Steve Nash: “We’re in a dark place”
Steve Nash (photo. NBA)The last time the Suns lost four games in a row, Amare was still getting his legs under him following microfracture surgery, and they didn’t have a future Hall of Famer manning the center position. But after last night’s blowout loss in Dallas, the Gorilla is in the midst of a four-game skid, sitting at ninth place in the West. Steve Nash took a crack at diagnosing some of the issues in the Arizona Republic:
“Right now, we’re in a dark place but we’ve got to believe in each other and continue to be positive,” said Nash, who had 20 points and 10 assists to only one turnover despite the loss of weight in the previous 36 hours because of a bout with the flu.
“Maybe we’ve got too down on ourselves. We need to find our fighting spirit, no matter what the holes are we’re trying to plug. Forget the holes. Let’s just find a fighting spirit and a belief. I think that’s what we’re lacking right now. We get out there, and things don’t go quite our way, and we drop our heads a little bit.”
Maybe it’s too early to put a lot of blame on first-year coach Terry Porter, but watching last night’s game, I couldn’t help but notice how he looked confused and slightly nauseous the entire time. Being frustrated with an underachieving team is one thing, but Porter looks lost out there.
With seemingly more and more Suns players coming out every day and openly questioning Porter’s system, with Nash implying that the team isn’t motivated, and with last night’s game being Phoenix’s fifth straight national TV loss — which means the national media will start rolling out the “What’s wrong with the Suns?” stories any minute now — these are not good signs for any coach.
I’d like to believe Porter’s job isn’t in jeopardy. If nothing else, he should be safe for a while only because canning him at any point this season would be a public admission by Suns’ management that they made a mistake in letting Mike D’Antoni go. But looking at what happened to Sam Mitchell the other day, I hope that for Porter’s sake, Phoenix’s record (11-9) doesn’t drop below-.500 any time soon.
Is Terry Porter already on the hot seat?
Source: Arizona Republic
-->
December 5th, 2008 at 9:23 am
GEE...Soggys all day! says:
Yep he is and how long before he’s actually gone is the better question.
I say at the end of Jan. dude is out!
I really thought he was going to have them going off on the Defensive end and keeping what they already had intact offensively.
About the only good thing dude has done was the idea to let Shaq take some games off every now and then.
Most def. hot seat for Porter.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Richard Wellner says:
I knew that Porter wouldn’t be a good coach. I mean, common.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:25 am
ian says:
yeh hes on the seat
but phx need to go through shaq when they were winning they went through shaq…when theyv lost they were either without shaq, just fair and square beaten or tried to go with amare
shaqs their best option atm
December 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am
PALakerFan says:
I’m predicting the next trade rumor…Amare for David Lee and change.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:28 am
fallinup says:
A system built for D’Antoni’s system…given to Porter. Who’s last stint as a coach ended with him getting canned in Milwaukee of all places, just wasn’t a good move.
To me it all got summed up with the Marion trade. The Suns put the right pieces together…and they slowly fell apart through bad judgement. Letting Joe Johnson go…not finding a suitable replacement to spell Nash…the Shaq/Marion deal…letting D’Antoni walk.
Porter could catch the flak from this and get fired. But what Austin or anyone hasn’t really dove into is what Steve Kerr has done with this team since signing in on the job. He doesn’t get pointed at for the Joe Johnson deal but everything else you could put under his belt.
You can’t keep winning and change the makeup of a team so drastically.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:30 am
QQ says:
How long will you kiss Shaq’s ass?
Future hall of famer? He is a future HOF because he WAS a beast. See the point, WAS. Shaq circa MDE is not the Shaq of today. The Shaq of today is less than the shadow of the Shaq that destroyed the paint back then. It’s not the same fucking player.
Honestly, can’t you fucking see it? Cause everyone does.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Richard Wellner says:
I knew that Porter wouldn’t be a good coach.
Steve Kerr is def. to blame for this because he’s such a head-case. He ruined the suns.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:31 am
PALakerFan says:
Think about Amare for Lee:
The Suns desparately need rebounding, defense, and hussle from a more traditional power forward.
The Knicks would get their first major chip in luring Lebron. Amare is perfect for that system too. He could run and gun and not rebound all he wants.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Richard Wellner says:
You’re crazy, bro!
