Well good for you. Here is a cookie.
No. Steve Nash is leading Steve Nash to be ineffective. Steve Nash was a freaking MVP. He needs to stop being a little whiny bitch and do what is expected from him. Newsflash- Steve Nash is old, has a bad back and can not carry any team on his shoulders anymore. Steve Nash, is in fact what John Stockton was his last 2-3 years. He simply can not be any more than that. I like the guy, I think he is the best damn point guard since Magic Johnson and John Stockton, but he can not lead the team to victory.
It is Steve Nash's job to incorporate Shaq and Amare. That mean running a pick and roll as usualwith Shaq on the weak side, and at other times, dumping the ball to Shaq and then spotting up for a three or cutting to the basket. You put Shaq on the bench and you're going to have the same problem you had with D'Antoni. Suns will get destroyed in the paint. Bogut looked like Shaq playing against the Suns before Shaq came to town. Do you know what Bynum and Gasol would to do the Suns if Shaq weren't there?
Why would you want Shaq to dominate other team's second unit Center when he can dominate their first unit? That's no different than having Steve Nash dominate 2nd unit point guard or Amare doing the same thing with the 2nd unit power forwards. It is absurd.
Is it Shaq's fault that Amare is missing point black layups when Shaq serves him a basketball on a silver platter one foot away from the basket with no Laker within 5 feet of him? Is it Shaq's fault that Nash is bricking wide open shots? Is it Shaq's fault that nobody outside of Diaw and Barnes is cutting to the basket? Is Shaq making Steve and Raja run around like headless chickens?
You have a clear advantage on the Center position against just about any team in the league. You simply don't give that up. You exploit it, you don't give it up.
They are not "lost". They are flat out terrible. Boris Diaw is not "lost". He is the smartest player on this team. His basketball IQ is twice that of Amare. He just doesn't give a crap. Singlettary and Dragic know exactly what porter is trying to do, but they are just two rookies who are not any good yet and who have no confidence. Barbosa's mind is simply not on basketball, and I can't blame him for it, but the bottom line is that even when his mind is in the game, he is just not that good. Lopez is a rookie, and Amudson is a slightly improved Bo Outlaw. Bench is horrible, bench is crap. Moving some of that crap to first unit is not the answer.
2nd unit is not capable of wiping their own asses. They are incompetent at this point and they will be incompetent no matter who is on the floor with them. You double Shaq, stay on Hill, and you just stopped the DCR's 2nd unit. I am sorry, but outside of Nash, Amare, Shaq, and to some degree Hill, Barnes and Diaw, this team is TERRIBLE.
Shaq, Amare, Diaw, Hill and Barnes are good enough to make out front court among the best in the league. Our back court consists of one good, but aging player (Nash), one average player (Bell), two rookies (Singletary and Dragic), erratic and unstable Barbosa, and Tucker who is virtually unknown at this point.
Half of our team is crap. No matter how you move and mix that crap, it is still going to stink. Without a capable shooting guard and a competent back up point, this team is going nowhere. Whether you dump the ball to Shaq in the low post or run a pick and roll with Nash and Amare is irrelevant. Either, a trade happens, Bell, Nash, Diaw and Barbosa pull their heads out of their asses and play like they are supposed to, or this team is getting swept in the first round of playoffs.
