Cut Goran Dragic

Goran Dragic revisited...sort of

2009-03-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

After last night's AWESOME game against the Jazz, my email/twitter took major hits with questions about my current feelings towards Goran Dragic. Some were more polite than others but all basically asking me to take back what I've said about him throughout the season. My response, I'm not even close to believing this guy is a $2 million/year PG in the NBA. Now, I know that this has been a touchy subject with a lot of Suns fans (due in large part to the Suns organizational mistakes dealing with young talent in the past) and I know most everyone here disagrees, but it is a stance I have chosen to take and one that I don't regret (partly because it lead me to where I'm at now on BSotS). Before you jump down my throat though, I will use this space to explain why I haven't changed my mind, what I would need to see for me to change my mind and what things I think Goran should do in the offseason to make that happen. Again, I am not rooting for this guy to fail and I have no beef with him as a person, I just don't see him being a viable NBA PG (emphasis on POINT GUARD).

Let me start by saying that Goran Dragic has been playing much better as of late. He has the confidence to shoot and knock down open shots that he didn't have earlier this season and isn't second guessing everything he does. Alvin Gentry has done a good job of masking the flaws in Dragic's game in this new system by allowing Dragic to play more off the ball and changing the offensive scheme when the second team is in. Also, I feel we've been fairly lucky that other teams are not focusing on him in their scouting. Here would be my current (condensed) scouting report on Dragic:

Can hit the open shot
Better off of the ball than running the offense
Has trouble creating shots for him or others off the dribble
Easily flustered/turnover prone when pressured defensively
Tends to get out of position on defense and plays on heels making it hard for him to defend a hard crossover dribble
Now, if I were a team planning for the Suns, I would pressure him 3/4 court with my quickest defender the moment he got on the floor. I would throw hard double teams at him after any screen and try to get him as flustered as possible as quickly as possible. You saw in last night's game, the one time the Jazz threw a hard double team at him (I believe it was either late in the 3rd or early in the 4th quarter about 30 feet out on the left side of the court) he got incredibly flustered to the point where he was staring down Ronnie Brewer (honestly, what was his plan with that?) when the play ended. Again, so far it seems teams are content to give him space and let him try and beat them with open shots - I'm just saying that I would go a different route. It should be noted, however, that as of right now I am not an official NBA team scout.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I have long said that if Goran Dragic were to make it in this league, it would probably be as more of a combo guard needing to be matched with the right talent around him and not a point. Now, everyone has been so impressed by his play of late, that they are just glancing over the fact that that's as much Alvin Gentry as it is anything Goran is doing. When Dragic is in, they play a style of offense that doesn't really require Goran to run the offense. Gentry is putting him out there with other players who are comfortable handling the duties of running the offense and allowing Goran to play more of a 2 guard style than the point. So technically, it would seem that my argument is valid.

Now, the Suns have won 6 straight and we should all be on cloud 9 just enjoying the stretch run here (and trust me, I am enjoying it and believe that Gentry should be given the full-time job next year and that the Suns should keep this team in tact to see what it can do with a whole season because if not, we'll have about $40 million in salary to play with the next year - but that's another post for another day), however, you all asked if my opinion of Goran Dragic has changed and since it hasn't, I have to present to you my argument as to why.

In order for Dragic to prove me wrong, I would need to see a better ability to run the offense, MUCH better ball handling - especially in pressure situations and quicker decision making (on one of Dragic's fast break assists to Lou last night, you saw a moment where he was slow to decide and it almost cost him as he got too far into the lane before making a forced low pass to Amundson). So what can he do to improve these things before next year?

Play - He already has plans to play for almost the entire summer, this should help him improve, but won't take him all the way.

Full court one-on-one - He should find somebody quick, mark off a quarter of the court and have the defender guard him extremely tight and even foul him by constantly slapping at the ball as he takes it down the court. If he turns his back and starts backing the guy down, he would have to start over. If he gets past the guy, he would have to stop, let the guy catch up and continue.

Reaction drills - He should run through a number of reaction drills that force him to make quick decisions and improve his reaction time.

Video - I would have him watching video of Tony Parker (ahhh, the sin of mentioning a Spur in this blog). Tony Parker has a game that I think Goran Dragic could emulate if he improves in the areas mentioned above. Dragic is not a Nash type PG, so learning strictly from Nash wouldn't be smart. Yes, he should take some things from Nash, but he also needs to learn things from other PGs who have similar game to him and I think Tony Parker is one of those guys.

Defensive drills - The dude has got to learn to play on his toes! He is playing on his heels and it just causes so many problems with him getting out of position and not being able to respond quickly.

So there you have it (for the 1 of you who actually made it through all of that), my complete rundown of a) why my opinion of Goran Dragic as our backup PG has not changed and b) what I think he needs to do in order to change my opinion. The chum is in the water, I know you are circling so have at it. Just remember, the Suns are winning, I love how Gentry is using his bench (including how he is using Dragic now that he is our only "backup PG") and I only wrote this post because you all asked.

With LB gone...

2009-03-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Shaq becomes The Big Blur

Slay the dragon...or better yet

2009-02-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

Just put him out of his misery! For about 8 months now, the Suns have been trying to push Goran Dragic on us fans. They have been feeding us company line after company line and many fans have bought into what they were saying. Well I haven't bought it for a second. The flaws in his game have been glaring us in the face ever since the team posted a Goran Dragic "highlight" video on Suns.com. The high dribble, the slow decision making and the flat-footed defense are just too much for him to overcome. It's not like he's some raw 18 year old who just hasn't learned yet - this is a 22 (soon to be 23) year old man who was just about to break out of the Adriatic league and into the much better Euro league when he was drafted. I mean, just look at this guy and read on.

During the win over the team that should still be in Seattle, Scott Williams made a comment (remember - company line) to the effect that a lot of scouts around the league had Goran Dragic as the #2 PG behind Russell Westbrook. First of all, most scouts around the league said that Goran Dragic didn't belong in the NBA. Second, the SUN'S scouts said that he was their #2 PG behind Derrick Rose - not Russell Westbrook. Either way, this just shows how rediculous this whole Dragic issue really is. Number 2! Rose, Mayo, Westbrook, Augustine, Chalmers, Gordon, George Hill, and Bayless are eight rookies (just off the top of my head) that I'd rather have coming off of the bench than Goran Dragic.

Even more rediculous than the previous company line, is the line they were trying to feed us as to why they were so high on him. Remember when they told us that Dragic was a (and I quote) "defensive stopper"? Goran Dragic was the PG of the future in Porter's defensive system. Honestly, did the scouts even watch Dragic play? Did they do any research? Goran plays the most awful, flat-footed defense in the league. Everyone gets on Nash for not being a great defender - at least Nash is able to draw the occasional charge! Dragic is more than content to watch his man blow by him and let the big guys try and take care of it. He doesn't fight when he's screeened and he fouls a lot for a guard playing limited minutes. Really, what scout looks at a guy playing in Europe and thinks to himself, "geeze, I think this guy could be a lock-down defender in the NBA" because honestly, their job should be in jeopardy.

Now, upon reading this, some of you might try and tell me that he's played better lately. To this I ask, what exactly are you basing this on? Yes, he's scored 30 points in the last four games combined (12,12,2,4) but go back and watch. He has hit the occasional open jumper and gotten a couple of dunks. If they want a player who can't defend but can hit an open jumper and dunk the ball when the opportunity is there, they can hire me right now and I'll do it for a LOT less money (more on money in just a bit). Now don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming to be an NBA talent, I'm just saying that I could provide the exact same things that Goran Dragic has provided for us scoring wise. Then, as you move away from scoring and into the PG statistics, things get worse. In the past four games, Dragic has averaged 2 assists and 2 turnovers per game. Not to mention, that on the majority of the plays, he is more than willing to let somebody else initiate the offense while he goes and hides in the corner.

Others will read this and say that I'm being too hard on the Slovenian. But let's just take a second to examine the situation. Goran Dragic was our second round pick - second round picks have more of a learning curve, right? Normally, this would be true, but look at all we did to get Dragic into a Suns uniform this year. In order to get Dragic over here, we had to buy out the rights from his team in Europe and pay him the salary that he and his people were looking for. Because he was taken in the second round, the Suns were able to circumvent the normal rookie restrictions dealing with pay scale and length of rookie contracts. Basically, Dragic's second round contract (including the money he receives as part of his buyout) is paying him as much as Brook Lopez (who was taken 10th overall) for a longer period (3 years with a 4th year option). So our second round pick is making lottery money on a contract that not even the top pick can negotiate. So excuse me for not feeling sorry for the kid. He's getting Brook Lopez money and he is not performing anywhere near as well as Robin's twin. Remember when we sold the rights for Rudy Fernandez? We got about $1.5 million (if I remember correctly) - talk about saving money, we didn't even get enough back to pay Dragic's salary!

Now, just to be clear, I'm not blaming anything on Goran Dragic. We didn't lose to the Celtic's because of him (although he didn't help much). I'm just trying to point out the fact that it's time for the Suns to admit their mistake, stop feeding us this company bull and figure out a better solution. What that may be, I'm not sure. I have my theories just like everyone else, but one way or the other, there has to be a better option. On a final note, lets not get too down on the Suns for losing a game they were supposed to lose yesterday. They are in two different transitions right now and are not presently contenders for anything. There are going to be kinks in the road, it's just a matter of learning and overcoming. I still think that these Suns - in this system - have a playoff push in them and that once there, if we can get Amare back, we have a chance to surprise some teams. Again, only time will tell. Hopefully, it will be time spent away from Goran Dragic - might I suggest Iowa?

Hope

2009-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

I originally titled this post "Let's GO!!!" but in light of the Amare news this morning, I have gone back and rewritten much of it as we can now only hope for the best. Hopefully, it isn't too disjointed though - that being said, let's go!

(Okay, I really just wanted the first 17 seconds of the clip above, but whatever, I can only deal with what YouTube gives me)

So the Suns are off and running once again. Since the Suns went back to the old D'Antoni style, they have averaged 141 points (granted it's a small sample size of 2 games against the Clippers, but 141 points is 141 points) and a lot of people have gotten overly excited while others remain skeptical. It's no coincidence (well...actually it is very much a coincidence) that this comes just a month after President Obama entered office with a lot of people being overly excited and others being very skeptical. I choose to look at both with a cautious optimism while enjoying the new energy brought by the two events.

As a country, there is a renewed sense of hope among citizens (no he's not going to pay your mortgage but maybe he'll do better than the last guy...we'll have to wait and see) and you could feel a change in the attitude of the Suns as they went back to running these last two games. Of course, this was before Amare went down - just got the text this morning after the first draft was written that he's out for 8 weeks after eye surgery...what happened to wearing the goggles the rest of his career again? Either way, we should enjoy the return to the run'n'gun and hope for the best - here's why:

We now have an exciting team to root for.

The Suns have instantaneously gone back to being one of the most exciting teams in the league. Excitement doesn't just come with running, but with being able to win games, too. The Suns have the talent to beat any team in the league on any given night. We now have a system in place that maximizes that talent and makes us a wildcard the rest of the season.

The players are having fun.

