So winning's not good enough, you've got to have excitement?

[rsavaj]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... r0930.html

Convincing everyone - from players to fans - to buy what he's selling.

Porter was involved in an entertaining exchange Monday when asked if the new-look, lower-scoring Suns would suffer from losing their run-and-gun identity.

"So winning's not good enough, you've got to have excitement?" he mused. "You'd rather lose with 110 than win with 80 points? Fans don't like that?"

He was laughing but there was a bit of disbelief in his voice. He likes structure in his offense.

"Shots won't go up as quickly as (they did with) Mike," Porter said. "I'm not a big believer in jacking the ball up as quickly as possible."

No, sir, I'd rather win with 110 points than win with 80 points. Suns basketball has always been exciting and successful basketball; it's our defense that needs improvement, not our offense.

[tsherkin]

Of some import is that most often, good defensive teams are that way because they are slower so that they can play more effective transition defense, which really keys all of their later defensive efforts.

[scootfu602]

This won't be a popular answer, but I would wrather win with 110 than 80 as rsavaj said. But honestly if we are winning with scores like the Spurs or Pistons. I don't know that I can bring myself to watch that stuff. I don't want to indulge in slow east coast strictly defensive basketball.....guess I am just use to seeing them lose with excitement.

[HootieRules]

Porter is scaring me already. Our personnel is much more suited to get out and run then to slow it down offensively. Can't fit a square peg in a round hole.

[Miklo]

Guess I'm the first one of this opinion, but I'd rather have the Suns win with 80 than win with 110 while looking reckless, allowing 105 pts many of which are off horrible transition D, etc. I hope we don't even have one game where we cross 110 points, its counterproductive in preparing the team for the Playoffs. I think after all the trash we've collectively talked about Mike D, it becomes apparent that no matter what your squad HAS been good at under that system, you need to change and they need to adapt. Jacking up 3's is fun but how can we seriously argue that Terry is wrong for taking the "D wins championships" mentality?

The square peg is our team, but the round hole is an NBA title.

[rsavaj]

Guess I'm the first one of this opinion, but I'd rather have the Suns win with 80 than win with 110 while looking reckless, allowing 105 pts many of which are off horrible transition D, etc. I hope we don't even have one game where we cross 110 points, its counterproductive in preparing the team for the Playoffs. I think after all the trash we've collectively talked about Mike D, it becomes apparent that no matter what your squad HAS been good at under that system, you need to change and they need to adapt. Jacking up 3's is fun but how can we seriously argue that Terry is wrong for taking the "D wins championships" mentality?

The square peg is our team, but the round hole is an NBA title.

That may be true, but I think that's why it was so appealing; it wasn't supposed to happen, but we almost MADE it happen.

[toucansma]

Rsavaj I agree 100%. Over the summer there have been some eerie quotes from Porter about the offense. He has been dropping hints of making the offense slow down, score less, etc. He can tinker with the defense all he wants. If he wants to change every single defensive play, rotation, etc that is fine. However for the most part, please leave the offense alone. If he wants to incorporate Shaq a little better, and tinker with a few things, fine. However if like everyone says, it turns into 80-90 plodding games, I am going to flip. Winning is great, but we have to remember this in entertainment. I want to be entertained, and a slow offense does not do that. Why do you think so many players have come to Phoenix? They all know that the offense is fun and free flowing. No one can argue that Mike D's system is not of the most explosive to be seen. That is why so many other coaches in NBA and College call him for advice and add many of his concepts (ex: Coach K). Our team is made for this offense and has been successful at it.
So in sum Terry, please leave it alone!

[Sun Scorched]

Listen, I think we are over-reacting here.

Porter isn't a blithering idiot. He isn't going to come into the highest octane team over the last decade and take the best distributing PG today and the best face-up PF and turn it into a "dump the ball into the low-post, back to the basket" type situation.

Everything I have heard only leads me to believe that Porter wants good defense to transition into good offense.

