GameTime: T'Wolves @ Suns - 11/1/09

[LV-Suns]

I think this was Amare's best game since he started playing again. He was patient the whole time, didn't force anything. He collected himself after he got the ball in his, he made sure he wouldn't get the ball snatched off when he put the ball on the floor. I liked the activity he bought on defense, provided a shot-blocking presence. He only settled for the jumper once when he got the ball; he was trying to get to the basket. I am expecting him to only improve every game from now.

[Nando88]

if we let amare walk.... who would we go after? bosh...?

[Jimmy76]

if we let amare walk.... who would we go after? bosh...?

Sarver takes the savings and runs

We resign Frye at market price too to keep this team competitive enough to get people to buy some tickets

God i hope im wrong

[lilfishi22]

Resigning Frye won't make us competitive enough to sell tickets.

[dantian]

I don't understand how you lose explosiveness when he's been able to rest for 4/5 months because of the eye injury. I think he's just tentative/out of shape. I think he'll be the Amar'e of old around Dec.

If all you could do was lying on your belly 22 hours a day over 2 months and not doing any physical activity for some other length of time, you might have enough muscle power to sustain it. But he might get some of it back with time.

[dantian]

Frye has an option for next season. But it's a long season. Teams will adjust to him and we will see how he responds. Due to his lack of defense, he hardly can be a starter anywhere else but Suns. I don't think he can get MLE type of contract with any other team. Let's wait and see.

[chriscringle95]

Amare is in game shape now and don't believe much of the rhetoric saying otherwise. He may not be 100 percepnt but their is suspicion he'll never be the Amare of old. He is lacking the explosiveness... evidenced by one real dunk in these three games. He is not elevating like he used to and this has been noticed. Wether this is a subconcious fear of jostling his eye or a knee issue I haven't heard.

Totally disagree. Anyone who plays or has played sports at a high level (like me) knows that with that much of a layoff you will not be as explosive as you were before immediately. He also is using the games to get into shape (high minutes) because the season is underway and there is no time outside of the games to condition. That down time has to be used to rest his body. As someone else said before the eye injury he was flying around and looking dominate so without a major injury he has no reason but to go up from here. Aaron Nelson will make sure of that.

Amare is 100% healthy as far as injuries, but he is not 100% in basketball shape. Basketball shape is an extremely high level of conditioning. Most anyone who is in decent shape and exercises regularly would barf while trying to run multiple sprints and drills. Then you have actual NBA game shape where your not only running in a straight line but sliding/shuffling your feet,jumping, stopping/starting with someone of the best athletes in all of sports.

The Suns are playing a style that requires it's players to be in optimal shape so it should be expected that he will have an adjustment period due to his conditioning.

[realsunsfan]

Amare is in game shape now and don't believe much of the rhetoric saying otherwise. He may not be 100 percepnt but their is suspicion he'll never be the Amare of old. He is lacking the explosiveness... evidenced by one real dunk in these three games. He is not elevating like he used to and this has been noticed. Wether this is a subconcious fear of jostling his eye or a knee issue I haven't heard.

Totally disagree. Anyone who plays or has played sports at a high level (like me) knows that with that much of a layoff you will not be as explosive as you were before immediately. He also is using the games to get into shape (high minutes) because the season is underway and there is no time outside of the games to condition. That down time has to be used to rest his body. As someone else said before the eye injury he was flying around and looking dominate so without a major injury he has no reason but to go up from here. Aaron Nelson will make sure of that.

Amare is 100% healthy as far as injuries, but he is not 100% in basketball shape. Basketball shape is an extremely high level of conditioning. Most anyone who is in decent shape and exercises regularly would barf while trying to run multiple sprints and drills. Then you have actual NBA game shape where your not only running in a straight line but sliding/shuffling your feet,jumping, stopping/starting with someone of the best athletes in all of sports.

The Suns are playing a style that requires it's players to be in optimal shape so it should be expected that he will have an adjustment period due to his conditioning.

+1 Chriscringle, sometimes these post's make absolutely no sense..............

[sunsfever68]

Yeah lets judge Amare in a couple weeks at the very least not after 3 games. After 15 games let's see where he's at. I'll be surprised if he's not putting up 25 a game and grabbing (hopefully) 9 boards a game or so.

I liked what I saw from Amare last night blocking some shots trying to defend the inbounds pass. He's trying to get better on that end I can see it.

