Suns Next Year: Change of Strategy?

[maes]

Suns are just about gone at this time.

Should they heed the experts and change their style of game to traditional, slower, more defense oriented basketball?

Or can they prove the experts wrong next year?

Dallas changed their tune, many say they're better for it. Should the Suns follow?

[Amphatoast]

seriously all the suns need is a couple guys on the bench.
2 or 3 more additions and they more dangerous especially if they pick up a decent center

[Andrew]

No, at least not entirely. What they need is a Plan B. They are a team built for a high-octane offense and that plan got them all the way to the Western Conference Finals after a 62 win season. That suggests it's a pretty good system, but pretty good doesn't win championships.

One way to improve would be to adopt some of the qualities of the team that just defeated them. If they could win up-tempo, grind-it-out and play better defense, they're a much more well-rounded team. They need to be able to make adjustments, plain and simple. They scored a lot of points off turnovers this year, but San Antonio's a very intelligent offensive team that doesn't commit a lot of turnovers. They're also great defensively, and were able to interrupt the Suns' fastbreak offense on several occasions. Greater depth would help the Suns as well.

They don't need a whole new blueprint, just a few more tricks up their sleeves.

[patrixxx73]

Improve (or add) their DEFENSIVE plays

Aquire a reliable big man (Center) who can rebound and block shots

Add more depth to their bench

[cyanide]

Kind of what Dallas did - high octane offense, but improved their defense. Phoenix is at another level in offensive scoring, but if they can adapt some defensive principles that Dallas has, they should only continue to improve.

[air gordon]

be like dallas? so does that mean trade nash lol?

if they're going to pick up a decent center, it's going to cost them someone from their core since those are hard to come by

[FanOfAll]

D'Antoni believes that the run-and-gun offense and small lineup can win it all for the Suns. Unless he is abruptly fired or resigns, there will not be a major change. The key for Phoenix is to re-sign its best perimeter defender, Joe Johnson, a RFA who will surely have a lot of suitors (Cleveland anyone?). After that, there may well be a change in defensive strategy or a greater emphasis on the defensive end in camp and practice. However, there is only so much d'Antoni can do without adding new players. He cannot teach QRich, Jim Jackson, Steve Nash, Amare, Walter McCarty, and Barbosa to play defense in a single offseason. The younger players probably could work on their defense, but we should not expect a huge improvement. I'm sure PHO will be looking for some new additions to the squad, from another big to a potential replacement for Joe Johnson.

I actually believe that PHO would be well served to work with Steven Hunter this offseason. He's athletic, long, a good shotblocker and defender, but he has one of the worst pairs of hands in the entire league. His inability to catch the ball cost him a couple points in almost every game he played. If he could also develop a hint of a jump shot from about 14'...

[Amphatoast]

they should trade for marcus camby... perfect fit in for them

[Matt]

all they need is a bench. These guys havent been this far into the postseason yet, this year was a great experience....next time they meet Spurs they probably wont go down like this.

[beau_boy04]

Firing D'Antoni after winning the award for Head Coach of the Year is pretty lame.

D'Antoni mentioned after the lost that they would keep the up-tempo style for next year but would focused on their defense etc etc

[MaD_hAND1e]

The Suns are pretty one dimensional, just going for high-octane fast-breaking offense, but hey, it got them 62 wins in the regular season and straight to the conference finals. And then saying that their bench is thin is an understatement. They should probably try to get some more defense orientated guys for the bench.

[COOLmac©]

IMO d'antoni should use his bench more
with this same lineup and more minutes for the bench this is another western chamionship run team in the making

[Nel]

^^ What bench r u saying? The only player on the suns bench capable of doing something is JJ. Anyways, what happened to 3pt champ Q-rich in this series? IMO he was one of the reasons why the suns lost.

[Jackal]

One of the reasons Phoenix lost was becuase Marion was not effective at all. (Atleast not points-wise, compared to how much he was scoring in the other rounds.)

Game 1: 3 points, 9 boards, 1 assist, 0 blocks, 1 turnover & 4 fouls.
Game 2: 11 points, 12 boards, 0 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover & 4 fouls.
Game 3: 6 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, 0 blocks, 1 turnover & 2 fouls.
Game 4: 11 points, 14 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 1 turnover & 2 fouls.
Game 5: 8 points, 10 boards, 0 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover & 1 foul.

In the first round he was averaging:

21.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.25 blocks, 2 turnovers & 3 fouls.

Semi-Finals:

23.3 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.83 blocks, 1.33 turnovers & 3.5 fouls.

In the Conference Finals he managed to score in double digits just twice, in five games, he scored in double digits just twice. And that also not as if he was in the high teens.

