Shoals Unlimited: Shaq's Last Hurrah

It’s kinda sad – Shaq’s leading by example, and Amar’e’s not following, whether by choice (as you say, his own ego is the only defense that can really stop him), or Shaq’s example really is so all-encompassing that there’s little room to manoever around him.

If by choice, you can blame Amar’e for shrinking into the corner. If through a defective system dominated by Shaq’s post play, you can barely blame Stoudemire for feeling clostrophobic.

But with Phoenix being such a system-driven team, both then and now, where’s the coaching in all of this drama? Why hasn’t Porter figured out that Shaq needs to run some of the same cuts, screeens, and give ‘n go’s that made Nash and Amare such an unstoppable tandem? If it’s because Shaq, at this point, is only physically capable of being fed on the block – well, then this season is a Shaq ego-stroke and nothing more. But if the option exists to move the Shaq/Amare/Nash pieces differently in order to open up more of the canvas that Nash – and the Suns – require to approach their former effectiveness, I say that lies on Porter a little.

Part of the breakdown, I think, is that Nash and D’Antoni were pretty much co-coaches of the Suns, and now Steve and Porter aren’t on the same page. Nash has chirped to the media about some of his issued, but I don’t know if he’s taken the same responsibility with Porter as he has with his former coach.

Shaq’s playing the way he has played all of his career, he has publicly indicated that the sun’s should play the way they need to play be successful and not to worry about him as he will always get his points, why this is so hard for Nash and Amare is a testiment to there one dimensional style of play.  Bottom line, if Nash and Stoudemire are not smart enough to adjust there game to play with shaq on the floor, then they are not as good as people think that they are.  IMHO, the reason that the Suns are not a better team can be directly linked to turnovers, Nash, Stoudemire and the Suns just don’t take care of the ball and Nash is the biggest culprit as well as stoudimier, that is not shaq’s fault

You said it well.  But they HAVE to be able to run as well.  What if Shaq goes down in the next few weeks?  I think all these offensive players are not getting the most out their play.  Surely, surely four coaches should be able to figure it out, but not yet.  Why is that?

I live in the valley of the Sun, here is what is being said thru local media.

Porter came in here trying to implement a defensive philosophy, But this team was and is still built around Coach D’s style, so with that said until they get rid of the core group and Porter gets his style of players this team will never accomplish what he was brought into do.

The lose of Marion has hurt the team more than the addition of Shaq. Marion was their best ALL AROUND player. He played offense, defense and could play multiple positions. Nash got all the pub for his highlight passing, but it was Shawn that did all the little things.

Trade them. They’re going to leave anyway, so why not get something in return. If Nash and Stoudemire are more worried about playing "Speed Racer" on the court than winning a title then trade them somewhere they can have fun. But those guys need to remember, just like the Speed Racer movie the Suns uptempo game over the past few years came into every season with major expectations and flopped (or failed if you want to be nice about it).

Not for nothing but a Steve Nash/Amare Stoudemire for Jose Calderon/Chris Bosh(or O’neal + a first round pick) deal could save 2 franchise’s season.

Or

Andre Miller and Elton Brand

Or

Baron Davis and Zach Randolph

Or

Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace

Or

Mike Bibby and Josh Smith

I’m not saying they would neccassarily win a title with one of those trades but I could almost guaruntee none of them would be really worried about the tempo of the game as much as winning a championship.

Shaq was a bad move.I’ve followed the PHX Suns since Kevin…The Suns won’t win for a few years, but they will stay competitive for awhile.It’s a shame to see Nash, Amare, and The Big Ego them all experience the twilight on the bad side.

I don’t see what trading Nash/Stoudemire for Calderon/Bosh would accomplish…both of those pairs play similarly and put up almost identical stats. They were both also assembled (or nurtured) under the watch of Colangelo.

  I believe Steve Nash will go down as a great player, but what people fail to realize, he simply was a great system PG in a system team.
Steve Nash can be compared to another great system PG which is John Stockton. Stockton was great, but with the right mix of players, and coaches. Place either Stockton or Nash on a team without their system or coaches, and the result you get is, Steve Nash of today hesitant, always complaining and whining about his team, although he has plenty of talent.
Stockton was fortunate that his team really did come together toward the end of his career.
  Nash simply put, is a system player, in a system team, that can not break out of it’s old shell.
By the end of this season, don’t be surprised if the Suns trade away their team, to start anew, with Kerr’s players.

