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Go ahead. Tire yourself out.
Despite offseason obstacles, Phoenix expects sunny days ahead
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http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/traini...ge=suns-071005
Despite offseason obstacles, Phoenix expects sunny days ahead
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: October 5, 2007, 4:43 PM ET
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TUCSON, Ariz. -- They lost Amare Stoudemire to another knee injury before a ball was dribbled at training camp. They opened that Amare-less camp just a week after Shawn Marion went public with a trade demand. Factor in that they'll never really forget how last season ended and there was a natural inclination for the Phoenix Suns to feel as though the color scheme of their new practice gear -- mourner's black -- was uncomfortably fitting.
Then Mike D'Antoni began to share his plans for the season.
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The Suns, D'Antoni swears, are going to respond to what happened in the San Antonio series by playing faster, if that's possible.
He says they're prepared to go even smaller with his lineups, if necessary.
He vows that they're going to be looser and happier, too, because D'Antoni contends that the Suns were more uptight than anyone on the outside ever knew.
So he gathered his players at the University of Arizona this week and assured them that they won't be starting over with new philosophies or partaking in lab experiments to make the Suns conventional. To the contrary, D'Antoni believes his small ball kings should try to run even more than they've been running -- and have a lot more fun -- to max out on the potential of their unique personnel mix and finally reach the NBA Finals.
"It can't be, 'This is all a disaster if we don't win the championship,' " D'Antoni said. "You don't enjoy the journey that way and I think we didn't enjoy the journey enough last year. We didn't enjoy January enough when we won 17 [games] in a row. We've got to get back to that gunslinging kind of mentality: 'If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose.' But we don't want to have this big burden on our heads at all times and I think it starts with me. I'll take care of it. Steve will take care of it."
It might not be as simple as D'Antoni makes it sound, but he'll indeed have Steve Nash as his assist man on this project as well. Nash shares his coach's contention that San Antonio's extra layer of togetherness hurt the Suns as much anything in the teams' second-round classic.
It was Nash who famously said last May that the various controversies in that series -- most notably those Game 5 suspensions of Stoudemire and Boris Diaw -- would "haunt us forever." Yet there was Nash on Tuesday in Tucson, conceding that the Spurs' better chemistry was a huge difference-maker, too.
"We need to be the top team in the league in chemistry," Nash said. "Or in the top two."
The problem there is that being No. 1 chemistry-wise -- or even No. 2 -- is an awfully high bar given how heavy their start has been. As if rebounding from the San Antonio disappointment wasn't sufficiently challenging, Phoenix just sent Stoudemire, at 24, to the operating table for the third time in two years and faces a whole new series of challenges with Marion after years of trying to convince the tireless forward -- unsuccessfully -- that he's not underappreciated by coaches, teammates and management.
Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images
Chemistry and health issues surround Amare Stoudemire.
The Stoudemire-Marion relationship, furthermore, will remain a focal point for as long as they play together, especially with Grant Hill's name now competing for space on the marquee as well. Add it all up and it seems a lot safer to predict a further dip in togetherness as opposed to improvement, even if the Suns' bench is no longer populated by frustrated vets who hoped to play more.
The Suns, though, insist that the outlook is a lot sunnier than it might appear, with Stoudemire scheduled to be back on the practice floor in three weeks, possibly ready to play in time for opening night . . . and with Amare already having beaten microfracture surgery on his other knee pretty spectacularly. Nash, meanwhile, is on record predicting that Marion -- while undeniably still is upset with the Suns' refusal to offer him a contract extension and stung by the trade rumors he's heard for so long -- is a "lovable guy" who will find it hard "to stay angry amongst his teammates."
It's also true that excelling at both ends when he's unhappy or feeling slighted would be nothing new from Marion. Which should help explain why new Suns president Steve Kerr insists that "we're going to be fine."
"We're going to be good," Kerr said. "Shawn told me and he told his teammates that he's ready to play. It was a distraction in the summer, but now it's time to play basketball, and I'm confident that Shawn is going to play and wants to play.
"We have such a veteran group, these guys understand that it's part of the business. It's not a great part of the business, but it's something you have to deal with from time to time. The teams that are professional, they move on."
