Suns hope Nash can save energy with Dragic aboard

[Irish]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/124921

Suns hope Nash can save energy with Dragic aboard

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Jerry Brown, Tribune

The buzzwords for the Suns this season have been energy conservation - whether it entails bringing solar power to US Airways Center or resting their aging starting lineup.

Suns guard Steve Nash threw his support behind the latest "green" effort by the Suns, who are spending $1.5 million to put atop the parking garage solar panels that will produce enough energy to power the center's pavilion area for 26 home games beginning next year.

Nash is also all for the idea of conserving the two-time NBA MVP's energy this season by cutting his minutes and having him sit out selected back-to-back games - even if he's somewhat skeptical about the postulate in practice.

"It's a great idea. Everyone would love to go into the playoffs rested, and it makes a lot of sense," said Nash. "But competition being what it is, especially in the West, we'll have to see if it's plausible."

Nash admitted he was worn out at the end of last season, more than he had been in past seasons. But rather than blaming age, he said it was a matter of circumstance.

"I handled the ball a lot, probably abnormally compared to other guards," he said. "It was a grind, and I was a little tired and yeah, there is a lot of mileage. But there was no time to rest. Either we were behind or adding Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) or fighting to get into the playoffs or fighting for seeding ... it's tough.

"If we can avoid those situations, that's great. But you can't plan for everything."

Nash said he likes what he's seen of his new understudy, rookie Goran Dragic, in drills and offseason pickup games. The plan is for Dragic to play 18-plus minutes and give Nash more rest time.

"From what I see, I think he's got a great game and great potential," Nash said. "The difficult thing for him is that this is quite a change. The (NBA) game is different than Europe. The rules are different. The referees don't care who you are or where you're from, and the rookies have to get up to speed on that stuff.

"Hopefully it takes two weeks, but it could take him two months or a year. Hopefully his experience and intelligence and feel for the game will allow him to adapt quickly, but we shouldn't put too much pressure on him."
Dragic said he wants to soak up everything he can from the two-time MVP, and Nash - who hasn't always had a close relationship with his backups - is willing to be a teacher.

"If I can help him as a player, I'm here if he wants my help. I'd love to share with him," Nash said. "He's a great kid and a talent and, for me, such a huge component of any player is their hunger, desire and willingness to learn. If he has those things, which it appears he does, he'll have a great career."

Nash, who said he trained more than normal this summer and is in "great shape," was pleased with the Suns' offseason additions (Dragic, Matt Barnes, Robin Lopez and Louis Amundson) and that the team's top seven players will return intact.

"We didn't have a lot of cap space or ability to do much, from what I know, so to get what we got is pretty impressive under the circumstances," he said. "It could really help us."

BONUS SHOTS:The Suns will bring 16 players to Tucson for training camp. In addition to the 13 players under contract, Phoenix will invite three nonroster players, all long shots to make the club.

Robert Hite, a 6-foot-2 combo guard from the University of Miami who played 12 games with the Miami Heat in 2006-07. He started last season the New Jersey but didn't see any time and wound up playing in Europe.

Jiri Hubalek, a 6-11 forward/center from Iowa State who averaged six points and two rebounds while playing four games with the Suns in the Vegas Summer League. Hubalek, a 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic, averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds at Iowa State last season but went undrafted.

Trey Johnson, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Jackson State who played five preseason games for New Orleans last season before being released.

 

[Irish]

This is from Coro of the Republic:

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/32573

Porter on Nash's freedom within his more traditional offense: "I’ve never been a coach who wants to take away the creativity of players. He’s been able to do that most of his career but, in the same breath, we need to find different ways to limit his exposure and having the ball in his hands as much as we did in the past."

This comment also speaks to the ways the Suns are trying to lighten Nash's load, whether it's minutes or the way he plays those minutes. The first plan to sit him out in 10-12 games only worked if they signed a veteran point guard. With two rookie point guards behind Nash and a notion to keep Leandro Barbosa on the wing, the Suns will use other avenues to avoid having Nash run on vapor in the postseason. Maybe Nash's playing time will go from mid-30s to low 30s but the real change in his wear and tear will come by having him not handle the ball as much.

"There’s going to be times where he sits out and rests a little longer than he likes and our training staff, which does a great job, will keep him as loose as best as they can," Porter said. "A lot of this is based on the team and how Goran does as far as his development."