It amazes everyone how fast the Suns can score. It really astonishes how quickly we can score after having to inbound the ball... but take a few more points from the opposition with good defense and you'll have the opporunity for great Suns transition offense.

Porter isn't saying... "I don't want this team scoring over 80 points a game"

He is saying... "Stop being so concerned with how many points we do score, be more concerned with how many games we win."

When the Suns hit the playoffs the last couple of years, they looked completely lost when they got slowed down by half-court sets and when foul calls slowed down the momentum of the game. If we had been a bit more used to it, it wouldn't have affected us as much.

This isn't the end of the high-octane Suns. This is the end of the problems we have with other half-court teams.... Spurs anyone? We know we are better on offense, we just need to fix our defensive deficiency.

[asubennett]

Listen, I think we are over-reacting here.

Porter isn't a blithering idiot. He isn't going to come into the highest octane team over the last decade and take the best distributing PG today and the best face-up PF and turn it into a "dump the ball into the low-post, back to the basket" type situation.

Everything I have heard only leads me to believe that Porter wants good defense to transition into good offense.

It amazes everyone how fast the Suns can score. It really astonishes how quickly we can score after having to inbound the ball... but take a few more points from the opposition with good defense and you'll have the opporunity for great Suns transition offense.

Porter isn't saying... "I don't want this team scoring over 80 points a game"

He is saying... "Stop being so concerned with how many points we do score, be more concerned with how many games we win."

When the Suns hit the playoffs the last couple of years, they looked completely lost when they got slowed down by half-court sets and when foul calls slowed down the momentum of the game. If we had been a bit more used to it, it wouldn't have affected us as much.

This isn't the end of the high-octane Suns. This is the end of the problems we have with other half-court teams.... Spurs anyone? We know we are better on offense, we just need to fix our defensive deficiency.

No matter how Porter structures the offense their is, plain and simple, too much talent for us not to be an offensive juggernaut again. Their is no questions we took lots of bad shots under Mike D.

Imagine if our sharp shooters start getting selective and ALWAYS look for the best shot rather than the best shot within 7 seconds.

If we use Shaq effectively in the Post and let Nash, Bell, Barbosa, Barnes etc... spot up behind the arc and Amare roam on the week side that could be a very scary proposition.

Likewise, with Shaq out, We can iso Amare, run a pick and roll off Amare, get Barbosa and Barnes and Hill in transition. We have hundreds of options. If we shoot at the same fg% clip but are able to get 5 more defensive stops and rebounds per game than last year we will surprise all the pundits who continue to be down on the Suns this preseason.

[flanpaw42]

i dont care if we score 120, 100, 80, or 5 ppg. all i care about is winning a ring. who cares about anything else. i would gladly give the last 4 years of exciting heartbreak, for just one ring. consequently if we do win it all this year than by all means go back and score 120ppg. i just want a ring in this lifetime.

[tsherkin]

Porter is scaring me already. Our personnel is much more suited to get out and run then to slow it down offensively. Can't fit a square peg in a round hole.

Not that I'm advocating power-post Riley-ball as the main option, but you couldn't be more wrong about the personnel on this team.

Amare is the definitive halfcourt weapon and so to is Shaq... set shooters? This team is made from the ground up to be uber-effective in the halfcourt if the coach isn't a half-wit about halfcourt offense. You exploit transition opportunities when you can, but even the Showtime Lakers slowed it down pretty seriously (becoming one of the slowest teams in the league) in the latter half of their dominance. They were 25th out of 27 teams in '91 when they last made the Finals, for example.

As long as Porter doesn't ignore the value of getting out in transition to get easy buckets, then his emphasis on halfcourt offense is healthy and will be productive. Half of Phoenix's problem is that it doesn't know what to do with itself in the playoffs when transition opportunities are cut down drastically. They iso Amare and nothing else gets done. Stoudemire scores a lot and Phoenix loses alot. That's what happens against the Spurs, in three consecutive matchups.