Having fun while playing basketball is very underrated in the NBA. People say that because this is a job that they get paid millions to do, the players should perform regardless of what's going on. But think about your own job...personally, if I get a project that I have no interest in, am I really going to put forth the same effort that I would for a project that is fun and allows me to showcase my full abilities? NO FREAKING WAY. Watching the Suns destroy the Clippers, you saw everybody smiling and having fun. Remember the highlight of Amundson leading the break, giving it up to Nash and then being rewarded with the alley-oop toss? The camera panned over to an elated bench led by none other than Amare Stoudemire. As with anything, when the players are enjoying themselves out on the court, they tend to perform better. There has never been a better example of this than Amare - who is known to lose interest rapidly if he isn't enjoying himself out on the court.

Were we really going anywhere with Shaq and the slow it down offense?

Look at the body of work, could anyone honestly say that we were a contender this year? NO. Can anyone deny that we were a contender the past four years? NO. The truth is, you have to give your players the best chance to succeed and for the Suns, that means running. We have one of the best PGs in the league and a lot of dynamic scorers. If the Suns can survive the remainder of the season and get into the playoffs (an extremely difficult task playing without Amare and given the current situation out West), they could surprise a lot of teams if Amare can recover and get back on the court. We'll still have Shaq there to anchor us if it becomes necessary to slow it down and go into the post, but we don't rely on him as much in the run'n'gun. Remember last year, the Spurs exploited the fact that Shaq was even on the court with the hack-a-Shaq technique and it completely threw them off. Imagine if we get in this year and then have a healthy, hungry (there's always hope, right?), and rested Amare Stoudemire...Might we see the same type of playoff performance that we saw before the microfracture surgery?

As with everything this season, there are a lot of questions surrounding this Suns squad - even more so now that Amare is out. But personally, I am looking forward to watching these Suns try and run their way into the playoffs. Remember, when Amare was out after his knee surgery, everyone thought the Suns would be dead in the water but they played their way to the Western Conference Finals. Might we see a similar run in these Suns? You have to think that the Suns are going to be forced to go smaller which means they are going to have to play even faster to make up for it. So again, I am going to hope for the best and root for this strange looking/playing squad to get back into the playoffs and be excited for the opportunity I have to watch one of the most exciting teams in the league. Will the Suns play their way back to contention? Will the team be able to handle the loss of Amare? Can we hang with the better teams in this league? I don't know - nobody does - but until it is proven otherwise, I can always hope.

Victory

2009-02-09T15:30:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of this season, while watching the Suns struggle trying to find their identity, I decided to venture into the world of "blogging." I basically wanted to make some friends laugh and to get out my frustrations about the play of Goran Dragic so I started a little blog titled "Cut Goran Dragic." Throughout the season I have written several posts about things I think the Suns should do to improve. As with everything, a lot of people agreed with the things I wrote and a lot of people disagreed. Didn't matter to me, like I said, my main goal was to make some friends laugh and throw my two cents out to the world (or the 5 people that might read it who weren't called mom).

Then, a funny thing happened during the Pistons game last night. As I was watching, I noticed that one-by-one, the things I had written throughout the season were all being verified. I made a quick comment to that effect to my pregnant wife who was sitting right next to me but as expected, she didn't even look up from her pregnancy book. So, since I can't get my wife (who is, with good reason, preoccupied with more important things) to give me a pat on the back, I'm going to pat myself on the back in this space right here. Below I have included my top four suggestions for improvement (with my thoughts on the whole "what do we do with Amare" question added as a bonus) from the first half of this season.

1) Goran Dragic: I've said it since the start of this season - Goran Dragic is not good at basketball! Last night, for some inexplicable reason, Dragic got into the game. During his 4 minutes of playing time, Dragic refused to initiate the offense on any possession, went 0 - 2 from the field and posted the only negative +/- on the team (-3). The guy is not an NBA caliber talent and I really don't see him ever becoming one either. However, if the Suns are serious about using this guy in the future, they need to send him down to the D-League to see if his skills can improve when playing consistent minutes of American style ball. See my previous posts about him here, here and here.

2) Suns offense: A couple of weeks ago I created a post giving my thoughts on the Suns offense. At the time, the Suns had been going into Shaq on the majority of their possessions throughout each game. The Suns looked stagnant, there was little ball (or body) movement and everyone looked unhappy (except for Shaq, of course). I stated that if the Suns were to be successful, they'd have to figure out better ways to utilize Shaq while keeping the other players interested in what was happening. I said that they needed to bring some creativity and motion back into their offense and let Steve Nash be Steve Nash. Last night, Steve Nash was freed! The Suns stopped trying to feed Shaq on every possession (they have been building up to this and figuring it out for the last little bit) and let Nash make use of ALL of the Suns weapons. Nash finished with 21 assists, Amare got 18 points, JRich got a beautiful 21 (yes the man-crush continues), Barbosa got 17 and Shaq was still able to get his 20 and 10. The Suns have as much talent as any team - look at their starting five of Nash, Richardson, Hill, Stoudemire and O'Neal. That is a whole heap of talent. If the Suns let Nash use these different weapons, that is going to lead to a lot of success - much like it did last night.

3) Shaq's attack: I have made several posts where I have talked about how Shaq's resurgence has been awesome. However, I have also stated that with this resurgence has come confidence and that confidence has been both good and bad (you can see one post here). The good is when he gets good position close to the basket where he can finish or get fouled. The bad comes when he moves out further from the hoop but still tries to force up the shot. Last night, Shaq shot about 44% from the field on 7 - 16 shooting. Not bad, right? Well, looking at the shot chart, he went 1 - 6 from 8 feet and out (17%). Had he not taken any shots from that far, he would have gone a MUCH more efficient 6 - 9 and shot 67% on the night. This, in turn, would have given the Suns 7 more tries to come up with better shot for a score and probably would have resulted in Shaq getting a repost closer to the hope and taking a much higher percentage shot. Shaq needs to realize this - it would not only improve his numbers and efficiency, but help the team find some better scoring situations each game. That being said, I'm not volunteering myself to talk to the big man about it.

Amare: In December, I created a post about what Amare needs to do if he ever wants to be taken seriously as an MVP type of player. Without going too much into it, I basically said that big men MVPs are much different than little guy MVPs. If a big man wants to be the MVP of the league, he needs to dominate the glass, make a difference on the defensive end and be able to score when the team needs them to. Look at KG when he won it with the TWolves. Amare, every once in a while, shows flashes that he is capable of doing all three of these. However, for some reason he never takes the next step. Last night, his numbers weren't eye popping (18 and 7) but what I did notice was that he was having fun and smiling the whole game. I believe this is in large part because of the way the offense was working (see #2 above). I think that that is a good sign for him. If Amare is having fun and interested in the game, his effort is there. If he feels slighted (like when the Suns were running EVERY possession through Shaq), he tends to stop trying. Last night, I thought his effort was there and enjoyed watching him play.

Now, as for the question about whether or not we should get rid of Amare, I say...maybe. Really, I would like to see the Suns ride this out and see if we can continue to improve and compete in the West (and I have been back and forth A LOT on this). I think Amare is too good of a talent to just let him go for money or draft picks and I have only seen a few scenarios being talked about that would give us the return we should get for Amare's talent. However, if (and only if) a deal comes along that we just cannot under any circumstance say no to, well...then we shouldn't say no! Amare may be the new Marbury (player with incredible numbers who just doesn't have the champion mentality), but even if this is the case, there is no way we should just get rid of him for the sake of getting rid of him. Knowing Sarver and Kerr, you never know what they might do. They may just give him up for an expiring and some money - however, I think this would be incredibly unfair to the team and to Steve Nash in particular seeing as he doesn't have a whole lot of time left due to the proverbial window. We'll just have to sit back and hope for the best as we head into the All-Star break and the trading deadline.

Until then, I'll enjoy last night's win and hope for more tonight against the Sixers. After all, this season is all about building on small victories and hoping they lead to bigger ones - both for the Suns and for this blogger.

Look beyond Amare...

2009-01-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

Lately, a lot of blame has been put on Amare Stoudemire as to why the Suns aren't playing as well as everyone believes they should play. Granted, when someone comes out claiming they're going to bring the "gorilla game," one should expect more than 3 rebounds. However, it's gotten to the point where people are using Amare like a piece of duct tape covering a hole in a dam. You can cover up the real issue all you want, but sooner or later you're going to be in deep water.

So the question becomes, what is the real issue with the Phoenix Suns? Now, I'm going to skip the obvious answers (lack of a backup PG, inability to get stops, etc.) and try and point at the heart of the problem. What I am going to proceed to present to you, my fellow Suns fans, is my informed opinion as to what is really going on.

Basketball is a relatively simple game. You have five players trying to work together to put a round ball in a round hole. However, when played at its highest form, basketball becomes beautiful. The game requires a perfect balance of athletic ability, power and creativity. When all of these elements come together just right, the game becomes something more. NIKE was able to portray this better than most with this memorable ad:

Over these last 4 seasons, the Suns have been the poster child for how the game should be played - mixing perpetual motion with grace, finesse and power all at once. There is little wonder as to why the Suns have been one of the most popular teams over this span. They brought beauty and rhythm back to a game that had gotten lost in a monotone and ugly game. No, it never produced the championship everyone had hoped for, but many agree that were it not for some bad breaks or David Stern, the Suns were poised to win it all. The memorable mosaic was only one perfect piece short of becoming a masterpiece.

However, it was not meant to be. They started moving pieces and trying to recreate the same carbon-copy game that most other teams used and swore by. First, the Matrix was shipped out followed shortly by D'Antoni. This season, the Suns set out to be a defensive team under the direction of coach Terry Porter and just like that, the beauty that existed in the SSoL system died. The Suns went from being Steve Nash's team to being Shaq's team. We went from run-and-gun to give the ball to Shaq and stand around to see what he does with it. We became Rocky before he befriended Apollo - all power with no grace.

It seems as though Steve Kerr traded away this team's soul for the CHANCE to be like his beloved Spurs - well, it appears as if the devil (as he tends to do) got the best of the two. I think my brother put it best when he told me that he'd rather watch a fun team that was a contender every year than a boring team that could be good or could be bad, nobody really knows. Yes, the Suns have some nice pieces right now, but last I checked they were jumping between the 7th and 9th seeds. It is no longer a foregone conclusion that we'll even make the playoffs and anyone who has followed this team can see just how stale our offense has become.

This, I believe, is the root of all our problems. Our offense is now almost completely void of creativity. We come down, we throw the ball to Shaq, we watch what Shaq does, and we try to react. Yes, Shaquille O'Neal is having the best season he's had in years, yes, he has a chance to make the All-Star team this year (if the coaches find that he deserves it more than Al Jefferson) and yes, it is very fun to see him hit a left handed baby hook and run back staring at his own hand in what I can only call disbelief. However, when he gets the ball our offense shuts down. There may be one cut into the lane by Amare or J-Rich, but other than that, everyone stands around waiting to see what's going to happen next and what happens, more often than not, is a shot goes up. Shaq did surprise me last night against the Wizards with quite a few kick outs for open looks in the fourth, but I don't trust that his ego will allow him to do this on a consistent basis.

