tonights game / blazers vs. suns

[carey]

Again we start off sluggish. 18 - 8 Portland.

 

[Mr.Dibbs]

The preseason means nothing, just look at the Cardinals.

 

[carey]

I hope that Tim Kempton is only a guest announcer. I couldn't handle a year of his analysis.

 

[carey]

60 - 47 Portland at the half.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

The fun and gun offense has a putrid 5 assists.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

how about trybanski's shot blocking? It appears to be natural for him. Maybe I was wrong, he might be worth keeping around for a year or two.

 

[Wally]

Rebound anyone?

Looks like rebounds - or rather the lack of - are going to be a problem. It's hard to run if you don't get the ball. I'm sure it's changed by now but when I checked a little bit ago Balazers had 42 & we had 27.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Yeah the Suns got worked by a bigger team. Ultimately I think it came down to defense. The Suns let the Blazers shoot 51.5%...that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[sly fly]

9 turnovers by Amare.

Marion fails to reach double digits in 35 minutes.

The "Dejan" experiment has seemed to come to a screeching halt, since he recieved ZERO minutes...

and to top it off...

Vladimir Stepania was signed by Portland.

**Is anybody else worried about the glaring lack of a big, physical body (excluding Amare)? I am, and I don't think this is a very good sign.**

 

[scotsman13]

the blazer a bigger team? zack is smaller then amare by an inch he does weight more by about 30 lbs. dale davis is maybe 5 lbs more then jake and they are both 6'11". now wallace is bigger then marion in hiegh but in weight they are about the same at 230 so marion should be stronger then him. jj is bigger then wells and marbury is about 4 inches taller then damon. over all the suns were bigger then the blazers
6'10" vs 6'9"
6'7" vs 6'11"
6'11" vs 6'11"
6'8" vs 6'5"
6'2" vs 5'10"
as a team the suns were a total of 4 inches taller then the blazers.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I was definitely thinking strength and weight over a few inches in height. I think NBA fans are waaaay too obsessed over a few inches. Strength down in the blocks is what truely matters.

 

[Starbury]

Is anyone else worried about the defense or lack thereof shown thus far in the preseason?

7 preseason games, 5 losses, 4 of which they gave up 100 points or more.

Yes I know its only preseason BUT, its still not a good sign.

 

[elindholm]

Looks like rebounds - or rather the lack of - are going to be a problem.

Is anyone else worried about the defense or lack thereof shown thus far in the preseason?

Welcome to small ball hell.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Originally posted by Starbury
Is anyone else worried about the defense or lack thereof shown thus far in the preseason?

7 preseason games, 5 losses, 4 of which they gave up 100 points or more.

Yes I know its only preseason BUT, its still not a good sign.

Correct me if you disagree, but this is essentially the same team as last year, and they were not terrible defensively. Is Steph not playing all world right now worrying you as well? I think we should all wait until the regular season before we start making pronouncements about any facet of the team. Sure, we may have our hunches, but at this point they are purely speculative.

 

[Errntknght]

Of course I'm worried about the D but the O is a worry as well - 11 assists for the game indicates that FJ is going with the same plan as last year: rampant disorganization and one-on-one play. Penny's presence will undoubtedly help as it did last year but it's ridiculous to have an offense that only one guy can make function at all. I suppose Amare's 9 turnovers might be a positive sign - since I didn't see the game I can dream that he got them trying to make passes to guys with scoring opportunities. But zero assists puts it more in the realm of fantasy...

 

[scotsman13]

penny will help? are you kidding? penny should be put out to pasture a couple years ago. personally i cant think of any player in the nba who has more over blown rep then penny. what has penny done to deserve any type of respect? when was the last time that penny's play was worth even 1/4 of the money he is paid? if i ever meet him i would walk up to him and slap him for being a cry baby and a thief. he is getting paid star money and only getting bench effort. 2 millions a year would still be pushing it for what he is worth. at least with scott williams 1 million salery you get a good person in the locker room with penny you get one of the biggest cancers in the nba.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by scotsman13
penny will help? are you kidding? penny should be put out to pasture a couple years ago. personally i cant think of any player in the nba who has more over blown rep then penny. what has penny done to deserve any type of respect? when was the last time that penny's play was worth even 1/4 of the money he is paid? if i ever meet him i would walk up to him and slap him for being a cry baby and a thief. he is getting paid star money and only getting bench effort. 2 millions a year would still be pushing it for what he is worth. at least with scott williams 1 million salery you get a good person in the locker room with penny you get one of the biggest cancers in the nba.

You obviously don't know much about the Suns.

 

[reedykat]

You obviously don't know much about the Suns. Ditto Chaplin.

 

[Starbury]

Originally posted by ASUCHRIS
Correct me if you disagree, but this is essentially the same team as last year, and they were not terrible defensively. Is Steph not playing all world right now worrying you as well? I think we should all wait until the regular season before we start making pronouncements about any facet of the team. Sure, we may have our hunches, but at this point they are purely speculative.

Not at all worried about Steph and if anyone else was he took care of that last night. From what I've seen thusfar in the preseason, the team is trying to be the junior Mavericks. Only problem is the Suns don't have enough scorers to do that. And the Mavs style of play hasn't exactly brought any titles to allas. Yes, its only the preseason but the team should put forth SOME effort to play defense.

A defensive stretch like this one last year worries me...
Golden State W 116-107
Chicago W 115-111
LA Clippers L 106-107
New York L 115-116
Boston W 102-92
Houston L 89-107
Toronto L 89-92
Minnesota L 97-99 3-5, allowing an average of 104 PPG.

I know many of us are excited about JJ's possible breakout year and are expecting big things from Zarko and Barbosa but those are all questionmarks. There's no guarantee that Zarko doesn't struggle and put up similar numbers to Tskitishvilli (sp) last season in Denver. JJ's shooting is always a question mark. He could go 11-18 FG's one night and 2-16 the next. As far as Barbosa, who knows? Hopefully he can pick up the NBA style of play quickly and contribute big from January on like Manu Ginobli did for the Spurs. I've never read too much into Summer League play so I really don't know what to expect from this team when the "real games" start.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong

 

[scotsman13]

yea i dont know what is a max player contract. the suns have said that he brings a presence to the the makes the other play better. yea i saw a lot of that last year in the playoffs as penny commit turn over after turn over in game. no offenive but it is very hard to score if you give the other team the ball before you can even shot. it is also very hard to earn your pay check if you dont show up for work. just because i dont view the team the same way you do doesnt mean that i dont know what i am talking about.

dnp seems to show up around pennys name over 33% of the time that he has been with the suns. now how many of you would keep your jobs if you did work a 3rd of the time?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Originally posted by Chaplin
You obviously don't know much about the Suns.

Well that was blantantly obvious when we were treated to Scotsman rendition of what happened during the entire 1993 playoffs - the Paxson play in particular - get a clue Scots - you're embarrassing yourself here.

 

[SirStefan32]

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
I was definitely thinking strength and weight over a few inches in height. I think NBA fans are waaaay too obsessed over a few inches. Strength down in the blocks is what truely matters.

Exactly, look at Sir Charles.

Why the heck didn't we sign Vladimir?

 

[hcsilla]

Originally posted by SirStefan32


Why the heck didn't we sign Vladimir?

Because he is not that good and he probably demanded too much.

 

[SirStefan32]

He's gotta be better than anything we've got right now.

 

[slinslin]

Sorry but he is not better than Voshkul, not at all.