Amare asks if he can win in Phoenix
by Seth Pollack on Jul 30, 2009 2:07 PM MDT
in Phoenix Suns Commentary
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PrintLast night the super talented and equally frustrating Amar'e Stoudemire (fka Stat / aka Sun Tzu) tweeted his followers this question:
If I stay with the Phoenix Suns, will I ever win Chmpionship? What do you think world. Suns fan be true to me. Don't be biased!! Real Talk!
Amare is not a man with a personal history filled with people giving him straight talk and it turns out he didn't respond so well to what he heard. At one point in the twitter conversation, he messaged a long time Suns fan and called him a "hater" for tweeting this response:
you'll never cause you are too concerned about being the man.. play defense, play with heart.. learn from Grant hill
Amare asked for "Real Talk" and he got it. Most of the responses I saw were along these lines and basically can be summed up this way. If you give as much effort on defense as you do on offense then perhaps you can win in Phoenix
Amare's response to what most of us would consider to be an obvious and well-known flaw in his game makes you wonder just who is advising this guy. Does he really not understand the difference between what he is and what he can be and how frustrating that is to his fans?
I am guessing the answer is no.
Amare lives in a bubble where few people exist to question his belief in his own greatness. His self confidence is a good thing and I believe that Amare truly is a "good guy" but his blatant lack of self-awareness can be startling at times.
The question still remains as it did at the beginning of last season: Can Amare take his game to another level? Last fall, we saw about two weeks of the player Amare can be before the entire Suns season took a turn after 8 games. From that point until Terry Porter was fired at the All-Star break, the team, and certainly Amare, didn't play for their coach.
Amare's effort on the glass and on defense was a reflection of how motivated he was (wasn't) to play under Terry Porter, but that's all in the past and Amare will enter this season with the coach he wanted.
Here's what Amare said at the end of last season about the various coaches he's played for and his preference for Alvin Gentry, who was still the "interim" coach at that time:
"Mike was a quiet guy. Sometimes he didn't talk to a certain players. Didn't communicate as well to the players which sometimes can be a little frustrating because you want to build that relationship with your coach. You want to build that friend(ship) so you can sit down with him and talk about personal thoughts and also basketball. You want that friendship with your coach. Mike was a quiet guy.
Then you bring in Terry Porter a guy who's a little more, a little more bold as far as 'his way or the highway'. Wasn't really accepting of what we thought would work or try an implement what we thought would work.
Then you bring in Alvin, a guy who is definitely a players coach. A guy you can talk to and say 'hey man you know', 'family situation here', 'or my kids here', 'my kids are doing great in school', 'how are your kids'. That's the type of conversation you want to have with your coach. Alvin's that guy.
You want a coach that you can really hug and hold and high five and really have fun with. That makes it fun to play. You can high five and hug your team mates. You don't want to have fear of your coach. You want to be respectable with him but you also want to be a friend with him."
Amare has his friend on the bench now and Shaq is gone from the paint. As long as Amare is healthy, the excuses will be gone as well.
If Amare wants to play for a championship team in Phoenix, then all eyes are on him.
I was optimistic going into last season that Amare was going to make the leap. It didn't happen and I have a hard time thinking that some other obstacle won't find its way in front of him again this year.
There are very few players with the potential to impact the game like Amare can. Here's to hoping Sun Tzu has matured enough to not let anything stop him from reaching that level. Then we can discuss winning rings in Phoenix.
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Well put...