Wow, I just read that last paragraph and realize that their offense is as boring to read about as it is to watch. I can only imagine how boring it is to run on the court. This stale offense has made it so that Nash is no longer an All-Star (although I am hoping that when he doesn't make the team he takes it personal and goes on a tear the second half of the season), Amare loses interest (we all know that he just sort of gives up if he feels he is not involved in the offense) and a lot of our other offensive weapons are rendered useless. Not only that but we're forced to watch Shaq attempt these stupid 8-foot hook shots and fallaways that he has no business even taking!

So before pointing the finger at Amare, we need to look at the system in which he plays. While I'm sure Shaq loves it, you can tell that there are times when the players look like they're just going through the motions out there. Need proof? Just look at the Celtics game. In basketball, when you take the creativity away, you're left with a power game. The Suns cannot win a championship based entirely on a power type of game - it just won't happen. If the Suns truly want to make a run at the title with this team, they need to mix a little beauty and creativity into their power game.

Enter Apollo Creed.

The Matrix Reloaded

2009-01-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

Those of you familiar with my writing know that I do not try and hide how much I enjoy watching Jason Richardson play basketball (my man-crush has not reached unhealthy or abnormal levels as of yet). For those who are less familiar, fear not I'll get to it shortly.

This weekend, while watching the Suns tear apart the Mavericks (they looked good, didn't they?), I began to ask myself why it was I was so enamored with J-Rich's play. The answer - he brings back a lot of what we lost when we traded away Shawn Marion and our run-n-gun offense. Shawn Marion was and continues to be one of my favorite Suns players of all time. When the time came for me to choose who's jersey to buy (the choice was between Marion, Nash and Stoudemire), I purchased a Shawn Marion throwback. It seemed fitting seeing as he was the longest tenured Sun and one of the most exciting players in the league. In hindsight, I should have known that when the shake down inevitably happened it would be he who would be shipped out. Oh well, 20/20.

Marion was underrated and even under-appreciated as a Sun. He was consistently near the top of the league in rebounding and steals. He was a double-double machine and people forget that he is listed as being 6'7"! When we lost Marion, we lost our best and most versatile defender. People can talk about Bell all they want but Marion was the guy called upon to guard every position on the floor. He would guard Tony Parker one night (while getting time on Tim Duncan, too) and then be asked to guard Lebron James or Dirk Nowitzki the next. He was also the most exciting player on the team. Yes, Nash had the passes and Amare the power, but nothing was as exciting as seeing the Matrix get a steal on one end, sprinting to the other end and either finishing an alley-oop or driving in and gliding in the air (a la Clyde Drexler) for the finish. Granted, I'm 6'3", 170 lbs. and power has never been used to describe my game so I may be a bit biased, but I loved watching Shawn Marion play.

Then came the trade that brought the fun and high speeds to a screeching hault. 300+ lb. anchors tend to do that, you know. The Suns suffered another disappointing loss at the hands of the Spurs and dropped off of everyone's radars as a legitimate contender. At the beginning of the season, the Suns looked heavy. Kerr was trying to make Goran Dragic happen (honestly, why is he still taking up space on the Suns' bench?), Porter was trying to make Shaq happen and we were struggling to find an identity. Suns players came out on more than one occasion to say that they were not happy. Amare and Shaq wanted more touches, Bell, much like Jack from LOST wanted to go back once he realized how good he had it on the island known as SSoL.

December 10. 2008 - Redemption. The Suns traded Boris Diaw and Raja Bell for Jason Richardson. The impact on the court was seen almost immediately. It appeared that the Suns were having more fun and playing a lot lighter than they had all season. The Suns were running with one of the best finishers in the history of the game. They were gunning with the NBA's best 3-point shooter. Matt Barnes began to seem a lot more comfortable after his buddy from an incredibly fun Warriors squad arrived. The transformation was complete - now the only thing left to do was to sit back and watch everything come together. When the Phoenix Suns brought in J-Rich, they brought in a spark that had been missing ever since Shawn Marion was shipped away.

With Richardson, we once again have a quick perimeter defender who likes to go after rebounds. We brought in a slasher who knows how and when to get to the rim for easy buckets. We also added another player who has the ability to create his own shot whether in the post or out on the perimeter (which is something Marion struggled with). Most importantly, we brought in an exciting player that can get the energy going when the Suns get sluggish.

So, why do I like J-Rich's game so much? Maybe it's not as much of a mystery as I thought.

Heartbreak hotel

2008-12-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

What a game yesterday! The Suns vs. Spurs Christmas day showdown definitely lived up to its hype. Unfortunately, the Suns came up on the losing end but I do think that things are coming together for them. Nash is looking more and more comfortable out there which is great. All-in-all I was very pleased with how they looked. I still have a man-crush on J-Rich and I love what he and Matt Barnes bring to this team. Leandro Barbosa struggled but has been pretty solid so far even with everything that has gone on in his life.

As for our big men, both Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire had very big games. Shaq had 23 points and 12 rebounds while Amare scored 25 and pulled down 13. While I loved seeing the rebounding (and the fact that we held them to 7 offensive rebounds) and the scoring, Shaq continued to take shots that he shouldn't and Amare showed he still lacks on the defensive end.

Shaq went 7 of 15 from the floor (a little less than 50%) and continued to force up shots when the Suns clearly could have gotten better looks. He had a couple of turnaround hook shots from about 8 feet out and even tried to shoot some fadeaway jumpers. He did have some nice passes, but he needs to be a little more patient and know his limits. On a few occasions, he tried to force up the shot after his initial move was cut off when he could have kicked it out and reposted in better position to score or he could have found an open teammate for a much easier shot. I do enjoy seeing Shaq play (the juke move on Duncan and the holding the hand up on the free throw were very entertaining to watch), I just think that he should look for better shots and if his shot isn't there he should trust his teammates a little more instead of forcing it up. This will raise his shooting percentage and allow us to get a few more good looks at the basket during the game.

Amare has talked all year about his improved defense and desire to be the man. However, yesterday we saw that any time Amare switched onto Duncan, they would immediately run isolation plays for them to go one-on-one. Amare has made strides in defending the pick-and-roll but still needs to work on his face-up D. I do like the fact that we seem to be looking for him more on the offensive end, though.

Overall, I really like where this team is headed. I like the additions that we have made and am anxious to see if Dee Brown can crack the rotation. Remember, at Illinois he was the one that everyone was excited about but when he got injured it gave Deron Williams the opportunity to step up. I think that with the Suns training staff, they might be able to restore him to his prime (he is still very young) and he could become a valuable backup. I am also excited for this addition because it SHOULD allow the Suns to send Goran Dragic to Iowa. But for now, at least we can be thankful that the Suns are looking better every time out and that Dragic is finally where he belongs - at the end of the bench.

Quickie...

2008-12-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot of time as its the holidays and all but I wanted to share this link. Looks like the Suns are working out some backup PGs to fill their empty roster spot. I like some of the names on the list (that is if they have anything left in the tank). Hopefully we can find a PG worthy to back up Steve Nash. Happy holidays everyone - hope we're all treated to a great Christmas Day game vs. the Spurs. Oh, and Santa, all I want for Christmas is for Goran Dragic to be sent to the D-League.

Welcome back

2008-12-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

124 - 119.

Suns lose.

I'm excited.

Wait, that can't be right, can it? We just let the Blazers beat us in a close game and I'm excited? We just let Brandon Roy drop 52 on us and I'm excited? Let me check that, yep, I'm excited.

This year the Suns are on a vision quest. They are searching for answers to who they really are. Are they the run-n-gun Suns of the past? The new version of the San Antonio Spurs? Is Goran Dragic the future of our franchise? Is Amare? During the early parts of the season, the Suns themselves seemed very unsure. One night they would look brilliant (at least for stretches) out on the floor and the next they would look completely lost. Raja Bell, Shaq, Amare and even Steve Nash were unhappy at times and everything looked forced out on the court. Goran Dragic and Sean Singletary were battling it out to see who would make the least amount of mistakes when Nash was out and Diaw was struggling to find his way in Porter's offensive schemes.

Then, the trade. Jason Richardson came to this team and immediately you saw things start to change. The week before the trade there was talk of implementing some of D'antoni's old offensive sets and moving to push the ball a lot more. J-Rich allows us to do that. He also brings a serious scoring threat and for the first time in a long time he doesn't have to worry about being double-teamed on every possession (with the likes of Amare and Nash out on the floor). Immediately the Suns looked like they were having more fun and playing a lot more freely.

I am going to come out and say it, I have a serious man-crush on Jason Richardson. I love the way he plays and the things that he adds to this Suns team. Before the trade, we were a team struggling to stay in playoff contention with really no hope of doing anything in the playoffs (barring an absolutely superhuman playoff performance by Amare), after the trade, I think we have an excellent shot at not only getting into the playoffs but surprising some teams as well. We now have three players that can take over the game by themselves at any given point to go with four players who are capable of scoring in bunches. That is a combination that can beat any team on any given night if things go right.

Since the trade, the Suns have the appearance of a team that has found its identity. The funny thing is, it's not that different from who they used to be. They have been playing up-tempo and having fun again. The thought that the Suns were supposed to all of a sudden become this great defensive team was a little far-fetched. Steve Nash is not now, nor will he ever be a great defensive player. Amare and Shaq each struggle with the pick-and-roll (Amare has improved but still has trouble being a consistent defensive threat). I think Terry Porter has done a good job realizing this and doing the things that give us the best opportunity to win.

Even though I really like this team right now, there are several things that bother me. First, Shaq has been increasingly selfish with the ball. Known throughout his career as a player who could pass out of a double team, he has instead been opting to try and bulldoze over the double team or try a fadeaway or a long hook instead. One play in particular stands out from last night. Shaq got the ball in the post and completely missed a wide open Jason Richardson diving to the basket and chose to throw up a turn around fadeaway hook shot. Shaq has been playing well but with that play he has grown in confidence and is trying to do things that he hasn't been able to do in years. Second, Goran Dragic is still on the bench. Dragic has not yet been sent to Iowa and I have a feeling that shortly Kerr will get the itch and "ask" Terry Porter to give him some playing time. Third, the Suns still have the tendency to allow the opposing team's best players to blow up against them. This has been an issue over the last few years and we've seen it happen quite a bit already this year. Again, the Suns are not a great defensive team but they need to do a better job making the other team's role players beat them as opposed to the stars. In the playoffs, that can come back to bite you quickly and in a big way. But for now, at least we can say that we have our potent offense back (we are fourth in offensive efficiency) and a better shot at getting into the playoffs (63.9% chance in Hollinger's playoff odds).

So once again, I'm excited.

Magic!

2008-12-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

It's 6:00 Friday night and I'm sitting home debating whether I want to stay home and watch Jason Richardson's debut for the Suns, or go to a Christmas party with a friend of mine and his wife (I didn't have any transportation as my wife had our car) put on by a co-worker of mine. Around 6:15 I get a call from my mom saying that my uncle isn't going to use his season tickets that night (two 10th row seats between the Suns bench and the basket) and wanting to know if I would like to use them. I quickly call up my friend J to ask if he would like to ditch both his wife and the party to catch the game with me. At 6:30 he decides that yeah, that is something he very much wants to do so we take off to collect the tickets. We drive 30 minutes across town to the place where I was told (by my mom) the tickets would be. After running around frantically looking for the tickets with no luck, I give my uncle a call and find out the tickets were actually at another location about 5 minutes from where we originally started.

