Embrace your inner underdog....and relax

by Seth Pollack on Dec 5, 2008 10:18 AM MST

Panic is the word of the week in Phoenix both in the Suns locker room (which fittingly is a work in progress) and on the streets with the people. The Suns look like warmed over dog poo on the court and if you turn on the radio or read the comments of fans pretty much anywhere (Planet Homer.net included) you will hear all sorts of remedies.

Run more. Go back to where we were. Play this one. Bench that one. Trade him. Blame the owner and GM. Fire the coach. Sorry haters, I just locked up www.fireterryporter.com and don't plan on using it any time soon.

I guess that's to be expected from a fan base that has been spoiled by so many years of success. And don't get me wrong, there are problems with this team. There are many problems with this team and I have been fast and loose with my input as well. What is seems clear though is that panic and wild flailing about is not the solution and that's exactly what I see happening on the court.

We went into this season with a plan to improve the defense and rebounding and to control the clock and run an efficient offense. This formula might look familiar to you if you've watched the past 25 years of NBA champions. It is boring and stale and does not get the blood flowing like 7SOL but it wins rings. Just ask Robert Horry.

Or perhaps you should ask Mike D'Antoni who slowed the Suns down last year even before The Trade. The half court offense with Nash off the ball was a transition well underway when I wrote this mid-season review last January:

In watching the team this year what I see is an offense much better suited for the playoffs. In past years the Suns had to run and hit three's to be successful which became very difficult to sustain come playoff time. This year, the Suns half court sets in my eyes are much improved.

The Suns have destroyed teams from the outside when they try and pack it in and have also shown the ability to drive and score in the paint if the opponent decides to stay home on the Suns shooters. Remember when the Suns were the worst team in the league in free throw attempts? Now the Suns with Hill, LB and Amare are getting to the line and even more importantly are able to draw fouls late in close games.

Here's two strong examples of this improved half court offense:

Nash playing off the ball. The Suns often run the offense through Diaw or Hill with Nash on the floor playing off the ball. I think this is designed to counter what the Spurs did in limiting Nash with Bowen. If teams put their best defender (usually a tall SG or SF) on Nash he can just camp outside and space the floor while Grant or Boris (often covered by a smaller guard) runs the pick and roll with Amare or otherwise creates a good look. And if the D collapses you now have the MVP wide open for a three point shot. Witness the recent Bucks and Cavs games.

So let's just bust that myth right now. 7SOL died before The Trade and it died long before Porter came to town.

Then by approving (and according to his own repeated words) advocating for Shaq, D'Antoni put the final nail in the coffin of run n gun and admitted that the team needed to improve defensively and on the glass.

Let's not fool ourselves into thinking we can go back to the 04-06 Suns. Not only is this team too old to play that way but it is a system that it's creator abandoned. We cannot and should not go back.

Going into this new season with a new coach and a new philosophy we knew that it was going to take time to change the mindset and learn a new way to play. That's a big reason why we entered this season as underdogs.

Unfortunately, what was not expected was the resistance from certain players who think they know better then then coach and then even worse, the coach who seems to be letting the inmates run the asylum.

When the Suns hit a rough patch with turnovers and general level of play (losing games but still shooting 50%+ FG) and the players complained in the media about the system the coach caved and is trying to go backwards.

Instead of continuing to work towards a balanced half court offense we've put the ball back in Steve's hands and told him to go create. We've tried to feature Amare more but have allowed his defense and rebounding to suffer. We are even seeing Shaq come out of the paint and switch pick and rolls and then he is completely out of position to control the glass.

We've traded one set of problems that should have been expected and solvable with patience and time for another set of old familiar issues. Poor rebounding. Weak interior defense. Over dependence on Steve Nash.

Anyone that thought the Suns were going to come out of the gates looking like a contender was fooling themselves. The Suns hopes for this season are that later in the season this thing will finally start to gel and we can go into the playoffs on a roll. And then come playoff time when the game is slowed and teams can focus their defense our balanced attack and controlled tempo might get us past the first round.

My hope is that Porter and Kerr are using these past few games to send a message to the team. The old system won't work and we should all calm down and stick to the plan. Defense. Rebounding. Half court efficiency.

Chances are it won't work and the window really has closed but going back isn't going to open it wider and blowing up the team and giving up will turn the Suns into the Grizzlies or Hawks. We might end up there anyway but there's no reason we shouldn't give this a try and see how it plays out. There's no benefit to giving up now when we can always give up later and be in the same place.

