Out of the spotlight, Nash and Suns will still run
PHOENIX (AP)—Not long ago the Phoenix Suns dazzled the NBA with a frenetic style that made the game ever so entertaining.
The maestro was Steve Nash(notes), who earned two MVP awards at the controls of a high-flying team that won 232 regular-season games over four seasons (2004-05 through 2007-08). They never made it farther than the Western Conference finals, though.
Now, they are perceived as the setting Suns, with a point guard past his prime.
Nash, at age 35 in his 14th NBA season, has re-enlisted and the Suns will be running again, just probably not toward a championship.
Does he believe his hyperactive game has lost a step?
“I hear rumblings that other people think I have,” he said, “but if you look at our last 30 games last year, I played as well as I’ve ever played in my career. This preseason once again I’m making shots and getting to the basket. I feel as though I’m in the best shape of my life. Maybe there’s a drop-off in some areas, but in other areas I think I’m better.”
Probably no one in the NBA works harder at conditioning than Nash, who must battle persistent back pain. In the offseason, he plays on two soccer teams in addition to his regular, rigorous training.
Coach Alvin Gentry recalled a recent preseason game when he asked Nash to play as if it was a regular season contest in order to measure where the rest of the team was in its development.
“And he had 23 (points) and 15 (assists),” Gentry said. “So you can read into that whatever you want to read into it. I told him what we needed from him and he gave us 23 and 15, so if he’s slowed down, I don’t notice it.”
Last season was an awkward transfer from the heady era of coach Mike D’Antoni, who left for the New York Knicks after the 2007-08 season because of what were described as “philosophical differences” with Suns general manager Steve Kerr.
Kerr replaced D’Antoni with Terry Porter, who proceeded to try to transform the up-and-down Suns into more of a halfcourt, defensive-oriented team. The results were disastrous. Several players, including Nash, bristled at the concept, contending the roster was built for speed.
Porter was fired at the All-Star break, and assistant coach Alvin Gentry replaced him. Gentry, a holdover from the D’Antoni days, restored the high-octane game.
But the magic was gone. Boris Diaw(notes) and Raja Bell(notes) had been traded to Charlotte for guard Jason Richardson(notes). Amare Stoudemire scored 42 points against the Los Angeles Clippers in his second game under Gentry, but tore a retina in his right eye and had to undergo season-ending surgery.
Then there was Shaquille O’Neal(notes). Shaq had good numbers—17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. But the big guy didn’t fit the high-speed game, and the Suns failed to make the playoffs for the first time since Nash came to the team in 2004.
“We were torn between two styles,” Nash said, “and that made it difficult for us to excel at either one.”
Phoenix sent O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a salary dump in the offseason, and that should open the court for the Suns, especially for Stoudemire, who will play with protective goggles.
“The Nash and Stoudemire era is not over yet,” Stoudemire said. “We’re still here. We’re still improving, we’re still getting better as a unit and we’re bringing the Phoenix Suns team with us.”
Yet Stoudemire’s future with the team is uncertain. He is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract after this season to seek a maximum deal. The Suns almost certainly won’t do that, and they could decide to trade Stoudemire during the season in order to get some value from him rather than see him simply walk away.
Much of that will be determined by how well the team does before the All-Star break.
“It’s mainly about improving and winning,” Stoudemire said. “If we win and if we improve, then nothing should change.”
Grant Hill(notes), like Nash, re-signed with Phoenix and will start at small forward after playing all 82 games last season. Richardson is the shooting guard and the center will be Channing Frye(notes), who looks to resurrect his career after being buried on the bench in Portland.
With that lineup, rebounding will be a problem. Phoenix was looking for backup center Robin Lopez(notes) to help in that area, but he will be sidelined for at least a few weeks recovering from foot surgery.
“We’re just going to have to try to keep emphasizing it and keep working on it in practice and see if we can get better,” Gentry said. “But we’re not going to all of a sudden get bigger. We’re not going to walk in here and be 3 inches taller.”
As always, the team is vowing to play better defense.
Nash signed a two-year, $22 million extension that will keep him with the Suns through the 2011-12 season. It was a decision many think sacrifices any chance for him to win an NBA title before he retires.
“I came back here because I felt a sense of loyalty and commitment to my teammates, the franchise and the fans,” Nash said. “You know I could have gone out there and tried to chase a championship on another team. We’re probably not quite a championship-caliber team right now, but let’s see what we can build into.”
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Oh yeah, and Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire headline both those teams.
“It’s actually to me this is exactly what it feels like,” said Suns GM assistant David Griffin. “We won’t have the shock and awe, ‘Oh @#$% are these guys fast.’ We won’t have that. What we’ll have is the constant repetition of, ‘We run, you can’t keep up with us, we make more shots than you can.’ We’ll get outrebounded. If we don’t get outrebounded by too much on the offensive glass, we’ll be OK.”
This isn’t to say I think the Suns have any shot at replicating that team’s success. That was a special team whose success (in the regular season at least) won’t be duplicated for quite some time by this franchise.
But I really do feel like this team has that extra juice that makes all the difference in basketball.
Last year Grant Hill talked about how rare it is for a team that possesses the kind of camaraderie the Suns did to miss the playoffs. Normally those are the types of teams that go far.