Here was my response:
@Amareisreal If you can work to become a DPOY candidate the same way you worked to be an offensive beast…yes – the Suns can win it all
As I’ve said for a while, I’m looking for Amare to have another All-NBA caliber year this year. Hopefully he will come to realize that when us fans ask for more heart on defense it is not in the spirit of hatred but of love and wanting him to be the best possible player that he can be.
sorry, but it's the truth
for your sake amare, we’re saying it with love. D UP MAN!
let’s take some examples. amare drafted at 6’10, 240 played like a beast on the offensive end for a solid 5-6 years now, but no defense. the suns never left the WCF.
dwight howard drafted at 6’10, 240 spent most of his time on the defensive end (albeit he started complaining about touches lately), carried his team to the NBA finals.
really rough example, but it’s a good scope to look through in where defense in the paint can take a team. if you look around this past Magic roster, it was (arguably) not better than the roster we had pre shaq.
wow
were they really both the same height and weight? I didn’t know that…
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Seth Pollack on Jul 30, 2009 2:30 PM MDT up reply actions
dwight howard 2.11 meters
amare 2.08 meters
.03 meter difference equates to 1.1 inches. my bad on the 1 inch difference. but you cant tell me their jumping ability was very much different in their first 2 years
Actually their jumping ability was almost identical..
Both had a 35.5 max vertical, while Amare’s no step vertical was 1.5 inches more at 32 inches.
Also, DraftExpress has Dwight only .5 inches taller when they were drafted and only 7lbs more. Now though, nba.com has Dwight at 6’11’ 265lb and Amare at 6’10" 249lb. Still pretty close.
here's the reference, btw
good links
thanks brian13, i dont know why i didnt go to draftx, i just googled it instead
Howard is so broad in his shoulders.
I would have never guessed he was the same size as Stat.
by Gorilla Game on Jul 30, 2009 3:19 PM MDT up reply actions
Anybody really surprised at this?
Amare has demonstrated time and again that he has the heart of a hamster.
"Give me chonchon."
by Slowpoke Rodriguez on Jul 30, 2009 2:35 PM MDT reply actions
Amare Stoudamire has no idea what it takes to win championship's.
Your not gonna win anything when your coach is your friend. Your friend isn’t going to tell you things you don’t want to hear. Your friend isn’t going to bench you if you aren’t giving it your all. Your friend isn’t going to call out your toughness and leadership ability.
These are all things that need to happen to Amare’ but he wants a friend instead of a coach
That's a little harsh...
A true friend who knows you and is willing to get to know you and how you work can tell you what you need to hear in a way that you will be receptive to. Personally, at my work I would much rather have a boss that knows and is concerned for my progress than a stiff who is down my throat all the time worrying only about their way and their future. Yes, I think if Amare truly wants to lead this team to a championship he needs to learn that he has to give a solid effort on both ends of the floor but when he is on his game and truly plugged into a system he has PROVEN to be a top 5 talent in this league. That is why I am so high on the Shaq trade even though we got nothing back (it is going to free the beast again) and that is why I am looking for Amare to blow up the league this year. Yes, he could have handled that tweeters comment a little better, but come on, it wasn’t exactly the most constructive way to criticize the man.
Concern for his well being is one thing.
But a true friend should be able tell you to pull your head out of your ass in no uncertain terms when the need arises. Some people can’t be motivated with gentle coaxing, you have to break out the 2×4. Guess which side I think Amare falls on.
"Fun fact: Larry Hughes, who couldn’t stay healthy if all his human parts were replaced with bionic implants, is out for the next four weeks with a bruised leg. Do you think that Willis Reed ever reads about all these players missing time with bruises and sprained fingers and throws up in his mouth a little?"
by Diosnomeama on Jul 30, 2009 11:09 PM MDT up reply actions
really Stan
I still feel what I felt previously: that you are attacking Amar’e in any possible way you can for his lack of defense. Yes, he’s immature – we all know that. yes he’s not a good defender – not a surprise also. he’s a scoring superstar for christ sake. there were many championship players who were bad defenders bu great scorers. he asked the question because he wants to win a championship here – he really does. let him play, let him score, congratulate his growth, because he has taken many steps, let him grow his confidence back and THEN start talking about the next step if necessary. this team is NOT going to win based on defense. but then, who IS a capable defender on our core? not an abundance of players right? yet, all amar’e pots mention his defensive ineffeciency.
Libertarianism is just Anarchy for rich people
this was
in no way meant to be personal. I only feel that you are not weighing Amar’e they way you are weighing other players.
