The Countdown to Rick Carlisle*

[OldDirtMcGirt]

*Or the official Mike D'Antoni is a ing re thread.

This is for all the true die hard Suns fans desperately waiting for this huge dumb to be fired. Grant Hill is playing 43 ing minutes in November?! Are we serious? Piatkowski is getting minutes instead of our two promising rookies, and we're getting absolutely raped on the boards. Oh, but I almost forgot, we're blowing teams out in November by keeping our starters in. Ignore the fact that we're getting raped on the boards, and we have absolutely no competent defensive rotations. We're clearly the most talented team in the league, and we're winning despite the whining calling the shots. It's Carlisle time baby...

[Findog]

He'd be a much better fit for Phoenix than D'Antoni. He wouldn't mess up a good thing by trying to turn the Suns into a half-court team, he'd still let them run, but he would demand more accountability on the defensive end. Some of defense is skill, but a lot of it is hustle and desire. D'Antoni can run crappy teams off the court in the regular season because nobody is as efficient when it comes to offense, but it tends not to work in the playoffs.

I know it's only November, but some of the Spurs role players are sparing San Antonio to death. Tim, Manu and Parker aren't old, but a lot of the guys they are counting on are. The Spurs repeat chances hinge more on getting solid contributions from their grandpa players, because we know what their big three is going to do. Maybe Phoenix isn't hopeless against San Antonio after all. I will say that the trio (Phx, Sas, Dal) all has its issues and questions.

[Findog]

Why did Ming only play 22 minutes? He had only 3 fouls.

[Hemotivo]

Why did Ming only play 22 minutes? He had only 3 fouls.

The Rockets had a good run with Scola
cutting the lead to 9
Yao had some good and really bad moments

[DannyB]

*Or the official Mike D'Antoni is a ing re thread.

This is for all the true die hard Suns fans desperately waiting for this huge dumb to be fired. Grant Hill is playing 43 ing minutes in November?! Are we serious? Piatkowski is getting minutes instead of our two promising rookies, and we're getting absolutely raped on the boards. Oh, but I almost forgot, we're blowing teams out in November by keeping our starters in. Ignore the fact that we're getting raped on the boards, and we have absolutely no competent defensive rotations. We're clearly the most talented team in the league, and we're winning despite the whining calling the shots. It's Carlisle time baby...

I can get behind that, for the most part. D'Antoni doesn't seem to get the most out of his considerably talented team. Also, right or wrong, he lost a lot of cool points last year. I agree with virtually every complaint he made against the Spurs and the officiating, but that's not the point. A coach needs to be the leader for the team, not its spokesman. He could have shown a bit more restraint and professionalism. But most of all, I agree that we should be getting DJ Strawberry as much playing experience as possible rather than wasting minutes on a guy like Piatkowski. I would advise you, however, to relax a bit about the starter's minutes. I think that is really over-emphasized a lot on this blog. He's still trying to integrate Hill into the line-up, and that requires playing him with a lot of different player combinations, and for a lot of minutes sometimes. I'm predicting his minutes will come down a bit when he's fully integrated. I think as they get better at running their system over the course of the season, that we'll see more blow-outs/garbage time and fewer minutes for all the starters. Plus they have had minor injuries to several players, and that has probably thrown off D'Antoni's ideal rotation. And remember, the Suns didn't lose last year due to injuries or fatigue anyway ... we all know what happened.

[Jeremy]

Why did Ming only play 22 minutes? He had only 3 fouls.

He usually can't stay on the court against the Suns--just doesn't play well at all, usually.

[sprrs]

we all know what happened.

They were worn out in their fourth quarter losses which might have been different had they trusted their role players enough to use them in their rotation.

[DannyB]

They were worn out in their fourth quarter losses which might have been different had they trusted their role players enough to use them in their rotation.

Wrongo, chief. But nice try.

[JamStone]

Don't think the Suns are the most talented team in the league, let alone clearly.