Comments on: Grizzlies 125, Suns 118 — Curse continues, skid too

By: Preview: Suns (31-22) at Grizzlies (26-25)| Valley of the Suns

Preview: Suns (31-22) at Grizzlies (26-25)| Valley of the Suns — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:31:25 +0000

[...] forward to facing, not after they demolished the Suns by 25 in early January in Phoenix and then beat the Suns by seven on MLK Day in Memphis, where they are [...]

By: Nets (3-37) at Suns (24-18)| Valley of the Suns

Nets (3-37) at Suns (24-18)| Valley of the Suns — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:16:46 +0000

[...] an impact in this game. But after his 19-point, seven-rebound, three-block performance in the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Lopez proved he can play at a high [...]

By: The Z. Man

The Z. Man — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:12:59 +0000

Have been petitioning for a change in the starting line up for a good long time.

Most of my attention has been going to pairing LB with Nash. They know each other's every move. They are very competitive and will push the pace.

Hope they trade J-Rich for someone we need and continue to pair Nash with the Brazilian Blur.

MUST start and also finish with LB. Let's go SUNS!!!!

By: Suns Rumors: Should the Suns trade J-Rich?| Valley of the Suns

Suns Rumors: Should the Suns trade J-Rich?| Valley of the Suns — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:00:59 +0000

[...] ← Grizzlies 125, Suns 118 — Curse continues, skid too [...]

By: King Fahad

King Fahad — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:31:28 +0000

I think it would be difficult, as far as chemistry, to place guys in different rotation. I think simply, just like how that great Sacramento did, have a two unit squad: one being starters to gain on a lead, other being a bench that can sustain a lead. My starting unit would have to compliment the team’s run-n gun concept with: PG-Nash, SG-LB,SF-J-Rich,PF-Amar’e,C-Frye. My defensive bench unit would be: PG-Dragic,SG-Dudley,SF-Hill,PF-Amundsen,C-Fro’pez. I would give this a try.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:41:14 +0000

I wouldn’t dump JRich unless I got Jamison or Iguodala. As far as lineup changes, I think they are pretty deep and should not make a big deal about changing starters depending on who they play. If they are facing a strong offensive rebounding team, start Lopez.

I’d try a lineup with Hill coming off the bench and JRich playing the 3 with LB at 2. Despite having such a low PER, Hill continues to start and I love Grant but he’s not having a strong year, especially offensively.

I’d pull him, put him in the second squad to help lead them, and replace him with LB, Clark or Frye. Imagine Nash, LB, Frye, Stoudemire, Lopez — seems like you’d have no trouble rebounding and you’d have a bench with Grant Hill and JRich to lead the second unit of Dragic, Hill, Jrich, Dudley, Amundsen, Clark, etc.

I’d also not be against putting in Dudley in place of Grant Hill to irritate strong 2′s or 3′s on the perimeter. Dudley is also a strong rebounder, his boxing out and fundamentals are awesome.

By: fodeep.com » Blog Archive » Suns Go Down To Grizzlies 128-118, Looking For Slump Buster.

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:59:58 +0000

[...] we out rebounded them 46-42, and Robin Lopez had a great game playing in the starting lineup. From valleyofthesuns.com; “And the biggest positive to take away from it all was the play of Robin Lopez. Lopez [...]