We hopped back into the car just in time to hear Al McCoy announce the opening tip. Five minutes pass and we hear that Dwight Howard just threw down a hellacious dunk - that was followed by some PG-13 language explaining our feelings towards the commute that seemed to be taking four times as long and the miscommunication leading up to said commute. Finally we reach the correct place, grab the tickets and head out knowing that we have no hope of making it before half time. For the next half hour we listen as the Suns dig themselves into a huge hole and then proceed to climb out of it to take a one-point lead at half just as we arrive and find a parking spot.

As we make our way into the US Airways Center, we stop to make idiots of ourselves for the chance to appear on TV behind the Tom's. At that point we begin to question whether or not Tom Chambers has his highlight (you know the one I'm talking about Mark Jackson) playing on a continuous loop 24/7 in his house. I know I would - he would NEVER have a bad day if every day started with him standing in front of his 60" HD plasma screen watching his younger self fly over Mark Jackson's head for one of the baddest dunks in the history of slam dunking!

We finally get to our seats just in time to piss the couple behind us off as they now have to find a new spot (other than our up to that point vacant seats) and watch as the second half gets under way. Almost right away Dwight Howard - who is an absolute beast of a man - gets the ball inside but thanks to some good defense is forced to take an off-balance 8 footer while falling away. Something apparently happened to him on that play because he left the game and didn't return. Later, during an Orlando free throw, J noticed Leandro and J-Rich say something together and signals for me to keep on eye on those two. After the free throw, Leandro dribbles down the court as Richardson goes to the corner. In a flash J-Rich takes off towards the rim and LB throws the lob. Even though the pass was way behind him, J-Rich somehow manages to grab the ball but is fouled before he can finish the dunk. Apparently, they ran the same play in the first half and J-Rich finished it with a reverse 2-handed slam.

As the game was coming to a close, Hedo hit a clutch shot to put the Magic up by 1 (that guy is seriously becoming one of the most clutch shooters in the league) with 9 seconds left. The Suns call a timeout and everyone knows that Nash or Amare is going to take the last shot. Nash has been very clutch himself over the past four seasons and Amare wants to be the man so they're the logical choices to take that last shot. The play goes as planned with Amare getting the ball about 20 feet out and Steve Nash rubbing off of him to get the return pass. Only, instead of giving the ball back to Nash or looking for the shot, Amare finds Grant Hill cutting baseline and feeds him a perfect pass for the easy reverse layup and the 1-point win. Amare, at least on that play, looked like the leader he wants to be by giving up his personal glory and doing whatever it took to get the win.

I don't know how it played out on TV, but being there in person - that game was awesome! I just want to reiterate that I love the Jason Richardson trade. Richardson brings back the athleticism on the wing that we lost in the Marion trade and adds a perimeter player who can shoot lights out (he was only 1-4 from 3 on Friday but he's shooting 45% from behind the arc this season and made more 3's than anyone else last season) and create his own shot off of the dribble. He also is a very quick defender (I underestimated how quick he still was until I saw him in person) who gets a lot of steals. He does have a tendency to gamble on D, but he'll help bring back our transition game. Plus, dude can fly!

I don't know what the future holds for this team, but I know that on Friday everybody looked like they were having fun again (crowd included). Maybe J-Rich was able to convince the others just how lucky they are to be playing for a team in contention. Maybe we just needed some new life. Maybe, the Suns just needed to stop fooling themselves and to leave Goran Dragic on the bench. Either way, Friday night was unbelievable both for me personally and for this Suns team that needed a win in a big way to lift our spirits. Luckily for us, J-Rich provided more than enough lift in his Suns debut.

J-Rich

2008-12-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

Last night the Suns faced the Lakers with an 8-man roster (technically 9 if you include the inactive Tucker) and while we kept up with them in an UGLY game, we ultimately lost. But hey, what did you expect?

Amare Stoudemire (in another opportunity to prove his worth) disappeared for long stretches of the game and appeared to be very soft. Let's just say he made Pau Gasol look like Dwight Howard at times. Goran Dragic managed 5 assists, 1 turnover and 2 points and posted a +/- of -3. However, his play was far worse than his stats would indicate. His turnover was absolutely horrendous as he penetrated the defense and attempted to kick the ball out to a 3-point shooter only instead he threw the ball 20 feet in the air and so far that it came down on the other side of the court by the Lakers' 3-point line. He also spent the first 15 seconds of every shot clock either dribbling around doing nothing or picking up his dribble 35 feet from the basket and waiting for Barbosa to come and get it. But, at least we know he's our backup until Steve Kerr makes the decision to pick up a solid backup PG to fill our vacant roster spot. Everything about that previous sentence scares the crap out of me.

Alright, on to the big news - Jason Richardson is coming to town! Diaw was lost in Porter's system and Bell was rapidly declining so I love this trade! It will be a huge upgrade to our starting 5 offensively. Not only is Richardson shooting 45% from 3, but he has the ability and athleticism to get to and finish at the rim. I think he and Nash will mesh very well and as long as Amare can be content (a big if right now), then the chemistry should be find. Also, if we can pickup another point guard and get Tucker healthy and playing, I think we can shore up our bench (and send Dragic to the D-League). Dudley also adds a gritty player to our bench. Dudley isn't the most athletic guy, but he'll do the dirty stuff for a team. He'll fight for boards and get on the floor and I think that he'll fit into Porter's system a lot better than Boris Diaw did.

All of that being said, I can't help but think that this may be part of something bigger, like there are other things in motion right now. I just have a feeling that Kerr isn't going to stop and that Amare or even (and I know this is very dangerous territory) Nash could be the next to go. Obviously I would like to see how this unit can perform together before it gets torn up, but I'm just saying, don't be surprised if another big move is made here before the All-Star break. As long as it allows us to send Goran Dragic to Iowa, I think I'll be okay with it.

Blame game

2008-12-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

The Phoenix Suns are back! Okay, it's way too early to be saying that (especially when we've got the Lakers tonight), but we are riding a 2-game winning streak and have looked good, for the most part, in our last two games, with one glaring exception - Goran Dragic.

Last night, Dragic played almost eight minutes, went 0-2 from the floor for zero points, and he dished out 1 assist to go with his 1 turnover. However, the most telling stat of just how bad he played is his +/- of -9. In the blowout win, no other Suns player posted a negative +/-. Boris Diaw (who didn't have very good stats either) was the closest with a +1.

Since I started this blog I have used stats, pointed out flaws, and talked about just how bad of a player Goran Dragic is. But I guess all of the blame can't be placed on the 22 year old who clearly wasn't ready to play against the best players in the world. Perhaps some, most, or maybe all of the blame has to be placed on the Suns higher ups and scouting team. What exactly did they think they were getting when they went out of their way to bring him to Phoenix?

David Thorpe, an ESPN analyst and NBA talent scout/coach who works closely with young players in the league, had this to say about Dragic, "I've not had a single scout tell me that he can play. Not one."

He also said "they [the Suns staff] love him, but scouts I trust say he's not good."

Yet somehow, according to the Suns, he was the second PG on the draft board behind Derrick Rose. Just look at some of the rookie point guards from around the league and there is no way he is anywhere near the top. Here is a list of PGs who went ahead of Dragic in the draft (obviously they couldn't have gotten a lot of these players, but I'm including everyone to prove my point):

Derrick Rose

OJ Mayo (he should be playing PG for the Grizzlies)

Russell Westbrook

Eric Gordon

DJ Augustin

Jerryd Bayless

Courtney Lee

George Hill

Mario Chalmers

Sean Singletary

Looking at that list, there is absolutely no way Dragic should ever be ranked as the second best PG in that group. Not only did the Suns screw the pooch with that call, but then you think that these are (I'm assuming the scouting team is somewhat the same but regardless, they are still the Suns scouting team) the same dudes that decided Rajon Rondo and Rudy Fernandez weren't worth holding on to. Can you imagine a better backup PG for Steve Nash than Rondo right now? I mean, he's probably going to be an All-Star this year! But they got rid of those guys and then picked up Goran Dragic and payed him a HUGE amount of money before he ever played a minute.

So, again I ask, what did they think they saw in Goran Dragic? Whatever they thought they saw clearly wasn't there. I have a couple of theories for how this all went down. One involves a drunk night after watching Dragic play which resulted in damaging photographic evidence and the second, involves a fatal disease and a dying wish. Either way, it is time for them to admit their mistake, stop forcing Goran Dragic on us and send him to the D-League. My guess (maybe more of a hope than a guess) is that once Tucker comes back, they send him down, but only time will tell. So once again I ask the Suns, please send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Make it last...

2008-12-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

Alright, I missed Saturday night's game because we're in the middle of moving from one apartment to another (and I won't have TV until Friday which is KILIING me) so a lot of this post is based on the stats and on the synopsis a friend of mine gave me.

Amare Stoudemire, 22 points and 20 rebounds. On the exterior, it looks as though he listened and played like a big man leader should. However, it was brought to my attention that the stats might be a little deceiving. First, Carlos Boozer did not play. This is a huge hole for the Jazz as it leaves Memo and Millsap to defend the glass (they managed to pull down 13 and 12 boards respectively) and removes the Jazz's leading rebounder. I was also told that his rebounds weren't necessarily products of hustle but that they (at least for the most part) fell to him because of a high number of outside shots and missed layups. So, impressive numbers and I love seeing a line like that from Amare, but hopefully it wasn't just a fluke and we can start seeing more and more of those types of lines.

Now, on to Goran Dragic. Goran got the backup minutes (9:51) behind Steve Nash again on Saturday. With those 10 minutes Dragic racked up an amazing 0 points on 0-3 shooting with 0 assists and 2 turnovers. Can we all agree yet that Goran Dragic is not good at basketball?

In the latest edition of ESPN the magazine, there is a little blurb about Goran's contract and how it was the equivalent of him winning the lottery. Because he was taken in the second round, the Suns were able to circumvent the normal rookie restrictions dealing with pay scale and length of rookie contracts. Basically, Dragic's second round contract (including the money he receives as part of his buyout) is paying him as much as Brook Lopez (who was taken 10th overall) for a longer period (3 years with a 4th year option). All of this for a player who, at best, is about 3 years away from being an okay backup point guard in the NBA. Please, send him to the development league and see what he can give there. My guess is that he'd be an average player in an inferior league, but I would love to be proven long. Please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Come on...

2008-12-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm so pissed off right now because of the way the Suns played last night I am going to try and control myself while writing this. In the last two games the Suns have shown no heart and haven't looked even remotely interested in winning these games. I understand that the Suns didn't have Shaq and Nash vs the Hornets but the other guys who were getting the time should have stepped up and at least shown that they want to be out there competing. Especially Mr. "I want to be the guy" Amare Stoudemire (more on that later).

First off, let’s talk about Goran Dragic. Over the past week, there has been a lot of talk in sports about how Dragic is not good at basketball. However, I'm going to take the high road and focus on just 3 of the things I've read, heard and seen.

