Suns need a surprise in camp this year

[fordronken]

Two summers ago, I remember the board saying that we needed somebody to be a surprise and step up to the plate. Could James Jones be a rotation player? Could Diaw be a rotation player? Can House be our back up point guard? Can Burke be a good player?

This year will have some similar scenarios, although somewhat less dire. That season, we were worried about filling a team. Now, it's about making the leap. To do it, we'll need at least one of the following things to happen, although two or more would be great:

- Can Boris Diaw get good again? He's been working out with Amare for a lot of the summer, D'Antoni has given him more direct coaching and stopped the "Boris is smart, he'll figure it out" technique.

- Can Alando Tucker make the rotation, even in just a James Jones type role?

- Can DJ Strawberry surprise everybody and play in the bench backcourt with Leandro Barbosa?

- Can Jay Humphries help Marcus Banks turn the corner and make him a useful player on this team?

- Can Leandro Barbosa get better and become the kind of player that is a huge threat every single night?

- Can Amare Stoudemire turn himself into a bona fide superstar post player?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

- Can Leandro Barbosa get better and become the kind of player that is a huge threat every single night?

Has he not done this yet? I thought he has.

 

[fordronken]

Has he not done this yet? I thought he has.

A huge threat. I'm talking about the kind of player that opposing teams go "oh crap, what are we gonna do about him?". That means building an accurate mid-range game, better decision making and better defense.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

A huge threat. I'm talking about the kind of player that opposing teams go "oh crap, what are we gonna do about him?". That means building an accurate mid-range game, better decision making and better defense.

I think teams do that now, especially with him coming off of the bench. He definitely needs to improve the areas that you mentioned though.

 

[fordronken]

I think teams do that now, especially with him coming off of the bench. He definitely needs to improve the areas that you mentioned though.

There are degrees to it, though. If he can improve in those three areas, this team will become almost impossible to guard. Especially if there's a way to get Barbosa playing more off the ball, where he's SO effective.

 

[Sunsman44]

1- Can Boris Diaw get good again?

2- Can Alando Tucker make the rotation, even in just a James Jones type role?

3- Can DJ Strawberry surprise everybody and play in the bench backcourt with Leandro Barbosa?

4- Can Jay Humphries help Marcus Banks turn the corner and make him a useful player on this team?

5- Can Leandro Barbosa get better and become the kind of player that is a huge threat every single night?

6- Can Amare Stoudemire turn himself into a bona fide superstar post player?

1- Boris has always been good. He's not getting any better than this.

2- No doubt Tucker is in the rotation. He is far more athletic than Jones.

3- If Banks can't get the job done, I doubt see why DJ shouldn't get a chance. I have a hunch DJ is going to be better than Tucker.

4- Humphries helping Banks? Probablly not. D'Antoni just needs to play him.

5- How is Barbosa not a threat every night? He DOES average 17 pts or so and is the envy of all 29 teams.

6- I don't know.

 

[Maligzar]

A huge threat. I'm talking about the kind of player that opposing teams go "oh crap, what are we gonna do about him?". That means building an accurate mid-range game, better decision making and better defense.

So you want him to be an All-Star instead of the 6th man of the year?

4 All-Stars on the team is a bit wishful thinking.

 

[fordronken]

So you want him to be an All-Star instead of the 6th man of the year?

4 All-Stars on the team is a bit wishful thinking.

I don't care what his acollades are. But Leandro has a lot to learn about basketball. If he is a better player next year it helps us a lot. He's young and works hard. He should be able to improve noticeably.

 

[Nasser22]

I think Diaw will do better and Tucker will be in the rotation. With some luck that should be enough to win it if we avoid San Antonio :-(

 

[azirish]

- Can Boris Diaw get good again? He's been working out with Amare for a lot of the summer, D'Antoni has given him more direct coaching and stopped the "Boris is smart, he'll figure it out" technique.

Boris needs to become more aggressive and physical. In any case, I expect him to play much better because he won't be playing SF

- Can Alando Tucker make the rotation, even in just a James Jones type role?

