes until now and hopefully he will get better

I'm not sure why he does this but he goes to the hoop like he's afraid he'll hurt the basket.

Steve

 

[carey]

Awesome. Four pages and the game hasn't started yet. Should be lots of eyes on this one.

 

[AfroSuns]

I'm not sure why he does this but he goes to the hoop like he's afraid he'll hurt the basket.

Steve

hahaha Yep, but there was this one dunk that sorta shows he can be a really good finisher. Dude looks almost as strong as Howard, i dont understand why he is so timid around the basket.