Daily Links: Does everything from Texas smell like cow dung?

by Phoenix Stan on Jun 20, 2009 3:17 PM MDT in Daily Links Comment 4 comments

Link (Rant) o'Day

Dallas Mavericks Blog | Sports News | News from Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News
More rumors out of Dallas. You all know what I think about Dallas-based rumors. But this one says Shaq won't go to Big D and oh BTW he was the source of all the Suns chemistry problems last season. I couldn't disagree more but am also not the least bit surprised to hear this crap from from ~~Cuban~~ Dallas

He had decent numbers last season, but let's face it: if you can't get along with Steve Nash, then something's wrong. And there is considerable evidence that at least some of the Phoenix Suns' internal problems last season could be traced to the turmoil brought forth by O'Neal and all of his Shaq-ness, for lack of a better term.

Because he couldn't get along with Nash? Are you kidding me? That's your " considerable evidence"? Has anyone in Phoenix who's been around this Suns team have any reason to believe that Nash and Shaq didn't get along off the court? Ever?

And I thought bloggers were supposed to be lazy in their writing.

I could go on at Bill Simmons like length about how silly this assumption is regarding Shaq's negative impact on the team chemistry. We can all ~~agree~~ argue that on the court his size and speed isn't a fit for the run and gun. Fine. We've been saying that since the second his trade to Phoenix was first leaked. But you simply can not with any credibility at all claim that Shaq was a locker room disruption and was the cause of the team's "turmoil" last season.

He didn't hire Porter and he certainly wasn't the player that got him fired.

There are too many on the record quotes from a certain point guard, power forward and shooting guard who's no longer with the team resisting Porter and anything about Porter to blame Shaq. Shaq wasn't the one who half-assed it for a good portion of the season. Is there anyone that watched 82 Suns games that feels like Shaq wasn't giving it his all every night? Can you honestly say the same for Nash and Amare? But hey, his Shaq-ness must be at fault somewhere.

Why on earth btw, would Shaq have any reason to not be on board with Porter's system? The ball went through him! The game was being played at his pace! While on the flip side he had every reason to complain about the switch back to the run and gun or throw his teammates under the bus for not stepping up during crucial late season games and for taking too many outside shots. He didn't. Not once. I expected him too at some point but it didn't happen.

Look, I didn't want Shaq in Phoenix and I am fine seeing him and his MLM scam dissolvable paper things leave town (for the right deal). But don't for a second believe this crap coming out of Dallas. Again.

Because he couldn't get along with Nash? ugh...

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 06/20/09 6:13 PM MST ]

Oh, look. More stupidity coming from Dallas. Shocking

Suns

Twitter / THE_REAL_SHAQ: O lance armstrong I challe ...
Shaq challenged Lance Armstrong to a bike race? Didn't he just challenge some giant Korean dude to a death match? Should I be expecting a tweet from he calling me out for a blogging challenge some time soon?
Twitter / Lance Armstrong: @THE_REAL_SHAQ It's on. Oc ...
Lance accepts. Smart man. I think he might have a slight edge in this one
PBN | Where will Shaq attack?
More ideas of where the Suns could move Shaq. Everyone's a GM this time of year. Not that I am throwing stones. I've certainly done more then my share of keyboard GM'ing
Immediate Needs: Phoenix Suns - Basketball News & NBA Rumors - HOOPSWORLD
Meh...not all the impressed w/ this write up. Nothing really new here and a few key details missing like Nash's desire for a raise and Dragic's end of season improvement. He shot over 50% from 3 after the all star break for example

Mercury / WNBA

Rookie Point Guard Briann January is Adjusting and Making an Impact
GREAT look at ASU grad Briann January
YouTube - 13 teams 1 journey - Recap!
So, since I started blogging and making videos for my upcoming journey, sooooo much has happened. I thought I would make a video to get everyone up to speed ...
Diana Taurasi is on Fire " WNBA Outsiders:
Yup....she is pretty awesome. I would argue she should be the most popular hoopster in Phx based on relative skill, competitive fire and humorous and engaging personality
WNBA: Minnesota Lynx at Phoenix Mercury | PShizzy: The Blog
Inside the mind of a sports photog
X’s & O’s of Basketball: The Importance of Passing in the Women's Game
I agree that ball movement, passing skills etc are important in the WNBA but it is nice every now and then to see the ball in Cappie's hands and watch her go to work

Other

Grizzlies hold key to 2009 draft - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
Blazers looking to go after Hedo? Hmmmm. Not sure I like that move for them
NBA Bloggers and Access - Clips Nation
An essay on the issues of blogging and credentials. Great stuff and the convo in the comments is interesting as well. WARNING: Highly meta. If you don't care about blogs and blogging don't bother.
Tabuse Joins JBL | Nichi Bei Times - Japanese American News
Remember those reports from a few weeks ago that Yuta was trying to come back to the NBA? Not going to happen. He signed a 2 yr deal in Japan but he does have a buy out clause so you never know
Minnesota's Massive Point Guard Workout - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN
Wow. Great first person account of all the main PG's in the draft (except senor Rubio of course) going at it. Good stuff
SLAM ONLINE | " The New Top 50
This is always a good sports discussion topic

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Comments

The Suns had great off court chemistry last season..

Everyone on the team said so. And that was one of the strange things, that a team that was so close off court, couldn’t communicate properly on court, particularly on defense.

I, for one, based on what the team was doing during with Alvin, before Leandro got injured, am willing to place 80% of the blame for last season on Terry Porter, with the remaining 20% on the players. The difference when Alvin took over was night and day.

TP did something I didn’t think was possible, and that was to break our offense, by asking Nash to simply dump the ball into the post, instead of sustaining the offense that had made us a feared team.

And I don’t blame Nash too much over this, since any of the other superstar players such as Kobe, CP3, DWade or LeBron would have raised holy hell if the ball had been taken out of their hands. And nobody would have blamed them for it.

The fact that Nash acquiesced and actually tried to make TP’s coaching work, at first, speaks volumes as to his desire to win a title. But TP lost even Steve’s support after a while, because his schemes didn’t make any sense for that group of players.

Meanwhile, Shaq’s play during Alvin’s stint, gives the lie to the notion that Shaq and Nash can’t co-exist on the court, and in fact that was a very powerful offensive partnership. Moreover, as in the tail-end of Mike D’s tenure, those two were able to make space in the middle for Amare, in particular, and later for Barnes to do their thing very efficiently.

I’d also point out that we missed Leandro a lot more than we missed Amare, when they fell to injury. That should tell you something.

"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".

by Pliny the Elder on Jun 20, 2009 4:35 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs