Yardbarker: Brian Skinner

When free agency dust settles will Suns be left holding the bag?

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:50:24 -0500

In recent seasons the Suns have tried to sign John Salmons, Joe Johnson, Chris Duhon, Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue. A grand total of zero of them have wound up on their roster. Instead they choose to head to basketball meccas such as Sacramento, Atlanta, New York, Orlando, and Milwaukee. I never thought I'd see a day when [...]

Video - Jack, Skinner ejected in Phoenix

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:59:26 -0500

We're still trying to figure out why referee Steve Javie and his crew tossed both Jarret Jack and Brian Skinner for this little confrontation.

Phoenix Trade Mirage

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:04:48 -0500

We've already seen this current formula the Phoenix Suns have prior to the Shaq Trade. It's an exciting tempo style with sexy scoring averages, and quite frankly the funnest track meet the regular season has to offer (p.s. if 'funnest' can't be a real word, then I don't want to ever use real words… ever). But when it matters, it's not enough. The other elite Western teams know how to ratchet it up to play 'Suns' ball when they are in must win, Playoff games, or more accurately they can make the Suns slow down, but can the Suns play slow it down ball? Looking at the pre-Shaq roster, one has to wonder how many versatile swingmen does one team need? If you ask John Paxson or Isaiah Thomas, they think you need somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 dynamic wings. But if Steve Kerr wants to field a Championship Western Conference team, then he is probably going to need to use one of his starter potential wings to go get someone aside from Brian Skinner to join Amare in the front court. Otherwise, Amare will be very lonely in the Post-Season efforts to defend teams that can throw: Bynum and Gasol, Chandler and West, Boozer and Okur, Yao and Scola, Camby and Martin and Nene, Duncan and Bonner/Elson, or even Harrington/Biedrins and Webber. And Nash will be very obligated to use transition ALL the time as the equalizer. So if Phoenix offers Grant Hill or Boris Diaw in a trade, what could that fetch? Oh, nothing remotely relevant? Okay, what if they offer the SF that they're losing at the end of the year anyway? Look, Shaq might not be an MVP anymore, he definitely won't be able to average the Mike D'Antoni mandated 52 minutes per game from his current starters, he won't run the floor with Marion-like speed after every defensive stop, and he won't be able to replicate the NBA's worst shooting form that the Matrix so proudly boasts (Now that Juwan Howard no longer carries the torch that Reggie Miller held for so long), but he what he will do in his pivot dominating style is get them over the hump. Nash doesn't need all 4 guys on the court to finish a fast break and maintain the pace of play advantage over Dallas, Utah, New Orleans, Golden State, San Antonio, Portland, Houston, Los Angeles or Denver. But now they have the option of dumping the ball to Shaq for a 2-man game in the post with Amare. Grind it out is a splendid option when you have the games most prolific foul drawer (Free Throw deficiencies be damned). Matter of fact, having ANYTHING as a second option is better than using Really Fast as your change of pace from Really Fast.

Suns thinking short hair, when they should be thinking long...

