Devoted Diaw in better shape

TUCSON - For one intensely watched weekend in July, Boris Diaw served as best man when close friend Tony Parker tied the knot with his bride, “Desperate Housewives” vixen Eva Longoria.

Stoudemire has successful surgery

But Diaw devoted the rest of the summer to becoming the best basketball player he can be – something that often wasn’t the case last year, when his statistics tumbled and his nightly impact in several areas waned.

Diaw admitted he was stung by criticism that he wasn’t in shape and unable to repeat the 2005-06 season when he was the NBA Most Improved Player and averaged 19 points in the postseason. Struggling with painful back problems and finding a comfortable fit once Amarè Stoudemire returned to the Suns, Diaw’s scoring (from 13.3 to 9.7 points), rebounding (from 6.9 to 4.3) and assist (from 6.2 to 4.8) totals all plunged.

One of the heroes of Phoenix’s playoff run two years ago — he averaged 26 points a game against Dallas in the Western Conference finals — Diaw was nearly invisible in the 2007 postseason. That didn’t sit well with a person known for his sunny outward demeanor.

“All summer, I thought about how the season didn’t go as I wanted,” Diaw said. “Wherever I was, basketball always stayed in my head, and I would think about what I could do to improve and get the team better. I took about a month off (after the season). After that, it was time to get going.”

Diaw worked out on his own before Suns trainers Mike Elliott and Erik Phillips joined him in France as he prepared to again star for the French National team, where he played mostly at small forward. The European Championships ended only about 10 days before Diaw showed up in Arizona — ready for workouts.

The physical results are apparent. Diaw looks much more fluid and in control on the floor. His weight stayed about the same (230 pounds), but he reduced his body fat drastically from 13 percent to just over eight percent. That, in concert with core strength exercises designed to increase his explosiveness and power, should go a long way toward alleviating the back problems that cost him nine games and left him limited in many others.

“By the time we got over there, you could tell he was already deep into the workout program and that was huge,” Phillips said. “You could tell by the way his body looked and the stability he had in his hips and the way his muscles were firing that he’d taken things to heart and really dedicated himself.”

The question is, will Diaw have a stronger will to match his sleeker body? A sunny disposition is a great attribute in a friend. But on the basketball floor, it can be a flaw that opponents seek to exploit.

“He’s such a good guy, that he defers a lot. But we don’t want him to defer,” Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. “We need him in whatever role he plays — a starter, off the bench, center, forward — to attack, be really aggressive and be dominant, the way he was two years ago when he was distributing the ball and creating shots.”

The extra strength and endurance will come in handy, because the Suns will ask more of Diaw this season — not unreasonable, since it is also his first of a five-year, $45 million contract extension. He will be the first big man off the bench behind Stoudemire and power forward Shawn Marion and will be expected to once again routinely threaten the triple-double plateau — he had four in 2005-06, but only one last year.

“We should put a lot of responsibility on Boris,” guard Steve Nash said. “He’s a terrifically talented player. We need him to be committed every day and aggressive. We want him to attack and not worry about the outcome.

“Boris struggles with his mentality, with his confidence. (Last year) wasn’t as easy, our chemistry wasn’t as good. I don’t think he was in quite as good shape, but he’s looking good this year and the sky is the limit on how good he can be.”

Diaw’s biggest supporter has been and remains coach Mike D’Antoni, who often answers his player’s critics with pained facial expressions and indignant responses. Offer up a stat that reflects poorly on Diaw, and D’Antoni replies with one that props him back up.

“He didn’t play as well, but the team was different and he was hurting,” D’Antoni said. “He knows what we want from him, to be more aggressive, to work on his shot … but what he does is pretty good, too. Even when I think he might not have played well, I look at the tape and I stop worrying so much.”

D’Antoni’s support has helped Diaw keep his head up.

“When I start to disappoint him, I will be concerned,” Diaw said, “because he’s the guy I need to keep happy.”