Libertarianism is just Anarchy for rich people
Interesting...
there’s no doubt that I have a soft spot for some of the underdogs on the team and Amare is anything but that.
I’ve been a big Amare fan for a long time and resisted calls to trade him but he really disappointed last season. We’ve seen what he can do and we’ve seen him not live up to that so yes, there’s disappointment there.
He also has to own this because he puts himself out there with no humility as “the man” and a guy deserving a max contract. He has to realize where his faults are if he’s going to be that guy. I used to believe he could do it but now, I am not so sure.
Also, from a team perspective last year and this, the Suns will only go as far as Amare takes them. Last year with 3 old guys it was going to take a near MVP performance to give the Suns a shot at winning the West. This year it’s even harder but hey, we saw Melo step it up last year so there’s no reason to think Amare can’t either (except that he hasn’t before).
And to all those who talk about how great the Suns were just remember that those teams were very flawed on defense and on the glass as well. The league was much weaker then with far fewer really good teams in the west. I don’t think any of those Suns teams in 04 to 07 would have made it to the WCF last season.
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Seth Pollack on Jul 30, 2009 8:21 PM MDT up reply actions
I don't know...
a healthy 05-06 team, playing the way it did in January before KT got hurt, would probably have won the title. seriously.
I don’t think either LA or Cleveland could have run with us. Maybe a fully healthy Celtics could have defended us, but Nash (and the rest of the team) was magical that year, and I think he would have diced and sliced that team apart.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 30, 2009 9:35 PM MDT up reply actions
Sure...that team
could have won then but wouldn’t have now…the league wasn’t as good then as it is now
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Seth Pollack on Jul 30, 2009 9:57 PM MDT up reply actions
I meant that team would have beaten this years Lakers, Magic or Cavs
and I strongly dispute the notion the league was significantly weaker than than it is now, in the sense that the best teams then were just as good as the best teams now.
In the West, the Spurs, Mavs and Suns were all really good teams, and more importantly experienced, consequently, when healthy, all of those teams would have given this years Lakers all they could handle and a whole lot more.
Were there 3 teams as good as those 3, in the West this year? The answer, btw, is no.
This year’s Nuggets, Hornets, Blazers or Rockets would have been eaten alive by any of those teams. Plus, every team that made the Western Conference playoffs, in 05-06, was over .500.
In the East, Detroit was just as good as the Celtics or Cavs this year, and Miami was certainly better than this year’s Magic. I’ll concede that back then, there wasn’t a strong 3rd team in the East, but the 05-06 Cavs were as good as this years Hawks.
But the dropoff in the East, from the 5th spot down is just as dramatic this year, as it was back then. Actually, I’d take the 05-06 Wiz or Bulls over this years Heat.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 30, 2009 10:28 PM MDT up reply actions
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Seriously? Your headline isn’t just a joke to try and get ppl to read your post, is it??
This year’s Magic, maybel. Against this year’s Cavs or Lakers? Puh-lease! Give up the dillusion that SSOL was ever gonna win a championship, especially against the Lakers or Cavs of this year.
"I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok." ~Shaq
by Max_in_Missouri on Aug 3, 2009 1:38 PM MDT up reply actions
As Scottie Pippen said, puhleeeze...
It’s funny how everyone who claims SSOL can’t win a championship always neglects to mention the injuries and the suspensions, and all the other shit this team went through. Facts are inconvenient, that way..
I watched the playoffs: this year’s Lakers are probably the most defensively challenged title winners of the last 20 years, and the 2nd weakest, overall, after the 05-06 Heat. Not nearly as bad as us defensively, this year, but still pretty weak. It’s why, btw, I’m so pissed off at Terry Porter.
I know Lakers fans and the lazy-assed sports media like to inflate the strength of this era, as a way to aggrandize their team, and in turn play up Kobe’s alleged greatness, but there’s no evidence to suggest that it’s true. None whatsoever, and in fact the opposite is probably true.
