The Lost Season: Boris Diaw, 05/06

Post #1 » by **rsavaj** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:10 pm

http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2011/07 ... iaw-05-06/

It's a really, really great read. And it's not really "pro-Boris", so any Boris haters should read it as well.

RaisingArizona · Post #2 » by **RaisingArizona** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:22 pm

:This is reserved for a photoshop pic of Diaw as a fat cat:

Dalerax · Post #3 » by **Dalerax** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:18 pm

That was a good read, well written. Just one of the many "what if"s in Suns history.

DRK · Post #4 » by **DRK** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:57 am

Diaw was a truly unique player when he played on the Suns. He was a "jack of all trades" player. There was nothing he couldn't do. This system was/is a perfect fit for Boris Diaw.

Is there any chance that Charlotte would do Diaw for Pietrus + filler? Both expirings after next season... and both will be stuck in the rotation.

There is one lingering question that I have though.... How come Hedo Turkoglu, who has a similar game to Diaw, struggled in this system with Nash, but Diaw thrived? That is one question that I have always wanted to ask.

nevetsov · Post #5 » by **nevetsov** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:29 am

Great article, and good question Dr K. Is Dr K one better than Dr J?

nevetsov · Post #6 » by **nevetsov** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:45 am

Marion?

Diaw was the best all-around, do little bits of everything player we've seen in a long time. But he would never excel in one particular area for any extended period of time. He'll never average 11 assists or 11 boards, because he's not that 'pigeon holed' type of specialist player. Neither was Turk.

Fortunately, with Diaw, we had a league leader in assists, and a top 5 leader in rebounding to carry the primary duties.

With Hedo, we had Nash (offense wasn't initially the issue), but as for rebounding we had.. Frye and Lopez.

We got killed on the boards and then got angry at our PF because he was only pulling down 5 boards a game.

Guaranteed that if Grant was pulling down 11+ boards a game like Marion was, and Hedo was able to play more of his natural, do-everything game, his deficiencies would have been masked a little more and we may have seen more success. But Grant is Grant, another do-it-all type of player, so without Lopez or Frye pulling down double digit boards, we were sunk.

Anyway just a thought.

DRK · Post #7 » by **DRK** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:46 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRJNUueNoao&feature=related[/youtube]

DRK · Post #8 » by **DRK** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:54 am

nevetsov wrote:Marion?

Diaw was the best all-around, do little bits of everything player we've seen in a long time. But he would never excel in one particular area for any extended period of time. He'll never average 11 assists or 11 boards, because he's not that 'pigeon holed' type of specialist player. Neither was Turk.

Fortunately, with Diaw, we had a league leader in assists, and a top 5 leader in rebounding to carry the primary duties.

With Hedo, we had Nash (offense wasn't initially the issue), but as for rebounding we had.. Frye and Lopez.

We got killed on the boards and then got angry at our PF because he was only pulling down 5 boards a game.

Guaranteed that if Grant was pulling down 11+ boards a game like Marion was, and Hedo was able to play more of his natural, do-everything game, his deficiencies would have been masked a little more and we may have seen more success. But Grant is Grant, another do-it-all type of player, so without Lopez or Frye pulling down double digit boards, we were sunk.

Anyway just a thought.

So the reason for Hedo's failure here was partly because of Grant Hill? Interesting statement there, and I see your point. I guess there really wasn't enough of the ball to go around for Hedo to play his natural game.

Hedo needs the ball in his hands alot to be effective, but Boris was pretty good as an off the ball player. The guy who would make the 2nd or 3rd pass in each offensive trip down the floor, which is something Hedo couldnt do. Boris also had a very nice post game, and a short/mid fadeaway.

Both Hedo and Diaw had good ball handling skils, but Diaw was alot quicker, and alot more athletic than Hedo.

One thing Hedo couldn't do here was drive and get to the hoop like Diaw could. Hedo was/is alot heavier than Diaw, and although they both had good ball handling skills, Diaw could get to the hoop while Hedo couldn't. IMO Hedo is probably the most unathletic player in the league, which is a match made in hell for a Suns offence.

Just some thoughts, but I think I may have answereed my own question haha

nevetsov · Post #9 » by **nevetsov** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:34 am

Certainly not Grants fault for being the player that he is, more the fault of those who assembled this lineup and thinking it would work. We essentially played 2 SFs in our starting lineup - the only reason it worked for Diaw and Marion is that Marion could play like a PF statistically (20pts, 12reb per). And he wouldn't get abused defensively.

More a testament to the versatility of both Marion and Diaw than a dig on anyone else (save the FO).

nevetsov · Post #10 » by **nevetsov** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:39 am

The only way you're ever going to get away with playing 2 genuine SFs (eg Turk and Shard in ORL) is when you have a monster like Dwight at your centre spot getting 15rpg. And even Shard is a bit of a tweener F.

Unfortunately for us, Lopez + Frye did not equal Dwight Howard

MarJJMar · Post #11 » by **MarJJMar** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:26 pm

Ever since we had Nash and Amare we were Tyson Chandler or Marcus Camby away from destroying the competition.
It's failure of our management that we just ended up giving away talent to save money instead of going for it all.

I mean we could have even had Chandler for cheap but our team doctors said no^^..