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First let me talk a little about Shaq last night. He brings exactly what I expected: on offense he gives us a post option, great passer, gets easy put backs, and keeps possessions alive. On def he brings much needed rebounds, blocks and changes shots, and commits hard fouls. To bad his best foul last night was on Raja Bell. Hope Raja's head does not hurt that much this morning. The real problem is Barbosa can not run the point when Nash is out. When the Lakers turned up the def intensity last night Barbosa started turning the ball over, making terrible passes in traffic and basically being his out of control self. Barbosa is at his best when he is playing with Nash not in place of him. Although it would be great to have a guy like Brent Berry or Quiton Ross on this team, the bigger need is at back-up PG. And we also found out that Diaw can not play on the court at the same time with Shaq and Amare. The Suns whole bench is a bench of tweeners. I wish Skinner would get some of Diaw's minutes when Shaq is out. Probably not going to happen. Here's to hoping Steve Kerr has convinced Sarver to fill the holes on this team.

abekazi wrote:First let me talk a little about Shaq last night. He brings exactly what I expected: on offense he gives us a post option, great passer, gets easy put backs, and keeps possessions alive. On def he brings much needed rebounds, blocks and changes shots, and commits hard fouls. To bad his best foul last night was on Raja Bell. Hope Raja's head does not hurt that much this morning. The real problem is Barbosa can not run the point when Nash is out. When the Lakers turned up the def intensity last night Barbosa started turning the ball over, making terrible passes in traffic and basically being his out of control self. Barbosa is at his best when he is playing with Nash not in place of him. Although it would be great to have a guy like Brent Berry or Quiton Ross on this team, the bigger need is at back-up PG. And we also found out that Diaw can not play on the court at the same time with Shaq and Amare. The Suns whole bench is a bench of tweeners. I wish Skinner would get some of Diaw's minutes when Shaq is out. Probably not going to happen. Here's to hoping Steve Kerr has convinced Sarver to fill the holes on this team.

I whole-heartedly agree. Barbosa is so BAD vs. quality teams when Nash is out of the game. He's constantly dribbling out the clock and winding up having to take bad shots or errant passes in traffic. The guy should be utilized as a shooter who sometimes gets to the hoop if left open enough.

Grant Hill at the point please!

it can be fixed. all barbs has to do is bring the ball down, feed shaq inside, then shaq will find the open man. that is if we make sure shaq is playing when nash is out.

Its not that easy. barbs gets the ball and feels he has to shoot ever time. He will never be a PG, and is still inconsistant at times.

He is a shooter/slasher, not a PG, never will be.

Yep, we either need to bring in a backup point, bigger combo guard to bring it up with Barbs or use Hill more in that role. Having Barbs run the break equals one of the following:

1. barbosa layup made
2. barbs layup missed
3. Turnover
4. running the shot clock down and a forced jumper

Not exactly a prime set of options.

Arles wrote:Yep, we either need to bring in a backup point, bigger combo guard to bring it up with Barbs or use Hill more in that role. Having Barbs run the break equals one of the following:

1. barbosa layup made
2. barbs layup missed
3. Turnover
4. running the shot clock down and a forced jumper

Not exactly a prime set of options.

LOL ..... .....sad but true.....

THANK YOU...Been preaching this since the start of the season

We need a Cassell type veteran who can not only create their own shot but can initiate a half court set and not give up their dribble once they go over halfway

We don't need Cassell, not that I'm against bringing him in, but I think our immediate need is a wing defender...anyway, we don't need Cassell, we just need to take the ball out of his hand and give it to Boris and Hill, PLEASE.

Last night Boris had a beautiful pass to LB for a layup in transition because he kept the ball in his hand. He can make plays in the post by either scoring or passing it out for a 3. He can make those kinds of plays but only when he has the damn ball. Hill can do the same because he can create his own shot and is also a good passer via penetration. If LB is hogging the ball and just running down court with no purpose, it kills everything with the 2nd unit.

This "LB can't run the point" isn't anything new. That's why we signed Banks. I think at this point, we have several options to solve this issue:

1) let someone else (Boris and Hill) handle the ball
2) run plays through Shaq/Amare as much as possible
3) play solid defense instead of trying to run and gun w/o Steve

We do those, and we should be fine giving Nash rest.

mkot wrote:This "LB can't run the point" isn't anything new. That's why we signed Banks. I think at this point, we have several options to solve this issue:

1) let someone else (Boris and Hill) handle the ball
2) run plays through Shaq/Amare as much as possible
3) play solid defense instead of trying to run and gun w/o Steve

We do those, and we should be fine giving Nash rest.

Banks was a good choice, just the SUNS paid way too much for him, and Boris.

I like Option #2. What the Suns should do is go to Shaq every time for the first 8 mins of a game to draw the other team into fouls. We had Gasol on the ropes, just didn't go far enough with him!

There is no reason that in the 14 minutes when Nash is on the bench we can't be proficient on offense. This lineup should be just fine.

Shaq
Boris
Hill
DJ
LB

We have good passers in Shaq, Boris, GH, and DJ. Good ballhandlers in Boris, GH, DJ and LB. Scorers in LB, GH, and Shaq. I think it will be just fine once MD figures out the rotation and where Shaq feels the most comfortable.

LB's problem is also the Suns' problem. They never seriously practiced feeding the post and spreading the floor. Instead, LB was always instructed to dribble around looking for a chance, just like what Nash has been doing.

In this season, the league has caught up with Suns system. Even Nash often dribbles too long without getting a good opening, and LB had even more problem. So, we need to work on set plays in practice and just have LB/Bell or even Nash feeding the post with Shaq/Amare/Diaw and spreading the floor for kickouts for 3s. In this role, LB should make a reasonable PG. Also, in the Lakers game, LB for the first time in his whole career executed pick-n-rolls with Amare properly and delivered passes to Amare on the roll for easy layup/dunks. The moral: LB should not emulate Nash at dribble around by himself but rather learn simple plays with teammates involved, whether it being p-n-r or feeding the post. We'll be fine then.

Always those same questions, but the count of PG

Could've sworn we had more than 1 problem