Also, given that the Cavs couldn’t defend the outside game or the point play of this year’s Magic, whose second best player was Turkoglu, how the hell were they going to cope with an attack from Nash, Raja and Trix ??
Let me assure you, the decimated Suns team that got to the WCF that year was a shadow of the team that roared in February. Not even close to being the same team.
Anyway, back to the Lakers… Let’s actually compare the two teams:
An uninjured Amare/Boris & a healthy KT vs Pau & Stones, hell yeah, I’ll take that match-up every time. Watch Pau disappear every time KT plants his elbow in his forehead.
MVP era Nash running his team’s offense, vs Kobe’s army of one (remember, this was the year Kobe got 81 vs the Raptors)? No contest.
The Lakers bench is a little bit stronger.. We have Leandro, James Jones and Tim Thomas coming off the bench, vs Walton/Ariza & Farmar, although I counted Lamar as a starter since he gets the 4th most minutes/game.
In 05, we had no front line to speak of in the playoffs, and despite Bennett Salvatore’s help, and a 3-1 lead, the Lakers still couldn’t finish the job. They had no heart then, and have none now.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Aug 3, 2009 8:19 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
This brought a tear to my eye. Well done.
"Fun fact: Larry Hughes, who couldn’t stay healthy if all his human parts were replaced with bionic implants, is out for the next four weeks with a bruised leg. Do you think that Willis Reed ever reads about all these players missing time with bruises and sprained fingers and throws up in his mouth a little?"
Flip Murray can score
and yet I have no idea what team he is on (Atlanta still?) – point is, scorers are a dime a dozen, but true superstars need to be better than that. They need to be complete players. He is an All-Star. He is a great player. He is not ‘the Man’ or a max contract guy, until he steps it up.
by egp the great on Jul 30, 2009 11:20 PM MDT up reply actions
oh...come on now
The point is, Amar’e isn’t just a 20+ ppg scorer. What makes him such a beast is the efficiency at which he produces those numbers. You find a player in the league that shoots the ball at 54% and drains 83% of free throws. After all…they are a dime a dozen…right?
It isn’t the same to have some Flip Murray caliber ‘scorer’. Amar’e, in the right system, is ridiculously consistent offensively. You can whine and complain all you want about his defense, but at the end of the day, Amar’e is the best scoring PF in the game. Would it be nice if he played tougher D? Of course. But you have to take him for what he is.
I mean, would any of us here say the Suns were wrong to sign Steve Nash??? His defense is mediocre, but we can all agree that his still made invaluable contributions to the team.
.
Ouch, the threads about Amare Stoudemire are getting a bit nasty. I’m one of the people mad at Stoudemire for his poor defense, but think I won’t bring it up anymore. His defenders can’t be convinced.
by lonesomepoint on Jul 30, 2009 11:30 PM MDT up reply actions
I don't think
I or anyone else who is his defender has ever stated that he is a good defender or that he couldn’t/shouldn’t improve in that area. I just feel that all emphasis since this past season has been placed on the negativities concerning him rather than on the positives.
Libertarianism is just Anarchy for rich people
Ok
I buy that we need to stick it out with Amare. I am all for that. I am against, so far, virtually every trade proposal involving Amare because I think he is worth it. Nash also. However, I am not entirely sure that “confidence” is what Amare needs to be building. More like upper body strength. (j/k….but seriously) If anything he needs a personal coach whom he respects but will kick his butt when he slacks off. Kinda like Mike Singletary for the 49ers.
Go read a book!
But what about the extra money he wants?
by lonesomepoint on Jul 31, 2009 9:36 AM MDT up reply actions
We will never when a title with Sarver putting financial flexibility over whats on the court…
by Lebrontophx2010 on Jul 30, 2009 6:54 PM MDT reply actions
And the Colangelos did ??
Not that I’m trying to defend Sarver, here, but you need to judge him relative to the previous owners.