We'll start with Basketbawful who got strait to the point, saying "He registered a DNP-CD despite the fact that Nash was absent. Wow. How did the Suns not know he was this bad when they signed him?"

On the Doug and Wolf radio show, the two were talking about the Suns issues and Wolf brought up the fact that Dragic hadn't been playing. Doug was quick to say that he was told by good sources that Dragic just doesn't have the head to play in the NBA. He is unable to remember the plays when he is in the game even though the Suns staff spends a lot of time every day working with him.

Finally, during last night's game Kenny Smith was kind enough to focus his "Kenny's Pictures" segment on the Suns' backup point guard situation (Dragic got the minutes last night for those who didn't see it). During which he showed how the offense just completely stops when Dragic is in. There's no movement and it's as if he doesn't know what to do (which, from the Doug and Wolf show we learned is true).

Goran Dragic is not an NBA point guard! I know the Suns bench is thin, but they need to just send him to the D-League and stop trying to fool themselves. I have been saying this for over a month now and it appears, that the rest of the world is starting to take notice as well.

Now, on to the other big Phoenix Suns topic - Amare Stoudemire. I am going to talk directly to him at the risk that he might take offense and come and destroy me. Amare, if you really want to be "the guy," then go out there and be the guy! The Hornets game was your chance to show the world that you are capable of making others around you better and leading a team to a win. Yes, you finished the game with 26 points but you also had only FOUR rebounds and ZERO blocks! You followed up that performance with 28 points but only FIVE rebounds vs the Mavericks. You also attempted only 10 free throws and had 10 turnovers in the two games. I know that you're probably happy that you've gotten about 20 shots up in each of the games since you're infamous interview, but in case you didn't notice, the Suns have lost all 3 of those games.

Being the man as a big man is a little different than being the man as a guard or small forward. Instead of looking at how Lebron and Wade are "the guys" on their respective teams, you should be looking at how KG is “the guy” for the Celtics (you could also look at Tim Duncan and Chris Bosh). He makes his presence known on the defensive end and on the glass. KG is not the leading scorer on the team nor does he get the most shot attempts but there is no doubt that he is the man that drives the machine. At the beginning of the season, you were on track to be that type of player for the Suns. You were getting to the line, blocking shots and averaging over 10 boards a game. Somewhere, you lost your fire. You haven't gotten an offensive board since who knows when, you are getting far less free points from the line and you are not showing any real passion out there. I do understand that the refs are focusing on you and that you have picked up a lot of techs early in the season, but there is no reason you can't play with the same heart you always have. Again, look at KG. You need to find the happy medium between showing emotion and whining.

I am going to tell you the secret right now that will transform you into the player you want to be. Get back on the glass, get back to the line, get back on D and get back your fire. If nothing else, at least bring back the famous and 1 finger drop. I guarantee you that your legacy in this league and your Hall of Fame status has less to do with how much you score and more to do with a) how you do the other little things that make great big men great and b) how much you win.

Oh, and while you're working on these things, why don't you tell the higher ups to send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Where's our MVP?

2008-12-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

I'm back! Took a break for the Thanksgiving holiday but I've come out of my turkey coma and am ready to talk Suns basketball. Not the best timing it seems after two embarrassing (granted they were each a different kind of embarrassing, but embarrassing none the less) losses to the Heat and the Nets. I did enjoy the fact that I own both Wade and Harris (who each had monster games against the Suns) in my fantasy leagues, but I would have preferred to see the Suns win because, and I know there are various arguments against this, real life is more important.

For the past month and a half I have used this space to make my dislike for the play of Goran Dragic known. Since that time Dragic has lost his backup job behind Steve Nash to Sean Singletary and a combination of Barbosa, Hill and Barnes (so I couldn't have been completely off-base, right?). With Goran's current lack of play, there really isn't any reason for me to continue to harp on my feelings for his game and so, for now, I am going to use this blog to discuss all things Suns and to a lesser extent the NBA in general.

I think we can all agree that the Suns' offense continues to be a work-in-progress. There are moments when the offense flows beautifully with Nash directing traffic to perfection and other times when it looks as if a confused old man just caused a 5 car pileup in the middle of the intersection. Plagued by turnovers the Suns continue to try and figure this thing out and find some sort of continuous flow and more importantly, an identity. Gone are the beautiful days of the 7 seconds or less offense of offensive guru (anyone who can have the Knicks playing the way they are with a depleted lineup and a malcontent is a freaking guru) Mike Danton'i. Here to replace those days is the...um...maybe we'll run, maybe we'll go through Shaq in the low post, maybe we'll use the old high screen and roll, or maybe we'll just dribble a lot with no real plan of attack offense. It's obvious that Porter wants to run when the opportunity is there and pound it inside when it's not. However, getting lost in all of this confusion is the powerful play of Amare Stoudemire (and you thought I was referring to Steve Nash). This is rapidly becoming an issue as Stoudemire is known to lose interest both on and off the court when he is not getting the touches he feels he deserves.

The first signs of trouble (that I remember seeing) showed themselves on November 12 against the Rockets. Amare went 5 of 13 from the field and 1 of 2 from the line for 11 points playing (mostly) against Houston's Luis Scola. Going into this game, I was certain Amare would blow up and have a monster game. You have to figure that with Shaq going against Yao, Nash against the quick guards of the Rockets and our swing players being matched up against Artest and McGrady, that Stoudemire against Scola would be the matchup the Suns would try and exploit. Instead, the Suns went to Shaq down low and despite Shaq's 7 of 12 shooting from the floor and going a perfect 4-4 from the line, the Suns lost the game by 12 after outscoring the Rockets by 7 in the fourth quarter. Amare did have 5 turnovers in that game, but that's no excuse for him only getting 13 shots (most came in the second half) and only shooting twice from the line when he clearly had the most favorable matchup of any Suns player going into that game. I understand trying to get Shaq into the game to try and free up space for others, but doing so to the point where your best offensive players (Nash finished with 10 points and 3 assists) are being taken out of the equation just does not make any sense.

Since the game against the Rockets, we have seen the Suns continually go to Shaq at the beginnings of games and then try and get Amare more involved in the second half. This could be a solid strategy except for the fact that when the ball goes to Shaq on every possession, you start to see the Suns players getting stagnant and standing around. This, in turn, creates a lot of extra pressure on the perimeter players when Shaq is forced to kick the ball out with little time on the shot clock as they scramble to make something happen from a standstill. We have also seen Shaq get a lot more comfortable down low which has been good and bad. When Shaq gets good position under the hoop, he is very effective but as he moves out between 5 and 8 feet his productivity drops horribly. We have seen him attempting running 1 footed hook shots through the lane and poor turnaround 8 foot baby hooks more and more often. Yes, Shaq's play and increased production from last year have been fun to watch, but the Suns are not and will not be legitimate title contenders with Shaquille O'Neal as our primary offensive weapon. No matter how much anyone would like to believe that he's found some fountain of youth in Phoenix, he is not the offensive force he was when he played for the Magic or the Lakers.

While I'm certain that Terry Porter is smart enough to get the offense straightened out and performing at a high level again, I am very worried about Amare's mental state. Amare Stoudemire has become famous around the league for his constant whining to the refs on a nightly basis. Because of this, he has become a big target for technical fouls (Amare's 5 techs this year is second only to Kendrick Perkins (8) of the Celtics). During last night's game against the Nets, Amare picked up his second T at a crucial moment after being called for a travel. With Amare out, the Nets proceeded to go on a run and ended up winning the game. Had Amare kept his cool, it may have been a different story down the stretch. Also, several articles have come out recently about Amare's not being happy with Porter's system and talking about free agency in 2010 (you can see one such article here). He usually tries to say the right things about how the goal of the team is bigger than him, but he follows these statements by talking about himself and what he wants. While I completely agree that if the Suns truly want to be successful they need to get Amare A LOT more involved in the offense, I don't agree with his willingness to discuss it so freely with the media.

Bottom line, for the Suns to try and set themselves up as a true title contender, they need for Amare to play like an MVP candidate. This means that he needs to not only become more of a focal point on the offensive end, but he needs to step it up defensively (which he has started to do) and most importantly, he needs to keep his head both on and off the court. Because, as we saw last night, the Suns have a hard time winning when Amare Stoudemire is absent.

Where's Goran Dragic now?

2008-11-26T09:35:00.001-08:00

Since I started writing about the fact that Goran Dragic is not an NBA caliber talent, this blog has taken a lot of heat from around the web. Many of the readers out there claimed it was too early to write him off and that I was being unreasonable. Some talked about mistakes the Suns organization has made in the past as far as giving away young talent and said that I was calling for more of the same. While others still were saying that he was our best option off of the bench and that his numbers weren't that different than Steve Nash's were in his rookie season. Let me take the time to state (officially) my stance on these issues as I continue to call for Dragic to be sent to the D-League.

First, let me start by saying that there are a LOT of things that I don't know, but I know basketball. I have been around ball my whole life and have an insatiable appetite for it. Seriously, I can't get enough. I watch it every chance I get and when there's no ball on during the off season I spend a lot of time watching basketball DVDs and anything ball related that happens to be on TV. I am not a superficial fan either - basketball is the most beautiful sport in the world in large part because of the minute intricacies that many fail to see - I watch for the little things that make the game great. That being said, my call to get rid of Goran Dragic is not based on a superficial dislike for the man himself or some vendetta I have against European point guards. It is however, based on the fact that his game is fundamentally flawed (see my post on fundamentals here). I know he's a rookie and that I started this blog I believe something like 6 games into the season, but that doesn't change the fact that he does not have the fundamental skill set to be a successful point guard in the NBA.

In the past, the Suns have given away a lot of young talent and draft picks. It's almost painful to think of the talent that the Suns have let slip away from them. Without going too much into it, lets just say that Rondo, Deng and Fernandez are just a few of the players out there that would have looked good in the Suns purple and orange. However, Dragic is not on the same level as any of these players. These are players who had played extremely well in both college and overseas and who had proven themselves long before coming to the NBA. Dragic, on the other hand, was a mediocre European point guard. Granted he is very young, but so were the other guys in their pre-NBA lives. Dragic's European numbers projected out to be around 10 points and 5 assists per 40 minutes in an inferior (and that's putting it very mildly) league - not exactly the reincarnation of Tony Parker (who the Suns brass were comparing him to). Even if they really believed that this guy was the future of the franchise, they would have been better off leaving him over in Europe to play in the Euroleague which is a far better league (much closer to the NBA) than the Adriatic league where he was playing. The Suns sending Dragic to the D-League (or just cutting their losses and letting him go) would not be half the mistake as it was to let these other guys slip through our hands (especially Fernandez who we basically let go for enough money to buy out Dragic's European contract - not pay his salary - buy out his contract!).

This year the Suns are very thin at backup point guard. They basically have two rookies behind an aging Steve Nash (did anyone else enjoy watching Nash lead us from behind last night?) or they can go to the unconventional lineup with Barbosa, Hill and Barnes collectively running the point. Since taking over Dragic's backup spot, Singletary's numbers have been very similar to Dragic's (although he does have better +/- numbers night in and night out), but he has been solid and has done a lot better job with the ball (Singletary averages .29 turnovers compared to Dragic's 1.23). Plus, the point guard position is more than just numbers (more on that later). I still think the best option as far as production goes, is running Barbosa, Hill and Barnes together(the few times we tried it early in the season produced very good results) but I do think that Singletary has good instincts and has a better chance at becoming a productive PG in the league.

