Damon Stoudamire (merged)

[-SDU-]

^ cassell and KG are great friends and i have no doubt he would go there if released

i think we do need damon, even for those 10mpg that we have been giving to banks DJ. I know what your saying Arles about giving it to a young guy, but not this year IMO, we have a championship window and veteran play is going to be more helpful in the playoffs

i think damon has played over 45 playoff games, we need that composure.

all that aside, banks > DJ now and i want to see banks get those minutes if we dont sign damon

[KDK_9867]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3223023

[-SDU-]

worthy of a new thread?

i guess all that baloney about wanting to win a ring was just that, baloney

if he wanted a ring he wouldnt have joined the spurs

[Seattlesun]

the old get older. the spurs are a disaster right now and minnie mouse will do nothing to change that.

[-SDU-]

personally i wanted him here, but he doesnt scare me on the spurts, he cant stop or burn anyone on this suns team

[Seattlesun]

the more he plays for the spurs, the better.

[movingaz]

Damon still has warrants in Tucson could not come to AZ no more.

[Arles]

So where does that leave our 2nd unit for play-makers? Grant Hill? He's good but not a player to run the PnR and/or take players on iso's. He has been doing most of his damage coming off a slight off-the-ball screen and hitting 18-20 footers at the top of the key.

Our 2nd unit needs a play-maker I'm afraid and it's plainly obvious when we start settling for 4 long contested jumpshots in a row the minute Nash is benched.

Our second unit has Banks-LB-Hill-Marion-Skinner. I don't understand why we want to try and run that unit like we do with Nash. Even if you swap Banks with Damon, it's not going to be as explosive as our first offense. What kills us is how many points our second unit has been allowing. If, instead, we focused on locking guys down and letting Barbosa/Hill create for themselves with Marion/Skinner hitting the boards, it would be much more successful. The best offense for our second unit is when we get transition opportunities from rebounds/stops/steals. That's why the unit did fairly well with DJ in there when Hill was out and banks was in the doghouse.

I think that strategy is much more effective than trying to run a "suns-lite" with Damon in for Nash and Skinner in for Amare.

I really hoped LB would develop his play-making from last season but if anything he has regressed from last season. Where as last season he was capable of getting 10 assists when Nash sat out I seriously doubt he would be able to do that this season.

Asking Barbosa to get 10 assists is like asking Nash to get 10 rebounds, it's just not their game. Barbosa creates by drawing attention, not by making great passes. Hill, on the other hand, can create for others (which is why it makes sense to pair those two up).

All that means that a play-maker is needed more then a tough defensive guard. I wish it wasn't that way but all the +/- stats espec in Dec showed our 2nd unit was getting absolutely destroyed by the other teams 2nd unit and with guys like Skinner, LB and Diaw out there that just shouldn't be happening.

You're focusing on trying to get a unit of Skinner, LB, Hill and others to score 30 points in a quarter (while allowing 28) instead of focusing on how we can set that lineup up to allow 20 and score 20.

The fatal error this organization has made since Mike D took over is trying to have a "Nash Jr" that we throw in during the 2nd and third quarters. Instead, why not play to the talents on this second unit and focus on transition off defense/rebounds and allow guys like Barbosa and Hill to create in the half court.

[KJ7]

Asking Barbosa to get 10 assists is like asking Nash to get 10 rebounds, it's just not their game. Barbosa creates by drawing attention, not by making great passes. Hill, on the other hand, can create for others (which is why it makes sense to pair those two up).

Correct me if I'm wrong but he HAD 10 assist games last season when Nash sat (which is exactly what I said). So I'm not asking for a miracle.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2007012327

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2006111826

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2006111121

You're focusing on trying to get a unit of Skinner, LB, Hill and others to score 30 points in a quarter (while allowing 2 instead of focusing on how we can set that lineup up to allow 20 and score 20.

I just want them to outscore our opposition. If they can hold the opposition to 20 in a qtr then great but that has yet to happen so I'm not holding my breath. The only other alternative is to get slightly better offensively.

The fact is even when the 2nd unit was playing good D their offense let them down drastically. More likely then not tho they just played avg D and horrible O and we had to bring Nash back in quickly (which is exactly what we should try to be avoiding).

I agree about Hill, which is why I want him in the 2nd unit instead of Diaw. My point was just that with a decent play-making PG, he would actually look for Diaw and really that's all we need from a PG who runs with the 2nd unit.

At the moment when Diaw plays in the 2nd unit and there is a switch LB sees that he has a bigger man and his eyes go wide and drives/pulls up. Instead he should be looking for Diaw cos the chances of him getting points and/or drawing a foul is much greater.

Anyway, hopefully Hill can help the 2nd unit. I don't rate his creative/passing abilities to the level that he can carry the 2nd unit but at least it gives us 2 players we can play in iso and then we just hope their shots are falling. Otherwise it'll be time to put Nash back in mighty quick again. Still that's better then Diaw being ignored and relying on one player going iso.

[nanoclarkology]

Ouch, that is a good reason not to come to AZ.

[Mr. Sun]

Who cares, he wouldn''t have been any better or worst then Banks here.