Suns unveil new 'Corner' offensive system

Randy Hill, Fox Sports Arizona's fantastic Suns beat writer, has provided us some very important details about the new wrinkles to Alvin Gentry's system. As we all know, Steve Nash basketball has been pick and roll basketball. With inarguably the best pick and roll point guard ever to lick his fingers now in L.A. threading balls to other ballers, it's time for a change in Phoenix.

In comes the Corner offense which Hill, who is also a basketball coach and player development pro, describes this way:

New-look Suns have Dragic in their corner
The base system is known as the "Corner" offense, and – although Adelman once had former Princeton coach Pete Carril on his coaching staff in Sacramento – the structure is not as close to the Princeton offense as many have assumed. With more high-post action, the Corner has some similarities to the Triangle.

These changes aren't totally out of the blue even if they do make perfect sense with the addition of four recent Adelman players (Dragic, Scola, Beasley, Johnson).

Over the past few years we've seen Gentry slowly introduce more motion sets to the Suns. He used these at times to give Nash a break and certainly with the second unit. Then in Vegas I noticed Markieff Morris operating more out of the high post although that was often in isolation where he could face up and use his "Amare lite" combination of dribble drive / jump shooting to score points. (Yes, I went to the "Amare lite" place.) I recall him having some nice dishes from there as well.

Of course, Morris even at this point in his career, and certainly Luis Scola, are far better passers and decision-makers than Amare. With both those guys in the high post, defenses face a true triple threat (pass, shoot, drive).

With that kind of talent at the four, and Dragic's ability to run off screens and create havoc (a bit like a Rajon Rondo), this system makes more and more sense. Mix in Michael Beasley's ability to to also work off screens and Jared Dudley or Wesley Johnson providing floor spacing and an outlet against defensive rotations and you can see how this might all work very nicely. Even Shannon Brown is a good fit for this system and has experience with the triangle in L.A.

Here's a cool video montage I found with Corner offense plays from the Rockets.