Before the '96 - '97 season the Suns drafted Nash with the 15th pick. During his rookie year, Nash averaged .97 turnovers, 2 assists and 1 rebound while shooting 42% from the field (41% from 3) for 3 points per game in 10 minutes of playing time. These modest numbers are somewhat similar to the numbers that Goran is putting up. However, on November 14, 1996, Nash got his lone start of the season and put up 17 points and 12 assists. Compare this to Goran's 5 points and 4 assists in his lone start (which happened to fall on November 14, 2008). Also, when evaluating point guards, you have to look at a lot more than numbers. The PG position is about being an extension of the coach on the floor. The PG has to run the offense and get the other players in positions to be successful. Many times, Dragic has been more than willing to bring the ball up the floor and then quickly give it to Hill and run to the corner. Steve Nash has never shyed away from this responsibility. While their rookie numbers may be similar, the impact they have/had on games is vastly different. And if you really want to talk about this, look at what Nash did with Santa Clara in the NCAA tournament and then look at what Dragic did in the Adriatic league. You could see that Nash had the potential to be a star - could anyone honestly say that about Dragic's performance in one of Europe's worst professional leagues?

So there, ladies and gentlemen, is my rebuttal. On top of that, look at what Terry Porter has done. Goran Dragic is no longer in the rotation (although I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting some more playing time here in the near future). The Suns should never have paid so much to bring him over and DEFINITELY should have never offered him one of the best second-round draft pick contracts in the history of the league without having seen him play a second of NBA ball. Goran Dragic needs to be sent to the D-League where he will have the opportunity to develop (I still maintain that he is not an NBA caliber PG and his best shot in the league would be to develop into a solid backup SG - but I'll save that for a different post). Please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Quickie...

2008-11-24T07:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, Saturday I was traveling during the Suns game and it came in very sporadically over my radio so I missed probably all but a few minutes of it. That being said, I have reviewed the game highlights, stories and box score and have a few notes.

Sean Singletary: Singletary got all 8 minutes behind Nash and scored 2 points on 1 of 4 shooting, had 1 assist and 0 turnovers with a +/- of +1. Again, I didn't see it but it seems that he gave solid minutes (although it would have been nice if he could have given Nash a little more rest - more on that below).

Big men: Shaq put up 19 and 17 and, with the exception of the Jazz game, has been putting up good numbers all season. Stoudemire had 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting. It seems to me (and I'd be glad to hear everyone else's opinion on this) that we may be going to Shaq a little too much. Both he and Amare had 12 shot attempts during the game which worries me a little bit. Amare is the best offensive finisher that we have. He can shoot his pretty jumper from 15 and we all know what he can do when he gets anywhere near the rim. The Suns need to get him involved and flowing early in the game to get him in a rhythm and to give him some sort of feel as to how the defense is playing him. Amare is our go-to guy - especially when the score is close towards the end. Shaq, on the other hand, is on the bench many times in these situations. So, if we know that Amare is our best scorer and we're probably going to need him to be effective late in the game, why then are we only giving him 12 looks at the basket? Shouldn't we be giving him the majority of the touches down low? I'm going to stop there, but just know that I could go on about this.

Steve Nash: Nash continues to look lost as to what his role is or should be in this new offense. On top of that, Saturday night he played 39 minutes - more than anyone else on the team! Both of these are causes for concern. However, we are only 14 games into the season and still have a good record. I think that Nash will continue to get more comfortable and find his way in the offense and that Singletary (should he continue to get the backup minutes) will get more comfortable as well. I am really not worried at this point, but I do think it’s something to keep your eyes on going forward.

Overall, I think that we are playing well and progressing (though we have struggled against the better teams) and that we can use Saturday's game as well as tomorrow's game against the lowly team that was hi-jacked from the awesome Seattle fans to gain some momentum and help us put together a solid winning streak. Oh, and please send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Get real Suns fans

2008-11-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

Alright Suns fans, we need to talk. This just isn't working out and its not the team, its us. I am an Arizonan in every sense of the word. I have lived here my entire life and love it here. However, as an Arizona sports fan, I've grown to learn a few things over the years - Arizonans, in general, are fair-weather fans who don't know a lot about the sports they "follow".

A couple of years back I attended a Suns vs Rockets game and was fortunate enough to be given tickets in the 10th row behind the Suns bench. Leading up to the game, Shawn Marion had built an incredible string of double-double's and was on pace to average a double-double for the season (a great achievement regardless of the fact that he averages 18 and 10 for his career). The Suns quickly took control of the game and built up a good lead. Late in the 3rd quarter, Marion was at something like 22 points and 9 rebounds. I knew that he had to get his last rebound fairly quickly as he was probably going to sit out most of the 4th. At one point, the Rockets missed a shot and the ball fell uncontested into Marion's hands - not a very exciting play in any other context - to give Marion his double-double. After the rebound I stood up and began to cheer emphatically but when I looked around, I realized that I was one of VERY few who were excited. This point was further driven home when somebody behind me yelled "sit down". Sit down? At a sporting event? When a great player just accomplished a great feat? Really? I was in shock so I turned and yelled back that the gentleman should stand up and immediately was met with some shouts from him and a variety of others that I, in fact, should sit down (their words weren't quite that nice). Really.

I was also fortunate enough to witness Tim Thomas's return to the US Airways Center on opening night the year after he saved (in both the Lakers series and the Clippers series) us with his clutch shooting. When Cedric Ceballos called his name while announcing the starters, the fans inexplicably began to boo. I tried to counteract the boos by cheering as loud as I could, but even though I'm known to be loud, I was just adding to the noise. I turned to the guy next to me and asked him why he was so angry to which he replied some nonsense about Tim Thomas not being loyal. Really? The guy carried us in several crucial games during the playoffs (be freaking grateful) and was then offered triple the salary that we could offer. How many of these corporate businessmen who can afford to sit in the good seats would leave an offer that would triple their salary for the same amount of work on the table? Its not like Thomas was a superstar bringing in $20 million a year - he signed a cheap one-year contract with the Suns and was then offered (I believe) somewhere in the vicinity of $1.4 million to stay while the Clippers offered him $3 million a year in a multi-year deal. So basically, the fans were upset that he took a position with more job security and a LOT more money. Seems a little hypocritical to me. This has me dreading the day Shawn Marion returns to Phoenix to play. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fans are going to boo him on that day and I don't feel he deserves it. During his time with the team he was one of the greatest players this organization has ever had and put up some amazing numbers. On that day, regardless of whether I'm at the game, at home or somewhere else - I am going to put on my Marion jersey and I am going to give him the standing ovation that he deserves and I hope that other Suns fans will do the same. Really.

Every game we see Sarver stand up and try and fire up the crowd by getting them to stand with him. However, his attempts are, for the most part, met with some pathetic attempt to applaud by the lackluster fans. This year and last we have even heard boos from the crowd during blowout losses. Really? We're not talking about the Cardinals (I am also an avid Cards fan but I'm not going to go into that here) who have put out losing teams for the last, well, with the exception of 1998, forever. This is a team that has been consistently good for years now and you feel that you have the right to boo them on an off night? What have you done for them? The US Airways Center gets rocking when the Suns are doing well, but when they're down and struggling where are the cheers to get them fired up and back into the game? After the game, there are a lot of fans who call into talk radio programs and complain about what they saw on the court regardless of a win or a loss. I am sick of these lackluster, hypocritical fans and am ashamed to be associated with them. We can do better, we have to do better. Instead of complaining about a team that has been very, very good to us, why don't we try and be thankful that we haven't dealt with a team as dysfunctional as the Knicks or as lost as the Bobcats. We have a good team and have had one for a very long time now. Really.

Suns fans - for those of you who fail to appreciate the good thing that you have here, I say to you BOO! For the rest, I say we unite and make sure that we're heard. Let eveyone know that there are true, competent fans here in Arizona and that we're not all a bunch of idiots who don't understand the priveledge it is to watch this team or the game of basketball in general. Really.

Notes: Singletary got all of the backup minutes behind Nash. It seems (and this is purely my speculation) that Porter likes Singletary more while Kerr and the big-wigs want to see they're 4 year $8 million investment out there. When Dragic did play (with Singletary on the floor as well), he had one memorable possession where Vujacic (I still hate that guy) was pressuring him and for a second it looked like Goran was going to wet himself. I am not going to write more because garbage minutes are never a good barometer when measuring a player's performance.

11/18 Utah Jazz

2008-11-18T08:16:00.001-08:00

Wow, that was a horrible game last night. I was going to post something immediately following but realized I was a little too pissed off. Have the Suns ever looked older or more worn down? I know it is only one game and it comes at the tail end of a back-to-back but they just did not show up to the fourth quarter. Shaq has been playing very well so far this season, but last night he kept getting pushed out a little too far when posting up. In earlier games he would kick it and repost a few times until he got the position he wanted but last night he was showing his frustration and shooting more difficult shots than needed. The whole fourth quarter was just pathetic as the Suns looked completely out of sync. Hopefully, we can get some rest and be ready to take on the Lakers on Thursday. Amare has been guarding the pick-and-roll a lot better under Terry Porter, but Thursday will be a true test of just how far he has come. If you look back to our last matchup against the Lakers last year, Phil Jackson ran the pick-and-roll with Kobe and Gasol all night and really took advantage of the Suns poor defense. I think we'll be fired up and ready to go and it should be a very good game.

On to more important matters. Goran Dragic got all of the minutes behind Steve Nash last night. This makes absolutely no sense to me due to the fact that the Jazz were running very quick PGs who are even a little undersized. Singletary would have matched up a lot better against them. However, I do realize that Singletary struggles getting around screens and the game was against a team coached by Jerry Sloan. But there was no offensive movement whatsoever when Dragic was in and the quicker guards definitely bothered him.