With all that has gone wrong with Toronto’s season, have you heard either Bosh or Calderon complain about the games tempo or take personal jabs at their latest ray of hope in Jermaine O’neal. Nope. All Bosh and Calderon want to do is win. Yes Nash and Stoudemire and Calderon and Bosh are very similar in styles of play but I’d give the nod defensiveley to Toronto’s big 2.

What bothers me most about this whole things is listening to Steve Nash, sports reporters and Phoenix fans talk about the D’antoni led Suns like they won a title.  They speak of breaking up the old team like they were the 98’ Bulls fresh off a 6th championship.  The Suns never even made it to an NBA finals with the group they had.  All that running and gunning was good fun and good for 60+ regular season wins, but useless in the postseason.  They got beat TWICE by a great defensive team in the Spurs and then got beat at their own run and gun game against a Dallas team….that played a bit of defense too under the direction of Avery Johnson. 

Bottom line is they are better equipped now to win in the postseason because they have a true post option in needed.  But they need to buy in and DEFEND in order to truly reach their potential.

Has anyone used the play on words, Stoude-Mired?  If not, can I go ahead and coin that one here? 

I haven’t watched enough games to determine this, but I’m still wondering if the reason the Suns have turned away from their signature style of offense is that they don’t think Nash can sustain another season and playoffs at that pace.  Perhaps Nash has finally been overcome by his age and the Suns higher-ups feel it’s necessary to slow down now that they have O’Neil.  On that same taken, perhaps it’s the combination of O’Neil’s control of possessions and Nash’s decline that have Stoude-Mired his game (that and Amar’e’s unwillingness, or inability, to pick up the slack on defense). 

Also, as for "system" or, I guess, "non-system" players, it seems to me that ALL players are products of their system.  It’s up to the coaches and other staff to make sure that they maximize the talent of their best players.  Here, it seems that the Suns coaching staff feels that they are better served tailoring their offense to O’Neil than to Nash, perhaps because they feel that Nash is more flexible or just can’t run anymore.  Let me also add that even players like Lebron and Kobe are system players—it’s just that they ARE the system; that is to say, their teams  build the system around them.  I just don’t like the distinction and don’t think it’s fair to lump Nash, a brilliant player, into that kind of categorization. 

Has anyone used the play on words, Stoude-Mired?  If not, can I go ahead and coin that one here? 

I haven’t watched enough games to determine this, but I’m still wondering if the reason the Suns have turned away from their signature style of offense is that they don’t think Nash can sustain another season and playoffs at that pace.  Perhaps Nash has finally been overcome by his age and the Suns higher-ups feel it’s necessary to slow down now that they have O’Neil.  On that same taken, perhaps it’s the combination of O’Neil’s control of possessions and Nash’s decline that have Stoude-Mired his game (that and Amar’e’s unwillingness, or inability, to pick up the slack on defense). 

Also, as for "system" or, I guess, "non-system" players, it seems to me that ALL players are products of their system.  It’s up to the coaches and other staff to make sure that they maximize the talent of their best players.  Here, it seems that the Suns coaching staff feels that they are better served tailoring their offense to O’Neil than to Nash, perhaps because they feel that Nash is more flexible or just can’t run anymore.  Let me also add that even players like Lebron and Kobe are system players—it’s just that they ARE the system; that is to say, their teams  build the system around them.  I just don’t like the distinction and don’t think it’s fair to lump Nash, a brilliant player, into that kind of categorization. 

Toronto would NEVER pay a 1st round pick to trade 2 younger players with better attitudes and more potential than what would be coming back.  Especially this years pick, which is looking like a lottery pick.  More like Phoenix would have to throw in at least 1 first rounder…

And Amare’s value couldn’t be lower so moving him now would mean taking a loss on a valuable asset.  Ditto for Nash, who as the prvious poster mentioned isn’t getting any younger, not to mention Nash has already indicated he would love to come to Toronto as a free agent (He did also mention NYC) and Amare hasn’t helped them by making public his desire to be somewhere else.

I would hate to be Kerr right about now, but he is the one who created the problem so ultimately it should be him who pays for it.  If you want to make your players accountable then you had damn well better give them more help than what he has provided, otherwise they will realize that their GM built this flawed roster and now is trying to blame them for its deficiencies.