<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns need to switch their game to more of a half-court offense. Their style right now is entertaining and able to win games, but it is wearing out their top caliber players, especially Nash, who without Nick Van Exel backing him up in Dallas, was wasted already at midseason. Phoenix needs more bench depth, and a way to counter real contenders like San Antonio and Detroit.</div> I don't think the Suns would change their style of offence half way through the year especially when it is working. I would love the idea of the Suns acquiring a backup point guard to backup Nash. I would have like having Arroyo when he was on the block but I guess it's too late now.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns need to switch their game to more of a half-court offense. Their style right now is entertaining and able to win games, but it is wearing out their top caliber players, especially Nash, who without Nick Van Exel backing him up in Dallas, was wasted already at midseason. Phoenix needs more bench depth, and a way to counter real contenders like San Antonio and Detroit.</div> If by "wasted at midseason" you mean hard-fouled repeatedly by a thug Pacers squad, then yes you're absolutely right.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Silky Smooth:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns are no doubt a talented team. But there is one team they resemble, and it's the previous Mavericks teams that have been so successful in the regular season these past few years. With Nash as the nucleus of a team, the team is bound to strive during the regular season. But as a team, the Suns lack defense and that's what is going to be their down fall in the post season. In my opinion they will be exactly like the Mavs success wise, they will be sent home every year in the playoffs until they become an above average defensive team. It?s basically proven and Suns fans are going to be hearing this a lot, (team) defense wins championships!</div> True but, remember back in 02-03? The Dallas Mavericks won 60 games, and went to game 6 with the Spurs in the conference finals. Who knows? Had Dirk been playing during that series they might have been able to take the series. We really don't know.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Silky Smooth:</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns are no doubt a talented team. But there is one team they resemble, and it's the previous Mavericks teams that have been so successful in the regular season these past few years. With Nash as the nucleus of a team, the team is bound to strive during the regular season. But as a team, the Suns lack defense and that's what is going to be their down fall in the post season. In my opinion they will be exactly like the Mavs success wise, they will be sent home every year in the playoffs until they become an above average defensive team. It?s basically proven and Suns fans are going to be hearing this a lot, (team) defense wins championships!</div> First of all, their's a fair difference between this Suns team and the old Mavericks team, the Suns have an interior presense in Amare while the Mavericks didn't, and the Suns are much more athletic. The only similarities is that they both have Nash, and they both play fast paced, outside of that, their's nothing else really. The Mavericks were also a much deeper team than the current Suns team. :shakehead So how did you come to the decision that they lack defense, was it someone in the media that said it, or was it just following suit of what everyone else says because watching the Suns, it's clear that they do play defense. They aren't San Antonio, or Detroit, but they're clearly an above average - good defensive team. I guess you didn't read up in the thread, but I'll post it again. The Suns opponents take 89.9 shots a game, 4 more than the next closest opponent PPG in the league, due to the pace the Suns play, teams get more shots, teams aren't shooting better, or exploiting them defensively except for at the PG position, bu they're able to cope. The only flaw in the Suns defense is defensive rebouding. This can be attributed to Amare who has been a little dissapointing on the boards. The Suns give up a league leading 15.4 offensive rebounds a game, and obviously since they take more shots, they should give up a little more, but not that much. If Amare improved his rebounding, and other teams had less second chance oppurtunities, they could keep opponents under 100 PPG. Suns opponents shoot 44.4% which is middle of the pack in the NBA, and 32.5% from three point range which is second best in the NBA. Their opponents also go to the line only 20.7 times a game which is first in the NBA, so they're actually playing some pretty good defense. In addition about their opponents PPG, if their opponents were only shooting 41.2% which is the lowest in the league by an opponent [Bulls], their opponents would still be averaging 95.3 points a game. So really they play pretty good defense, with the only problem being defensive rebounding, but looking at what other people score on them isn't relative because the reason other teams score a lot is that they get a lot of shots, they aren't shooting better, or getting to the line more or anything.
Our defense can play very well in patches and other times, we are just awful, letting guys coast in and score whilst running up the other end for an outlet pass from an inbounds or a rebound. We don't put alot of hands in faces, just basic stuff to pressure the opposition really, and our defensive rebounding has a tendency to go missing at times. There isn't a stat that says though how many times our teams give up wide open looks, or easy inside baskets. The main stats I look at for our D is the opposition's FG% and turnovers per game. We are around the middle of the pack for opposition's FG% which is ok and needs work. We are in the bottom third of turnovers caused per game though. We are in the top 3rd for defensive rebounding, but really that stat is inflated by the number of shots the opposition takes. That being said, I don't think our defense is as bad as what others make out. Obviously opposition's number of FG attempts doesn't really count, due to the speed of which we play the game, not occupying up shot clock time. Our main problem is our defense, like our offense, plays in spurts. Sometimes we are there, other times we are happy to let the opposition score as long as we get the ball down the other end faster than they can get back. The thing other teams don't expect is how fast we play the game. We are on the run the whole game, constantly pushing, putting pressure on the scoreboard. Hopefully, we can get our defensive pressure to be more consistent in the run to the playoffs.
A couple comments... Amare's rebounding isn't that great because instead of hitting the defensive boards, he just runs out on the break to get the dunk. The team gives up the most offensive rebounds in the league, not only due to their lack of size, but the fact that they do not rebound defensively... particularly because everyone is out on the run. When your center is up the floor in a matter of seconds, rebounding can bite you in the butt. This is another reason why people underestimate the Sun's defense because they take some risks running the floor, sometimes they give opponent's second chances. Also, I wouldn't say that Amare has a traditional post up game. He does have a good offensive game, I'm not saying he can't score. He has a developing in-between game, extending his range up to around 15 feet. Most of his points come off of Nash assists resulting layups and dunks. He has more of a face-up, beat you off the dribble type game in the low post. No forward or center is quick enough to guard him down there, so he just blows by and dunks in your eye. He doesn't really post up and back down his opponent too often. Once he develops that, in conjunction with his explosion and quickness, watch out.
marion's shot though his shot is unconvential you cannot say that he has bad form. He his achieving the shot power from his middle section has an amazingly quick release. His consistant technique is commendable
That's why the suns need to pick up Carlos Arroyo from the Pistons. It might be weird but they have similar game techniques. They always look to pass before shoot. He would be great for the suns.