So once again, I think that all of us inside and outside the locker room can benefit from a little perspective and patience. The loses and poor effort is frustrating but also somewhat expected. Over reaction and panic isn't the answer.

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Comments

When it ended doesn't matter

It doesn’t matter if the end was last spring, or now, though I’d argue that the decline started as soon as Sarver bought the team, and accelerated once they decided to hire a TNT analyst as their GM. But it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that this isn’t panic. This isn’t oh no, the world is falling. This is reality. The Suns are no longer championship contenders. The fans are spoiled, because we were for a long time.

Terry Porter is out of his league here. I’m not sure who pimped him for this job, but that was a mistake of the first class. Seriously? Who really thinks that was a good hire? It was change for the sake of change. Its turning out really awesome.

I’m confused though, up above you say D’Antoni was committed to more defense and less running, but I’m pretty sure in a previous post you said he refused to focus more on defense and less on running. It can’t be both ways, right? I don’t care what D’Antoni said to the media. I’m convinced that Kerr came in and tried to tell one of the best coaches in the Western Conference how it was gonna be, and D’Antoni didn’t like it. I have a really hard time faulting D’Antoni for this, though I am most certainly a D’Antoni apologist and my opinion is quite biased.

Finally, I am more and more positive everyday that Kerr was a Spurs plant from the beginning.

by truth32 on Dec 5, 2008 11:07 AM MST reply actions

fair enough

It is well established that D’Antoni left b/c Kerr and Sarver asked the he focus more on defense and I do believe that his offense first (and only) mentality lead to the lack of player development and let’s not forget that we don’t have a point guard b/c D’Antoni when he was GM signed Banks to that big deal. He also gave Diaw that extension which while I like Diaw is too much $ for him.

But when Mike jumped on board w/ the Shaq trade he did so b/c he thought (wrongly) that in Shaq he could get the best of both worlds. An offensive threat that also would help with the interior D and rebounding.

But he clearly in making the move at all was recognizing the need to improve on D but he wasn’t willing to make the trade-off’s to get it. It was in other words a small acknowledgment but didn’t go far enough.

I have long argued that we should have kept Shawn – at least through the end of last season – but found a way to get a serviceable defensive center.

Blogging Suns Basketball

by Seth Pollack on Dec 5, 2008 12:24 PM MST up reply actions

Lack of player development?

That comment always had me scratching my head a bit. People seem to think of Banks(who can’t get minutes in Miami), Strawberry(who isn’t even in the league anymore, even Houston didn’t play him), Tucker(who is a legitimate question mark), Skita(out of the league)…but who else did he “not develop”?

I mean, don’t Barbosa, Joe Johnson, Q, Diaw, Amare count as “young players” that D’Antoni developed since they were all in their early twenties when he coached them?

Steve Nash, the league's MVP, is a longhaired Canadian who spoke out against the war in Iraq and reads The Communist Manifesto. Quentin Richardson declared after a game-winning shot that it "was like Hamlet. It was a suspense thriller, and I killed them at the end." Amare Stoudemire, when asked to comment on a 22-point third quarter against the Kings, said, "I've got a tendency to jump over some guys' heads and throw it down."

by rsavaj on Dec 5, 2008 12:33 PM MST up reply actions

Development is relative

Don’t you think Amare and Joe Johnson would’ve “developed” regardless of the coach?

If anything, the one-dimensional training stunted the development of Barbosa and Diaw.

Q was given the opportunity to succeed with D’Antoni. I don’t know if he “developed” Q’s skills as much he highlighted Q’s skills.

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Dec 5, 2008 2:00 PM MST up reply actions

Looking at Boris and Barbosa before and after D'Antoni, I can't say I agree with you.

by rsavaj on Dec 5, 2008 6:44 PM MST up reply actions

Suns fans panic? Never!

At some point, spoiled by a half decade of successful teams under Mike D’Antoni, the denizens of Planet Orange kept waking up and hoping to find an 82-0 juggernaut that would finally bring a ring to the Valley of the Sun. It seems like every time the the Suns experience any kind of downturn, we as fans think the sky is falling. Granted, none of our Chicken Little hissy fits have been about an identity crisis of this magnitude before, but Stan’s right. Relax, peeps. We’re not even a third of the way through the season. New coaches and systems need time to develop. And, hey, Rocky was an underdog and that worked out for him, right?

