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The Pacers have played 3 really good games against Dallas, NO, and Utah. Other than that they haven't done jack other than put up 117 against the worst defense in the NBA.
Grant Hill is atrocious on defense.
And my original point was that the Grant Hill signing was a good signing, but it will be moot because their defense is worse than ever. You need to quit using the scoring stats in your argument as those are easily skewed by the remarkably horrendous level of compe ion in the EC outside of the top 3 or maybe 4 teams. After Orlando, Boston, and Detroit there is nothing but possibly the Bulls if they decided on a decent way to put the ball in the hole. I will laugh at anyone who suggests the Pacers have the 10th best offense in the NBA.
The Pacers have played 3 really good games against Dallas, NO, and Utah. Other than that they haven't done jack other than put up 117 against the worst defense in the NBA.
Grant Hill has actually been pretty decent on the defensive end this year, so I'm not sure what games you've been watching...anyone who says Grant Hill has played atrocious defense this season is just spouting anti-Suns rhetoric. it's still Amare's defense that is worth being concerned over. Big men eat us alive every night.
Anyway, I'm not too worried right now. It's the beginning of the season, and teams almost never play the same in May as they do in November/December. Half of our core (Nash, Bell, Amare, Barbosa) have been dealing with lingering injuries that have hampered their performance, particularly on defense.
What I'm most worried about this regular season is D'Antoni's distribution of minutes. Can we fire this guy already?
Any old jackass from the Y standing next to Nash and Amare would look like a decent defender. Obviously you're not used to watching actual defense being played since it's been about 6 months since you've had a chance to witness it.
I take that back, this season Nash has added the "take out shin kick" to his defense.
The problem is that Amare is an offensive minded player, but playing him at center means you are relying on him to anchor the defense. I know he's listed 6'10'' or whatever, but he's really only about 6'9'' and thin at that. He's not really the typical big man with great help side shotblocking to anchor the defense.
Take the Mavs for instance. As bad as Dampier may suck, the Mavs are instantly 10 times better with him on the court as opposed to playing Nowitzki at center. Throw in the fact that you need a Tim Duncan type defender in the paint for when Nash gets blown by, and you have a problem. The Suns lack of a real center is what's hurting them more than anything.
You are dead on.
I'm convinced you could put Bill Russell on the Suns and D'Antoni wouldn't give him any minutes.
(waiting for someone to say "well, yeah, he's 73 years old. . . ")
I completely agree with you, which is why I've been a proponent of starting Brian Skinner.
of course not. he can't shoot a 3 with 21 seconds left on the shot clock.
Let's see if he's still standing in 2 months. Dude hasn't played a full season since 1812. He and T-Mac are co-presidents of the Could Be NBA Greats If They Could Stop Being Injured Long Enough.
Grant Hill Is A Very Nice Player Who Does Nothing To Solve The Suns' Biggest Weakness.
The Suns' Coach Stubbornly Refuses to Acknowledge That Interior Defense Matters, Even Though Their Nemesis Has The Greatest Power Forward of All Time, and A Point Guard Who Is The League's Best Finisher Around The Rim.
He Is Too Much In Love With Himself to Make The Necessary Adjustments. Rather, His Solution to Every Problem Is More Scoring.
As of right now, the Spurs and Suns have EXACTLY THE SAME defensive efficiency rating.
That's fine. But in terms of team defense, the Spurs' numbers will be going down as the season goes on. The Suns' won't, if history is any judge.
The defense wasn't THIS out of whack last season, but the Spurs definitely didn't start the season firing on all cylinders defensively.
Which is why I made a point to state that with the Suns this isn't some beginning of the year issue with getting the defense ready. This is how they play it in the playoffs. The Spurs will be right at the top defensively come April and you know it. I anticipated someone bringing this weak argument and made a statement early to avoid it, and you still did it anyway. Try reading the posts.
Until Amare gets a brain transplant, he isn't going to be able to guard Duncan. Sadly... he is the only person on your team that had a chance.
Kurt Thomas was a KILLER last year and you let him go for what?
For an old Brent Barry?
Good Job.
Lot of wishful thinking in this thread from Spurs fans.
News flash: Brian Skinner is playing better than Kurt Thomas ever did.
I find myself trying to ignore how great Grant Hill is playing because Im worried he will eventually go down.
I can't believe what a steal he was. He's playing like a top 30 player in the league right now. Thank god he gave up on the three point shooting and just went to playing his game.
The on-court connection he has made with Nash in the last month is amazing.
Kerr for GM of the year?
Pass that down this way!
Skinner is so awesome that D'Antoni plays him 12 whole minutes per game!
Dude, there's no way the Suns have the worst D in the NBA. That's a real stretch. And Grant doesn't play atrocious defense at all. He's been surprisingly solid on D so far. And just to clarify, nobody was saying the Pacers were the 10th best offense; it was only pointed out that they are averaging the 10th highest PPG, for whatever it's worth. So it's not surprising to see them put up 117 on an up-tempo team like the Suns, in my opinion.
That's evidence of D'Antoni's inep ude, not Skinner's.
Was all of that the le of your post or something? What's with capitalizing every word? Hard on the eyes.
[giggle] ... I just said hard on ...
They're going to run into the same problem with Skinner that they had with Kurt Thomas. Kurt Thomas didn't play much during the regular season, since they didn't need him to beat Charlotte or Memphis. And the same is true with Skinner. But should they go up against San Antonio in the playoffs, Skinner will surely be summoned from the bench to play heavy minutes. I think that hurts their offense, since he won't have 30 minutes a night, 80 games a year, to develop chemistry with the starting lineup. At least Thomas consistently hit that mid-range jumper when the Spurs funneled the ball to him. And even so, the Suns offense was still slowed down and not as effective. I don't see Skinner being able to match what Thomas did.
Whatever. Pointing to past accomplishments when current performance doesn't support your argument is a little weak, but common and understandable. But insisting that the Suns defense is poor because you imagine that the Spurs D will improve sometime in the future whereas the Suns' D will not isn't any sort of argument at all.
At any rate, my point wasn't that the Spurs defense is no good -- of course it is. My point was that both the Suns and Spurs are in the top-10 NOW in defensive efficiency. Insisting that the Suns' defense is the worst in the league may be comforting to Spurs fans, but it simply isn't true anymore. Even in the Pacers game, the Pacers were held to just 43% from the field.
(By the way, the Spurs are currently number 1 in offensive efficiency. Kind of amusing, in a way.)
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