5 Things I'm Least Excited About This Suns Season
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:57 pm
Alright call me a hater or just negative but I wanted to discuss these items with you guys. I wrote it on my Suns blog but wanted your takes on it. Be honest, be ruthless and hopefully be entertained. I look forward to it guys.
http://phoenix.fanster.com/suns/2009/10 ... ns-season/
Let’s face it, things have been a bit of a lovefest around here (on Fanster.com). As the resident pessimist, don’t hold it against me it will just make it worse, I’m here to tell you the five things I’m least excited for about this Suns season.
Sure, it’s not great to point out the negative and for the most part I’m excited for this year but someone around here’s got to do it (it’s in the blogger handbook sec 1 paragraph 5, look it up). I’ll be the first to praise this team (see my coverage from media day and my profile piece on Jared Dudley), but I’m not afraid to take a good hard look at the truth too (see any Amare piece involving defense, rebounding or the nickname Sun Tzu).
If you aren’t a fan of the possible negatives or sarcasm, I suggest you check out our great writers Ben York and Steve Fan. If you are a fan, stick around and let’s see what we can come up with.
5) Shaq is now teaming up with King James to try and make Cleveland fans’ dreams come true
I’ve been one to applaud this deal for the fact that it helps the team’s locker room chemistry. The problem is it also hurts them on the court. Without O’Neal, the Suns have a hole in the middle that three Channing Fryes standing side-by-side couldn’t fill. Not to mention that it would take Frye two and a half games, that’s right 10 quarters of basketball, to get as many rebounds as Shaq does in one game based on career averages.
Don’t get me wrong, Frye is a good addition to this team and will hit 100 times more three pointers as a Sun than Shaq has in his career, but he’ll will leave something to be desired. It’s not clear how the Suns will make up the difference in rebounding and defensive production, but any plan that includes Robin Lopez logging significant minutes probably isn’t the most solid one.
4) Nash and Hill are a year older
It is a blessing and a curse to have Steve Nash and Grant Hill on the same team. While both are fantastic basketball players but at 35 and 37 respectively, they both are old enough to have kids that remember the latter part of the Jordan years, and not just the one’s spent in Washington (that is if they got started young). To put it in perspective, more people from Hill’s draft class appear on the NBA’s pension list than a team roster.
Age may only be a number, but the number of minutes played equals wear and tear.
Let’s start with Steve Nash. Nash, since the turn of the century which is about to end, has only missed 41 games. That’s a good thing right? Not quite. Nash has logged 23,863 minutes on the court as a member of the Mavericks and Suns. That’s sixteen and a half days worth of basketball. No breathers, no timeouts just sixteen straight days. I don’t think I’ve done anything for 16 straight days in the last ten years outside of sleeping and procrastinating, don’t tell my boss or wife. For a man with spondylolisthesis, the back condition that causes Nash to lay on the ground rather than sitting on the bench, that much wear and tear is bound to eventually catch up with a man.
Maybe Nash is superhuman and the fact that 12 games is the most games he’s missed in a season since 2000, isn’t a fluke. Smart money, and marginally sane people, say that he most likely will break down at some point.
Knock on wood, touch metal or do whatever your culture does to ward off bad luck, because this may be the year (hopefully not).
Grant Hill is on the other end of the spectrum. He’s played about as many minutes in the last ten years as I’ve spent rooting for the Lakers and Spurs combined in my life. OK that’s a lie, Hill has played minutes and I’ve never said anything nice ever about either of those teams.
Hill has missed 302 games since 2000 (ask Orlando Magic fans about that). He’s played 11,115 minutes in that time of which 42% (4667 minutes) have been logged in the last two seasons as a Sun. The Suns have gotten the same production out of Hill in two seasons as the Magic got from him in six seasons, and they did so for $89.7 million less. Hill even played a full 82 games last season for the first time in his career.
Some will argue that his injuries and lack of minutes during the early part of his 30’s means he has additional energy now. I’m not sure I buy it. Hill’s ankle was held together with less than Curt Schilling’s stapled, bloody socked joint. It’s so bad that he actually has bone from his pelvis along with screws holding it together.
If Hill can play in 65 games this season, the team and it’s fans should be happy (if none of the games are missed because of his ankle they should be even happier).
3) No one in the Western Conference got significantly worse
The plain and simple fact is the Suns were the ninth best Western Conference team in a league that rewards the top eight teams in each conference with playoff bids.
The eight teams ahead of them haven’t gotten any worse this off-season. In fact, most of the teams in the West have improved and the Suns unfortunately aren’t one of them. The Suns moved laterally at best.
