Suns Big Man Search Goes On

[fordronken]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0913suns0914.html

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Notes

Nash, Barbosa and Suns rookie Alando Tucker play today in a Beijing charity game that Nash and Yao Ming arranged to aid Chinese orphans.


• The Suns announced an Oct. 6 public scrimmage at 6 p.m. at University of Arizona's McKale Center, where training camp will be held Oct. 2-7.

Need to find out if the charity game will be televised/recorded. Would definitely like to see how tucker plays with the big boys.

Also, road trip to tucson anyone?!

 

[Hugh D'Man]

We'd like some size, but we can't fill the end of the bench with 21 feet of guys," Nash said. "If they don't play, what's the point of having size? There are only so many big guys out there, and it's not easy to play.

Hmmmm...was this directed at D'Ant ? Ala a Nash-esque diplomatic comment ? He and Burke are buds and this seems to echo PB's lackoplaying time sentiments. Frankly, as mediocre Burke is, I'd rather have him over Ruffin, Sweetney, Skinner. The guy isn't the worst of the bigs out there and he atleast knows the 'holy system' (which, according to KT, took almost a yr to learn)

 

[carey]

Hmmmm...was this directed at D'Ant ? Ala a Nash-esque diplomatic comment ?

No. D'Antoni says this himself all the time.

 

[elindholm]

Nash, Barbosa and Suns rookie Alando Tucker play today in a Beijing charity game that Nash and Yao Ming arranged to aid Chinese orphans.

WOOHOO, Yao is going to bolt Houston for the Suns! There can't be any other interpretation, right?

 

[Mainstreet]

WOOHOO, Yao is going to bolt Houston for the Suns! There can't be any other interpretation, right?

He cannot run well enough to play for the Suns.

I know, you're just waiting for someone to take the bait and run. Did you know chumming is not allowed.

 

[PHXFan08]

Sean Marks is a complete waste. Mario Bennett is no exception, i don't think we're gonna pull it out without some serious help IMO.

 

[nashman]

^ Pull it out? Pull what out? Make sure your posts make sense.

Why don't we ask Sunsman44 who we should get? Sure he would be glad to educate us. ha ha

 

[nashman]

PHXFan08 = Sunsman44???? not a good start!

 

[azirish]

Potapenko, 32, is a 6-10 veteran who played three games last season in Sacramento. He blamed his conditioning for his lack of playing time but said he has lost 25 pounds since then to get to 285. He impressed the Suns staff in his first workout Thursday.

"It was good to test myself at this pace," Potapenko said after five-on-five play with a group that included the free agents and Suns players Sean Marks, Marcus Banks and Hill, as well as former Suns first-round picks Zarko Cabarkapa and Mario Bennett. "This team is dominated by perimeter and fast pace. I can't really say I'm a runner, but the mid-range shot was always my strong suit. I've been in the league 11 years, so I understand everyone has to do their part, small or big."

http://www.hoopshype.com/players/vitaly_potapenko.htm

"Very big...Good hands and decent footwork...Brings strength on the boards"

He's had health and conditioning issues for a long time. The last time he played much was 2003-04 when he averaged 21.8 minutes: 7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 48.9% from the field, 64.1% from the line (career FT of 69.4%).

 

[Folster]

Any word on how Elton Brown is fairing? I don't know jack about him, besides the fact that he isn't recycled garbage like the others yet. His NBDL numbers suggest that he deserves a shot in the NBA. I hope he impresses.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

http://www.hoopshype.com/players/vitaly_potapenko.htm

"Very big...Good hands and decent footwork...Brings strength on the boards"

He's had health and conditioning issues for a long time. The last time he played much was 2003-04 when he averaged 21.8 minutes: 7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 48.9% from the field, 64.1% from the line (career FT of 69.4%).

but most importantly, what did he shoot from 3 point range???

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Sean Marks is a complete waste. Mario Bennett is no exception, i don't think we're gonna pull it out without some serious help IMO.

Can we get confirmation from a mod that this is actually him?

