Kendall Marshall reactions/grades from media

[Covert Rain]

Also we made it to a couple wcf with Nash, and I'm pretty sure every time we were eliminated it wasn't because of Steve's defense.

Not but we were eliminated because of the teams inability get defense stops when it mattered.

Give me 1 PG that can reliably stay infront of his man.

Jason Kidd definitely can't and never could. Defense starts with your frontcourt, not with your PG.

The Suns never were a terrible defensive team because of Steve Nash.

On what planet? If the opposing teams PG (who is the floor general) constantly gets dribble penetration....that is where an opposing team offense generally starts. If you can force the opposing defenses hands to commit double teams or play more zone it creates more opportunities offensively. I don't know if you have ever coached slinslin but I have been an assistant coach for a youth league for the last 5 years until this year. Although I am nowhere near an expert I have learned alot from the head coach who has coached at both the collegiate and high school levels.

If you can't stay in front of an opposing teams point guard I will show you a team that can't stop the others team offense. That has been Nash's bread and butter for years.....getting around opposing guard either through pics or being damn crafty.

Nash's inability to stay in front of people and the constant schemes we run to protect him is the primary reason for the Suns struggles on defense. It's not the ONLY reason but the primary one IMO.

 

[Errntknght]

Nash is by no means the sole weak link in our defenses in recent years. Amare was worse and Warrick the worst defender I've seen in a long time. Turkoglu was totally overmatched in the role we wanted him to play.

The most infuriating thing to me is that the Suns had a second unit a couple of years back that was having considerable success defensively (whats more they did it with Frye playing center much of the time) and they made no effort to keep it intact and build on it. The first misstep was to let Amundson walk and they followed it up by signing Warrick and expecting Hedo to play PF. Once the second group couldn't stay on the floor it stopped being a unit which caused Goran to revert to his prior form as a simple backup to Nash. The way he looked in that role, trading him away didn't seem like a bad move, if you remember.

 

[mojorizen7]

Its not Nash's fault that he's a bad defensive player. Its the Suns' fault that they were a bad defensive team.

When your top two or three BEST players...your CORE guys(Nash & Amare)... are horrible defensively,you're probably not going to make many Finals appearances or win many championships. Marion was the third guy and we all know he could D up but beyond that it was Bell and.....?

Name me one title team in the last 25 years who's two best players couldnt guard a chair.

Dumars/Thomas?
Jordan/Pippen?
Olajuwan/Maxwell/Thorpe/Ellie?
Duncan/Parker/Ginobli?
Garnett/Pierce?
O'Neil/Kobe?
O'Neil/Wade?
Dirk/Kidd/Marion? ... ok maybe Dirk

My point is you shouldn't build a team around a couple of guys who are extreme defensive liabilities. Your whole team cant be defensive juggernauts either...but your core guys have to be at least servicable on the other end IMO.

Have the Suns learned anything yet? We shall see soon enough me thinks.

 

[95pro]

Its not Nash's fault that he's a bad defensive player. Its the Suns' fault that they were a bad defensive team.

When your top two or three BEST players...your CORE guys(Nash & Amare)... are horrible defensively,you're probably not going to make many Finals appearances or win many championships. Marion was the third guy and we all know he could D up but beyond that it was Bell and.....?

Name me one title team in the last 25 years who's two best players couldnt guard a chair.

Dumars/Thomas?
Jordan/Pippen?
Olajuwan/Maxwell/Thorpe/Ellie?
Duncan/Parker/Ginobli?
Garnett/Pierce?
O'Neil/Kobe?
O'Neil/Wade?
Dirk/Kidd/Marion? ... ok maybe Dirk

My point is you shouldn't build a team around a couple of guys who are extreme defensive liabilities. Your whole team cant be defensive juggernauts either...but your core guys have to be at least servicable on the other end IMO.

Have the Suns learned anything yet? We shall see soon enough me thinks.

To amares defense, he was kind of born into a defense-less system and it was just never preached to him.

 

[mojorizen7]

To amares defense, he was kind of born into a defense-less system and it was just never preached to him.

True. Like i said in my post...i dont blame Nash and Amare personally.That would be silly of me