The Suns are like a red head in the Miss America Pageant. Sure they are cute, but their chances are slim to none to win a title. They might sneak into the top eight, but in the end they are no real threat. Then again even the redheads have won a title, 3 out of 83 , and the Suns are still waiting for theirs.
2) Defense
I’m not breaking any news here when I say, the Suns don’t have any real defense to speak of. As a matter of fact, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corp could probably solely defend Baghdad better than the Suns can defend the paint. That, however, is not what I’m least excited for.
I’m least excited to hear the team talk about improving on defense only to abandon the notion come January and the media bemoan how bad they are defensively. Just like a guy who is a slob, the Suns are who they are and no teaching, begging or pleading (or anything short of a complete roster overhaul) will change it.
1) Amare Stoudemire
Let me preface this by saying, I’m excited to see what a healthy Stoudemire can bring to the court, and to see if he has any electric plays left in those surgically repaired knees. What I’m not excited for is the decision the Suns will be faced with if he does play well or the disappointment fans will be saddled with if the injury bug bites yet again.
Stoudemire is in a contract year, and if professional sports has taught us anything it’s that players play best when the money, literally, is on the line. With an statistical increase comes an over inflated sense of self and financial worth. While the increased confidence is a good thing for both player and team, the extra ego and the price tag that come along with it can be detrimental to a franchise. If Stoudemire plays well, you know he’ll want to be rewarded with a max contract. The question the Suns will be faced with is, is a power forward with two bad knees and eyesight that up until a few months ago was akin to Mr. Magoo’s, worth upwards of $80 million? If the team says yes, and he gets injured or becomes disgruntled, they’re saddled with a franchise crippling contract. If they say no and he goes on to great success elsewhere, fans will forever question the decision and Steve Kerr, if he hasn’t already been, will be run out of town.
If Stoudemire falls flat this season due to a new or pre-existing injury, the Suns season will falter. The fast-paced style is predicated on a pick-and-roll game between Nash and Stoudemire. Without it and without any reliable backup, the Suns will be up a fast-paced creek without a paddle, or at least a prime scorer and rebounder.
It’s not an uplifting list but I’m just trying to “keep it real” (deduct 200 cool points from me for the use of that phrase). If Aaron Nelson and the Suns’ training staff can keep the fountain of youth cranked up in the basement of the U.S. Airways Center, and Amare can play well, the Suns have a shot … at the second round of the playoffs. What a far cry from the championship aspirations of years gone by.
http://phoenix.fanster.com/suns/2009/10 ... ns-season/
Let’s face it, things have been a bit of a lovefest around here (on Fanster.com). As the resident pessimist, don’t hold it against me it will just make it worse, I’m here to tell you the five things I’m least excited for about this Suns season.
Sure, it’s not great to point out the negative and for the most part I’m excited for this year but someone around here’s got to do it (it’s in the blogger handbook sec 1 paragraph 5, look it up). I’ll be the first to praise this team (see my coverage from media day and my profile piece on Jared Dudley), but I’m not afraid to take a good hard look at the truth too (see any Amare piece involving defense, rebounding or the nickname Sun Tzu).
If you aren’t a fan of the possible negatives or sarcasm, I suggest you check out our great writers Ben York and Steve Fan. If you are a fan, stick around and let’s see what we can come up with.
5) Shaq is now teaming up with King James to try and make Cleveland fans’ dreams come true
I’ve been one to applaud this deal for the fact that it helps the team’s locker room chemistry. The problem is it also hurts them on the court. Without O’Neal, the Suns have a hole in the middle that three Channing Fryes standing side-by-side couldn’t fill. Not to mention that it would take Frye two and a half games, that’s right 10 quarters of basketball, to get as many rebounds as Shaq does in one game based on career averages.
Don’t get me wrong, Frye is a good addition to this team and will hit 100 times more three pointers as a Sun than Shaq has in his career, but he’ll will leave something to be desired. It’s not clear how the Suns will make up the difference in rebounding and defensive production, but any plan that includes Robin Lopez logging significant minutes probably isn’t the most solid one.
4) Nash and Hill are a year older
It is a blessing and a curse to have Steve Nash and Grant Hill on the same team. While both are fantastic basketball players but at 35 and 37 respectively, they both are old enough to have kids that remember the latter part of the Jordan years, and not just the one’s spent in Washington (that is if they got started young). To put it in perspective, more people from Hill’s draft class appear on the NBA’s pension list than a team roster.
Age may only be a number, but the number of minutes played equals wear and tear.