Totally different kind of player. He could contribute if he develops more of a jump shot, but he's still an unknown.

- Can DJ Strawberry surprise everybody and play in the bench backcourt with Leandro Barbosa?

More than anything, if his defense is as good as advertised, I'm sure there will be a desire to figure out how to get him minutes.

- Can Jay Humphries help Marcus Banks turn the corner and make him a useful player on this team?

I'm hopeful he can become another offensive threat off the bench. The hard part will be to get him to buy into the team concept and get away from trying to be a "one on one" guy.

- Can Leandro Barbosa get better and become the kind of player that is a huge threat every single night?

IMHO, Leandro's priority should be improving his defense. He's already a great offensive threat, but he should be a lot better on defense with his quickness and arm length.

- Can Amare Stoudemire turn himself into a bona fide superstar post player?

Amare's main difficulty is on defense and blocking out on rebounding. Offensively, he's already a huge threat.

 

[arwillan]

amare is already close to unguardable when he's on offense. he's so quick/strong/explosive to the rim that nobody can really guard him. tim duncan, known around as one of if not THE best big man defender in the league can not even control him (see 2005 series vs SA).

I dont expect leandro to become a better defender, just a more polished offensive player. i think he weill add the mid range shot and the passing ability to his arsenal.

diaw should be better. we know he can be. now that he knows what his role is with amare in the lineup, he needs to step it up and earn that contract.

banks will be banks, the quick guard/defensive player he is. his growth is on d'antonis shoulders.

I dont expect DJ/Tucker to make the rotation as rookies, though im not ruling it out totally. because DJ locked down lebron in high school as well as some players in college does not by any means mean that he can guard the likes of kobe/lebron/etc now. they both need to work on shooting. all in all, their playing time depends on banks imo.

my 2 cents

 

[Joe Mama]

The #1 goal for training camp this year should be to drive home the importance of rebounding fundamentals. They should get tazered or something every time the ball goes up, and they don't find somebody to put a body on immediately.

I'm seriously worried about Diaw's back. His biggest problem is that he's a total wuss around the basket. I think it's possible his back problems were affecting him a lot more than we knew about last year.

I think a guy like Tucker could make opposing defenses pay for single covering him with their fifth best player on the floor.

Joe

 

[hafey]

I think a guy like Tucker could make opposing defenses pay for single covering him with their fifth best player on the floor.

Fantastic point. Tucker has been, for the much of his time at Wisconsin and probably all of high school, his team's main offensive weapon; the focus of the opponents defensive attention. Now he will be guarded by the weakest wing defender on the floor and be an afterthought. He'll have the chance to get in the paint and score. I hope he can convert consistently.

 

[azirish]

Fantastic point. Tucker has been, for the much of his time at Wisconsin and probably all of high school, his team's main offensive weapon; the focus of the opponents defensive attention. Now he will be guarded by the weakest wing defender on the floor and be an afterthought. He'll have the chance to get in the paint and score. I hope he can convert consistently.

He has a reputation for being a great finisher at the basket. The real problem will be if teams just back off him a dare him to shoot.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

I think a guy like Tucker could make opposing defenses pay for single covering him with their fifth best player on the floor.

Joe

That looks like thinking outside the box to me.


BURN HIM!

 

[Errntknght]

What did you guys that caught lots of the SL games see in Tucker? I only watched the first game and he didn't strike me as being a potent threat around the hoop - posting, driving or slashing wo the ball. Of course, Banks was going nuts in game 1, so it was hard to get a good read on anyone else.

If we are going to get a good surprise out of training camp its just about going to have to come from either Tucker or Strawberry. From my current view of the summer league reports and discussions here, I rate DJ as the more likely of the two.

Diaw, Banks and Marks have tons of room to provide a pleasant surprise but I'm not getting my hopes up. It just made me sick to read the interview with Boris where he expressed content with his performance last year - the first step to fixing a problem is to admit there is a problem.

