Amare leads suns past Shaq's Heat, becomes best center in the league hands down

Prediction - Nash will return to his often injured status and the whole Suns run will collapse into a confused whimper...

 

People forget Amare was very good last season without Nash.


03-04 PHO 55 53 36.8 .475 .200 .713 2.90 6.20 9.00 1.4 1.16 1.62 3.22 3.40 20.6

20 odd points without Nash.. Yeah, he has no skills at all

 

he is clearly the best PF playing C in the league

 

this is what i don't get, when has nash been injured to be called oft-injured, that is just something espn said and has stuck, he has missed like 4 games in the past three or 4 years if i m not mistaken.....can anyone look this up and settle this issue for real?

thanks

 

also if the playoffs were to start today they would play the rox...with them having home court advantage.....i dont think the rox will beat them this year at least

 

Man you trippin!!Amare is a beast right now, but it takes every team 3 of there players to even guard shaq.....Amare has to wait his turn!!!

 

It's absolutely ridiculous to call Amare the best center in the league. There is no question that he is an outstanding young player and a future superstar but he is not a center. When the Suns didn't double to start the game Shaq just dunked on like the first three possesions. The Suns offense is geared so that a player like Amare can excel. Amare is a pf. Granted, he is too quick for opposing centers but he also ccan't guard a legitimate one. It was evident last night. Without help, Shaq could have literally scored every time down the floor on Amare. It's the league's lack of true big men that allows the Suns to run an offense like that. I promise when the playoffs roll around it will be a different story. Sometime in the near future Amare will be one of the top players in the game but he will always be a power forward.

I love how Amare's success in a great system and on a better team for that matter always leads to the "I wish we had the draft to do over again" comments. I'll agree Yao has been a little dissapointing this season but he still is a legit center with star potential. As it stands right now he is a very good player. He certainly has his weaknesses but I would still make the same decision we did if we had the draft to do over again. Yao has basketball intangibles that Amare doesn't and once TMAC and he become acclaimated to one another then the Rockets will be an extremely dangerous team. Give us time to surround these two with good role players (look at the Suns roster, it's loaded with talent) and then make a judgement.

 

In this league I think it will be easier to find a quality PF than a quality C. It doesn't seem like it for us but just wait until we get taylor or howard off the books. (miracle) We'll have money to spend on a quality PF. Even if Phoenix had the money, they'd be hard pressed to find a quality C since there are so few in the league.

Yao + quality PF > Amare+ mediocre C.

 

I have watched many Suns games so I feel I have some expertise on this subject. Also, I am a Mavs fan and have watched Nash for many years.

Amare, not Nash, makes the Suns Go. Yes, Nash is great, but so is Marion and everybody else. Amare is just a monster! Does that guy do anything wrong?

While Shaq was the best ever to play the center position, Amare is way past him right now. Amare can hit a jumpshot if you back off of him and drive right around you if you play him tight. The guy is unstoppable. Period.

Phoenix will win the NBA title this year if they don't get nagging injuries. That is a pretty big "if" if you ask me however. Their rotation is tight and nobody in that rotation has had any injuries so far. None. This is amazing in itself. All could change in a hurry with an injury.

Also, watch Nash closely. He could significantly slow down in the next few weeks and start missing shots due to fatigue. His body just doesn't hold up well. I did notice however that lately he is playing less minutes than the other starters so I guess they are starting to figure this out.

 

Your an idiot...He is not and never will be the best center of the league...He's a product of the system with Nash running the show...period...

Carry on...

 

Then how can you explain why Amare averaged 25/10.2 after
all-star break but led the team to nowhere even with the help
of Marion and Joe Johnson? Amare + Marion + JJ = lottery.

 

Should we say "book it"?

 

Wow, the hype as well as as the haterade are both equally nauseating.
First of all, anybody who thinks Amare would become an average player without Nash is , well...wrong! Amare really is a miniature version of Shaq. Same kind of power, with less size, but with better quickness, athleticisim & already a bit more finesse.
But he still ignores the boards and defense way too much. He is almost as bad a rebounder as Yao and that's really bad (in relation to their size and athleticism of course). He can easily be a 13-15 rpg kind of player, and when he does that, he will be in the same league as KG & Duncan. He is far from a complete player at this point.

 

The most confusing part of Amare's game to me remains his rebounding. Only 8.6 a game? I understand that Marion is a fantastic rebounder and Q rebounds well, etc., but Amare is hands down the most athletic player in the game AND the Suns probably take more shots (and defend more possesions) per game then any team in the league. Why can't he average more boards?

Or, to put it in perspective, just on a per minute per rebound rate, as frustarting as Yao is to watch getting rebounds at times, he averages 0.27 boards/min compared to Amare 0.23.

Then, factor in the fact that in on average there are about 35 more shots per game in Suns games (Suns + Opponents) than Rockets games, and you just have to wonder why he isn't getting more boards??

 

Suns are the product of what the NBA wants. I wish the rules would go back to the late 80's were and let us see how good the Suns are. No zone D's with three players able to guard one with no tech being called.

 

I do not know about Amare (whose real nick name is STAT) being the best center in the NBA but what I know is that that Phoenix team sure know how to demoralize people. I did not really understand it when Dirk said it a few weeks ago but after watching them against us and against Miami it just became clear.

Killer instinct? Naaaahhh....how about serial killer instinct or anti-social instinct? Those boys from Phoenix are scary.

 

All the more reason for me to like SA over Phoenix. SA has a higher winning differential and they are under the radar compared to Phoenix. IF we don't beat phoenix, I sure hope SA whoops them. IF we make it as the 8th seed to phoenix's number 1 seed that is.

 

Well, that is the same issue I wrote about in my earlier post. The answer is simple really. Desire.

Somebody needs to sit him down and explain to him that the little issue of rebounding intensity is the biggest thing standing between him and greatness. It's so infuriating watching him casually observe guys standing next to him grabbing boards left and right while he makes zero effort to go after the ball.

Usually, when project big men actually pan out, their defense and rebounding are the areas that come around first, followed by a gradual improvement on offense. It's the opposite with Amare.
Just imagine, this guy has the same size, & strength as Big Ben, but with much better speed and athleticism. Even if his offense remains stagnant but he becomes as good as Ben on the boards and the swat, we are talking hall of fame potential

 

Whaddi say? Let's see what happens if Nash is out for awhile...