RealGM

Okay. It's here again folks. The second edition of the Phoenix Suns board "Scout a Player." For all of you people who didnt catch the first one, this is what a "scout a player" is..

Da_Reel_Kboy wrote:They have the same thing over on the Magic board. I thought it would be a pretty good idea to start up here too.

So, I've thought about a different idea. That is, people sign up to "scout" a Suns player for a game. What would this mean? Well, basically, you would watch the game as you usually do, but you would pay at particular focus to one player -- you would consciously not follow the ball, you would follow a player and note all of the little things (good or bad) that perhaps everyone wouldn't see if "just" watching the game -- the cuts, the box-outs, the tipped balls, etc.

I don't know if there will be a ton of interest or zero interest to do something like this, but I think if there is some interest then it might be a cool addition to all the pre-game/game thread/post-game discussion.

Sign-Up

Lopez: Kerrsed
Frye:
Hill:
Carter:
Nash:
Dragic: YFZBlu
Gortat: Miklo
Dudley:
Warrick: Da_Reel_Kboy
Childress:
Pietrus:
Siler:


If you want to look at the first thread, here is the link. There are some examples of what your "scout report" should look like.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1085381

I'll take Dragic

Someone needs to scout the disappointed look on Robert Sarver's face as the Suns get destroyed on national television.

I have Lopez.

Updated OP.

Last minute announcement: I have GORTAT!

OK, at half-time Lopez has 11 points and 3 rebounds. Im guessing he wont get anymore rebounds for the rest of the game. His shot selection has been horrid. He took an Amare 17ft jumper, even though the lane was wide open for him to take it to the rack.

1 of his rebounds has been offensive, and was grabbed after he missed an easy under the hoop throw in. His defense has been hit or miss. Seems like he cant match the speed of Perkins/Shaq and is always one step behind.

One thing that i have picked up is he trys to do the pick-and-roll with Nash, but goes straight to the defender, thus leaving him heavily guarded and forcing Nash to find another player (mostly at the 3 point line) to pass the ball to.

More to come after the game is over........

After Halftime:

Well, it looks like i was correct, Lopez ended up with 3 rebounds and didnt score in the 2nd half. Not much to see of him in the 3rd and 4th quarter. A couple of botched plays (2 were actually bad/low passes from Nash).

im down for this next time

Ah, Goran Dragic--Giving us exactly what I expected.

Defensively Goran played hard, but he was bone headed with his decisions and committed a couple head scratching fouls.

Offensively, Dragic is clearly afraid to shoot the ball, and avoids it in most cases...usually to the detriment of the team.

When Dragic subbed in during the 2nd quarter, the Suns bench was able to maintain the lead due to Gortat's play and Hakim Warrick made some surprisingly nice decisions and hit a mid range jumper. When Dragic subbed in during the 2nd half, the Suns started to blow the lead, at which point Gentry subbed Goran out in favor of Nash---Great move.

Gentry limited Dragic's minutes tonight, which I'm all for at this point.

I just finished the game on my DVR give me a little bit to get up my observations on Gortat

So I didn't post it in here because I wasn't sure how much of the game I was going to get to watch, but I tried to follow Channing Frye. I really don't think he was as bad as his stats showed (5 points and 5 boards on 1-7 shooting) He played most of the game on Garnett and with Garnett guarding him. I think although undersized he played Garnett tough on D there were a few plays where Frye just got beat to the hoop, but played well and I think got under Garnett's skin a bit evident by Garnett sticking his foot where Frye was landing.
One thing I caught that I hadn't before was that Frye does a ton of fronting his player which he got beat for easy dunks a few times, but I think he does this due to his lack of brute strength compared to the Celtics PF's so he can prevent the ball from going inside and avoid the pounding.

Marcin Gortat Game Notes

Ok sorry this is really long...