Kerr's positive remarks about our Kiwi made me wonder if there isn't a lot of friction between him and D'Antoni and Steve seized the chance to take a backhanded slap at Mike. Thats got to be about as likely as Marks joining the rotation at C/PF.

I do believe that with enough love from the coaches - and lots of playing time - Banks could go from a negative to a positive contributor but D'Antoni is nothing if not stubborn so I don't have high hopes for Marcus on the Suns. I do admit that with Nash, Raja and Barbs ahead of him in the guard rotation there is not a lot of PT lying about for him to be given as long as everyone is healthy. If anyone of the top 7 goes down, either it is a guard or Raja will slide up to SF so an opportunity for Banks (and the rookies) will open up.

 

[hsandhu]

- Can Boris Diaw get good again? He's been working out with Amare for a lot of the summer, D'Antoni has given him more direct coaching and stopped the "Boris is smart, he'll figure it out" technique.

Where have you heard Mike stopped treating him like a child?

 

[Sunsman44]

I do believe that with enough love from the coaches - and lots of playing time - Banks could go from a negative to a positive contributor but D'Antoni is nothing if not stubborn so I don't have high hopes for Marcus on the Suns. I do admit that with Nash, Raja and Barbs ahead of him in the guard rotation there is not a lot of PT lying about for him to be given as long as everyone is healthy. If anyone of the top 7 goes down, either it is a guard or Raja will slide up to SF so an opportunity for Banks (and the rookies) will open up.

You wanna get ugly? Thanks for butting in the previous stuff with a totally insufficient argument about CAPS:

Why is PT in caps? Why didn't u write playing time instead?

You see, I too can take stupid little things out like you guys to show what an idiot one can be.

And ur complaining on all-caps on my player last names.....LMAO!

 

[Chaplin]

You wanna get ugly? Thanks for butting in the previous stuff with a totally insufficient argument about CAPS:

Why is PT in caps? Why didn't u write playing time instead?

You see, I too can take stupid little things out like you guys to show what an idiot one can be.

And ur complaining on all-caps on my player last names.....LMAO!

Word of warning.

Stop.

 

[Sunsman44]

Word of warning.

Stop.

I don't understand. Stop on what? I'm doing a favor to him since he said don't type in caps for last names of players. Likewise, I am telling him not to type in caps either.

What are u warning me with?

This is getting extremely annoying and very childish to take little things such as caps on player last names and telling me to stop and giving me warnings.

Back off and back down chaplin. This is getting old..

 

[Chaplin]

I don't understand. Stop on what? I'm doing a favor to him since he said don't type in caps for last names of players. Likewise, I am telling him not to type in caps either.

What are u warning me with?

This is getting extremely annoying and very childish to take little things such as caps on player last names and telling me to stop and giving me warnings.

Back off and back down chaplin. This is getting old..

You are posting now simply to get a rise out of people. That is a bannable offense, so I was warning you to stop bringing your problems with the board to other threads. It gets old very fast.

So, yeah, stop posting this garbage about all caps. It makes you out to be a whiner, and I know you don't want that. Right?

 

[azirish]

What did you guys that caught lots of the SL games see in Tucker? I only watched the first game and he didn't strike me as being a potent threat around the hoop - posting, driving or slashing wo the ball. Of course, Banks was going nuts in game 1, so it was hard to get a good read on anyone else.

It's all about Tucker's college play where he was on a team that was briefly ranked #1 in country but had only one other guy in double figures. Lots of rookies looked lost in the summer league, so Tucker's up and down offense was hardly surprising. He had three good games and two terrible games shooting.

If we are going to get a good surprise out of training camp its just about going to have to come from either Tucker or Strawberry. From my current view of the summer league reports and discussions here, I rate DJ as the more likely of the two.

The fact that DJ led the Las Vegas league in assists was pretty impressive - especially since he was not moved to PG until the second of five games and played on a team that shot only 43.3%:

Game 2 - 7 assists
Game 3 - 9 assists
Game 4 - 8 assists
Game 5 - 7 assists

The downside is that he shot only 40.1% which won't cut it on the Suns.

