Wizards considering small ball, too? Who's next?

[exodus]

Fads don't show up in the rule book.

[chillzatl]

What phoenix does now is not a fad. They are playing the style of play that best suits their personnel, both players and coach.

What Dallas does is not a fad. They too are playing the style that best suits them.

You can sit there and say that Miami is a traditional team. But that's a simplistic answer designed more to suit your ends than to be accurate. They too are simply playing the style of ball that suits their personnel best, both players AND coach.

To simply say that one or two styles is all you can win with, especially when athletic ability in the NBA is at a level never before seen, is ridiculous. Years ago you labeled Euro players as a "fad". But time has proven that the Euro player is just reality, not a fad. Writing it off as a fad just gives you an easy out to avoid discussing it rationally.

[Diesel]

Over the next 2 years, I'm sure that Phoenix will move towards a more traditional team with the resurgence of Amare and them picking up a real C with our draft choices...

You're right... Phoenix invented out of neccessity.

however, when did that ever stop being a fad?

[chillzatl]

who the hell ever said "invented out of neccessity"? is that some new Dieselism? Phoenix plays the way they do because of hte personnel they have, period. Specifically because of Steve Nash. They played that way with Amare last year, they did it again this year and they will do it again next year, with or without him. You being "sure" doesn't change the reality that they've played the way they have for two years and they will continue to play that way as long as Steve Nash is a part of that team and D'antoni is the coach. It's not a fad, it's taking advantage of their resources, specifically their two time MVP point guard, in the best way possible. Unless of course you want to theorize that you can make the WCF back to back with a "fad". If so, I think that's validation that these fad systems work plenty well.

[Final_quest]

I would say that initially Phoenix did try to become more traditional, and did invent out of necessity. They brought in Kurt Thomas and Raja Bell in place of Q-rich and JJ. That is a more traditional frontline and adding a defensive stopper who can shoot in Bell.

When the two biggest pieces to your frontcourt go down, you do have to get creative. I honestly don't know what they will do in the future however.

[Lascar78]

not to mention it's the continued impact of the Euro style making it over here. D'Antoni, while being american, is a european coach. A lot of his players are european and play that style of ball. A lot of passing and moving around, everyone is expected to know how to shoot, more emphasis on offense than on defense...

This is no fad

[chillzatl]

Do you really think they said "we need to get more traditional"? I do not... they needed players and they looked at the guys who were available and went after the guys who they thought fit their system the best. They did know they needed some defense inside, which is why they went after Thomas. But they never intended to deviate from being an uptempo, push the pace team. That is what their core personnel does best. They didn't do anything this year that they didn't already do last year. Even when they had Amare they were an uptempo, push the pace type of team. That didn't change this year, they just didn't have a money guy they could go to in the post when they were forced into half court ball.

The only things that you could say were done out of neccessity for them is having Diaw play C and PF. But him doing that benefited their up tempo style even more.

[Watchman]

Quote:

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I didn't realize Brenden Haywood only averaged 3 rebounds per game last year. Ugh

---

If you look a little more carefully, you'll see that his rebound average in the playoffs was 3.x. In the regular season, he averaged 23.8 min, 7.3 pts, 5.9 reb, 1.32 blks.

If you converted that into 36 minutes per game, it would read 36 min, 11 pts, 9 reb, 2 blks.

We could definitely use Haywood in tandem with ZaZa.

[Final_quest]

Quote:

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Do you really think they said "we need to get more traditional"? I do not...

The only things that you could say were done out of neccessity for them is having Diaw play C and PF. But him doing that benefited their up tempo style even more.

---

I'm not sure if what anyone said is relevant. But the moves they actually made were going to make them more traditional and defense oriented. JJ and Qrich were shooting a lot of 3's, trading for Kurt Thomas gave them more inside than outside. I'm not saying they were going for a total makeover, but I don't know how you can objectively look at the moves they made and say they were not headed towards more traditional positions in their frontcourt and backcourt.

When you say the "only" thing done out of necessity is putting Diaw at PF/C, you make it sound so trivial. That's a huge difference. Marion was going to play SF again, and instead of Thomas and Amare at PF and C they play Diaw and Marion. If that is not an invention out of necessity, I don't know what is.

I understand your point, that they were going to be up tempo regardless, but c'mon what they did with their frontcourt this year was highly unconventional. Furthermore their acquisitions indicated they had no intention of playing a frountcourt like that.

[exodus]

Yeah i didn't realize that they were playoff numbers. that is why i was like wtf.

[Guest Walter]

I hadn't seen Dallas play all year until the playoffs when I became extremely impressed with what Avery Johnson had done with their team turning them into a legitimate title contender. Prior to Avery, Howard, and their two headed center monster, they were not a traditional team. ANYONE having watched them this year vs. previous years would agree they are no longer the talented mess doomed to fail in the post-season under Nelly. That should clear it up for you.

W

[Guest Walter]

...the personel they have. In fact, they traded for Kurt Thomas (used up as he is), to represent the anti-"personel they have". Pheonix will make changes as they can away from the team they have. They can't blow things up because they don't have the capitol to return to the exciting mediocrity they now have and Nash's time is now, but they will make changes.

Chill, Pheonix's offense is a gimmick. It will be figured out more and more eventually reduced to a fad no matter what word you want to use to describe it now.

W

[exodus]

Dallas is second to last in the league in assists, only .06 ahead of the Knicks. They don't have a post player on their roster. Dirk scores fewer points inside than Childress.

They aren't even remotely traditional. They had a traditional pg who they let walk and replaced him with JT, who Hawks fans were glad to get rid of because he WASN'T A TRADITIONAL PG.

Nice try at recovery though.