Looking for leadership

[cheng]

Suns coach Frank Johnson said the team's inconsistency isn't rooted in the quality of opponent, although the Suns have played well against good teams and poorly against some bad ones.

"It's not the shooting. It's not the execution of the offense," Johnson said. "It's the consistency of energy, effort and attitude. All of those things have to be consistent before we can be consistent here (on the floor).

"And that has got to come from your leaders, as well as me. That's what we talked about. If we come with that inconsistent energy, effort, attitude, routine, whatever, then you have inconsistency in the games.

"It's not the good teams and bad teams, as it appears. It's from day to day, night to night, 24 hours to 48 hours. Consistency is something that comes with maturity."


Damn, I can't wait for him to get his ass fired.

Didn't he just say we played a good game but shot too poorly to win the game against Warriors? Now he is blaming the whole team for not playing hard.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Judging from the post game quotes after the warriors game, I have a feeling Marbury isn't too happy being a "traditional" type point guard.

“I really haven’t even been looking for my offense. I have been more in the role of a traditional point guard. Coach wants us to work the ball around now, so that is what I am doing.”

My opnion on that one is it doesn't matter what the coach says. You're the leader of the team and if you see that the leading scorer is Penny Hardaway, of all people, you take over and do your thing.

 

[SirStefan32]

I couldn't agree more, except that I would add that there is plenty of leadership in Penny Hardaway as well.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Originally posted by SirStefan32
I couldn't agree more, except that I would add that there is plenty of leadership in Penny Hardaway as well.

That's actually what I've noticed. If Penny is having a good game, Marbury usually takes a back seat. That's not bad at all since both players dominate the ball to be effective. However, if it was a game like the previous one, Marbury should show a little more initiative because the team expects it from him. After all, Penny doesn't have Marbury's energy that really rallies his teammates. Penny is more of a low key leader and is not very inspiring compared to Marbury.

Basically, what I'm saying is that Marbury was probably hurt a little bit when he was asked to sacrifice his offense to get everybody involved. I don't know.. Maybe I'm just reading too much out of that one line but it sounded like he was blaming it on FJ asking him to change his game a little bit.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by dyle_ph1
.

Basically, what I'm saying is that Marbury was probably hurt a little bit when he was asked to sacrifice his offense to get everybody involved.

And look what that's gotten us...

 

[SirStefan32]

I never understood the concept of "getting everybody" involved by asking one player to make a sacrifice.

Let me tell you something- if Marbury scores 10 points in the first 4 minutes of the game, they will have to double team him, help their team mates on defense, which, considering Marbury's good passing ability and unselfishness, will get everybody involved in the game really quickly.

 

[PhiLLmattiC]

Originally posted by Chaplin
And look what that's gotten us...

It did help them win 4 of the last 6 games. Marbury's distribuing of the ball iwas obviously not the only problem.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by PhiLLmattiC
It did help them win 4 of the last 6 games. Marbury's distribuing of the ball iwas obviously not the only problem.

4 of the last 6. You can't possibly tell me that Steph's unselfishness won us the games against Miami, Orlando and Chicago. And let me remind you, we barely beat Miami.

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm a little confused by Marbury. IMO one of the biggest problems Friday night was then Marbury forced a bunch of bad shots. It was the worst in the second half when they got the Warriors' lead down to a few points. All of a sudden Marbury started shooting the ball every time down, and he still couldn't get anything to go in the basket. If he had just kept looking for his teammates the Suns might have been able to stay close.

Frank Johnson is an idiot. Sometimes it seems like he is trying to get the players to hate him. I'm sorry. I know nobody wants to hear this, but without Shawn Marion and Zarko Cabarkapa the Phoenix Suns are not as good as the Golden State Warriors. I'm tired of Johnson blaming all of their woes on poor effort and execution. For the most part its B.S.

It's pretty simple really. If the Phoenix Suns perimeter players, especially the shooting guards, shoot the ball well the team will almost always win. When Joe Johnson shoots 20% and one of the Suns other primary players struggles from the field they will likely lose.

Joe Mama

 

[JJ Slim]

Marbury is only "selfish" when his teammates fail to step up and make the shots he sets up for them. I gave him a hard time earlier for not trusting his teammates but at the same time they need to prove themselves trustworthy.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Distributing the ball is fine if your teammates can put the ball in the basket. But after one half of basketball and stoudemire, johnson, and the rest are still shooting horribly, there comes a point where you start looking for your own shots. Marbury did do that but it was a litte too late in the Warriors game.

I guess it comes with experience, when to know to take a shot or distribute the ball. One thing that's going for Marbury is he CAN score and pass the ball. It's just a matter of knowing when to do them.