This year, along with that stellar off-court camaraderie, all of the Suns’ parts will be moving in the same direction, and there will be no Big Showoff yearning to play another way, just good old-fashioned team basketball.
The Suns call that “Culture of We,” and according to Griffin, this Suns team embraces that concept more than any Phoenix squad of this era.
“This team is naturally as unselfish as any we’ve ever had, and it’s by design that we’re unselfish,” he said. “They get it, and so it’s exciting, it really is.
“To this team and the way we’re going to play, it’s the most important thing we have. This team won’t be good if they don’t play like that. We have to be greater than the sum of our parts, and our system and our character give us that opportunity.”
This team will have extra motivation because, quite frankly, most people around the league don’t think this squad — featuring Nash, Amare, G Hill, J-Rich and Channing Frye along with a young but solid bench — is any good.
I get the concerns. This team is worse than atrocious rebounding the basketball, at least during the preseason when they were outrebounded by more than eight boards a game.
They are pretty soft down low, and hell they just picked up Jarron Collins to be their savior in the middle. Jarron freaking Collins.
I also think that a key injury to Nash or Amare would obliterate this season, and I’m terrified about them getting buried by a brutal, road-heavy schedule early.
But all things considered, the Phoenix Suns are in a perfect position to play the “nobody believed in us” card because frankly, nobody believes in them.
Of ESPN’s 10 experts, four think they will miss the playoffs completely, and everybody else has them at No. 7 or 8 aside from noted Suns lover Marc Stein, who has them all the way up at No. 6. In the past, Marc Stein being a Suns lover meant a championship pick.
Across the Internet, that seems to be the general consensus. The Suns could be good enough to grab one of the last few spots, but nobody would be surprised if they miss the playoffs altogether.
And don’t think they’re unaware of this perception.
“There were a lot of expectations last year, and we didn’t really live up to those, but we love the fact that everybody’s counting us out,” Richardson said. “They’re not really paying attention to us because we haven’t made a major move like most teams have in the NBA this year, but we think our major move is getting back to really playing ball, which is getting up and down the court, so it definitely will benefit all of us.”
Added Nash, ““I think we’re in a good place to exceed expectations.”
After years of falling short under the weighty burden of championship expectations, the Suns are for once in the position to “undersell and over deliver,” as Griffin put it.
They also understand that the pundits’ predictions are just that: a guess.
“What’s really important is what we believe, regardless of what people on the other side say or think or believe,” Hill said. “It’s just about what we internally, what are we going to do? So we’re not too worried about the outside, we’re not too worried about everyone else. I am worried about my teammates and the psyche and the mindset coming in, and it’s good.”
It’s certainly possible that the 2009-10 Phoenix Suns are who we thought they were. Their interior deficiencies are alarming enough that it’s no wonder that most people think the Suns are just a shade or two better than mediocre.
But at the same time I could see the Suns turning back the clock to be more like what they once were. They have the perfect team to play this style, they have the hunger to prove their critics wrong and to make up for last year, they have an All-Star big man in a contract year, they have a deeper bench than they have had in years, they have Steve Nash and of course they have cultivated a powerful “Culture of We.”
Oh yeah, and nobody believes in them.
“I love that situation because nobody’s expecting nothing from our team,” said Leandro Barbosa. “We didn’t get anybody except for Channing Frye and the rookies, so I think we’re going to surprise everybody.
“I think it’s going to be the same way (as 2004-05), and it’s good. I like that way.”
“Culture of We” will be VERY important to get back to being a good road team.
That is what caused us to miss the playoffs last year. Our season was lost AWAY FROM HOME. We used to be one of the best on the road. Will we be able to win on the road? Team chemistry will be MOST important when we travel from city to city. This team will definitely win most games at home.
Away from home, we MUST be at our best, like we once were. That will not be easy. Most important, besides the “Culture of We”, will be getting our rotation down. “Get the ball back!” This must be the battle cry, not just from our bench, but, even more importantly, from our starting lineup. Best guys at “getting the ball back” are J-Dud, Louis, Grant Hill, and the Brazilian Blur. Four guys who can get it done but ONLY Hill is on our starting team. More minutes of “getting the ball back” MUST be given to those who are the best at it on our team. This is why I believe it to be VERY important to realign our starting unit: 1) Nash; 2) LB (led the Suns in steals last year and WINS every year when paired with Nash); 3) Hill (also good at steals and boards for his size); 4) J-Dud, our developing stud, who makes more steals and creates more havoc than anyone we have (and possibly anyone in the NBA); and 5)STAT who MUST pick up on the intensity of these other 4 in his contract year. J-Rich played by far his best ball of the preseason when he came off of the bench that one game. Sixth Man of the Year? Frye is a very nice dude but he plays too soft for our starting unit. Suns’ bench should look like: 1) LB (very much more reliable than Tragic and capable of going 40 minutes easy while doing double duty); 2) Tucker (who has the potential to be a star but needs more playing time); 3) J-Rich (6th Man of the Year?); 4) Louis; and 5) Frye.
MUST start and ALSO finish with LB. Let’s go Suns!!!!
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That combo is hard to beat.
MUST start and ALSO finish with LB.
Let's go SUNS!!!!
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That combo is hard to beat.
MUST start and ALSO finish with LB.
Let's go SUNS!!!!
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The sad part and most frustrating part is that Steve Kerr ruined this team! THe roster was fine how it was until Kerr took it apart!!
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