Porter also talked about how the roster was filled out this summer, particularly in light of three projected rotation additions -- Robin Lopez, Goran Dragic and Matt Barnes.

"When I think about the things we talked about first as far as areas of concern and areas we felt we had some challenges and I look at the final roster, I feel good about those areas," Porter said. "We’ve got people in place who we think and are very optimistic about coming in and contributing.

"We feel we have a big guy in Robin, a point guard in Goran who we think has a chance. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the young man. I think he’s got a chance to be a solid contributor from day one for us, backing up Steve. Matt has a lot of versatility for us, playing 2, 3 or 4. He’s almost a four-position guy. He has some athleticism that’s important. He has the ability to stretch the floor and he’s also a very good defender."

 

[ActingWild]

The Lakers and Blazers are going to give us a heck of a battle all season long, so having a fresh Nash is going to be a major key to our success.

 

[Irish]

Everyone has a theory about how to stop the Suns, but no one has been more successful than Pop. He finally settled on a plan to simply take the ball out of Nash's hands by double teamming him and beating him up.

In 2004-05 Nash averaged 23.3 ppg in eh WCF against the Spurs on 52.2% shooting. Amare did "OK" averaging 37 ppg. With just 3 games for JJ, the Suns lack of depth hurt. The Spurs put Bowen on Marion who scored just 7.8 ppg on 39.1% shooting.

In the playoffs of 2005-06 Nash averaged 20.4 ppg and 50.2% shooting and 36.8% for three. The Spurs were defeated by the Mavs so they never played the Suns.

In the conference semi-finals in 2006-07, Nash averaged 21.3 ppg on 48.4% shooting, 52.0% for three and 12.7 assists per game. Is it any wonder that Horry tried to hurt him?

Last season, Nash averaged 16.3 ppg, 45.7% and 30% for three and just 7.8 apg in 36.8 minutes per game. For most other teams, that's actually pretty good. But for the Suns, it was fatal.

Getting Nash rest is big deal, but addressing the way the refs let the Spurs play was just as important. The team was just too dependent on Nash "making things happen" and had become predictable.

 

[cly2tw]

I have been preaching the exact same thing over the last two years: Take the ball out of Nash's hands as much as possible.

For some Nash fans here, however, this thought has apparently been unbearable, since he wouldn't be able to display a MVP worthy stats line this way. This would be a plot, conspiracy to dethrone Nash and hand it over to the overrated, lazy teammate named Amare.

Well, with the new coaching and management combination, there is finally light!

 

[msdundee]

I have been preaching the exact same thing over the last two years: Take the ball out of Nash's hands as much as possible.

LOL, you have indeed, but your prolific and accusatory sermons had nothing whatsoever to do with trying to promote energy conservation, which is Porter's goal.

 

[cly2tw]

LOL, you have indeed, but your prolific and accusatory sermons had nothing whatsoever to do with trying to promote energy conservation, which is Porter's goal.

My main reasoning for this proposal has always been that reducing Nash's ballhandling duty has the following positive effect.

1. Saving Nash energy within the game to close out close games better and play defense better
2. Over the season, save energy for playoffs.
3. Practice other alternatives to make the team less reliant on Nash which makes sitting Nash easier.
4. Play better defense both without Nash playing as many minutes and with Nash on fresher legs.
5. Give other players like Amare and Diaw more chances to work on their games other than Nash's running mates, for the sake of Suns franchise's long run interest.


Please review my earlier posts to see how biased (more accurate description: selective) your perception is. And then ask yourself, why you watched but didn't see.

 

[Irish]

Many of us have suggested ways to deal with how poor the Suns play when Nash is not playing. I think that Porter may have more success because D'Antoni would ask Nash if he wanted to go back in and he'd always say "yes". That's the kind of guy Nash is. He won'to voluntarily come out.

Priority #1 has to be to keep Nash healthy and fresh - more than winning regular season games for all the reasons everyone has mentioned. The question is "how". Here are my suggestions:

1. Focus on high percentage shots when Nash is out. The Suns players keep trying to shoot threes and struggle because they don't get the same looks when Nash is out. Get the ball inside and forget trying to START a run. Be ready to slow the game down to stretch out how long Nash is on the bench.

