[Seuss]

Use this thread for all topics about preseason.

[IceMan23and3]

I've never seen Diaw this aggressive! 4 shot attempts in 24 minutes!

[Seuss]

Wow, Marks is the man. 13pts, 9rebs, 2blcks, 1stl and a three-pointer.
He played great, I was really impressed. I think he could actually be a solid contributor as the backup center. I doubt D'Antoni plays him though.......

Suns won, 110 - 99

[Zei_Zao_LS]

Things that stuck out to me:

Sean Marks has a pretty good offensive game, but looks lost on defense quite often and doesn't crash the boards like he could.

DJ Strawberry is an absolutely fantastic defender.

Marcus Banks' shot looks much, much, much better. Every time he got an open shot, I thought it was going in. As opposed to before, when every time he shot I just hoped it was a long rebound so we could get it back.

I love Grant Hill. The ability to have three playmakers out on the court at the same time now... it's excellent. We finally have a guy who will get the pass and put the ball on the floor... but not only that, he'll do something with it once he puts it on the floor. Raja will put it on the floor to pass it off or take a weak lay up. Boris will put it on the floor to dribble a couple times and fling the ball to a shooter, regardless of whether or not he has the lane. Shawn will put it on the floor, take a couple steps back and pass it to whoever is close to him. Not Grant. Grant puts the ball on the floor and makes a move, draws contact, takes a mid range jumper, goes to the bucket... he actually forces the issue and makes the defense do something. Before, only Nash, Barbosa and Amare could really be said to do that.

Alando Tucker didn't look quite as sharp as I would hope out there. Not sure why.

---

That's just the more evident things I saw out there, from all our guys out there. Only thing I really didn't expect was Alando not playing well, which I expect to change. He should be a legit player in the league with a little bit of time, and I'm hoping that this happens sooner rather than later.

[IceMan23and3]

What stuck out to me is that Diaw is the same as last year. Fantastic.

[MeirToTheWise]

Lol, chill man. It's only one game and it's the first preseason one at that.

[the rattler]

It was only pre-season but you have to give it up to Shawn Marion here who had 18 points and 12 boards..

We know he's unhappy but at least he's still going to come in and act like a professional...

[Seuss]

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Highlights from the game.

[Seuss]

Chatt about the game here.

[Dissonance19]

I refuse to acknowledge preseason.

[the rattler]

A few observations...

My mind wasn't totally on this game as I was flipping back and forth between the ASU game and the Suns game on the radio...

I was impressed once again with the play of Marcus Banks and Sean Marks as these two will probably get some minutes if our Coach changes his coaching style and I feel it's something that must be done this year..

Tucker and Strawberry will also have a chance to get a few minutes in the regular season...

D'Antonio MUST EXPAND THE ROTATION WHEN THE SEASON STARTS!!!

Just look at the box scores of Popovich and the Spurs when they play...

[bircan]

same thoughts here. With a greater rotation we can set ourselves up better in the playoffs. With many people playing and not too many stand out stats (would be parker, manu and tim on spurs, and for us nash, amare, marion) the roleplayers that get 25 or less minutes will be crucial.

It is not necessary to win every single game. But by playing our roleplayers, marks, banks, skinner, etc, we might concede some games i acknowledge. But we will have some more players with high confidence levels and come playoffs, they might give us 1 game in which they dominate and we win a very important game. If theres another problem for our team apart from Defense, it is our Bench.

So come on, give everyone a fairer go D'antoni and we will reap the rewards of high esteem and confidence and a much more balanced team.

[IceMan23and3]

Originally Posted by bircan

same thoughts here. With a greater rotation we can set ourselves up better in the playoffs. With many people playing and not too many stand out stats (would be parker, manu and tim on spurs, and for us nash, amare, marion) the roleplayers that get 25 or less minutes will be crucial.

It is not necessary to win every single game. But by playing our roleplayers, marks, banks, skinner, etc, we might concede some games i acknowledge. But we will have some more players with high confidence levels and come playoffs, they might give us 1 game in which they dominate and we win a very important game. If theres another problem for our team apart from Defense, it is our Bench.

So come on, give everyone a fairer go D'antoni and we will reap the rewards of high esteem and confidence and a much more balanced team.

If we're going by fair, they are getting the EXACT number of minutes that they have earned. What you're wanting is to subvert the good of the team for these theorhetical extra minutes. I just do not believe that 3 minutes of extra exercise really matters in the overall health of the team. The biggest problem is in March/April when the bench NEEDS to step up to the plate, not be given minutes because they're sitting on the bench. This isn't a youth league, you have to deserve it. I just don't understand why this is such a hard topic for everyone to understand.

You cry about fairness, but what's more unfair, having these crappy bench players who ruin on court chemistry by doing what they want to do instead of what they're supposed to do, or playing the top 8 players a minute more per game so that their hard work doesn't go to waste in the game.