Arizona's Finest
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A Fresh Start
Ian Thompson
An early candidate for the most improved player award is the Suns' multilingual playmaker Boris Diaw, a Frenchman who sees the bright side of everything -- including the two years he spent with the Atlanta Hawks. When the Suns decided to participate in the controversial sign-and-trade that sent Joe Johnson to Atlanta, they sought two No. 1 picks and Diaw, whom GM Bryan Colangelo coveted even as Diaw spent all but 18.2 minutes a game last season wasting away on the Hawks' bench.
Diaw fell out of favor with the Hawks because he would rather pass than score. "But I understand that," says Diaw, the No. 21 pick in the 2003 draft by Atlanta. "If the team is not winning, you need everybody to score if you're going to win that night. It's not depressing. Of course it's tough when you're losing games, but you try every night anyway -- you don't have any choice."
The Suns are counting on the 23-year-old Diaw for the kind of all-around performances that made him arguably the best player in the European Championships last September in Serbia, where his team-high 13.7 points and 3.4 assists a game led third-place France to its first basketball medal in almost 50 years. Diaw smiles when asked about his reputation for lacking a killer instinct. "I don't want to score every time I come down the court, so maybe people say, 'OK, he doesn't want to kill people,'" Diaw says. "But for me, making the right pass at the right moment is a killing play. That's how I kill people."
Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni is convinced that Diaw can be a "major" player for the Suns: "He can rebound, he can shot-block, he's very cerebral about what he's doing." The Suns will use him as a power forward and occasionally at center, where he will employ quickness and guile to help make up for his lack of size.
In Atlanta Diaw was a wing player, the same position he held for his previous employer, the French championship club Pau-Orthez. But in Phoenix the 6-foot-8 Diaw will help fill in for the injured Amaré Stoudemire as a point-forward on offense and help Kurt Thomas on defense as a surprisingly effective shot-blocker.
"I was playing '3' (small forward) most of the time in France," said Diaw. "But every time in practice the coach said something to a big guy, I listened to it, too, and tried to keep it in mind."
"I don't want to necessarily classify him as [another] Joe Johnson," said Colangelo, "but Joe Johnson came here in a deal we made with Boston under very similar circumstances -- he was very skilled, very talented, but 'he didn't have a killer instinct, didn't play hard all the time, didn't seem to care about the game,'" added Colangelo, referring to the negatives he used to hear. Johnson outgrew those labels while playing for Phoenix, and Colangelo believes that Diaw could undergo a similar transformation this season. "Boris is coming into a very similar situation," said Colangelo. "There's little bit of difference in the type of players they are, but you're talking about two guys -- one 6-8, the other 6-9 -- who were considered somewhat passive in their approach to the game. We were pleased, obviously, with Joe, and so far we're moving in the right direction with Boris. He's a young player with a ton of upside."
and that last paragraph is the one i have been waiting for from someone in the Suns front office. I have thought they were similar for the last couple months and that is a small bit of validation. i really believe that Diaw can turn into a major player for this team in about 2 seasons worth of time. Depending if he can learn to shoot as well as Joe, he could be even better. Obviously his stats are not much yet but i think most of us watching the games have seen that he is a smart player (even smarter then Joe) and an even better defender with his length and shot blocking ability. I'm not saying Diaw will definetly turn into a player of Joe's caliber but the two scenarios due seem very similar.....
Good job Suns, this will end up looking better than haveing traded for Childress and maybe even Josh Smith in the long run....
So the changing of the guard is here.....Joe Johnson, we had some good times.....you were my favorite player and i used to pimp you to any Suns fan who would listen even right when we traded for you...but now you are gone and i have to pick a new player to be my cofavorite with STAT.....
So yes, its official.....i am on the Diaw bandwagon.....
Ian Thompson
An early candidate for the most improved player award is the Suns' multilingual playmaker Boris Diaw, a Frenchman who sees the bright side of everything -- including the two years he spent with the Atlanta Hawks. When the Suns decided to participate in the controversial sign-and-trade that sent Joe Johnson to Atlanta, they sought two No. 1 picks and Diaw, whom GM Bryan Colangelo coveted even as Diaw spent all but 18.2 minutes a game last season wasting away on the Hawks' bench.
Diaw fell out of favor with the Hawks because he would rather pass than score. "But I understand that," says Diaw, the No. 21 pick in the 2003 draft by Atlanta. "If the team is not winning, you need everybody to score if you're going to win that night. It's not depressing. Of course it's tough when you're losing games, but you try every night anyway -- you don't have any choice."
The Suns are counting on the 23-year-old Diaw for the kind of all-around performances that made him arguably the best player in the European Championships last September in Serbia, where his team-high 13.7 points and 3.4 assists a game led third-place France to its first basketball medal in almost 50 years. Diaw smiles when asked about his reputation for lacking a killer instinct. "I don't want to score every time I come down the court, so maybe people say, 'OK, he doesn't want to kill people,'" Diaw says. "But for me, making the right pass at the right moment is a killing play. That's how I kill people."
Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni is convinced that Diaw can be a "major" player for the Suns: "He can rebound, he can shot-block, he's very cerebral about what he's doing." The Suns will use him as a power forward and occasionally at center, where he will employ quickness and guile to help make up for his lack of size.
In Atlanta Diaw was a wing player, the same position he held for his previous employer, the French championship club Pau-Orthez. But in Phoenix the 6-foot-8 Diaw will help fill in for the injured Amaré Stoudemire as a point-forward on offense and help Kurt Thomas on defense as a surprisingly effective shot-blocker.
"I was playing '3' (small forward) most of the time in France," said Diaw. "But every time in practice the coach said something to a big guy, I listened to it, too, and tried to keep it in mind."
"I don't want to necessarily classify him as [another] Joe Johnson," said Colangelo, "but Joe Johnson came here in a deal we made with Boston under very similar circumstances -- he was very skilled, very talented, but 'he didn't have a killer instinct, didn't play hard all the time, didn't seem to care about the game,'" added Colangelo, referring to the negatives he used to hear. Johnson outgrew those labels while playing for Phoenix, and Colangelo believes that Diaw could undergo a similar transformation this season. "Boris is coming into a very similar situation," said Colangelo. "There's little bit of difference in the type of players they are, but you're talking about two guys -- one 6-8, the other 6-9 -- who were considered somewhat passive in their approach to the game. We were pleased, obviously, with Joe, and so far we're moving in the right direction with Boris. He's a young player with a ton of upside."
and that last paragraph is the one i have been waiting for from someone in the Suns front office. I have thought they were similar for the last couple months and that is a small bit of validation. i really believe that Diaw can turn into a major player for this team in about 2 seasons worth of time. Depending if he can learn to shoot as well as Joe, he could be even better. Obviously his stats are not much yet but i think most of us watching the games have seen that he is a smart player (even smarter then Joe) and an even better defender with his length and shot blocking ability. I'm not saying Diaw will definetly turn into a player of Joe's caliber but the two scenarios due seem very similar.....Good job Suns, this will end up looking better than haveing traded for Childress and maybe even Josh Smith in the long run....
So the changing of the guard is here.....Joe Johnson, we had some good times.....you were my favorite player and i used to pimp you to any Suns fan who would listen even right when we traded for you...but now you are gone and i have to pick a new player to be my cofavorite with STAT.....
So yes, its official.....i am on the Diaw bandwagon.....
