The Sports Fan

Phoenix Suns Offseason Plan

Well the draft lottery sure changed things.  Instead of getting a stud #4 pick in a loaded draft, Phoenix will have to wait until next year to get anything meaningful.  This changes everything with regards to the Suns offseason plan.

• I start this with the premise that Phoenix isn't far away from a championship.  In fact, they had the pieces to win it this year, if not the luck.  Make a few tweaks, but leave the team in tact.
• Kurt Thomas.  It appears more than ever, that all roads go through San Antonio not Dallas.  (Last year was an abberation, Duncan and Manu were hurt all year...if they're healthy Dallas loses in 6).  This means you have to keep Kurt.  Very few people can play Duncan as well as Thomas, which means he's not expendible.  Clearly, the Suns were a better team against San Antonion when he was on the floor.
• Banks and Diaw.  I sincerely doubt anyone will take Banks or Diaw, but both have major cap numbers and add very little value.  Although, I have to say I thought Banks could have had a big time defensive presence against Tony Parker and his shooting seems good when he gets minutes.  I honestly don't know why he's been buried, but if your not going to play him, then trade him rather than pay him to sit on the bench.  I have no idea what's up with Boris.  When he's motivated or angry, he's a friggin' beast and all-but-ungaurdable.  The problem is, that almost never happened this year.  The coaches know best, but from my couch, I'd say move him if you can.
• Stoudemire / Marion.  Honestly, I don't think they can coexist, and I think it's 75% Stoudemire.  But, without the #4 pick, I'm not sure how you move him.  I see rumors of a 3-way deal with Chicago that ends up swapping him for KG, but that adds a HUGE luxury tax hit, and I don't hear Sarver signing up for that.  Frankly, I think they are both ego-driven head cases that are a ton of troulble in the locker room.  But, how can you move them without seriously downgrading the team?  A moody Marion is still giving you 15 / 15 and defending all 5 positions.  As I said, I don't think they can co-exist, but I also don't see what the alternative is.  Unless you can get KG, they're untradeable, and I'd move Stoudemire before I'd move Marion.  He's just a mess in the locker room.
• Draft.  Knowing the Suns, they'll dump these picks unless Acie Law is still around (highly unlikely).  What I don't understand is, why not take a flyer on some foreign dude, or some high flying, athletic wing?  Manu and Parker were both low draft picks...

Final comment on KG.  I would beware getting a superstar whose been in the league for 10+ years.  The problem is that they've been playing the game a certain way their entire career.  Asking them to adjust to a new system, new team mates, new passing angles etc. is a lot to ask.  I see what AI isn't doing in Denver - adapting to his team.  He still dribbles too much, and shoots a poor percentage without involving his teammates.  In a system catered to that style, he can be successful, i.e, surround him with rebounders and pick-setters.  But in a system where he has to adapt to Melo, not-so-much.  Same with KG.  I think his game is uniquely suited to Nash and Marion, and he'd make the locker room a much better place...but it'd take some time to make it work.  Anyone but Nash, and it's a lost cause.  WITH Nash, anything is possible.

Suns Have to Make Changes, But It's Not What You Think

Events over the weekend confirm one of my biggest concerns about these Suns.  Team Chemistry.  Too many fragile egos, insecurities, and guys wanting to be Alpha Dog.  That type of team mojo isn't going to win shit.  Suns just got beat by a team whose coach praises 'Corporate Knowledge' as a key assett of his players.  Yeah, probably not a coincidence.

There were rumblings all year about how Shawn Marion didn't feel adequately appreciated, by the fans, his team mates, his coaches, advertisers or the league as a whole.  When you play with Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, that's probably going to happen.  Both of them put up a dozen plays a game that could and should make SportsCenter, where as Marion's 'D' and rebounding doesn't generate that same level of excitement.  The fact that he makes more than anyone else on the team, went to the All Star Game, and gets praised by Nash / D'Antoni more often than anyone else doesn't make him feel better apparently.  Witness the cover story on The Magazine.

