Suns vs Celtics

[mogrovejo]

As a basketball fan, I feel aggravated by Kerr's decisions this off-season - and I'm very far from being the "all/most/some GMs are clueless" kind of fan. The Suns were a few moves away from being a serious contender; however, thanks to Kerr's idiocy they don't have a chance. And the flaws were so evident... It's a shame, he's wasting a year of Stoudemire's career and maybe the last championship-level season Nash and Shaq have on them. What a disgrace.

[mogrovejo]

Shaq on the Big 3:



“They had a great season last yea. They did it the right way. They did it the respectable way, so my hat goes off to the three Boston amigos.”
“If you look at the makeup of those guys, they’ve always been very unselfish. They were just on teams where they were the go-to guys and they had to take all the shots. And those guys are very nice guys. They stay out of trouble off the court. You can tell by the makeup that they’re nice gentlemen.
“Watching that series from a fan’s standpoint reminded me of the old Boston days, where you’d see three or four Hall of Famers playing together.”

KG on Shaq:

“It is like holding up a wall,” Garnett said. “Go home, basically knock out the foundation in your house and just hold up the wall, and when it’s about to fall on you that’s what it’s like holding onto Shaq. Yeah, that’s it. Go home, knock the foundation out, just off the side of your house, just knock it out. As the wall is coming toward you, just hold it up. In fact, hold it up for 48 minutes.”
Garnett paused, looking at a copy of the freshly printed game summary sitting in front of him on the table, then said, “Make it two hours and 15 minutes (the time of game).”
Wait! Can the guy holding up the house put it down during timeouts?
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Have someone else in your house come hold it, take a break, take some Gatorade and then come back and just hold it up. That’s what it’s like. Let it fall on you, and then try to pick it back up. You’re not going to stop Shaq. Shaq’s too big and clever. He’s been in this game a long time and you don’t just score 25,000 points.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/b...46477&srvc=rss

[Allanon]

Dear Shaq, Steve and Duhmare',

You can pull up your pants, the Celtics are done with you now. You will find your money on the bedside dresser. Mssrs. Garnett, Allen and Pierce appreciate you not making eye contact during the session.

That pretty much sums up the game. I would never have believed that ass-raping if I hadn't seen it myself.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Can they just buy Shaq out of his contract and let him go to a team who will affectively utilize him, I'm tired of Shaq getting double teamed down low and the other 4 players just standing around watching rather than trying to get open, Amare does this a lot.

Unless the ball is in his hands or he's setting a pick for a Nash screen and roll, Amare just stands around and watches the game. On defense it's even worse he just stands in one spot and watches the ball choosing when to go for a steal or block since guarding the player you're told to guard doesn't get you any stats.

[lurker]

Nash will be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight. Maybe Pierce will loan him his wheelchair. I imagine it would be hard to walk after being the Celtics' little .

[lefty]

Nash will be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight. Maybe Pierce will loan him his wheelchair. I imagine it would be hard to walk after being the Celtics' little .

Nash and Dirk are in the same boat

[Findog]

As a basketball fan, I feel aggravated by Kerr's decisions this off-season - and I'm very far from being the "all/most/some GMs are clueless" kind of fan. The Suns were a few moves away from being a serious contender; however, thanks to Kerr's idiocy they don't have a chance. And the flaws were so evident... It's a shame, he's wasting a year of Stoudemire's career and maybe the last championship-level season Nash and Shaq have on them. What a disgrace.

I blame Sarver's cheapskate ways more than Kerr. They were not going to win a le as is under D'Antoni with his indifference to defense and his short rotations. And Marion had to go - I don't know that I would've done Marion for Shaq, as the rumored Marion for AK deal would've made more sense. But they have always had a crippling weakness at backup PG and had many opportunities to address it. Instead, they sold off first-round draft picks to stay out of luxury tax territory when they could've easily made that money back with the revenue that comes from winning a championship. They sold the pick that became Rondo and they traded Rudy Fernandez (or was it Sergio Rodriguez?) to Portland. Sarver saved money on the front end when he probably could've made it back on the back end.

