Suns’ Defense Gets Boost From Additions
By Jerry Brown
East Valley Tribune
Oct. 17, 2006
Before the start of training camp, coach Mike D’Antoni promised himself he would stop joking about the Suns’ commitment to defense.
But like his team, there have been holes in the game plan and the occasional slip-up. Like when D’Antoni was told of press reports that the New Jersey Nets were impressed with ex-Sun Eddie House’s defense in training camp.
“Well, there you go,” D’Antoni said Monday. “Eddie learned all that right here. We’re getting a new rep.”
Oops. Snickers all around.
True, the Suns will never be mentioned in the same breath with Detroit and San Antonio when it comes to physical, in-your-face, shut-down defense. You can’t lead the league in scoring and be a steel trap on the other end.
But before Kurt Thomas went down with a foot injury in late February, the Suns ranked 10th in the NBA in field-goal-percentage-against (44 percent) and were allowing just over 100 points (100.2) per game. With Thomas out and Boris Diaw forced to play center 40 minutes a night, opponents shot 47.8 percent, scored 107.6 points and the scales were tipped.
With Thomas and Amaré Stoudemire back to bolster the inside and the addition of Marcus Banks to the backcourt, can the Suns’ defense be at least good enough to quiet critics who feel it will always be the chasm that keeps them from a championship?
“We’re better on defense than you guys think, and now we have to turn it up one more notch, be one level better,” D’Antoni said. “If we get a little better on defense and keep the same offensive output, we should be better.”
Of course, D’Antoni can’t stop others from poking fun at the Suns’ penchant for giving up one basket if they can score one on the other end. But he can change his own tune.
“I don’t want our guys in the habit of thinking ‘defense isn’t important,’ ” he said. “We were fourth in the league last year in points allowed per possession. Only Detroit, San Antonio and Dallas were better. We want to improve on that, and I think we will because of the people we’re getting back and the people we went out and got.”
The stat that interests D’Antoni most is point differential, because it takes into account offense and defense at the same time.
The Suns scored 108.4 points per game last year, two points behind their 2004-05 total but more than enough to lead the league by a wide margin over runner-up Seattle (102.6).
And despite allowing 102.8 points – only Seattle (105.6) and Toronto (104.0) allowed more – their point differential was a comfortable 5.6 points a game, among the league’s best.
“If you score more points than the other team, your defense is better than their defense. We seem to do that,” he said. “We had the best offense, San Antonio had the best defense and neither team got to the NBA Finals. It comes down to the best combination.
“Because of our style, the only way we’ll get any credit at all is if we win a championship. Then people will say, ‘Well, gee, they must play a little defense.’ ”