Dragic played 16 minutes and went 0 - 4 from the field including 0 - 2 from three. He had 1 turnover to match his 1 assist and finished with a +/- of -8. Obviously on a night when the Suns lose, most players are going to post a - +/- (Diaw (+9) and Lopez (+2) were the only ones to have a positive number), but Dragic's was a lot lower than Steve Nash's -2. It may not seem like a lot, but you've got to think that Dragic recorded a -8 per 16 minutes compared to Nash's -1 per 16 minutes. That is a pretty substantial difference. Obviously, there should be some dropoff between the starter and his backup, but there should be some instances where the backup actually provides a spark off of the bench. A lot of teams around the league have inferior talent at the backup PG position, but they are still able to use these players to provide a spark. Look at Jordan Farmar (granted he is rapidly becoming a starting PG talent), Anthony Carter, Eddie House, and Rodney Stuckey to name a few (not to mention the Jazz backups that we faced last night). Watching Goran Dragic play, I can not see him ever giving much of a spark off of the bench. He just does not the physical skills or the necessary mentality. Singletary, however, has the tools and the mentality that will allow him to have games where he does just that for us. Remember, Singletary played high-level ball in the ACC for four years and was a very good PG. I know the Suns have a lot more time (4 years) and money ($1.7 million) invested in Dragic and want him to pay off, but they need to realize that Singletary is our best option off of the bench right now. Dragic needs to get some time in the D-League to develop - they need to see what he can do and if he can improve in the necessary areas. Please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Weekend Notes

2008-11-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

This was a good weekend for the Suns. We beat the Kings without Steve Nash and Matt Barnes on Friday (you can see my running blog from that game here) and were able to beat the Detroit Pistons last night. This weekend also gave us a better look at our backup PG situation. Both Dragic and Singletary were able to get significant minutes with the big revelation being the play of Sean Singletary. Singletary outplayed Dragic which earned him crunch time minutes in the overtime win against the Kings and a spot in the rotation versus the Pistons. Here are the two PG's numbers for this weekend:

Goran Dragic: 37 MIN, 5 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST, 3 TO, 2 ST
Sean Singletary: 30 MIN, 8 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 0 TO, 0 ST

The only areas where Dragic had better numbers were in minutes played, steals and assists. However, when looking at the assist/turnover ratio, Singletary's 2/0 is better than Dragic's 2/1. Defensively, Dragic had more steals, but had a lot of trouble guarding the opposing teams point guards. Dragic's flat-footed defense allowed his man to get into the lane for easy buckets or assists on quite a few occasions in both games. Singletary played better on-ball defense, but he does have some trouble when he's screened by bigger players.

Looking at the bigger picture, Singletary is a much better PG than Goran Dragic. While Dragic has looked like he's feeling more comfortable with the ball in recent games, there are a lot of times where he looks disinterested in running the offense feeling content on giving the ball to Grant Hill and running to the corner. Singletary, on the other hand, is a very competent ball handler who always goes to get the ball after a change of possession on the defensive end and always initiates the offense when he's in the game. I was very impressed by the way he would direct traffic and run the offense which flows a lot better when he's at the point as opposed to Dragic. Singletary also has a lot more confidence in his own shot than Goran does. Many times you'll see Dragic pass up an open shot but with Singletary you know he's willing and able to get his own when needed. Watching the two this weekend, its very evident that Singletary is the better backup for Steve Nash. It seems that Porter is realizing this as well given the fact that he put Singletary in during crunch time of the Kings game and also gave him slightly more minutes than Dragic against the Pistons. Dragic, given time to develop, could become an okay backup PG in the league. However, he is not ready to quarterback this team when Nash is out. He needs to go to the D-League where the Suns can give him a lot of burn and really watch him and hope he develops more as a player. Please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

Dragic vs Singletary 11/14

2008-11-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight the Phoenix Suns beat the Sacramento Kings without Steve Nash and Matt Barnes who were suspended for their roles in the "fight" with the Houston Rockets the other night. As questionable as Nash's suspension might be, it gave us a chance to see a substantial amount of both Goran Dragic and Sean Singletary. I figured tonight would be a great night to do a running blog documenting both players' performances. Below is my 1,600 word account of their play along with some notes on other players and a few random tangents that came to mind while watching. Before we get to the running blog, a few quick notes from the game. Both rookies did some good things and both made mistakes. That being said, Singletary clearly and without question outplayed Dragic. Most telling of this, Singletary was the one coach Porter had in the game when it counted - please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League (especially now that we know Singletary can outplay him). Also, is KJ just a classy guy or what? Man I like him - more on him later. Finally, what is up with Amare not being able to take advantage of these players that he should dominate? Well, whatever, we won. On to the blog (remember, these are my actual thoughts while I'm watching the game (focused mostly on the PG play) but still, a good window into my head):

Suns vs. Kings - 11/14

8:10 Shaq is rallying the troops in the huddle before the opening tip and Dragic looks like he's going to pee his pants - not a good sign

8:15 So far Dragic has had 2 HORRIBLE closeouts on the defensive end - WOOOOOO! Amare dunk! - is 0 for 2 shooting and made a standard pass to Hill for a layup after which Scott Williams said it was an amazing pass by the Dragon - great already he's got a stupid and very uncreative nickname.

8:17 Dragic gets absolutely BURNED by Udrih for a layup - so much for Porter and Kerr's defensive stopper

8:19 Dragic burned again by Udrih who then kicks it out for a wide open 3 followed by Dragic driving completely out of control and putting up a horrible shot

8:22 First TV timeout - Dragic looks very confused on the offensive end and continues to make mistake after mistake on the defensive end - its going to be a long night

8:26 Dragic scores on a fast break layup - showing NONE of the athleticism that we've been told he has. On the next possession Dragic airballs a wide open 3 and the announcers try and convince us that that was a pass - no freaking way that was a pass

8:29 2nd TV timeout - Dragic continues to get burned on defense. The last 2 Kings possessions he got burned but Udrih missed the shot (looked like Goran fouled him from behind but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt) then he got burned but Shaq rotated over and bailed him out by forcing a turnover. Udrih is killing him on almost every possession tonight

8:34 Dragic makes a nice fast break play looking for Hill cutting to the basket - Singletary comes in for Dragic.

8:35 Singletary grabs an impressive rebound and then ignites the fast break which ends in a Diaw layup. On the Kings next possession he grabs another impressive rebound the holds the ball for the last shot which is taken by Shaq after Singletary drives into the lane and dishes it off for the assist. He just shows a lot more confidence with the ball than Dragic. End of 1st quarter.

8:42 Singletary definitely more active in running and initiating the offense - WOO! KJ over Olajuwon. Love that clip.

8:44 Timout - Singletary's feet are more active on the defensive end as well - Suns just got a steel and Singletary finished the break off of a Raja Bell pass

8:46 Random tangent 1 - Why does - umm...sorry Cindy Crawford commercial came on and I lost my train of thought but it had something to do with McDonald's - don't judge me! She may be older but she still looks good and I've still got my memory!

8:49 Good defense by Singletary followed by a rebound and impressive (low) dribble to escape traffic

8:51 Man, the Kings are playing hard tonight on both ends of the floor - I like that seeing that from this team that's rebuilding - another rebound for Singletary - and missing 3 key players

8:54 Timeout - Singletary - oooh, KJ over Olajuwon again - just came down, recognized immediately that Shaq had good position and got him the ball where Shaq was fouled. I'm very impressed with Singletary's game so far

8:57 Dragic is back in the game and there is a clear and visible difference in the way he runs (or lets others run) the offense - he really needs to get off of his heels and onto the balls of his feet on defense, too

8:59 Wow - Shaq clears 5 Kings after the rebound and dunks the ball - doesn't count but man he is looking good this year and he hits 1 of the 2 free throws

9:01 Udrih drains a shot right over Dragic after a nice crossover move - nice long rebound on the Suns next possession by "the Dragon"

9:03 Timeout - Random tangent 2 - Is there a sleazier looking group of people who claim to want to help others than the Phillips and Associates lawyers?

9:08 Dragic just clogged up the play 3 times on the same possession - once with the ball and twice without it

9:11 Halftime - Singletary just missed a half court shot. In the first half its not even a question which of our PGs is playing better. Singletary clearly outplayed Dragic on both ends of the floor.

9:26 Second half resumes

9:30 Timeout - Dragic relies way too much on that 1 handed pass off the dribble - he just threw a bullet through Stoudemire's hands out of bounds

9:34 Dragic gets a steal and winds up with an easy layup - again not showing any athleticism but good play - next Kings possession Udrih drives by Dragic and dishes off for the easy bucket

9:36 Just heard a stat that Shaq is leading the league in field goal percentage at 65% - liking what I'm seeing from him

9:40 Good hands by Dragic to deny wide open backdoor cut by Udrih - follows it up with a stupid foul on the other end

9:42 Bad pass by Dragic in the lane - should have pulled up for a wide open 5 footer - many times he looks like he doesn't even want the ball on the offensive end

9:43 Timeout - random tangent 3 - Man, those Slovenian PGs are not very attractive men - at least in my heterosexual opinion

9:46 Singletary back in the game

9:47 Singletary played lazy help D and left his man wide open in the corner for 3 - he'll have to get better at either committing to the help D or sticking with his man

9:50 End of 3rd quarter - Singletary ended the quarter with a bad pass in the lane trying to feed Shaq when he probably could have taken it himself

9:54 Singletary gets hit hard by a screen (something that could be an issue for someone his size) and switches off on Brad Miller and fouls him - I like his aggressive play trying to make sure that they can't take advantage of the mismatch though

9:56 Singletary just drained a 3 off of a Stoudemire pass - good catch and release with no hesitation - on another note, Brad Miller's kind of a dick and a whiner

10:03 Hawes just hit a layup for the Kings - 3D for 3! - but Singletary came from the weakside and nearly blocked it showing his athleticism. Speaking of Hawes, he kind of looks like he could be Michael Phelp's brother, doesn't he?

10:10 Dragic is back in and the Kings are going to Hack - a - Shaq a little bit here - darn you Greg Popovich and Don Nelson, darn you! HAHAHA - Udrih just hacked Shaq and immediately spoke to him to apologize - yes, that's funny to me

10:14 They just showed a close up of Dragic dribbling - he looked like he was having trouble dribbling with his head up - however the play did end with a Shaq dunk (not off of anything Dragic did, but still - yahoo for Shaq)

10:22 Dragic just passed up an open catch and shoot opportunity and made a horrible forced pass - turnover. On the Kings possession Shaq knocks the ball away - Dragic picks it up and clearly travels but the refs don't call it, calling a foul (which occured after he traveled). Really, this guy is our future? I'm just not seeing it.

10:26 1 minute left - Porter puts Singletary in to finish the game in place of Dragic

10:28 Just switched over to the Lakers/Pistons game on ESPN during the timeout - the Pistons are going to hand the Lakers their first loss of the season. Random tangent 4 - Vujacic is rapidly gaining on Manu Ginobli as the NBA player I would most enjoy seeing get a roundhouse to the face - just saying, I would YouTube that roughly 25,000,000 times I swear

10:31 Tie game with 21.5 seconds to go - lets see what the Suns can do without Steve Nash on the floor to end the game

10:33 Hill runs down the clock then misses a floater in the lane - Amare probably should have cut to the free throw line instead of down the lane after the screen - Kings ball with 3.2 seconds left

10:35 OVERTIME! Lets see what Porter does at the PG position during the extra period.

10:39 Singletary starts the overtime period - Singletary with another awesome offensive rebound and dishes to Amare for a nice jumper

10:42 Singletary with a stupid reach but it forces the Kings to shoot free throws instead of getting an easy layup which works out as they hit 1 of 2 - next Suns possession Singletary shoots another 3 - misses (Shaq gets the rebound and goes to the line) but I like that he didn't hesitate to shoot the open jumper

10:47 Singletary gets caught on another screen as Udrih drives and finishes at the rim - on the next Kings possession Sean and Amare do a much better job defending the pick and roll and force a bad shot

10:51 Singletary makes a beautiful pump fake but misses the shot and moves up to defend the outlet pass instead of dropping back on D which leads to a Kings fast break and easy hoop to tie it up with 13 seconds left

10:54 YEAH!!!!!!!!!! Amare gives us the lead with 4.5 seconds left

10:57 AMARE WITH THE BLOCK! SUNS WIN!