[Indazone]

With Shaq, Nash and Amare, clearly Porter is not the coach to lead them forward. With the squad they have it's going to have to be a Pat Riley type coach or protege with a solid defensive mindset to lead them to the promised land. That means JVG, Thibodeau or Stan Van Gundy.

[mogrovejo]

I blame Sarver's cheapskate ways more than Kerr. They were not going to win a le as is under D'Antoni with his indifference to defense and his short rotations. And Marion had to go - I don't know that I would've done Marion for Shaq, as the rumored Marion for AK deal would've made more sense. But they have always had a crippling weakness at backup PG and had many opportunities to address it. Instead, they sold off first-round draft picks to stay out of luxury tax territory when they could've easily made that money back with the revenue that comes from winning a championship. They sold the pick that became Rondo and they traded Rudy Fernandez (or was it Sergio Rodriguez?) to Portland. Sarver saved money on the front end when he probably could've made it back on the back end.

Meh...budgetary reasons aren't an excuse for a badly executed job. They couldn't go over the luxury tax and I assume for good reasons. The financial health - and ultimately the survival - of the franchise is above everything, from my perspective. The idea that they'd be able to win a championship for sure if they hadn't sold those picks

That myth about D'Antoni teams not playing defence has to finish. People can't keep being influenced by the pace of the game.

Right now, the Suns are the 26th best defensive team in the NBA.
Last season, with D'Antoni, they were the 16th best.
The season before that, the 13th best.
And in 05/06, the 16th best.

So, they went from being an average or slightly above average defensive team under D'Antoni - and mostly because they didn't have enough quality defenders - to a very bad defensive team this season. Yeah, they don't allow so many PPG, but that's exclusevely because thy play much slower.

ANyway, my point is about his Summer moves. He needed a backup PG - he got a kid who wasn't nowhere near ready to fill that role (and with limited potential). He needed a backup big - he got a kid who wasn't nowhere near ready (and with limited potential). He needed a wing stopper - he got Barnes who can't defend.

With the same assets, he could have signed Tyronne Lue and Quinton Ross, drafted Speights or Hibbert and some guy like Mbah a Moute. They'd be contenders by now. His decisions were very puzzling to me.

[Findog]

[QUOTE]

Meh...budgetary reasons aren't an excuse for a badly executed job. They couldn't go over the luxury tax and I assume for good reasons. The financial health - and ultimately the survival - of the franchise is above everything, from my perspective.

They couldn't go over the luxury tax bc like many owners, the idea is odious to Sarver. Look at the Celtics - they went over the luxury tax to trade for Garnett and sign the role players necessary to fill out the roster. I'm sure that between the jersey sales and the 14 home playoff games, Boston made the money back. And I highly doubt the financial health of the franchise was at stake if they went over the luxury tax. It's always easy to dump salary later on and hold a fire sale.

The idea that they'd be able to win a championship for sure if they hadn't sold those picks

Nash has ALWAYS broken down in the playoffs from playing heavy minutes. A reliable backup or another defensive big man would've gone a long way. There are no guarantees in sports. There was no guarantee that KG, Allen and Pierce would mesh so well and win a le, but it was a risk worth taking. The Suns never made an attempt to shore up their roster's weaknesses.

That myth about D'Antoni teams not playing defence has to finish. People can't keep being influenced by the pace of the game.

Right now, the Suns are the 26th best defensive team in the NBA.
Last season, with D'Antoni, they were the 16th best.
The season before that, the 13th best.
And in 05/06, the 16th best.

So, they went from being an average or slightly above average defensive team under D'Antoni - and mostly because they didn't have enough quality defenders - to a very bad defensive team this season. Yeah, they don't allow so many PPG, but that's exclusevely because thy play much slower.

I never said the Suns were horrible defensively under D'Antoni, but they were never anything better than average, adjusted for pace. Up-tempo, fastbreak teams can win les (Showtime Lakers), but the Suns never committed to playing the kind of defense that it takes. Those Showtime Lakers could play defense. You have to be elite defensively, and the Suns never were.