Kurt Thomas

[DRK]

Does this mean that lou is all but gone?

Ya.

Since we wont be contending for a championship next year I dont see the need to sign Kurt Thomas. I would rather let Lawal and Dwayne Collins fill in Lou's minutes.

Does this mean that lou is all but gone?

Ya.

Thanks for the memories Lou!

[sunfire0112]

Since we wont be contending for a championship next year I dont see the need to sign Kurt Thomas. I would rather let Lawal and Dwayne Collins fill in Lou's minutes.

I like the idea of having KT mentor our young bigs like Rolo, Lawal, and Collins. Teach them what a real enforcer is.

[DRK]

Since we wont be contending for a championship next year I dont see the need to sign Kurt Thomas. I would rather let Lawal and Dwayne Collins fill in Lou's minutes.

I like the idea of having KT mentor our young bigs like Rolo, Lawal, and Collins. Teach them what a real enforcer is.

Mm true. But I dont really buy the whole "mentor" thing. Wasn't Shaq supposed to 'mentor" Amare?

I'll rather throw the young ones into the deep end and watch them try to swim, instead of having someone telling them what to do.

[phx#7]

I'll rather throw the young ones into the deep end and watch them try to swim, instead of having someone telling them what to do.

Well that isn't going to happen anyway with the Frye/Warrick signings. May as well sign someone with more than 1 discernible basketball skill.

[sunfire0112]

I didn't really buy Shaq as a true mentor though. He didn't really mentor Amare and seemed to piss Robin off more than teach him. He did instill some toughness in Robin so I'll give him credit there.

KT strikes me as as a good veteran presence to have around for our younger guys. I remember a Brandon Jennings interview where he credits KT as one of the vets who helped ease his transition during his rookie year.

Also, going up against a skilled veteran in practice everyday can do wonders for a player's development. Look at Dragic.

[charley barkles]

Since we wont be contending for a championship next year I dont see the need to sign Kurt Thomas. I would rather let Lawal and Dwayne Collins fill in Lou's minutes.

I like the idea of having KT mentor our young bigs like Rolo, Lawal, and Collins. Teach them what a real enforcer is.

Mm true. But I dont really buy the whole "mentor" thing. Wasn't Shaq supposed to 'mentor" Amare?

I'll rather throw the young ones into the deep end and watch them try to swim, instead of having someone telling them what to do.

Didn't it work? Amare got pretty close to a championship, then when his contract ran out, he leaves for a bigger contract in a big market city that most likely will get another superstar to win a ring for him. Oh, and it sounds like the negotiations got ugly, making the exit sour. I wonder if he'll bash the Suns somehow in the next year... I would love to see Amare in a movie as a rapping genie though.

[lilfishi22]

Didn't it work? Amare got pretty close to a championship, then when his contract ran out, he leaves for a bigger contract in a big market city that most likely will get another superstar to win a ring for him. Oh, and it sounds like the negotiations got ugly, making the exit sour. I wonder if he'll bash the Suns somehow in the next year... I would love to see Amare in a movie as a rapping genie though.

I dunno how much of an influence Shaq was to Amare, in terms of making him a better player. Statistically, that half a season after Shaq came, Amare exploded, but that's because Shaq played a great role that let Amare do what he does best. I know he was Amare's idol but I really don't know how much mentoring Shaq really did. The only thing Shaq seemed to have done in his time in Phoenix was piss off Lou with the (funny the first time) bike prank, give Amare and Lopez a big body to play with/against, stole Nash's TV show and seemingly annoy everyone by the end of his time. He did instill some toughness in Rolo, so I'll give him credit for that.

But I mean, has Amare really changed all that much after Shaq came? He played better but that's because of Shaq's presence but as a player, did he really get better?

I think Amare will have something or two to say about Sarver. He did bash D'Antoni a bit for the no defense thing, so I could see him saying something to say about Sarver. I'm quite sure had Kerr still been in office, he would've sold Amare (and Sarver) his plan for the future and could've gotten Amare to sign for slightly less than max. With no GM, seemingly no direction and Sarver doing most (if not all) the negotiation, Amare did what was right for him and go to a team with a plan (and money).

[justin1093]

well i dont think it worked on amare since all he likes to do his show us hes an offensive beast but **** on defense, he should be playin his hardest in the west finals but in stead lets lamar odom **** on him along with all the other laker bigs and there no point about him trying to critisize dantoni on defense when he obviously hasnt changed and plays like hes allergic to grabbing rebounds an gaurding others

[charley barkles]

sorry... i left off the green font there. Amare's exit just kind of reminds me something that would be done by Shaq. I also don't think Shaq taught amare anything...

[GD2]

well i dont think it worked on amare since all he likes to do his show us hes an offensive beast but **** on defense, he should be playin his hardest in the west finals but in stead lets lamar odom **** on him along with all the other laker bigs and there no point about him trying to critisize dantoni on defense when he obviously hasnt changed and plays like hes allergic to grabbing rebounds an gaurding others

Having D'antoni as his coach for most of his career certainly hurt his defense. Gentry is better at accountability than D'antoni but neither one is a guy who is going to get in a players' face and scream at him for bad defense. Look what happened when Avery Johnson took over as Dallas' coach and started really holding Dirk accountable for D, Dirk went from a walking corpse on defense to an above average pick and roll defender.

[JohnVancouver]

Kurt would be useful for us, but i wouldn't expect him to give us anywhere near the minutes he used to at the kind of level he was at - at his age you an have one of minutes or effectiveness. he woudl surely be a good teacher ofthe young guys. But the vet min may even be too much for us to spend now ...
I'm not crying "doom, doom' or anything, just that that was why we had Griffin last year instead of a vet, wasn't it?

On another thread, it was suggested that we migh be able to swap Barbs for Diaw. That's an intriguing thought, if we're cnsidering former Suns.
Doris was solid until STat came back - defense, passing, rebounds, scoring. He'd make a great addition

I'm not pining for the old days - just saying that his skillset would fit again and he might overachieve the way he did a few years ago.

That would leave us room to add one more guard.