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:46:57 -0500

Just finished watching the Suns v. Lakers, and it was obvious that this game meant everything to the Suns. If it wasn't obvious in the two losses they had at the hands of the Lakers, it was ever so clear in a win over L.A. . While the Lakers went deep into their bench the entire game, playing everyone available but Coby Karl, Mike D'Antoni only played 7 guys. Seven guys. As if it were Game 7 of the NBA Finals (Oops. This is the Suns right? I meant Western Conference Finals). The end result was a win, yes, but pay attention to the game within the game, and what you really saw, was a scared PHX team needing to prove they could beat the Lakers. Mind you, a Laker team fresh into recovering from Andrew Bynum's injury. But most important, regardless of the score, you saw a Laker team sticking up for one of it's own. Missing bunnies, turning the ball over and getting outrebounded, Kwame Brown received heavy boos from the home crowd, especially after missing an easy dunk. How did his teammates react? By giving him the ball right back the next time down the floor. He turned the ball over, and they tried yet again. Even Kobe... during the boos! Kobe, who just a couple of days ago remarked how the Lakers are a Championship team with Bynum in the lineup. A comment that could easily be read as, "we're not contenders with Kwame." It is this that shows the growing maturity of the Lakers under Phil, led by Kobe. The crowd be damned, the Lakers showed Kwame, that he has a role on the team, and they are going to need him, no matter what the fans say, THEY believe in him. They showed us what a team was in that 3 minute stretch of the game. No matter the score. While getting off to a hot start, Kobe played "passive" (painstakingly) for much of the 2nd, and 3rd quarters, with Phil letting the subs play for long stretches, and for much of the 4th quarter. Though they didn't pull out the win, L.A. fought back to make it interesting. The second unit is learning to deal with the adversity. Adversity that comes with coming back from with deficits. Adversity that comes with overcoming sloppy play or poor shooting. Adversity of learning to play without one of your main guys. This has been the Suns problem. Continually playing only 7-8 guys, thier bench can't be ready to play in that fast paced style of play, cold off the bench. The bench can't learn to deal with adversity, or pressure, or without their star. The bench can't see the floor when PHX has a 20 point lead to start the 4th quarter. Instead, Mike D'Antoni brings Nash (who he humorously called the "games best player" at halftime) back onto the floor after a short break to protect a lead, when it seems like it might slip away. They protected their all so important win over L.A., they won back their Pacific Division and Western Conference lead. They can treat game 39 of the regular season like it's Game 7 of the Finals, because it's that very trait of theirs to play only 7 players, and fight and claw to beat an injured Laker team, that has them watching the Finals in June. So go ahead Mike. Keep your bench unprepared and keep your starters in the floor as much as possible. Keep thinking short hair, when you should be thinking long. Your win tonight meant nothing. The Lakers learned more about themselves tonight in defeat, then your team could in victory.

How to improve the bench?

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:17:48 -0500

A look at the Suns @ Clippers game, and the Suns' bench which could use a tune up.

The Suns are the Real Defending Champions of the NBA

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:21:45 -0500

The internet is dominated by short and very short articles, but my full game reports are extremely long, averaging about 4500 words these days. I know some people will never have the time to read articles that long. Short articles on extremely important topics are great for fans without a lot of time to check out and to give their opinion on. So from now on, as time permits, I will extract very important parts of game reports and post them as separate reports. The Phoenix Suns would be the defending Champions of the NBA were it not for what was apparently a taunting ploy done by ace actor Robert Horry of the Spurs in last spring's Suns-Spurs series. Horry flagrantly fouled Suns all-star PG Steve