LeBron James: Sportsman of the Year

More photos » Barry Gutierrez - AP

Defense, it's not always pretty. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

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Anyone want to guess what Alvin Gentry wanted to talk about today? Here's a hint: it rhymes with "refence" and "debounding". 

"When you're not rebounding the basketball, what happened in Denver is going to happen, where you give up 52 free throws -- which is the most that's been shot in the NBA this year in a regulation game. If we're going to be a good team, we've got to get a lot better in those areas right there. We've got to defend dribble penetration and we've got to rebound the basketball."

Gentry sounds more like the coach of a 3-8 football team who has lost six in a row -- including two key home games to division rivals -- than the coach of a 8-9 team with 80% of its season remaining. The coach of said football team, however, continues to insist that everything is fine. Go figure.

Just to make sure his point was made, Gentry repeated the defense and rebounding mantra numerous times, even when asked about other things and Steve Nash is on the exact same page.

"I thought Alvin did a great job. He really stressed defense, rebounding, playing harder. This is a situation right now where we've just got to compete ... He's emphasizing the right things (defense and rebounding), he's holding us accountable," Nash said.

Rotations still in flux

What was slightly new today, was an admission from Gentry of his frustration in not having a better grasp on the rotations. He was asked specifically what he thought of having Josh Childress in playing the power forward position. Gentry said he hasn't seen it for enough minutes to say yet and then he went on to riff about the rotations in general.

"We have to continue to try and get better and put guys in a position where we're taking advantage of what they do best. And to be honest with you, we're still trying to figure that out. We move guys here and we move guys in and out of the starting lineup. I thought at this stage we might be able to figure out the best way to play guys and use them, but we're still searching. We're still trying to find the right combinations and the right rotations."

Injury update

Grant Hill has a little toe problem, per Alvin Gentry. Grant was seen by reporters (me and Paul Coro -- it was a light media day, thanks in large part to the Derek Anderson circus going on in Tempe at the same time) limping down the hallway after practice. He wasn't exactly in a cheery mood. 

Is he questionable for Thursday's game? "I don't think he's ever questionable, but we'll see. We'll see how it works out. He has a little bit of an infection there, I think," Gentry answered.

Robin Lopez is two weeks away at a minimum, but "he's not the cavalry," according to Gentry.

"He's another guy we can use because he's got good size, but that's not going to take care of all our problems. We have to start eliminating our problems now and when he comes back, that will be a good positive."

Lopez shot some free throws last week, but today was his first week back on the court doing the "gauntlet." He's just shooting near the basket right now. Robin would only say "I don't know, we'll see" when asked about the two week timeline. He was happy to be back out there even a little bit and said he's tired of watching.

Physically, Steve Nash still isn't feeling great. He continues to fight through it and calls the last four or fives games as "not that stable for me." It will be interesting to see if Nash cannot just battle back from this specific bout with his body, but sustain a high level of health through the entire season.

Random bags of poop

Channing Frye said he played like a "bag of poop" last game in Denver. He was talking mostly about getting into foul trouble. He did make this point that seems reasonable enough, assuming his numbers are correct.

"You know what, we have a lot of dribble penetration. If you figure 50 times somebody's driving at me and I get five fouls, that's one out of every ten times I'm fouling. I'm just trying to do the best I can and protect the rim and I think overall, including me, we need to do a better job not letting guys go to the middle and make sure we cut back dribble penetration."

The Suns dribble penetration defense will be tested Thursday by Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. And who can forget the rebounding tandem of Andris Biedrins and David Lee? If you think the Warriors will be an easy game for the Suns, you've not been watching the Suns recently.

Here's a bit more from Nash:

Steve Nash Says Suns Need More Fire and Discipline To Fix Rebounding And Defense -  SB Nation Arizona
You can also take the old kick in the ass thing too far and Nash is one who's always seemed focused on having a good "spirit" and is more of carrot versus stick guys. But right now, he doesn't seem to have the patience for that.

More photos » Barry Gutierrez - AP

Come on guys, guard someone! (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

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Monday was a day of rest for the Phoenix Suns. Tuesday was a day of practice. Enough practice that even Allen Iverson somewhere in Turkey is complaining about it. The guys showed about early for an extended film session which prompted this quote from the venerable Grant Hill.

"We had a good look at the film and film doesn't lie."

Film Don't Lie.

What he's talking about is the worst in the league defense that's a result poor communication, blown assignments, poor effort and too many offensive rebounds allowed thanks to ball watching. We've heard this story before and I am guessing we will continue to hear this story until it gets better. I still insist that it's a positive sign that we are hearing this story instead of some cover-up that has to be revealed via Wiki-leaks. 

Players today were all asked (by Bob Young) if the defensive issues were effort or X's and O's. Everyone agreed it was a little bit of everything with Steve Nash winning the award for language parsing.

"It's a bit of both. I think any time you're not where you are supposed to be there's a break down in effort. Concentration is effort and focus so I think we've got work to do at both," Nash said.

Clear now?

The point is, the Suns are very much aware of how bad they've been defensively. Gentry even had a print out comparing last year's defensive numbers such as opponent FG% and defensive rebounding to this year. He let his team know that last place isn't going to cut it and didn't sugar coat it with talk about how good the offense is. He's not that interested in that.

"As good as we are offensively, if we can't secure the basketball and we can't guard better than we're guarding (now) we're going to struggle," Gentry said.

Scoring 133 points and 44 in the fourth quarter didn't matter. What mattered was giving up seven offensive rebounds to Shelden Williams in the third quarter and proof that when the team played better defense for what was described as an eight minute stretch, that they were able to get back in the game. With defense. 

Here's shocker for you, speaking of defense. According to Synergy, the best individual defender on the Suns team this season in isolation situations with a rating that's "Excellent" and who is only giving up .60 points per isolation possession is....wait for it....OK, you can guess now but the answer is after the jump ...

Steve Nash

I know, right! 

According to Synergy, in 20 defensive possessions tracked (which is 6th most on the team, high being Grant Hill with 30), Nash's opponent has only shot 38.5% from the field and has a turnover rate of 25%!

I didn't totally believe these numbers so I clicked the "20" hyper-link and watched all 25 clips they showed me. That's right, it said 20 possessions but showed me 25 clips. I have no idea what that means. Anyway, Nash does do a decent job staying in front of his man but of course his man was mostly guys like Mike Conley and Mike Bibby and not Derrick Rose who gets covered by Grant Hill.  

So, you know. Lets just call this a fun anomaly for now and move on to what folks had to saw after today's long practice session.

Grant Hill

Grant said he didn't feel so good and he certainly didn't look well at all. Head cold, flu, whatever. He practiced of course, because he's Grant Hill. 

Listen for yourself, he even sounds sick. Audio: Grant Hill practice 113010

• He was happy to have some practice time. Practice, it matters.
• The team watched film and had a "defensive" practice. They made some changes to the defensive schemes. Hopefully that means a return to hedging the screen and roll hard instead of passively going under screens 
• "It's one thing if you stick to the script and execute and do what you're supposed to do defensively, it's hard enough stopping guys in this league, but when you don't it just breaks down things and makes it very difficult."
• Team responded well and was energetic during practice
• "There's no place to go but up, so we'll see what happens."

• Gentry's focus specifically was on containing the ball but still mostly focused on the rebounding. He's not happy about being dead last in defensive FG% and puts a lot of that blame on giving up second chance opportunities. He claims that the Suns are holding opponents to about 41% shooting on their initial attempts and the easy 2nd chance opportunities have made the overall number a league-worst 49.1% (one full point worse than the Clippers)
• Asked if there was a ceiling for how good this team could be on the glass given their size, Gentry wanted no part of that excuse. "I expect for them to secure the rebound if we have a good defensive possession. We don't have any excuses. If you're undersized then you have to do a better job boxing out. If you're a little bit slower then you have to do a better job boxing out...We don't have a ceiling. You put ceilings on your team and it gives everybody an out. We expect to secure the ball after we've had a good defensive stance."
• The problem, according to Gentry, is the Suns have become "ball watchers". You can see this in most of the offensive rebounds the Nuggets got in the third quarter of Sunday's game. The Suns standing flat footed staring up at the rim instead of looking around to find a body to box out. (See example below)
• Gentry pointed out once again that rebounding doesn't take a lot of basketball talent and almost named some guys (ahem, Reggie Evans) but stopped himself
• "We have to find a way to get better. We have who we have here. We can't go out and say we'll just wait until we get Dennis Rodman."
• Gentry went to the - if everyone just finds a way to grab one more rebound we will be good - card
• Gentry is not interested in using the zone more. He doesn't like to use the zone and thinks they need to be good in man-to-man. The Lakers series was basically a fluke
•  Gentry wouldn't say for sure if he would keep Warrick in the starting lineup. "Maybe," he said
• "We're going to try people until we're able to rebound the basketball," Gentry said about the rotation tinkering with guys like Barron or Clark
• .Robin is coming along but won't be rushed back but he will help with the rebounding when he gets back. "He's averaging almost five rebounds in 17 minutes. If we can keep him on the floor for 28 or 32 minutes, possibility that could be a big help in that area."
•  Gentry wouldn't give a timeline for his return but he did warn that even when he gets back it will take him two or three weeks to get back into game shape

Gani Lawal Impresses In D-League But Inconsistency Still An Issue - SB Nation Arizona
Gani Lawal is already halfway through his ten-game trip to Iowa, and the results have been erratic, to say the least. His back-to-back set against Tulsa over the weekend could not possibly have had two more contrasting outcomes.

 

Don't forget the Suns Tweetup on Dec 10. It will be very cool

Join me, @JaredDudley619, at the 3rd Annual @PhoenixSunsTweetup on Friday, December 10! With this special offer, you'll get:

• Early entry into @USAirwaysCenter to watch the Suns warm up
• A discount on "Twitter Tailgate" dinner & drink specials
• An exclusive #SunsTweetup t-shirt (VOTE NOW!)
• Group seating, so you'll be with your fellow tweeps
• Twitter contests & prizes throughout the night
• A special performance by the Dial @DancingDads
• Social media snacks from @popchipsaz
• A private postgame Q&A with me, @JaredDudley619!

 

Example of ball watching and getting out-worked for a rebound by J.R. Smith of all people.

1) The shot goes up from the far corner. All Five Suns are in good rebounding position around the rim. Well, four Suns. Hedo is side-by-side with Nene but that's not the issue. Take note of the Nuggets player way up at the top of the arc. Note where he appears to be headed.

2) Here the ball has bounced off the rim and is about to come down. Three Suns are staring up at it. Warrick seems poised to leap. Nene (and Hedo) have retreated to the other end. But there's J.R. Smith somehow getting closer to the ball.

3) And of course you already know that Smith leaped past Warrick to get the put back and foul. Now granted, it was a great hustle play by Smith (weird) but the Suns can't exactly blame being small for this extra 3 points. If a Suns player would have noted Smith flying in, it would have been easy enough to box him out. But when everyone is staring up at the ball, this is what happens.