Swagger of the Week is a new weekly article that I will be writing. Each week, I will pick a player who has embodied the essence of swagger. You all know what swagger is when you see it. Those who possess it have an aura of invincibility around them. They cannot be touched, only they can touch you. It is the air of supreme confidence in one's own self. It is about talking the talk and walking the walk. Swagger applies to all facets of life, but when it comes to sports, swagger is what makes people into superstars. Sure, it can be taken as egotism, unneccessary bravado, and arrogance. But for me, its all about seizing the moment, being the leader, the alpha. For most people, swagger can be a fleeting moment of time in which you are in the zone, and as soon as it came, it can dissappear into thin air. You can hit that game-winning shot, or make a big hit and you will be the man for a few minutes or a few days. There are few that can harness that high level of play over a long period of time. Those that can are larger than life. So always strive for that swagger, ladies and gentlemen. Now onto the Swagger of the Week.
This weeks award goes to Dwyane Wade. Over the course of the 4 games he has played in the last week, he has put up gaudy averages of 56.3% shooting, 35.3 pts, 5.3 reb, 10.0 ast, 1 stl, 1.3 blk. Now that is playing ball with swagger. His game is just on point right now. This includes a game in which he scored a career high 50 points. However, the Heat lost that game. One writer wrote that if it was Kobe the media wouldve been all over him for scoring 50 of the teams 99 points in a loss and questioned why Wade was getting a free pass. That loss was anyone but Dwyane Wade's fault. Wade went 17 of 30 (56.6%) on his way to 50 points. The rest of the team shot 20 of 59 (34%) for 49 points. That is atrocious. Also, there is no question that Kobe's supporting cast makes Wade's supporting cast look like a bunch of D-leaguers. Props to you Dwyane, your swagger is ridiculous.
I knew Steve Nash was going to be out for the Suns-Lakers game, so I also pretty much assumed that the Suns were going to lose. But you know what? I hate to say it, but we would not have won that game even with Nash. Our defense was non-existent as we gave up 132 points to the Lakers. Now that Raja Bell is gone, I dont see one person on that squad who can guard Kobe except for maybe Grant Hill, who doesnt have the quickness to stop him. I'm worried about Grant Hill, his game has really fallen off ever since Terry Porter left. You can say all you want about Stoudemire's lack of a defensive presence, but we missed him tonight and we are going to miss him all season. Alvin Gentry is really going to have his work cut out for him to get things somewhat shored up on the defensive end. We really need Shaq to step it up on the boards, too. He has only had double digit rebounds in one of his last seven games.
I do like the idea of resting Nash as he has an ailing shoulder, ankle, back, everything. I'm just not sure how many more losses we can take. We really need to take down the visiting Raptors tonight. We will have the Lakers again on Sunday and then a brutal road trip. The Suns are 2 games out of the playoffs, Utah is getting healthy and are starting to get hot, the Mavericks are getting Jason Terry back soon. The one team I can see falling off is the Portland Trailblazers so I th
ink we still have a good chance. At some point the Suns are going to have to start beating contenders to keep their confidence.
One thing that I have liked has been the improved play of Goran Dragic under Alvin Gentry. The system doesn't hurt, but it is so important to instill confidence early in a young, foreign player like him. He still makes way too many turnovers though. I like his defense. When I went to a game in Phoenix against the Heat (Marion's first return to Phoenix), the first thing I noticed about him was his freakishly long arms. He is 6'-4" tall with a 6'-7" wingspan. Length goes a long way in the NBA game and that will serve to benefit him throughout his career. I look forward to seeing him develop. I know that Steve Kerr is going to do everything he can to sign Nash to an extension so that he can continue to mentor Dragic.
I am looking forward to seeing how the Suns roadtrip goes. Lets get some wins!
Alvin Gentry's debut as a Phoenix Suns coach was about as good as you can draw it up, historically good as it was the largest margin of victory in league history for a coaching debut. Granted, it was against a banged up Clippers team. The Clippers are comically bad, and it is beyond me that Dunleavy is still allowed into their building. Their team looks insanely good on paper. When healthy, their starting 5 would be Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Camby, and Kaman. They have decent role players in Mardy Collins, Skinner and could have Randolph coming off the bench. There is no reason that they couldnt be more competitive. Clippers fans better be praying they get that #1 and the rights to Blake Griffin. That would be huge and I think it would change that team. They HAVE to move Randolph. Buy him out or something, hes a cancer.
