Suns Close to signing Fred Hoiberg [Archive]

The_Game

03-16-2006, 05:56 PM

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=61265

Hoilberg joins Suns workout
By Jerry Brown, Tribune
March 16, 2006
The Suns brought veteran guard Fred Hoiberg in for a physical and workout Thursday.

Phoenix Suns / NBA
If all checks out Hoiberg will take the roster spot available when forward Dijon Thompson went on injured reserve after having microfracture surgery on his right knee Monday. The move would give the Suns another backup at the shooting guard spot.

Hoiberg has played parts of 10 NBA seasons with Indiana, Chicago and Minnesota. He shot a career-high 48.3 percent from 3-point range last season when he averaged 5.9 points for the Timberwolves.

He had open heart surgery last season and if he plays again he would be the first NBA player ever to play with a pacemaker.

Hoiberg only found out he would require the surgery last season after having an echocardiogram while attempting to get a life insurance policy. During his sophomore year at Iowa State, he found out he had a bicuspid aortic valve, but the problem was not considered life-threatening at the time.

He continued to play, but was monitored by the school with echocardiograms. He then had the test at the 1995 pre-draft camp, and was monitored with echocardiograms by his first two NBA teams, the Pacers and the Bulls. Before signing with the Timberwolves in 2003, Hoiberg never got an echocardiogram himself, and Minnesota never gave him one.

Peter

03-16-2006, 05:57 PM

Great signing...2 seasons ago.

T Park

03-16-2006, 05:58 PM

Too bad hes got a bad heart.....

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 06:05 PM

Kori Ellis

03-16-2006, 06:06 PM

Good luck to Hoiberg. I hope he is healthy and has some good years of basketball left in him.

Leetonidas

03-16-2006, 06:08 PM

Picking up washed up players is a thing now in Phoenix now I guess.

timvp

03-16-2006, 06:09 PM

Fred Hoiberg >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Melvin Sanders

timvp

03-16-2006, 06:09 PM

Even at 40 years old and with an iffy heart.

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 06:11 PM

Picking up washed up players is a thing now in Phoenix now I guess.
I like Tim Thomas though, I like his style of play.

Bruno

03-16-2006, 06:13 PM

Great news.
I think that he is the first nba player playing with a pacemaker.
It will give some hope for people having heart surgeries, they can regain their physical abilities even with a pacemaker in the chest.

T Park

03-16-2006, 06:14 PM

Fred Hoiberg >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Melvin Sanders

:rolleyes

Supergirl

03-16-2006, 06:47 PM

Man I wouldn't take the risk on him. If he dies on the court the Suns franchise will be done.

If he was healthy enough to gamble on, the Pistons would have picked him up - they could use some depth in shooters. The Suns don't need him. If they sign him it would reek of desperation.

Melmart1

03-16-2006, 06:54 PM

I always liked Hoiberg. Good luck to him!

LilMissSPURfect

03-16-2006, 07:10 PM

instant OFFENSE on both sides of the court :smokin

ChumpDumper

03-16-2006, 07:18 PM

Man I wouldn't take the risk on him. If he dies on the court the Suns franchise will be done.Why would they be done?
If he was healthy enough to gamble on, the Pistons would have picked him up - they could use some depth in shooters.They would have had to waive someone to make room for him, and they'd rather keep their young players under contract and Cato could be used in a sign-and-trade next summer.

cs100

03-16-2006, 07:35 PM

Saunders is high on Hoiberg and was talking about adding him to their roster. I guess the Suns beat him to it. Anyway, Detroit has Delk, who has been great for their offense.

The Suns continuously prove that they are an offense minded team with these signings. Great for regular season, but....

Melvin Sanders was signed by the Spurs primarily for practice purposes. If he gets some playing time, it would be due to Pop wanting to rest some of the players or change the flow of a game. IMO

Buddy Holly

03-16-2006, 07:37 PM

I thought Sharrod Ford was gonna be some mega superstar after the Suns signed him.

Right?

Mr. Body

03-16-2006, 08:05 PM

Of all the teams, the Phoenix Suns are the team that need Hoiberg least of all. Unless they want to try, per the Nash Effect, to see how much higher his 3p% can go, maybe break a record. Otherwise, I see him signing with the team where he duplicates the skill of most everyone else on the roster and likely won't have to play much. Free money.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-16-2006, 08:14 PM

Too bad hes got a bad heart.....

So does Eddy Curry.

He's managed to keep a pulse this long...

Please_dont_ban_me

03-16-2006, 08:15 PM

Who do the Suns have that are similar to Hoiberg?

