Constructive thread on making Phoenix better

[Suns_fan_2007]

We wonder why Nash and Bell are struggling a bit? The amount of time they're playing on the floor is too much. We need to give our bench guys more time. Expecially DJ. He needs to be in there. And whats the deal with Skinner? Does Shaq mean that we can just forget about Skinner? I think D'antoni is afraid to play certain guys now. He should be a man and play some guys. If we have some ugly circumstances come and some guys can't play, what will we do? I doubt our lower-level bench guys have much confidence in themselves now because they seem to never get time. Mike is going to wish he played them more.

According to D'Antoni, yes.

"What about Brian?" the fan's sign asked Saturday night.

Suns center Brian Skinner did not play again. He has played two minutes in the past seven games. Skinner did struggle with a 12-game stretch of 8-for-39 shooting in January but did not lose his rotation spot until O'Neal's arrival.

"The reason that Brian, who I like, was playing was because he gave us toughness, rebounding and an inside presence," D'Antoni said. "That's Shaq. Now, we need running. We need to space the floor. When Amar

[Suns_fan_2007]

MD needs to be more flexible or his job is in jeopardy.

[mkot]

^^don't left Kerr off the hook.

[187_Inc]

Here are my two conclusions:

1) D'Antoni needs to work on his coaching skills

and

2) All the players on our team need to start playing like they care.


To go in depth:

1) D'Antoni obviously knows how to coach a team that can win regular season games but he doesn't know how to coach a team that wins in the post season. Play the bench and more then just 2 or 3 of them! A 7 to 8 man rotation is unacceptable to me. You need to go at least 9 deep to give the starters a break and to let the players on the bench get a feeling with the team that way they'll be able to make an impact when they play again.

Second of all, D'Antoni needs to start playing DJ, Linton Johnson, Skinner more when none of our starters feel like playing some freaking defense. At least those guys will hustle and try their best to ensure more playing time. He's not been playing those guys when our perimeter (or defense in general) has been sucking it up which is when they need to go in. He uses Steve Nash and the rest of the starters as his safety blanket which is why Nash is being overplayed and turning the ball over more. I know our offense struggles when Nash is out, but they better learn to adapt because if something happens to Nash this team is done.

2) Apparently the players on our team don't realize we can VERY easily miss the playoffs this year. The last time I saw them play with fire was against Boston and after that it was like they were playing summer ball. Grant Hill seems to try hard and Nash is always going to do his thing on offense, but the defense has been disgusting. Nash isn't even capable of putting his damn hands in the face of a jump shooter most of the time and I don't have anything overly positive to say about the rest of the D. At least Shaq is getting a flagrant or two and roughing guys up, because that's the kind of gritty defense that wins in the PLAYOFFS and makes players think twice before driving the lane all night long.

I'm sticking with the team through thick and thin like others here, but that doesn't mean I can't bitch about things that need to be changed. We don't have time to sit around and think "oh we don't need to worry about it Mikey will figure it out eventually!" because when "eventually" rolls around we might not be in the playoff race.

[garrick]

One idea I had was to leave Shaq in as a low post threat when you have DJ and whoever else Mike decides to sub. Dump it into Shaq inside and let him either score or pass to the open man on the perimeter.
That way you don't need to have such a skilled back up pg which we don't have.

[abekazi]

This is more for the offseason than now. I beleive that the Suns just need time right now. I am not in Panic mode. During the offseason I think the Suns should trade both Barbosa and Diaw. Some of the Free Agents out there that might interest the Suns would be:

PG- Jannero Pargo (Suns Killer), Carlos Arroyo, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon, and Dan Dickau.

SG/SF- Matt Barnes, Michael Pietrus, Quinton Ross, Josh Childress, James Jones, and Antoine Wright.

PF/C - Raef LaFrentz, Lorenzen Wright, Patrick O'Bryant, and Aaron Williams.

I think the Suns have two many tweeners are the roster Example- Boris does not shoot like a three and is to soft to be a 4. Barobosa can't play point and is to small to defend the 2. The Suns need to play DJ, Tucker and Skinner more and reduce minutes for Raja and Nash.

[smirkin gherkin]

trade Barbosa

I would hate to see Barbosa traded. There's little doubt that he can't be a proper backup pure PG, but I think he still has a good future with us. He's very young, and our system is pretty much a perfect fit for him.

[rsavaj]

This may sound a little lame, but what if we tried to get our old bench back via FA? Throw money at KT/House/James Jones(even though he probably doesn't want to come back), and then acquire Tim Thomas with the TPE and send them Tucker in a separate deal. Hell, if we could trade Boris for Q I'd do it too; even though Boris is a better player, he's not producing like we need him to. Q's crapped out ever since he went to NY, but maybe he'll improve when he's back in PHX.

Nash
Bell
Hill
Amare
Shaq

House/Strawberry
Barbosa
Q
TT
KT

1st round draft pick
2nd round draft pick
(James Jones )

I'd love to see that roster.

ETA: Q also has one less year on his contract

[guaves13]

-= original quote snipped =-



I would hate to see Barbosa traded. There's little doubt that he can't be a proper backup pure PG, but I think he still has a good future with us. He's very young, and our system is pretty much a perfect fit for him.

LB may be a very good offensive player but he has shown 0 improvement defensively. His size and lack of D may force the org to overlook legit pg's in the upcoming draft. I don't see any way that PHX takes a talented guy like DJ Augustin because of the bad D our small backcourt rotation is already showing. If we could move LB for a Mike Miller-type player and then take Augustin in the draft we would be much better off.

As for moving Boris...good luck.

[tsherkin]

If we could move LB for a Mike Miller-type player and then take Augustin in the draft we would be much better off.

That would be so dirty... Memphis would never do that but Mike Miller is a good rebounder and a FILTHY shooter.

As for moving Boris...good luck.

Yeah, but what-if, you know? Moving Diaw would be awesome.

[guaves13]

If I'm the Grizz I do a LB + filler for Miller in a second. MM has maxed out his potential but LB is still improving. By the time they have enough to build around Rudy Gay I say Miller will be gone.

The $ doesn't work straight up but teams can pull off some creative things on draft day. I think the phones would be ringing off the hook in PHX if GM's knew that LB was available. He has a great contract can score in bunches and is still young.

[Melon Yellow]

I would love to trade Diaw during the offseason. Problem is, I doubt anyone would touch his contract. Its not that I don't like the guy. Well ok sorta. But I mean, he's not worth 9 mil.

I feel now that we have Shaq, its kind of like we've constrained ourselves in terms of what we have to spend. It might be worth it if everyone fits in together and it works out. Obviously if we get a ring, then its all worth it. Thats yet to be soon, and still needs to be proven that we can be successful with him. I just hope we can get a decent pick in the draft. If we could get a good PG or SF, that might work. YOu never know what will happen.