SB Nation User Blog: Suns Ben

Suns fans: This year, be thankful for Matt Barnes

Suns Ben — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:53:19 -0000

I've been a huge Matt Barnes fan and apologist for quite a while now. Many years ago I read about his struggles with racism in high school, his collegiate career at UCLA, and always thought he'd be a perfect fit with the Suns when he was at Golden State. Needless to say I put him in my off-season wish list for the Suns last year. And when I read he was officially signed, I was through-the-roof ecstatic.

A column today by Paul Coro on Matt Barnes affirmed how thankful I am that he is a member of the Phoenix Suns.

No, it wasn't the clutch shot he hit last night that propelled us to a win. It wasn't the energy and defense he's brought to the Suns this year. And it wasn't his myriad of tattoos (which I'm jealous of by the way).

It's the way he has taken Barbosa under his wing during an extremely difficult time not only in Leandro's life, but Matt's as well.

As a cancer survivor, that is something I respect even more so than his play.

A few of us on the Bright Side talked about how fortunate Suns fans are to have always had a great core group of character players. The list can go on and on in each decade the Suns have been a franchise. Not every team can say that.

But Matt Barnes strikes a cord with me personally due to my own history with cancer. I won't go into any details on this post but I came close to losing my leg and not being able to play walk again, much less play basketball. My fiancee is also a survivor of non-hodgkins lymphoma. We've all known someone afflicted with the disease and it's something that takes time to get over (if at all). And it's certainly not easy to think about or deal with during the holidays. I've been around the game for quite a while and playing consistent, smart, and tough basketball is not easy when these things are happening in a person's life. Especially at such a high level.

That's why I respect Barnes so much. Barnes mother passed away only a year ago from cancer. However, recognizing how close Leandro is to his family, Barnes displayed great kindness in mentoring and becoming close with LB during the past few months. As Suns fans know, Leandro is a soft-spoken and sensitive guy who just wants to make the fans, coaches, and players happy. As evidenced by his time away this season, this has been one of the most difficult periods of LB's life. But Barnes has been there for him every step of the way.

Putting his own feelings and memories aside during the one-year anniversary of his mother's passing, Barnes has continued supporting LB and is helping him cope with his loss. He even ordered wrist bands with LB's mother's name, Ivete, which the entire team can wear; the same kind of wrist bands he wore to honor his mother, Ann, just over a year ago.

Seeing that type of kindness from a member of the greatest team on Earth should make fans beam with pride.

So this year, Suns fans, amongst all of your other reasons to be thankful, make sure Matt Barnes is on that list.

Response is Critical

Suns Ben — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:15:58 -0000

As anyone that knows me can attest to, my mood is generally reflective of how the Suns are doing as a whole. This would include any off-season moves, wins or losses, reaction from how they played, injuries etc. – the list could go on. Sure, it’s somewhat pathetic and ulcer-inducing, but that’s my life and I’m pretty set in my ways.

So, naturally, seeing the Suns get picked apart by a Laker team that shot 47% from both the field and three-point line, this was my initial reaction:

After the swelling subsided, I convinced myself this could be a good thing for the Suns in the long run.

Here are the things we learned last night:

The Lakers have an incredibly deep bench.
The Suns must find that balance they had in the Detroit game to be effective.
Captain Obvious: We aren’t shooting the ball well.
Despite an earlier post I wrote, the Suns need a lot of work defensively

Okay, those points are probably obvious. But, sometimes you don’t see things until you see them. The Lakers game exposed every single one of our weaknesses. But, this is a good thing and we must show through our play the next few games that we are learning from this.

Here’s how…

We need to come out pissed and ready for retribution. Like we just got destroyed on national television by the defending Western Conference champions who we love to hate and is the best team in the NBA and hasn’t lost on the road all year and also has the MVP.
Show that Shaq has a bigger role on offense, but isn’t the entire offensive philosophy.
Give Amare and Boris more touches in the post.
Run. Allow Nash to work in the open court. He is too good not to have that opportunity.
Spread the floor, even in a set offense. Last night there were a number of times where players ran into each other and cluttered the lane. This makes it waaaay too easy for the opposing defense, especially for an outstanding defensive team like the Lakers.
The coaching staff needs to show they have the capability of making better in-game adjustments.
Winning. Losing three in a row can be defeating early in the season, especially when the team is confused and a work in progress.

So, I am choosing not to go insane with anger or rush to judgment. I’m nowhere near calling for any heads, wanting any trades, or looking to the draft. Instead, let’s see how they respond in the next few games with their play.

Let’s give them a chance to be resilient.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 11/21/08 9:36 AM PST ]

I am going to piggy back this awesome post with the audio from last night's game.

I will also add my own No Hand-Wringing warning by reminding Suns fans that we knew this team was going to take some time and not to be so quick to jump to conclusions or abandon The Plan.

As much as the past was great, it wasn't working either and needed a change. Nash CAN NOT run the offense for 35mpg / 82 games and still have a hope of being effective come playoff time. He knows this as well as anyone even if his competitive spirit wants to try and take over each game.

There's a bigger picture here to think about and let's also not forget that we are missing Barbosa's 15ppg off the bench and combined with Tucker's injury is messing with the rotations. My only gripe is that I want to see more Lopez and less Shaq.

When Nash talks about the offense being different he IS NOT SAYING that is should go back to the way it was.
When Shaq talks about playing in-side out he IS NOT SAYING that all the touches should run through him
When Bell talks about not hitting open shots he IS SAYING that he needs to keep making his open 3's (47%) and stop trying to pretend he's Kobe shooting of the dribble

Audio provided by Sports 620 KTAR

13 Seconds or More

Suns Ben — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:10:00 -0000

13 Seconds or More

This is a great post not bashing the Suns, but talking about the polar shift in the Suns offense and not utilizing Nash as they have in the past.

Here is a great quote from the article via True Hoop:

"In the clutter of the Suns' new offense, Steve Nash looks like a hummingbird trapped inside a sandwich bag."

A New Nash

Suns Ben — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:38:47 -0000

For lack of a better word, we've all seen a change in Nash's play. It's not that he isn't playing well or losing a step per se, it's just....changed.

Let me preface this blog by saying he is, by far, my favorite player of all time. It's rare to see someone so good, giving back to the community and being so selfless - something I personally respect more so than his actual play.

But I do admit we've seen a sharp change in Nash's play, so I set out to see why.

We haven't seen Nash distribute the rock on the fastbreak like we are accustomed to seeing. We haven't seen as many jaw-dropping passes and marveled at his vision as much as we used to. In fact, he's had only one game this year of 10+ assists. Being a Nash apologist, I wanted to see statistical evidence of who to blame and when this truly started happening.

My original hypothesis was that his change in play could be identified from the point we acquired Shaq (February 6, 2008). So, I compared Nash's numbers pre-Shaq and post-Shaq.

What I found surprised even me.

Let's start by looking at Nash's numbers before the Shaq trade (November 2007 - January 2008):

17. 3 points per game, 11.8 assists per game, 3.5 turnovers per game

Then, Nash's numbers after the trade (February 2008 - April 2008):

15.7 points per game, 10.3 assists per game, 3.6 turnovers per game

Sure, there was a small decline in scoring and 1 less assist averaged per game but there is no significant evidence that Shaq affected those numbers. More than likely, it was due to fatigue and playing the third highest minutes total of his career.

This surprised me. I expected to see a noticeable (but not necessarily drastic) decline in Nash's stats from the point we acquired Shaq. Obviously surprised that I didn't find this, my next step was to look at this year's stats to date. This is where I found the sharp decline.

Nash's numbers to date for the 2008-2009 season thus far:

13.7 points per game, 7.5 assists per game, 3.27 turnovers per game

At the same point last season, Nash was averaging close to 6 more points per game and over 3 more assists per game. However, last year, his stats didn't noticeably fluctuate throughout the year. Did Nash really get "worse" in only a few months in the same year? In April 2008, Nash had a spectacular month averaging 11 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, his turnovers were down from previous months, and he never missed a free throw. This was only 7 months ago. Did he age that much from the end of last season to this season?

Unlikely.