You know, the guys that traded the previous “greatest point guard in the NBA” for Stephon Marbury, and for years lived for 1st round and out playoff appearances. With the exception for a few good years in the 90’s (and they were short lived, btw), the franchise hasn’t done much.
They certainly made their fair share of boneheaded trade decisions (Gugliotta, Hardaway, Kidd/Marbury, etc…..) that crippled the franchise over the long term.
Sarver may not be good, but he’s no worse than the previous owners.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 31, 2009 12:27 AM MDT up reply actions
History
For a guy who goes by Pliny the Elder, you don’t know much Suns history. It’s true that the Suns have never won a championship, that can’t be argued. But the Suns have had a lot of sucess over the years. Certainly a lot more than just "a few “shortlived” good years in the 90s."
You first...
oh really?? From: http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/
During the 4 Westphal/Barkley “glory years”, 92-96, the Suns made one finals appearance, 2 2nd round exits, and 1 1st round exit. glory days, indeed.
During the 90’s, 89-90 to 99-00, the Suns have done exactly the following:
1 finals appearance,
1 WCF exit,
4 2nd round exits,
5 1st round exits.
I know fans here loved to watch KJ and Thunder Dan, and cherish great memories of that team, but in reality, except for a couple of years, that one wasn’t close to being as good as it’s contemporaries.
By way of comparison, during the Nash Era:
2 WCF exits,
1 2nd round exit
1 1st round exit.
Now, success is a subjective thing. Some franchises, such as the Warriors or Clippers are thrilled simply to make the playoffs, whereas others such as the Lakers or Celtics, view nothing less than a finals appearance or a title as abject failure.
Me, I don’t think any team has had a successful season unless they at least make their conference finals, because it’s only at that point that a team is playing at a truly high level. I certainly view a 1st round exit as failure.
Overall, since 1968, the Suns have made the finals twice, the WCF six times, and the 2nd round 9 times. That’s it.
In 50 years, the Suns have been good for 16 seasons, in total. Furthermore, in that time, they’ve reached over a .600 regular season mark (50 wins in the 82 game era), 18 times. Again, not a stellar record, nor one that suggests a legacy of excellence. Actually it suggests mediocrity.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 31, 2009 11:00 AM MDT up reply actions
Unless I'm reading your post wrong..
The Suns have played 41 seasons, not 50. And if the 16 “good seasons” were the ones that they made it past the first round, its actually 17.
Also,
above .700 = 4 seasons
.600-.699 = 14 seasons
.500-.599 = 10 seasons
below .500 = 13 seasons
Now of course we’ve never won the championship, but thats 28 seasons above .500 and only 13 below.. not too shabby if you ask me.
I was waiting for someone to catch my math errors..
pause for red-faced flush of embarrassment to disappear
anyway, .500 is a 41 win season, and given the angst and anger on this board over a 46 win season of complete flux, that had a change of coach, and major trades midseason, and since I don’t consider anything below a 50 win season as being worthy of being called good, I didn’t think other people would, either.
Lets be clear: I view getting to the 2nd round, for any franchise, as a ‘C’ grade performance. It’s a pass, but barely.
Bear in mind that none of the other major teams, such as the Lakers, Pistons, Spurs, etc… would classify anything less than a 50 win season (or the equivalent) as being a major disappointment. My gut feeling is that most people on this board would agree with that notion.
My points are simply these:
- Our record under Sarver compares well to previous Suns regimes, and consequently, any expectation of a championship win is premature and unrealistic, until we win the 1st.
- There was no “golden age” of Suns basketball, merely a few years during the 90’s, with Barkley, and previously with Hornacek, where we played at a moderate to high level of ball. Note that our first, almost magical, finals appearance occurred with a team that had a .500 record, evidence that any team can make a run in the playoffs, but not the inevitable result of a season long campaign.
- Previous regimes have been equally as incompetent as this one with regards to making trades that harm the franchise, and equally as blind to the idea of having a plan in place regarding the composition and style of play for the team, going forward.