Nash in such a way that the Suns thought he might be injured and removed from the series. Then the resulting potential fight situation induced Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire to leave their seats on the Phoenix bench and to come on to the court a few feet. Then these two players were not allowed to play in the next game of the evenly matched and fiercely competitive series, which was up until then the best playoff series of the year. Horry, of course, was also suspended, but Horry was maybe 15% of the combined value of Diaw and Stoudemire. So San Antonio then had a major artificial edge in the next game, which was in Phoenix and which was game 5 of a best of 7 series that was tied 2 games a piece. As sports fanatics will tell you, game 5 of a best of 7 series that is tied 2 games a piece is usually the most important game of the series, because the team that loses that game would have to win two straight after that in order to win the series, which is extremely difficult when you have two evenly matched teams. Sure enough, the Spurs won game 5, with a huge 4th quarter comeback against the Suns, who had been reduced by that quarter from being the best offensive squad in basketball to being offensively challenged. The Spurs prefer to grind out their wins and, once Diaw and Stoudemire were removed from the scene, that is exactly what they were able to do without too much trouble in that decisive game 5. Then in game 6 back in San Antonio, the Spurs used the "6th man," their crowd, and the home court advantage in general, to get their shooting mojo on, and they eliminated the cheated Suns 114-105. There was to be no glorious game 7 due to what could be called the "Horry and Stern incident." For anyone who doesn't know, David Stern is the Commissioner of the NBA, who threw the book at the Suns and was very sarcastic toward the Suns and their fans to boot. Stern had to cancel his planned trip to Phoenix to watch game five, for fear that his mere presence might ruin the whole atmosphere and possibly be a security risk. Horry and the Spurs won yet another Championship, which was almost meaningless since he and they already had several, and because of the virtual or actual cheating. And Horry's flagrant foul led to the partial ruination of the 2008 playoffs. Many, many folks in Phoenix will always believe that the foul on Nash was staged to generate suspensions of Suns players and, even if it wasn't, the rule should not have been enforced because Diaw and Stoudemire never went more than about 10 feet on to the court, and because they never came close to other players who were considering whether to fight, and there wasn't actually a fight anyway. Still others think that the rule is completely asinine and should be thrown out completely. They think of it as a free speech type issue: what is the harm of a player coming on to the court as long as he doesn't fight? How do you know that a player coming on to the court might reduce the chance of a fight amongst the players who were out there during the incident, rather than increase the chance? There was speculation after Phoenix was cheated that the rule would be modified but inertia and other bureaucratic and public relations factors made that a long shot and, sure enough, the same relatively stupid rule is still in effect. Once the Suns were eliminated by the Spurs back in San Antonio in game 6, most close NBA observers, including yours truly, concluded that the Spurs could not possibly lose in the West finals or in the NBA Championship. And we also concluded that the Spurs did not really deserve to be the 2008 Champions, because they did not at all defeat the Suns in a fair fight. Whether they actually cheated their way to victory or not, the end result was as if they did cheat. Ratings were down a little, but only a little, because most fans of the NBA are too casual to know in advance, for example, that LeBron James and his Cavaliers had no chance against the Spurs in the best of 7 games Championship. So in my view, the Suns are the real defending Champions of the NBA this year, because I am convinced the Suns would have won the series 4 games to 3, and possibly even 4 games to 2, had the critical 5th game been played in Phoenix without any Suns suspensions. Therefore, I am reporting that the real defending Champion Phoenix Suns buried the Nuggets in Phoenix 137-115.