First off, Lee doesn’t give you defense; hustle and rebounding, yes.
And second, we don’t need Amare and his no-rebound ass.
I will only take this if we get Goran Dragic!
December 5th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Austin Burton says:
@QQ — Point is, Shaq at 36 is better than whoever the Suns had at center (not counting Amare) before he got there. And Shaq at 36 is still better than a lot of centers today. He’s still got the occasional 25-point, 10-board game in him, check the game logs.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:43 am
QQ says:
He is a better center statistically, but watching them play, he just hinders the overall play of his team. He can’t run, DOESN’T try to run, and it affects the whole team. Past centers of the Suns, would just set picks and get rebounds, bit Shaq is different, he is one of the main cogs. But he doesn’t have it anymore, and IMO he is messing up the Suns BIG TIME.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am
PALakerFan says:
I wouldn’t want Amare on my team either, but you know D’Antoni and Lebron would love him on theirs.
Reading between the lines, here are the issues in Phoenix. Nash and all the gunners hate Porter’s slow down system. Amare wants to be the man – without question. That means not deferring to Shaq or Nash. Amare’s refusal to rebound and play D pisses off the rest of his teammates. So does Shaq taking off the 2nd day of back to back games. Porter should consider playing him reduced minutes in b2b’s rather than a day off. It throws off the whole team. They’ll never win a title with Amare anyway. His nickname – Stat – is what he’s all about.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:58 am
PALakerFan says:
Here’s another trade scenario…
Amare for Ben Gordon and Joakim Noah, etc.
The Bulls pair up and All-Star PF with Rose and get rid of their cancer (Gordon) and a role player.
The Suns get a true scorer at the SG. Raja would be better off the bench anyway. Joakim is the perfect scrappy, hustle type to pair with lazy old Shaq.
Plus, Kerr’s Bull connection makes this more feasible.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:59 am
alimoe says:
This was a team ready to win now, Porter’s job should have been easy. They are playing worse D now than when Mike D was coach its a disaster. Porter is on the hot seat and please get rid of Steve Kerr hes worthless
December 5th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Max says:
I’ve watched the Suns obsessively the past few years with D’Antoni as coach, but as they shed Marion and D’Antoni and continue to flail with roster development, it’s become clear how awkwardly constructed the team is. I hardly pay attention to their games lately. You see a fair amount of talent on the floor, but it’s like Raptors West Coast Edition out there.
Sarver really, really screwed up the Suns. They’d look a lot nicer with Rudy or Sergio Rodriguez out there, but the pieces they have now just look old or uninterested in playing to their ability (*cough* STAT *cough*)
Someone on a Suns board actually was proposing Amare for Okafor and Diaw for Troy Murphy. I hope it was a joke, but it’s also a sign of how bad things have gotten.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
dagwaller says:
Shaq is an issue. He says that he wants to run, but think about it – with Nash and Amar’e at the 1 and 4, that’s two guys that will run! Grant Hill and Raja Bell? Neither of those guys were what made the Suns dangerous in the open court. It was having Amar’e at the 5 and one other guy that could run. With the Suns, it was Marion, but you could plug in any hustle player to take his spot – which Hill and Bell simply aren’t.
Porter is an issue. He wants them to play defense, which is good considering “you don’t win in the playoffs without defense”. I LOVE the Suns, and always defend them, but you just don’t see that many run and gun offenses in the Finals. Deep into the playoffs, but not the Finals. That having been said, the Suns are playing marginally better defense, but their offense is just painful to watch for anyone that saw them in the past 5 years. Besides that, Porter DEFINITELY looks lost on the sidelines.
Kerr is an issue. Trading for Shaq/hiring Porter were his moves. Why doesn’t he trade for Maggette? As Dime said the other day, he’s a guy that likes to shoot, and he can play a couple different positions. Besides that, I can’t think of anyone that wants him. Why didn’t he trade for Al Harrington? The Warriors wanted to get rid of him, he’s a shooting big man – seems like a good fit. I’m not saying that either one of these moves is the answer/is especially bright, but at least it’s thinking outside the box.
Goran Dragic deserves his own paragraph. The guys on TNT hit the nail on the head last night, when describing the Suns offense when he’s in. Not good. And JJ Barea scored a lot of his points on Barea, not Nash, last night.
