Elston Turner Has Improved The Phoenix Suns Defense

W’eve all seen this team go into lockdown mode at times this season, and when they do, they turn games. They just don’t do it enough.
The lockout seems to have hurt the teams that are either older, or who ended last season on a low note. The teams who had a system in place, like OKC or Chicago or Miami have done better in this first half of the season than the teams – like the Suns, Boston, NY, and even Dallas – who had to adapt more on the fly.
Also, offensive success seems to lead to defensive success with Frye and Dudley. When they are engaged on one end of the floor, they perform better on the other end of the floor. So much of our success depends on these two, in the absence of a true star. But they do much better if Nash, or Hill, or someone else has early success. With these guys, it’s all about team and scheme.
We will be best served if Morris develops to the point where he can start next year. Moving Dudley and Frye back to the second team is a great step to making our second unit great again. If Redd keeps progressing, and if we are able to add an assassin at the two, and a reliable, in tune passing backup PG, we could be really good again.

Yes, the rebounding issue is perplexing. While the defense has improved, the defensive rebounding has not, and I just can’t understand why.

I mean, I know why…but I don’t know why they are not fixing the problem. The rebounding, or lack thereof, all comes down to the most fundamental aspect of securing the ball…boxing out! Not only do I often notice a very poor effort/technique from the likes of Frye and surprisingly even Morris at times, but Gortat also has a bad habit of just standing in front of his man and trying to out jump him for the rebound rather than putting a body on him and taking him out of the equation completely.

Luckily for Gortat, he is tall and agile enough to still win the battle most of the time, but there have been numerous times where it has also cost us. Lopez on the other hand does try to box out most of the time, but because of the other players not holding their man, Lopez’s slow reaction to the ball, and also Lopez’s bad habit of trying to grab the ball with one hand, he has an even worse time.

The rebounding woes seem to be a very fixable issue in my opinion if the coaching staff would take the time to really address it, and put more emphasis on playing with sound fundamentals consistently.

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen an opposing player blow by his man outside, meaning Gortat or Morris has to come around to cover and challenge the shot, so they’re not in position to rebound.

Also, having Grant have to cover the other team’s 2 most of the time puts him out of position as well.

Price is the only guard who actually seems to guard anybody, and he never plays.

You can hide one sub-par defender, but not two (or more).

Is why why suck a rebounding.
Like somwone said above rebounding is as much about the scheme s as it is about hustle. We have all our athleticism in the wrong player. Sure we could lead every game in rebound with a line up of price brown chilly morris and gorat. But that line up would get is murdered.
we have players who arent athletic. The score of skill(shooting, post ups,ft) not speed and muscle(iso,driving to hoop, fast break) because of this lack of speed and muscle we tend to lose 50 50 balls alot. Its like putting turtles and rabbits out there and getting mad when the turtles dont win.
If you want rebounds go out and get the dynamic wing and PF who scores athletically and rebound that way too.
Nash- too old/not his job
Duds-nothis job although he is 6’7
Hill- hes doing everything else
Frye-yes im looking at you
Gortat- aolid a solid job but I see him getting rebounds knocked away from him alot. Could from up hos game average by 2-3 but boxing out better.
These guys make up most of the minutes played and only one of them possesses great athleticism for their position.

Over the last 14 games, he has raised his average to 6.21/game, up from 5.5 for the first 20 games. That includes 3 double digit efforts in the last 10 games. He’s also posting up more effectively against bigger and better defenders, and playing much more aggressively and with more attitude.
Our scheme doesn’t lend itself to Frye getting rebounds on the offensive end – but he’s getting more as he’s playing closer to the basket more often. I’m not even sure that’s a good thing – he got 7 ORB in the GS game, and his previous season high was 3.

It is nice to see that our defense is improving overall, but it makes it that much more frustrating at the same time for the obvious reason, rebounding. It is very hard to me to imagine the coaching staff isn’t stressing the fundamentals and going over rebounding often. Of course we have less practices this season, but they have shown improved defense as well so that is not an excuse for the lack of rebounding.

Now that wasn’t because Lopez himself is a good rebounder. He sucks. However, he is very good at boxing out. He’s got the weight, length and strength to do it very well. He’s also great at not grabbing the ball with both hands. Instead, he likes to tip it to another teammate.

Yeah, that’s not how you rebound the ball, but it was acceptable for that season as it allowed guys like J-Rich, Hill and Amare to get the rebound more frequently. Also, all three of those players crashed the boards. They had that “gang rebound” mentality. J-Rich averaged 5rpg, Hill close to 6rpg and Amar’e about 9rpg. Lopez’s size, inability to rebound and volleyball skills just made it easier for them. That was either good coaching or just luck of the drawl. It’s amazing how a player’s weakness can be disguised and turned into a strength for his team when you put the right players and system around him.

Anyway, we have one guy who will crash the boards really well and one guy who will box out really well. Both are centers, so we can’t put them together to form a great rebounding duo.

In the starting line-up, Gortat needs a guy next to him that will box out. Frye doesn’t do that, neither does Morris. That’s a shame because I speculate that it would help our rebounding improve quite a bit seeing how Gortat himself is one of the best at going for and getting the ball. He can get a lot of rebounds, but he can’t make this team a good rebounding team if nobody else is helping.

As for the bench, Chill can crash the boards if he brings the effort and Morris is decent in that area as well. You would think that with Lopez, our bench would be a good rebounding squad and thus capable of creating many 2nd opportunities due to the fact that they can’t score the ball. Unfortunately, Chill and Morris are inconsistent and Lopez doesn’t get enough minutes or play well enough to stay in the game.

So yes, our rebounding sucks. I’m not so sure if a different scheme or better coaching/teaching would help. The players we have on this team just don’t compliment each other well enough or aren’t consistent enough to do so. We have this puzzle, but the pieces just don’t fit. Once again, the answer comes down to “We need more talent”. Now I’m not a genius and so I could be wrong. There could be another way that I just haven’t thought of, but until then, this team looks as if they’re playing as well as they possibly can. Practice will only take us so far. We need different players.