2. Pass the ball. Ball movement seems to drop significantly when Nash is out because they become so dependent on Nash. They stop moving without the ball and stop passing. I don't know if they can do this by changing to a more structured offense or just change the process. This is a teamwide problem and not just Barbosa. He lacks vision, but so do most starting point guards so their coaches make adjustments. Let's face it Nash wasn't MVP Nash when he first entered the league, so the Suns are going to have to adjust when Dragic or Singletary come it. Everyone has to buy into the movement style.

3. Defense and Rebounding: The Suns should be more athletic when Nash is out, so I think they should really go after opponents. Equally important, they should be especiallly agressive on the boards even at the risk of losing breaks. Every defensive possession counts. Even fouling opponents is not the end of the world since it gives Nash more time to rest. The backups are young, so make it clear they have to play at full speed when they are in, but especially when Nash is sitting.

The fatal flaw in the D'Antoni system was how quickly his teams would give up runs. The best way to stop runs is rebounding, pressure defense and get to the basket on the other end. Make the opponent foul and then waste time as Nash rests.

 

[msdundee]

My main reasoning for this proposal has always been that reducing Nash's ballhandling duty has the following positive effect.

1. Saving Nash energy within the game to close out close games better and play defense better
2. Over the season, save energy for playoffs.
3. Practice other alternatives to make the team less reliant on Nash which makes sitting Nash easier.
4. Play better defense both without Nash playing as many minutes and with Nash on fresher legs.
5. Give other players like Amare and Diaw more chances to work on their games other than Nash's running mates, for the sake of Suns franchise's long run interest.


Please review my earlier posts to see how biased (more accurate description: selective) your perception is. And then ask yourself, why you watched but didn't see.

Okay, in fairness, I will retract the "nothing whatsoever" in my post, because there were occasional references to reducing Nash's ballhandling to allow him to play better defense. Your summary of your posts above, however, makes it sound like you were primarily focused on conserving Nash's energy. My "perception" was based on the fact that your posts were quite often very obviously derogatory, using terms like "ballhog" and "headless chicken" with snide references to the 2xMVP and stat padding--along with statements that Nash was to blame for lost games and largely responsible for Amare's perceived lack of development. No problem, it's your opinion.

I like Porter's plan to cut Nash's minutes because it makes total sense. Nash likes it, too. If Porter had included all the extras above, neither one of us would have liked it.

 

[nowagimp]

Everyone has a theory about how to stop the Suns, but no one has been more successful than Pop. He finally settled on a plan to simply take the ball out of Nash's hands by double teamming him and beating him up.

In 2004-05 Nash averaged 23.3 ppg in eh WCF against the Spurs on 52.2% shooting. Amare did "OK" averaging 37 ppg. With just 3 games for JJ, the Suns lack of depth hurt. The Spurs put Bowen on Marion who scored just 7.8 ppg on 39.1% shooting.

In the playoffs of 2005-06 Nash averaged 20.4 ppg and 50.2% shooting and 36.8% for three. The Spurs were defeated by the Mavs so they never played the Suns.

In the conference semi-finals in 2006-07, Nash averaged 21.3 ppg on 48.4% shooting, 52.0% for three and 12.7 assists per game. Is it any wonder that Horry tried to hurt him?

Last season, Nash averaged 16.3 ppg, 45.7% and 30% for three and just 7.8 apg in 36.8 minutes per game. For most other teams, that's actually pretty good. But for the Suns, it was fatal.

Getting Nash rest is big deal, but addressing the way the refs let the Spurs play was just as important. The team was just too dependent on Nash "making things happen" and had become predictable.

