Lampe will be a better center than the Suns have had in a long time...

[se7en]

If the potential shown in tonights game against the Clips is any indication then Lampe will be a player in this league without question. I was very impressed. He seems pretty damn advanced to me. I made a point of watching his every move since we don't get to watch him often. 18 minutes was a nice chunk of time. WOW talk about being fast and smooth at his size. Amazing. Taking 18 foot jumpers, driving to the basket and laying it in over and around defenders. Just amazing quickness. He can do offense no problem.

But I was impressed with his defense. His man never made a basket. Not once. Maybe I blinked or left the room once or twice. But I did not see his man take a shot and make it. He altered every stinking shot. In fact his man rarely had an opportunity to take a shot from anywhere near the basket.

18 minutes got me excited. I think the front court is solid and set. Amare, Lampe and Marion. SOLID. JJ, Casey and Barbosa really stunk the place up. Kobe and that front court would be really solid and set for many years though. Not saying the current Suns guards won't improve but they didn't look good tonight. JJ's stats look good but his play when the Clippers pulled away did not look good. Casey was even worse. He could not buy a lay up no matter how many he took.

Can't wait to see more of Lampe.

 

[carey]

Originally posted by se7en
JJ, Casey and Barbosa really stunk the place up.

I dont' get it. Johnson was 8 of 16 and Casey was 4 of 5 according to the box score.

That doesn't sound to horrible to me. Barbosa's 2 of 8 kind of sucks though.

 

[se7en]

I didn't watch the first half. So that must have been when they made their shots. I can't believe Casey only missed 1 shot. I was certain that he missed at least 2 layups. Everything JJ shot in the 3rd and 4th quarters just seemed to clank out badly. Again I guess they played great in the 1st half. But when the game was on the line it didn't look pretty to me. Oh well.

Lampe looked great though. I'd be curious to hear what others have to say.

 

[slinslin]

We were lacking a PG or any sort of 2nd playmaker in the backcourt next to Joe Johnson.
Look at our assist/turnover numbers horrible.

The defense to me still looks like Frank Johnson defense except even worse.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by slinslin
We were lacking a PG or any sort of 2nd playmaker in the backcourt next to Joe Johnson.
Look at our assist/turnover numbers horrible.

The defense to me still looks like Frank Johnson defense except even worse.

They looked tired. I hate back to back games because it is too much, especially on a team like the Suns that play their core guys a lot of minutes.

The irony was that on those two passes to Q that killed the Suns, the reason he was open was because Casey left him to help on Lampe's guy. Lampe was doing doing fine, but still Casey was jumping over. It's weird because Casey is supposed to be a smart defender.

One of the impressive things about Lampe is that he moves his feet on defense. He is athletic enough that the Suns can go to straight switching man to man defense and not worry about him ending up on a little guy.

My only concern is that the Suns stopped passing him the ball in the later stages of the game. Unfortunately his instincts were to float outside, rather than get down low to go for offensive rebounds. He needs to become more agressive, but it was still pretty impressive.

 

[Ryanwb]

Lampe is growing on me, I guess I expected him to be like Jake Tsuckalitas

 

[cardsunsfan]

It's nice to see someone actually answer the question Sometimes I click on a topic thinking I'm going to read about someone like Lampe and it ends being all the other players on the team and it goes on for pages...

By the way...I would answer it but I couldn't see the game

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Well, this is really the first time anyone has gotton an extended look at him. Unfortunately I missed the game, but from what it sounds like he did well.

 

[scotsman13]

what i saw out of him last night was good movement (he looked quick) but i havent seen much out of him as far as leaping goes. i dont know if he will be a shot blocker or not. heck if brand can be a good shot blocker when he cant jump worth a dang being lampe can.

 

[arthurracoon]

Originally posted by George O'Brien
They looked tired. I hate back to back games because it is too much, especially on a team like the Suns that play their core guys a lot of minutes.

You could see it yesterday.

They were trying to jump at to the open shooter, but they looked slow.

On the radio they mentioned that against the rockets:

Marion: ALL 53 minutes
Amare: 49 minutes
JJ: 48 minutes

Yesterday D'Antoni gave many breaks to these players.


And back to the subject...

Did anyone think Lampe traveled on that one hook shot?

Regardless he played well, and for the first time, he did not seem to be obsessed with taking jump shots. He took the ball to the hole.

 

[arthurracoon]

Originally posted by scotsman13
what i saw out of him last night was good movement (he looked quick) but i havent seen much out of him as far as leaping goes. i dont know if he will be a shot blocker or not. heck if brand can be a good shot blocker when he cant jump worth a dang being lampe can.

I thought Lampe blocked a shot or two. His arms are just so long and he is tall enough that I don't think he really needs to jump that much.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by arthurracoon
I thought Lampe blocked a shot or two. His arms are just so long and he is tall enough that I don't think he really needs to jump that much.

He did not get credit for a block, but he did bother some shooters into bad shots. It is too bad the game was so close, because I would have liked to have seen him defense Brand since Amare struggled to stop him.

Did Lampe travel? No more than Magette does every time he gets the ball.

On interesting fact was that Lampe forced the Clippers to go small. It was obvious that Kaman and Drobnjak could not stay with him. But when the Clippers put in Simmons, the Suns did not recognize the mismatch (he's only 6'6") and failed to get Lampe the ball in the low post.

