Phoenix Suns Preview: Brights Side of the Sun

by Jeff Clark on Oct 29, 2007 10:16 AM EDT in NBA Previews Comment 1 comment

Phoenix Suns: Bright Side of the Sun

Well, here it is: The first annual Bright Side of the Sun community-wide season preview of our favorite NBA team. Before we begin, a special thanks goes to readers sunofa, JSun, and Apricot who contributed their own previews in the diaries. I would also like to thank everyone who voted in the poll. I shall now attempt to compile excerpts from everyone's contributions along with my own, and with any luck, we'll end up with something that's a fair representation of the community's thoughts about the upcoming season. Here goes!

Last Season's Record: 61-21
Key Losses: Kurt Thomas, James Jones, Pat Burke
Key Additions: Grant Hill, Alando Tucker, D.J. Strawberry, Brian Skinner

What significant moves were made during the offseason?

TexSUN: The offseason got off to a rocky start when the Atlanta Hawks beat the odds and got to keep their first round pick. That pick would have gone to the Suns (as part of the Joe Johnson sign-and-trade in 2005) had it fallen outside of the top three. With hopes of landing a top-10 pick scuttled, the Suns' focus shifted to Plans B and C--righting the financial ship, and picking up the best talent available within their budget. That led to the unpopular disposal of the 24th pick for cash, followed by the even more unpopular disposal of Kurt Thomas, along with two more first round picks, in an effort to bring the Suns' payroll within shouting distance of the luxury tax threshold. But, it also brought the popular acquisition of Grant Hill at a bargain price, and he should be a major upgrade over James Jones who was sent to Portland in another cost-savings move. Plus, the Suns picked up two promising rookies in Alando Tucker and D.J. Strawberry, as well as Brian Skinner's veteran presence to help fill some of the void left by Kurt Thomas. Along the way, the Suns near-missed on a deal to acquire Kevin Garnett, and got turned down (for now) by P.J. Brown. Overall, the offseason moves should help the Suns offensively, probably hurt them defensively, help a ton financially, and bring in some youth for the future.

sunofa: All in all, it was a pretty low-key offseason for the Suns. They pulled in Grant Hill, who provides more leadership and experience, as well as a still accurate shot and great basketball IQ. If he can stay healthy, he could be the piece to get this team over the hump. Alando Tucker and DJ Strawberry are both great grabs, especially for their position. Unfortunately, they will never feel the warm light of day until 2009. I think pretty much every Suns fan was distraught when they got rid of Thomas, but half of us expected it was some sort of set-up move for a Garnett deal. No dice. It may work out best in the end, though.
[Read sunofa's complete preview here]

JSun: The biggest potential upgrade on the table involved dealing away Marion. Although I really wanted to see AK-47 in a Suns uniform because I have an undying respect for a man who's not afraid to show his emotions (can you imagine what would happen if his dog died - or, heaven forbid, something important? crying over a freakin' basketball game?), deep down I'm very happy that Shawn's still on the team. He was the one guy who kept me interested in the Suns during the Dark Years before Nash's return.
[Read JSun's complete preview here]

Apricot: The biggest move during the offseason was signing Grant Hill. He will be a great asset to the team with his playmaking skills.
[Read Apricot's complete preview here]

What are the team's biggest strengths?

TexSUN: The most obvious answers are Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni, whose three-year collaboration has produced the most efficient, highest-scoring offense in the league, not to mention the most fun to watch. Other possible answers are: Amare Stoudemire's presence inside, Shawn Marion's presence everywhere, Leandro Barbosa's speed, Raja Bell's toughness, and Grant Hill's experience and overall greatness. But I think the biggest thing the Suns have going for them is their resilience. Despite all the reports of chemistry issues and what not, when it's game time, these guys put all of that other stuff aside, and just come to play.

sunofa: This team has redefined offensive strategy in the NBA. Their biggest strength is their offensive versatility and incomparable motor. Their time of possession lengthened somewhat last season, but they were still third. With Nash at the helm, defenses get overrun with the constant rush of big athletic players rushing downcourt at breakneck speed. Amare Stoudemire returned last season to even better form than before his micro-fracture surgery. Shawn Marion continued to put up huge numbers and operates as a pivotal cog in the offense. Raja Bell and Barbosa both stepped up their games, becoming even more weapons that opponents have to be wary of. This season, the strategy seems to be "better, faster, harder, stronger."
[Read sunofa's complete preview here]

Apricot: Phoenix's biggest strengths will be Brian Skinner's defense and rebounding. The team overall has a better bench than last year.
[Read Apricot's complete preview here]

What are the team's biggest weaknesses?

