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Grading The First 30: Phoenix Suns
By: Eric Pincus

The Phoenix Suns won 46 games last season among the tumult of former Coach Terry Porter's firing, Amar'e Stoudemire's eye injury and a not-quite compatible Shaquille O'Neal plugging up the middle. Coming into the current season, expectations from the outside were generally low (at least from HOOPSWORLD's perspective). The Suns seemed old (Steve Nash and Grant Hill), injured (Stoudemire), short and whisper thin without a proven bench.

The Suns looked like a lottery team . . .

Instead, through 36 games, Phoenix has the third best record in the Western Conference at 23-13. They're dominant at home at 14-3 and while they're under .500 on the road, the Suns have gotten through 19 away games with a decent 9-10 record.

Best Offensive Weapon: Steve Nash - Take a look at his numbers. Remember, he's a 6'3", 178-pound nearly 36-year old who has already won two MVP awards - and he may be having his best season yet. Nash is averaging a career-high 18.9 points a game while shooting personal bests of 54.3% from the field and 94.2% from the line. He's also averaging 11.3 assists while hitting 44.1% from three without missing a game.

Nash is the engine that makes the Suns' offense run. Only the Golden State Warriors (107.3) are even close to the Suns' 110.1 a game.

Stoudemire may be the team's leading scorer at 20.9 a night, but Nash is the signature Phoenix brand.

Best Defensive Weapon: Their Offense - The Suns give up 106.6 points a night, against second just to the Warriors. Some of that has to do with tempo. Both teams play fast, looking to get up a high volume of shots.

The team's best individual defenders on the perimeter would probably be Grant Hill and Jared Dudley. Inside neither Channing Frye nor Stoudemire are major presences. Louis Amundsen is a tough, hard worker. Robin Lopez has the best size on the roster.

The individuals don't really add to a defensive collective like the Suns of a few years ago that had players like Shawn Marion and Raja Bell.

The Suns get the job done by applying tremendous pressure on their opponents offensively. Phoenix may not get every stop but they're going to keep converting on the other end. If teams aren't on their game, the Suns are going to pull ahead - and quickly.

Biggest Surprise: Channing Frye - After a strong rookie season in New York with the Knicks, Frye drifted a few years spending some time on the bench with the Portland Trail Blazers. Channing was the big offseason acquisition and he's proven to be a valuable asset.

Playing center at 6'11", 245 pounds, Frye is second in the league in made three-pointers (92) behind New York's Danilo Gallinari (96). Channing spreads the floor exceptionally well for the Suns as opposing big men are forced out of the paint to try and find him on the perimeter.

While he's often overmatched physically inside, Frye chips in 13 points a game while shooting 43.8% from three.

Other surprises would be Nash's tremendous season, Stoudemire's successful bounce-back from multiple eye surgeries and the improved play of Goran Dragic. While Dragic didn't even look like an NBA player as a rookie, he's proven to be a steady backup at the point shooting 46.6% from the field and 40.3% from three in his second campaign.

Finally, the team was happy with Dudley's all-around game last season but this year he's really begun to blossom. He's arguably the team's best all-around reserve, playing defense while leading the league in three-point percentage at an even 50.0%.

Biggest Disappointment: Earl Clark - Frankly there haven't been many disappointments this year for the Suns. For the most part, Coach Alvin Gentry has been extremely happy with how well his team has played.

Clark, who the team selected with the 14th pick in the most recent draft, hasn't really shown much yet. It's far too early to rush to judgment, but on a team where everyone is shooing a minimum of 44.5% from the field (except fellow rookie Taylor Griffin who has played in just two games), Earl is the lone standout at 39.7%.

Perhaps if the team wasn't having much success, Clark would get enough minutes to truly develop. Playing just 8.5 minutes a game isn't enough.

We're quibbling here, but if someone needs to be singled out as a disappointment - it'd have to be Clark.

