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People would of figured out the zone in a couple games.
Although the Suns looked past their prime this year I think many of us would agree that this was the first time they had a great shot at winning the championship.
Every year previous to this year I knew if a legit, balanced team came along the Suns would set, but if the Suns would have won that close Game 5 in L.A. we could have seen them in the Finals this year.
I'm usually a Phoenix Suns hater. They used to be all flash, but Gentry changed that this year. They had a different kind of at ude about themselves. So my question is would Gentry have been able to at least make the Finals or possibly win a championship with a younger Phoenix team from 3-4 years ago?
P.S. Dantoni is an average coach. These playoffs proved it.
People would of figured out the zone in a couple games.
The zone helped but they didn't always rely on it. They were a top 5 team defensively or something like that after the all star break. I really feel like Gentry changed the culture there.
The Suns organization would have never played that zone against anybody but us. It was personal with them. That didn't come from Gentry. That came from Kerr.
This would be a huge problem. Gentry's achilles heel is he is far too nice to certain players.
I say yeah though, he wouldn't have told Sarver to sell draft picks like Antoni did, he would have developed a bench and there would have been better D.
i don't think so. still, i think it's clear now that Gentry is a better coach than Dantoni; which means that the knicks are, yet again, overpaying for a scrub.
But, in the final analysis Gentry got no further than D'Antoni. D'Antoni was a schnook. Gentry is a mensch.
Barbosa just needs to be traded. He's gotten way too comfortable in Phoenix and the only thing at this point that will light a fire under his ass is a trade to a bottom feeder that makes him realize how ty he's become.
And I agree completely. Dudley at this point > Hill at defending Kobe and playing off Nash. Dragic I have no complaints on, he for the most part was awful against LA and Gentry couldn't risk it with him.
The one player Gentry has been tough on is Clark because of Clark's complacent and apathetic reputation. Clark's skill set could have made contributions this year but Gentry wasn't ready to play him till he saw a consistent effort from Clark in practice everyday and a commitment to broaden his game. Clark is an example of someone who hit a huge growth spurt after being a perimeter player his entire life and now needs to adjust to a SF/PF role. If Gentry can somehow get Clark's work ethic to match his talent level he'll be one heck of a player.
I feel like they got further. Although Dantoni also took them to a Game 6 of the Conference Finals I felt like they actually had a legitimate chance to win.
They barely lost Game 5 and if Kobe doesn't carry the Lakers on his back with those incredible shots we're looking at a Game 7.
I do agree with the person who said Gentry can be too nice, but at least he did play some other guys.
Dantoni's play 7 guys only and 7 seconds or less mentality was dumb as .
It's not even a close call. Dudley defended Kobe way better than Hill did.
At this point Phoenix should just trade Barbosa to get rid of him for an expiring contract they can buy out and make Sarver happy. At backup shooting guard, they basically need the anti-Barbosa, a long, athletic defender who slashes and moves well without the ball.
I wonder why Louis Amundson wasnt gaurding Kobe during the playoffs. he probably had the best hops to block those shots. sending in the aged, bad ankle grant hill to guard the best player in the game///lol
The Suns could have won it all in 2007 if it wasn't for the suspensions, IMHO.
Suspensions that had a lot to do with a dumbass coach who had no control over his players and had no idea how to handle altercations. Greg Popovich, the championship coach, clearly knew what that rule was and prepared for it. No one on the Spurs' bench at the time flinched during the incident.
Amundson would bite on half of Kobe's pump fakes, he's athletic but he's got no fundamentals or bball IQ at all.
I think Gentry just needed minutes coaching in the playoffs. Doc was pretty horrible about rotations earlier in his career with the Celtics, and he was also bad about little things like taking timeouts when his team was falling apart. He's gotten much better at these things.
Positioning and smarts is what makes Dudley successful, Amundson's lateral quickness is way better than Dudley's but he's got the IQ of a snail and no defensive smarts, he overreacts to every dribble/spin/pumpfake and always makes the mistake of playing the ball instead of playing the guy he's guarding.
One reason why Phoenix lost is a gaping hole at SF. You need a defensive stud at that position who can defend Kobe or you're not beating LA.
dudley did a good job on defense when kobe was still dribbling...but when he goes up for a shot...dudley hands were still like half a foot lower than the ball. grant hill the same clearance. Now if amundson defended, he would be way more physical with kobe than dudley or hill could be. it was like kobe did not have to exert anymore energy to take the shots than if it were practice.. the Suns were kinda soft guarding Kobe.
Given that they were the 8th-worst defensive team in the NBA on the season, I shudder to think how bad they were before the All-Star Break.
...when Gentry was also the coach...
Dudley seemed to take the challenge to guard kobe personal, I liked his tenacity. Hill seemed like he was doing his best, but more along the lines of doing his job.
Not a bad point at all. But, the Suns were fortunate enough the league signed off on that zone. They'd a never condoned Amundson out there on Kobe. Can ya imagine it?
Kobe was defended as well as anybody could have defended him. Hand in the face, two guys on him, didn't matter who it was, he was going to light it up.
Besides Lou played around 12 MPG. Not gonna get much out of that.
I don't. I think they were way closer to win it a few years ago (but not because of Gentry/D'Antoni).
1) They played the zone against the Spurs a significant chunk of time.
2) Personal? I saw fewer indications of that against the lakers than I did against the Spurs. Besides Nash crying, and that was from just losing, rather than anything against the Lakers.
3) From Kerr? I am curious what gives you mind-reading powers, since no one talked about that in the media. Making up voodoo-style?
1. Please.
2. Please.
3. Like 99% of the proclamations on this Board, it's a hunch.
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