Marions a slasher/finisher. Raja Bell is a solid Defender who can hit an open shot, if he's not in a slump. Who else is on that team? Q RIch is gone. They could use a good outside set shooter like Hoiberg.

Mr. Body

03-16-2006, 08:25 PM

Who do the Suns have that are similar to Hoiberg?

Uh... Three point shooters. James Jones, Bell, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Eddie House, Shawn Marion...

The only thing Hoiberg does is shoot threes. They have utterly no use for him.

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 08:34 PM

Uh... Three point shooters. James Jones, Bell, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Eddie House, Shawn Marion...

The only thing Hoiberg does is shoot threes. They have utterly no use for him.
He would be just another guy to fill in for possible injured guys, or anyone having an off night.

If you have watched Phoenix play reccently, all they do is shoot 3's at a rate of 10 attempts per minute. Their whole team basically consists of 3 point shooters, so Hoiberg would probably just be available in case if everyone is scrubbing it up....who knows.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-16-2006, 08:36 PM

Uh... Three point shooters. James Jones, Bell, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Eddie House, Shawn Marion...

The only thing Hoiberg does is shoot threes. They have utterly no use for him.

Marion? He's not a three point shooter. He can hit a 3 pointer, but he's not a pure shooter by any extent of the imagination.

James Jones, no comment.

Barbosa is an average 3 point shooter. He has the ball in his hands though (point guard). You need somebody in the corners who can stretch the defense.

Tim Thoman, no comment.

House - Very streaky.

SoCalSpursFan

03-16-2006, 08:38 PM

Whose Fred Hoiberg?

I only know a man named "The Mayor!"

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 08:39 PM

Marion? He's not a three point shooter. He can hit a 3 pointer, but he's not a pure shooter by any extent of the imagination.

James Jones, no comment.

Barbosa is an average 3 point shooter. He has the ball in his hands though (point guard). You need somebody in the corners who can stretch the defense.

Tim Thoman, no comment.

House - Very streaky.
Dude, all of the suns can hit 3's, and they don't have to be pure shooters...

Why?

Because they are very open most of the time, and yes, they are all streaky, but when you have so many, it really doesn't matter, at least 3 of them will be hot on any given night...

Nash, Barbosa, Marion, James Jones, Eddie House, Raja fucking faggot Bell, Tim Thomas...

you can't avoid it, some of them will be hot.

N4th4n

03-16-2006, 08:40 PM

The suns can suck my nuts, all they ever sign is 3-point shooters to stand in their territory for Steve Nash to find wide open.

fuckin pussies, they are NEVER going to win a championship with their offense, offense, offense, run, run, run mentality.

You seem to have hostility problems , a team might sign a player calm the hell down , its no reason to attack them.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-16-2006, 08:41 PM

Dude, all of the suns can hit 3's, and they don't have to be pure shooters...

Why?

Because they are very open most of the time, and yes, they are all streaky, but when you have so many, it really doesn't matter, at least 3 of them will be hot on any given night...

Nash, Barbosa, Marion, James Jones, Eddie House, Raja fucking faggot Bell, Tim Thomas...

you can't avoid it, some of them will be hot.

Why not pick him up? Who is your 12th man right now...you're telling me you couldn't use Hoiberg...even if he doesn't work out? You're right, you get alot of open 3's so anybody can hit them.

But that's why the Suns get beat in the playoffs every year. In the playoffs those open threes become contested, and you have to hit it with a hand in your face. Do you trust James Jones, or Marion, or Raja Bell to hit those?

Hoiberg has made a career of hitting clutch three's in the regular season and playoffs. It's well worth the risk.

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 08:44 PM

You seem to have hostility problems , a team might sign a player calm the hell down , its no reason to attack them.
:lol

Don't take me that seriously, I'm just showing how much I hate the Suns....when they play the Spurs.

But they are fun to watch, I'll give you that.

ALVAREZ6

03-16-2006, 08:49 PM

Why not pick him up? Who is your 12th man right now...you're telling me you couldn't use Hoiberg...even if he doesn't work out? You're right, you get alot of open 3's so anybody can hit them.

But that's why the Suns get beat in the playoffs every year. In the playoffs those open threes become contested, and you have to hit it with a hand in your face. Do you trust James Jones, or Marion, or Raja Bell to hit those?

Hoiberg has made a career of hitting clutch three's in the regular season and playoffs. It's well worth the risk.
ummm...... I was saying that it IS worth it, I wasn't bashing Hoiberg.

He fits in well with their game.

