Fool's Gold? That's Amare!!!

ok, so the nba season is only 25 games old, and with a record of 15-10, you'd figure that the suns and their fans would register terry porter's new defensive system as a "success" so far. well, if you think that, you cannot be more wrong. yes, the suns are second in the pacific standings behind the l.a. "douchebag" lakers. and yes, the suns are, for the most part, healthy and all playing together (despite the fact that a majority of the roster is now collecting social security). what you probably also know, though, is that the suns are still playing mediocre defense and cannot regularly execute in the halfcourt. suns opponents this year are averaging a staggering 102.2 points a game. last year's average? 105. i know the season's still young, but seriously, the suns need to lock it down on d, especially against inferior teams. terry porter needs to extricate the "run'n'gun" mentality the suns developed over the years under d'antoni and force feed them a defense and rebounding attitude. but their defense isn't the only problem. phoenix is also the sloppiest team in the league, averaging over 16 turnovers a game. even nash admits that he's lost from time to time because of the clutter that is created in the suns' halfcourt set. as the season progresses, i'm sure that the suns defense and halfcourt offense will be gelling by the time the playoffs hit; however, i have an idea that would remedy these problems sooner rather than later. i propose (i never thought i would say this) we trade amare.

so now you're probably thinking "jeremy, you're a dumbass! why the hell would you want to trade the team's best player." the answer is simple: he's not the team's best player. steve "the nash" nash is. who won 2 consecutive league mvps with the suns? who led the suns into the playoffs when their alledged best player was out for the entire season with double microfracture surgery? who made shawn marion so good that he started to believe that even he could become the number 1 option on another team? the answer: the nash. amare is not the best player on the suns. amare is the best athlete on the suns. steve is the best player. and this is why things get so confusing. under d'antoni's system, amare appeared to be the perfect player. he can outrun other players at his position, bury the 18-20 footer to keep the defense honest, and beat you to the hole and finish like no one else in the league. he did it all... except defend and post-up. d'antoni's 7-second offense exploited the suns' sheer athleticism, believing that they could beat any team by running them off the court. why play good defense when you have great offense? amare made all-nba in that system and nash won 2 mvps. but now it's porter's system that the suns must learn. and in a halfcourt offense, every player must play their position with skill rather than athleticism. the pg is the ballhandler and distributor, the sg/sf is the long range shooter and versatile defender, the pf is the low-post threat, and the c is the low-post defender and rebounder. in the halfcourt system, only the sg/sf is really allowed any versatility both offensively and defensively. in a halfcourt offense, i consider amare a great basketball player, but only a mediocre pf. he's more of a sf trapped in a pf's body. he always plays facing the rim, and rarely is he in position to box out and get a defensive rebound. if he's not in the post, the perimeter gets cluttered with players and turnovers are a result.

you hear how amare wants to be "the guy" on a team and how he wants to be viewed in the same regard as kobe, lebron, and dwayne. but the truth is, he'll never be seen as that kind of player until he elevates his skills as a complete pf and not just a scorer. it's the same reason why carmello anthony is never talked about. anthony puts up the big numbers and makes the big plays, but he's not a complete player. amare suffers from the same affliction that marion had: he confuses his pure athleticism with actual skill. playing with nash, marion was a 20pt/10reb player. he thought that with numbers like that, he should run his own team. what marion didn't realize was that practically all of his points were coming off offensive rebounds or setups from nash. he didn't (and still doesn't) have a clue on how to create his own shot. amare doesn't have a clue on how to play true pf. justin and i went to the suns/magic game on the 12th (j-rich's debut), and it was kind of an eye-opener in regards to amare. not once, not in the entire game, did amare post-up his defender. he mainly hovered around the circle and relied on his quickness to get to the hoop. not only that, amare's one-on-one and help defense was substandard at best. and he wants to be the man? even j-rich posted up his man a few times, and he showed defensive tenacity, too. amare just seemed uninterested, that is, until he got the ball.

so here's my solution: as much as i love amare and how he plays, the suns need to trade him while his stock is still high if they ever want terry porter's system to be successful. get something good for him, unlike the marion-for-shaq deal (no offense shaq, but it's true). package amare and another player or a draft pick to atlanta for al horford and josh smith. it'd be fun to watch joe johnson and amare play together. and with horford and smith, the suns get a decent low post threat/defender in horford and an athletic freak (like marion) in smith. i sincerely doubt amare will re-sign with the suns anyways. he wants a bigger market, he wants to be in a bigger spotlight. in the halfcourt set, shaq is showing glimpses of his old self, barnes and hill are demonstrating their versatility, and nash is still the mvp distributor and clutch shooter that we've seen in past years. the suns got an exciting swingman in j-rich, but now the team needs a true pf. this isn't the "run'n'gun fun suns" anymore. it's just "the suns". and it's not amare's or shaq's team, either. it's "the nash's".

this pic is from the suns/magic program. nash looks like he's attacking someone with mind-bullets.