[Sun Scorched]

Does Grant Hill have a 1 or 2 year deal? If it's 1 we'll prob let him go, extend Frye and start Duds or EC next year. Frye is a major weapon we need to lock him up.

If Grant wants to play longer, he'll play longer.

Hill + Dudley is one of the least expensive SF rotations in the league, by far. There is absolutely no reason to let Grant walk.

If I remember correctly, you were in favor of starting Dudley over Hill. In my opinion, starting a guy like Dudley means you're way too thin as a team and we are already walking that fine line as it is.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen a bench hustle like ours does in a long time.

But for now and into the forseeable future, Hill starts and as long as Hill continues to play professional basketball he needs to be a Sun.

[sunsfever68]

in order for this team to have a year where we finish in the top 4 in the west a few things have to happen imo

1. Amare has to be producing big time with the precursor that he doesn't get alot of shots either because that can hurt the team. I'm saying somewhere around 24 and 9 and 2 blocks a game shooting 50 percent or better on let's say 16 shots. His defense and rebounding have to pick up as well. We've seen faint signs so far.
2. Jason Richardson has to have a big impact on the defensive end. His offense will come I just hope he's smart enough not to jack up alot of shots and pick his spots. I love him down in the post against smaller guards we should go to that more if we go to a half court offense
3. Obviously staying healthy is a big key but I think one guy off the bench besides Barbosa has to become a threat to score. Whether it be Dragic, Dudley, Clark or maybe even Lopez we need a second scorer off the bench.

The guy with the most potential to be that second scorer off the bench is Clark but I don't know how many minutes he'll get when Lopez comes back. I think he should still play 10 minutes a game even because he'll get experience plus he's shown he can rebound and play D something we both need.

[BurningHeart]

Does Grant Hill have a 1 or 2 year deal? If it's 1 we'll prob let him go, extend Frye and start Duds or EC next year. Frye is a major weapon we need to lock him up.

If Grant wants to play longer, he'll play longer.

Hill + Dudley is one of the least expensive SF rotations in the league, by far. There is absolutely no reason to let Grant walk.

If I remember correctly, you were in favor of starting Dudley over Hill. In my opinion, starting a guy like Dudley means you're way too thin as a team and we are already walking that fine line as it is.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen a bench hustle like ours does in a long time.

But for now and into the forseeable future, Hill starts and as long as Hill continues to play professional basketball he needs to be a Sun.

I agree. I mean, Grant....there really are no words to describe what he does for this team. I'm in love with the guy. Always have been, even moreso now.

[Traxxe]

Amare is in game shape now and don't believe much of the rhetoric saying otherwise. He may not be 100 percepnt but their is suspicion he'll never be the Amare of old. He is lacking the explosiveness... evidenced by one real dunk in these three games. He is not elevating like he used to and this has been noticed. Wether this is a subconcious fear of jostling his eye or a knee issue I haven't heard.

Totally disagree. Anyone who plays or has played sports at a high level (like me) knows that with that much of a layoff you will not be as explosive as you were before immediately. He also is using the games to get into shape (high minutes) because the season is underway and there is no time outside of the games to condition. That down time has to be used to rest his body. As someone else said before the eye injury he was flying around and looking dominate so without a major injury he has no reason but to go up from here. Aaron Nelson will make sure of that.

Amare is 100% healthy as far as injuries, but he is not 100% in basketball shape. Basketball shape is an extremely high level of conditioning. Most anyone who is in decent shape and exercises regularly would barf while trying to run multiple sprints and drills. Then you have actual NBA game shape where your not only running in a straight line but sliding/shuffling your feet,jumping, stopping/starting with someone of the best athletes in all of sports.

The Suns are playing a style that requires it's players to be in optimal shape so it should be expected that he will have an adjustment period due to his conditioning.

Well, one of us is reflecting upon from what he hears within the organization and the other is armchair doctor. Believe me or not I don't really care. I'll take my own insight over yours 9 times out of ten. I'm not saying its a done deal. I'm drawing conections between internal concern and game play.

There is valid concern in the Suns organization about Amare's verticle. As I expressed in my post he has been noted not to be elevating like he used to. Nor is he showing the explosiveness.


In my time here I've never given anyone any reason to doubt me and I've been generally on about anything I say.

[Traxxe]

Amare is in game shape now and don't believe much of the rhetoric saying otherwise. He may not be 100 percepnt but their is suspicion he'll never be the Amare of old. He is lacking the explosiveness... evidenced by one real dunk in these three games. He is not elevating like he used to and this has been noticed. Wether this is a subconcious fear of jostling his eye or a knee issue I haven't heard.