TexSUN: Again, there's an obvious answer here: Defense. The Suns will have to find a way to patch the gaping hole left by Kurt Thomas' departure. But Thomas aside, the biggest problem the Suns had on defense last year wasn't keeping the other team from making a shot. It was keeping the other team from rebounding the miss and making a second (or third, or fourth) attempt. The Suns are never going to be a great rebounding team because they are usually out-sized. But if they can find a way to lessen the discrepancy even a little, it would go a long way toward curing the perception they are a terrible defensive team.

sunofa: It's obviously defensive ability down-low. While Raja Bell can hang with the best guards, even the Black Mamba, and Marion can handle any small forward capably, the Suns cannot bang down low. They have no offensive rebounder to speak of, they give up too many offensive boards on the flip side. Boris Diaw took a huge step back last season and has to come back hard this season if the Suns are going to matchup with the bigs in the West.
[Read sunofa's complete preview here]

JSun: I would like to see some more intensity on the offensive glass, but I'm willing to accept incremental improvement and the defensive glass is more important. The other teams are going to miss a lot of shots (at least half) and the Suns cannot let them get a second chance. When the Suns clean up the defensive glass they're nearly impossible to beat.
[Read JSun's complete preview here]

Apricot: One of the Suns' biggest weakeness is continuing to have a great team chemistry. The group needs to continue to work on this and not let petty differences get in their way of going deep into the playoffs. They also need to figure out a way to get past Dallas and/or San Antonio in the playoffs.
[Read Apricot's complete preview here]

What are the goals for this team?

TexSUN: To win a championship, and have fun while doing it.

sunofa: A Championship. D'Antoni can talk about not concentrating on that, and that's a good mindset, but in reality, that's the only thing left for this team.
[Read sunofa's complete preview here]

JSun: To create reliable bench players. I'm not sure how this is done, but if someone is needed for ten minutes in a playoff game, the Suns need to get someone in there that can contribute - at least a little. This means developing them during the season.
[Read JSun's complete preview here]

Apricot: Their goal is to of course get to the NBA finals and win a championship!
[Read Apricot's complete preview here]

How will the Suns finish the regular season?

TexSUN: 60-22
sunofa: 63-19
Apricot: 59-23
Poll Result: 60-64 wins

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This team won’t win a championship. They lack leadership and versatility.

By versatility I mainly mean the ability to put a second big man on the floor, who can play interior D and rebound, for extended minutes to better match up with several of the teams they are going to have to go through.

By leadership I mean on the floor and mainly on the bench. Mike D’Antoni while being a fantastic head coach …. well he gets tense and overly emotional during the playoffs. And it carries itself onto the floor and into the players. You see guys like Eddie House really struggle to play the Suns freewheeling style because D’Antoni is jumping up and down and yanking him out of the game when he makes a mistake. Of the starters it affects Shawn Marion more than anyone. Another sign of the lack of leadership from the coaches is Steve Nash. Once the playoffs start, D’Antoni reduces the ball movement and wants Nash to make every play possible. This has three affects (1) The obvious, it tires Nash (2) It makes the half court offense very predictable. But since Nash is so good at it, it’s still effective (3) It hurts the confidence of other players but most importantly it hurts their rhythm. Guys like Marion and Diaw really struggle to stay active offensively without touches, like most do. Last season in the playoffs the Suns (outside of Nash) made less plays than ever before. The ball movement in the playoffs has declined each year under D’Antoni. They’ve also slowed the offense each year, especially in the playoffs, despite his protests to push it more. D’Antoni needs to behave with a bit more assureness and more importantly he needs to show belief in his players (the guys not named Nash), they are just way too tense and frightened of mistakes.

But it’s not just the coaching staff that aren’t providing enough leadership. The guys on the floor have to step up. Too often it’s left to Nash or Bell to stand up. None of the other guys are comfortable doing it, especially in big moments. Marion is to self-important unfortunately. Amare is still a bit green, particularly on the defensive end. Those two guys are your defensive anchors becaue they will most likely be guarding the interior players and they aren’t talkers. They aren’t people that will come up and give advice on covering perimeter guys. They don’t talk …. D’Antoni likes the players decide what defense to play and as a result of the big men not knowing their trade they are normally slow to react and give up 1-2-3 baskets more than they should have before they switch the defensive coverage (when to double, traps, all that). Unfortunately when players get lost on the court (Marion) or on defense (Amare) it’s left to too few guys to call them on it and get their heads back in the game. Nash was shouting at people all season long, it was because he had too. Championship teams don’t have one leader or two. They have five or six guys willing to talk and act with poise in big moments. Suns don’t have that.

Phoenix were really unlucky with the Atlanta pick. They should have been desperately shopping it in order to get Joakim Noah. He’d be the perfect fit for this team and would have given it a great shot of winning a title, plus him and Amare for 8-10 years would have been downright evil. Should have called Chicago given up the Hawks pick, Suns pick, future pick, money and whatever else was needed to get it done. He was too important too perfect a fit to let go of without a fight. But ….. rookie GM who was still getting aclimated to his office ….

Suns will put up a great regular season record but San Antonio, Utah, Houston, Denver all match up really well with this team. They’ll get beaten on every game and they won’t be able to handle it through three series’ to get to the finals. Kerr just wasted a season.

by Who on Oct 30, 2007 7:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs