Let’s Talk Suns

Wow. They let another one slip away from them. There are no excuses this year. Just sloppy play, poor execution, and a lot of missed freethrows. How fitting (again, sorry for harping on this point) that the very thing Shaq never bothered to work on throughout his career, was the very thing that cost his team the victory in this series. He shot a putrid 9-20 at the line last night…uh, those all counted Shaq, especially since your team lost by 5 points.

And, yeah, I’ve got to go back to my other favorite whipping boy, Amare Stoudamire. He was frustrated after the game, but not at himself. Instead, he concentrated his wrath on others…

About Mike D’Antoni’s decision to focus the offense through Boris Diaw, he said, “The decision was made by the head coach. We’ve got to live with it.”

He also ran D’Antoni through the ringer by criticizing the switching of philosophy from the style of play that the Suns ran during the regular season, to what they did in the playoffs. And then chimed in with this little gem, “We need to find out who our go-to player is, find out who’s going to have the ball in their hands, then go to it.” Of course, he nominated himself as that guy.

First and foremost, if you want to be that guy, how about taking responsibility for your own part in the failure. I mean, last year, he effectively cost them the series by disregarding the “strict” rule and jumping off the bench (we’ll get back to this point in a bit).

This year, instead of looking at what he did wrong, like shooting 9-25 in the last two games and 19-30 from the line over the series, he is instead complaining because the coach took a different approach to trying to beat the Spurs.

How about explaining Tim Duncan’s 9, yes 9, offensive rebounds last night? Or his 5.4 offensive rebounds per game for the series? Or Kurt Thomas’ 3 offensive rebounds—his 12 overall rebounds last night?

How about acknowledging the fact that he doesn’t know any fundamentals. That he doesn’t know how to stay grounded on defense. That he gets lost on rotations. That he never, ever, ever, ever, EVER boxes out. That, despite being by far the most athletically gifted player on the floor, he got out-rebounded by a guy who played 10 minutes less than him. Obviously, Amare learned nothing from Kurt Thomas. He didn’t learn how to use his body as leverage, how to, uh boxout, how to use his head.

Let’s see what else…Amare doesn’t show real well on the high pick and roll. He picks up dumb fouls. He leaves his feet to block shots too often. Seems to me that his new role model Shaq has taught him quite a few things…including throwing coaches under the bus for team failure and even how to miss freethrows.

And that’s why I’ve dubbed Amare, Shaq-lite. Duncan murdered Shaq on the rebounds 17-9. Sure, Duncan played more, but Shaq got himself into foul trouble. Plus, he doesn’t boxout. And on defense, he showed at all the wrong times—like several mishaps where he showed on Tony Parker, even though Parker hadn’t hit a single jump shot in the game. 

So, Amare, learn from your peers—Nash, Duncan, even Raja Bell, who acknowledge his poor play and responded by being more aggressive. He helped to get Manu Ginobili in foul trouble, thus helping the team.

Shaq shouldn’t be the guy you look up to STAT. He’s a veteran, yes, but he’s also the guy who got all of his because he was the biggest, strongest, most dominating athlete on the floor. His lack of refined skills and his lack of motivation and his lack of a workmanlike attitude, is all wrong for you.

Okay, let’s take a little break from Suns bashing to bash Commissioner David Stern. Seriously, for all the good you’ve done—go to hell man. This atrocity with the Sonics and now this blatant disregard for your own rules is too much. It’s almost so sickening I don’t even have the stomach for NBA basketball anymore.

Kevin Garnett threw his elbow into the throat and jaw area of Zaza Pachulia, and when Pachulia went into Garnett’s face, KG did not back down, but had to be restrained by an official. I mean you were at the game. YOU David, saw it firsthand. After KG was pulled away, a couple of his players got in a scruff, and he forcibly pushed the referee that was holding him back off of him. For those who didn't see it, you can view it here http://youtube.com/watch?v=H2bh6u8_VW8

No suspension despite the fact that both Marvin Williams and Kendrick Perkins both left the bench area. What gives David? What the hell gives? How do you explain that to all of the Phoenix fans out there? What is your rationalization? What evidence or loophole in the rulebook are you going to pull out of your butt in order to explain this?

Okay…back to the Suns diatribe.

Nash, is no longer Nash. After that brilliant game one, and as Mike D’Antoni continued to refocus his offense, Nash went from near MVP to allstar play to bench player to completely irrelevant. In fact, he had three turnovers in the last couple of minutes, the last one, completely sealing Phoenix’s fate.

I’ve got a couple of suggestions. The first is trade Barbosa to a team like Houston for players like Luther Head and Chuck Hayes or to the Cavs for Anderson Varejao and Daniel Gibson…maybe those aren’t going to work out.

Antonio Daniels would be perfect. They need a guard who can play 20-25 minutes and start. Nash doesn’t play well with Shaq. Shaq and Amare clog the floor too much. When Nash really shined in thi series was when Shaq was on the bench and he was allowed more freedom to create. Daniels is the type of player who can play some defense, get the ball where it needs to go, and hit open jump shots.

Bringing Nash off the bench would allow him to run with the second unit. I mean, if they can’t beat them, why not join them? He could win sixth man of the year over manu. It would give the Suns a different look and also maximize the talents of all the players they have on their roster.

Just a thought that I will be looking further into tomorrow.