Totally disagree. Anyone who plays or has played sports at a high level (like me) knows that with that much of a layoff you will not be as explosive as you were before immediately. He also is using the games to get into shape (high minutes) because the season is underway and there is no time outside of the games to condition. That down time has to be used to rest his body. As someone else said before the eye injury he was flying around and looking dominate so without a major injury he has no reason but to go up from here. Aaron Nelson will make sure of that.

Amare is 100% healthy as far as injuries, but he is not 100% in basketball shape. Basketball shape is an extremely high level of conditioning. Most anyone who is in decent shape and exercises regularly would barf while trying to run multiple sprints and drills. Then you have actual NBA game shape where your not only running in a straight line but sliding/shuffling your feet,jumping, stopping/starting with someone of the best athletes in all of sports.

The Suns are playing a style that requires it's players to be in optimal shape so it should be expected that he will have an adjustment period due to his conditioning.

+1 Chriscringle, sometimes these post's make absolutely no sense..............

+1 Armchair Doctor #2

[chriscringle95]

Well Traxxe that sounds good but I think he will be fine. I am not an insider or anything, but unless Amare hurt himself while doing a whole lot of nothing while rehabbing his eye (doctors orders), then I think his conditioning and leg strength should return to it's previous level at a minimum over time. Amare will be all of 27 in a couple of weeks. He is just entering his prime and his body is as strong as it will ever be.

Your info is also second hand so unless he doesn't perform over time or someone from the Suns declares Amare is washed up I will believe what I believe.

No offense.

[lilfishi22]

I just don't see why he would lose explosiveness and his hops because of an eye surgery.

Traxxe, please enlighten me.

[rsavaj]

Perhaps he's lost a lot of muscle due to his inactivity? Then again, with that logic he should be able to get some of his explosion back.

[Traxxe]

I never said his eye injury was the cause of his lack of explosiveness and hops.

I said there is concern about Amare's health. This comes from within the organization. I was told to expect Amare not to be able to elevate and that he wouldn't be able to finish strong at the basket. So far what I've been told to expect has been displayed on the court.

If there is something troubling Amare and it is not psychosematic from his eye injury then figure out the rest for yourself. There are places where there is concern. This being Amare's contract year and given past concerns if something minor is impacting him Amare will be more likely to play through it. What I know is that it has been oticed that certain elements of his game are not where they should be regardless of his eye injury. This is creating concern.

Anyway, I'm done with this topic entirely. I don't need to defend myself and I hope that this is not the case because I love the Suns and wish the best possible future for Amare. I hope that future is with our team so if I and this concern inside the Suns is wrong then wonderful!

[dantian]

Perhaps he's lost a lot of muscle due to his inactivity? Then again, with that logic he should be able to get some of his explosion back.

It might sound too logical!

Actually, I believe the current state of less jumping power might be blessing in disguise for Amare's game. Now, to be effective, he has to pay more attention to the surroundings and react sensitively to succeed in his moves, offensive or defensive. It was mentioned that in this game, he took better care of the ball on offense. And we have noticed that he became more patient on defense too with great results. That also explains his low rebounding as he is adjusting to this state of less athletism now and what he could get with speed and power earlier aren't doable now. He will have to learn to rely on better fundamental moves now to get rebounds while boxing out. Let's wait and see. So far, he seems to have adjusted rather well, given the conditions.

[rsavaj]

I never said his eye injury was the cause of his lack of explosiveness and hops.

I said there is concern about Amare's health. This comes from within the organization. I was told to expect Amare not to be able to elevate and that he wouldn't be able to finish strong at the basket. So far what I've been told to expect has been displayed on the court.

If there is something troubling Amare and it is not psychosematic from his eye injury then figure out the rest for yourself. There are places where there is concern. This being Amare's contract year and given past concerns if something minor is impacting him Amare will be more likely to play through it. What I know is that it has been oticed that certain elements of his game are not where they should be regardless of his eye injury. This is creating concern.

Anyway, I'm done with this topic entirely. I don't need to defend myself and I hope that this is not the case because I love the Suns and wish the best possible future for Amare. I hope that future is with our team so if I and this concern inside the Suns is wrong then wonderful!

I hope you don't think that I was taking a shot at you. I was simply trying to puzzle it out with the rest of the group. We value your input Traxxe.