Besides, with 62 games left on the docket, it can get sooooo much worse. Save your panic for then.

by Mike Lisboa on Dec 5, 2008 11:10 AM MST reply actions

Hey Mike

missed you around here

Blogging Suns Basketball

by Seth Pollack on Dec 5, 2008 12:26 PM MST up reply actions

There is time.

62 games is plenty of time to turn things around. Who has the perfect road to a perfect season? Not us, not even the champs. I am a Suns fan and one who isn’t going to panic.

by CanadianBlazerfan on Dec 6, 2008 4:15 PM MST up reply actions

We have been spoiled...

…by having such great teams the past few years. We absolved our team from blame by thinking that David Stern and the League were the cause of our playoff exits. But we don’t have anyone to blame besides ourselves now. To use an overused phrase in sports, “this is a gut check.”

Our team isn’t perfect, but then again it never was and never has been. Terry Porter should be given 20 games to see if his system works (and we’re rapidly approaching that number). It’s up to him to make adjustments after that point. The players need to, as Bob Young so eloquently put it, “shut up and play.” The fans need to be patient; this could be the first year of a long rebuilding process.

Though there’s blame to be spread out amongst all the levels of the Suns organization, realize that this primarily is a group of people brought in during the height of a successful period. Sarver has never had to deal with a losing squad, which is the real test of how an owner will be. Likewise Kerr has been putting his touches on the squad, and his ideas of what the Suns identity aren’t necessarily wrong — however, when you’re bringing in players over the age of 32 and expecting to see massive change, it’s unlikely that will happen. Old dogs don’t necessarily learn new tricks.

Just remember True Believers of Planet Orange, things have been much darker for this squad:
1968-69 (Inaugural season): 16-66
1969-70: lost coin flip for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in NBA Draft.
1985-86: 32-50
1987-88 (Drug scandal, death of Nick Vanos): 28-54
2001-02 (Backcourt 2000): 36-46
2003-04 (Season before we signed Nash): 29-53

This team needs our support more than ever. Sure, it’s a different team. Sure, some people want D’Antoni back. Sure, Amare isn’t learning anything from Shaq except how to run his mouth. But this is our team.

GO SUNS!

by Genesius on Dec 5, 2008 11:11 AM MST reply actions

Also

losing the lottery to the Spurs and David Robinson and the Suns get Armon Gilliam.

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Dec 5, 2008 4:44 PM MST up reply actions

Thanks for that one, I had (forcibly) forgotten it.

by Genesius on Dec 5, 2008 6:15 PM MST up reply actions

Stand by the Suns.

It is a different team sure. D’Antoni back could be good, but guarantees nothing We have to move on with what we have. If change needs to be made, then it has to be made. I stand by the Suns even though I get overtures not to. Nash rules. GO SUNS!

by CanadianBlazerfan on Dec 6, 2008 4:17 PM MST up reply actions

I understand the "don't panic" sentiment

But Porter is indefensible. I’m not even talking about his philosophy/sets(which I don’t agree with); his rotations are mindboggling. He lost the game for us last night when he kept Nash out when we were within ten with like 9 minutes remaining in the fourth. He plays starters for whole quarters at a time; he plays the bench unit together and lets them fail on their own, without mixing them up with the starters.

And Kerr…he’s still working for San Antonio. I’m convinced.

by rsavaj on Dec 5, 2008 11:19 AM MST reply actions

Success? From D'Antoni's team?

Please! Unless they are hiding them, I must be missing all those championship banners hanging in our arena.

Those were great teams, a lot of fun to watch, but did they close the deal under Mikey’s watch? No.

It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.

by unnamedDBacksfan on Dec 5, 2008 11:22 AM MST reply actions

I don't see how you can blame him for not "closing the deal"

Every year he was dealt a major setback.

05: JJ injured
06: Amare out for the season, KT and Raja out for the Dallas series.
07: suspensions, Donaghy, Nash’s bloody nose
08: first year we were legitimately outplayed in the playoffs, but that was with a brand frickin new squad, and D’Antoni did a decent job meshing Shaq in. We went 15-5 in our last 20 reg season games.

Seriously, I don’t buy the theory that the whole season is worthless if you don’t win the championship. Success is success; there are varying degrees of success, and we were pretty flipping successful over the past 4 years. We were always one of the top 3-5 teams in the league, always, and all of a sudden we’re not even a playoff team.

