1tinsoldier
Hall of Famer
some thoughts on where smart-ball and character intersect:
Magic, Bird, and Nash were as smart as they come, and Jordan and Kobe to a lesser degree. All tricky but maintained a high level of character. Lebron, smart, but a diva. Stockton, smart but more devious. I didn't follow Paul closely in the past but what he does today, like with his rip-through, is just exploit sloppy aggression from his opponents. imo, Crowder is the only Sun who will cross the line, but not often.
now, for Doncic and Kidd. they came up with a smart strategy in Dallas, but it was ugly and an NBA low.
Kidd was a model pg for the Suns, saying and doing the right things. The french-fry spitting at his wife was just silly but it seemed to be a clue about his character. After he left he did give the Suns a bit of the french-fry treatment, or, should i say, sour grapes, with some remarks. I read something about him, Kenyan Martin and Richard Jefferson bullying a teammate in Jersey, and his past coaching reviews turned from good to bad and distasteful.
we know the rumors of Luka being difficult before he was drafted and there's been more of those rumors in Dallas. i hadn't seen a lot of him but i liked that when i did he smiled a lot. I learned that his smile is him scoffing at what happens on the court. He's manipulative -- even to the extent of sweet-talking a female ref this year.
his strategy in Dallas, probably with support from Kidd, seemed to be that if he turned the games ugly it would break in their favor -- that is to say, if he forced a chaotic, physical game the combination of the home crowd, his star power (a few days ago an ESPN promo ad for this series featured only Luka highlights) and a preference to extend the series would all work on the refs to give them the close calls.
smart, shrewd, but bad, distasteful basketball and a reflection of character. lets see if they try it again today in Phoenix, or if they wait till Thursday.
oh, and speaking of character, disingenuous of the Mavs to rest their statement on the harassing of Paul's family on, "an unwanted hug" but that's the least of the criticisms of the Mavs in recent years (and we might find out that Sarver's been worse than Cuban, so, i've said enough)
Magic, Bird, and Nash were as smart as they come, and Jordan and Kobe to a lesser degree. All tricky but maintained a high level of character. Lebron, smart, but a diva. Stockton, smart but more devious. I didn't follow Paul closely in the past but what he does today, like with his rip-through, is just exploit sloppy aggression from his opponents. imo, Crowder is the only Sun who will cross the line, but not often.
now, for Doncic and Kidd. they came up with a smart strategy in Dallas, but it was ugly and an NBA low.
Kidd was a model pg for the Suns, saying and doing the right things. The french-fry spitting at his wife was just silly but it seemed to be a clue about his character. After he left he did give the Suns a bit of the french-fry treatment, or, should i say, sour grapes, with some remarks. I read something about him, Kenyan Martin and Richard Jefferson bullying a teammate in Jersey, and his past coaching reviews turned from good to bad and distasteful.
we know the rumors of Luka being difficult before he was drafted and there's been more of those rumors in Dallas. i hadn't seen a lot of him but i liked that when i did he smiled a lot. I learned that his smile is him scoffing at what happens on the court. He's manipulative -- even to the extent of sweet-talking a female ref this year.
his strategy in Dallas, probably with support from Kidd, seemed to be that if he turned the games ugly it would break in their favor -- that is to say, if he forced a chaotic, physical game the combination of the home crowd, his star power (a few days ago an ESPN promo ad for this series featured only Luka highlights) and a preference to extend the series would all work on the refs to give them the close calls.
smart, shrewd, but bad, distasteful basketball and a reflection of character. lets see if they try it again today in Phoenix, or if they wait till Thursday.
oh, and speaking of character, disingenuous of the Mavs to rest their statement on the harassing of Paul's family on, "an unwanted hug" but that's the least of the criticisms of the Mavs in recent years (and we might find out that Sarver's been worse than Cuban, so, i've said enough)
