A Devil of an Idea

This is what I imagine the Suns’ whiteboard may have looked like this morning.

That was, of course, inspired by the infamous Fail Blog, which I highly recommend reading after watching the Suns lose yet another “must win” game. Somehow, seeing other people embarrass themselves in grandiose fashion makes me feel much better about my team all but eliminating themselves from the playoffs last night.

The nice part of this debacle, though, is the plethora of good posts around here on Fanster today mourning the demise of 7SOL, pondering what to do next, and looking at the many silver linings of not making the playoffs. In one of those, Ben asks ““what happened?”, and bemoans the idea that fans have now turned on the players to the point it’s even been suggested on some fan boards to bring Steve Nash off the bench. I tried to respond with a simple comment, and immediately learned that I am incapable of writing about this disaster of a season using fewer than 1000 words. Hence, I am cracking open my first post at the Fanster Suns Community by playing devil’s advocate for a moment. Yup, that’s right - the devil made me do it.

I’m going to preface all of this by saying that I am most definitely in the pro-Nash camp. It’s entirely fair to say that I probably wouldn’t be watching the NBA at all were it not for Nash and the run-and-fun style of the pre-Shaq, 7 Seconds or Less Suns. I’m one of those “evil” bandwagon fans who’s been more than a little resisistent to the change from Nash running the show into a more conventional, half-court style–and it goes beyond just the win/loss record. But there comes a point where it’s clear that the past is the past, and it’s time to move on. It sure does look like that’s where the Suns are now.

For reasons I still don’t understand, the 2008-09 Suns never developed that “I’ve got your back” mentality. Part of that is simply the make up of the personnel. No coach or system on earth could turn a starting lineup of Nash, Amare, JRich, and Shaq into ace defensive stoppers, and the Suns got off on the wrong foot from the get-go this season by trying to make that happen. The previous encarnations of the 7SOL Suns didn’t exactly set the world on fire defensively either, but at least you got the feeling they enjoyed being on the floor together, and that they gave it their best shot almost every time they played. I think that’s because D’Antoni’s system focused on maximizing each player’s strengths, while marginalizing as much as possible each player’s weaknesses. He also had players who fit his system perfectly. Happy with his role or not, Shawn Marion was the perfect compliment to Nash’s main weakness and vice-versa. The two had kind of a symbiotic co-existence on the floor. Ditto for Nash and Raja Bell. Nash and Shaq? Not so much. I fully get why that is the case on the defensive end of the floor. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why these two couldn’t get it together on offense.

For a brief moment during last night’s game, we caught a glimpse of what Nash+Shaq on offense could have been. They paired up several times in a row, and it was starting to look like the Suns might break away. Then, Nash made one of his typical “fancy Nash passes”, Shaq fumbled it, and that was that.

I’ve never met either man in person, so this is just a guess, but I’m beginning to think these two have such a completely different philosophy on what a basketball team should be that it will never EVER work as long as they’re both in the same lineup. Shaq believes (not without some justification, especially with Amare out), that the Suns would win more games if the ball went to Shaq first every trip down the floor. Nash believes (again, not without some justification) that the Suns would win more games if he is able to get everyone involved equally. Both are perfectly sound philosophies as long as everybody buys in. That didn’t happen, not under Porter, and not under Gentry.

…which brings me to the “Nash off the bench” idea. When I first read that on the AZCentral message boards, I wanted to scream, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, THAT’S THE MOST RIDICULOUS IDEA I’VE EVER HEARD!!!”. As a Nash fan, I still don’t like the idea. It makes me want to cover my head in shame that anyone who has watched Nash spill his guts on the floor night in, night out for this team the past few years would even suggest it. It makes me want to launch into a long Bill Simmons-esque rant about fan ingratitude, rule book injustices, and silly, stupid, ego-driven childishness by other players on the team that I think has contributed far more to the present situation than any deficiency of Nash. However, if I set my Nash fandom aside for a moment, and try to look at it as though I were a cold-blooded, outside observer whose only agenda is trying to make Nash and Shaq co-exist on the same team, I do see the merits of making Nash the 6th man, assuming the Suns keep both Nash and Shaq next season (and especially if they lose Amare). Here’s why:

Nash’s greatest gift is the ability to make players who are virtually unknown look like superstars. See the Amareless 2005-06 Suns for 90+ examples. Our bench would likely ROCK with Nash setting them all up for easy buckets. The NBA would have to rename the 6th Man of the Year award the “Steve Nash Trophy”. Plus–especially if it was Nash’s idea–this could be exactly the kind of selfless example that might finally get all these guys back on the same page again (similar to how Manu Ginobili’s willingness to come off the bench sets a tone of unselfishness for the Spurs).

Shaq’s greatest gift is to absolutely dominate the paint, and be the “go-to” guy on offense. He doesn’t need a Nash-like point guard on the floor to get everyone the ball. He’s perfectly capable of setting up teammates himself. He just needs someone who can make the simple pass inside, then defend the heck out of the other team’s guard. Having Nash in that role is (a) impossible on defense, and (b) a complete waste of his talents on offense.

Which brings me to Barbosa. This guy REALLY needs to start. It’s beyond time. But he’s too small to start at the “2″ against a lot of teams, and he’s not a good enough ball handler or decision maker to run a Nash-like offense. He is, however, really starting to blossom as a defender–and he can handle simple assignments on offense like “pass the ball to Shaq”. He’s exactly what the Suns need to play Shaq-ball. With Shaq running the half-court style in the starting lineup, and Nash doing his run-and-gun thing with the bench, the Suns might finally have a solution–albeit an unpopular one–to that nagging “backup point guard” problem.

Personally, I wish Shaq-ball had never happened. I’d undo that trade in a heartbeat if I could (ideally, in favor of, you know, a player who actually fit with the rest of the team!). Do I think the idea of putting Nash on the bench stinks to high heaven, and offends my personal sense of all that is good in the world? Yup.  Am I in favor of doing it anyway? Not really. But I do at least understand where it’s coming from, and it doesn’t have to be just about fan disloyalty. It certainly appears that 7SOL has run its course, at least as long as Shaq is on the team. So the Suns can either trade Shaq, trade Nash, continue attempts to make them happily co-exist, or try having one of them come off the bench. Given the um…egos involved, I’m thinking Nash might be the more willing of the two to give it a try.

All of which is probably moot since, in my irrational, post-Epic-Fail-witnessing state of mind, I’m having serious doubts that either player will be wearing a Suns uniform next season. (The devil made me say that too).

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