I don’t consider the last 4 years a complete failure; rather, they were an incredible time to be a Suns fan, because you knew that every year we had a shot at the title. This year, we have no shot.

by rsavaj on Dec 5, 2008 12:02 PM MST up reply actions

Relative success indeed

It may have not close the deal, but only 1 team can do it and the stars need to align. But with Dantoni/Nash I begun going to the arena to watch games, I also watched every game on TV (thanks to the DVR), Now I can’t even finish the game on TV, I give up when we are down by 15 in the 3rd qtr and it looks like the other team just toys with us. I just have to fast forward to the end to see the final score. Not because I am a bad fan, but because it is not enjoyable (bad shooting, bad passing, travelling, funbles, no rebound, etc). Pretty soon I will just watch only the first quarter and then give up, or just learn the score and if we got blown up not watch the game at all.
I’d rather enjoy the regular season and be dissapointed at the end that not enjoy the entire season.

by Nashbeliever on Dec 5, 2008 1:48 PM MST up reply actions

We have to get angry...

We’ve already gone through Denial and bargaining!

by presbot on Dec 5, 2008 12:03 PM MST reply actions 1 recs

You can't fire Terry Porter!

He’s a Blazers legend!

by tominhawaii on Dec 5, 2008 2:17 PM MST reply actions

A sense of panic would indicate a shred of caring

My problem with this team is, at heart, the lack of any consistency or determination. This team is extremely talented and, for sure, not living up to their abilities. Who should we blame for that…

I, for one, would rather not assign blame, but fix the problem.

1. Limit Amare’s minutes until he learns that it’s ok to rebound the ball. Until he learns that it’s ok to play defense in the first or second quarter when the game is still close. Until he learns that there is no way that at his position he’s going to be equated with D-Wade and LBJ. Of course, it hasn’t happened by now, so it probably never will. It’s unfortunate because he clearly has worked incredibly hard coming back from microfracture surgery and developed into an excellent open-floor offensive player. Perhaps his best is still yet to come, but I have some doubts.

2. Play the hustle guys such as Barnes and Amundson more. I don’t need Amundson to score or touch the ball on offense. I need him to grab rebounds, occasionally on the offensive end. At this point we are allowing WAY too many second chance points, and that will only change if the effort level is consistently higher.

3. Don’t run the offense through Grant Hill or Barbosa. Although each is very capable coming off the ball, they can’t have their hands on it bringing it up the court. Our offense becomes way too stagnant. To this point, I actually think Singletary has done a good job of distributing the ball, but he’s a rookie and learning, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. And of course, defensively he’s too small to keep players in front of him

4. Stop playing that zone defense. It’s getting us torched inside and outside. NBA players are too good open shooters to allow for this.

5. Don’t let Raja Bell dribble the ball. EVER. Let him shoot open shots (3s preferably) and play defense.

This team has talent, and with hard work and unity they may be able to come together and win some games. I sense that ego is preventing such an occurrence. I’m sure guys are going to get traded, which may be necessary, but it’s unfortunate for a team so talented to underachieve so greatly.

by ArizonaCactus on Dec 5, 2008 2:49 PM MST reply actions

This team has run its course.

Kerr, Sarver and Porter will deny this, but I truly believe this team is toast. An 8th seed at best to face the Lakers in the first round, turn the stadium lights out.
This team had a solid run. Yes it had some bad breaks, however you have to make your breaks also. Bottom line no finals no NBA championship
I would look to trade everyone except Nash, the only problem is Kerr, Sarver and Porter are running this team.
This is going to be a painful transition.

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Dec 5, 2008 4:51 PM MST reply actions

I won't give up on them yet

Like Mike said: It could get much worse…
We have got way too much talent to not make the playoffs and be contenders.
I am worried, I’ll accept that. I don’t like what Porter is doing since day one, his rotations are all over the place which is my main concern. No, I’m not asking him to be like D’Antoni to play only 7 players…I’m asking him to be consistent and play the right players at the right time because that’s what GOOD coaches do!

If he is not able to turn these talented players into a good team…It’s his fault. Perhaps what Kerr didn’t evaluate in the job interview was the ability to work with veteran players and make them believe in you and the system that you are trying to run….

That is this team problem IMHO.

"Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it"

by PanamaSun on Dec 5, 2008 5:12 PM MST reply actions

Fun to Watch...

But Losing in the PlayOff every season.
I will accept losing this season, to see a championship caliber team next year than watching all Fun, kick thier butt[s] by Boring [as they called but champion] team.
The most difficult task is, how to please people than rebuilding your entire game plan.

Im still fans of this team, no matter what.. i want them to be in the Finals againts Boston than those Fakers, with Fake Defense..

by spoiled on Dec 6, 2008 5:50 AM MST reply actions