Tsakalidis may bolster rotation in stretch drive

[PhxGametime]

Norm Frauenheim
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 4, 2003 12:00 AM


Suns center Jake Tsakalidis has collected more minutes on the bench than on the floor this season, but he may be at the end of a frustrating wait.

Tsakalidis figures to re-emerge in the stretch run as Suns coach Frank Johnson intends to make use of his roster.

"We might have to go to some players who haven't played," Johnson said Thursday as he previewed a schedule that resumes Saturday afternoon against Minnesota, the first of four games in five days. "There's a chance Jake will play, because we'll have to stretch the bench a little more."

Tsakalidis hasn't played in six of the past seven games. When back surgery put him on the injured list for a 34-game stretch, the Suns often talked about how much he was missed. Since his return to the active roster March 13, he has been mostly missing.

"It's frustrating," Tsakalidis said after he put in some overtime with Johnson. "It's tough, but I have to keep working. If he wants to put me in, fine. I have to be ready."

A mix of circumstances has pushed Tsakalidis to the forgotten end of the bench, among them the simple struggle to find practice time for the third-year center, who could match up against Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal on Sunday in Los Angeles.

"He was out for three months," Johnson said. "Think of all the practices and games we had to get to a certain point. He didn't have all of that."

Johnson said he doesn't know how long Tsakalidis may be able to play, but the center's 7-foot-2 presence looms as a big factor as the Suns attempt to nail down the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff spot. The NBA season is at the point when the game becomes more physical and the pace more deliberate.

"At some point, we're certainly going to need his big body," Johnson said.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Gee, you think???

Maybe when we were blowing out Denver by 30 you could have found 5 or 10 minutes for him Frankie.

FJ stands for Freaking Joke. The problem is, he will get credit for Marbury and Stoudemire taking the Suns to the playoffs and we will be stuck with him until he abjectly fails.

 

[Joe Mama]

Re: Gee, you think???

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
Maybe when we were blowing out Denver by 30 you could have found 5 or 10 minutes for him Frankie.

FJ stands for Freaking Joke. The problem is, he will get credit for Marbury and Stoudemire taking the Suns to the playoffs and we will be stuck with him until he abjectly fails.

I couldn't believe Big Jake never played against the Denver Nuggets. I was thinking that he must have been hurting, but now it doesn't sound that way. Just think. FJ could have rested Joe Johnson and had the NBA's first all-white lineup since the '60s.

I get more and more frustrated with Frank Johnson every day.

Joe Mama

 

[BC867]

May get playing time . . . rather than will get playing time.

As I said in another thread, take charge, Frank! Doesn't he know how tentative he sounds? That's no way to lead a team!

 

[sunsfn]

I have supported Frank Johnson, but am starting to think he has a lot to learn about coaching.
He absolutely should have played big Jake against Denver!!

Big Jake needs to play as much as he can so he will improve and help us in the playoffs.

 

[Chaz]

How can he be expected to contribute without some PT to get ready. Basketball players are not robots a coach can turn on and off!!

 

[Goldfield]

I have to agree we NEED BIG Jake to be a part of this team...

Denver should of been alot of min's for him to get ready...

 

[SirStefan32]

I said this before, and I will say it again- Frank Johnson sucks!

 

[Skkorpion]

Pete Newell couldn't turn Big Jake into a real NBA player. Expecting Frank Johnson to do so during the season is expecting the impossible.

Jake is an unathletic, slow, pouty slug.

 

[Chaz]

Well he is definately slow.

It just seems to me the Suns are contradicting themselves, He is important to the team but he doesn't play in games consistantly. Lets fish or cut bait with this guy. I have been frustrated with his slow development but I think he is worth the effort. If we are planning to keep Jake then lets play him. We saw some flashes last year but he will never be consistant without consistant minutes.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Skkorpion
Pete Newell couldn't turn Big Jake into a real NBA player. Expecting Frank Johnson to do so during the season is expecting the impossible.

Jake is an unathletic, slow, pouty slug.

Excuse me? Newell said at his camp that Jake was extremely skilled. If Newell could "turn" players into "real" NBA players, he wouldn't just have a camp.

 

[Goldfield]

Jake is not only a EUROPIAN player that takes time to develope. But he has only played Basketball for a small amount of years...

The Suns said it was going to take him a good amount of time to develope...


I dont think the guy is a world beater, but he isnt horrible for a guy 7'2" that hasnt played a ton of minutes in the NBA yet.

He is very strong, and plays aggressive.


Not to mention we cant be to picky on Centers in phoenix, I would take BIG Jake over any center weve had since the skinny version of Oliver Miller...


I honestly feel we need to give him a few more years. What will it hurt? It aint like hes stopping the development of any young center options we have now...

 

[Wally]

Don't want to sound like a broken record but the only way we will have a big man get PT at the C is for him to move like a guard or small forward, look like a guard or small forward or get a coach who knows how to coach the big guys who doesen't think like a guard and/or small forward. Unless someone tells FJ to play JAKE it will be a crap shoot ......and who would that someone be?????? How about Alvin Adams taking an interest in the direction of the Suns - He's getting paid to do something - HOW ABOUT IT, ALVIN??????

How I told you lately how much I like small-ball?