Suns 19-6 Run Finishes Kings 117-102

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:32:05 -0500

It was good effort for the shorthanded Kings, just lack of execution at the end. Something the Kings have been doing for a while. No Mike Bibby since the beginning of the year, no Kevin Martin for 12 games so far, and now no Ron Artest because of bone chips in his right elbow that could require surgery. With only 10 players on their roster they played good basketball going up against better team. Although they put in good effort with none of their stars, they have gone 0-4 at home after a 3-2 road trip. (Video on link) What do the Suns have to say about the Kings? And is Francisco Garcia better than Kyle Korver this year? Look on the bottom for stat comparisons. Amare Stoudemire and the Suns got off to a good start as he scored 12 points in 6 minutes. Barbosa came off the bench to score 8 points off the bench, but the Kings stayed close through the 1st quarter as John Salmons scored 10 points with Francisco Garcia scoring 9 points. The leading center in assists, Brad Miller with 3 apg, had 4 assists in the quarter. With the Suns leading into the 2nd quarter, Leandro Barbosa and Grant Hill sparked an early surge with Barbosa scoring 12 points in the 2nd quarter and Hill hitting 4 early free throws. The Kings were starting to fall back but they were only down 64-55 by halftime. Mikki Moore was scored 10 points in the half with 5 rebounds (3 off.). Going into the 3rd quarter, the Suns would lead by as much as 14 points. Shawn Marion, who only had 3 points in the in the first half because of foul trouble, lit up for 16 points including 4 three pointers in the quarter. Steve Nash also had 14 assists at that time. John Salmons would help keep the game close finishing with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. In the final quarter, the Kings would make a late surge going on a 10-4 run, but the Suns would answer back with a 19-6 run to finish off the Kings. Francisco Garcia had another great performance against the Suns scoring 30 points, 7 rebounds, an assist and a steal. His career high is 31 points which he scored earlier at Phoenix. Garcia would probably shot more if he didn't have 5 fouls. Mikki Moore had a double double with 20 points, 12 rebounds (7 off.), an assist and a block. Brad Miller had an all around night with 9 points, 7 rebounds and assists each, 2 steals and a block. Beno Udrih had 6 points 4 rebounds and assists each and 1 steal. Swingman Dhantay Jones had a season high 10 points with 6/6 free throws playing 11 minutes. Guard Quincy Douby came off the bench for 4 points, 2 rebounds and assists each, and 2 blocks. The Suns had a great game as usual with Amare Stoudemire as the top performer getting 31 points, 17 rebounds (career high 10 off.), a steal and a block. Steve Nash finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 15 assists and 2 steals. Shawn Marion had 25 points, 4 rebounds (2 off.), a steal and 2 blocks. Leandro Barbosa came off the bench for 22 points, an assist and a steal. Boris Diaw had 4 points rebounds and assists each, with 3 offensive rebounds and a steal. Former King Brian Skinner had 7 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocks. Raja Bell had 11 points 3 rebounds and assists each. Six Suns scored in double figures as they moved up to 22-9. Even they had some good things to say about the Kings. "They were short handed and we took advantage of it," Mike D'Antoni said. "But they played hard and didn't quit." Steve Nash said, "They are a tough team, even with key guys out. (Francisco) Garcia, (Mikki) Moore and (John) Salmons all played great. They made it tough on us." The injury riddled Kings are really struggling as they drop to 11-18 after losing 4 straight. What started this streak, that heartbreaking buzzer beater Linas Kleiza hit to give Denver the win. That followed with losses to the Celtics and Sixers, games they were in at the 4th quarter. Adding to that, they have 4 injured players, 3 from their starting line-up, Without Kevin Martin they are 4-7 and 2-8 without Ron Artest. With Artest, they're 8-10. They're already without Mike Bibby who doesn't come back for 2-3 weeks, the same time Kevin Martin comes back. Artest might be out for a while if he gets elbow surgery to remove bone chips. Shareef Abdur-Rahim is already out for the season because of surgery on his knee. Justin Williams made a rare appearance and has 2 rebounds and a block in 3 minutes. He played better than Spencer Hawes who had 2 rebounds in 7 minutes. This team is not going anywhere right now Martin scores 23 ppg. and Artest scores 20 ppg. and is their best post up scorer. Bibby averaged 13 ppg during the preseason but averaged 21 ppg. in 05-06. A lot of the Kings' scoring is gone. As everyone already knows, this is a rebuiling year, and even though the goal for the team is the playoffs, it's important to develop the team along the way. The organization is doing their best to keep the team together by acquiring new players and developing potential in other players. Mikki Moore has come in as a good post scorer and is starting to understand his place on the team, averaging career highs of 8.3 ppg. and 5.8 rpg. Dhantay Jones signed on the team and brings explosiveness to the basket and defense on small guards. Francisco Garcia had his second 30+ point game and is taking the same route Martin did when Bonzi Wells was injured back in 2005. Cisco is currently having a better season fellow shooter Kyle Korver. That's progress. John Salmons has already stepped up when Artest was absent, and with Cisco on his side in Martin's absence, both continue to develop. Salmons is in his best year by far. For a team who has gone through injuries to their 3 best players on the team, it could be worse. Garcia comparison to Korver this season. Garcia 13.2 ppg. 3.4 rpg. 1.6 apg. 1.2 spg. 0.4 bpg. FG 44.9% 3pt. FG 37.8% Korver 10.0 ppg. 2.9 rpg. 1.3 apg. 0.8 spg. 0.2 bpg. FG 39.6% 3pt. FG 35.2%

Suns shake off rust in 2nd half, Beat Sonics in opener

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:27:55 -0500

The Phoenix Suns (1-0) opened the 2007/08 campaign with a 106-99 win in Seattle in a very entertaining game of basketball at the Key Arena. Suns looked a bit rusty in the first half as too many turnovers and missed 3-point shots allowed a young Sonics team to lead by 3 after two quarters. The Sonics played a lot of zone defense, protecting the paint, effectively taking away the inside game from the Suns as Collinson and Wilcox had very solid games against Diaw, Marion and Stoudemire. Amaré had some foul trouble in the first half allowing Brian Skinner (sporting the worst looking beard ever) to get some minutes and scoring a couple of baskets including an open outside jumper. Suns failed to open the Seattle defense with very poor outside shooting even allowing the Sonics to score too many points off the break.

