by Sam Yang

Created on: May 15, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Steve Nash is the Phoenix Suns. He is the face of the franchise. Although an unlikely one, with the Suns, Nash became an MVP caliber player winning back to back MVP titles. Mark Cuban once said, "I love Steve Nash, but why couldn't he play like that when he was playing for us?" What a quote to ask, and to be frank, the Mavericks did not have Amare Stoudemire, no Boris Diaw, and they did not have Shawn Marion.

Phoenix Suns had Mike D'Antoni for their coach. We have all witnessed what he has done with the Suns and how he made it possible for Steve Nash to become an MVP. His run and gun offense is one the more entertaining spectacles of the NBA for the past 3 years and the Phoenix Suns have made it to the Playoffs for 4 consecutive years. However they have never been able to "get of the hump", as some would say.

We now fast forward to the 2007-2008 NBA Season. With high octane offense, the Phoenix Suns lacked one major aspect in the game of basketball, and that is to play defense. Granted, the Phoenix Suns is the best shooting team in the NBA. They outscore and simply out run their opponents. Under Mike D'Antoni, the offense normally takes a shot within the first 7 seconds of each possession. Fast and entertaining to watch. What happens when their shots to not fall? What happens when Stoudemire and Diaw get into foul trouble?

Simple put, the Suns could not get a defensive stop if their lives depended on it. No disrespect, but in the game of basketball, you need to play on both ends of the floor. Everyone in the NBA can score, that is the main and foremost objective to the game. Yet, defense is the way to win a game. The way to frustrate and grind it out against the opposing teams. You need defensive stops because no team in the NBA can outscore the other team in all 82 games.

Prior to the regular season, Phoenix Suns brought in Steve Kerr. Management hired Kerr to take over Mike D'Antoni's job as General Manager for the Phoenix Suns. Why not? Steve knows how to win, he played with Michael Jordan while with the Chicago Bulls and played for Gregg Popovich along with Tim Duncan for the Spurs. Steve Kerr wanted the one thing that Mike D'Antoni did not do well, and in some days, not at all - play defense.

It is not too hard to ask for a coach to preach defensive. Yet, for D'Antoni, it was an obvious problem. For one thing D'Antoni is too stubborn. Simply put, Mike D'Antoni believes his style of basketball is the "way" to win. This is obviously been proven to be false.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>