Good point. The Suns' recent track record in the moving-on game is indeed outstanding, whether it's making back-to-back trips to the conference finals in the face of numerous major injuries (Joe Johnson, Stoudemire, Raja Bell) or playing San Antonio so much closer than anyone else in spite of some difficult cir stances (most notably Nash's bloody nose in Game 1 and the two suspensions).
D'Antoni clearly remembers all that, judging by how much he's talking the Suns up in the midst of this heavy start. He was raving about Hill within minutes of coaching him for the first time, quickly convinced that Hill's ability to penetrate and handle the ball will enable Phoenix to actually speed up its offense. The coach is likewise boasting that he doesn't "even know if we have to call plays" with this group because the ball is moving so crisply.
The two-time MVP, though, probably wanted Hill even more than the coach. Surrounded by so much inexperience at key spots -- Stoudemire, Diaw and Leandro Barbosa all come to mind as special talents still learning the game -- Nash figured his Suns could stand to get a little older and wiser before seeing San Antonio again.
"You don't want to get too old," Suns guard Bell said with a smile, "but I think our window is still there. The Spurs are the champions. They deserved it and they played great. But I think we've moved on. We're going to be right at the top of the league again, vying for the championship."
Said D'Antoni: "If you want to look at [the current situation] with a cloud over our heads, that's one way. The other way is thinking we'll get Boris started [while Stoudemire recovers] and find out what Brian Skinner and Sean Marks can do. Amare's going to be fine, so that's how we'll look at it and hopefully that's the way it'll turn out.
"We're going to attack the league in a different mentality, like we did the first year [after re-signing Nash in the summer of 2004]. ... It's like I told Steve, 'You might have five more years left and you've got to enjoy each one.'
"Same with me. As a coach, I've got the best team you could have, the greatest guys and the best city. If I can't be happy in January, then I should be shot. And I wasn't last January. So I'm going to go read my Zen book and chill out."
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
Go ahead. Tire yourself out.
Will Grant Hill be able to keep up?
When will they just realize you can't win with a running team that doesn't play defense?
Better for us...
I think suns might be able to win if they were mentally tough they are not
therefore they will not win
it's impossible to be mentally tough and only play offense. the two seem to be mutually exclusive. see the kings, mavs back in the day.
Did they finally designate an assistant coach to keep the players on the bench?
Mike D'Antoni: Good Guy, Good Coach To Play Against
why are they so stubborn in thinking that run n gun can work in the playoffs? every team in the playoffs is not from LA
chemistry and being mentally tough are the problems for suns
coach blames others and not themselves for losing
they are never going to win tell they do
and they need to get along with each other
NBA Forum.
I hope the Spurs stomp the out of them come playoff time. Everything before that is just pre-season.
sequ your mommy is ready to tuck you in bed now
Yes, means less defense
Did they trade Marion? No? Then they have no chance to meet that goal."We need to be the top team in the league in chemistry," Nash said. "Or in the top two."
isnt grant hill on that team?
Suns fans on suicide watch forum...
The le made me LOL for some reason. "Run Faster" is not a very good adjustment
Well, the faster they run, the higher they'll fly when Horry is around...
I can't wait to hear D'Antoni on the sidelines this season during timeouts saying "C'mon guys, run faster now. Run faster." It's not like the Suns have a lot of chance of beating a healthy Spurs team, but choosing to go this direction just makes them easier to eliminate.
God, one running team has won a le in the modern era; somehow, I don't think Nash/Stoudemire/Marion stacks up to Johnson/Abdul-Jabbar/Worthy.
Because the 80's Lakers were able to play some D (not a lot, but some)
I really think Stoudamire is going to set a league record for number of times fouled out during a season. The loss of Thomas means that much more of an onus will be on him to protect the paint.
The only problem is that he has no self control and i full expect him to be a foul machine as he constantly has to help Marion or Diaw with the 4s and 5s they are going to be matched up with.
Its going to be brutal.
Scott and Green were excellent defenders and Kareem was still a presence in the paint and they always had Rambis to go and get 6 fouls on someone to slow them down.
The Suns would kill to have someone like AC Green circa 1985. Bell is good on the preimeter but they dont have jack down low.
Their style works against us but a team with a post prescence will eat them up. Phoenix will not get past San Antonio.
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