Here's just a few thoughts after watching this game: - Al Jefferson is a monster. He has an incredible post game and killed Amare on offense. - Telfair actually looked very good tonight. He played Nash as well as I've seen anyone play him and hit his shots. - One odd play where an outlet pass to Telfair resulted in Nash hitting him in the face. Nash was trying to tip the ball but leveled Telfair and somehow it was the Suns ball out of bounds, no foul called. - Nothing new but the Suns offense is absolutely stagnant with Nash on the bench. - Brewer is very active and is all over the court. His jumper is horrible though and he took a lot of shots. He made Rafer look like Larry Bird. - Jaric actually looked good tonight also. Very active and hit some long jumpers. - During a break, they showed Nash complaining to an official about a previous play. Nash was obviously upset and borderline disresptful (similar to how D'Antoni yells at the refs). When play resumed, Nash was instantly called for an offensive foul. - Gerald Green didn't see any court time. I would rather have him taking shots than Brewer though. - The shots just stopped falling for the Suns at the end. If the Wolves can surround Jefferson with some players, they could find their way back into the playoffs in a couple of years. Jefferson is ready for prime time though. His defense looked average but his offense is impressive.
Amare has absolutely no pride on the defensive end. He got destroyed by Dwight, J. Oneal had his one good game of the season against him, and now Jefferson goes off for 32 and 20. Granted, those guys are all good players, but his effort on defense is atrocious.
What I Learned From This: Al Jefferson is great. I previously evaluated him as pretty good, but I now see him as a player of the caliber to build around. They don't have enough defense to beat real teams or make noise in the playoffs, but I am now sold on AJ being a good centerpiece. He is so athletic and displayed quickness that rivals anybody in the league. Still, I think he would be THAT much more monstrous if they had more athleltic wingmen type role players that could slash and finish at the whole, and ran a phoenix paced attack where its layups and outside jumpshots. They had good perimeter play tonight, but they'll need other pieces IMO to make real noise.
How many times has an NBA team traded all its assets for youth (prospects, picks) and actually had success? I am not trying to be an ass. Just curious. Seems like its rare when you think about it.
What we should already know: Amare plays absolutely NO defense, and is a mediocre rebounder and weak-side shot blocker at best. How dare they compare a guy who only scores by being fed with a spoon and gives ZERO effort on D to Yao. I hate to see Amare rated higher than Yao in video games when the only thing he does better is dunk. If the Suns had Dwight Howard, they woulda had some rings. I read it elsewhere can't remember, but if they could trade Amare for a Tyson Chandler or Marcus Camby they become instant title contenders. Right now they aren't IMO cause they not beating the Spurs, Jazz, Mavs, Rockets, Warrors, or Nuggets in a 7 game series.
Man... All the Amare hate. I am definitely not big on him either. But... Game 6 versus the Spurs. He was giving it his all. Oh and he does 1 important thing Yao doesn't. Neither does Howard actually... Controls his turnovers. Although to Yao/DH's credit, Stoudemire is rarely swarmed and doesn't have the ball for prolonged periods of time. But c'mon.
Not having the ball for prolonged periods of time is pretty crucial in not making turnovers isn't it?
I'll mention this again: The Suns should have give up Amare for KG. Instantly, their rebounding and defense go up several notches. On offense, while KG doesn't usually play as close to the rim as Amare, you CAN dump it to him with his back to the basket and expect him to score. Not giving up Amare for KG was a monumental mistake by the Suns. Instead of the Celtics, they would be sitting at ~17-2 and be the clear favorites to win the NBA title. Just imagine KG, Nash, Marion, etc, etc together.
Good for them ...but the pattern of the season has been lose 5, win 1, then repeat...so apparently they're headed for a 5 game losing streak now
Another thing is that Al Jefferson is locked up for the next 5 years for 65 Mill after agreeing to a contract extension this offseason. His agent told the guy he can get the max after this season as a free agent but he agreed to the extension because he didn't feel he was a max player. Minny got themselves a damn good 22 year old PF for that amount even thought it's not chump change.
the funny thing was that on inside the NBA before this game after the wolves lost to the hawks at the buzzer EJ commented how the wolves would win one game, lose 5 in a row and then win another. so he just the hawks game was their fifth loss in a row so they are supposed to win the next game, Kenny asks who they were facing next and EJ says the suns. Both Chuck and Kenny started laughing and Chuck said "yeah they arent going to win that I'll give you minnesota and 20 points and they still wont win" something like that but it was pretty funny and I was like just cuz chuck guaranteed a suns victory they are going to lose
Minnesota and Kevin McHale might've made smarter move than most people expected. Minnesota did lose one of the greatest Pf's of all time, but at the same rate....the team wasn't going anywhere. Now they have a chance to build decent from the ground and have promising young big man. While, Boston got its quick fix and possibly everyone talking a title or two...which is big maybe. Minnesota will have the better team in about 2 or 3 years, as Boston may find itself with a bunch of aging superstars, which that they will back at root one once again and find themselves with alot of expensive contracts.
i agree. but wouldnt a championship for the celtics be much better for them now than later. i mean its a historic team, if they win a championship or two in the next 3 to 4 years, i think that would give the fans and team patience after those stars are gone to rebuild. if its a dynasty that they are hoping for, they are in for a rude awakening.
Yeah...because they are starved for one right now, especially with all of teams being so successful, if Patriots make it two in February....they might be the first team in pro sports history to have 3 champions in baseball, basketball, and football. ANd it would be Celtics first title, since 86, which is about 22 years. Even though, the Celtics title runs are somewhat shaky at best, you have 3 aging stars who may not even the second or third best team in weaker conference....and will they be able to beat a team like the Spurs, Suns, Mavs, Jazz, or even the Lakers and Rockets in 7 game series. I hope they don't get it, I pretty much hate every team from that area of the country...Celtics, Pats, or Red Soxs.
This is so preposterous. Minnesota made the best of a bad situation and got a good young big man, but any criticism of the trade from Boston's perspective is absurd. The whole notion from some that they "traded away their future" with the trade was absolutely ridiculous - the best they could have hoped for was mediocrity. I would take 3 years of serious contention over the "potential" for a decent decade (with no guarantees of anything) any day of the week, and I think the Miami Heat will agree with me.
Just goes to show you... gotta bring it every night or even a winning team can get beat by the team with worst record in the league. I saw part of the game... impressed with Marko Jaric, actually. He is overpaid, but he does his job well. I like that guy.
