Phoenix Suns Player Evaluations 2010-11: Give Mickael Pietrus a Chance

2Nashty is like the little/big brother who is always farting on you

Even when he came to the Suns he couldn’t find a defined role because Gentry had him playing SG one night and PF the next. Then Gentry decided to cut the rotation to 8-9 guys and Pietrus was in the doghouse for a while. Then Gentry realized that Grant Hill was too old to play that many minutes and he put the rotation back to 10 and Pietrus was back in.

He only got about 20 games with a consistent role, but it was during our playoff run and he barley new the team. Of course there was the injury and by the time that healed, the playoffs were a long-shot and Gentry just decided to stick with Chill because we have him wrapped up long-term. Some people will point out the technicals he got that one game, but that’s just nitpicking. To hate a guy for one game and one bad mistake is ridiculous.

Now, Pietrus will always bring good defense and an attitude. He’s the type of guy who will always have your back. I love that. He could be our enforcer.

Although, it will likely take him to land our coveted PF in the off-season. I like him, but I don’t mind if he leaves or stays.

Dudley/Peaches isn’t a bad combo to have at SG unless your best players are Nash and Gortat. Add a PF like Milsap or Smith and I’d be happy with that SG combo. Both guys play good defense and one of them can consistently make his shots while the other one is a wild card. That’s not bad. This is why we don’t need a SG. We don’t need to go out and overpay for the over-hyped and overrated Aflalo when he’s really not that much better than Jared Dudley. He won’t make much of a difference. This team needs a PF and a backup PG just in case Brooks is traded.

He’s a good defender. Suns need this kind of player.

This is the first one that changed my previous view on a player.

You’re absolutely right, Euts. Pietrus is the kind of player we should want coming off of the bench, and like most of the players on the roster he had to endure some type of transitional period during his time in a Suns uni.

Its safe to assume that he was pressing himself to make an impact to earn his way into the good graces of the team, so that might be why he was a little too amped up, i.e. launching crazy shots and trying a little too hard to be an irritant on defense which resulted in some stupid technical fouls.

If he can pull back on the throttle a bit and play under control, he could be a valuble 3 and D wing player of the bench, and I do love having those 3 and D guys.

Trade him, waive him, whatever.

I thought we were getting Bruce Bowen-lite with more range on his shot, instead we got J.R. Smith with half the talent and all the bad shot selection.

Like you gave him an ‘incomplete’, I don’t feel that I really know enough about what he can bring to this team to judge whether or not I want him here.

I’m fine with him sticking around as long as he works hard and can become a consistent bench player.
If there’s one thing I truly want from this Suns team, it’s consistency.

He’s more defense-focused, his offensive game is a little ragged, and where Nash and Hill are always supremely disciplined and in control, Pietrus is wild and unpredictable. You could say that makes him a bad fit on the Suns, but I see it the other way around. His “different-ness” is what makes him valuable to us.

His defense doesn’t look to me like it’s fundamentally sound the way Grant Hill’s is, but Pietrus brings a passion at that end of the floor that is uncommon. You can tell he really wants to play D, and how many Suns can you say that about? That kind of thing can be contagious, and if we’re serious about building a better defensive team, we need more players who focus on it like this, not fewer. His shot selection will continue to frustrate us from time to time, but it’s something we can live with and, unlike Childress, he’s at least a legit 3-point threat (even if he misses a lot of them, too) so he helps with spacing the floor.

Nice work, Euty. I was on the fence about Pietrus, but I think you’ve convinced me that we should keep him, with the standard caveat of “unless we can package him for the star we need.”

I’m not sure how I feel about that…

At least in this house, we all worship the same God: He who received a lap dance from Nicki Minaj.

You guys are like my family.

Except I only hate some of you. But I jest.

The thing I probably dislike most about Pietrus is his nickname (peaches). That puts him in pretty good standing compared to other members of this team.

Pietrus suffers from horrible decision making skills. It isn’t just his shot selection, although that is evidence of his larger overall condition. The same way people want him to play with more equanimity… It’s the glitch in the thought process. Just speculation, but I wager that MP has touched more than his share of hot stoves in his time. I don’t know how easily recitifed this type of condition is.

Pietrus reminds me of Barbosa a little bit. Kind of funny looking and a little like a lost puppy. Likeable. Both prone to bad decision making. While Barbosa seemed to be a bit more tentative with his play, and thus mitigated his mistakes, Pietrus seems to be unabashed by poor returns and therefore doesn’t seem to blink twice before making another ill-advised play.

I think Pitetrus could be an effective player off the bench. Maybe if he gets more comfortable with his situation he will make less stupid decisions. I can envision a scenario where he generally plays effective defense and has 5-10 games next season where he is a factor on offense with 4+ three pointers.

Unfortunately I can also picture an alternate scenario where Pietrus is doing something indescribably idiotic while Gentry is left a) scratching his head, b) staring wide mouthed in disbelief, or c) shaking his head in disgust.

Incomplete sounds good to me. I hope it doesn’t change to incompetent.

I will say this much, the success of this team moving forward will have little to nothing to do with the future of Pietrus. There are much bigger fish to fry.

doesn’t seem to blink twice

Doesn’t blink + doesn’t think twice = doesn’t blink twice

He is just such a nice piece overall, he can shoot, he can D, he is scrappy and he is probably, wait no im sure, the most athletic Sun but a few things are bothering me with him :

-Is gentry going to use him as back up SG or SF if we get another SG? i dont think we need another which would limited our bench offense if Jchill come off bench to, 3 guys that cant dribble at all and 1 of those 3 cant even hit Mid range.

-And i wanna bring a such needed commentary, we lack of PF but we cant run any offense by having such a hot head like Aroon B in our team, and no offense to Zabian,s fan but he aint dragic will never be dragic i dont trust in him, Priorities PF and PG, adding another SG would just mess our roster.

I have seen him play a lot in Orlando, when Gortat was playing there and he can play much better than this season for the Suns. Let’s give him a chance to bounce back next season. Tough defender, streaky 3-point shooter, can dunk, brings a lot of energy. What do you want more? Keep him!

Then i’m happy to have Mickeal start at the 2 spot with a full traning camp under his belt. His shooting is a little streaky and i’m sure some of that is related to his shoot selection. But his defense is great and we need more of that.