Portland Fan with a Suns question...

[swootz89]

Don't take this the wrong way you suns fans..

After watching the suns high powered offense be back this year i was excited to watch them play.. but then i thought about your team;
Brought in Terry Porter as a defensive minded coach and he got fired. You guys brought him in to win a championship because you could always score 115 points but couldn't play defense and never won a title when you guys were so good. So you guys ran him out after no one even bought into his system then what you guys do? You bring back your old system which isnt bad, but you guys still just dont play any defense. How far do you think you can go in the playoffs? .. which TEAM is better? the team from 3 years ago with Bell and all around players? Or guys like Almundson and Dudley on the team?
I think D'antoni should of never left and hiring Porter was a waste cause you never bought into his system. People are talking like phoenix is back and playing well, but are they? Or are they just playing like their old selfs and wont do damage in the playoffs with this team.

Tell me what you guys think. Im not trying to rip the suns, i do like them. I just think the last 2 years were kind of a waste because they are right back where they started just with less talented players.

[Qwigglez]

Lol.
Short and simple, this team has a different style of play then a few years ago.
Suns can do damage if they learn how to keep big leads.

[DirtyDez]

Terry Porter was not brought here to win a title. The championship window closed after the 07' playoffs. Also, thanks for the shocking news that we still don't play D.

[DirtyDez]

btw D'Antoni left because he wanted to. He was not forced out no matter what any Suns' fan says.

[swootz89]

Lol.
Short and simple, this team has a different style of play then a few years ago.
Suns can do damage if they learn how to keep big leads.

No one has answered my question.
Okay D'antoni wasnt run out, my bad. But how do they play different? Score a lot, nash and A'mare are they key players in the system and you still dont play defense. Im not trying to pick a fight cause that happens enough in the Portland fourms. I just want someone with a logical answer.
You dont have as good as players and maybe not as good as a coach. You guys play as well as you do during the regular season because of Nash a two time MVP, wish we had him. But once the playoffs roll around you guys arent a well rounded playoff team.

[DirtyDez]

The 07' team had a better starting lineup but they were drained come playoff time because Mike only used an 8 man rotation. Barbosa, Diaw and James Jones were the only bench players to see time. Raja was a perimeter defender which we don't have now. Kurt Thomas was a low-post defender which we don't have now. Marion was a top 10 defender in the NBA which we don't have anything close to now. Nash and Amare were 1st team all NBA and i think we won 60 games. So that team was better and played decent D. A few unlucky things happened and we never won a title but nobody expected Porter to take us to the promise land when he came here. Yes he got an unfair term here but it was a bad fit to start. In regards to this year i think we're a 4-7 seed.

[lilfishi22]

We're much more comfortable playing in the half-court and not every possession has to be used up in 7 seconds. We're a much more controlled offensive team now and we run more plays than we have before when it was just Nash creating. He still does the majority of the playmaking but we run more sets to take pressure off him. We play our bench a lot more now because we have depth in that department. We're not as talented as we were when we had Diaw/JJ, Trix, KT and Bell and we don't have any great defensive players, but we play better team defense and unlike before, we actually talk and practice defense. Last year was a big step back with the Terry Porter mistake and the injuries. Truth of the matter is, it's difficult to contend when we have an owner that doesn't want to spend to contend.

Long story short, we're not an elite team but we are a team in a subtle rebuilding transition. We're not having a fire sale type rebuild but we have a rebuiliding plan in place which takes place after next season when JRich comes off the books and we finally have a 1st rounder again. For now we're doing OK, we still have a great record in the West, we've had a brutal schedule thus far and Amare is probably just getting his legs back so I can't really complain.

[TASTIC]

If you added Amundson and/or Dudley to the 07' team they probably would have gone all the way

A total lack of bench/coaching faith in the bench is what killed us in the past

[Phx4Life08]

The style of play is very similar but the team is completely different. Most differences have already been pointed out: depth and use of bench, integration of half-court offense, more concentration/vocalization on team-defense, and a serviceable backup PG (simply my opinion, its okay to disagree ).

