George O'Brien
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Talk to the Suns
Posted: March 1, 2004
Jerry Colangelo joined KTAR’s Dave Burns on the 620 Sportsline’s weekly “Talk to the Suns” program Monday night. The Suns’ Chairman spoke with “Burnsie” about everything from the development of the Suns youngsters and the recent league-wide referee uniform coup to instant replay.
Dave Burns:Talk about the Kings who we took on the other night.
Jerry Colangelo: They are playing unselfish basketball. They have great shooters. That goes without saying, both three point shooters and regular field goals. What really makes them special is their passing and their unselfishness. Vlade Divacs looks like he can play until he’s 50, doing the kinds of things he does. They center around him because of his passing. And they’re really one of the fun teams to watch in my opinion.
Dave Burns: Vlade was a guy who I read was thinking about hanging it up at the season, and now with the way things are going, it sounds like he wants to continue to play which is bad news for just about everybody else in the Western Conference.
Colangelo: I think he’ll continue to play. He can still contribute. The style of play that he has in terms of his game, he’ll continue to do this for the next two or three years.
Burns: Amaré Stoudemire, clearly he’s starting to round into form a little bit lately.
Colangelo: He looks like a man possessed right now, in terms of his game. He’s very, very aggressive. What I’ve liked in the past couple of games, he’s doing a better job of reading the defense, kicking the ball out and getting it back again when he posts up rather than forcing the issue and causing a lot of personal turnovers. He’s just taking the ball to the basket and using very quick moves that are pretty hard for anyone to stay with. The combination of strength, quickness and jumping ability makes him, as Vlade said, “He’s playing as well as any power forward in the game right now.”
Burns: Almost unguardable. You watch other teams try to find a four or five or somebody on the floor tot try and measure up to him defensively. Every coach they play has a hard time doing that.
Colangelo: No question. The key here is that we need to become a good basketball team, so we take advantage of double teams, and Amaré understands and reads the defense so that he does kick it out when appropriate and becomes aggressive offensively when he can. He’s a real force now.
Burns: We’ve seen little decline in Joe Johnson’s numbers since Amaré came back. Direct result of what you’re talking about, kicking it out to the open man and being able to beat the double teams?
Colangelo: Maybe a little bit. The way I look at it, we have a bunch of young players playing together. This is all part of the process of learning to play with one another and maximizing each others’ talents. Joe has had a terrific year in our opinion, and we’re very excited about his future.
Burns: The situation with the NBA referee suspended for a few games by the league for a mistake he made. We saw the reaction form the NBA referees across the league. Do you think you can afford to suspend NBA referees every time they make a mistake or was this an isolated incident?
Colangelo: Our policy has been, up until this reprimand, we do not publicly take out our wrath on the official. It’s important to note that quite often officials are disciplined but not necessarily so public as in this particular case. And I was surprised. I did have some conversation with someone at the league office, and I voiced my surprise by what took place. I can think of a lot of calls that could call for a reprimand, but I’m not sure how many calls would justify a suspension.
Burns: So you were surprised by the credence this one was given by the league?
Colangelo: I’m supportive of the league. They had their reasons and logic for doing it. Henderson as an official is ranked at the bottom of the league in terms of ratings. He’s had difficulties. I’m assuming this was more of a build-up than just one missed call.
Burns: Did you expect the solidarity of the referees who all turned their jerseys inside out and wearing his number on their back?
Colangelo: Not necessarily. The league’s attitude of just allowing the officials to get it out of their system for a game was the right thing to do. Officiating basketball is the toughest sport by far, because every call seems to be a judgment call. It’s not that way in any other sport in my opinion. Being human beings, they’re subject to making mistakes and everyone makes their share.
Burns: Has it been a constant throughout the years that all the stars get the calls?
Colangelo: (laughing) As much as it has been denied over the years, I know it doesn’t exist, but I see what I see. It’s inconsistent. I can look you straight in the eye and tell you we never got any breaks.
Burns: Where do you stand on instant replay?
Colangelo: I think it has a role. I do. It can be expanded a little bit. That should be a sign to fans that we are willing to do things with technology we have that indicates we have a better way to judge a game in critical situations.
Burns: Zarko Cabarkapa, trying to get his confidence back… Has he returned to any kind of level he was starting to show before going down with the wrist injury?
Colangelo: He looks better. He’s played very tentatively. In Sunday’s Kings game, he was much more aggressive and that’s important. We want to bank on him next season.
Burns: Leandro Barbosa, a young player trying to find his consistency. Some nights he’s been spectacular, other nights he’s struggling.
Colangelo: The best way to look at Barbosa is to say the minutes he’s had this year is a bonus for him. He will be that much better prepared next year. We’ll have an outstanding summer league team. You should see some improvement in Barbosa’s game for next season.
