RealGM

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/130234

Well, good to hear that Coach recognizes the issue as well.

I say we run and gun even with Shaq playing... That's what Dantoni would want us to do.

"Suns remain cloudy on who they are"

...well then they echo my sentiment exactly. We're a good team. Great players, and I have confidence in the coaching staff. But this is an identity crisis, and it pains me because as of right now, and I know we're only a few games in, but I couldn't imagine us getting out of the Western Conference Finals even if we got that far. I know, I know, it really is ridiculous to be saying that now, but my point is that we need to find our style, rhythm, etc etc or else we are going down against a New Orleans or a Utah or Los Angeles team that is already looking well polished. Six and two, yeah that's great, but we need to break free from the problem that has defined this organization for quite some time and that is having the talent and winning games but not having an identity and gelling well together to even have a shot at Our First Title.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... b1112.html

Who ever thought we'd be going "too slow"...

Half court or Fast Break team.

Barbosa should get his min and offense.

SHAQ is too slow and you guys are losing so much offense.

Amare is not doing his thing.
So is Nash and Barbosa.

Horrible.

We should be a halfcourt team with Shaq, and then a running team w/o Shaq. If that means that our rookies play less, then so be it. Play them against bottom feeders, but against the big dogs you can't trot out that crap second unit and then go "OMG CAN I HAS OFFENSE?!?!"

Pick and roll ALL DAY LONG with the 2nd unit, Nash/Amare, LB/Amare, Nash/Boris, Boris/Amare, LB/Boris, Hill/Amare....that's what we need to do.

GMAT from the ESPN board summed it up eloquently:

"I believe that the real problem is that when Shaq is out, the Suns are not reverting to their strategy under D'Antoni, which was to run-and-gun and to orchestrate endless streams of pick-and-rolls (usually Nash-Stoudemire, but also Nash-Diaw) with a floor spread by three spot-up shooters. Instead, when Shaq is out under Porter, Phoenix is usually playing a full second unit with two rookies (Dragic and Lopez), and the offense grinds to a halt. Dragic actually played a little better tonight, seeming a bit more comfortable and confident and able to bury a couple jumpers and facilitate a couple pick-and-rolls. But the overall effect is one (albeit slow) offensive game plan with Shaq, and one almost non-offensive game plan. Instead, I'd like to see the slower offensive game plan where the Suns pound the ball inside to Shaq and to a lesser extent Stoudemire, and then a faster offensive strategy that brings back the best of the D'Antoni days. That way, the Suns could actually score enough points, unlike in the home losses versus the Hornets and now the Rockets.

In order to make my plan work, Dragic and Lopez might need to see their minutes reduced or canceled versus other Western Conference playoff contenders. Against squads like the Grizzlies and Nets, they can play more, but the current set-up seems a bit inflexible and lackluster against other top dogs in the West."

i think they already know who they are but some players are just not accepting the new system...nash and bell are vocal about it....

its not the systems fault for bell to miss all of his shots against the rockets...

nash is struggling with his shooting and he is only to blame not the system...

shaq is having many touches but look at the stats, it looks like the ball was distributed very well its just that they are missing their shots...

porter is doing the right thing i believe...he is preparing the team in a playoff style of basketball...

I honestly don't see why they are making such a big fuss about it all. Having Shaq down low (which is infinitely smarter than D'Antoni's idea of playing him in the high post.. remember?!) theortically should lead to MORE wide open perimeter shots for Nash, Bell and Barnes. This is one of the reasons many wanted Barnes in the starting lineup originally - because he is more confident than Hill taking and making the three ball.

So why aren't we as good as it sounds?

Simple, when Shaq gets double teamed, it leaves someone else open - usually the guy that feeds him the ball. If that guy makes any kind of effort to get to a space, ANY open space along the perimeter, then Shaq is going to get him the ball back at the double team. It actually worked quite a few times with Nash in the Houston game, but unfortunately our perimeter guys got lazy and stopped moving to the open space; thus Shaq had less options and had to feed it into a contested keyway, or put up a contested shot.

And it's not something that can only occur once every possession either; kick it in, kick it out; if there's no shot, then kick it in, kick it out again. Swing it around the perimeter and make the defense work - if our swinging is up to speed then Stat should be an option in the high post. If not, reset, work it in, work it out. Sooner or later, someone is going to get an open shot, and even more importantly, it creates more touches for everyone.

The thing that is letting us down is our perimeter guys are just flat out not working hard enough to find space - they need to make the effort so the bigs can get the ball back to them and Nash has been downright average at this so far season, even though it's usually a strength. He's simply not working hard enough, and what's worse is that he seems content to just get frustrated as opposed to "wanting" to fix the problem. C'mon Steve, you're smarter than this.. a little effort can result in significantly more reward - you're the best shooting PG in the league, you're in a system that is going to get you more open shots.. what's the real issue?

*sigh* Well, basically, the story is:

Porter: We are not a running team anymore. That's past.

Steve: We need to run more.

Raja: We are still a running team. We are built to run.

Shaq: Games are won inside-out, not outside-in. I need my touches.

Amare: I want to dominant. I want to take over. Give me the ball.

Kerr@KTAR: Not to the media guys. Bring these frustration behind closed door.
(and of course Kerr had to voice his frustration about the playres on KTAR...)

They need a meeting. Either the captains with Porter and Kerr or just the players...