Thinking About Nash Camp

[Irish]

Right after Labor Day, Steve Nash typically gets some of the players together to workout and srimmage a bit. This is an INFORMAL workout, but due to Nash's status, most players attend and it seems to help.

At minimum, Nash camp (my title) seems to give everyone time to get to know one another and learn some of the offense. No one knows the Sun's offense better than Steve. But this year may be even more useful because there are several players new to the Suns system.

Two players will NOT be at Nash camp, Hedo and Dragic due to their respective national teams needing them. This will change the Nash camp dynamic:

PF - with Hedo out, it will be a chance to see Warrick with the A team. Will he be a great offensive player as expected? Will Lawal step u[ his overall game? Same for Collins, are they ready to help this season.

CENTER - How healthy is Lopez? Between playing the USA team and Nash Camp, that question should be answered prior to traing camp. All indications are that Frye is expected to be healthy, but whether he can show the drive necessary to be effective is unknown, so what he shows at Nash camp may effect how the rookies are perceived.

SG - Chilldress will be making a huge transition from European style\Hawks style to Suns ball. Can he hit the corner three (like Hill) due to shortr range? How will his drive to the basket skills be used.

PG -Nash camp will give Reynolds a chance to show his PG skills. His chances of making the team are dependent on showing he can be a PG.

The coaches aren't allowed to coach, but IIRC they can observe. It will make a difference.

BTW, the last contract reduced the length of training camp from 4 weeks to three; but kept the number of pre-season gmes the same, ie 8. This only leaves a week to install basic offensive and defensive schemes with the 8 games over two weeks virtually the same playing rate as the reguar season. IMHO, Nash camp is a real plus.

 

[Superbone]

I wonder if they'll still do it after the deep playoff run.

 

[Tyler]

I wonder if they'll still do it after the deep playoff run.

If they did it before we missed the playoffs I dont see how this year will be any different.

 

[Errntknght]

Irish,

PF - with Hedo out, it will be a chance to see Warrick with the A team. Will he be a great offensive player as expected?

Who expects him to be a great offensive player? He's a 22% shooter from 3 over his career and 14% last year. Reputedly he isn't great from midrange either. The fact that he draws fouls at a pretty good clip, indicates his strong suit is attacking the rim but his FG% is under 50% - .482 last year. His foul drawing was 78% of Amare's last year, on a per minute basis - one of the best things about his game.

SG - Chilldress will be making a huge transition from European style\Hawks style to Suns ball. Can he hit the corner three (like Hill) due to shortr range?

I don't see Childress hanging out in the corners too much... he figures to have considerable responsibility for being the first guy back on defense and the second unit has Dudley to fire from the corners. At 45% vs. 35% for Childress, you'd not want them to trade roles very often. The more important question in my mind is how well is he going to rebound from the SG spot. He's about average for a SF so lets hope he can be well above average at SG.

 

[Irish]

Hill was historically a terrible three point shooter. Last season he shot 43.6% - 34 of 80 after a career of poor three point shooting.. That is just enough to force defenses to `come out to defense him. IMHO, the threat is just as important as the actual shooting.

 

[Errntknght]

Hill was historically a terrible three point shooter. Last season he shot 43.6% - 34 of 80 after a career of poor three point shooting.. That is just enough to force defenses to `come out to defense him. IMHO, the threat is just as important as the actual shooting.

I'm aware that Hill's 3pt shooting pctage increased significantly when he restricted himself to shooting them from the corner. Hill played on the baseline much of the time, so he lost little in terms of floor position to move out to the corner and it was a good shot for him to develope. If Childress were to play in place of Hill at SF on the first unit I could see his corner three being an issue.

As the shooting guard on the second unit I don't think the coach will want him hanging along the baseline too much so his corner three is moot. I know he's exactly the kind of defender I'd like in position to slow down the opponents fast breaks.

Now it might unfold that with Frye liking to fire from out high and supposing Warrick is little use along the baseline that Childress is most useful down low so my argument is lost on that point. Frankly, I'd rather see Frye become a deadly shooter from the corner than Childress, or Warrick develope a decent stroke from there.

 

[mojorizen7]

We need Childress to defend the opposing guards. He'll score in transition(like everyone else) but relying on JC to score consistently from 3 pt range is a stretch IMO....much like Grant Hill.

 

[Irish]

We need Childress to defend the opposing guards. He'll score in transition(like everyone else) but relying on JC to score consistently from 3 pt range is a stretch IMO....much like Grant Hill.

That is a tad ironic, so I'm not sure I get your point.

In 2204-05, JJ would routinely run to the corner during the break to get easy three's. Once the ofense was set, he'd return to the more natural location for an SG. Now I'm not advocating that system in that Chill is a great transition scorer. None the less, just being a threat to shoort threes will open his way to work the baseline.

 

[SactownSunsFan]

He did that 200 years from now? And you're speaking in past tense, which means you're even further into the fewtcha!