Talk to the Suns
Posted: March 1, 2004
Jerry Colangelo joined KTAR’s Dave Burns on the 620 Sportsline’s weekly “Talk to the Suns” program Monday night. The Suns’ Chairman spoke with “Burnsie” about everything from the development of the Suns youngsters and the recent league-wide referee uniform coup to instant replay.
Dave Burns:Talk about the Kings who we took on the other night.
Jerry Colangelo: They are playing unselfish basketball. They have great shooters. That goes without saying, both three point shooters and regular field goals. What really makes them special is their passing and their unselfishness. Vlade Divacs looks like he can play until he’s 50, doing the kinds of things he does. They center around him because of his passing. And they’re really one of the fun teams to watch in my opinion.
Dave Burns: Vlade was a guy who I read was thinking about hanging it up at the season, and now with the way things are going, it sounds like he wants to continue to play which is bad news for just about everybody else in the Western Conference.
Colangelo: I think he’ll continue to play. He can still contribute. The style of play that he has in terms of his game, he’ll continue to do this for the next two or three years.
Burns: Amaré Stoudemire, clearly he’s starting to round into form a little bit lately.
Colangelo: He looks like a man possessed right now, in terms of his game. He’s very, very aggressive. What I’ve liked in the past couple of games, he’s doing a better job of reading the defense, kicking the ball out and getting it back again when he posts up rather than forcing the issue and causing a lot of personal turnovers. He’s just taking the ball to the basket and using very quick moves that are pretty hard for anyone to stay with. The combination of strength, quickness and jumping ability makes him, as Vlade said, “He’s playing as well as any power forward in the game right now.”
Burns: Almost unguardable. You watch other teams try to find a four or five or somebody on the floor tot try and measure up to him defensively. Every coach they play has a hard time doing that.
Colangelo: No question. The key here is that we need to become a good basketball team, so we take advantage of double teams, and Amaré understands and reads the defense so that he does kick it out when appropriate and becomes aggressive offensively when he can. He’s a real force now.
Burns: We’ve seen little decline in Joe Johnson’s numbers since Amaré came back. Direct result of what you’re talking about, kicking it out to the open man and being able to beat the double teams?
Colangelo: Maybe a little bit. The way I look at it, we have a bunch of young players playing together. This is all part of the process of learning to play with one another and maximizing each others’ talents. Joe has had a terrific year in our opinion, and we’re very excited about his future.
Burns: The situation with the NBA referee suspended for a few games by the league for a mistake he made. We saw the reaction form the NBA referees across the league. Do you think you can afford to suspend NBA referees every time they make a mistake or was this an isolated incident?
Colangelo: Our policy has been, up until this reprimand, we do not publicly take out our wrath on the official. It’s important to note that quite often officials are disciplined but not necessarily so public as in this particular case. And I was surprised. I did have some conversation with someone at the league office, and I voiced my surprise by what took place. I can think of a lot of calls that could call for a reprimand, but I’m not sure how many calls would justify a suspension.
Burns: So you were surprised by the credence this one was given by the league?
Colangelo: I’m supportive of the league. They had their reasons and logic for doing it. Henderson as an official is ranked at the bottom of the league in terms of ratings. He’s had difficulties. I’m assuming this was more of a build-up than just one missed call.
Burns: Did you expect the solidarity of the referees who all turned their jerseys inside out and wearing his number on their back?
Colangelo: Not necessarily. The league’s attitude of just allowing the officials to get it out of their system for a game was the right thing to do. Officiating basketball is the toughest sport by far, because every call seems to be a judgment call. It’s not that way in any other sport in my opinion. Being human beings, they’re subject to making mistakes and everyone makes their share.
Burns: Has it been a constant throughout the years that all the stars get the calls?
Colangelo: (laughing) As much as it has been denied over the years, I know it doesn’t exist, but I see what I see. It’s inconsistent. I can look you straight in the eye and tell you we never got any breaks.
Burns: Where do you stand on instant replay?
Colangelo: I think it has a role. I do. It can be expanded a little bit. That should be a sign to fans that we are willing to do things with technology we have that indicates we have a better way to judge a game in critical situations.
Burns: Zarko Cabarkapa, trying to get his confidence back… Has he returned to any kind of level he was starting to show before going down with the wrist injury?
Colangelo: He looks better. He’s played very tentatively. In Sunday’s Kings game, he was much more aggressive and that’s important. We want to bank on him next season.
Burns: Leandro Barbosa, a young player trying to find his consistency. Some nights he’s been spectacular, other nights he’s struggling.
Colangelo: The best way to look at Barbosa is to say the minutes he’s had this year is a bonus for him. He will be that much better prepared next year. We’ll have an outstanding summer league team. You should see some improvement in Barbosa’s game for next season.