General:
-grabs rebounds very strong every time
-displays excellent big man IQ
-chemistry with the team, opposing players, refs, everyone is excellent, seems like a great guy
-extremely strong, I'd venture to say tied with KG at second strongest out there after Shaq
-excellent hustle and off ball movement (like, best out there in the first half), but this decreased later into the game as he picked up more minutes


Specific:

The good (first half)
-Gortat started the game with excellent energy and was moving all over the place, getting in the mix on offense and defense every time up and down the court
-He and Nash were really clicking in the 2-man game, with lots of pick and rolls and other screen plays run between the 2 in the first half. It's how he had 15 points on 6/8 FG in his first 11 minutes played.
-He started off really strong on defense, bodying up Big Baby and KG, as well as Semih Erden, numerous times. Of course Shaq was a bit of a struggle.
-He set LOTS of screens and took multiple charges, two signs of a great intangibles guy
-He showed some range, with a few mid-range jumpers as well as the 3-pointer to close out the first quarter

The good, but not quite as good (second half)
-In the second half, I really noticed a decrease in his off-ball movement and even his awareness of what was going on around him.
-There definitely wasn't as much of the 2-man game anymore, when Dragic or even Nash was out there - not sure if it was on Gortat for movement/screens or the PG's but my guess is Gortat
-Keep in mind he's still rebounding extremely well in the second half, that never falters throughout the game which is awesome
-In the "fight", Gortat was genuinely just trying to keep everyone on both teams from doing something stupid. It's good to have someone who can keep a level head.


By the plays
-3 point shot - who knew
-12-foot and 15-foot jumpers - hit 3 or 4 of these
-Pick-n-roll based plays - 4 or 5 successfully converted
-Missed hook, grabbed own rebound and went up-and-under for the lay-in
-Nash feed from under the basket for the easy basket by Gortat


Conclusion
Man, I love Gortat! It's wild to have a real big man. The biggest observation I come away with is that he does everything you want your ideal big man to do. Works his butt off on the glass, bodies up every time, sets screens constantly, clicks on offense. It's incredible really.

The one downside was the slowing down in the second half (which he's done in other games). 15 of his 19 points were in the first half, even though his minutes were divided about evenly between the halves. I'm not that worried though, I just don't think he's physically used to this many minutes yet. He's playing almost twice the most he's ever averaged. And I think the playing time is definitely making him play at a really high level so it's amazing, it just has the caveat of taking a while to physically adapt to. If he still has this problem in a couple months then maybe I would question whether he's maintaining interest for the whole game but I'd be 95% sure it was the physical thing.

So yeah, sorry for the length but my conclusion is that I'm psyched!

Hakim Warrick



12 Minutes, 4 Points, 5 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 50% FG

Second Quarter

Gets a tough defensive rebound. Hustled very hard for it.

Gets molested under the rim by Glen Davis. No call at all

Grabs very good offensive rebound, and dishes to Pietrus for the easy dunk. Great play.

Q3. Great dunk off the pass from Carter.
Good deefence on Garnett, forcing tough shots over and over again.

Overall

Today I was very impressed with Hakim Warrick. That team talk yesterday must have affected him. He played very good defence on Garnett, forcing him into tough shots. Even though Garnett made some of those shots, Hakim never gave up, always with a hand in his face. Best defence I've seen all year from our Hakim.

Hakim not only impressed me while defnding Garnett, but he also impressed me with his rebounding. It was obvious he really put a big effort into getting the rebound tonight, finishing with 5 rebounds in 12 minutes. On one particular play, the Suns and Celtics big men were tussling for the reobund, with the ball being tipped over and over again. Hakim launched himself and just literally granned the ball. Great aggression shown on that play.

On offence, Hakim looked quite good. He attacked the rim more today, instead of settling for jump shots.

Hakim hustled hard on both ends of the floor. 2 of his points came off a despairation pass from Vince Carter off the fast break as the ball was going out off bounds. Good job by Warrick to help out Carter on the break, and he was rewarded with an easy dunk.

Positives
-Great effort defensively
- Attacked the rim more, instead of settling for jumpers
- Rebounded the ball well
- Great hustle on both ends of the floor

Negatives
-Still gets out-muscled by bigger opponents.
-Limited offensive arsenal, which was apparent tonight