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Re: Gee, you think???

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
FJ stands for Freaking Joke. The problem is, he will get credit for Marbury and Stoudemire taking the Suns to the playoffs and we will be stuck with him until he abjectly fails.

It is statements like this that bother me. I just do not understand how one can blame a coach if his team fails, but refuse to give any credit if his team succeeds. Whether you agree with FJ's coaching style(or lack there of) is one thing, but if you wish to rag on him, do not strip him of the fact that he did lead this team to where they are now.

I will admit that I have been for giving FJ a chance. I do question a lot of his moves, but I still think he deserves one more year. Jake having to work himself into the rotation is fine by me. His statements made some sense (cant believe I am typing this). He missed like 3 months, was never a big factor to begin with(except for certain matchups), therefor his trend of playing the C to match with the opposing team stands. Fine, works by me. Will Jake be there against houston, SA, LA?? Probably, if not, then forget it, FJ looses all of my confidence.

Fact of the matter is, this team is over achieving by almost everyone's pre season expectations. We will most likely be in the playoffs, which few thought was possible. Had Penny and Jake not gone down, at least not at the same time, we may be siting comfterable in the rankings, possibly fighting with Minny and Portland for the number 4 spot.

Well, whatever, it will be pretty hard to convince anyone on this board, but I personally believe that Frank earned another year to see what he can do. I just hope Marc Iavoroni doesn't jump on with Cleavland.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Well he does deserve some credit

He deserves credit for listening to his players when his offense was garbage. In some ways, he does deserve some credit for the team....but I feel it has less to do with him than the players.


Same goes for when we lose. The only thing FJ controls is players minutes. That is where my primary gripe is.

 

[cheng]

I don't think this team has over achieved. At least, not since the all star break.

Nobody knew Stoudemire would be this good, and Penny played better than expected before he hurt his thumb. We are exactly at where we are supposed to be, competiting for the last playoff spot with Houston, Seattle and Golden State. We couldn't have been much worse than those teams unless you are the guy (from sportingnews?) who ranked the suns the second worse team in the west.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Originally posted by cheng
I don't think this team has over achieved. At least, not since the all star break.

Nobody knew Stoudemire would be this good, and Penny played better than expected before he hurt his thumb. We are exactly at where we are supposed to be, competiting for the last playoff spot with Houston, Seattle and Golden State. We couldn't have been much worse than those teams unless you are the guy (from sportingnews?) who ranked the suns the second worse team in the west.

We are at that spot while enduring major injuries. If I recall, most people other then sportingnews (who are pieces of...well you get my point) said that we would make the playoffs only if Steph was an allstar and penny and googs were injury free.......to me, and most of the media we have over achieved. I will admit I saw another lottery visit coming, and I really dont remember that many people thinking otherwise

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Re: Well he does deserve some credit

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
He deserves credit for listening to his players when his offense was garbage. In some ways, he does deserve some credit for the team....but I feel it has less to do with him than the players.


Same goes for when we lose. The only thing FJ controls is players minutes. That is where my primary gripe is.

my bad on the dual posts but Its a friday night and i am becoming inebriated, so it happens......

my only point was dont try to strip FJ of credit for getting us to the playoffs. If he only controls minutes in your mind fine. I might be mistaken, but I think this entire board would be in an uproar if we played bad all season citing all of the potential of our roster. The coach got us this far....dont take that away from him, which is what I felt you did in an earlier post......

Another note: I really dont mind a head coach who respects his players / assts enough to listen to them. I mean, his players are well taught by possibly the best asst bench in the nba, he has a floor leader in marbury, a very experienced player in hardaway, and a star in marion who he listens to for advice. This is a player run team, which is fine. Do you see any of the post game interviews saying that they would like to see jake out there?? I have never seen one, so obviously they must see something that makes sense to them.

 

[cheng]

Originally posted by thegrahamcrackr
We are at that spot while enduring major injuries. If I recall, most people other then sportingnews (who are pieces of...well you get my point) said that we would make the playoffs only if Steph was an allstar and penny and googs were injury free.......to me, and most of the media we have over achieved. I will admit I saw another lottery visit coming, and I really dont remember that many people thinking otherwise

Well, most of the media underestimated us and most of them didn't know the team much better than many of us. I remember ESPN, SportingNews and CBS SPORTS certainly didn't predict us making the playoffs, not even close as they were still laughing how stupid Marbury/Kidd trade was and how long it would take us to recover from it. But many of us felt we could make the playoffs IF certain things go right for this team. Stoudemire and Penny were the things that surprised us, but we again have had to deal with alot of injuries. Remember we are still not a lock into the playoffs. The team is just at the level with houston and seattle, not much better or worse whether we make the playoff or not.

IMO, Utah, Golden State and even Mephis have over acheived mainly due to excellent coaching. That is the main point of this thread, Frank Johnson shouldn't get credit for taking the team where they are now. However, we could be worse with Skiles like last year. Or we could be better with an more experienced coach. I expected nothing less (with alot of IFs). Marbury has always played like this before, he has better teammates now. Marion is just Marion, steady 20/10. Overall, I am not surprised with team's record, but like everyone else I feel Stoudemire has over achieved.

 

[cheng]

Sorry for double post