Paul Coro blog is back

[fordronken]

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/5968

 

[azirish]

Paul outlined the "official" line on KT:

Of course, giving up Thomas is not ideal for the obvious reasons but paying him $8 million and having that create another $8 million in luxury tax penalty was not in the financial plan for a player of his forecasted role as a part-time rotation reserve.

Plus, there was the thought by some inside that Phoenix's move to starting Thomas in the San Antonio series might have been an unnecessary concession that tookt he Suns away from their mismatch-creating style with one less transition player.

Despite the Thomas switch, Tim Duncan still got his -- 25.6 points and 13.2 rebounds per game in Thomas' five starts after Phoenix narrowly lost Game 1 when Thomas played 12 minutes off the bench. It'd be nice for the Suns to be able to afford to keep a veteran big man like Thomas or pick up one like P.J. Brown but the true onus is on Amare Stoudemire to improve as a defender and realize that being the league's second most foul-prone player is not acceptable for a player of his importance to the team.

 

[WuRaider]

but the true onus is on Amare Stoudemire to improve as a defender and realize that being the league's second most foul-prone player is not acceptable for a player of his importance to the team.

Amare has the tools to guard Duncan, I just wish he would work on his D instead of adding a three pointer to his game. Kurt did a good job on Duncan in the first few games, but then Duncan got smart and started to face up on him instead of posting him up. KT was too slow for that and couldn't contain a dribbling Duncan. Amare can guard Duncan face up but just needs to root his ass as far out as possible.

The media loves to talk about Duncan's good old boy image but I think he's a smug prick when it comes to the Suns. When asked about the Suns improved defense the past year he said "They're the same team, just different pieces". He also said something douchy during the series in Amare's rookie year.

Luke Walton and Odom are douchebags too. After they got eliminated, they were like "It hurts because we know we can beat this team, we almost had them last year, we just didn't come together". That series last year without Amare and KT gave them a huge boost of confidence, so much that they felt they should've won this year. Douchebags.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Amare has the tools to guard Duncan, I just wish he would work on his D instead of adding a three pointer to his game. Kurt did a good job on Duncan in the first few games, but then Duncan got smart and started to face up on him instead of posting him up. KT was too slow for that and couldn't contain a dribbling Duncan. Amare can guard Duncan face up but just needs to root his ass as far out as possible.

The media loves to talk about Duncan's good old boy image but I think he's a smug prick when it comes to the Suns. When asked about the Suns improved defense the past year he said "They're the same team, just different pieces". He also said something douchy during the series in Amare's rookie year.

Luke Walton and Odom are douchebags too. After they got eliminated, they were like "It hurts because we know we can beat this team, we almost had them last year, we just didn't come together". That series last year without Amare and KT gave them a huge boost of confidence, so much that they felt they should've won this year. Douchebags.

Amare works on multiple things and there should be no change to this. Unfortunately the three pointer is the man bites dog portion of the portfolio of things he is working on in the offseason, it makes good for 20 second stories on 12 news.

Here is the reality, having the capability to guard tim duncan sounds nice, but there is not exactly a copy exact BKM out there for guarding Tim Duncan.

There is a trade off, Amare is more of an offense player, the return is higher if he polishes his offensive game, not drop offense for interior defense. He is never going to be Ben Wallace, the Suns fan dream of the huge bench, Amare scoring 5 points a game but being a stopper and the mythical big man posting up and taking us to a championship, is not going to happen. That's not Amare's fault, that's managements fault for hoping an offensive player can suddenly take on all the post defense duties based on potential.

 

[azirish]

I'm not as concerned about his low post defense as his tendency to try to block shots from guys coming straight at him. That is a 100% invitation for the man to jump into him and draw a foul.

Amare has to learn to take charges and not leave his feet. In the Brazil game he showed some good defense and some of the same stupid reaction to guys running at him.

 

[scXfreakX]

If Amare can work on his reactions and such, I think that is way more important than any 3 pointer. Amare being a well-rounded player is a sick thought, and hopefully it comes true.

 

[Bufalay]

The media loves to talk about Duncan's good old boy image but I think he's a smug prick when it comes to the Suns. When asked about the Suns improved defense the past year he said "They're the same team, just different pieces". He also said something douchy during the series in Amare's rookie year.

Luke Walton and Odom are douchebags too. After they got eliminated, they were like "It hurts because we know we can beat this team, we almost had them last year, we just didn't come together". That series last year without Amare and KT gave them a huge boost of confidence, so much that they felt they should've won this year. Douchebags.

5/5

 

[dodie53]

is there no one else beside PJ that the suns want as their back-up big man?

 

[azirish]

is there no one else beside PJ that the suns want as their back-up big man?

Nobody has been memntioned in the press. IMHO, the second best available is Brian Skinner, but he's probably too much like Hunter with no jump shot to be treated as a strong second choice.