The Phoenix Dilemma
By: Bill Ingram
When the Phoenix Suns let Amar'e Stoudemire walk away there was a general understanding that the team had almost no chance of repeating last season's success. There was some vague hope that Hedo Turkoglu might be the right fit for the Suns, or that Josh Childress returning to the NBA might help, but with nearly a third of the 2010-2011 season in the books things are not going well in Phoenix. The Suns are a .500 team and in a dead heat with the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
"We're still trying to discover ourselves," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry admitted in attempted to define how his team would go about attacking the Dallas Mavericks tonight. "It's crazy, you know, we've played 24 games and we're still searching as to who we are and what we can be."
One thing the team learned early on is that Turkoglu isn't as versatile in their system as he was in Orlando's, where he helped the Magic advance to the NBA Finals two seasons ago. He's started, he's come off the bench, he's been the facilitator, he's been a spot-up shooter, and through it all he's struggled to find any level of consistency.
"We're just trying to make him fit into what we're doing," says Gentry. "We're trying to make him a four man and he's really not a four man. Now we're trying to play him as a three man and that clouds the situation even more. We're trying to play five guys in two spots and that doesn't work out minute-wise, time-wise, rotation-wise or anything. We'll continue to try to stick him in as a three and see if he'll give us what we need."
As for Childress, who is nursing a finger injury, he hasn't even been able to crack the rotation most nights, and instead of using a ten-deep rotation like he did last season Gentry has begun to shorten up his bench.
"It's tough," says Gentry. "It's really tough. The thing that's tough about it is that I've liked what both he and Earl (Clark) have done in practice, but at some point you have to tighten up your rotation and see if that's going to work for us. I'm not married to this totally, but I think we've got to look at this and see if this is what we need to make guys perform better. If it's not, then Josh is going to get right back in the rotations and we'll see what happens from there. He also needs to continue to let his finger heal, and I think he'll play better once the (splint) is off . . .it's his strong hand, his dribbling hand, so I think we'll see him better when that comes off."
Through it all Steve Nash has been a trooper. He's been in Phoenix through major roster moves before, but never through a summer in which his team just wasn't willing to spend the money to keep their primary offensive powerhouse in town.
"You're going to miss him, no question," Gentry said of Stoudemire, who is having an MVP season for the New York Knicks. "You're talking about a guy who's the best in the whole NBA at what he does, and when you're the best in the league at what you do and you leave a team, there's going to be a gap there and you're going to miss him. I think he's playing great and we're happy for him, but there's nobody that we can get in the league who could do for us what he did for us. Maybe a guy like Carlos Boozer would come close, but Amar'e's not here and we have to figure out how to play and be effective without him."
Still, Nash comes to work every day, continuing the grueling schedule that enables him to keep playing at a very high level even at his age.
"You know, I've said this all along: Age doesn't matter, it's how physically fit he is," says Gentry. "As long as he's as fit as he is, why is age even a factor? He takes care of himself, he takes care of his body, he eats right, and he always prepares physically and conditioning-wise for the start of the season. That's more important than the age factor."
Sources close to the situation say Nash is starting to waiver on spending the rest of his career in Phoenix, that his frustration level has been very high this season, and that he wouldn't be surprised if the team decided a trade might be the best answer for their star point guard, particularly with Gordan Dragic coming along nicely behind him. For now, however, the Suns are hoping the return of starting center Robin Lopez can help them turn things around before they get desperate enough to trade Nash.
"He looked pretty good, really," Gentry said of Lopez's first game back from injury. "He probably had more bounce than he did before he got hurt. You know, he gives us size and a little bit of presence in the lane, a rebounder, a shot-blocker, and it's great having a little bit of size in there. Without him we're a small team, by NBA standards, and he gives us a much-needed presence in the paint."
A presence in the paint is, indeed, a good start for the Suns, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. Turkoglu and Childress are not having much of an impact, nor is Hakim Warrick, the other free agent signed to more or less replace Stoudemire. The business side of the NBA seems to have sabotaged what could have been a very special team on the basketball court, and now it's seems to be a matter of time before the new leadership in Phoenix decides to completely rebuild.
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