And I wasn't regarding the Suns chances of succeeding in the play-offs, because they don't play any D, they will not go to the finals if the Spurs come in their path.

I think either the Spurs or Suns will come out of the west. If the Spurs get eliminated from the play-offs, then I think the Suns will come out of the west, but if the Spurs play them in the WC finals again, they will destroy the Suns.

Spurologist

03-16-2006, 09:13 PM

Looks like the suns are David Stern's puppet. Bring in the offense. Who gives a shit about defense. Sternie wants offensive entertainment.

AZLouis

03-16-2006, 09:43 PM

Considering their 12th man, Dijon Thompson, is out for 6 months with microfracture knee surgery and he is a wing type player, Hoiberg is probably a signing to fill that position.

The Suns are trying to keep a roster of guys so that Amare can have 5on5 practices.

I would prefer a signing of a big guy, but with what's out there, it's better to wait for Kurt Thomas and Brian Grant to return to the lineup and maintain some sort of hope Amare can return this season.

SequSpur

03-16-2006, 09:47 PM

Fred Hoiberg >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Melvin Sanders

Exactly.

reader

03-16-2006, 09:51 PM

3 Point F/G %, I only looked at the top 50

1 Leandro Barbosa
2 Bruce Bowen
3 Raja Bell
8 Steve Nash
34 Eddie House
38 Michael Finley
47 James Jones

Please_dont_ban_me

03-17-2006, 12:24 AM

3 Point F/G %, I only looked at the top 50

1 Leandro Barbosa
2 Bruce Bowen
3 Raja Bell
8 Steve Nash
34 Eddie House
38 Michael Finley
47 James Jones

Open looks in the regular season, and contested three's in the playoffs. Different story.

The_Game

03-17-2006, 05:29 AM

funny, suns got the same looks in the playoffs as they did in the season..

suns have to be a shooting team right now without thomas and amare...DUH

they aren't just all offense..they can play D but without their main big guys are forced to just out-shoot teams

AZLouis

03-17-2006, 10:53 AM

http://probasketball.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=probasketball&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hoopsstats.com%2F

Here's a look at the Suns 3pt shooting during last season's playoffs

vs. Grizz = 42/92 45.6% or 10.5/23 3pm/3pa per game
vs. Mavs = 53/129 41.0% or 8.8/21.5
vs. Spurs = 31/75 41.3% or 6.2/15

The Suns were getting shooting well the whole time during the playoffs from 3 point land, but it's obvious the Spurs played much better perimeter defense than the Mavs or Grizz versus the Suns during last year's playoffs simply by not allowing the Suns to have numerous attempts and allowing Amare to nearly average 40 ppg which also took away 3pt attempts.

The most attempts the Suns got in a game versus the Spurs was 18, that was the lowest number of attempts versus the Mavs that the Suns had, and 17 was the lowest number of attempts the Suns versus the Grizz.

FreshPrince22

03-17-2006, 10:56 AM

Fred is going to be good for them. I do worry about his heart with all that running they do though.

Supergirl

03-17-2006, 11:54 AM

Hoiberg has made a career of hitting clutch three's in the regular season and playoffs. It's well worth the risk.

You gotta be kidding me. What has Fred Hoiberg done in the PLAYOFFS? His last team (Minnesota) has never even made it to the conference finals, much less the NBA Finals. Robery Horry, Derek Fisher, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller - those are players who have "made a career of hitting clutch threes." Fred Hoiberg hasn't done shit - and now he's damaged goods.

In terms of the impact on the Suns if Hoiberg dies on the court (which was someone else's question awhile back) - it would be a publicity nightmare and it would traumatize the fans and the players. I am sure the box office would suffer as a result, which might affect whether the Suns remain a viable franchise. It also might affect the insurance the team has to pay to cover their players if their decision to sign him becomes lethal.

leemajors

03-17-2006, 12:58 PM

silly supergirl, hoiberg is obviously up there with paxson and kerr

FreshPrince22

03-17-2006, 01:02 PM

You gotta be kidding me. What has Fred Hoiberg done in the PLAYOFFS? His last team (Minnesota) has never even made it to the conference finals

Were you in a Fisher-induced coma in 2004?

Please_dont_ban_me

03-17-2006, 02:46 PM

You gotta be kidding me. What has Fred Hoiberg done in the PLAYOFFS? His last team (Minnesota) has never even made it to the conference finals, much less the NBA Finals. Robery Horry, Derek Fisher, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller - those are players who have "made a career of hitting clutch threes." Fred Hoiberg hasn't done shit - and now he's damaged goods.