Fundamentals

2008-11-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

Last night against the Rockets Dragic had a better game from the standpoint that he only had 1 turnover and shot 3/4 for 6 points. He played an okay game. But we need to look at his fundamentals and make sure that we are thinking of him as our backup PG and not our backup SG.

Michael Jordan (the greatest of all time) talks about players who have great college (and in this case European) careers but whose games don't translate to the NBA. He says (and I'm paraphrasing) that those who don't have a fundamentally sound foundation cannot compete in a league where pure athletic ability, height and/or speed/quickness are matched by any number of players on any given night. Only those who have sound fundamental abilities are able to rise above and do well in this league. Goran Dragic has fundamental flaws that restrict his ability to be good PG in this league.

1) High dribble - Goran has a very high dribble for a player who is asked to have the ball in his hands on every possession and run the offense. This does a couple of things:

Limits his ability to make quick moves with the ball which makes him more susceptible to turnovers and mistakes

Causes him to have less control when driving to the basket which (again) makes him more susceptible to turnovers and mistakes

When watching Dragic handle the ball a lot of times you see him turn his back to shield the defender (which is a move used by many). Goran then immediately looks to pass (unless the defender completely misplays and follows the ball and leaves a lane in the same spot Dragic just turned away from). This is all caused by his high dribble. Also, in last night's game against the Rockets, towards the end of the game you saw Goran make a couple of drives to the hoop. Each time he was out of control and ran over an opposing player (had the game not been out of hand both would have been charges). Goran's high dribble makes it so he can't make sudden changes in direction and makes his reactions slower as he waits for the dribble to come back up. We've seen him botch a few fast breaks and make a substantial amount of turnovers in this young NBA season because of this fundamental flaw.

2) Flat-footed defense - Goran was brought to the Suns with the thought that he would be a defensive stopper. However, Dragic plays defense very flat-footed which makes it impossible for him to guard the quicker players in this league. Already this year we've seen him get repeatedly cut up by Rose, Mayo, Brooks and others. The problem with his defense is that playing flat-footed causes him to be off balance which is something that these players have exploited.

I realize that we are 9 games into the season and the Suns are 6 - 3. I also know that there are great players who have had similar numbers to Dragic's. As a Suns fan I hope that I am wrong - I would love to see him turn into the next Steve Nash and carry the torch and if it happens I will be the first Dragic doubter to apologize. However, given what I have seen, I don't think that he has the fundamental abilities to be a great player in this league which is why I am imploring the Suns to send him to the D-League, give him significant run and see exactly what he is capable of providing on a nightly basis. Please, send Goran Dragic to the D-League.

PER explanation...

2008-11-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I posted a quote saying that Goran Dragic's PER was worst in the league among players who've played at least 100 minutes. Here is John Hollinger's (the man who created the PER rating) explanation of what the PER ranking system is:

"The Player Efficiency Rating (PER) is a rating of a player's per-minute productivity.

To generate it, I created formulas -- which I outlined in tortuous detail in the book "Pro Basketball Forecast" -- that return a value for each of a player's accomplishments. That includes positive accomplishments, such as field goals, free throws, 3-pointers, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals, and negative ones, such as missed shots, turnovers and personal fouls.

Two important things to remember about PER is that it's per-minute and pace-adjusted.

It's a per-minute measure because that allows us to compare, say, Rasheed Wallace to Jason Maxiell, even though there is a disparity in the minutes they played.

I also adjust each player's rating for his team's pace, so that players on a slow-paced team like Detroit aren't penalized just because their team's games have fewer possessions than those of a fast-paced team such as Golden State.

Bear in mind that this rating is not the final, once-and-for-all answer for a player's accomplishments during the season. This is especially true for players -- such as Bruce Bowen and Jason Collins -- who are defensive specialists but don't get many blocks or steals.

What PER can do, however, is summarize a player's statistical accomplishments in a single number. That allows us to unify the disparate data on each player that we try to track in our heads (e.g., Corey Maggette: free-throw machine, good rebounder, decent shooter, poor passer, etc.) so that we can move on to evaluating what might be missing from the stats.

I set the league average in PER to 15.00 every season."

This means that Dragic's dreadful 3.09 rating is almost 12 points lower than the league average and makes him 286th in the league. What were the scouts thinking when they saw this guy? Who did they think he was? Why, oh why does Porter insist on playing him? Please - send Goran Dragic to the D-League!

11/10 Memphis Grizzlies

2008-11-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Goran Dragic played 12 minutes and had a -8 +/- even on a night when he managed 8 points on 2 of 2 shooting. How long can we keep playing a guy that consistently hurts us? I've included a highlight clip from last night's game. Watch for Dragic's awesome pass and subsequent defense at the 22 second mark (also of note, watch the Grizzlies' coveted PG play and think, could our coveted PG ever even come close to having a performance like that):

Send Dragic to the D-League!

Weekend notes...

2008-11-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

"Dragic has the worst PER of any player with at least 100 minutes. So if they ever get around to replacing him, that will improve the team too."
-John Hollinger, ESPN

THE WORST PER IN THE NBA! Congratulations Goran Dragic.

November 7 - Chicago Bulls
Dragic played over 23 minutes and had a +/- of -7. This doesn't even start to explain how bad he was. Nash took his first rest with the Suns up by 1. When Nash returned to the game the Suns were down by 14 and were never able to recover.

November 8 - Milwakee Bucks
Check out this line: 13:05 minutes, 0-3 FG, 0-2 3PT, -9 +/-, 1 AST, 2 TO, 5 PF (personal fouls).

Quite the weekend - please send Dragic to the D-League and at least give the Suns the best chance to win night-in and night-out!

Video

2008-11-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

This is a highlight video showcasing Dragic in Europe and in Suns workouts (towards the end). You can see Dragic has a very high dribble and always seems a little bit out of control. I'm also posting a Steve Nash video that shows how in traffic he keeps his dribble low and is always in control. You can also see that the Euro league competition is not very good when compared to the NBA competition. The game is much slower and less athletic. Playing this style makes Dragic appear to be a superior talent but cannot mask his inability to handle the ball at an NBA point guard level.

11/5 vs Indiana Pacers

2008-11-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

0! Goran Dragic recorded 0 turnovers last night - it's a miracle. Dragic played 15 minutes and for the first time recorded fewer turnovers than assists. Of course, most of the time he was in, others had the ball in their hands (mainly Amare Stoudemire) and T.J. Ford was playing very soft D on him, but he did manage to play in a way that didn't make you want to kill yourself. Again, I think that Dragic could possibly turn into an okay backup in this league 2 or 3 years down the road. Right now, however, it would be best for everyone if the Suns would just send him down to the D-League and let him get some run in and hopefully get some confidence.

11/4 vs. Nets

2008-11-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Goran played okay vs the Nets. He did not cost the Suns anything and played a role in the Suns' bench allowing the starters to rest big minutes in the second half. The thing is, he didn't really do anything to help us. As he played more you saw him get a little (emphasis on little) more comfortable with the ball which tells me that with 2 - 3 years of development he could be a decent backup in this league. Please, send him to the D-league - let him get his confidence up and DEVELOP for this season and then bring him back. As for a backup right now, Tucker is out with the surgery and Singletary looked real small and had some trouble on defense - he was however very competent in the offense and at least he doesn't look like a PF trying to play the point. My solution would be to run him in limited minutes when ball protection is key but until we get Tucker back, run Hill and Barnes in there together with Barbosa. You have 3 guys that can handle the ball and who collectively can work to give Nash more rest without having a significant dropoff in production.

Send Dragic to the D-League. Yes we can!

Suns vs. Blazers 11/1

2008-11-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Goran Dragic stats (he even looks scared in his official NBA photo):

PT = 06:49
FG = 0-1
+/- = -16

-16 POINTS! In under 7 minutes, is that even possible? If you watched the game, you noticed that in the second half we did not put him in when Nash went out and we held our lead and allowed Steve to rest for an extended period of time with no drop - off! Please, send Dragic to the D-League and spare us Suns fans the agony of watching Dragic piss his pants with the ball in his hands night in and night out. Hopefully the second half is a sign of things to come. No more Goran Dragic - yes we can!

Expert opinions

2008-10-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

"I don't think he's up to snuff at the offensive end and I'm struggling to figure out why they went through all that to bring over a guy who, at best, won't be ready for another year at least."

"His translated Euroleague stats from last year are terrible."

"It's off a small sample (358 minutes), but it projects to 10.1 points and 5.6 assists per 40 minutes, 44.0% shooting, and a 8.38 PER." (Average NBA PER is 15.0)

"Yikes...Hardly seems worth all that trouble."
- John Hollinger, ESPN

"I've not had a single scout tell me that he can play. Not one. "

"They love him, but scouts I trust say he's not good. "
-David Thorpe, ESPN

"It doesn't make a great deal of sense to me personally. I think Dragic is a solid prospect who could develop into a nice rotation player in two to three years, but the way people are talking, you would think he's going to be making a run for Rookie of the Year honors.

Right now Dragic is pretty much going to help you in one area only: defense. He is great at putting pressure on the ball, getting in the passing lanes, and getting his team extra possessions. He's going to struggle running an offense, though, and unlike a lot of combo guards these days, he's not going to make up for that with his perimeter shooting nor his ability to create his own shot.

I actually think Dragic would have been better suited staying in Europe for another season -- there were a lot of minutes to be had playing with Tau in both the Euroleague and ACB, and he probably needed that bridge between the NBA after the fairly underwhelming season he had with Olimpija last season.

The track record of players coming straight out of the Adriatic League and finding any kind of success in the NBA, especially immediate, is pretty much nil historically. (Nenad Krstic, Sasha Pavlovic, Vladimir Radmanovic are the only three I can think of out of a long line of failures). Now try to think of successful European point guards in the NBA ... outside of Tony Parker and Jose Calderon, it's slim pickings. That's why we're always going to approach these type of prospects with cautious expectations.

But I understand Phoenix's perspective. They've been severely overworking Steve Nash during the regular season in recent years, and considering that he's turning 35 this season, they can't afford to play him 34-35 minutes per game for 82-100+ games at the pace they play at. So they need a good backup. Problem is Dragic isn't ready for that in my mind. I'm not even sure how different he is compared to D.J. Strawberry actually."
- Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress

Introduction

2008-10-31T09:03:00.001-07:00

Hey all you Suns fans - I'm sure you know that we have a backup PG by the name of Goran Dragic. Anyone who has watched this dude play knows that he is HORRIBLE! Dude dribbles like a C and plays visibly scared when he gets in. Somehow, the Suns' scout team thought that he was a worthy pickup (so much so that we payed his Euro club over $1 million to get him here) and Porter keeps playing him despite the fact that he is killing us every time he gets in - I mean who in this day and age gets straight ripped by Jaque Vaughn! So here it is - the official call to cut Goran Dragic - we can't just sit by and watch this guy kill us every night while not allowing Nash to get the rest he deserves. There ARE other and more valid options like running Hill or Barnes at the point, giving Singletary some run to at least try him out do SOMETHING! Check back here as I'll be posting video, press and other evidence to prove my point as the season goes and with a little luck, we might see Dragic relegated to the bench, D League or better yet, cut.

As ESPN writer Bill Simmons says - "Yes we can"