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Coro's new blog: potapenko is winning

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/7079

The Ukraine Train

Vitaly Potapenko appears to be the early frontrunner in the race to be the Suns' next rarely used big man. There's still a long way to go and others to see (Brian Skinner coming next week) but Potapenko impressed the Suns staff in five-on-five play Thursday at US Airways Center.
Potapenko, 32, can fit well into Phoenix's ways as a solid mid-range shooter and passer. He is not fleet of foot but is nimble for his size. Natually strong, Potapenko can board and take up some space on defense. Seattle turned to him to guard Tim Duncan in the 2005 playoffs but Sonics fans will only remember how their upset chances were spoiled when Potapenko left Duncan to help on Manu Ginobili and Duncan hit the series-clinching shot. Seattle has yet to recover.
He used to take up too much space. Rick Adelman decided he wasn't the center he needed in Sacaramento (hey, he didn't think Skinner was the guy either) and Eric Musselman agreed last season. Potapenko reported out of shape last year and played only three games. He committed to training this summer and said he has lost 25 pounds to get to 275.
He made $3.6 million last year to sit around. Now, he apparently has a priority on winning because he spent two days in Miami and three days in San Antonio before coming to Phoenix. He has gone from starter to backup to end-of-the-bench guy with an ACL tear and a broken hand in between but now sounded like a guy willing to accept any role. We'll see. He can do some of what Kurt Thomas did (maybe better on offense and definitely not as good on defense) and is only a few years removed from some of his best basketball.
On other fronts:
* Just in case you were wondering, the Suns will not be pursuing Allan Houston or Chris Webber.
* Why would Phoenix want to work out wings right now? (They had Zarko Cabarkapa in this week and Yarosalv Korolev is expected to come in next week.) If P.J. Brown surprised everyone and picked the Suns in the next couple weeks, Phoenix would be in a position to consider itself set on the front and take another big wing. Cabarkapa has been regressing and won't excite the masses. Korolev is interesting. It's not that he's shown anything but he was considered a versatile 6-foot-9 threat when the Clippers drafted him 12th. But now the Clippers passed on his third-year option and have not followed through on a plan to give him a one-year, $800,000 deal. Korolvel remains unrestricted and 20 years old.
* The bid to get Grant Hill on the All-Star ballot is as good as done. There probably wasn't a need for a push because Phoenix's starters have been put on the ballot in recent years anyway but it does say good things about how Hill is playing and feeling.
* Small lesion, young age. We're hearing those are the things that Greg Oden has going for him in trying to come back from microfracture surgery. Those are the same things that Dr. Thomas Carter noted after he performed Stoudemire's microfracture. Blazer fans can take heed in that and knowing that Portland already went through this well with Zach Randolph, whose lesion was twice the size of Stoudemire's.
* Boris Diaw's French team lost this summer's chance at an Olympic bid Thursday when it lost to Russia, 75-71, in a Eurobasket 2007 quarterfinal in Spain. Diaw, with a history of international competition free throw woes, missed two free throws that could have tied the game with 15 seconds to go. France has to finish in the top six of Eurobasket to qualify for next summer's last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament. In the Russia-France quarterfinal, that Andrei Kirilenko guy went 2 for 8 from the field but did add seven steals, four blocks and six rebounds. That Marion-Kirilenko trade talk may be dormant but don't consider it dead despite overwhelmingly negative public reaction.
* To answer a previous question, another poster was correct that the trade exception can't be lopped on top of Marcus Banks in a trade for a player making more than Banks. The player Phoenix would acquire in a deal using the trade exception would have to have his salary fit into the exception on its own. But like that comment pointed out, that would mean the Suns would be adding payroll and increasing its tax burden and that's hard to imagine unless they did it at midseason when the salary was prorated and a need was greater because of injury or poor play at the big man spots.

 

[Errntknght]

but most importantly, what did he shoot from 3 point range???

Bricks

 

[Errntknght]

I just rewatched Uraguay against the US, focussing on Batista. He didn't look super fit and was slow to come up on offense but he was holding his own against the USA frontcourt. Bill Walton, in his typical hyperbolic style, was saying he was the outstanding player on the court early on. I wouldn't go that far but I'd like to have him on the Suns - he's just the sort of bruiser we need and exhibited a pretty good sense for the game. He was a lot more active offensively that I expected with a fairly good touch on the ball.

 

[azirish]

I just rewatched Uraguay against the US, focussing on Batista. He didn't look super fit and was slow to come up on offense but he was holding his own against the USA frontcourt. Bill Walton, in his typical hyperbolic style, was saying he was the outstanding player on the court early on. I wouldn't go that far but I'd like to have him on the Suns - he's just the sort of bruiser we need and exhibited a pretty good sense for the game. He was a lot more active offensively that I expected with a fairly good touch on the ball.

Did he show any range on his shots?

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Chris Andersen.

 

[azirish]

Chris Andersen.

I just started a thread on him. http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=97656