How do we stop quick guards now?

[KJ7]

This is an area we've struggled at for a while and after Paul dismantled us the other night it got me to thinking, what the heck are we gonna do with Parker and the likes in the play-offs.

Bell is no longer the answer so lets not even bring him up. The guys has lost so much lateral movement and quickness with his injuries it's not even funny. Plus we never put him on Parker or Paul before even when Marion was here which makes me think there's no chance of him defending those players now that Marion has gone.

So here are some things I've thought. Please let me know which ones you think would be the best way to go:

1) Switch Hill onto him. I don't particularly like this since Hill isn't as quick as he used to be and it really puts a lot of pressure on him.

2) Get Nash and Co to step up on their opponents and attempt to channel them into the middle where our big boys are. A lot of teams used to do this in the 90s. We've got Shaq, Amare & Skinner. If Nash can't keep up with them, maybe the first couple of steps he can at least "show them inside" and get them coming down the middle of the lane where our big boys lie.

3) Put LB onto them. Maybe it's his time to step it up defensively. He sure does have the footspeed, and we are starting to need more out of our backcourt trio in terms of defending. Bell and Nash aren't getting any quicker and LB's wingspan and footspeed mean he should be a better defender but he hasn't really progressed. Maybe we just put the pressure on him and see how it goes.

4) Play DJ more. And by more, I don't see us playing him 30mpg but I'm talking about 15mpg. I don't really see this being a fantastic solution since the likes of Parker/Paul will still be playing another 15mpg at least when DJ isn't on the court. This seems like the most logical solution since DJ is a good defender but he's extremely inexperienced and do we trust that in the play-offs cauldron?

It just seems to me, where as before we were worried about getting outrebounded, now we should be worried about getting burnt by quick outside guards. This is *why* we brought in Bell initially remember. Now that he isn't as quick as he used to be and Marion is gone where does that leave us with this issue?

Parker and Paul will be licking their lips when they look across and Nash is guarding them. And don't think that opposition coaches won't know this. While we think the likes of Bynum, Chandler/West & Duncan have been taken care of with this move we may have opened another door to the likes of Paul, Kobe & Parker.

Your thoughts? Not an issue? Which one of the four options would you go with and/or do you have another option?

[PHXfan85]

I think the addition of Shaq will make our defense more cohesive. Someone will be quick to slide if a man is making a quick cut and even if he does get in the paint, it's a whole new world with Shaq and Amare crashing the board. I'm not too worried about our men getting beat in man on scenarios, but the ability to communicate and help eachother in those situations. Personally what I'd be more worried about. With the emphasis being on grabbing the defensive rebound.

[Mr. Sun]

Gee KJ, how is DJ suppose to gain experience when you won't play him because he is inexperienced?

[KJ7]

Gee KJ, how is DJ suppose to gain experience when you won't play him because he is inexperienced?

OK, write up how many mins everyone should get when we face someone like NOH or SanAn and try to give DJ more then 15mpg without significantly downgrading one of our other players.

[nashill]

how about zone defense? i saw it against new jersey where nash had to guard kidd. kidd didnt dominate nash that night. after that night, i never saw that zone defense again. could be an experiment and it seems coaching staff doesnt show it all yet..

[Mr. Sun]

Has anyone seen Tucker in action?

[KJ7]

how about zone defense? i saw it against new jersey where nash had to guard kidd. kidd didnt dominate nash that night. after that night, i never saw that zone defense again. could be an experiment and it seems coaching staff doesnt show it all yet..

I really think this is a great idea against *certain* teams. NOH and SanAn are *not* those teams tho IMO. While Paul and Parker aren't great 3pt shooters they certainly have others on their team who def are and they could burn us a lot. Particularly their int'l guys like Peja and Manu. These guys have come up against zones all their life and can absolutely bust them open.

Against NJ it was a good idea because they don't really have great shooters.

I think we should def use this a bit if they rest certain good 3pt shooters tho. I would like to see us go with this on occasions but not for a whole game and not against most West play-off teams.

[-SDU-]

^ tucker is not the answer

i posted the same thing during the hornets game thread and said without marion we are going to lose a number of things, rebounding will be fine, shot blocking will be fine, but deflections and defending other teams PG's (iverson, gilbert, paul, cassell etc) will go down

i think at this point, there are 3 options

option 1 - the most likely is to use grant hill in spurts, he was fantastic down the stretch on paul the other night, so much so that dantoni was subbing hill and diaw for defense offence

this cant be used often though as it will wear hill out

option 2 is diaw - i think diaw is SOOO underrated as a defender, especially on big guys, diaws defense on duncan is really actually very very solid and i do believe that its because of his length, footwork and brains, not his strength (because we know hes not all that strong) so i think this could easly translate into defending PG's, and his length should give him the same advantage it gave marion

option 3 is a combination of zones, DJ and bell

i think if we can play trapping defense and make it so if the PG's get past, they are headed down the middle to the twin towers of amare and shaq, then its not a terrible option

one thing is for sure, shaq is going to get beat by his man in the post and amare is gonna be there for some great weakside blocks (im expecting at least 3.2bpg from amare

and shaq will get exposed by the pick and roll, just like the suns used to do against him all the time

[walkingart]

Hill did an excellent job on Paul late in the game the other night, up until then he hadn't defended him at all (that i noticed). During the remainder of the season, I would like to see DJ get some minutes guarding the quicker PG's in the league. If he does well, then he deserves to get minutes come playoff time, if not, we use Hill exclusively. Mike D shortens his bench come playoff time anyhow.

