The revolving roster

[Mainstreet]

Argue the reasoning behind my statement then my friend....


Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal or even Karl Malone wouldn't fit in here according to the reasoning behind many fans here who believe that "oh that guy doesn't fit the system because he cant run the floor" or "he'll just bog down Nash's offensive flow"....

So instead the braintrust has built around Nash/Amare(which again i thought was a good idea and a nice try up until a couple yrs ago when it became PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that we were too weak & small)....and has repeatedly searched for smaller,quicker guys who can run,shoot and play with Nash.
Even a player like Joakim Noah wouldn't be allowed to wear a SUNS uni,let alone get put on the floor IMO.

I can honestly say I don't know where to start (trying to understand your reasoning) if you don't think Tim Duncan, Karl Malone or Joakim Noah wouldn't play well with Nash. Even Shaq was an All-Star playing with Nash.

 

[Irish]

I think it is a mistake to assume that D'Antoni's biases are the same as Nash's characteristics. The one best years the Mavericks had was 2002-03 when the won 60 games. For example, they outscored opponents 103 to 95.2 and had the 9th best defense in the league. Opponennts shot only 43.8%.

That year opponents out-rebounded the Mavs 3727 to 3456, but the Mavs had and advantage in steals 665 to 546 and blocked shot 449 to 322.

Oddly enough, that Mav's team was not close to the most recent Suns on offense. For example, they shot only 45.3% compared to Suns at 49.2%.

Don't overreact to Nash versus Shaq. Shaq is not the samee guy that won in LA and has not won a championship since 2005-06.

 

[Covert Rain]

I can honestly say I don't know where to start (trying to understand your reasoning) if you don't think Tim Duncan, Karl Malone or Joakim Noah wouldn't play well with Nash. Even Shaq was an All-Star playing with Nash.

I don't buy it either. I don't think the problem is these guys couldn't play with Nash. They clearly could. I think the problem is that this system is built around Steve Nash having the ball in his hand to be an All-Star. Shaq played fantastic for this team but it clearly was at the expense of Nash.

Any one of those players could be All-stars on a team with Nash but again it would be at the expense of Nash's game IMO.

 

[mojorizen7]

I don't buy it either. I don't think the problem is these guys couldn't play with Nash. They clearly could. I think the problem is that this system is built around Steve Nash having the ball in his hand to be an All-Star. Shaq played fantastic for this team but it clearly was at the expense of Nash.

Any one of those players could be All-stars on a team with Nash but again it would be at the expense of Nash's game IMO.

I agree,they could be..... Thats essentially the point im trying to make here. Bringing in Shaq was considered an experiment because he was a low post back to the basket give me the ball threat. A left field aquisition. The SUNS arent willing to beef up the frontline at the expense of Nash & the system . IMO thats shortsighted at this point.

 

[Sunburn]

Shaq played fantastic for this team but it clearly was at the expense of Nash.

I agree,they could be..... Thats essentially the point im trying to make here. Bringing in Shaq was considered an experiment because he was a low post back to the basket give me the ball threat. A left field aquisition. The SUNS arent willing to beef up the frontline at the expense of Nash & the system . IMO thats shortsighted at this point.

A low post threat can work in Phoenix. The horror that everyone attributes to the Shaq experiment was actually Porter's much too rigid system, handcuffing Nash's talents, ignoring the strengths of our personnel, and basically trying to smash a square peg into a round hole. When Gentry took over, implementing a more modified system that took advantage of both Nash and Shaq's strengths, a highly efficient offensive relationship developed. Not only did Nash's production bounce back after the handcuffs were taken off, even Shaq's numbers went up. Not only can it work, it can dominate. A strong, post presence is not to be feared.

 

[Mainstreet]

A low post threat can work in Phoenix. The horror that everyone attributes to the Shaq experiment was actually Porter's much too rigid system, handcuffing Nash's talents, ignoring the strengths of our personnel, and basically trying to smash a square peg into a round hole. When Gentry took over, implementing a more modified system that took advantage of both Nash and Shaq's strengths, a highly efficient offensive relationship developed. Not only did Nash's production bounce back after the handcuffs were taken off, even Shaq's numbers went up. Not only can it work, it can dominate. A strong, post presence is not to be feared.

I totally agree. I've often thought Nash would have loved to have a player like Karl Malone in the post that he could pass the ball to like Stockton.

 

[Covert Rain]

A low post threat can work in Phoenix. The horror that everyone attributes to the Shaq experiment was actually Porter's much too rigid system, handcuffing Nash's talents, ignoring the strengths of our personnel, and basically trying to smash a square peg into a round hole. When Gentry took over, implementing a more modified system that took advantage of both Nash and Shaq's strengths, a highly efficient offensive relationship developed. Not only did Nash's production bounce back after the handcuffs were taken off, even Shaq's numbers went up. Not only can it work, it can dominate. A strong, post presence is not to be feared.

I think we are saying the same thing. I was not even referring to Porter at all but Gentry even admitted that having a dominate low post presence like Shaq meant fewer opportunities for Steve to make plays. When your system is built around Nash that hurts your team to an extent. However, if the trade off was fewer jump shots and more paint points (which it did), that is OK with me. Clearly Shaqs play proved a low post player can play well with Nash in a tweaked offense.

 

[Irish]

Malone was not a pure low post guy. He had a great turn around jumper and ran the pick and roll as well as anyboy. What separted him from Amare was his abiltiy to back down oppontents.

Compared to Malone, Shaq was totally "one dimensional. He was so big that people had a terrible job devensiving him but it they kept him out of the paint, he was terribly ordinary.

Based on what we saw in the playoffs, Lopez proved he can move around and not just stand there and wait for the ball.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

devensiving him

okay, i'll call "uncle."

i've become pretty good at deciphering georgisms, and i understood the context of the sentence, but i have no idea what word he was trying to type here.

 

[carey]

okay, i'll call "uncle."

i've become pretty good at deciphering georgisms, and i understood the context of the sentence, but i have no idea what word he was trying to type here.

Seriously. Someone buy the man a keyboard. Even firefox has a built in spell checker now. There's no reason why we should need a master-key to read George's posts.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

i'm not mad or frustrated, just entertained. my favorite by far is his iterations of lawal.

 

[Errntknght]

devensiving

Its only 1 letter off... haven't you heard of 'defensiving'? Okay, I haven't either... but its quite an impressive word. George was impressiving us...

 

[mojorizen7]

defensiving? i'm all for it.

 

[BC867]

defensiving? i'm all for it.

Then is there also an offensiving?

 

[Covert Rain]

Based on what we saw in the playoffs, Lopez proved he can move around and not just stand there and wait for the ball.

Based on what we saw in the playoffs we also know he has a long way to go as well.