Seven Seconds Or...Not

[rsavaj]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingc ... uns-081013

Good article. In THEORY, this sounds like a good marriage between an upper tier offense(~100 ppg) and a great defense, but right now, our defense is better than our O, and our defense is still below average...

[toucansma]

Rsavj thanks for the article! Kerr makes a point though. If it was successful, WHY Change?? I think Nash in some ways is getting frustrated, based on his comment of asking "Dad" to allow him to run.

As I said the other night, this offense scares me. Are Terry Porter and Steve Kerr so intent on proving that their way wins, that they will disregard the offensive progress Mike made?

Porter states this as well: "I've emphasized to our guys that, 'Hey, I'm not here to make sure we run a set every time." Isn't that what he has been doing. I really do not want him to be like Avery Johnson and change the team so much it alienates everyone and they want to rebel.

Another thing I was thinking is, 100ppg is not that high of scoring. 13 teams scored more than 100 last year, and in past years (before the slow down 90s), 100ppg was nothing great.

I got sad watching the Knicks cause I see how free flowing that offense is (and that's with the Knicks a much worse team).

Either way I hope that this preseason I hope is just to get used to half court sets, and that they are hiding the running for the regular season.

I am worried for the preseason because this team still ran before without Amare and Barbosa (ex: Diaw's breakout year). Granted they had Marion, but still.

Oh well, here's hoping to a good season.

[Go7enKs]

Can somebody answer a simple question?

If we don't win the ring but still go to the playoffs and make a good job, will everybody say this "system" doesn't work like they did with D'Antoni's?

[NashtyNas]

Go7enKs, I personally never thought, and never will think that the reason behind our failure in winning a ring the past 3 years was Mike's system's fault. If anything, the only reason we were so close numerous times was because of that system. Blaming D'Antoni's SYSTEM for that is completely ludicrous. Blaming his foolish trades on the other hand, I can accept. But instead of dwelling in the past, let's focus on the future. I agree with Toucansma that 100PPG is nothing more than average these days, and that if that's what we're aiming for with a focus on defense, and if we play defense the way we're playing right now, we will be a borderline playoff team, if not one that doesn't make the playoffs. Our defense is at best average right now, and our offense is even worse, partly because we're missing two VERY important offensive pieces in Amare and Leandro. I think it'll be much more flowing when we get Leandro's speed and off ball movement, and Amare's pick & pop and pick & roll back. Shaq is too slow for P&R right now, and Lopez is too unexperienced, and neither are good enough shooters to run the P&P, therefore once we get Stoudemire back, we'll run these sets more often and they'll result in more points. Leandro also adds much needed 3PT shooting. Barnes has been off his shot, Hill can't be depended on for the 3, Dragic / Singletary are still adjusting to NBA speed and 3PT line, so we're only left with 2 shooters right now, NASH and BELL.

It's too early to judge, but GREAT READ. I won't make any comments on Porter, his ways, and his system until I see a full and healthy team play in a couple, if not more regular seasons games. I'd have to say though, what he's done with the team, I can see us improving if we get the whole team back..

[-SDU-]

Can somebody answer a simple question?

If we don't win the ring but still go to the playoffs and make a good job, will everybody say this "system" doesn't work like they did with D'Antoni's?

which is a point ive been trying to ram down the run and gun haters throats for the last 3 years

[Phx4Life08]

Blaming D'Antoni's SYSTEM for that is completely ludicrous. Blaming his foolish trades on the other hand, I can accept. But instead of dwelling in the past, let's focus on the future.

+1... Regardless of how we feel about this new system there is nothing we can do to change it now and the most important thing is that as fans we continue to love and support this team!! GO SUNS!

[-SDU-]

a few points

our defense looks better than our O? well thats great, it means our defensie is improving!

as for our O, we scored in the 90s in our first 2 games without barbs and amare, i figure that they are both huge parts of our offense and im sure it will look smoother whenthey get out there

If it was successful, WHY Change?? I think Nash in some ways is getting frustrated, based on his comment of asking "Dad" to allow him to run.

That comment wasnt based on frustration, actually it was something nash said was a positive - here is the original quote in its full context
"Steve Nash gets off the line of the night. When it was observed that he almost seemed more comfortable running the half-court sets instead of deciding when he could run a transition game, Nash said, "It's almost like, 'Are we allowed to do this, Dad?" He followed up by pointing out that the emphasis on half-court offense has been necessary because it has been a team weakness. "

/Porter states this as well: "I've emphasized to our guys that, 'Hey, I'm not here to make sure we run a set every time." Isn't that what he has been doing.

actually no, you can clearly see a trend of running with steve nash being the decision maker everytime we get a stop, and setting up set plays when the opposition scores. I actually like this method, it helps us still be able to go on 10-0 runs like last year when we get stops and run, but it will stop us giving up 10-0 runs like we also did last year because we are more methodical after an opponent score.

i do think we have been "too" structured to this point tho, with not enough creativity, and i HOPE this is only because porter knows that we can run the pick and roll and he knows we can drive and dish etc, so rather than work on that he wants to spend the extremely valuable pre-season time running as many set plays as possible so that we can get used to them. I truly hope we dont dump it to shaq one on one quite as much as we have been - i hope those plays become amare plays

also, im hoping that the overuse of these set plays early is to beat the old instincts out (you know old habits die hard) and then when porter is convinced the guys are ready, he will integrate some of the old stuff back it. that wouldnt be a bad strategy if thats what happening.

