[compsciguy78]

Nash stats and percentages have dropped since Shaq arrived.

What is the cause?

Pargo drops 22 last night and Chris Paul does it again?

Has Nash's defense been exposed?
Will slowing down the offense expose Nashty?

[afobisme]

nash can't get his easy assists anymore because shaq just camps in the lane and misses his shots.

[Brandname]

Almost every team has an adjustment period when they add new players. The same thing's happening with my team now. Nobody knows where their teammates are quite yet and they're still trying to get a feel for how they play the game.

I didn't like the Shaq trade for Phoenix myself, but it's way too early to be making any kind of judgments like this. Integrating new players onto a team takes some time.

Also, Nash's defense has never been good anyway, so there wasn't really anything to 'expose'.

[afobisme]

oh yeah, nash's assists are also going down because amare is getting a lot of isos (where he drives to the basket). so amare is kind of creating his own offense more now.

the offense doesn't exclusively run through steve anymore.

[Dragnsmke1]

How can you expose something thats already a well known documented fact certified by the United States government?

[Hibachi!]

Nash is looking for Shaq too much. He wants to reward him for hustle, an establish a connecting. It comes at the cost of lost concentration. He needs to get back to his game. Also, he needs to adjust for the fact that there are two big men in the lane now, and he can't just kick out to Marion anymore. The lanes aren't going to be as big, but the dropoff from Nash so far from Shaq, has also came back in dividends to Amare who is significantly better because of Shaq.

It may not look like it now, but come playoff time this trade will pay off huge.

[iversonfan 349]

I hope this is just the transition stage cause its not looking good for the suns.

[Diable]

Pargo was lighting up Nash before Shaq ever got close to PHX.Actually that's the first time the Hornets have had all five starters against PHX this year and Pargo has started at least once of the other games.The first game he didn't play much,but the other three he's averaging 21 points per game with starters minutes.

Nash also lit him up at least once too.The game he started it looked like the two of them had a secret agreement not to guard each other.

[sknydave]

Their schedule has not been great as far as time needed for getting on the same page. Just a tough time of the season to make such big changes.

[Seuss]

The Suns were looking so good up until around the 4 minute mark in the 2nd quarter last night. Then, the Hornets decided they weren't going to miss any shots.

The Suns were defending pretty well, they were executing better with Shaq. So, the upside that I've seen, can be really good. And then when they are not all on the same page, they struggle badly.

Also, the first 2/3 games, Nash wasn't getting many assists. But his last two, he has had over 13 assists in both games. I think he has made the adjustment, but I still think he is struggling to find when to take over games with Shaq. And Shaq is also trying to figure when he should call for the ball.

Overall, if they are going to succeed, they need to start doing more post ups with Amare and Shaq. Run the offense through the bigs. Then if that's not there, go to the pick-n-roll with Nash.

[Dissonance19]

Schedule's just going to keep getting tough, too.

Nash's assists have started come back up. 13 assists last 2 games. He also scored 25 (8-11) in one of them.