Marion will be guarding Dirk

[hcsilla]

Joe,

Dirk is a very tough guy to guard for any team. He is tall enough and strong enough to shoot over or post up smaller players, but he is to quick for big guys to guard.

I agree. It has to be a very athletic, long PF who has a chance to guard Nowitzki. For instance Rasheed Wallace did a wonderful job on him in D.

 

[Chaz]

This team seems really committed to a guard heavy rotation.

I wish we could get a look at

Nash/Barbosa/Johnson
Johnson/Richardson/Jabobsen
Marion/Richardson/Johnson
Stoudemire/Vroman/Outlaw
Hunter/Lampe/Voskuhl/Outlaw

With some decent time for the two top guys guys in the bottom row.


I guess the coaches know more from practice but I think these are two guys the team is going to need to develop if they want to make the playoffs. Your are going to have to develop some quality lineups that have more size. You can always go small if the situation calls for it.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

From the D'antoni chat today:

Caller (Kevin, Cave Creek): Just a quick question about Steven Hunter. We're seeing some athleticism and skills from him and it looks to me like he's destined to start. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

D'Antoni: I think there is a place for him. He's definitely earned himself a lot playing time. I agree with you, he's improved a lot. He gives us something we don't have. He gives us length and shot blocking. I think we'll be able to use that. Whether he starts or not, he could down the road. I don't think that's super-important yet. But, I think it will be important if he can finish games or not. He's going to learn the system a little better and be assured that he knows everything we're doing. I can see that. I don't think (starting) is a stretch at all.

Ray: Based on his preseason, how surprised has the (coaching) staff been with how quickly he's come in and affected ball games?

D'Antoni: We're really surprised. We were hoping for that all of September and to be honest, in October we didn't see a whole lot of it. He was struggling with the plays and running the offense, and he's kind of got that down. He still mistakes here and there, and he's also hitting his foul shots and he was 0-for-October. He's really come along and it's been a great surprise. I agree with Kevin. He's something we'll need and I just hope he continues to have the fire that's got him where he is right now. We'll see what happens. He's definitely made himself a player with a major role.

It appears the coaching staff has indeed noticed his great play as of late. I am guess we will get our first rest test against Dallas. I don't expect him to start, but I would think he would be out there with the Dirk/Damp front court.

Hopefully it isn't all talk.

 

[Joe Mama]

Of course the problem here is that 10 of Hunter's minutes will come with Amare Stoudemire out of the game. That means we probably will only see 5-10 minutes with a traditional lineup or maybe a few minutes more if Jake Voskuhl, Lampe, the sausage King, or Jake Voskuhl make a brief appearance.

I'll be shocked if the Suns aren't absolutely abused tonight on the boards.

Joe Mama

 

[baltimorer]

I don't really mind the match-up of Marion on Dirk. First of all, Dirk is primarily a perimeter player. With his size and shooting ability, I'm not sure we have anybody else who is a better match-up, and if we do, we don't want to bring him out on the perimeter anyway. I suppose Bo Outlaw would be most fit to guard him, but do we really want 35 minutes of Bo Outlaw's offense? Plus, Bo only has an inch on Shawn anyway.

What you guys should be complaining about is that we need to make Dirk pay on defense. For a seven footer that can't bench-press much more than the bar, there's no way he can guard Amare Stoudemire down low, and he has no chance to stop Shawn Marion's quickness or keep him off the boards. The problem is when Dirk might try to guard Shawn and he just stands out on the perimeter bombing ugly set-shots. Dirk Nowitzki is a girl when it comes to battling on the defensive end. With his current hot-shooting streak, nobody can stop him from scoring. So, you have to expose the fact that he looks like Lisa Leslie on the other end.

 

[elindholm]

Nowitzki is a poor defender, but he's plenty strong. He's not strong like Stoudemire, but he certainly isn't as weak as you make him sound.

 

[Sundance]

I don't even think it's so much that Dirk is a poor defender, it's just he gets lazy on the defensive end.

 

[StatsAmare]

Uh, it seems like the prospect with the highest ceiling by far is Hunter. He has the size and interior presence that the rest of them lack. I would love to see Hunter start for a month, and see how he progresses.

This is absolute!!! If Steven Hunter is only as good a defender as Jake, but can block shots too, he will be great for us. Not only in proper allignment for amare and marion(which is argueably the best 3-4 tandem in basketball((maybe i'm bias)) but I think if given the chance Hunter would have a great year!! He's playing what, 10-15 minutes a game? And surprising people. Before we get rid of Shawn we need to see if we have a sleeping giant in Hunter first.

 

[SweetD]

Who is this Hunter person you speak of??

Tee Hee