Then there's Amare.  He desperately wants to be 'the man', and there are books full of urban legends about him blowing off team mates.  My personal favorite is when he showed up for the private plane taking he, Nash and Marion to film that Nike Commercial...well, he shows up an hour late with an ice cream cone, and said he was late 'cause he got a hair cut.  There's also all kinds of rumblings in the McCallum book about him blowing off rehab, and not telling the team about his knee before it got to the point where it needed microfracture surgery.

All of that culminated in Amare blowing off the final team meeting of the year.  His excuse is as lame as his 'going to check in' excuse during the 'altercation'.  I know what those meetings are, and they have nothing to do with the coach.  It's just the players, and it's mandatory, and every playoff team holds them after the last game (win or lose).  Him not showing up is a large, large sign to the team.

I don't care how good a leader Nash is, you can't keep a team together when your two best players are so insecure and ego-centric.  If nothing else, it's a huge distraction to Nash, worrying about their shots and feelings.

So, the team has to be reconstituted.  Where they better than the Spurs this year?  Yeah, I think they were.  But for Czar Stern and Cheap Shot Bob, they could have won it all, even against Dallas, with the players they have right now.  The problem is, their problems will fester and get worse.  Hurt feelings don't get better with time, and bad chemistry doesn't either.  This was the high-water mark for these Suns, just because of Marion and Stoudemire's egos.

After the draft lottery, I'll tell you what they should do in the off season.

I've watched every San Antonio playoff game.  Every single one.  They've only lost twice in these playoffs, and I've noticed a theme in both of them.  Tim Duncan gets in foul trouble.

See, Duncan is REALLY good at skirting the line, as is Bowen.  He always has his hands almost streight up, rarely bodies anyone, and almost never leaves his feet.  Yes, this is great defensive positioning...but if you still get the arm, it's still a foul...if you still go over the back on an offensive rebound, it's still a foul...unless your TD.  On the offensive end, he never lowers a shoulder.  Basically, he plays the game streight up and down, which allows him be more aggressive defensively than anyone else in the league.  When he's free to play like that, he can be a force defensively.  Of course, this is largely because he gets called for 2 of every 4 fouls he actually commits.  Regardless, when the game is being called tight, and he gets in foul trouble, he can't be as aggresive defensively, which filters down to everyone else.  For example, Bowen can only body up on whomever he's gaurding because he's not worried about the guy getting by him...Duncan's always waiting.  If Duncan has to play off a little, or is on the bench, things don't go so well for the Spurs.

To better illustrate, look at the following:

• Utah (Game 1) - 4th and 5th fouls with less than a minute remaining...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 6) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 5) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 4) - 3rd foul at 7:26 in the second quarter, 5th with 6:18 left...LOSE
• Phoenix (Game 3) - 4th foul with :38 remaining...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 2) - An interesting game in terms of this hypothosis.  Duncan gets his 4th foul with 2:56 left in the 3rd, and Phoenix is only up 5.  He leaves right away (replaced by Horry), and comes back with 9:15 left in the 4th.  Suns are up 11 now, and never really look back.  Duncan doesn't do much after that, as the game gets increasingly out of reach, he finishes the game out with 2 points, 3 missed shots and a few defensive rebounds...LOSE
• Phoenix (Game 1) - Finishes with 2 (!) personal fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 5) - Finishes with 3 personal fouls (Finley's 8-9 3pointers don't hurt)...WIN
• Denver (Game 4) - Finishes with 1 (!) personal fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 3) - Finishes with ZERO fouls.  Interestingly, he's one of only 3 players to get PT and not register a personal foul.  Brent Barry (5 minutes) and Linus Kleiza (5 minutes) where the others.  Duncan played 41 minutes in the paint, in a very physical playoff game without committing a single foul.  Um, yeah...WIN
• Denver (Game 2) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 1) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN

What's just astounding is how many times he ends up with 3 or fewer fouls. EIGHT of the twelve games!  Huh??  In the other 4 games, he ended up with 4 fouls once, drew 4 and 5 in the last minute of the game, and they lost the other two.

The point of all this?

1. If you want to see who will win, see when Duncan draws his 3rd foul (if at all)
2. Anyone really think the NBA refs don't protect Duncan just a little?  So much for there being retribution for getting Crawford fired...

Save Melo From The Nuggets! PLEASE!