Besides practicing, the Suns will need to spend the summer watching tape. Their recognition of mismatches remains very poor. (Watch a Don Nelson team sometime to see a team that is built around finding mismatches).

 

[SweetD]

I did like how he went after the rebounds and loose balls. I didn't like him taking off plays when the ball was not passed to him. I say several time that he would try to get the ball then if he didn't get it he would move to the wing or out to the three point line.

 

[devilalum]

Originally posted by Ryanwb
Lampe is growing on me, I guess I expected him to be like Jake Tsuckalitas

That's "Jake Tsuckalotis"

 

[sly fly]

I'm not sure how much Lampe will improve. My guess is he has tremendous more upside than downside. If I'm a betting man (which I am ), Lampe will turn out to be a force to be reckoned with.

One of the reasons I can make this statement is because this kid SHOULD BE A FREAKIN' HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR.

What were you doing when you were 18 or 19?? Geez, that just blows me away.

The form on his jumper is impeccable. He keeps the ball high,. which a lot of big men have trouble doing.

He'll need to improve his explosiveness, but who doesn't?

 

[Jerbob]

Originally posted by sly fly
He'll need to improve his explosiveness, but who doesn't?

Why? Name 3 centers that you would describe as explosive. You can be a great center with no explosiveness.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by sly fly
I'm not sure how much Lampe will improve. My guess is he has tremendous more upside than downside. If I'm a betting man (which I am ), Lampe will turn out to be a force to be reckoned with.

One of the reasons I can make this statement is because this kid SHOULD BE A FREAKIN' HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR.

What were you doing when you were 18 or 19?? Geez, that just blows me away.

The form on his jumper is impeccable. He keeps the ball high,. which a lot of big men have trouble doing.

He'll need to improve his explosiveness, but who doesn't?

I'm not sure there has been a really an explosive center since Hakeem. It would be nice.

My concern is that he is not quite agressive enough. He needs to be down low getting offensive rebounds a put backs. If was in the paint, he could get passes for layups.

BTW, one of the other factors not mentioned is that Lampe can catch the ball. Neither Jake nor Jahidi have particularly good hands and they often fumble passes that reduce their effectivenss. I did not see Lampe fumble any passes.

 

[slinslin]

Shaq is not explosive?

David Robinson was not explosive?

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by slinslin
Shaq is not explosive?

David Robinson was not explosive?

Neither of them are as quick to the basket as Amare or Hakeem was. But so what?

 

[Joe Mama]

George, I think if you go back and watch that game against the Clippers again do it see that Lampe does not suffer from a lack of aggression on the boards. Particularly on the offensive boards he did not get good position because he was outside when the shot went up for the Suns. However he did try to get to the boards. In fact there were several times he should have been called for pushing and over the back.

I'm not sure if Lampe is any taller than Jake Voskuhl, but he sure looks like he has a longer reach.

Joe Mama

 

[F-Dog]

It's good to hear that Lampe had a good game, anyway.

It will be very interesting to see what the Suns do about their weakness at center this offseason, and Lampe's growth and development in the next month will probably play a big factor in their decision-making.

 

[SweetD]

I am sure he will get allot of minutes during the Rocky Mountain Games.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
George, I think if you go back and watch that game against the Clippers again do it see that Lampe does not suffer from a lack of aggression on the boards. Particularly on the offensive boards he did not get good position because he was outside when the shot went up for the Suns. However he did try to get to the boards. In fact there were several times he should have been called for pushing and over the back.

I'm not sure if Lampe is any taller than Jake Voskuhl, but he sure looks like he has a longer reach.

Joe Mama

It was the positioning I was concerned about. It looks like when he does not get touches, he drifts outside.

I have not read about how long Lampe's arms are, but I have always felt that Jake seemed to have short arms. Everytime there is scramble under the basket, it seemed like Jake never could touch the ball. By contrast, Lampe tiped the ball away from a guy to Amare to prevent an offensive rebound.

 

[BigBuddy]

It was the positioning I was concerned about. It looks like when he does not get touches, he drifts outside.

Yap, that's true. Due to his lack of athlecism Lampe feels more comfortable outside, where he can take advatage of his quickness and ball handling over his defender. It not only lets him drive, but also creates some space under the rim for big guys to direct the passes to.

Lampe was a good perimeter shooter as well, making about 40% of european-range three-pointers. He has four misses this season, but he really has a good touch from outside the line and he will prove it as soon as he is not forced to play at C.

Keep an eye on this kid, really.

Edit: bad quotation

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by BigBuddy
Yap, that's true. Due to his lack of athlecism Lampe feels more comfortable outside, where he can take advatage of his quickness and ball handling over his defender. It not only lets him drive, but also creates some space under the rim for big guys to direct the passes to.

Lampe was a good perimeter shooter as well, making about 40% of european-range three-pointers. He has four misses this season, but he really has a good touch from outside the line and he will prove it as soon as he is not forced to play at C.

Keep an eye on this kid, really.

Edit: bad quotation

Actually, his outside shooting is my main concern. He first has to establish himself on the inside by doing the dirty work, getting offensive rebounds, blocking out, scrambling for balls, etc. Having a center who can shoot from the outside is a luxury, but having a strong inside presence is a necessity if the Suns are going to prevent opponents from double teaming Amare everytime he touches the ball.