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LOL. Baby Huey don't scare me with no JJ and Q.
Coaches, mates notice Amaré's expanded game
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 2, 2005 12:00 AM
The Suns officially get back to work Monday, when they go through a circuit of media duties and catch a bus to Tucson for a weeklong training camp.
But Amaré Stoudemire really never stopped working since the playoffs. By his count, he took two weeks off this summer outside of his basketball training and his expanding off-court demands.
You will see it when he drives to his left, pushes the fast break with the dribble, pulls up for jumpers and - gulp - shoots the corner three-pointer. After pickup games, Stoudemire's shooting drills now regularly include long streaks of made threes.
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"I'm ready to go," Stoudemire said. "I'm really trying to win a championship this year. That's what I'm striving for. There are a lot of new guys and there have been some huge changes, but I think it's all for the best to help this team become a champion. That's what it is all about."
Stoudemire committed himself, whether it was occasional trips to America West Arena for workouts with Suns athletic trainers, or asking Phoenix assistant coach Phil Weber to come to Orlando for five days so he could continue the basketball development they did at the arena.
"His mind-set is about as good as it gets," Weber said. "Because of how good he is, some other factors came up this summer that other people don't have to worry about. He did whatever I asked for as long as I asked. He just wants to be the best player he can be."
The pair worked primarily on offense, leaving the defensive adjustments to come from assistant Marc Iavaroni via video lessons. Stoudemire and Weber worked on perimeter moves usually reserved for backcourt players.
Suns power forward Brian Grant, signed this summer, carries the best perspective for Stoudemire's development as a former foe. He knew every scouting report on Stoudemire said to force him left. When he did that during one of last month's voluntary workout games, Stoudemire blew by him.
"Oops," Grant told the coaches. "Guess you can't do that anymore."
Stoudemire said he liked the team's summer moves, although he did make a push for the Suns to try to keep Joe Johnson. Any distaste seems to come from only Johnson's side. Stoudemire said they were "real good friends" and hung out away from basketball.
"I can't hate him for the move he made because it was a smart move on his behalf," Stoudemire said.
The additions of Grant and Kurt Thomas, two veteran post players, were especially pleasing to Stoudemire, who now won't have to guard opponents' top post players and may get more space to operate. He played frequently last month with the team's other additions, including the standout of them all, guard Raja Bell.
"I'm impressed," Stoudemire said. "I think we're going to be even better, especially defensively, and we've still got the offensive game."
LOL. Baby Huey don't scare me with no JJ and Q.
I disagree. Amare can carry the load of scoring if he had to. Now that this team is good defensively they have as good of chance than ever. They are better than last year imo.
You're silly. Last year's team was amazing. Now they're just another two man show. It's easier to guard amare without JJ and Q sitting behind the three point line...
The Spurs have faced the greatest two man show in NBA history.
This will be no problem.
This years team wont have the scoring punch, wont have the fast break ability. It just got older and has better defense and rebounding.
The Mavericks will be able to own the suns next year....even if teams use the strategy of giving amare whatever he wants with 1 on 1 coverage....a good defensive team will be able to shut down every single other player.
Do you expect amare to score 110 points a game himself?
Last edited by Cant_Be_Faded; 10-02-2005 at 12:54 PM.
19 and 20 ppg
if im not mistaken
With Nash as PG I don't see why Phoenix can't continue scoring like last year. Nash made Q and Joe Johnson with his ability to find open shooters. Of course they had to make it but why won't Bell and Jim Jackson be able to do the same or close to it? Kurt Thomas just adds to their rebounding. You are underrating Phoenix.
i think youre overrating them
the 2005 jim jackson and raja bell arent both capable of averaging 20
their whole game was scoring and shooting and it didnt work against the spurs
now with 40 ppg gone, kurt thomas isnt going to matter
With the suns system they can be pretty close. More attention will be drawn to Amare than even last year giving open shots to Kurt Thomas, R. Bell, and J. Jackson. Marion can also hit shots. Plenty of scorers.
What you have in Phoenix this year is the ability to form a very good defensive and average scoring team with a solid go to player.
However
Nash is not going to gain the ability to defend his man any better, so phoenix will still be incapable of maintaining point guards.
Amare will have to make HUGE strides on defense. That will remain to be seen.
Marion can play good d. He's always had it. So no worries there.
Raja Bell can play good d. But comparing his open jumper to that of Quentin Richardson or Joe Johnson is totally absurd...
