Charles Barkley's Comments on the Suns Spot On

by Seth Pollack on Mar 5, 2010 10:47 AM MST in Phoenix Suns Commentary

The Chuckster has riled up Suns fans for awhile now with his criticism of his former team. Last night on TNT he changed his tune a bit:

Barkley on why he has stopped criticizing the Phoenix Suns lately: "I criticized that little sissy ball (the Suns have) been playing for the last few years where you just try to outscore people. That's never going to work. I want to take my hat off to Alvin Gentry, he's changed their mindset. He brought in (Robin) Lopez and I love watching Lopez, he's just plays defense and rebounds.

If I'm going to look at a stat after every game for a good team, it's turnovers and rebounds. The Suns turn the ball over way too much and they don't rebound the ball. They went to a conventional lineup so Amar'e can cheat a little on rebounding. Lopez does a great job on the board. When you try to play small, you give up a lot of shots and a lot of shots around the basket. But the main thing you can't do is you can't rebound the ball.

I take my hat off to Alvin, it's about time he stopped playing girlie ball. The toughest team in Phoenix was the (WNBA's) Mercury, but not anymore!"

I totally agree with Chuck and for you long-time readers you know I am not a fan of the small ball, offense-only approach. The Suns are playing (or trying to play) better defense and the insertion of Robin into the line-up has made a huge impact on the boards as we've documented.

Here's a few other quotes from the TNT crew.

They send me an email with these by the way. Don't think I am sitting up at 3am transcribing from my Tivo...

Collins on Suns guard Steve Nash's off court conditioning: "Steve really prides himself on his conditioning, no one works harder off the court on his conditioning. The core strength of his back, he has a condition in his back that he had to be very careful if he gets a little bit out of synch, he gets muscle pain and pain his hips. These Suns doctors and strength and conditioning coaches have done a wonderful job with him. If you could just go and see the things he does off the court with this strength and his balance and that's a really big part of his game."

Webber on how to shut down the Phoenix Suns: "As great as Steve Nash is, if he doesn't get you the ball, these guys aren't one-on-one players. When teams recognize that, they can shut them down late in the game."

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Webber on how to shut down the Phoenix Suns: “As great as Steve Nash is, if he doesn’t get you the ball, these guys aren’t one-on-one players. When teams recognize that, they can shut them down late in the game.”

Thats why I really wanted a guy like Iggy on this team, but I wouldn’t want to bring him in at the expense of Amar’e.

Charles is right. We are putting more thought into defense. Its good to see someone notice. However, our team is still learning and still trying to make that transition of that mindset. Meaning “We will crash the boards and play tough defense game in and game out.” Because we are still making that transition there will be games where we don’t have that focus and were back to trying to outscore people.

by Beavis 25 on Mar 5, 2010 12:16 PM MST reply actions

Geez, I really wish Charles wouldn't open his mouth sometimes...

I would laugh if it wasn’t so close to the truth…

"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."

Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...

by Daryl Ray on Mar 5, 2010 1:09 PM MST reply actions

I've always appreciated Charles

the easiest thing for him to do would be to support the Suns. He lives here. He does have an infinity for the team. But he’s always been honest about what he feels and he’s not been out of line. Going back 3 or 4 years he’s turned out to be pretty accurate in fact.

Now, he is a GIANT goof as well but that’s just all part of the show

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo

by Seth Pollack on Mar 5, 2010 1:43 PM MST up reply actions

totally agree with Chuck and for you long-time readers you know I am not a fan of the small ball, offense-only approach.

Why not? It’s working for the Knicks and Warriors right?

by Superelkman on Mar 5, 2010 2:20 PM MST reply actions

i hope you were being very very very sarcastic with that comment

by bassy500 on Mar 5, 2010 10:10 PM MST up reply actions

yep

i agree also, watching that fourth quarter last night, half way into it, I saw the loss coming because our new effort at defense was missing. I think lineups have a lot to do with it also. I honestly think nash gets run over by d. williams and utah, but utah might be the only team i’d say this about. Most matchups with nash vs other teams work out great for us.

Plus, again in that fourth quarter, utah was getting 4-6 foot shots every time. It’d be interesting to play utah in the playoffs to see which version of the suns show up. The new suns of the last month who have a new inside presence in Lopez and been showing team defense and hustle….or the suns last night in the fourth quarter, the version that blows leads.

Some nice things about last night, even with the Loss, Grant Hill was a total and complete stud. He should’ve been carried off the court and taken right to disneyland for a parade! Great to see. Plus, JRich (even with the missed dunk) has really been a factor the last month, which is great!

by be-the-ball on Mar 5, 2010 3:00 PM MST reply actions

plus utah was hitting a bunch of three point shots

that they’d normally not. The shot at half and the shooting by the ugly white guy who has been cold this year until us. OK…a couple of ugly white guys on that team, I’m talking about Mehmet Okur

by be-the-ball on Mar 5, 2010 3:02 PM MST up reply actions

But it wasn't "offense-only"

We were a decent defensive team when Mike was here. 13-17th, peaking at 5 for a stretch during 05/06.

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 Mar 5, 2010 3:48 PM MST reply actions

You're a pretty level-headed guy, rsavaj...

…but c’mon, give it a rest with the SSOL nostalgia. Sometimes perception IS reality. The Suns were never solid defensively, despite what the stats might purport, and this became painfully obvious every year we wilted against the Spurs in the playoffs. I don’t care what our defensive ranking is now, but I’m sure that we’re much better defensively than we ever were under Antoni. And the best part? That’s what the perception is around the league as well. Now, no one’s going to mistake us for the Celtics, but I’m sure teams think about having to deal with a defensive 7-footer like Lopez or scrappy players like Amundson, Dudley, and Dragic when they play the Suns nowadays. It’s not just the fans at Bright Side, it’s experts all over the country – Barkley, Hollinger, Collins, etc. Heck, Hubie Brown couldn’t stop gushing about our strides on the defensive end last week! Hubie Brown!! I love it.

by Silkster on Mar 5, 2010 10:29 PM MST up reply actions

Here's the thing though....we ARE better defensively right now then we've been for the majority of the season

But to ignore stats completely would mean that the opinion that is formed would be entirely subjective. We were 29th in DRTNG for the majority of this season, but throughout our recent play(18th during our last stretch), we’ve managed to move up two entire spots in just a few games. There’s nothing wrong in saying that our old Suns weren’t a terrible defensive team, and saying that this incarnation WAS a terrible defensive team until we got Fropez in on this lineup.

by rsavaj on Mar 6, 2010 9:01 AM MST up reply actions

DRtg

actually has dropped to 104 over the past 16 games which is middle of the pack…it was really bad but having Lopez i the lineup plus just everyone else playing better has made a difference of late.

We’ll see if they can keep it up for the rest of the season and into the playoffs

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo

by Seth Pollack on Mar 6, 2010 12:11 PM MST up reply actions

16th an incredible improvement

How awesome!

by rsavaj on Mar 6, 2010 6:34 PM MST up reply actions

thats horrible comment by rsavaj

we weren’t a good defensive team at ne point when d antoni was coaching, we just over whelmed teams with the amount of different scoring options we had.

Its kinda funny now that you look at, who would of thought but back then when mike was coaching and we were so good and so close to a championship he was slowly fing the suns for the future years. Its only now were suffering the repercussions for mikes unwillingness to play or develop younger players and try so hard with this stupid small lineup and out score everyone approach.

It was always gonna be tough to reteach these suns how to play like a proper basketball team again

by bassy500 on Mar 5, 2010 10:15 PM MST reply actions