Amare was shooting a sizzing 58% from the field with Nash dishing him the rock. Now without Nash, they are 0-3 and counting. And it's interesting to see his shooting percentage take a huge hit without Nash on the court: Against Utah, 5-12 for 41.7%; Against Indy, 10-21 for 47%; Against Wizard, 9-24 for 37.5%. Now my point is, what kind of player Amare is (right now) without playing with a great PG? What kind of stats will he put on if he were to play for the Rockets now (I am assuming that he plays center for the Rockets).
same thing with Kmart and Jason Kidd. you just benefit better with others. If you go solo, they are just plain dirt.
I agree, Nash is a huge reason for the Sun's sucess this season - just like Kidd in New Jersey, they really make their teammates better and make them look good, too. Don Nelson was was absolutely sick when they lost Nash. The Sun's 0-3 record since losing him and Amare's numbers noticably dropping is testament to Nash's impact on the game. Those who think Amare would be putting up the same numbers without Nash are delusional.
Playing the starters too many minutes is starting to have its tole on the Suns. Nash is the first of many to go down this year.
Thanks. I should also add: Against the Pistons, 5-18 for a meager 27%. It will be interesting and amusing to see Amare getting abused on this board if he were to play for the Rockets. How many trade Amare threads will there be?
The reason for this thread is that so many people believe that Amare is just head and shoulder above Yao as a player. I was nearly led to believing so but am having second thoughts. I'd love to see how Yao plays with guys like Kidd, Hinrich, Nash, Wade as his play maker.
It's kind of funny standing back watching this morbid obsession with trying to diminish Amare. So many people (Yao only fans) have carried an intense hatred for this guy ever since he beat out Yao for Rookie of the Year. That added with their shock at Houston fans for turning on Yao for not meeting the expectations that they (Yao only fans) set for the rest of us. Anyways, it is obvious that Amare's season has been enhanced by having Nash at the point. So, I ask, can this be a discussion on its own, or does it continue to have to be a related to Yao topic? When it's a related to Yao topic, I notice that things happen like not talking about Amare's previous season numbers. Just some simple obserations of mine.
In fairness to Amare and the whole suns team, its not unheard of that the whole team will struggle when their leader and best player go down. I mean ..the guys did average 21 pts and 9 rebs before Nash came along I think the biggest thing Nash has done for Amare is, get him better quality shots (as evident by his FG%)
To me, no one player can make another player or players better as individuals, one player can be the difference between a winning team and a losing team though. I think when you say that a player makes another player or without this player this player would be nothing it takes away from the work that player put into his game, it's not right IMO. Richard Jefferson had some nice games without Kidd but he lost most of them, Kenyon Martin's numbers right now aren't that much different than the numbers he had with Kidd but he's losing more. If Stoudamire put up awesome numbers without Nash or Marbury in the second half of last season why can't he do it now? He can, the only difference is that he won't win as much as he would with Nash so nobody would notice it that much. Lets say he puts up the same numbers he put up with Nash but the Suns are still as sorry as they were last season will anyone care? He'll just be Elton Brand then.
That is why, although I understand why fa7999 started this thread, I still don't like the idea. YOFs have their points, but they did a bad job promoting it IMO. It seems they always try to bring down others to make Yao look good. But it actually makes YOFs look mean and selfish. I am not sure it will help serving the purpose and I don't know if Yao like his fans do that.
Nash played the entire game against Utah ... he didn't get injured until he had played 11 minutes against Indiana. So really, the loss today to Detroit makes it 2-1/2 games without Nash. That's too small of a sample size to draw any real conclusions. I do think Amare benefits a great deal from having Nash on the floor, but he's still a very dangerous player regardless.
Amare benefits from having Nash on the floor, but there are only about 2 players in the league for whom not having someone else out there would (or would have) made a difference -- LeBron and MJ. It's not a matter of "wow, in a couple of games, Amare hasn't played well with Joe Johnson and Leandro Barbosa running the show," it's more a matter of what if Amare were playing with another PG -- Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Steve Francis, Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, the list goes on. With a starting-caliber PG, this isn't even a concern. Plus, it's not that players don't just struggle from time to time; even the great ones do it. Two-three games is much too small a sample size to draw any logical conclusions. It's not as if he isn't still producing...still leaving and Yao comparisons in the dirt for now.
Amare can be a 20 ppg scorer on any team. He's a heck of an offensive player. However, without Steve Nach, the Suns would not be a much better team than the one that finished last place in the division last year. Their entire game plan is based on having a great PG, just like what the Showtime Lakers used to do in the 80s.
i agreed with lalalala.... amare can score more than 20ppg with or without nash, but the suns team need nash to be the winner. Evidence, last season amare did put up some nice numbers but the team was losing... so nobody cares....
Amare is a monster; great athleticism, quickness and fire. His energy is great and a lot can happen when you are that active under the basket. That said; I think I can count on one hand the times I actually saw Amare post up when he played the Rockets. He has benefitted greatly with the Suns running and pushing the ball; his quickness helps him in that type of offense, getting past the slower centers he's usually matched up with. But he's not a 50-point exploder without that kind of offense to feed off of. Now...if he develops a real back-to-the basket, score down-low offensive game (which he certainly can), then he'll be every bit as dominant as he seems to be now.
RJ has shown how good he is while Kidd is out, boy can flat out play As i have said before Amare is the best PF playing C in the league..... his shooting range is possibly smaller than his vertical, of course he going to struggle when Nash is out.... what a surprise
