Nice to be young again

[shazaam6]

Looks to me like we improved everything and traded none of the core players. I liked Skinner and Guricek but Lopez and Barnes are probably better.

Where did we improve and what did we lose?


.........IN......................................OUT

Terry Porter................................Mike D'Antoni
Igor Kokoskov..............................Phil Weber
Bill Cartwright..............................Dan D'Antoni
Dan Marjerle

Robin Lopez 20................................Brian Skinner 32
Matt Barnes 28...............................Gordan Giricek 31
Goran Dragic 22...............................Eric Piatkowski 37
Louis Amundson 25...........................Sean Marks 32



Same

Alvin Gentry

Steve Nash 34
Raja Bell 31
Grant Hill 35
Amare Stoudemire 25
Shaquille O'Neal 36

Boris Diaw 26
Leandro Barbosa 25
Alondo Tucker 24
DJ Strawberry 23

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/roster?team=pho


Kerr's checklist:

Stubborn Coach........check
Nash's backup..........check
Shaq's backup..........check
Hill's backup.............check

 

[arwillan]

Giricek is still a free agent last time i checked. i'm surprised a team in need of some offense like the spurs or a team in need of a bench like the hornets hasn't tried for him. i certainly wouldn't mind him here, i loved the way he played for us.

 

[Mainstreet]

Giricek is still a free agent last time i checked. i'm surprised a team in need of some offense like the spurs or a team in need of a bench like the hornets hasn't tried for him. i certainly wouldn't mind him here, i loved the way he played for us.

Giricek would certainly provide depth to the SG position at the veteran minimum. Then the Suns might want to trade LB for picks to save money if another team can absorb his salary.

I really like LB so I am torn. Also he might really fit Porter's system.

 

[SirStefan32]

Signing Giricek would be great. Suns could have excellent defenders on 2 and 3 for 48 minutes every night- (Bell/Giricek/Hill/Barnes/Diaw) That would leave Barbosa with nothing to do though.

While I am not a Barbosa fan, I am interested in seeing what he can do playing alongside Dragic. Theoretically Dragic can guard a SG, allowing Barbosa to guard PGs while playing off the ball on the other end of the floor.

 

[damo]

Did anyone else read Amare's age and get excited?
Then read Shaq's age?
But as for Barbosa, now there's the supposed defense and point guard play of Dragic, it should cover up for Barb's deficiencies and let him be the pure scorer he was born to be. For the price, you gotta keep him.

 

[AceP]

Signing Giricek would be great. Suns could have excellent defenders on 2 and 3 for 48 minutes every night- (Bell/Giricek/Hill/Barnes/Diaw) That would leave Barbosa with nothing to do though.

While I am not a Barbosa fan, I am interested in seeing what he can do playing alongside Dragic. Theoretically Dragic can guard a SG, allowing Barbosa to guard PGs while playing off the ball on the other end of the floor.

I'm not a fan of Barbosa either. I suggested to trade Barbosa for a good PG if we couldn't get Dragic. But Dragic's arrival did make it safer for Barbosa to stay. Now we have 1 true PG and 2 good defenders in second unit, so we can make use of Barbosa's shooting while live with his poor defence. Dragic + Barbosa + Barnes/Hill is a very good combination without obvious weakness. The only concern is Barbosa needs to play off the ball now, less dribble and drive, more catch & shoot. Hopefully not a big problem since he is an excellent shooter.

 

[okhoops]

I'm not willing to write off Barbosa's ability to improve defensively. I'm question how cerebral a player he is, but he has physical attributes (quick feet, long arms...) that could make him effective. Players can learn to be better offensive players. Why not defensive? He has a coach that will make him more accountable, and players who can legitimately threaten his minutes now (nothing like competition for minutes to motivate a guy to focus on his deficiencies). Offensively, he demonstrates a fearlessness attacking to hoop. He seems competitive. Why can't he become a better year by year (month by month?)?

It a lot harder to find explosive offensive players. I say light a fire under his rear end and send him to work (or trade him to the Knicks for Jamal Crawford).

 

[Irish]

Ideally Leandro will get teamed up with Dragic playing backup guys on the other team. It was always a problem having Leandro and Steve together because that meant two weak defenders at the same time. But having Leandro at PG took too much away in running the offense.

ASSUMING Dragic is the upgrade on running the offense they think, his defense will let Leandro do what he does best. He terrorizes defenders who can't get up on him to to stop his three point shooting because he'll blow right by them.

 

[mojorizen7]

I want to see what Barbosa can do after leaving the D'Antoni cradle.
I(Porter)would tell 'em that he's gonna start,score, and play defense or sit.
Thats just me...

 

[msdundee]

I want to see what Barbosa can do after leaving the D'Antoni cradle.
I(Porter)would tell 'em that he's gonna start,score, and play defense or sit.
Thats just me...

Good plan, but not just for LB. I(Porter)would tell ALL the starters they're gonna start, score, and play defense or sit.

 

[mojorizen7]

Good plan, but not just for LB. I(Porter)would tell ALL the starters they're gonna start, score, and play defense or sit.

I suppose i singled out Barbs because i feel he'd been coddled under D'Antoni's tenure to the point of zero consequence at times.
Bad shot selection,tunnel vision when running the offense and of course a complete lack of effort on defense.
IMO Barbosa can improve in these areas with a little discipline and at the same time being asked to shoulder more responsibility and show some leadership.

 

[MastersofCombat]

Technically if Robin Lopez is actually a starting center... how much more do we miss Marion to play on the small side of Amare. not to mention after this year we would have 20million freed up

 

[95pro]

Technically if Robin Lopez is actually a starting center... how much more do we miss Marion to play on the small side of Amare. not to mention after this year we would have 20million freed up

well we have barnes now. he's about $15mil cheaper.

 

[nowagimp]

I want to see what Barbosa can do after leaving the D'Antoni cradle.
I(Porter)would tell 'em that he's gonna start,score, and play defense or sit.
Thats just me...

Porter knows better as he was brought in to improve the defense and starting LB in place of Raja would be a horrendous defensive decision. A Barbosa/nash backcourt would possibly be the worst defensive backcourt in the NBA. Porter isnt a genie, but he knows that good defense starts with good defenders and LB isnt even close.