Kurt Thomas is undersized and will be playing for the first time ever in the Western Conference (or as i like to call it, where the big boys play)
Jim Jackson is pretty lethal offensively, but old, and has never been a decent defender..
Where are you seeing plenty of scorers?
I think you're going to see phoenix try to run some sets for amare, and when those dont work, move more to a motion offense with nash setting people up. But you can't seriously expect Jim Jackson to contribute much more than he has in his past 4 or 5 years, OR Raja Bell to somehow gain the shooting touch even comparable to Q (a volume 3 point shooter) or JJ (a solid shooter AND slashe/finisher)
2003 were the lakers/mavericks
2004 were the timberwolves/lakers
2005 were the suns/pistons
each of these teams were the closest to winning the championship, but failed.
Next year will be all about Houston, imo. They are a team that has the tools to defend, score, rebound, and run the break. They will be lethal. They have size too.
Phoenix can't boast all that . They totally totally blew it by trying to become defensive, and losing JJ. Blew it.
You gotta be kidding me. Houston? Sura just went through another knee surgery and Stromile Swift hasn't proven anything except being a high jumper.
It is 1. San Antonio
2. Phoenix
3. Dallas
4. Houston imo.
Mavs homer.
Bell is just as good as at least Q. Richardson and close to Joe Johnson. If you didn't notice all the guards on Phoenix have to do is hit open shots because Nash and Amare do all the work with some help from Marion. I see Phoenix averaging around 105 ppg and giving up about 99 ppg which is an improvement from last year.
Houston and Dallas were very evenly matched last year. San Antonio dominated Phoenix. During the regular season, Houston gave San Antonio the most trouble, cuz of good matchups.
I think if Houston had played Phoenix, Houston would have dominated GIVEN that they were able to keep the pace of the game to their tempo. (remember all the people were saying only if YAO could keep running or Houston could control tempo?)
With JJ and Q gone, Phoenix is alot (ALOT!) less faster, and with additions like Thomas and Bell, they're actually wanting to play more like Houston did this past year.
Houston has SIZE man. They got no point guard, but they didn't have one last year either, and the ball is mostly in McGrady's hands anyways.
On the other hand, Phoenix has a point guard that is bad ass on one end, and a total liability on the other.
Alright, I guess we will just wait and see.
But what basis do you have for judging Raja Bell being as good as Quentin and Joe?
I see none.
2 of Houston's wins came off of San Antonio playing on back to back nights. One of them was because Mcgrady caught on fire. Nash might be a liability on defense but one player can't make a team poor defensively. Nash and Amare have good defenders surrounding them now.
Bell>J. Johnson on defense
Marion>Q. Richardson on defense. Nash won't have to guard any of the teams best players because Bell can do that at PG or SG. That is a way to hide a liability. The Pick and Roll is unstoppable between Nash and Amare so that is where teams will have trouble guarding Phoenix.
Here are R. Bell's stats last year.
12.3 PPG, 40.3% 3PT, 45.4% FG. Pretty good and add Nash's passing to that should help him shoot even better.
There's a big flaw in that kind of reasoning though. When you slide Bell over to defend a PG, does Nash just not defend anyone? Well he will be defending a shooting guard, more than 3 inches taller than him.
That is in no way a liability? Are you kidding?
I agree with your player defensive comparisons though.
I agree it can be a problem if a team has a great point guard and a good shooting guard. If a player is 3 inches taller but has no offensive game or very little he can't take advantage of Nash guarding. There are only a couple teams I can think of that can expose Nash's defense. If San Antonio puts in Finley instead of Bowen is a perfect idea. Parker, Billups, and Kidd are the most that come to mind with this but there aren't too many great point guards in the league.
Someone's forgetting Nash isn't getting any younger... And he's very prone to injury.
The same could be said about Ginobili. Ginobili actually takes more hits and Nash does a good job avoiding contact.
A bit late to the discussion but here are some numbers for House, Jones and Diaw.
House .. FG 45% 3Pt 45% FT 85% Pts 6 Minutes 13
Jones .. FG 39% 3Pt 39% FT 85% Pts 5 Minutes 18
Diaw .. FG 42% 3Pt 18% FT 74% Pts 5 Minutes 18
Admittedly they do not have the points going for them, however, their percentages are fairly good and should help the Suns absorb the losses of JJ and Q.
ginobili is younger than nash, come on
and he is prone to contact, not injury, i wouldnt say nash is prone to injury either
So what. It is impossible to be 100% unbias. I just don't think Houston has what it takes to beat Dallas.
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