The Phoenix Suns Have No Shot at the Title

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 06:27:17 -0500

Have you seen the Phoenix Suns play with Marcus Banks at the point instead of Steve Nash? Rigid half-court sets. No fluidity. Just constantly kicking the ball out to the perimeter, hoping somebody knocks down the three. It's terrible. How good would they be if a real playmaker like Sergio Rodriguez or Rajon Rondo was backing up Nash at the point? Nope, those draft picks were sold off for cash in the same draft year. How good would they be if they had Luol Deng, who's bound to be an All-Star this year? Nope, sold off back in 2004. All because Robert Cheapskate Sarver is scared to death of even sniffing the luxury tax. Now this year, they trade Kurt Thomas, their best post defender and the only guy on the team who could even slightly slow down Tim Duncan, and TWO first-round picks for a SECOND-ROUND pick?? Your best player and key to the offense is going on 34 this season, and you give up your next two years' first round picks? I like the Brian Skinner pick-up, but are you counting on Grant Hill, a solid but clearly over-the hill veteran, to take you over the top? Are you hoping the two 6'5" rookie swingmen you didn't sell off in the draft can contain Duncan? I see Chicago and Dallas drafting wisely and developing their young guys. San Antonio is the master of finding talent late in the draft and letting them develop overseas with an eye to the future. I see Houston picking up free agents and trading for players who actually fit their needs (Swift, Battier, Scola). What the hell is Phoenix doing? I could care less if this was happening in New York or Philadelphia. The most infuriating part is that Phoenix should be competing for championships every year. But, unlike some crazy NBA analysts, I never think they have what it takes to beat a Dallas or San Antonio in a seven-game series. The Mavs and the Spurs only need to play a good series to beat Phoenix (which apparently is a lot to ask for one of those teams); Phoenix needs every single thing to go their way. Denver broke the bank to put Allen Iverson next to Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin. Boston broke the bank to put together Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. I'll give Sarver credit for paying for Nash. That was a money move. He gave Amare Stoudemire the extension he deserved, which was an obvious move. He extended Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa (jury's still out on that). But he is killing his team thinking what's he done is enough and can nickel and dime the rest of the way to a championship. Rob, you are not there yet. If they don't win this year, it's not on Nash. It's not on Stoudemire or Shawn Marion. It's not Mike D'Antoni. It's 100% on the shoulders of Robert Sarver, who is quickly building the worst franchise in the league around one of its brightest teams.

Suns win preseason opener 110-99

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:31:21 -0500

The Phoenix Suns (1-0) opened the 2007/08 preseason with a 110-99 win over the Kings (1-1). The Suns started Nash, Bell, Marion and Hill and with both Stoudemire and Skinner out it was Boris Diaw playing almost 37 minutes at center. I suppose once STAT is back this will be the Suns' starting five.

Suns Preview with Paul Coro, Phoenix Suns Insider, for the Arizona Republic

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:25:17 -0500

It's that time of year again. Last night was the first pre-season game for the Phoenix Suns and to follow that up we wanted to delve deep into our AZ Sports Hub Radio Phoenix Suns Pre-Season Preview. We reached out to Paul Coro, Phoenix Suns Insider and Reporter for The Arizona Republic. He writes a fantastic blog Coro's Suns Dish on AZCentral.com. So here we go (listen below):

Season Preview: Phoenix Suns

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:51:22 -0500

Aaron Thuringer explains what is in store for this year's Phoenix Suns...if they don't make any major roster changes, that is.

Suns sign Brian Skinner

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:48:49 -0500

After all the talk, the rumors, last week's auditions not to mention the phone call to P.J., the Suns got their man, or at least a Big man. According to the Arizona Republic today, Suns signed 6-9 center Brian Skinner to a one-year deal for the League veteran's minimum. If Brian will be on the Suns roster on opening day he'll be guaranteed 1.1 million dollars for the 2007/08 season.