Oh, and just a clarification, I'm not blaming the Warriors loss to Marbury and the suns offense because they didn't do a lot of other things too. IMO, Marbury is also not very happy with FJ's coaching lately. FJ has to regain Marbury's confidence in him to be able to win games in the future or he'll be gone before the season ends.

 

[JJ Slim]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
I know nobody wants to hear this, but without Shawn Marion and Zarko Cabarkapa the Phoenix Suns are not as good as the Golden State Warriors.

Sad but likely true. One bright spot out of it though is that we probabaly got the steal of the draft again. Zarko is the real deal and plays more like a veteran than some true veterans. I could actually see him and Marion fighting for the starting spot in the future and the Suns being fine with either one.

 

[sly fly]

Marbury is not a leader.

Leaders are consistent with their effort no matter how bad/good their playing.

Leaders don't sulk on the court when things aren't going your way.

Marbury is confused.

If this were truly his team he wouldn't need a coach to direct his type of play.

Leaders lead by example.

Marbury will get you 35 points. When he WANTS to.
Marbury will get you 12 assists. When he WANTS to.

A great talent, yes. A leader, no. Not yet.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Originally posted by JJ Slim
Sad but likely true. One bright spot out of it though is that we probabaly got the steal of the draft again. Zarko is the real deal and plays more like a veteran than some true veterans. I could actually see him and Marion fighting for the starting spot in the future and the Suns being fine with either one.

I only saw Zarko play one game (nationally televised, don't remember who they played against). Anyway, as someone who's been playing and watching basketball forever, you kinda know if somebody knows how to play or not. Zarko is definitely going to be special. I like smart basketball players who do not solely rely on their athletic ability. Zarko is athletic enough to compete in the NBA but his passing ability and feel for the game is definitely very high. He moves without the ball, makes extra passes and shoots well. He needs to improve defensively but that's expected because he's not there yet in terms of physique. I liked the effort that I saw in him.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Originally posted by sly fly

A great talent, yes. A leader, no. Not yet.

Actually, well put. He does have great talent and he has shown good leadership abilities here and there. All he needs is a little more consistency.

 

[Joe Mama]

My complaints about Marbury are specific to that point in the second half of Friday's game where he inexplicably took several bad shots in a row after the team had battled back to within a few points. He has to realize when he is having an off game. For some reason there was a lid on the basket for Marbury Friday night. They had worked the Warriors' lead down to a few baskets with Scott Williams, Casey Jacobsen, and a few others knocking down open shots. Then for some strange reason Marbury came down on a few straight possessions and popped some quick, poor shots from outside. There was just no reason for it.

If Marbury wants to get his offense going he should drive to the basket not take difficult outside shots. Besides, he didn't need to necessarily get his offense going because his teammates were doing a good job.

Otherwise have been happy with what Marbury has done over the last several games. He really just needs to find that balance between scoring and distributing the basketball. If people are going to leave him open for easy shots and layups then he should go ahead and take them. But he should be dribbling the ball around for 16 seconds of the shot clock trying to get his own game. That's what he was doing in the first 10 or so games.

One thing about Cabarkapa. Before the season started I thought he would be a real liability defensively. For the most part he has not been. In fact he has been quite adequate defensively. The thing I like the most about him is probably the way he finishes around the basket.

Joe Mama

 

[jbeecham]

Marbury had some drives to the basket early in the 1st half where he could've attempted a running layup or tear drop shot and instead passed the ball out to the 3pt line to JJ or Casey or Penny and they either missed the shot or passed to ball back out to the top of the key. Marbury should be taking those shots because he makes a good amount of them or draws double team coverage which leaves the offensive rebound for Jake or Amare to slam home. I think he's trying to hard to get his teammates involved early and the forces passes which are good shot attempts. Then later on he can't get himself going when the team needs scoring and he forces his offense. I think he should have been looking for his shot all game long against GS because I'd rather rely on him scoring than anyone else on the team when Marion and Zarko are out.

 

[George O'Brien]

Jump Shots

When the Suns hit their jump shots, they win. When they miss, they lose.

The problem is that not all jumpers are equal. Shooting contested jumpers when there is still time on the clock is totally unacceptable. Shooting early threes when there is no one around to get a rebound is almost always a bad idea, even though some of them go in.

The biggest problem is that the Suns have all kinds of problems when the other team plays good defense. Dallas doesn't, so tht Suns kill them. The Nuggets and Warriors do, so the Suns get killed.

Against a team with a good defense, it is crucial that every possion is handled properly: no turnover, no early contested jumpers, no out of control drives against a shot blocker, no standing around waiting for a pass, and making sure there is someone in position to get an offensive rebound.

 

[Errntknght]

"...and making sure there is someone in position to get an offensive rebound."

I dunno about this one... we may never shoot if we wait for that!