I'm looking for a little info on your team

[jazzfan1971]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

[NTB]

Coaching situation is perfect. We will continue with the same coaching group.

IMO, we are one of the deepest team in the league. We added Isaiah Thomas (u know him, 20 ppg, 6 apg guy with high energy and he likes to be in Phoenix) which will replace Ish Smith (that upgrade though). And we lost Frye and his stretching abilties BUT we added Tolliver to fix that. Tolliver( % 42) shot with better percantage for Frye (% 38).

Major story line is Bledsoe i think. Will he take his QO which is 3.7 MD and be UFA next summer? or will he join us with 4/48 MD ? When he comes, will he stay healthy? Our success depends on Bledsoe.

If Bledsoe plays AT LEAST 60 games, I see the Suns at 6th spot in Western Conf.

[bigfoot]

Couple of things

1) The Suns are undoubtedly one of the deepest teams in the league.

2) We are going to run a point guard-centric offense with two of Dragic/Bledose/Isiah Thomas on the court at all times. Last year coach Hornacek mentioned averaging 112 pts / game. We hit 105 (#7 in league) with basically a bunch of untested players and a 1st year head coach. A majority of the team is back under the same offensive system and Iwould expect we approach or surpass the 112 mark. Offense will not be problem for this team.

3) Defensively we were in the middle of the pack (15 out of 30 in defensive rating). The big questions marks are we a better defensive team without Channing Frye. Can Markieff Morris, Miles Plumlee, and Alex Len handle the interior defense. Another problem area is lack of rebounding which doesn't look like it has been resolved during this summer's free agency period. The Grizz and other big teams have killed us in the paint and it looks like we will see a similar situation this year. Fortunately, our perimeter defense should be stout with both PJ Tucker and Eric Bledsoe leading the way. Also, I would expect of defense to improve again we had a new coach and new system put into place last year with most players returning.

4) We will be a young team with two rookies (Ennis and Warren), two first year players (Goodwin and Len), and a second year player (Plumlee). Plumlee and Len will most likely split minutes at center. I expect the others will be earning spot minutes. Most of us have high hopes for Warren, who has shown himself to be a high scoring SF in the summer league, and that he will earn some serious playing time by the seasons end. Our weakness is the youth in the frontcourt positions (PF/C).

5) Our record really depends on two things. First the injury situation ... if Bledsoe and Dragic stay healthy we could easy be a 7-8 seed or better in the playoffs. Last year we won 48 games and played close to .500 ball against playoff bound teams and that included missing Bledsoe for half the season. The second is the growth of our young players (Morris Twins, Plumlee, Len, and possibly Warren). The twins and Plumlee were starters or significant bench players last year. If they improve on their performances and stay healthy we could be a 4 seed or better.

Edit: I'm predicting we stay healthy and improve on offense and defense ... 55-27 record.

[bwgood77]

That record may seem high to an outsider, but last year when Bledsoe was healthy we were 23-11, which would project to a 55-27 record.

Obviously we probably surprised some teams last year, so teams may be more prepared for us this year. Also, a lot of teams in the west had injuries to big parts of their teams. Gasol was out for Memphis and they had the best record in the league when he played. OKC missed Westbrook for quite a bit of the season and it took a while to integrate him when he came back. Iguodala missed a bit of time, as did Aldridge and Paul. SA even had some injuries and Parker missed a bit of time.

The only team that seemed relatively healthy in the west last year for the whole season was Houston, and they also lost major pieces this season so they probably take a step back. I also think Portland overachieved to an extent and really fell off in the second half of the season.

New Orleans should be vastly improved with AD playing his third year, a healthy Anderson and Asik. It also took Tyreke Evans a while to fit in last year.

Dallas improved this offseason too by adding Parsons and Chandler. The only weak spot for them is PG, but they now added Jameer Nelson to supplement Felton and Carlisle seems to get the most out of players by putting them in the right position to succeed, so I think they will work pretty well.

So the West could be even tougher this year. It's very tough to predict who will be at the top.

I'd have to guess that if all teams remained healthy all year it would end up something like this.

OKC
SA
Memphis
LAC
GS
DAL
And then I figure it's a dogfight for the last two spots between Houston, Portland, Phoenix and possibly New Orleans.

If Minnesota stays healthy and keep Love, or even make the trade with Chicago, they could be in the mix too since their point differential last year shows they had some bad luck in games, and they missed Budinger, and also saw Dieng come on near the end, so he should improve, and they have some other potentially interesting young guys.

