The Suns defense is awful. We all know that, but I am still not sure of the reason.
The Suns players are individually very poor defenders with the possible exceptions of Bell and Strawberry. Stoudemire is big, athletic but doesn’t have a clue on defense, Hill doesn’t have the size to guard a forward in the League, and so on.
Well documented are Nash’s defensive limitations, i.e. check this very interesting post from the Empty the Bench blog, while "of course" I don't agree with the fact that Nash is overrated.
The Suns players are individually very poor defenders with the possible exceptions of Bell and Strawberry. Stoudemire is big, athletic but doesn’t have a clue on defense, Hill doesn’t have the size to guard a forward in the League, and so on.
Well documented are Nash’s defensive limitations, i.e. check this very interesting post from the Empty the Bench blog, while "of course" I don't agree with the fact that Nash is overrated.
I actually believe Nash is not that bad one vs. one, at least in trying to drive his opponents where help should be coming. Steve (and more or less everyone else on the Suns team) is lost when opponents start spreading the basketball, playing the passing game and setting consecutive picks.
Did you notice how many open shots Suns’ opponents can take in a game?
The departure of Shawn Marion means the Suns are suffering on the perimeter. Check the stats of the small forwards the Suns faced recently: Anthony scored 30, Gay 36, Iguodala 32, Jamison (playing at SF most of the night) 28 as Raja often has to guard the opponents' small forwards. Raja (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens) is a very good defender on guards but he’s not big enough to guard much bigger players.
The Suns play possibly the worst pick-and-roll defense in the League. Often opponents play pick-and-roll (even the NBA teams not calling Salt Lake City home), most of the time that’s the play they call to start their offense, with a combination of PG and C (or PF). Against the Suns it means the 2 worst defenders on the team, Nash and Stoudemire, come into action. Shaq is not any better as a pick-and-roll defender.
So the Suns need a good defender at small forward…Marion? Right, back then we needed a big presence in the middle. It can't be solved, I am afraid.
Playing defense is so far away from the Suns state of mind that even if they enter the play with a decent attitude, they just fail to play defense for 24 seconds. They often look more or less lost.
So the question is, can a team of poor individual defenders become a decent defensive team? I think it is possible as it’s mostly a matter of will, attitude, good coaching and work ethic. Let’s just hope it can be feasible in a couple of months.
Go Suns !
The departure of Shawn Marion means the Suns are suffering on the perimeter. Check the stats of the small forwards the Suns faced recently: Anthony scored 30, Gay 36, Iguodala 32, Jamison (playing at SF most of the night) 28 as Raja often has to guard the opponents' small forwards. Raja (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens) is a very good defender on guards but he’s not big enough to guard much bigger players.
The Suns play possibly the worst pick-and-roll defense in the League. Often opponents play pick-and-roll (even the NBA teams not calling Salt Lake City home), most of the time that’s the play they call to start their offense, with a combination of PG and C (or PF). Against the Suns it means the 2 worst defenders on the team, Nash and Stoudemire, come into action. Shaq is not any better as a pick-and-roll defender.
So the Suns need a good defender at small forward…Marion? Right, back then we needed a big presence in the middle. It can't be solved, I am afraid.
Playing defense is so far away from the Suns state of mind that even if they enter the play with a decent attitude, they just fail to play defense for 24 seconds. They often look more or less lost.
So the question is, can a team of poor individual defenders become a decent defensive team? I think it is possible as it’s mostly a matter of will, attitude, good coaching and work ethic. Let’s just hope it can be feasible in a couple of months.
Go Suns !
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