Hawks Compare Well to Suns

[KB21]

The Atlanta Hawks should establish their own style of basketball play, but in a league of copy cats, I believe the Hawks should look at the Phoenix Suns as a model. The Suns have a very similar philosophy when it comes to players they put on the court. Those guys are long, athletic, and very versatile. About the only player on that team where you can really define his position is Steve Nash. I love the versatility that Suns team brings to the table, and their guys coming off the bench known their roles.

The Atlanta Hawks have the type of talent to play a style similar to what the Suns play. The Hawks don't have a Steve Nash, but neither does 28 other teams in the league.

The Hawks have some long athletes and some guys who are very good jump shooters. I'd like to see them do more things when it comes to spreading the floor, taking advantage of penetration opportunities, and creating open jumpers. I'd also like to see the Hawks push the ball up the floor more often as well.

The Suns rely on the versatility and the length of their players to create mis matches. That's the type of team Billy Knight wants with the Hawks.

[Plainview1981]

And without Nash the Suns are a 30 win team even with Amare just like they were a few years ago.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

And without Nash the Suns are a 30 win team even with Amare just like they were a few years ago.

---

And with Nash, they are a 50-win, defenseless squad. Fun to watch, but will never compete for a championship.

[FrontRowSun]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

And without Nash the Suns are a 30 win team even with Amare just like they were a few years ago.

---

And with Nash, they are a 50-win, defenseless squad. Fun to watch, but will never compete for a championship.

---

Two completely uneducated posts...

1 We were a 30 win team that year because of Amare's injury, Marbury's individual play, and then a monster trade that got rid of Steph and Penny Hardaway. JJ wasn't ready to lead, and Barbosa was our starting PG.

2. Our defense this year has been getting rave reviews. It is the biggest reason why we are doing so well without Amare. You just caught us on the end of a B2B where we dominated the Heat the night before. Otherwise it would have looked like it did in Phoenix.

Our chances of winning a championship will hinge on Amare. If he comes back this year with his game intact we have to be a top 3 contender for the title. Next year and beyond we have to be top 2 or 3 also.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

And with Nash, they are a 50-win, defenseless squad.

---

Not really. Teams are shooting only 44% against them on the year. They give up a lot of points simply because they play at a fast pace. In fact they are a good defensive team this year.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

And with Nash, they are a 50-win, defenseless squad.

---

Not really. Teams are shooting only 44% against them on the year. They give up a lot of points simply because they play at a fast pace. In fact they are a good defensive team this year.

---

We will see come playoff time. The Spurs would handle them over a 7-game series.

[exodus]

With a healthy Amare I would say the Suns are the favorite.

[Packfill]

Quote:

---

And without Nash the Suns are a 30 win team even with Amare just like they were a few years ago.

---

Agreed. Of course, that is why he is MVP.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

With a healthy Amare I would say the Suns are the favorite.

---

Doubtful that they would be favored over San Antonio. IMO anyways.

[Lascar78]

Quote:

---

With a healthy Amare I would say the Suns are the favorite.

---

no way

[exodus]

San Antonio picked up up two old guys in Finley and Van Exel. They were already getting old. They are going to have a hard time keeping up with the Suns.

Phoenix overhauled their roster and brought in guys like Diaw, Thomas and Bell specifically to match up with the Spurs.

Phoenix is 13 games over .500, only 5 games behind the Spurs, without Amare. Amare dominated the Spurs last year and now he will have much more help.

The Spurs have two big weaknesses, their age and the fact that they are thin offensively. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili

won't have much help.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Phoenix overhauled their roster and brought in guys like Diaw, Thomas and Bell specifically to match up with the Spurs.

---

And those are the guys you're going to lean on in a best of 7 Series?

I will take Duncan, Parker, Finley, Van Exel, Ginobli, Horry, etc over the Suns any day of the week.

As the saying goes...defense wins championships. The Mavs, Suns, and Kings had "stacked" teams for how many years now and never made the finals.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

I will take Duncan, Parker,

Finley

,

Van Exel

, Ginobli,

Horry

, etc over the Suns any day of the week.

---

The guys in bold are getting old....a poet and didn't even know it.

They brought in Diaw, Bell and Thomas for defense, and it is working. They played Miami the game before us and the Heat shot 44%. The Hawks shot 42%.

People are getting fooled that the Suns aren't good defensively because they play at a fast pace. Plus they are scoring 106 ppg shooting 47% without their leading scorer.

How would the Spurs offense look without Duncan?

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

I will take Duncan, Parker,

Finley

,

Van Exel

, Ginobli,

Horry

, etc over the Suns any day of the week.

---

The guys in bold are getting old....a poet and didn't even know it.

They brought in Diaw, Bell and Thomas for defense, and it is working. They played Miami the game before us and the Heat shot 44%. The Hawks shot 42%.

People are getting fooled that the Suns aren't good defensively because they play at a fast pace. Plus they are scoring 106 ppg shooting 47% without their leading scorer.

How would the Spurs offense look without Duncan?

---

Phoenix gives up 100.5 PPG for a whopping 6th worst in the NBA. San Antonio gives up 88.07 for 2nd best in the NBA.

They may be only giving up 44%, but there's a hell of a lot more shots going up.

You want to know who the champs will be? Detroit. They score 99PPG while giving up 90PPG. They play great defense and offense.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

but there's a hell of a lot more shots going up.

---

Again it is pace of play. Detroit is the slowest team in the league. Phoenix is the fastest, averaging over 9 posessions more than Detroit.

After adjusting for the pace of play Detroit and Phoenix are about even on defense. San Antionio is about 4 ppg better than both. San Antonio has the best D in the league by a sizable margin.

Believe it or not both Detroit and Phoenix are in the top 5 in both offensive and defensive ppg after adjusting for the pace of play.

Right now Phoenix has two major weaknesses. They don't rebound well and don't get to the line. Both will change once Amare comes back.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

but there's a hell of a lot more shots going up.

---

Again it is pace of play. Detroit is the slowest team in the league. Phoenix is the fastest, averaging over 9 posessions more than Detroit.

After adjusting for the pace of play Detroit and Phoenix are about even on defense. San Antionio is about 4 ppg better than both. San Antonio has the best D in the league by a sizable margin.

Believe it or not both Detroit and Phoenix are in the top 5 in both offensive and defensive ppg after adjusting for the pace of play.

Right now Phoenix has two major weaknesses. They don't rebound well and don't get to the line. Both will change once Amare comes back.

---

Detroit is damn near 100ppg...slow? Not like they're the old Heat or Knicks.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

Detroit is damn near 100ppg...slow?

---

Yes. They are the slowest team and yet they average 100. After adjusting for the pace of play Detroit is number one in offensive ppg by over 2 ppg over the second place team, Dallas. Phoenix is 5th, 4.5 ppg behind Detriot.

Funny how things change. Detroit has been coasting somewhat on D, playing hard when they want to. They have been turning up the D lately though.

Actually looking at it again Detroit is the second slowest team behind Memphis.

[Final_quest]

Detroit scores so much because they are efficient on offense. They are precise and know who they want to take a shot and where. They get the matchup they want nearly every time down the court.

[exodus]

I know. They are really a well oiled machine right now. It doesn't look like the same team that won the title two years ago even though they have the same starting 5.

[KB21]

I don't know what happened to Mike Fratello, but he went from being a highly energetic, up tempo coach in Atlanta to a slow the pace down, put you to sleep coach in Cleveland and now Memphis.