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Gonna be weird with no D'Antoni out there... not the same.
Oh, and yes, duncan228 kicks ass.
Gonna be weird with no D'Antoni out there... not the same.
Suns open up season in San Antonio
(Sports Network) - The veteran-laden San Antonio Spurs will open the 2008-09 season tonight against the Phoenix Suns at the AT&T Center.
San Antonio enjoyed another successful campaign last year despite losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. It has reached the playoffs for the past 11 years thanks to the guidance and tutelage of head coach Gregg Popovich. Popovich has led the Spurs to four NBA les in his 12 seasons as head coach and the team ended 56-26 in 2007-08.
All-Star center Tim Duncan will lead the Spurs once again after averaging 19.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 78 games last season. Duncan will begin his 12th season in the league. Point guard Tony Parker is the one of the youngest on the squad and posted 18.8 points and 6.0 assists per contest in 2007-08. In bad news for San Antonio, top bench player Manu Ginobili underwent surgery on his left ankle in September and is expected to be sidelined until December. Ginobili, who went down in the 2008 Beijing Games for Argentina, notched 19.5 points, 4.8 boards and 4.5 assists last season.
Popovich still has Michael Finley, defensive mastermind Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto to round out the starting five. With no Brent Barry or Robert Horry on the roster, the Spurs added Roger Mason Jr. for support.
Phoenix, meanwhile, will kick off the Terry Porter era on Wednesday. Porter is a defensive-minded coach who spent the past two seasons as an assistant molding Detroit into a two-dimensional threat. The Pistons led the league in scoring defense at 90.1 points per game in 2007-08.
Porter will now try to instill a stronger approach on defense after the Suns allowed 105.0 ppg in 2007-08, good enough for 25th in the NBA. Former head coach Mike D'Antoni is now in New York trying to rebuild the Knicks with his high-tempo style of play. The Suns were third in the NBA with 110.1 points per game last season under D'Antoni and went 55-27 before losing to the Spurs in five games in the opening round of the postseason.
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash is back for another year with the Suns and averaged 16.9 points and 11.1 assists last season. He also finished second in three-point percentage at 47.0 and fifth in free throws at 90.6 percent.
Future Hall of Fame center and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal will kick off his first full season in Phoenix. The big man was acquired from the Miami Heat last season and posted 12.9 points and 10.6 boards in 28 contests with the Suns. O'Neal should have a better season under Porter's new scheme instead of having to run the floor.
Forward Amare Stoudemire is at full strength and posted 25.2 points and 9.1 rebounds in 2007-08. His numbers have improved since O'Neal joined the team. Stoudemire (finger) is probable for Wednesday.
Porter will also start Matt Barnes and Raja Bell, while Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa and first-round draft pick Robin Lopez will come off the bench.
The Suns won three of four matchups with San Antonio last year and are 4-2 in the past six encounters. Phoenix has won two in a row at the AT&T Center
at least we will still have the angry, bitter, insecure suns fans to make fun of.
Shaq just doesn't shut up.
Suns taking cues from Spurs?
Defense, role play among alterations
by Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
For years, Shawn Marion stretched that long arm to the top of a Suns' hand huddle and counted, "one, two, three," before the team yelled, "Suns!" to end practice.
These days, every practice ends with a reminder of what much of it is about.
"One, two, three, defense," they call out.
The Suns tweaked the roster to help the defense, mainly by hiring Terry Porter as coach to overhaul schemes, drafting 7-foot center Robin Lopez in the first round to protect the middle and by signing free agent Matt Barnes. But for the most part, Phoenix put its defense in a microwave, looking for a change to come from within and in a hurry.
Six months to the day that they were eliminated at AT&T Center, the Suns return to open their season against a Spurs team that they seem to have emulated in attempts to upgrade the defense, half-court execution and role play.
Being ousted by San Antonio in three of the past four seasons will do that.
The Suns weren't atrocious defensively last season. Their offensive style allowed teams to score 105.2 points per game, but their defensive-shooting percentage (45.6) was tied for 12th lowest in the NBA. Despite having a decorated defender in Raja Bell, the Suns were panned for not getting timely stops and being most vulnerable in the NBA's bread-and-butter play - the screen-and-roll.
Porter has installed a scheme that sends opposing ballhandlers to the side and baseline, like most defenses.
"We're getting used to it," Bell said. "We've just got to get reps at it and make sure it's second nature. We're doing a good job of getting there. We're not there 100 percent where we just know and it's second nature."
It did not help the Suns that Amaré Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa, two regulars who must improve defensively, were not able to participate for much of the first month.
The Suns' team defense will rely on their improvement and how well they react to opponents' attacks on Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal with high screen-and-rolls.
"It depends on how open they are to the idea of defense," ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said. " . . . How open are they to more practice time on the defensive end, and how will it impact their at ude if it's not as successful right away?
"Amaré made bold statements that they didn't pay enough attention to defense. Now that they are paying attention, let's see how much focus he has to improve that part of his game.
"The great team defenders have great anticipation. The lesser ones are always a step late. It'll be interesting to see if what they've done in the preseason has helped him in his rotations."
Nash said it is more about how much the Suns buy into their team defense, saying previous coach Mike D'Antoni's schemes were good enough to work, too, if executed. Since the start of camp, Porter has used the phrase "trust factor."
"It's five guys guarding the pick-and-roll," Nash said. "We have to get good at that. In many ways, it's the anchor of a lot of teams' defenses. Hopefully we can have a big presence around the basket and deter people from getting in there."
Conversely, O'Neal has put it on the guards to stay in front of their men.
Porter also has talked about the importance of perimeter defenders preventing quick "blow-bys" and also dictating where the ball goes so that options are eliminated and the defense can be set.
"The key is that if I make him (a penetrator) take a tough shot, somebody's got to box (the Spurs' Tim) Duncan out," O'Neal said. "Everybody has to be on the same page. I'm not going to give anybody any shot. I'm going to rough them up pretty bad or make him take a tough shot."
WooHoo! Bring on the geezer fest! Maybe Parker and Amare can joke about hold old everyone else is during timeouts.
duncan228 rocks!
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