I’m not saying Sarver and Kerr have done a good job, but they’ve been no worse than any other owner/GM combo for this franchise, and have been better than most. Furthermore, I’d also point out that the apparent front-office chaos is nothing new, either
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 31, 2009 6:50 PM MDT up reply actions
Why 50 wins/season should be the benchmark of good, and not .500
It comes down to this:
Each conference has 15 teams. In any conference, in any given year, there are generally between 5 and 12 bad teams in that conference.
So, assuming Phoenix is a good team (and assuming the other good teams are those with a better win/loss than us, for want of a better measure), then this year, there were 6 bad teams in the West (GSW down), and 11 bad teams in the East (Miami, and everyone below them in the standings).
As a good team, I’d expect to win between 2/3 and 3/4 of the games vs the bad teams, and at least 1/2 of the games vs the other good teams.
With the breakdown given previously, we’d expect to win at least 20 games vs the East, and 11 games in our conference (2 vs Lakers, 9 vs GSW, Clippers & Kings).
Of the remaining 36 games, 10 were vs bad teams (Minnesota, Oklahoma, Memphis), and 26 vs good teams, and so we’d expect something close to 20 wins (7 vs bad + 13 vs good), which brings us to 51 games.
The reason .500 is a bad measure of success is that not all teams and not all wins are equal. There are enough bad teams out there, who should have the snot kicked out of them in games, to make mediocre teams look good, and skew the win/loss ratio. It’s why a win/loss record can be deceptive in forecasting post season success, and why simply making the playoffs doesn’t make you a good team.
Of course, this is a simplistic argument: not all bad teams are that bad, and neither are all those good teams that good, and it discounts injuries (forcing teams to underperform in the regular season), but it’s a safe assumption to assume some smoothing.
Still, at the end of the day, even 50 wins doesn’t say if you’re actually good. All it does is give you is some notion of parity vs the other good teams.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Aug 1, 2009 3:18 PM MDT up reply actions
+1
Although I would say that we, perhaps, need to give them a little more time. It is possible to blow up teams in a year or so but it often results in really bad years to come. That Kerr and Sarver seem intent on avoiding such breakdowns is laudable.
Go read a book!
Sign-on letter?
If Amare wants to hear our opinions, why not send him a unified message from the BTOTS community? Phoenix Stan and others could draft it, then the rest of us can request to add our names as signatories. That way we can compile all of our thoughts and hopes for him and his role as a leader (?) and team player on our Suns squad this season. I dunno how we’d get it to him but it seems like twitter may not be the best forum for him to hear how we feel, since our recommendations and thoughts are complicated. Maybe he’d be receptive to an organized letter (we can even throw in some applicable Art of War quotations) signed by a long list of hardcore fans. What do you guys think?
I love this idea.
I wish there was a way to talk to him personally just to see what is on his mind but this is the next best thing.
Go read a book!
Oh stat...
he reminds me of a skinny zbo.
Kidding
…
Sorta
But seriously, he’s lacking defensively, if he didn’t want the truth ( what does he think ‘real talk’ means anyway?) he shouldn’t have asked. The false sense of worth is alarming , but not really surprising. . .
Sophia
The Princess of Blazersedge
Sports do not build character. They reveal it. - Casey Dillon Stengel
The best thing the Suns could do
is trade Stat. Still at 26 years of age he doesn’t get it. Problem is Kerr is in charge with Sarver and they would most likely not get equal or better value in return.
Stat is a boxscore stuffer, not a champ, not a player who I want to have the rock down 2 with one possesion left in the game.
But he is our Stat, I hope the hell he grows up and competes.
"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"
To Amare: from Fleetwood Mac/Peter Green
I can’t help about the shape I’m in
I can’t sing, I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin
But please don’t ask me what I think of you
I might not give you the answer that you want me to
Now, when I talked to God I knew he’d understand
He said, “Stick by my side and I’ll be your guiding hand
But please don’t ask me what I think of you
I might not give you the answer that you want me to”
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Jul 30, 2009 9:30 PM MDT reply actions
mine took two responses.
