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Quite the contrast:
Texans drink Lone Star.
Quite the contrast:
There is no doubt that Grant Hill shouldn't be playing 40 minutes. As for Steve Nash, 37 minutes is fine considering he only played 25 minutes the previous night. I don't get why Nash's minutes are such an issue? Oh yeah, that's because Mark Cuban tried to make it an issue. Remember, Nash has played an average of 75 games the last three seasons. He also stays in tremendous shape and has never missed a ton of time due to injury.
His performance tends to drop off the later his teams advance in the playoffs. He broke down against Bibby and Parker his last years in Dallas, and he hasn't played all that well when his Phoenix teams have been eliminated. I agree he's not as fragile as Grant Hill, but I wouldn't play him more than 33 minutes a night in the regular season.
Nash didn't play well in the 04 playoffs but that was one season. That Mavs team had alot of flaws anyway. But in the playoffs the last three seasons, Nash has played great. His last three playoffs average out to 21 ppg, 12 apg and 52 percent shooting. I would argue that the only team that has contained him is the Spurs. Even with that, Nash still managed 20 ppg, 11 apg and 48 percent shooting against them in the 2007 Western Conference semi-finals.
The bad news is Grant Hill is averaging more MPG with the Suns than he did with the Magic.
But the good news is, he's jacking up 2.8 3PA per game.
And hitting at 9%.
Jesus Christ, I think I could coach the Suns better than D'Antoni could.
Tony Parker just lodged 81 minutes in a back to back. Before last year's playoffs Parker is also a player who could be viewed as someone who faded late in the playoffs. Manu also played more minutes than usual albeit slightly.
Yes, there's a big difference between them and Grant Hill and D'Antoni's track record on these things, but even Pop sometimes will have his guys lodge more minutes than you might expect.
Parker is 25 and Pop is trying to knock off some of Parker's rust from not playing much in training camp or the preseason.
Hill is 35 and D'Antoni is playing Hill more in early November than any sane coach would play Hill in late May.
much less knocking off rust than not trusting DW. That's why the major minutes in a b2b.
I agree completely. When the coach doesn't even let the bench guys practice, depth means little to nothing.
Doubt it. Pop could go with more of Manu at point guard if he really wanted to limit Parker's minutes and didn't trust Washington. Parker had to eventually play his way back into shape and playing him major minutes is the fastest way to do that.
Wrong on two counts:
a) Parker's fading never had anything to do with his minutes.
b) There are only two teams which won an NBA le with nobody averaging over 35 minutes per game during the regular season: the 2005 San Antonio Spurs and the 2007 San Antonio Spurs.
He didn't play that great against us in the 06 Conf. Finals. He had a great Game One and the rest of the series he was alright by his standards. He sucked in the elimination game.
The problem with DAntoni is that he isn't learning from his mistakes in the playoffs every season to better the Suns chances the following season. Case in point, their first season together....won 64 some games in the regular season, and in the post season the Spurs annihilated them in 5 easy games showcasing their biggest problem: lack of defense. The following season, he still didn't address this: Adding 1 Raja Bell does not instantly make your entire team a "defensive team." Last year, aside from whatever excuses Suns fans want to make, fact is the 4 games the Spurs did win showcased the Suns other weakness: They have no playmakers outside of Steve Nash, they are horrible at rebounding, and they don't know how to maintain their compsure under pressure playoff situations. So how do they start off this season in response to this? D Antoni already gets into a mindless fight with Phil Jackson over timeouts, they add a "playmaker" in Grant but decide to play him 35-30 minutes early in the season when he clearly shouldn't be, and their rebounding issues still haven't been addressed. Not to mention their short rotations and DAntoni's lack of trust in what happens to be a very good bench he has.
Basically Steve Nash is running the Suns, that's why they look good on paper. Guarantee come playoff time if DAntoni doesn't address any of these issues, which it doesnt look like he will judging from past experiences, Suns are going to be looking at yet another early round exit.
If it's any consolation, I think you could do better as well.
Another wrinkle is that you can't trade players that never play. You'd think Mikey Mike would give these guys some burn, just so he had some hope of generating trade interest.
IIRC, the Suns do not have a dramatic home/away split. When you consider that, there is zero rationale for this behavior.
Just a thought, but this is also consistent with the overall Spurs' team philosophy. You can't preach "team, team, team" and then hand out minutes like MD. Keeping everyone sharp and conditioned is only part of it. Pop's approach means that everyone (well everyone except Beano) knows their roles and knows that they will get PT if they fulfill them.
With the talent on the Phoenix roster, one of my bowel movements could coach them to the Pacific Division le.
D'Antoni is a phony and a fraud who gets lauded because he plays a style that looks pretty, though ultimately it is incompatible with winning championships. He is Paul Westhead with a more talented roster.
If Phoenix had a real coach, Suns fans wouldn't have to whine about the Amare/Diaw suspensions, because they wouldn't have mattered, and the Spurs' dynasty might now be considered a thing of the past.
Losing to the Hawks sucks but that being said they are off to a better start this season compared to last season when they were 1-4. However D'Antoni needs to give Banks,Tucker,Skinner and Strawberry more minutes. On to the Heat.
HAHAHA
Suns are in for a great season!
karma is a !!!!!
Who though? You do want a coach who places more focus and defense and plays his bench more but at the same time you don't want a Jeff Van Gundy who will slow down the offense to a crawl.
I remember Ponky starting this exact same thread towards the end of the season last year.
Of course, she learned her lesson and dissapeared.
The rest of the Mavs fans should take notice and realize they have no room to criticize.
Whatever Avery's minute distribution is, its not working (see playoffs)!!!
Jermaine Jones, James Jones, Kurt Thomas anyone. I know those guys arent great but better than having to run out marks, skinner, and playing Hill 40min a night in game 5 of the season. And props to D'Antoni for making Hill a 3pt shooter
oh ya and thats 41 minutes on the 2nd night of a back to back
he's gonna kill grant.
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