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so i guess shaq to TUSA is true
Suns looking to address defense
by Paul Coro - Apr. 16, 2009 07:36 PM
The Arizona Republic
Welcome to the Suns' off-season, a six-month hiatus that will be longer than the season for a change.
The agenda is laid out, though some of the particulars are hazy.
The first priority will be signing interim head coach Alvin Gentry to a contract to make his status permanent. After that, the Suns have a probable No. 14 pick in the June draft and a contract extension to negotiate with Steve Nash. All the while, there is the task of revamping a roster through trades or July free agency to be better defensively and perhaps lighter financially.
What you see as a 46-36 non-playoff team will be treated as a team that should have won 50-plus games if not for turmoil.
"I don't think you blow up a team that's pretty good, that has a chance to be very good," Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. "You try to improve that team. We have to make every effort to do so under some difficult cir stances."
At this time last year, several Suns told Kerr that they needed more defensive emphasis. They asked for accountability but resisted new coach Terry Porter's ways, largely because he changed the offense too. Now, they again will try to address a defense that worsened.
"There was kind of hangover effect this year," Kerr said. "We've been a championship contender the last three or four years. We never got to the Finals but always felt like we had a chance. This year, we were hanging on to that hope. The reality was we were a good team but we weren't a le contender. I think that was hard for all us to accept - our players, coaches, those of us in management, our fans especially."
As he seeks an extension through 2013, Nash embraces the idea of a transition that may not put the team in the le mix.
"I'd be happy just to be a part of a really positive and optimistic atmosphere," Nash said. "Be a part of a team that was really on the same page, plays together, plays hard every night and makes the season exciting for one another and the fans. You may say I'm lowering my expectations but I think that's a great place to start. If that's a goal for us, maybe we can get to the next level. But I think sometimes it's difficult to start playing the Band-Aid game and always put a Band-Aid over problems."
Nash said the team needs to add defenders, specifically "a couple active big guys who could take up a lot of space with their athleticism and energy."
That is not Shaquille O'Neal and has not been Amaré Stoudemire.
If Nash's defense is leaving them vulnerable on the ball, an adjustment will be needed behind him by replacing O'Neal and/or Stoudemire or alongside him with Jason Richardson, who Kerr feels can be a better defender.
There are no illusions of defensive grandeur but the aim is to help the NBA's top offense with timely stops. Trading for O'Neal boosted post defense but weakened perimeter defense.
"We've got to continue to add guys with the right mindset and the athleticism that we need to become better defensively," Kerr said. "You slowly but surely build up the personnel. You try to make the transition as the older guys move on and break in younger guys. Hopefully, you win a lot of games while you're doing so."
Kerr did not address Stoudemire's desire for a maximum extension this summer and said O'Neal is not a certain trade commodity. O'Neal said the Suns are "not far at all" from le contention if they stick to a consistent style rather than be "jibbly-jabbly" again.
"There's an old adage that I heard from the great Michael Jordan," O'Neal said. "It says, 'Before you succeed, you must learn to fail.' I've been lucky enough to have been there six times but I know how it is to fail. I'm actually the type of guy that it makes me hungrier. It makes me stronger. I didn't believe I could play the way I played this year.
"I'll be looking forward to having another fabulous year next year and another two after that."
Grant Hill is a free agent but already registered his older daughter for next year at her Valley school.
"I plan on being here," he said. "This feels like home."
This what happens when inexperienced, crappy general managers say too much about a player publicly and give that player the idea he's above everyone else in the locker room. This started at the trade deadline when he said, "Everyone but Steve Nash is on the block," when Nash had done nothing this season to earn that untouchable status.
The fact that Nash is brazen enough to indirectly go for the jugular of the starting PF and C who have had to play help defense on the player he's been supposed to guard all year while refusing to take any blame for the defensive cluster this year is completely disgusting and egotistical.
