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Oh, and don't get me started on Mike ing D'Antoni.
Or... "The Phoenix Suns, Phucking Suck."
Since trading away Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal, the Suns are 2-3. In those losses, the Lakers have dropped 130 points on them, the Pistons dropped 116 on them, and the New Orleans Hornets ripped our heads off and shat down our throats for the 4th straight time. In the two wins, they only managed to score 85 points against an extremely lethargic Celtics squad, and they allowed the Memphis Grizzlies to make it a close game.
In the last 8 or 9 months since the Spurs eliminated the Suns in what could have been a 7-game series (had Amare and Diaw been a little smarter), our front office has traded away 3 of our 4 best defenders. First, James Jones was shipped to Portland. Now, Jones wasn't a great player--we brought him in to shoot 3's, and he had a terrible season last year. But he was a solid defender and decent rebounder, who gave us a solid contribution off the bench, even if it wasn't on the offensive end. Now he's in Portland shooting lights out from 3 (48% on 120 attempts).
Second, we traded away Kurt Thomas, which I've gone on record as saying was the worst mistake the Suns have ever, EVER made. I can't stress this enough--news of the Kurt Thomas trade hurt as badly as the news of Amare Stoudemire's microfracture surgery...which, coincidentally, occurred in an even-numbered year when we had a great shot at the le. The FO saw that they would have to pay quite a bit of money to keep Thomas, so they simply gave him to Seattle for virtually nothing. Our only player with the ability to competently guard Tim Duncan and a few other worthy bigs in the West... Gone. For what? So Sarver could save some money.
As a result of the Kurt Thomas trade, the Suns discovered at the beginning of 2008 that we can't defend a post player to save our life, we can't rebound worth , and Amare is meant to be played at PF, not C. So as a panic move, they traded Shawn Marion in his prime, for an aging, slow, once-dominant center with health problems. Our perimeter defense was decent with Raja Bell and Shawn Marion holding things down, but now our perimeter defense is shot. It's completely and utterly non-existent. Guards and small forwards are raping us routinely, and there's nothing we can do about it. Our post defense has improved slightly, as has our rebounding, but these things mean little when you can't stop your smaller opponents from scoring at will.
I don't blame Shaq for any of this. Since arriving in Phoenix, he has put up good stats, better than most people expected out of him. For the most part, he's hustled, allowed Amare to dominate at the PF position, and overnight turned us from the worst rebounding team in the league, to arguably one of the best.
Like Jack White says, you can't take the effect and make it the cause. You don't lay the blame at the feet of the Big Saguaro when it seems like he's genuinely trying to fit in. The blame lies squarely at the foot of Robert Sarver, who has taken our chances of winning a le and defenestrated them. Subsequently, the Suns now have no chance of winning the championship this season, especially since Kurt Thomas is now in San Antonio, and Pau Gasol was giftwrapped and given to the Lakers for approximately the same worth that we got in return for Kurt.
ing A.
Oh, and don't get me started on Mike ing D'Antoni.
If it makes you feel any better, so are the Mavericks.
You know that Mike would have benched you after the 2nd paragraph.
What sucks harder about it is that even though I think the Suns were F'ed in the A largely by D'Antoni's uselessness (I was saying he was a piece of back when he won the COY award, and it wasn't just sour grapes) it will probably be Kerr who will end up with his neck in a noose if they don't get it done this year.
I think the Suns will get it together man. There is too much talent on that team. Once they learn how to utilize Shaq more effectively, they will be fine. They are going through an adjustment period and while they may drop a bit in the standings, they will get it together. Those three losses were to elite western conference teams who are beating almost everyone lately, and one of the victories was against the best team in the East. Its too soon to throw in the towel if you ask me. But I can understand how this would be discouraging.
you're a ing idiot.
as far as the Suns go, it's not looking good, but you can't expect instant chemistry out of this group. It may still take a few more weeks.
I'm not giving up my Suns fandom or defecting to another team or anything like that, but I've lost faith in the idea that the Suns are a championship caliber team. You can't win if your defense is as atrocious as it's been in many years, but that's what happens when you trade away all your best defenders and draft picks.
The biggest problem isn't that the Suns won't win this year--what I'm truly concerned about is the future. The Suns have failed to make any solid draft picks since Barbosa (which was like 5 or 6 years ago, I can't remember), in favor of trading them away for cash. We have Shaq's $20-mil contract on the books for another two years, as well as Diaw's ridiculous $9-mil contract for even longer. We won't have the ability to contend until at least 2010, or longer.
Not to mention the fact that Steve Nash is 34, Shaq is turning 36, Grant Hill is 35, Raja Bell is 31, and Amare's prime years will likely be wasted in this era.
explain.....
I would agree, but the only thing that worries me is I don't know if D'antoni will figure out how to use Shaq more effectively. In fact, he's trying to make him change his game instead of letting him play the way he has in the past that has helped teams win championships.
Last edited by Jeremy; 02-28-2008 at 03:51 PM.
Nash still has a good 2-3 years don't you think? Shaq not so much....
Amare is still very young. Bottom line- need a new coach. The D'Antoni philosophy just doesn't work. Get someone in there to teach the guys HOW to defend, not just say...ok, now play better defense.
Please go back to lurking.
Who would you suggest? I'm all for firing Mike D'Antoni right this instance, but I'm not sure who would be a suitable replacement.
Larry Brown maybe?
I would love to see JVG coach the suns and make them into a 85ppg team
Thats true. D'Antoni is one stubborn ass mofo.
I agree it's early but valid points are made. Rebounding the SUNS have become Much better and post defense i would say is better as well, (if someone chooses to bang with SHAQ) ...but no way if im the Spurs, JAzz, Lakers and dont get me started on GState or Hornets would I bang with Shaq ...i would run him ragged. Like we did, the hornets did and the Pistons. Shaq has played well but he is not mobile ... even LAST year the bulls ran him off the floor in the first round ... no way they win more than 1 round in the playoffs in this WEST ...
I still think they just need time. They will get it figured out by the playoffs.
As far as Mike goes though, him playing Shaq over 30 minutes a game is truly making him look like the worst coach in the NBA. This team really needs to cut his minutes in half and give some other guys those minutes.
I just don't think time will play much of a factor in ameliorating their defensive deficiencies, particularly on the perimeter.
Furious George will probably be looking for work after this season.
Time wont do anything....these role players the suns have became "somebody's" because of the run and gun offense DAntoni had. They were able to take easy shots all day. Now that Shaq slows down the offense and clogs up the lane...the role players are back to being scrubs.
Larry Brown wants back in the NBA. The Suns should make a run at him.
It's not so much as Shaq not fitting in as Phoenix lost their second best player. Amare only plays on one side of the court. Also Amare relies on the lane being open and Marion allowed for that to happen. Less fastbreak points as well since Marion liked to take off early for easy points. Diaw isn't a good enough shooter to replace Marion.
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