In terms of the impact on the Suns if Hoiberg dies on the court (which was someone else's question awhile back) - it would be a publicity nightmare and it would traumatize the fans and the players. I am sure the box office would suffer as a result, which might affect whether the Suns remain a viable franchise. It also might affect the insurance the team has to pay to cover their players if their decision to sign him becomes lethal.

You don't have to be one of the best of all time to be clutch. If you watched him in Minny, and watchd him in those playoffs against the Lakers...he hit some big shots. He has a nice stroke.

As for his health. Look at Eddy Curry. He had similar problems. He hasn't croaked yet. I'm sure the Suns will only sign him if he's cleared medically to play.

rayray2k8

03-17-2006, 02:56 PM

I thought he was gonna get signed, by detriot?
Oh well...
At least give the guy a chance.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-17-2006, 03:42 PM

I thought he was gonna get signed, by detriot?
Oh well...
At least give the guy a chance.

Hoiberg > Melvin frieking Sanders

(as previously mentioned)

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 01:50 AM

:king

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 01:52 AM

Hoiberg woulda shut down Nazr.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 01:52 AM

Marion was really shooting purely.

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 01:54 AM

Well they hit 44% from the arc, so I don't know what difference Freddie would've made other than raising our guards' shooting %.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 01:55 AM

They missed alot of clutch shots they needed to get back into the game.

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 01:57 AM

I would cite being -28 on the boards as a slightly larger factor in the loss.

Mr. Body

03-18-2006, 02:01 AM

Hoiberg is a player they absolutely have no need for. But then Phoenix tends to stockpile artillery when what they need is infantry.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:02 AM

I would cite being -28 on the boards as a slightly larger factor in the loss.

Phoenix isn't about to become a bang-down-low type of team.

They are, however a run and gun type team. They have people that can finish on fast breaks, but they don't really have a guy who can spot up on a consistent basis and drill threes contested or not. That, is what Hoiberg brings.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:02 AM

Hoiberg is a player they absolutely have no need for. But then Phoenix tends to stockpile artillery when what they need is infantry.

...the fuck?

So who would "infantry" be?

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 02:05 AM

Phoenix isn't about to become a bang-down-low type of team.The Suns are missing ALL their big men of any worth. That's why they were down on the boards.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:07 AM

The Suns are missing ALL their big men of any worth. That's why they were down on the boards.

*sigh*

So...they should just wait around until/if they come back?

Or should they go and sign a guy who can help fill other needs.

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 02:08 AM

Hoiberg = championship

Understood.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:11 AM

Hoiberg = championship

Understood.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

I'm glad we're on the same page. Understood.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:14 AM

When Horry stayed in Houston, who would've thought that would bring them rings?

When we got Bowen, who would've thought that would be key in our championships?

When the pistons signed Wallace, who would've thought...

Sometimes you make little additions/changes that end up being exactly what your team needs.

I'm not saying they'll win a ring, but it's something that could help there team be better. So why not try it? Honestly, you would have to be stupid to not at least try. What do they have to lose, is Hoiberg a caner?

FreshPrince22

03-18-2006, 02:16 AM

The Suns are missing ALL their big men of any worth. That's why they were down on the boards.

Exactly. The board war was over before it started just by looking at the rosters. Amare, Kurt Thomas, Grant, etc. All of their rebounders outside of Marion were gone. Still pretty impressive that they kept it close in San Antonio, despite those things and Nazr's career night. I wouldn't sleep on them yet.

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:18 AM

Exactly. The board war was over before it started just by looking at the rosters.

Phoenix sends out 3 guys streaking as soon as the shot goes up.

If 3 out 5 guys are going for the fast break, then yes you're going to get beat. There strategy was pretty much "we're not going to out rebound them, so lets try to outrun/shoot them". Unfortunately, there shot wasn't falling.

When Kurt/Amare get back it will be a different frontcourt.

But until then, you have to make some changes.

ChumpDumper

03-18-2006, 02:19 AM

Please_dont_ban_me

03-18-2006, 02:21 AM

For this game I could just as easily say that signing James Thomas to a 10-day would have won the game for them by holding the Spurs to 20 offensive rebounds instead of 26.

Just as valid.

BTW, I'm not against the Suns signing Hoiberg, it's just a stretch to say he would've made the difference tonight when the obvious difficiency was in the frontcourt.

That might have helped, too.

I'm not saying he would've been the difference, but it would've been a nice addition. It could've helped. He could've hit a few of those shots late in the game they just couldn't seem to get to drop. You don't think Nash would exploit Fred's skills?

If Nash is your "infantry" you need weapons liek Hoiberg at his disposal.