Diaw, Banks and Marks have tons of room to provide a pleasant surprise but I'm not getting my hopes up. It just made me sick to read the interview with Boris where he expressed content with his performance last year - the first step to fixing a problem is to admit there is a problem.

On the flip side, Boris did not mention his back problems nor that he was playing out of position last season. The reports that he was working out with Amare suggests that he knows he has to get into better condition, so I'm not concerned about his statement that he played "OK".

Kerr's positive remarks about our Kiwi made me wonder if there isn't a lot of friction between him and D'Antoni and Steve seized the chance to take a backhanded slap at Mike. Thats got to be about as likely as Marks joining the rotation at C/PF.

Does three minutes a game count?

I do believe that with enough love from the coaches - and lots of playing time - Banks could go from a negative to a positive contributor but D'Antoni is nothing if not stubborn so I don't have high hopes for Marcus on the Suns. I do admit that with Nash, Raja and Barbs ahead of him in the guard rotation there is not a lot of PT lying about for him to be given as long as everyone is healthy. If anyone of the top 7 goes down, either it is a guard or Raja will slide up to SF so an opportunity for Banks (and the rookies) will open up.

The "party line" is:

http://www.nba.com/suns/news/weber_070712.html

Suns.com: You mentioned Marcus who went off in that first game against Cleveland. How impressed were you by that scoring outburst which set a new Summer League record?

Weber: You know, he’s a very talented player. We play a lot different than most teams and it’s just a matter of him becoming a part of that. He’s embraced the whole learning process, is trying to get better this summer and has a lot of talent – that’s how he was able to score 42 points.

Suns.com: Do you also see him emerging more as a leader through this process as well?

Weber: Yes. He’s taken Alando and DJ under his wing a little bit in a mentoring role and is trying to do everything right. You have to admire that and we appreciate it as a franchise.

Suns.com: He missed last night’s contest against Philadelphia with a sore shoulder. How serious is it and do you expect him to miss some time?
Weber: Late in our scrimmage against Detroit – which we won by the way – he kind of popped his shoulder a little bit during one of the last plays. He should be fine and playing tomorrow.

They didn't play him anymore after the game and formal scrimmage. Someone suggested that they saw what they wanted from Banks and wanted to let the other guys play, but that has not been confirmed.

If the Suns were trying to trade him, you would think they would have showcased more if he was healthy.

 

[Errntknght]

Thanks for butting in the previous stuff with a totally insufficient argument about CAPS:

You're quite welcome, insufficient as it may have been. I was sure you'd be glad to know that more than just two people find unnecessary caps to be annoying. I'll be happy to not butt in on any private communications you are having, just like I have up to the present.

Why is PT in caps? Why didn't u write playing time instead?

I suppose if people complained about the practice of capitalizing basketball and internet 'short hand', I'd have to consider changing.


I don't know, maybe we should have let the caps go for a while longer as they are not nearly as annoying as the constant bold face type you used to subject us to - and you were kind enough to stop that.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

I don't understand. Stop on what? I'm doing a favor to him since he said don't type in caps for last names of players. Likewise, I am telling him not to type in caps either.

What are u warning me with?

This is getting extremely annoying and very childish to take little things such as caps on player last names and telling me to stop and giving me warnings.

Back off and back down chaplin. This is getting old..

You need to realize you have been in the wrong for quite some time now. There is no one here that will defend you. Civilized discourse is the name of the game here. I fully understand where your style of posting comes from, but it is not needed here.

Any warning from a veteran poster here will come with meaning.

For the most part discussion here is mild and topic driven, as opposed to bombastic and impact driven.

 

[azirish]

I'm not bothered by an infrequent use of caps, but it seems pretty obvious that 44 has decided to do this just to irritate people.

All caps is a form of shouting. It is like going into a quiet bar and expressing your opinions by screaming. Even if they agree, they don't want you screaming at them.