As you know, I was never a fan of the trade that brought AI to Denver.  I believed then, and more so now, that it'll set back Melo's development by years, and makes the Nuggets far worse.  At the end of the year, and in he playoffs, that seemed to be the case.  No one knew who was doing what, AI dribbled too much, and there was no cohesion.  The lone brigh spot over the end of the season was Nene.

So, now I see reports that Karl wants Ron Artest.  You have GOT to be kidding me.  He's blown up every team he's been on (one way or another), and he's a world class nucklehead. Should be great for team chemistry, right?

By my count, that would bring the head-case count to 4 on the Nuggets - Karl, Artest, AI and JR Smith.  Great environment to grow a superstart, eh?

Let's contrast Tim Duncan's development and Melos:

• Coachs - TD (1); Melo (3 so far)
• Mentors - TD (David Robinson - ultimate pro and good guy); Melo (Andre Miller and AI...yeah)
• Systems - TD (1); Melo (who fucking knows)

You get the point.  Tim Duncan has matured in a stable environment with great leadership and a system he can flourish in.  Melo has had 2 GMs and 3 coaches, no leadership to grow up under, various systems that ask different things of him, and is now surrounded by people of questionable emotional maturity - starting with his FRIGGIN' COACH!

Melo can be one of the great players of all time...is it too much to ask Stern to wade in and force either a management / ownership change, or a trade?

A few links to articles on Artest the Nugget:

• Sam Smith, it's on Page 2
• Yahoo Sports, with some good comments

I'm Not a Fan of Henry Abbot

First, I have to be honest - I'm new to the whole blogging thing.  I only started reading them 6 months ago or so, and started my own blogs just in the past few months.  I didn't know who Henry Abbot was before he showed up on the Worldwide Leader.  The first few posts, I was excited - he linked to a bunch of interesting articles, he seemed like a bit of an insider, and seemed really passionate about something I'm also passionate about - Hoops.

His past few posts have been idiotic, though.  He's becoming pompous and irrational.  His defense of the Commish and the Spurs has been irrational, culminating in his post today, on Stern and his 'headache'. 

My synopsis of his article (it's not a blog anymore, folks): the Brawl in Auburn Hills was the worst thing that ever happened in the NBA, we have to avoid something similar happening in the future at all costs, therefore players leaving the bench during an altercation rules must be enforced.

You know what that is?  That's Abbot taking a very high profile event, and using it to justify a really bad rule and almost-as-bad decision in the Spurs / Suns game.  Why?

• What instigated that whole fiasco was a drunk fan throwing something at a player, not a hard foul or a fight on the court.
• It was escalated by players leaving the bench area, but they were headed into the stands, not onto the court...What Stoudemire and Diaw did was not similar in any way to what Stephen Jackson and Artest did in Detroit.  They were moving down the sideline to a fallen team-mate, not into the stands trying to guess who threw something.

So, how do you prevent people from going into the stands, and fans and players swinging away at midcourt?  Well, you fix the arenas, and you create rules so severe that people will think twice before either throwing something or taunting players / coaches / refs too hard, and convince players that stadium security will handle anything that comes up.  Oh, and if players go into the stands for any reason, they're done.  Not just for a game, or a lot of games....done.

Does punishing Amare and Boris as they were punished prevent someone later from chasing down a rowdy, drunk fan?  Maybe, but the circumstances are too different to draw the conclusion Abbot is drawing.

The rule is a bad rule, it was applied selectively and subjectively to Stoudemire and Diaw, and that's a fact jack.

And, someone should tell Abbot and Stern that if they go to the 'I have a headache' line too many times, we - the fans - will run around on them and start frequenting seedy Arena Football and UFC events.  Put out, guys, it's the best way to keep us around.

What This Blog is All About

Hello Sportsfans,

This blog has been a work in progress.  I started with a couple of blogs devoted to teams I love (Broncos, Suns, Nuggets etc.).  The idea behind those blogs was that so many of the established commentators (print, TV whatever) were so lame.  They defended the indefensible, had very poorly held opinions, and too often talked too much from their perspective as a former coach / player / breathing person, and NOT from the perspective of a FAN.

Over the past few weeks, I've become more and more upset with a number of events, and have decided there's more than enough material to roll them all into one blog and comment about everything that crosses my mind.  Should be fun!