It's not that he took a lot of shots and missed, it just that he was ineffective and that's largely due to Bowen hounding him constantly.

Had Marion been more effective, the Suns might've had a chance.

[Fenix]

They better get a C or at least someone who can successfully pretend to be one. They're gonna lose Amare if they don't. It is well known that he wants to be one of the best if not the best PF of all time. Sure, he has all the tools to do that, but if he continues to play as a C, he'll need to surpass Russel, Shaq, Wilt, Akeem,... At the PF position there weren't as many dominant players as they were at the 5 - Malone, Duncan, Garnett,... So my proposal for their offseason is:
1. Resign Joe Johnson and Steven Hunter.
2. Get Amare to sign an extension.
3. Trade someone for a C. Amare, Nash and Johnson are untouchable, so trading Q or Marion is the only possibility. A perfect 5 for the Suns would be a long, athletich, rebounding, shot blocking sprinter. Sounds like Tyson Chandler or Dalembert. Bulls would certainly need someone like Richardson at the two, so that Hinrich could play at 1 and Gordon could keep coming off the bench. But is Q (a Chicago native )really enough for Chandler? Phoenix could throw Bulls's pick in the mix and hope that this would be enough to make the deal happen. This is their first option. For the second one they would have to trade Marion to the 76'ers. Marion is tailor-made for playing along AI. Like Andre, he doesn't need ball in his hands to be effective and he's a superb defender and rebounder. But Dalembert is certainly not good enough to be traded for an allstar (and the salaries don't match).
4. Draft Petro/Warrick/Diogu (if the pick isn't traded).

My ideal roster:
C: Samuel Dalembert/Steven Hunter
PF: Amare Stoudamire/Hakim Warrick
SF: Joe Johnson/Jim Jackson
SG: Quentin Richardson/Leandro Barbosa
PG: Steve Nash/Chris Duhon (via free agency)
+Walter McCarty, Bo Outlaw and Paul Shirley (shoot me, I like his columns.)

Ten men rotation, speed, shot-blocking, rebounding, three-pointers, defence. If this team isn't championship material, then I don't know what is.

[Fresh8]

The Spurs won with experience.. the Suns have only just been started so I wouldnt be too disappointed. They are still young and we should give them an offseason to get better. They dont need any big changes. Just get their bench players to develop a bit more, get another big man and play their fast speed basketball.

The team is very promising!

[Strike Freedom]

Hardly any team can defend Pick n' Roll.
It's basically the team defense that needs to improve.
Spurs played zone defense on Suns and it was effective.

[Indy]

I think Quentin Richardson should be traded. Ill explain more later.

[Ming-Mac]

Hard to predict...
To be better or another timberwolves???

[Matt]

I think Quentin Richardson should be traded. Ill explain more later.

no explanation necessary

[Alvin]

better if they trade richardson for a decent center (probably a camby/dampier type), so they could move amare to the 4, marion to the 3, and then resign JJ to around 7.5-8 million a year.

then they should start worrying about their thin bench. jackson is getting old, barbosa isn't up to the challenge yet of subbing for nash...

suns need veteran backups, and a solid frontcourt. amare alone cannot win for them.

[Fenix]

better if they trade richardson for a decent center (probably a camby/dampier type), so they could move amare to the 4, marion to the 3, and then resign JJ to around 7.5-8 million a year.

And which decent center exactly can you get for Quentin Richardson? If they would start Dampier (just an example) they would have to forget their running offense which is exactly the thing that brought 62 wins to this team.

Does anyone really trust to Mike D'Antoni? Sure, he showed us he can coach a fast break team. But coaching an halfcourt oriented offense is completly different task and he has yet to prove that he can manage it.

[cyanide]

Is there such a thing as a fast center? Marcus Camby can run pretty well, but I can't think of any fast centers off the top of my head... Maybe Nick Collison, Chris Kaman, and Chris Mihm, but those guys are hardly decent.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Well its true that they do need to play some defense other than relying on their offense. Like most of the times, they would just let a team score because they knew they would be able to match the score on the other end which is what they don't need. Hopefully they'll work on defense 90% of the time in training camp since they already know they can put the ball in the hoop. If you notice, you rarely see D'Antoni calling plays on the sideline because they rely on the Nash/Amare pick n roll and outside shooting to go along with offensive rebounds and putbacks. That's their entire game so he needs to work on some defensive stuff. I really don't think they need a switch, but it wouldn't hurt if they added a shot blocker/good rebounder. The fact that they may lose Joe Johnson this off-season is also the key, so if they want to keep him, they need to give him the big bucks.

[Indy]

I think Quentin Richardson should be traded. Ill explain more later.

no explanation necessary

I thought a lot of people might disagree with me, since the people before me were listing him in their lineups.