Maybe confidence and mental toughness are two different things, but I see his inconsistent confidence levels as his biggest flaw. He’s got the skills of a Manu Ginobili, but not the mental fortitude. If he can maintain a high level fo confidence, he’ll be killer.

Barring injury or lineup changes, anyways. Perhaps that’s why you refer to it as a “small concern.”

I don’t believe Turk was brought here to be another ballhandler, but rather to provide depth and versatility. I envision Turk to play the role Diaw did for us a couple season ago, but with better vision and a more consistent jumpshot. With Turk in the lineup, we have the option of running pick and rolls between Turk and Lopez. This allows us to take advantage of our mobile bigs, and force the opposing team’s 4s and 5s to come out of the pant to defend. It also gives us the option of using both Grant Hill and Turk as ballhandlers in the open court, similar to what the Lakers do with Lamar Odom.

Coach Gentry probably knows the potential problem you point out, and might be working on it.

Barbs had a tendency to overdribble and kill whatever sets Gentry might’ve set out for them to execute. He would overdribble and occasionally take a bad shot or try going to the hoop himself. I see him occasionally pass but with his limited minutes from last season, it always seemed like he tried to do things by himself a lot. I put up with it whenever he scored, but I guess we all put up with bad things whenever it somehow miraculous produces a result.

About Goran Dragic trying to be Steve Nash: I didn’t realize he did that. I certainly agree that players should be themselves rather than trying to be clones of their betters. Dragic as Dragic does things Nash doesn’t do, such as defend. And he could very well become a better scorer.

It’s strange that for so long we Suns fans complained that Nash is the only one who can make plays out on the court and now that we get a Point Forward that will pair up with one of our Point Guards, we’re getting a little worried that it wont work?

I was re-watching the Suns vs Magic game (J-Rich’s first with the Suns) and I saw more than enough in that game to show me at least how Hedo and Goran would work together. In that game Orlando moved the ball wonderfully between Hedo and Jameer as the primary creators. It was a dynamic that worked well between those two guys who used dribble-penetration to draw in defenders and took turns playing off the ball throughout the game or even in a single shot-clock.

Besides, Goran is not the type of guard who hangs onto the ball for most of the shot clock or fails to create good ball movement or draw in defenders (ie, Jose Calderon). In fact, Goran keeps the ball in his hands a lot less than a guy like Steve Nash does. Whereas Goran at times seems to pass the ball after running out of ideas, guys like Nash will hang onto the ball and continue probing and letting the ball-screens and cuts develop.

It sounded like Alvin is actually relishing the opportunity to cut down on that and allow Steve Nash to play off the ball at times. I know they tried to do that some under Terry Porter, but we honestly just didn’t have the caliber of playmaking at any other position that could make that work well. Amare wasn’t as good a passer then as he became this year (and even now he’s still got a long way to go) and Shaq’s playmaking on the low-block post-ups killed the rhythm and tempo of the offense.

Eddie House is reportedly joining the Miami Cold.

on whether or not Goran is a true PG or a SG or a Combo?

The point is – he can do it all. I think he likes to play off the ball and he could be really effective doing it. He played off the ball an awful lot with Barbosa… who rarely will give the ball up after getting it dumped off to him. Turk will give it up – and with Goran’s skill-set he can excel in either running through screens for spot up jumpers (using his speed), he can box out and rebound or make smart movement, and he can leak out with his speed to play solid transition D -

I can only see positive things with having 2 boss (as in bossa nova) ball handlers / shooters on the court at all times. What makes me anxious for the season as well is the creativity we’ll see from out team. Nash hands down is the most creative/innovative PGs in the game (Rondo and DWilly deserve mention as well), Goran has that same quality. He doesn’t necessarily play like Steve – but he has his own armory of weapons and moves and that is why I love to watch him – I never know what spin move / 360 / dunk / stop n’ go / 3/4 court pass / behind the back / ball faking move he is going to bang the floor with. Hedo offers a 3rd distributive style to our creativity mix. Throw Grant Hill’s classic UTEP two-stepping ways and everything else we’ve got and we have an amazingly unpredictable array of options to throw at teams night in night out.

This prospect of having many ballhandlers is going to have to come true and be extremely effective—so effective that it compensates for the limited rebounding. The Suns don’t need more ballhandlers to beat the Fakers, they need more size and more defense. Hidayet Turkoglu is the only experienced big guy the Suns have acquired, and he plays like an oversized guard, not a big man.

Do you think the Suns will play on Christmas day in the upcoming season? We’re slowly falling off the radar and we got stuck with the Clippers last season. It might’ve been better if Blake Griffin was healthy but it ended up being a bore of a blowout.

What team do you want the Suns facing on X-mas day if they do play? I know it’s probably not going to be the Heat or the Lakers but you never know. So your thoughts?