Suns players in Porter's system

[lilfishi22]

Under Porter's system which players do you expect to get better or decline.

Since this is a defensive system, I think Barbosa would actually decline statistically. Also Nash may also decline since playing a more slowed down game requires more grind-it-out defense.

Amare would get better naturally, but I think he could very well get much better defensively since there's more emphasis on it.

Other than that what ya'll think about our other players playing under Porter?

[NashtyNas]

I think the opposite of Barbosa. He will be much better defensively if he takes it upon himself to get better, and same with Stoudemire. I think Barbs' shooting % will go up a lot, and his assists a down a bit. He will probably score in the same range, but will end up taking shots that are more suitable, instead of jacking up shots (which I don't believe was his fault, but the system itself meant he had to shoot a lot more difficult shots than he would in any other one). I agree with your perception of what may happen with Nash, since he's very much more of a run & gun style of point guard, and doesn't flourish in slow-down, grind it out offense, and let's not even get to the defense. I do think he will still be good enough to run the team, and still have about a 17-10 season, but it will take time for him to adjust to a completely new style of play (even if they claim we're still running, it will be a lot more grind it out, half court sets type offense). The big question mark for me, is and always will be, Diaw.

Doris..... Will he flourish in this system playing backup PF? Will he start at SF over Barnes and Hill because he's "skilled?" The only way I see him starting is if we deal off Bell / Hill for a decent, young stud SG ( Martell Webster type). I do believe though, that he needs to start to go back to 12-8 or something of such sorts.

[b-ball forever]

Well, if we're really gonna slow down a lot and run a lot more half-court sets, the biggest concern is EASILY Barbosa, due to his low BB-IQ. There's another reason he always sucks vs the Spurs (besides Manu)...

Barbs was always at ease running when it came to pushing a fast break or playing in the open court, but whenever things slow down and we run set plays, he seems lost.
He still can't run the pick n roll either, always cuts to the bucket off the screen instead of passing to the bigman after the "roll".
That, along with his sucky defense puts a big question mark on how well he'll fit in a slower system.

Nobody else on the roster is really much of a concern in the halfcourt.

Hill/Shaq have played effective grind out ball for significant parts of their careers, they won't struggle with a new system. Hill brings it on both ends and can create his own shot, while Shaq is a reliable scorer in ISO post situations.

Raja's role is only spot-up shooting and defense, no concern there either.

Amare's defense will be a concern if he doesn't back up his talk, but we'll still be using the Nash/Amare PNR as our primary offensive weapon, and he masters that like no other bigman.
He hasn't had to be much of an ISO scorer till now, maybe we'll be seeing a bit of that (which is why Kerr wanted him to work on his back-to-the-basket play), but I doubt we'll see that many Amare ISO plays, given that there will be a hell lotta other options on offense.
I think he'll prove to be a reliable ISO scorer on the few occasions we do run Amare ISOs anyways, given that he never really struggled even when we were missing our point-guards in the past.

Diaw is a decent defender and has the BB-IQ it takes to be effective in the half-court.
That, along with his playmaking skills and impressive post moves might actually make him a better fit in the half-court then he was in the open court.
He was always one of the better players on the court whenever we ran halfcourt plays thru him, effective both at ISO scoring/playmaking from the post, and also effective when involved in the pick n roll. His impressive play against the Spurs in the playoffs off of ONLY half court plays is also an encouraging sign for his fit in a slower system

Nash is by far and away smart enuf to run a half-court offense, and has done it effectively on numerous occasions already. Only worry will be his 1 on 1 defense, but he's a decent team defender...

Lopez/Dragic/Barnes shud be fine too, given their skillsets.

[Nash2Stoudemire]

I think Nash is too smart and too good to struggle with any ofense. It may take him 10 games, but he will figure it out and OWN it.

Barbosa is a worry. Too one-dimensional for me. Until now he has only needed that one dimension.

I think Diaw will play better in this system. And will become the 6th man over Barbs by seasons end.