Gentry on Off-Season Moves

[Sun Tzu]

Suns.com: What will Turkoglu bring to the club? He’s obviously a very different type of power forward than Amar’e, but has a good all-around game.

 

Gentry: As far as Hedo, he’s such an impact player because he can do so many things. We look at him as a two, three and four. We look at him as a guy that can run screen-and-rolls, and facilitate our offense. We think it will help Steve (Nash) tremendously because we think we can take Steve off the ball and make him a shooter. One of the things we haven’t been able to utilize over the years here is Steve’s ability to be a shooter. If he’s not the best shooter in the league, he’s in the top two or three shooters. We like for him to be the guy off the ball some coming off screens and I think Hedo will allow us to do that.

 

Suns.com: We hear that you’ve been a fan of Childress for a long time. What do you like about his game?

 

Gentry: Well, he’s been talking about coming back from Greece for a while. We knew the situation with him through his agent. There were a lot of teams interested in him and he thought that he’d fit in great with the way we play. He’s more of a slasher/scorer and a real smart player. He’s a tremendous defender. He’ll be one of those guys that we ask to defend Kobe (Bryant), Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade, LeBron (James) and guys like that, and do the best job that he can. But he also just fits in with our guys in the locker room and we’re very fortunate to be able to have him.

 

Suns.com: With a bench of Frye/Dragic/Lopez/Warrick/Childress/Clark, is it possible that this team is deeper than it was a year ago?

 

Gentry: We’ll keep trying to develop that. I do think that it’s important that we be able to play 10 deep because one of the things that we’re going to try to do is pick up on our defense this year, do a good job of guarding the ball and see if our team defense can get better. Obviously, we feel like that’s the key to winning a championship.

 

Suns.com: Nash is known for making players better. How much do you think he will help guys like Warrick, Childress and even Hedo?

 

Gentry: He’s done it with everyone we brought in here. Every single person we brought in here, when they left they’ve been a better player. They pretty much had career stats, really. That’s who Steve is. Warrick as a slasher/roller/finisher, I think you’ll see his stats go up. Hedo will help Steve and I think Steve will help Hedo. I think both of those guys can be ball handlers and facilitators. Hedo had a great year a couple years ago in Orlando, where he made every big shot, so just having him out on the court gives you another ball handler and I think he’ll do a great job.

 

Suns.com: What do you think of how young players such as Earl Clark and Gani Lawal have played thus far in summer league?

 

Gentry: I think they’ve done a good job. Earl is going to have to move the ball a little bit more and I’d like to see more of him as a lockdown defender when he’s playing. Gani is just a young kid that’s learning. I love his energy level and I love the rebounding and the shot blocking that he’s brought to the table out here. I think you’ll see him improve more and more as he learns the pro game. This is what the summer league is for. Those guys get five opportunities to go out and play against pretty doggone good basketball players and see what they can do.

 

Suns.com: Do you expect any more changes in the next couple of months, or do you feel like your roster for 2010-11 is now pretty defined?

 

Gentry: I would never say "this is it," but we’ll just have to see what happens. We like the basis of what we’ve done so far. We think we’ve got a situation where we can go out and compete with almost any team.

 

SUNS: Q&A with Alvin Gentry

[Poe]

As far as Hedo, he’s such an impact player because he can do so many things. We look at him as a two, three and four. We look at him as a guy that can run screen-and-rolls, and facilitate our offense. We think it will help Steve (Nash) tremendously because we think we can take Steve off the ball and make him a shooter. One of the things we haven’t been able to utilize over the years here is Steve’s ability to be a shooter. If he’s not the best shooter in the league, he’s in the top two or three shooters. We like for him to be the guy off the ball some coming off screens and I think Hedo will allow us to do that.

 

 

This was exactly what I was thinking when they made the Hedo acquisition. He's going to have a great year.

 

Likewise, it's going to be interesting to see how Nash handles the off-ball play. I wonder if that will increase his scoring average.

[Check my Stats]

One of the things we haven’t been able to utilize over the years here is Steve’s ability to be a shooter.

 

This is what was interesting to me on this read, if they are serious about playing Nash off the ball some, then bringing in Hedo could really pay off for them. Hedo passing to Nash for the shot would equal more success than Nash passing to Hedo for the shot. Anyways I have no doubt that Hedo will see an increase in his PPG, his efficiency will definitely leave a lot to be desired but due to the extra usage (probably) and definitely more shots, he will definitely gets his points back.

 

I hope for the Suns sake, he comes into camp in shape and ready to go, he can be a difference maker if he is motivated, him waiving his trade kicker to go there is a good sign to start.

 

If the Suns are going to win 55 again this year Nash is going to have to have a HUGE year though.