I think the last 3 preseason games, hopefully with amare also, will be a better indication of how we are going to play / look this season

[lilfishi22]

I think when you come in as a new coach to a veteran team you would come in with ideas/philosophies/a set system. It would be stupid to come in and give the job to Nash. I think for now it is important for Porter to bring in his own system and then slowly work it into something that works for our team. What he's doing is very typical of a coach bringing discipline to a young team and you can see it when you have Nash asking if he's "allowed" to do something. So while our game right now isn't where we like it to be, it is part of the learning process. I see this right now as a kind of boot camp, everybody has to go through a tough training course but once they know the basics the team is split into more specific positions.

But like Porter has said, he isn't going to run set plays every possession and will most likely let Nash run the show when he's on the court. It's definitely tough to ask an aging veteran whose game has always been offense to resonate the coach's wishes to his teammates but if anybody can do, I think Nash can.

Our last few games are a very tough sample to judge. Atlanta was our first game, Utah is a very tough defensive team, and playing Denver outside would have messed up our shots. So i think it's hard to pinpoint how much we're going to score each night based on these three games and I believe once we have Porter's defense imprinted in our player's brains and Nash running the show, we'll be scoring around in the 100-105 range while holding opponents to around 95-99. Keep in mind we were scoring in the 90's when we played outside and against slow defensive teams and without Amare and Barbs. It's not hard to expect we be scoring in the 100's with them back in.

I definitely agree with sd1306, while D'Antoni's system has its flaws, it was the trades that exposed our flaws even more. With KT we had the perfect compliment for Amare since he's an excellent PNP player and Amare being an unstoppable PNR player, giving Nash a lot of options with himself being a PNP player as well. The signing of Banks didn't help either and I think the idea of getting rid of Banks with Marion was too hard to resist. I honestly think that if Marion and Shaq's contract was more similar, we would not have made a straight up trade, but since we had to throw in a filler, and Banks was the perfect candidate to be shipped off, it was a risk they took. I think Banks would have played better under porter's defense first system.

[daveang]

Very good article by Stein. Hearing Grant Hill talk about how alot of the guys wanted to get better defensively, and with a new coach they now have that opportunity is great. I still see the Suns scoring 110+ on some nights, and doing so in an entertaining way.

[tsherkin]

Most of what I wanted to say has been said; missing key offensive players, just learning some new bits, not playing our starters, playing outside... etc, etc.

There are tons of reasons the Suns have looked off-center offensively so far, all of them legitimate. 20 games into the season, if they're shooting 43% FG and scoring 97 ppg, THEN we have a problem. Right now?

Not so much.

[The Diesel]

But aren't you concerned about how awful Shaq has looked so far?

He fouled out against Denver, and shot 2-6 against Utah and has no more athleticism.

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

^^^I think it is time you added Hater to the end of your sign in. Man, you hate on the guy more than I do, and I don't even like him.

[rsavaj]

lol Shaq has looked pretty lame, but give him some time my man(and remember, the season will be a lot more fun if you just accept his shortcomings, however large they are)

[lilfishi22]

I thought The Diesel was a fan of Shaq, but all he's been doing is hating on the guy. Shaq isn't the only one looking bad. But then again it's only preseason so it really doesn't matter. Didn't Shaq put up up 21 in the first game?

[tsherkin]

But aren't you concerned about how awful Shaq has looked so far?

He fouled out against Denver, and shot 2-6 against Utah and has no more athleticism.

No, not really. The fouling out is to be expected when the refs call weak ticky-tack fouls on him while he's trying to play harder defense, and it's tougher for him to get calls in the post too. Yeah, he had a bad shooting night.

But he's got basically two games in the preseason under his belt, what do you want? Honestly man, b back off; nothing but negativity comes from your mouth and it's really tiresome.

I like how you mention 2-6 versus Utah and not 9/14 against Atlanta for his 21/10 game.

That's just your bias coming across. Yeah, he fouled out against the Nuggets in the outdoor game and yeah, he shot poorly against the Jazz but he dropped 21/10 on the Hawks.

So look at the bright side.

[JohnVancouver]

Shaq's still learning how to adapt his aging body to a new system. His inability to hit gimme layups is troubling but if he can get some consistency there and somehow bring his foul shooting up to, oh the level of a blind, crippled child all we really need from him is interior presence and rebounding.