If people think I'm just hating, then I guess the entire national media is just hating as well. Broadcasters like Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy who in the past respected Nash to the highest extreme clearly have a soured opinion of him now after his "Have fun before you win games" behavior this season.
that Nash2timeMvp loser that just signed up today. I can't wait to hear that piece of 's excuse for Nash on this one.
so i guess shaq to TUSA is true
That bus is now totalled
I also find it hilarious Kerr literally will talk about needing to get better on defense and then in the very next sentence talk about extending Nash.
That's the equivalent of a fat kid talking about how he needs to get skinny and then in the next sentence talk about he's going on a 1 month all McDonalds diet.
Weird how the one guy they should have traded (nash) they didn't. It's almost like the Suns front office thinks of the dumbest possible move they can make and then does that.
Amare's the best player on their team. Trade whatever they can for Rubio and work from there.
Rubio is definitely the best guy in the draft pool of this year, but their own lottery picks may be high enough to get them Rubio, considering there're many idiotic GMs that may select other guys rather than Rubio and pass him onto the suns.
Rubio se bueno.
HAHAHAHHAAHHAAHAHHAAHAHAHHAA Nash talking about defense...
By far the biggest problem on Suns defense is him.
The ONLY logical thing would be to completely blow up the team.
Nash is done, Shaq is virutally done and Amare is a bag without the winning mentality and toughness.
Not "by far", really. Since the rules changes in 2004 there's only so much a guard can do defensively, and a big man has always been more important on defense than any guard.
So Amare Stoudemire in particular and O'Neal as well are bigger problems than Nash, though he isn't helping.
I believe that you should be "stout" defensively at:
A) the point of attack/on ball etc..
B) the rim
In other words, you'd better have a strong defensive presence at either PG or SG
AND
at C or PF.
The SUNS have none of those.
Hill, Barnes, and Dudley are our best defenders.
We've got a little "D" at the wings but zero "D" where it's most important.
IMO
as long as you guys dont get griffin im cool with this
Are you referring to hand checking limitations as in you can't breath on a defender on the perimeter? I remember how Ron Harper used to be a premiere defender because he would hand check the out of opponents getting steals left and right. Then the NBA changed the rule probably to keep other players from emulating him leading to perimeter defense consisting of trying to keep a hand in the defender's face praying they don't jump into you to draw a foul.
I agree.
Nash makes Tony Parker look like Michael Jordan
Everyone! Lets throw the whole team under the bus. Yay!!!!
sons it ALL boils down to the fact that Nash is WHITE and he sells a LOAD of tickets and jerseys / merchandise for the Suns. period. Even if his performance on the court is declining every year and his defense is a joke, he is still VERY profitable for the Suns from a business point of view.
Apparently taking the WHiTE out of the team causes the offense to collapse... Seriously does anyone pay attention to when barbosa or dragic guard people like parker? They get torched too. Why? Because if their man gets by them, it's a clear path to the hoop. Why? Because the big men don't rotate. Look at Duncan, he rotates... He's not super athletic, but he has the presence of mind to do the right thing. Put parker on the current suns and he'll have trouble too.
haha BRHorn. Thank you for giving me a great laugh for today.
Bricklayer ftw.
Nash is right in every sense that is logical.
For Amare, the short bus.
For Shaq, the snack bus.
What can I say about say about the Suns that hasn't already been said about Afganistan - they look bombed out and depleted.
Stern owes the Suns a high lottery pick this year... he can feed the Knicks Ewing in '85... why not feed the Suns someone worth it this year.
He doesn't torch them nearly as bad as he torches Nash. You're a basketball moron if you think their defensive issues have nothing to do with Nash. Barbosa is almost as bad a defender as Nash so the Barbosa part makes no sense.
This is just another reminder of why a hard working defender like Nash has taken three different teams to the finals and won 4 championships while a lazy good for nothing piece of like Shaq has never made the finals.
God dammit Shaq win 4 rings before you pop off at Nash.
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