Areas to Address before the Deadline: Had the Suns been a middling team, General Manager Steve Kerr would have had a lot more to deal with on his plate.

The summer was littered with Stoudemire trade rumors. Amar'e can opt out of the final year in his contract, worth $17.7 million.

With iffy health and a questionable attitude/relationship with the organization, Stoudemire seemed like he'd be chip played before the trade deadline.
Now the Suns really just need to keep it going. There's no obvious player the team needs to dump.

From a financial perspective, if Phoenix could move Jason Richardson for an expiring contract - the Suns would be able to clear a decent amount of cap space should Stoudemire land elsewhere.

As well as the team has played, Kerr is probably best just holding to see what the summer brings.

Overall Grade: A, If grades are influenced by expectations, the Suns would be at an A+. They roared out the gate to start the season, recently stumbled for a few weeks but reestablished themselves with a recent win over the rival Los Angeles Lakers.

The team has stayed healthy (Robin Lopez has recovered from a broken foot), survived a difficult schedule and may even land a playoff seed with home court advantage.

Nash has been phenomenal, Stoudemire continues to return to form and nearly everyone on the roster is contributing.

Gentry has brought back former Coach Mike D'Antoni's hurry-up offense and the team has really developed a fantastic chemistry.

At 23-13, what's not to like?

Well, OK they don't play much defense which is a bigger concern come playoff time but just getting there would be an accomplishment for a team that is looking to short circuit the rebuilding process.

The Suns looked like a lottery team . . .

MaryvalesFinest wrote:

The Suns looked like a lottery team . . .

I think this still holds true, the bench is horrible. Dragic and Barbosa can't run an offense and Amundson is the 6th man off the bench you know it's bad. The 3-10 seeds in the west are only seperated by I think 4 games? I want to see the Suns make the playoffs but they could very well miss them again with how good the west is and if they keep losing games they are supposed to win.

Maybe it would be good if they do miss the playoffs again, if they miss them two years in a row I'm sure they would rebuild right?

albasuna wrote:

MaryvalesFinest wrote:

The Suns looked like a lottery team . . .

I think this still holds true, the bench is horrible. Dragic and Barbosa can't run an offense and Amundson is the 6th man off the bench you know it's bad. The 3-10 seeds in the west are only seperated by I think 4 games? I want to see the Suns make the playoffs but they could very well miss them again with how good the west is and if they keep losing games they are supposed to win.

Maybe it would be good if they do miss the playoffs again, if they miss them two years in a row I'm sure they would rebuild right?

Why are you so obsessed with rebuilding? After Nash and probably Amare are gone, they'll be years and years to rebuild. You do know this Suns team will probably be a lottery team for years to come after this era ends. Who the heck wants to play for the Suns and Sarver? The Suns will overpay some second rate superstar and be lottery bound. Stop being spoiled and enjoy the ride... I'll never understand why any fan would want to be watching their team get slaughtered every night.

DirtyDez wrote:At least we'll have our draft picks in all those lottery years

albasuna wrote:

DirtyDez wrote:At least we'll have our draft picks in all those lottery years

I'm pretty sure those will be sold for cash aswell.
Think about it... Sarver can make a lot of money from the #1 draft pick.

Qwigglez wrote:Lol, the Hawks landed JJ from free agency.

hunterxaz wrote:Good read. We're definitely a playoff team, I think semis / and maybe even a run to the WCF. That would be fun. =) Go Suns!

MaryvalesFinest wrote:

The Suns looked like a lottery team . . .

I think this still holds true, the bench is horrible. Dragic and Barbosa can't run an offense and Amundson is the 6th man off the bench you know it's bad. The 3-10 seeds in the west are only seperated by I think 4 games? I want to see the Suns make the playoffs but they could very well miss them again with how good the west is and if they keep losing games they are supposed to win.

Maybe it would be good if they do miss the playoffs again, if they miss them two years in a row I'm sure they would rebuild right?