Why Not a Full Year Under Gentry?

[The Diesel]

But how do we know that Amare won't improve defensively?

He's still young, very strong, very athletic, and has a great work ethic. If Amare improves defensively, this team has the potential to be a decent defensive team to go along with an awesome offense which would result in a very good team that can make it to the NBA Finals.

Give Lopez more minutes and this team can be a good defensive team next year.

Do I think they can beat Boston? No. Can they make it to the NBA Finals? Yes.

I mean, to finish just four wins shy of 50 wins without the team's best scorer was pretty impressive, in my opinion.

I feel really bad for Shaq because all the critics are blaming him for the team missing the playoffs even though he really doesn't deserve the blame.

Kerr deserves most of the blame along with the injuries to Amare/Barbosa.

It's just VERY unfortunate that we couldn't see what this team could do with a full year with an improved Shaq with D'Antoni as the coach.

Porter's system was just a HORRIBLE fit for this team.

[BobbieL]

If the Suns want to give it one more try with Amare, then the only way I can see the 09-10 season being a success as if the Suns are willing to take on a healthy Tyson Chandler. The Suns need a defensive presence in the 5 spot. It would also help to have a guard that can play defense in combination with Chandler to stop the P&R as well.

I am over Amare being a good defender. But, if Chandler were healthy and he could play the 5, I would love a scenario where all Amare needs to do is score, score score and get the 10 or so rebounds a game a guy with that athleticism should get in the NBA. Score meaning 27-30 per game.

With LB, Dudley, Dragic and Amundson, the bench was solid at years end and should only get better. Robin Lopez and Earl Clark might add something to the mix here and there. And really, for Lopez, Gentry is going to have to live with that guy fouling people - but he does block a shot every now and again and would hopefully get better with a little more PT


So, a lot of buts and ifs, I realize - but if the team has Amare - they NEED to improve that post defense play.

[The Diesel]

Lopez has the potential to be as good as Chandler one day.

[BobbieL]

Lopez has the potential to be as good as Chandler one day.

Agreed and it took Tyson Chandler a good 5 years in the NBA (I realize he came out as a high school senior and not college sophomore like Lopez) - but I think its a bit unfair to lable Lopez a bust. In time, I think you are exactly right on what Lopez could bring consistently in the NBA. But he at least needs three years in the league to get there

[JohnVancouver]

Hill better than Ariza? There's a reason Ariza will make about 10 times more $ than Grant Hill next year

Yes, there is, and it has nothing to do with talent. Ariza is a very nice young player. Grant is a miracle and playing for us waaay below what he could get elsewhere .

[rsavaj]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

[realsunsfan]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

rsavaj, I think Stat can and will improve his defense, you have to remember, he has the physical ability, but has never really been asked to play defense. He has played under D'Antoni his whole career and we all know he does not require defensive play......

[KJ7]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

rsavaj, I think Stat can and will improve his defense, you have to remember, he has the physical ability, but has never really been asked to play defense. He has played under D'Antoni his whole career and we all know he does not require defensive play......

Yeah, because under Porter he showed so many signs of improving defensively [/green font]

I remember Amare once saying that he doesn't practise anything defensively over the summer because you need to do that with your team-mates etc. My thing is that if he's practising things like his jump-shot over the summer, really *all* he should be concentrating on is defense during pre-season training etc. I dunno, I find that attitude a bit of a cop-out to be honest.

I've lost confidence that he'll ever be anything other then a good weak-side blocker. And I'm OK with that to be honest. It's just that we need to put someone next to him to be the post-up defender and have Amare come from the weak-side. Even Duncan rarely takes the teams best post-up player on D and there's a reason for that (and I'm not saying TD isn't a good post-up defender). Shaq clearly wasn't the answer to this because he was so easily taken out of it when they went to a PnR and the best teams in the West all have bigs like TD and Gasol who can both post up and hit a 16-18 footer.

Remember Gentry was on this team during most of D'Antonis time here and Amare didn't improve then, so why would he improve now? Expecting him to all of a sudden see the light and become a good defender is ridiculous. We even had Iavaroni back then who is thought of highly when it comes to working with big men.

No offense Diesel but you're seriously clutching at straws with that remark. Could he become a good defender next year? Sure, anythings possible. Will he become a good defender next year? I seriously doubt it.

[mkot]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

Even old dog can learn...not Amare though...

[JohnVancouver]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

rsavaj, I think Stat can and will improve his defense, you have to remember, he has the physical ability, but has never really been asked to play defense. He has played under D'Antoni his whole career and we all know he does not require defensive play......

-- Shaq had to go as step one in improving our defense. Adding Earl Clark to Amundson and Duds gives us some toughness on the front line. Adding a Camby/Chandler 5 would be the next step.
But Stat improving his defense - i don;'t know. He;'s got the tools but who knows what kind of mood he'll be in after all this trade talk, from the deadline last season up to this current stuff with GS.
Maybe he'll cme back guns blazing and ready to get his "gorilla" game on, or maybe he'll sulk. hard to tell.
Or maybe he'll really be gone

[BurningHeart]

Amare's not going to improve defensively, come on now. He's a 7 year veteran. You don't teach an old dog new tricks.

rsavaj, I think Stat can and will improve his defense, you have to remember, he has the physical ability, but has never really been asked to play defense. He has played under D'Antoni his whole career and we all know he does not require defensive play......

I've lost confidence that he'll ever be anything other then a good weak-side blocker. And I'm OK with that to be honest. It's just that we need to put someone next to him to be the post-up defender and have Amare come from the weak-side. Even Duncan rarely takes the teams best post-up player on D and there's a reason for that (and I'm not saying TD isn't a good post-up defender). Shaq clearly wasn't the answer to this because he was so easily taken out of it when they went to a PnR and the best teams in the West all have bigs like TD and Gasol who can both post up and hit a 16-18 footer.

Would be nice if we had someone like Kurt Thomas to mask Amare's defensive deficiencies.

....oh, wait.