The spurs have been playing nash that way a long time, either cut off all the passing lanes and make him shoot, or force the ball out of his hands. In '07 when nash just lit them up they used the same plan. Pop has been talking about taking the ball out of nashs hands for years(kill the head of the snake). the difference last year should be obvious to people who watched the games. The lane was clogged and the pick and roll didnt work in the second half and late in games, and the suns couldnt make perimeter shots when it mattered. Pops let amare score in the first half of games and then switched things up, coming with alot of help on the pick and roll and forcing the suns shooters to beat him. By bumping nash early on the perimeter with a big and forcing the suns to restart the offense, the suns were forced into more late shots in the clock. Bank on it, the suns shot later in the clock when they played the spurs and part of the reason was banging nash and making the suns restart the offense after losing some time. this makes it easier for the defense as the rotation of the ball is more limited, fewer passes, shot options. In order for the suns to punish the spurs they have to hit the outside shots when the defense collapses into the lane. The suns shooters didnt deliver, they shot terribly(barbs once again shot 22% from 3). The only way to beat this defense was to have the shooting to punish the collapsing defense. Sure, Bowen got away eith fouls alot on nash, perhaps more than ever. But nashs fall off in assts to around 8/game, happened right after shaq arrived, guess why that was? Gee a guy who has averaged 11/game for 3 1/2 years suddeny falls off to 8 during the regular season AND the playoffs.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm not sure the Suns have corrected their need for better perimeter shooting from last season. It looks like the Suns will go with what they have. I have thought about the Suns running a two PG system on occasion and allowing Nash to get some open looks like a SG. The Suns really need at least one of the two rookie PGs to be able to run the offense in brief stretches. It's hard to know how they will respond.

 

[cly2tw]

Okay, in fairness, I will retract the "nothing whatsoever" in my post, because there were occasional references to reducing Nash's ballhandling to allow him to play better defense. Your summary of your posts above, however, makes it sound like you were primarily focused on conserving Nash's energy. My "perception" was based on the fact that your posts were quite often very obviously derogatory, using terms like "ballhog" and "headless chicken" with snide references to the 2xMVP and stat padding--along with statements that Nash was to blame for lost games and largely responsible for Amare's perceived lack of development. No problem, it's your opinion.

I like Porter's plan to cut Nash's minutes because it makes total sense. Nash likes it, too. If Porter had included all the extras above, neither one of us would have liked it.

OK, in all fairness, I take partial responsibility for your partial and selective perception regarding my posts. I did say those things in frustration over DA's system and his over reliance on Nash. "Headless chicken", my god, I really said that! But I was trying to say that DA's system made Nash appear so. In any case, I understand it could be interpreted as if I was a Nash-hater just like I was a Marion-hater. Now via the more neutral voice of reason in Porter, we are finally all on the same wavelength regarding the team. It's kinda cool.

 

[cly2tw]

T
By bumping nash early on the perimeter with a big and forcing the suns to restart the offense, the suns were forced into more late shots in the clock. Bank on it, the suns shot later in the clock when they played the spurs and part of the reason was banging nash and making the suns restart the offense after losing some time. this makes it easier for the defense as the rotation of the ball is more limited, fewer passes, shot options. In order for the suns to punish the spurs they have to hit the outside shots when the defense collapses into the lane. The suns shooters didnt deliver, they shot terribly(barbs once again shot 22% from 3). The only way to beat this defense was to have the shooting to punish the collapsing defense. Sure, Bowen got away eith fouls alot on nash, perhaps more than ever. But nashs fall off in assts to around 8/game, happened right after shaq arrived, guess why that was? Gee a guy who has averaged 11/game for 3 1/2 years suddeny falls off to 8 during the regular season AND the playoffs.

Spurs found the system to neutralize Nash. The little bumps on Nash's way through the paints held him up enough to force him in an awkard situation of not daring to drive for layup with TD shadowing him 3 steps away under the basket, nor to pull up for jumper with Bowen right behind him. --- Nash had to dribble it out, time got wasted, and shot rushed. With him tired this way, Suns defense also suffers.

It's hard to ask perimeter shooters to shoot better, with not much space they'd be comfortable with shooting, after a season long being used to getting a lot of space on Nash great passes. This will stay this way for the next 2 years, and our shooters may get better used to shooting under this condition, hopefully.

 

[Irish]

Will reducing Nash's minutes during the regular season solve the problem? It might. But overall, the Suns shooter have to shoot better. Nash went 6 of 20 for three, Barbosa, 4 of 18, Giricek 1 of 4, and Diaw went 0 of 7. Only Bell shot well at 13 of 20.

Although Hill is not three point shooter, but his absence really hurt. The Spur defense worked only if they did not have to worry about getting attacked by the wing. During the regular season, Hill averaged 50.3% to generate 13.3 ppg in 31.7 minutes (Inside the arc he shot 53.5%). After packing the paint, beating up Nash, and chasing the shooters; it is hard for the Spurs to deal with shooting from the SF who shoots such a high percentage. The Suns were not the same when he went down.