Personal Assessment of Suns (new fan perspective)
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:43 am
I too had my skeptics about this trade for Shaq, but I for one am impressed overall about the transition. However, I think its quite evident to everyone that Shaq can still play, and this wont change. Shaq's game revolves around using his strength and the strong leg base that he has, and the Phoenix system should really utilize this is upcoming games.
I dont see, with the type of players that we have, that we must resort to high-pick-and-rolls during the game, specifically when we can't buy a basket. Shaq is a walking double/triple team, and with the amount of shooters on this team, it shouldn't be a problem to run these inside-out plays we so desperately need.
I'm not saying we should drastically change our offensive system to match Shaq's polarizing presense, but we should definetely run more post plays for the Diesel.
Basically, we have 3 main offensive sets that we can prescribe to:
Shaq in the low post -- this revolves around an inside-out game we can utilize. Amare can hit the 15-foot, and I'm sure we dont mind any of our other plays spotting up for threes....
Amare on baseline/face up -- Amare has terrific speed off the dribble, but he is not a true back to the basket post player, yet this yeilds alot more diversity in our offensive gameplan.
Nash -- well to start things off I was deeply unimpressed with this guys leadership and cluth factor towards the end of the game. His turnovers were costly, and in a scenario where the game is tight --- his scrambling to find the open man just didnt pan out, and I dont imagine it ever will. There was one possession where Barbosa had the ball in his hands for crappy shot towards the end of the shotclock -- just horrible basketball to end a game -- the Laker defense isn't even that spectacular --- basically, we should have a structural, organized set towards the end of our games, and this starts with pounding it to Shaq daddy.
Which is where Shaq comes in -- plays down the strech really count, and should be persued with caution and care. Basically we should be pounding the ball down to Shaq and utilzing his ability to attact doubles to free up spaces for our shooters.
We have to run more post plays, specifically towards the end of the game. Shaq tends to put teams into the penalty early, and we need dribble penetrators to attack the paint and absorb contact!
All in all ---
Horrible game by Nash, particularly in the clutch
Horrible game by Bell, who I dont believe even scored a point
But this is what I love about this team, every player is quite proven, and is quite consistent --- expect father time to make this system work, and for D'Antoni to run to plays for the Diesel
Our strategy for Shaq:
-Get teams into early penalty (in the process, also free up shooters) with tic-tac fouls
-Attack the basket (Amare specifically) like no tommorow once this happens!
-run and gun at will at the precise moments in time (no point in taking a shot with no visible rebounders --- a fast break is only successul if the player on the other end of the court shoots within the painted region)
Lets cross our fingers!!!
I dont see, with the type of players that we have, that we must resort to high-pick-and-rolls during the game, specifically when we can't buy a basket. Shaq is a walking double/triple team, and with the amount of shooters on this team, it shouldn't be a problem to run these inside-out plays we so desperately need.
I'm not saying we should drastically change our offensive system to match Shaq's polarizing presense, but we should definetely run more post plays for the Diesel.
Basically, we have 3 main offensive sets that we can prescribe to:
Shaq in the low post -- this revolves around an inside-out game we can utilize. Amare can hit the 15-foot, and I'm sure we dont mind any of our other plays spotting up for threes....
Amare on baseline/face up -- Amare has terrific speed off the dribble, but he is not a true back to the basket post player, yet this yeilds alot more diversity in our offensive gameplan.
Nash -- well to start things off I was deeply unimpressed with this guys leadership and cluth factor towards the end of the game. His turnovers were costly, and in a scenario where the game is tight --- his scrambling to find the open man just didnt pan out, and I dont imagine it ever will. There was one possession where Barbosa had the ball in his hands for crappy shot towards the end of the shotclock -- just horrible basketball to end a game -- the Laker defense isn't even that spectacular --- basically, we should have a structural, organized set towards the end of our games, and this starts with pounding it to Shaq daddy.
Which is where Shaq comes in -- plays down the strech really count, and should be persued with caution and care. Basically we should be pounding the ball down to Shaq and utilzing his ability to attact doubles to free up spaces for our shooters.
We have to run more post plays, specifically towards the end of the game. Shaq tends to put teams into the penalty early, and we need dribble penetrators to attack the paint and absorb contact!
All in all ---
Horrible game by Nash, particularly in the clutch
Horrible game by Bell, who I dont believe even scored a point
But this is what I love about this team, every player is quite proven, and is quite consistent --- expect father time to make this system work, and for D'Antoni to run to plays for the Diesel
Our strategy for Shaq:
-Get teams into early penalty (in the process, also free up shooters) with tic-tac fouls
-Attack the basket (Amare specifically) like no tommorow once this happens!
-run and gun at will at the precise moments in time (no point in taking a shot with no visible rebounders --- a fast break is only successul if the player on the other end of the court shoots within the painted region)
Lets cross our fingers!!!