MastersofCombat

I feel he needs about 10 games like this for himself to realize how bad we need him to score.. Our offense is based on everyone being a threat..


Very very nice game 31points 11 rebs 5 ast

DeAnna

Well shoot...I may have to change my avatar back to Boris!

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Mike Olbinski

Even though he had 31, he still had some shots he should have finished...

This guy has such potential...

Mike

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jbeecham

Once he gets some aggressiveness on his way to the basket and starts trying to finish with dunks instead of finesse then he'll be going to the line a lot every night. He's already started going left (used to only go right) and that's thrown his defenders off a little. I really didn't think he had a turnaround jumper from 15ft on the baseline, but he nailed it last night (over Troy Hudson, but he still made it). He was very impressive.

Arizona's Finest

This roller coaster ride eveyone keeps going on with this kid is just plain silly. Boris has some very very nice tools. He does not yet have the jumpshot to have these kind of games often. So we shouldnt expect it. It will take time. We cant keep jumping on and off the bandwagon every game. I am not surprised he played as well as he did last night. The bottom line is we are a top five NBA team when he plays at that level or even at half that level. Thats alot riding on a young kids shoulders. once Amare comes back and teams will not have the luxury of focusing on him at all, his consitency will follow...

As teams learn to game plan him he will have nights or stretches of games where he is a non factor. This shouldnt make us turn away in horror. He is so young and so multi talented and the REAL Boris Diaw is the one we will get next year. Once he learns to play with Amare and has a full summer with the coaching staff, he should be a big time player for us. Even better than Joe in fact becaus it is obvious he is the better creator and thats what this team needs to take pressure of Nash.

He has already shown enough signs for us to be legitmatly excited and i expect he will have a few more games like yesterdays along the way. He will have some clunkers too. Dont get to high or too low just yet as we are getting a PLAYER in the making. The talent and body are there. The rest is up to him....

Two points:

Does he have a commitment to France this summer....i sure hope not because that could be all the difference in his improvement.

I wish he would finish around the basket with more authority as well. Unfortunatly that is not a european trait. Hopefully when Amare comes back, the dunks will become contagious and we will have some kind of high flying circus with the ultimate ring master....

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devilalum

He seems to slowly be gaining confidence.

The Suns need to get one of those hypnotists to convince Boris that he's some kind of wild animal. Watching the guy it appears that he's got the vertical and ball handling skills to be an excellent finisher, he just lacks the killer mentality.

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Errntknght

"Does he have a commitment to France this summer....i sure hope not because that could be all the difference in his improvement."

I don't think it's always bad for players to spend time with their national teams. True they may not be practicing exactly what we'd most like but they're often in a leadership role which can be very beneficial. They gain some maturity and confidence from that. I'd have to say something last summer did Leandro a world of good, and his experience with his nat'l team seems most likely to be it.

In Boris' case the reports last summer showed him expanding his game as the tournament went on - even he probably didn't know he could play inside so well. It seems it was almost forced on him by the circumstances. I can't guess exactly how he will benefit if he plays with them next summer but there will probably be something positive that comes out of it. If nothing else it will probably be refreshing for him just to be back in his native country for a couple of months.

I imagine you're thinking of Zarko, who if I remember right planned his summer around his national team and then couldn't even make the roster. I don't see Diaw having that kind of problem.

Ollie

Well, he'll play world championship in Japan starting mid-august, so I think he'll be with the french team at least one full month.

But like Errntknght I think he'll gain confidence with the national team and his fellow players, he'll develop his versatility and his leadership abilities : in the end it'll be profitable for the Suns.

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5:58 -- You know, I could watch David Stern say the name "Zarko Cabarkapa" all day. Zarko just went to the Suns. Bilas tells us, "He's been compared favorably to Nikoloz Tskitishvili." Enticing.

jibikao

For past few games (especially against Wizards), Diaw has missed so many "soft" layups. I like it that Diaw turned into a scoring machine against T-Wolves. I bet D'Antoni must have said something to him to boost his confidence up. Great job!!!

Arizona's Finest

I agree in theory with your premise but i think his confidence as leader of the french team was already gained last year. I would rather he a) rest and b) work in the summer with the coaching staff so that he comes back with his game more NBA ready than ever...

Hell it worked for Joe Johnson

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