DJ did a good job on Paul too. Although Paul hit some unbelievable shots over DJ.

DJ needs some minutes, to me, he is the heir apparent to Bell.

[Arles]

I think having Shaq in the post will discourage guards from taking layups. Marion was never that great against guys like Parker or Paul anyway. it's better to have the threat of Shaq than a somewhat better perimeter defender who will still get beat from time to time in marion.

[KJ7]

I think having Shaq in the post will discourage guards from taking layups. Marion was never that great against guys like Parker or Paul anyway. it's better to have the threat of Shaq than a somewhat better perimeter defender who will still get beat from time to time in marion.

Marion was great against those guards until they were forced to set screens. Then he became less affective.

My fear is that those guards will just have uncontested pull-up jumpers all night. They won't take it all the way but they will burn Nash so quickly with their first step they can pull up anywhere between 12-20 feet from the basket and get a comfortable J.

[mkot]

I think having Shaq in the post will discourage guards from taking layups. Marion was never that great against guys like Parker or Paul anyway. it's better to have the threat of Shaq than a somewhat better perimeter defender who will still get beat from time to time in marion.

But he is better than Raja and Nash and LB and the list go on. I think he does well against those guards consider how soft our defense was, I don't think it's fair to put everything onto him. DJ could be the answer, but Mike needs to play him first. And then with Shaq, just standing under the rim to take up space could be enough to improve our soft post D.

[rsavaj]

This is a huge worry for me as well...I really think DJ is our only legit option.

[NapoleonII]

Shaq won't be a central point of our offense, so he won't rack up those offensive fouls, so he can risk more as an anchor.

[nevetsov]

How many dangerously quick guards are there for us to worry about?

Let's start with the East:

Arenas
maybe Felton?

In any case we won't really have to worry about these guys much during the season anyway. The fact that there's only 2 might suggest why we have such a good record against the east..?

West:

Baron Davis
Tony Parker
Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Allen Iverson
Maybe Mike Conley as well? (Won't have to worry about him in the playoffs anyway)

I can't think of any more that couldn't be handled by who we have now.

So more or less, we only really have to worry about Golden State, San Antonio, New Orleans and Utah when talking about quicker guards. (Discounting Denver because we usually beat them anyway).

Regular season-wise, that's only a possible 16/ 82 games. But in the playoffs, it's concievable that we'll have to get through 3 of them to get to the finals.

I think DJ coupled with a tighter team D should be sufficient, maybe now that we're a more "traditional" team we could add another shooter/ perimeter defender. Other than that, I don't think there's much we can do this year. It'll be very interesting to see this team gel for the remainder of the season..

[Da big3]

The suns were never a good defensive team, i think it will have to relie on the offense

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

I think the best option to contain small quick guards would be to use a rotation of Hill and Diaw. They both have length and pretty good lateral quickness, which often distracts shorter guards from being at their most effective. Sure enough they wont stop them all together, BUT they will slow them, which is all you can ask for really.

[KJ7]

The thing is I disagree completely about Diaw being good in regards to stopping quick PGs. He has terrible agility for his size. When wing players stop-start on their dribble he is always a step behind. If PGs do that he will be 3 or 4 steps behind.

Even when he drives he doesn't really change direction much.

Hill is a lot better in this regards. I def wouldn't use Diaw in that way. Hill has really impressed me with that this season. I thought he might be a step slow on D but he has done a good job.

[eastsidecrossover]

I think you will see some of nash, bell, raja, barbs, hill and DJ. sometime. But I think when you see Shaq and amare down there, you will think twice. People will still attack, but the hole is not as soft as it used to be. I want to see more of DJ as backup pg.

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

The thing is I disagree completely about Diaw being good in regards to stopping quick PGs. He has terrible agility for his size. When wing players stop-start on their dribble he is always a step behind. If PGs do that he will be 3 or 4 steps behind.

Even when he drives he doesn't really change direction much.

Hill is a lot better in this regards. I def wouldn't use Diaw in that way. Hill has really impressed me with that this season. I thought he might be a step slow on D but he has done a good job.

Yeah I see what you are saying, but the thing with taller players is they don't need to play up in a shorter players grill. Step back and let them have the 3. In most cases I can live with a player, especially like Paul and Parker jacking up a 3 compared to them getting into the lane so that either they can force a foul or the player they pass to off of penetration can force a foul.

So in cases like Diaw where his lateral quickness isn't great it is still enough if he doesn't get right up, which with his length he shouldn't have to.