@Amareisreal if you can find it within yourself to commit completely to the desire, and fuel the team’s desire to win it, yes.
@Amareisreal you’re insanely talented, and if you can show that you’re willing to lead the team there, it’ll be yours for the taking.
i didn’t want to rag on him about defense, i’m sure the rest of the tweeting world would take care of that for me. i just wanted to try and inspire a kobe-like desire. last year, kobe would stop it nothing to get there. and guess what? he won.
Kobe is determined and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He will fight and claw to reach his ultimate goal, regardless of how hard his opponent tries to stop him.
This also somewhat applies to his basketball abilities.
"I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok." ~Shaq
by Max_in_Missouri on Aug 3, 2009 1:40 PM MDT up reply actions
Why trade Stat?
I don’t understand the folks that want to trade Amar’e. Do you really think we’ll get value for him at this point? He’s a franchise like player. I agree, he still needs to take his game to the next level. But the potential is there. Offensively, he’s a fine specimen of athleticism. I agree, the team would be better if he would pick up his game defensively. But, I mean, a guy is what a guy is. He’s a super athlete and a scorer. What he needs to do in my opinion is carry the team and win games for them. Shaq’s not there any more to clog up the middle. So, he should tear up the league this year. I mean, he’s got a fine supporting cast. And, he’s got Nash to feed him the ball. Plus, he doesn’t have to go at it alone. Richardson is a scorer as well. And we all know Grant can put up points on any given night, and so can Nash. Frye will be good for at least 12 pts a night. This team will be fine…better than what most people are saying. But I agree, the best way to show love is by pushing the guy a little bit. I suspect what everyone is frustrated with is that we know the enormous potential Stat has. We just want to see him step up and do it. I’m gonna go on a limb and say he will this year. Last year was different….several issues with the team and coach and all. This year, he will tear up the league!
Geo
Yes
To answer the original question, yes Amar’e can win in Phoenix this year. They’re going to have a phenominal year and reach the WCF. They might reach the Finals.
Geo
woohoo!
despite my reservations that the suns can really go that far (i have to see tremendous progress during the season to believe it, and I also wanna see just how good the lakers and spurs are this season) i admire your optimism. we got a believer in the house—maybe amare can convert more of us?
besides all this talk about defense
i think what amare really needs to work on is consistent rebounding. we can get points from somewhere else (see: Nash, JRich, Barbosa, Hill) and we can work harder at team defense (gentry seems much more keen on incorporating this than dantoni). but OUR REBOUNDS MUST COME FROM AMARE OR ELSE WE ARE TOAST. he must battle for boards against gasol, odom, bynum, duncan, and whoever else he goes up against. there were remarks earlier about how amare’s physique isn’t a whole world different than dwight’s. he has shown us 20 rebounds before, and i know he is capable.
Phx Stan says this team can only go as far as Amare takes it. I say it’s even simpler: this team can only go as far as Amare rebounds.
Can Amare win in Phoenix - YES
First Amare, the answer is yes. Second I agree with other comments…and I’ve said this before as well…that no one complained about Amare during the stretch when we were on the brink of getting to the finals. Everyone had a role to play, and Stat did what was asked. But we couldn’t get beyond the Mavs or Spurs during that stretch. Now that we’ve had a down season, the witch hunt is on. The only real issue is whether Amare will be healthy and if he will be motivated to play like a player who deserves a max contract. Period. We don’t need Amare picking up cheap fouls on guards trying to defend the pick and roll, or expending energy trying to guard Tim Duncan. But we need team defense, not just Amare. So if he’s healthy and motivated, with the players and system we have now, he can be a beast and the Suns are maybe 1 role player away from winning a championship in the next 2-3 yrs. And that role player may already be on the roster….Clark, Frye….or maybe it’s Dragic…or a back-up point guard that we go out and get. But if Amare can put up 25-30 per game and grabs 6-8 rebounds, I think we’re in great shape.
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