These stats lead me to conclude that new coach Terry Porter and the new style of play, not Shaquille O'Neal, has had the biggest influence on the decline of Nash's stats thus far. This isn't necessarily unexpected, but I didn't think it would be as noticeable as early in the season.

This also got me thinking of how much I miss the old Nash. Sure, our team is built to make a long run in the playoffs. We have more depth, a better defense, and more scorers. But, selfishly, how much more fun was it to watch Nash create instead of dumping it into the post to Shaq?

I do recognize that a change probably needed to be made for us to advance in the playoffs. However, the type of change is (and was) debatable. Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with any of the personnel moves, it's just a weird feeling not to see Nash as relied upon - but it's probably a good thing.

Seeing D'Antoni's Knicks put up 19 made three pointers and 132 points this year certainly didn't help my nostalgia.

I also recognize it's early in the year and there are a ton of things that can change. I have written previously that we need to give Nash more credit as a point guard that he can adapt to new systems and still be effective, which he is.

What I didn't realize (or want to accept) is that by doing so, he is selflessly sacrificing for the "betterment" of the team. He never has, and never will, complain about a diminished role or his points/assists totals going down. All he wants is some clarification so he knows how to best lead this team.

And I'm confident that his leadership trumps any decline from a statistical point of view.

But, as evidenced by the video below, I sure miss seeing the ball in his hands and waiting for him to create.

*Statistical source: ESPN.com

Suns Win Showcases Balanced Style

Suns Ben — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:31:18 -0000

Suns fans can sleep well tonight. We finally saw what Kerr and Porter have been preaching for months now - a balanced team.

This message was engrained into our heads since Steve Kerr took over as GM and Terry Porter took over as coach. After previous years of losing to incredibly balanced teams in the playoffs, it was a message I think we were all ready to hear. Seven Seconds or Less was dead and we weren't going anywhere unless our defense and bench improved. After the addition of a new coach, new role players and a new philosophy, Suns fans were anxious. Excited, but nervous. Hopeful, but reserved.

The start to the 2008-2009 season hasn't necessarily calmed our worries. Already, it's been reported that players and staff aren't on the same page, aren't sure when to run and when not to, and question when it's okay and not okay to shoot.

Sure, 8-3 is a good record and many teams would love to face the problems we have. But this is a team that has been expected to contend for a championship for several years now. We are equipped to make a run against anyone in the playoffs.

That is...if we could figure out a way to balance our run-n-gun style with our depth and better defense.

Tonight we did.

The Suns picked apart one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, and it wasn't solely through our known run-n-gun style. Much of our success tonight came from defensive stops. This has been Porter's message since he got the job; sure, we can run - but it will be after a missed shot.

Tonight, the Suns held the Pistons, a good shooting team, to 39% shooting overall and 23% 3-point shooting. More importanly, we saw the pick & roll defended much better, especially by Lopez. A few of us here were talking about how bad the Suns are at defending the pick & roll earlier today and how we expect the Pistons (and every other team for that matter) to exploit it. However, our help defense was stellar compared to what it usually is allowing the Pistons few open looks at the basket. Whether it was Prince, Stuckey, Iverson, or Hamilton who got by their defender there was someone in the paint to help out. Well, If we want to nitpick, there were a few times (Kwame's three dunks) where absolutely no one was there to help...but hey, we'll take it. Plus, who can nitpick when our boy, Steve Nash, got a blocked shot?

From an offensive basis, we finished with 104 points. This total could've been much higher had we not missed 12 free-throws and not tried to run out the clock for the last four minutes. However, what most of us fans wanted to see was not only balance between the inside-out game and running, but the reassurance that the players knew when to do both. At the start of the game, the offense clearly was being ran through Shaq and it was working extremely well. After his ejection, there was more of a shift to running and distributing. That worked too. Perhaps what encouraged me most was that the balance wasn't completely polar with Shaq out. When we needed to run to get some momentum, we did. When we needed to slow it down and work it through Amare, we did.

Overall, ball movement was much smoother. For our inside-out game to work, ball distribution and movement are absolutely essential. Before tonight, we hadn't played a complete game where our passing and movement of the ball was consistent and flowed well - and it's showed through our (almost) league high turnover rate. Tonight, the extra pass was made by multiple players at a consistent rate. More important, when we started to run, there wasn't a noticeable increase in turnovers. Guys were making the extra pass, and the shots were going in.

Though ball movement creates shots, we still have to make them. In the Rockets game, no one shot well (37%) even though we got a lot of open looks. Tonight, our shots were connecting (finally) which allowed us to gain confidence and affirm that ball movement works to create shots intead of relying on Nash, Amare, or Shaq to go 1 on 1.

Contrary to previous Suns rosters, we now have a balanced bench that is capable of contributing positively. Though, ultimately, Amare and Nash were the keys to the game (29 points/11 rebounds by Amare and 17 points/7 assists by Nash) there was a comfort for me when the bench was on the court. Did anyone else notice that tonight? I wasn't simply waiting for someone to screw up leading to high minutes for our starters. Amundson really helped us with his energy and defense, Singletary and Goran played well, Diaw (who gets way to much criticism) played in my opinion his best game all year, and Robin Lopez was a fitting replacement for Shaq.

This was the game us fans have been waiting for. This was the game that showed us how good the Suns could be. The Sun hasn't set yet, not even close.

This was the game the Suns showed the league they now have something they've been missing for years - balance.

And boy was it fun to watch.

Suns React to Suspensions

Suns Ben — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:24:06 -0000

I'm as incensed as every Suns fan is (and Rockets fan for that matter) regarding the suspensions handed out today to Barnes, Nash, and Alston.

Although I've always been a "by the book" guy and believe that rules are rules, some ounce of subjectivity must come into play when making decisions regarding fines, suspensions, etc. These are situations that must be dealt with on a case by case basis while maintaining as much consistency as possible. The only consistency, it would seem, is that Stern and the NBA are inconsistent.

Based on reaction from the players, they are just as upset as us fans.

Paul Coro caught up with Matt Barnes, Steve Nash, and Terry Porter regarding the suspensions during the Suns shoot around this morning.

Matt Barnes was confused as to why he deserved his two game suspension. "It’s just overblown. They went above and beyond the call of duty here. They didn’t call a foul in my situation. We got in a little pushing match and I get suspended for two games? Rafer gets two games and Rafer threw two punches at Steve. Basically, what they’re saying is you might as well throw two punches because you got the same suspension as someone who threw two punches. Steve comes and tries to break it up and gets thrown to the ground and he gets suspended and T-Mac (McGrady) doesn’t get anything. Ridiculous."

Nash, rightfully so, was even more frustrated. As everyone can tell from the video, Nash slipped on a random player's foot and bent backwards before he could make any impact on the situation...and then was shoved to the ground by McGrady.

"I’ve never been this mad. Unbelievable. They said I escalated the situation. I was surrounded by three Rockets and one was attacking. What was I supposed to do? I went to go and separate guys from each other, especially when I get there and I get pushed from the side and the guy (McGrady) doesn’t get suspended. Rafer punched me in the chin."

Though I am probably biased as evidenced by the Steve Nash shrine in my house, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that for a two-time MVP, Nash gets very little respect from the refs and the NBA respectively. Nash played the same role as Joe Johnson did against the Celtics last year in the playoffs and even got pushed to the ground...but Nash gets suspended?

Nash is in disbelief as well. When asked by league officials why he went over to the skirmish, Nash responded, "I said, ‘I just wanted to go and help protect him because he was surrounded. I understand I did run over to the situation but who are they to judge if I was an aggressor or a diffuser. I got pushed to the ground. At that point, what was I supposed to do? Get thrown on the ground and get trampled? If I wanted to throw a punch, I could’ve. I just tried to grab guys to get them out of them. I was on the floor most of the time. I got pushed around twice. I’ve never been this (ticked off)."

The best way the Suns can stick it to the leauge is by responding tonight with energy, confidence, and playing hard to bring home a win. This is a key night for the Suns bench to step up and show they are capable of being consistent contributors...especially (like tonight) when we have a few key players out.

Perhaps more importantly, a win would be a nice confidence builder leading into a test for our offense this Sunday against the Pistons.

Let's hope the Suns rise to the occasion tonight in face of adversity and are the "bigger" team...as they have always been.