By: Roadster sl

Roadster sl — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:32:33 +0000

Gentry and Kerr have to make a move now to stop the bleeding, the next three games could be comfortable wins, even the way the Suns are playing, but after that it’s a tough series of away and home games that can easily push the Suns under the .500 mark. Anyway if Gentry and Kerr do not react – which is most likely because they are risk avoiders – the seazon for the Suns will be over by Allstar break. Hopefully Sarver steps in in bangs his fist on the table….save some bucks by trading JRich and bring back at least a couple of NN that can defend the perimeter. Try bringing in a pure rebounder like Noah to turn the tide on the boards. Gentry showed a glimpse of guts with tonight’s lineup, only his moves come one month late!!! Can’t figure out why he won’t use Clark, who has length, athleticism and good quickness, to defend against some of the perimeter shooters like Mayo. I think one of the consistent weaknesses of the Suns’ coaching staff has been that they have not optimised the use of bench player – they have been downright atrocious in designing defensive stops when the game is on the line. This was confirmed again tonight – with the game close you desperately need to make some defensive stops….instead the Suns “swallow” 37 points in the 4th quarter. Give the Grizzlies their dues, they are a fine team, but an experienced team like the Suns should be able to pull this game out of the fire. Unfortunately defensive breakdowns are continuing and opponents get plenty of good looks at the basket, outside as well as in the paint. 118 points will win you a fair number of games, except when you let the opponent score 125!!! This is more then a mentality problem…there’s a personnel problem. If Gentry and Kerr don’t try to fix it now, they could very well be out of a job after the Allstar brake. Either way I wouldn’t mind because it means change, and that’s exactly what the Suns need.

By: Kyle Fleeger

Kyle Fleeger — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:39:37 +0000

Tonight on the Planet Orange post-game show I heard a guy say that we need to trade Amar’e ASAP. Why? I heard that Amar’e isn’t a max contract player who wants out…

Why? Where are the quotes from Amar’e saying that he is going to get paid, and he doesn’t care where he plays?

All I hear him say is, “if we are winning, and they can offer me a chance to play for a title and fair pay, anything is possible” Do we blame him for this?

Have we been great to Amar’e and I just missed it? OR Have we been consistently shopping Amar’e and making him feel like at any moment, the Suns loyalty is going to run out?

I want Amar’e, make no mistake about that. The HATERS can HATE… but at the end of the day. Since coming off of TWO of the most difficult surgeries for a person to recover from, he gets better at something almost every year. Since december he is 21.3/10.3. This is on 2 fewer FG’s per game than anyone else in the top 10 in scoring. Those shots go to J Rich. Who even tonight, in a bench role, went 4-11 in 24 minutes with ZERO hustle plays and a lot of lazy defense. I don’t want a 14,000,000 bench warmer.

Let’s really plan for the future by trading J Rich for defensive-minded SF who can run and shoot 3′s AND/OR an expiring contract of a defensive stopper.

All we need is one player in the trade really. Trading J Rich puts Goran and Leandro back on the floor together and even though Leandro is struggling to score right now, at least he is only 7.0M a year and 24. He is a little banged up, but he is used to way more minutes and needs to get into a fast-pace tempo when out there.

Goran is a good defender. When he is in, teams FG% and penetration go down. We don’t need J Rich’s scoring. We need a guy to get us rebounds and play perimeter defense so that we can get into transition faster and not sacrifice everything on defense.

These Suns have a weird problem. We need to Run, but we also need to play Defense. The difference between D’Antoni era Suns and these Suns are that D’antoni Suns were at least mediocre at defense. We had athletic, long defenders, to help prevent teams from keeping up with us when we could push the pace. Raja Bell and Boris Diaw. However, J Dud is a bright-spot out of that trade, the fact is, the Suns guards are TINY.

J Rich, Leandro, Nash, Goran, Dudley are all 6’4. Rudy Gay/OJ Mayo/Brandon Roy/Gerald Wallace/Josh Smith have all just taken advantage of what no basketball I.Q. can replicate, SIZE.

We desperately need size at the G/SF position. Travis Outlaw, Nicholas Batum, Ronnie Brewer, Cory Brewer, OR Caron Butler.

How about

J Rich for Caron Butler

J Rich and Leandro for Salmons and Hinrich?

OR DREAM TRADE:

J Rich and Jarron Collins for Carlos Boozer and Ronnie Brewer

The Jazz desperately need to make a move to get rid of Boozer, or Milsap, either of whom I would take. I would also take AK47 from the Jazz.

Anyway, I think that moving Amar’e doesn’t make sense as he continues to play strong. I think that if the Suns just could play moderately better perimeter defense and stop forcing our BIGS to get into foul trouble with easy dribble penetration by opposing guards.

If the Suns can spread the court more (which is not happening at all anymore) and play defense, they will once again be an elite team in the league. They will 30-12 if they just trade J Rich and get some defense and size. PLEASE GET DEFENSE AND SIZE ON THE PERIMETER!