Robert Sarver is an issue. It sure would be nice to have a few young, hustle guys on this team, either to run with Nash, play some tough defense, or to spell the older guys (which the Suns have in spades). But instead, they’ve lost all of their younger guys (Joe Johnson, Q-Rich, Eddie House) and draft picks.
There are a lot of issues, but then again, around the second or third year in the Steve Nash era, people would say, “They have a window during which Nash will still be a dominant offensive figure,” and the thing about windows is that they close. They’re THIS close to the window being closed.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:17 am
George W Kush Sr says:
Gordon and Noah for Amare is making sens.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Kobeef says:
The Suns should have traded Nash and Matrix for for Devin Harris and Josh Howard two years ago when Cuban was trying to please Dirk with a new PG.
The Suns refused to take the opportunity to get younger and now they are paying the price. To be honest, I am really enjoying watching a team (and management) get what they had coming to them.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:48 am
hadoken says:
I dont know who to blame. All I know is that the Suns miss a TON of bunnies 5 ft from the rim.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:58 am
loganlight says:
What Chuck said last night:
You can’t be the leader of the team without being a 20-10 guy – in reference to Amare’s poor rebounding ability.
The Suns lack IDENTITY. If they’re going to make a splash, they need to decide who they are… and quickly.
LL
December 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
LakeShow84 says:
As a laker fan i have no sympathy for that team (even though D’antonis gone and he was the main prick).. Steve Kerr makes a much better color analysis man and i dont even know the name of the dip who hired him but i just want to say thanks for thinking 50-60 wins for the past 3-4 years wasnt good enough LOL..
Did anyone even notice what was happening in Miami?? Shaq was playing the injured card like he ALWAYS does nowadays and Miami had enough of him.. If Shaq was any good in Miami they would have made it work.. not trade away an effective center when there are only a good 4 people who can hang with him.. Sorry Riley knew Shaq was washed up..
But i loved the loogie that was spit in D’antoni’s face with that trade.. they traded their Mojo cuz yes Amare gets his STATS (scoring stats that is) and Nash is one of the best facilitators but Marion was the glue that held that shit together..
But hey Phoenix fans dont be mad! you guys can supposedly beat the spurs!!
Yeah right.. Duncan manhandled that shit in the playoffs.. and unintentionally got to own Amare AND Shaq.. OUCH
December 5th, 2008 at 11:17 am
CJ says:
I never understood the Porter hire from the beginning, what qualifies him as an NBA coach, especially on a playoff team and supposed championship contender?
The one thing I remember from his time in Milwaukee is a quote from either Des Mason or Redd that was along the lines of “We’d get in timeouts and he would be completely lost, he had no idea what to do.”
Good call to give him control of the Suns.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Dave says:
Did anyone not see this coming when Terry Porter was hired? He was put in an absolute no-win situation, and is the designated scapegoat for the severe shortcoming from the GM position.
Wait…. don’t the Suns have a TWO-TIME MVP on their roster? Shouldn’t a player of that “caliber” be counted on to reverse the downward slide?
The only person I feel badly about it T. Porter. After this, he’ll never get another head coaching gig. Kerr will be an analyst again by this time next year.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
dagwaller says:
Dave, if by “no win situation”, you mean being put in charge of a team that went 15-5 with Shaq last year, then yea, you’re right. That would suck.
So you’re going to bat for TERRY PORTER. Ok. Let’s see…D’Antoni’s record with Shaq: 15-5. Porter’s? 11-9. D’Antoni went 273-136 with the Suns, with largely the same core roster (Nash/Amar’e) as Porter is using right now. I don’t know that Porter will have an NBA job after this, but maybe it’s time to question whether or not he DESERVES one.
You may be right about Steve Kerr, though. I liked that “Steve Wonders” bit he did on TNT.
December 5th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
John says:
They need to play D, thats it. Nash doesnt play D, Amare doesn play D, Shaq is mehh, and the bench doesnt play D. If you built a team to play D, you better built right, not the way that they are doing … When they were the run and gun, they were good because everybody was a gunner and D’Antoni is a master ofensive. Now they say that they will be a defensive team, but Porter is lost, and they have 60% of the team that are atroucious on D, how this makes sense ???