Well, this will help fix that.

[TXSun]

What Porter is saying is "do not expect a shot in 7 seconds or less" anymore. I don't think were going to lead the league in scoring like we have before, but I expect us to be in the top 10 offensively and defensively. I just wanna see defense, the scoring I really don't care. Great if we score 110 and win, but I'm darn excited if we beat Spurs & Lakers and scoring in the 90s.

[HootieRules]

Porter is scaring me already. Our personnel is much more suited to get out and run then to slow it down offensively. Can't fit a square peg in a round hole.

Not that I'm advocating power-post Riley-ball as the main option, but you couldn't be more wrong about the personnel on this team.

Amare is the definitive halfcourt weapon and so to is Shaq... set shooters? This team is made from the ground up to be uber-effective in the halfcourt if the coach isn't a half-wit about halfcourt offense. You exploit transition opportunities when you can, but even the Showtime Lakers slowed it down pretty seriously (becoming one of the slowest teams in the league) in the latter half of their dominance. They were 25th out of 27 teams in '91 when they last made the Finals, for example.

As long as Porter doesn't ignore the value of getting out in transition to get easy buckets, then his emphasis on halfcourt offense is healthy and will be productive. Half of Phoenix's problem is that it doesn't know what to do with itself in the playoffs when transition opportunities are cut down drastically. They iso Amare and nothing else gets done. Stoudemire scores a lot and Phoenix loses alot. That's what happens against the Spurs, in three consecutive matchups.

Well, this will help fix that.

Good teams are able to slow it down against us in the playoffs because they run the pick and roll so effectively. It has nothing to do with how fast we score on offense or whatever. We don't have the personnel to slow it down even a little bit. We don't have enough shooters and Shaq hasn't been an effective go-to low-post threat for a couple of years. We'd have to rely way too much on Amare and Nash in the pick and roll like you said.

Scoring too fast hasn't led to our defensive problems. I think our transition defense is fine. It's our pick and roll defense that killed us last year. It's going to be just as atrocious this year because we still have Nash as our point guard and Shaq as our center. I'm not complaining, that's the hand we've been dealt with and that's fine.

I really think the key to our team is getting Barbosa and especially Amare to be more effective in halfcourt defense and block shots and get steals and not foul. We get more stops, that means we get out on the break more, that means we can score more efficiently, that means we win in the playoffs. Slowing the game down and changing our identity offensively even a little bit would be a disaster imo. If we get better in halfcourt defense and get stops that leads to transition buckets and that forces teams in the playoffs to play more of our style. If we focus on that instead of becoming more efficient offensively I think we'll be damn tough to beat. Put it this way, we have way more upside at getting better in the halfcourt on defense than we do on offense.

[lilfishi22]

I think our goal should still be to score 100+ ppg but raise our defensive awareness. As mentioned before, our transition defense has always been one of the best things we do. So I see no reason why we can't keep up our tempo but play better defense. And when need be, slow it down to a half-court game completely if we play teams like GSW.

[TASTIC]

Your role is to win. It shouldn't matter if you score 110, if you win scoring 110 then that's a bonus.

[rsavaj]

Your role is to win. It shouldn't matter if you score 110, if you win scoring 110 then that's a bonus.

I agree, and that's a bonus that I've become accustomed to and don't want to lose.

[BurningHeart]

What Porter is saying is "do not expect a shot in 7 seconds or less" anymore. I don't think were going to lead the league in scoring like we have before, but I expect us to be in the top 10 offensively and defensively. I just wanna see defense, the scoring I really don't care. Great if we score 110 and win, but I'm darn excited if we beat Spurs & Lakers and scoring in the 90s.

We were in the Top 10 offensively and defensively in 2006 before Kurt Thomas went down.

[nashill]

Your role is to win. It shouldn't matter if you score 110, if you win scoring 110 then that's a bonus.

+1000000