I know you do not want to pick a fight and that is not my intention either but I will state this: simply because the Suns did not win a championship with run and gun does not mean they could not have. We got to the WCF twice in three years which is extremely impressive and shows that our style was successful in the post-season. Honestly I believe we would have won it all in 07 if it wasn't for the controversial Spurs series but the past is the past so I won't cling to it. I am just bringing up the fact that we could have won if luck had been on our side. The fact of the matter is we did not even go to the Ship and until we do people will continue to doubt our style.

The difference in this team is that if we somehow make it that far we actually have a better chance of winning. Our defense is still horrendous at times but we have shown the ability on multiple occasions to grind out wins and get key stops in the half court setting. This factor plus the heart and hustle our revamped bench brings (EVERY SINGLE GAME) might be enough to take us over the hump. The problem is you first have to reach the hump to overcome it. I highly highly doubt we will make it to the WCF this year let alone win, but if we some how do reach that point (its about time luck swung our way) this team has something special that might shock us all.

Regardless of our recent woes and close losses I am so excited for this season and to watch this team develop and grow. Yes we make mistakes and yes we loose games we should
win. If anything this excites me more. It proves that we still have room to grow. You cannot learn from mistakes you haven't made. In my estimation the Suns have already exceeded the expectations I set for them this season. It thrills me to know they can still do better.

[WTFsunsFTW]

Don't take this the wrong way you suns fans..

After watching the suns high powered offense be back this year i was excited to watch them play.. but then i thought about your team;
Brought in Terry Porter as a defensive minded coach and he got fired. You guys brought him in to win a championship because you could always score 115 points but couldn't play defense and never won a title when you guys were so good. So you guys ran him out after no one even bought into his system then what you guys do? You bring back your old system which isnt bad, but you guys still just dont play any defense. How far do you think you can go in the playoffs? .. which TEAM is better? the team from 3 years ago with Bell and all around players? Or guys like Almundson and Dudley on the team?
I think D'antoni should of never left and hiring Porter was a waste cause you never bought into his system. People are talking like phoenix is back and playing well, but are they? Or are they just playing like their old selfs and wont do damage in the playoffs with this team.

Tell me what you guys think. Im not trying to rip the suns, i do like them. I just think the last 2 years were kind of a waste because they are right back where they started just with less talented players.

Terry Porter changed the offense and failed miserably. He was not prepared or bred to be a coach of a veteran team. If he would have left the offense alone, and not had them paint collages for under-performance punishment, he would still be here.

Thanks on the heads up about our lack of defense, never noticed it before, I am going to have to look out for that now.

[A roc 23]

What's with throwing Dudley under the bus in the OP?

He'd be the best small forward on the team if he was on the Blazers and the best long distance shooter.

[JMac1]

Every team has its issues, so I posed a question to the Blazers as well,


I know Roy and Bayless were hot when they played us, knocking down everything. I thought wow, if Bayless, Roy and even Webster can play like they did in the 4th qt they would be unbeatable. I also thought man, these guys are just chucking up shots that are falling. Now my question was, were you guys happy with that? Meaning if you win you are okay with that type of play.

I thought they were a little selsfish and it appeared they were freezing the other guys out. I watched the Orl game last night on NBA TV and those guys only had 1 asst a piece (Roy looked like he was really forcing), with LMA only getting 3 shots. I think LMA should be more involved in the offense if he is getting 15mil a year. I don't think it is his fault, maybe it is more of Roy and Bayless not looking to pass, but trying to outdo eachother.

What do you guys think?

Maybe if they worried about what was going on in their own backyard, they wouldn't be 16-12, looking to go 16-15 after playing Mia, Dal and SAS on the road next.

[dantian]

current Suns get beat on fastbreaks while DA's beat people by fastbreaks.

we are just more efficient with more scoring varieties in half court and keep our score high this way, while pace and possession numbers are down.