Let’s start with Steve Nash. Nash, since the turn of the century which is about to end, has only missed 41 games. That’s a good thing right? Not quite. Nash has logged 23,863 minutes on the court as a member of the Mavericks and Suns. That’s sixteen and a half days worth of basketball. No breathers, no timeouts just sixteen straight days. I don’t think I’ve done anything for 16 straight days in the last ten years outside of sleeping and procrastinating, don’t tell my boss or wife. For a man with spondylolisthesis, the back condition that causes Nash to lay on the ground rather than sitting on the bench, that much wear and tear is bound to eventually catch up with a man.
Maybe Nash is superhuman and the fact that 12 games is the most games he’s missed in a season since 2000, isn’t a fluke. Smart money, and marginally sane people, say that he most likely will break down at some point.
Knock on wood, touch metal or do whatever your culture does to ward off bad luck, because this may be the year (hopefully not).
Grant Hill is on the other end of the spectrum. He’s played about as many minutes in the last ten years as I’ve spent rooting for the Lakers and Spurs combined in my life. OK that’s a lie, Hill has played minutes and I’ve never said anything nice ever about either of those teams.
Hill has missed 302 games since 2000 (ask Orlando Magic fans about that). He’s played 11,115 minutes in that time of which 42% (4667 minutes) have been logged in the last two seasons as a Sun. The Suns have gotten the same production out of Hill in two seasons as the Magic got from him in six seasons, and they did so for $89.7 million less. Hill even played a full 82 games last season for the first time in his career.
Some will argue that his injuries and lack of minutes during the early part of his 30’s means he has additional energy now. I’m not sure I buy it. Hill’s ankle was held together with less than Curt Schilling’s stapled, bloody socked joint. It’s so bad that he actually has bone from his pelvis along with screws holding it together.
If Hill can play in 65 games this season, the team and it’s fans should be happy (if none of the games are missed because of his ankle they should be even happier).
3) No one in the Western Conference got significantly worse
The plain and simple fact is the Suns were the ninth best Western Conference team in a league that rewards the top eight teams in each conference with playoff bids.
The eight teams ahead of them haven’t gotten any worse this off-season. In fact, most of the teams in the West have improved and the Suns unfortunately aren’t one of them. The Suns moved laterally at best.
The Suns are like a red head in the Miss America Pageant. Sure they are cute, but their chances are slim to none to win a title. They might sneak into the top eight, but in the end they are no real threat. Then again even the redheads have won a title, 3 out of 83 , and the Suns are still waiting for theirs.
2) Defense
I’m not breaking any news here when I say, the Suns don’t have any real defense to speak of. As a matter of fact, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corp could probably solely defend Baghdad better than the Suns can defend the paint. That, however, is not what I’m least excited for.
I’m least excited to hear the team talk about improving on defense only to abandon the notion come January and the media bemoan how bad they are defensively. Just like a guy who is a slob, the Suns are who they are and no teaching, begging or pleading (or anything short of a complete roster overhaul) will change it.
1) Amare Stoudemire
Let me preface this by saying, I’m excited to see what a healthy Stoudemire can bring to the court, and to see if he has any electric plays left in those surgically repaired knees. What I’m not excited for is the decision the Suns will be faced with if he does play well or the disappointment fans will be saddled with if the injury bug bites yet again.
Stoudemire is in a contract year, and if professional sports has taught us anything it’s that players play best when the money, literally, is on the line. With an statistical increase comes an over inflated sense of self and financial worth. While the increased confidence is a good thing for both player and team, the extra ego and the price tag that come along with it can be detrimental to a franchise. If Stoudemire plays well, you know he’ll want to be rewarded with a max contract. The question the Suns will be faced with is, is a power forward with two bad knees and eyesight that up until a few months ago was akin to Mr. Magoo’s, worth upwards of $80 million? If the team says yes, and he gets injured or becomes disgruntled, they’re saddled with a franchise crippling contract. If they say no and he goes on to great success elsewhere, fans will forever question the decision and Steve Kerr, if he hasn’t already been, will be run out of town.
If Stoudemire falls flat this season due to a new or pre-existing injury, the Suns season will falter. The fast-paced style is predicated on a pick-and-roll game between Nash and Stoudemire. Without it and without any reliable backup, the Suns will be up a fast-paced creek without a paddle, or at least a prime scorer and rebounder.
It’s not an uplifting list but I’m just trying to “keep it real” (deduct 200 cool points from me for the use of that phrase). If Aaron Nelson and the Suns’ training staff can keep the fountain of youth cranked up in the basement of the U.S. Airways Center, and Amare can play well, the Suns have a shot … at the second round of the playoffs. What a far cry from the championship aspirations of years gone by.