In the east, the teams that I think will finish with better records really also depends on health. Chicago should finish with the best record fairly easily if healthy and Rose is back to form, so I'd put them ahead of us based on that. If Cleveland gets Love, they could finish as high as second (or first if Rose never gets back to himself). If Toronto and Washington continue to improve they could be up there. If Cleveland doesn't get Love and Rose never gets back to form, I could see Washington being the 1 seed in the east f Pierce really gives them that veteran experience and push forward. Who knows what Indiana will do? Charlotte should be better. Oh yeah, forgot about Atlanta. If they are healthy I think they could compete for the top seed.

If I had to rank all teams completely healthy as they are right now I would probably rank them

OKC
SA
MEM
LAC
GS
CHI
DAL
WAS
CLE
TOR
ATL
PHX
POR
HOU
IND
MIA
CHA
NO
MIN
BRK

So that puts us 12th overall, but I think 8-14 are all about the same.

[sunsbum]

super slash bros 3

[aIvin adams]

This season is all about the championship. Ignite the prize.

[NapoleonII]

"Sarver is cheap, everyone knows that."

"Suns don't play defense."

"Two point guards will never work."

"Dragic should be traded to LA/NY/HOU/ATL for overpayed SG or PF/salary filler/second round pick."

"No all-stars, Phoenix should just tank."

are all incredibly true things that you need to know about our team, according to the general board.

[Miklo]

I think bigfoot and bwgood seem to hold some of the same expectations as me, great posts

At the PG spot we could probably at least get on the stage to make an argument for best in the league when you factor in total talent, so a lot of it is a matter of getting a working rotation where that's a deciding factor in games.

We're relying on a lot of youth as others have said, so we could see guys like Plumlee and Len blow up and perform in the paint - or we could see them get dominated inside. And with Len, you have the real risk that he could miss a large number of games with injuries here and there.

Idk, offensively we should be pretty powerful if we can get the pieces working right. Defensively and on the boards we could slide up or down depending on how the young guys step up, but middle of the pack sounds about right. I think we make the playoffs for sure and 55-27 is definitely possible if the above all work out.

[Revived]

Plumlee will be key. If he can't improve and protect the rim and Len can't either, then I doubt we make playoffs.

We surprised a lot of teams last season, that won't happen again. Thomas will be big too.

[TASTIC]

Am I the only one who thinks Kieff is going to get 8-10mins a night at C? I just can't see Plumlee/Len/Shavlik giving us 48mins of reliable production and Kieff is a rock solid 6'10" 245lb - that's big enough to handle most Cs. Rebounding would be an issue though obviously.

There's no reason he can't play there when we play say OKC and they're running Ibaka at C and Durant at PF, or POR when LMA is at C (even Mook guards him well for some reason), or teams without your classical banger at C - ie Philly or Atlanta or ...

I can see us playing

Kieff
Mook/Tolliver
Tucker
Green
Dragic/Bledsoe

For certain stretches (ie only 5-10mins a night) - the spacing on that team is nuts with all 5 players able to hit the 3 ball...Again though, rebounding would be weaksauce.

[TASTIC]

Plumlee will be key. If he can't improve and protect the rim and Len can't either, then I doubt we make playoffs.

We surprised a lot of teams last season, that won't happen again. Thomas will be big too.

Oh sweet irony...

He's going to be a beast though, can't wait to see him and Green going nuts in that second unit.

I liked having Ish there to play lockdown D for 94 feet but having a legit 20pt scorer off the bench who actually creates shots for others is going to be great fun.

[MathiasPW]

There is a good article on our logjam, ehrm, I mean depth chart, here:

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2014/ ... omas-green

We may play extreme small ball at times:

"He could," said Hornacek of the 6'8" Green taking some small forward minutes. "Or he could play the 4 with the three guards. That would be fun."

I'd say our depth chart looks like:

Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas (Ennis won't play this year)
Dragic/Bledsoe/Green/Goodwin
Tucker/Markus//Green/Warren/Another G?
Kieff/Tolliver/Markus/Green?
Plumlee/Len/Kieff

We have a lot of versatility to adjust to different styles of opponents. Nevertheless, strong post-presence is definitely the type of play we will struggle the most against.

[bwgood77]

Am I the only one who thinks Kieff is going to get 8-10mins a night at C? I just can't see Plumlee/Len/Shavlik giving us 48mins of reliable production and Kieff is a rock solid 6'10" 245lb - that's big enough to handle most Cs. Rebounding would be an issue though obviously.

There's no reason he can't play there when we play say OKC and they're running Ibaka at C and Durant at PF, or POR when LMA is at C (even Mook guards him well for some reason), or teams without your classical banger at C - ie Philly or Atlanta or ...

I can see us playing

Kieff
Mook/Tolliver
Tucker
Green
Dragic/Bledsoe

For certain stretches (ie only 5-10mins a night) - the spacing on that team is nuts with all 5 players able to hit the 3 ball...Again though, rebounding would be weaksauce.

No, I actually penciled him in for 20 minutes at center here...viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1337041&start=424