Back to the Suns. They go back to running and looked really good. I'm excited to see how J-Rich will fit in when he plays tonight. Looking back, when Steve Kerr labeled Nash as "untouchable," that was a very telling sign that Terry Porter was on his way out. Nash had struggled with Porter's system and was fairly vocal about these struggles. By saying he wants to ink Nash to an extension in the summer, Kerr was going to have to keep him happy, goodbye Porter.
I can't blame Steve Kerr for trying to institute a defensive-oriented, half-court offense. Defense obviously wins championships. The problem was the personnel and the timing. The only player on the Suns roster you could try to label as defense-first would be Amundson and maybe Shaq. Kerr wanted to follow the Spurs model, the only problem was that the Suns don't have anyone that resembles Tim Duncan, possibly the greatest power forward of all time and they dont have Popovich, one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. The second problem was that they didn't have time. The recession has thrown all long-term plans out the window that don't involve cutting costs. Kerr and Sarver need to put people in the seats during this time. A move back to the run-and-gun offense is brilliant from a financial point of view. It will energize the fan base and the games will start selling out again. On top of that, it will get new fans and increase jersey and merchandise sales. Making the playoffs is a large financial incentive so they can sell expensive playoff tickets. Finally, getting the season ticket holders back next year is incredibly important. Trading Stoudemire wont matter if you're not bringing fans back and making guaranteed revenue.
This weeks schedule is a breeze with another game in LA against the Clippers and a game against the Thunder. After that things ratchet up with 9 of 11 games against playoff contenders: Boston, home and home vs. Lakers, @ Orlando, @ Miami, @ Houston, @ San Antonio, Dallas, and Cleveland. We will definitely know if the Suns are going to be back and competitive by the end of this stretch.
Photo from AP Photo/Matt York
Anyone following basketball knows that the Suns are willing to trade anyone except for Steve Nash. Multiple different articles written on various sports news websites have stated various reasons why: bad team chemistry, lack of defensive effort from Stoudemire, no draft picks, and the need to get under luxury tax are the primary concerns. As with most things in business and sports, this is all about the money. With the country sinking deeper into recession, there is no doubt that Sarver is feeling the pinch and desperately wants to dump salary. He has made his money in banking and real estate, and I would be very surprised if he has not lost a significant amount of money over the last year or so. I am fearing a fire sale may be in the future.
I think it would be madness to trade Stoudemire at 26 years old. It would be so backwards to keep Shaq's $21 million dollar salary. Also, Shaq's contract comes off the books next year, so why not just wait until then to be under the luxury tax? It makes you wonder about Sarver's financial situation when he cant take another luxury tax hit. The only thing that I can think of is that Kerr's "master plan" is to dump a huge chunk of salary by getting rid of Shaq and Stoudemire, making a move for a big-name free agent in 2010, and getting everything else through the draft i.e. long-term rebuild. Maybe the Suns are throwing in the towel and have just accepted that they cant compete with the Laker and Spurs and figure they can just rebuild and be primed for a title when the Lakers and Spurs have all aged. The main problem is that we are way behind the curve of acquiring young talent. The new generation of NBA superstars is budding, we have none of these future greats.
You have to wonder if Amare is just too demanding of all the attention. There are a lot of fiery competitors and intense personalities on this team. The perception is more and more that Amare will opt out to test free agency after next season. Kerr has to be thinking that we have get what you can for him now instead of letting him walk for nothing. He still cant shut it down on D, though he did play well in the win against Detroit.
So theres a lot of speculation out there. I am surprised that Kerr has such a short-term memory. We played so well last year and just had yet another gut-wrenching early exit from the playoffs at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. I think we need to keep it together and see what can come of it. The Suns roster is so deep with talent. If Amundson can continue to elevate his game then maybe that can neutralize our poor pick-and-roll defense that San Antonio killed us on last year in the playoffs. We have got to get that swagger back.
I think the game against Cleveland on Wednesday will be the most important game of the season for us. We have not played well against top-tier teams. If we can win, then I think it would be a HUGE statement win. If we lose, it may be the straw that broke the camel's back.
