Do the Phoenix Suns still have a good chance to win it all?

[Cassius]

The Suns have essentially become the Raptors of the West. Don't debate the rankings, but if the seedings shook down like this, I don't think anyone would be too shocked.

Bos - LAL
Det - NOH
Orl - HOU
Cle - SAS
Was - UTA
Tor - PDX
Phi - POR
Crapshoot for 8th in each conference (Chi, Atl, Mia/DEN, DAL)

Both teams have an All-Star duo of bigs, a hole on the wing and some questionable depth behind the point. No one would be surprised if either bows out in the first round, nor would they be shocked if either team makes their respective conference finals.

Finals for the Suns out of the West or Raptors out of the East? A lot of balls would have to bounce right, but only a real hater of either team would call such a proposition ridiculous.

[rsavaj]

The Suns have essentially become the Raptors of the West. Don't debate the rankings, but if the seedings shook down like this, I don't think anyone would be too shocked.

Bos - LAL
Det - NOH
Orl - HOU
Cle - SAS
Was - UTA
Tor - PDX
Phi - POR
Crapshoot for 8th in each conference (Chi, Atl, Mia/DEN, DAL)

Both teams have an All-Star duo of bigs, a hole on the wing and some questionable depth behind the point. No one would be surprised if either bows out in the first round, nor would they be shocked if either team makes their respective conference finals.

Finals for the Suns out of the West or Raptors out of the East? A lot of balls would have to bounce right, but only a real hater of either team would call such a proposition ridiculous.

+1 to everything.

[ChilliWilly15]

Better question: Did they ever?

I want to say no here.

You can't be serious. There were a bull Amare suspension away from seriously going places in the post season.

[The Diesel]

As others have said, if Amare wasn't suspended, they would have won the Championship last year and they had the best record in the West this season before they made the Shaq trade.

What a stupid move by Kerr; it was a panic move after the Lakers got Gasol.

However, they did win 15 of their last 20 games after the trade and I will always believe they would have beaten the Spurs this year if Grant Hill was healthy and they didn't choke in Game 1 when they lost in Double OT.

Mentally, I don't think they ever recovered from that loss.

I don't think they are a contender anymore; Nash, Shaq, and Hill are old and Shaq and Hill are always injured.

And to the person who said that Shaq still can't be guarded 1 on 1, did you watch the Spurs series this year? Duncan COMPLETELY shut him down guarding him one on one the whole series.

I have never seen Shaq get outplayed so badly in his entire career the way that Duncan outplayed him this year.

Shaq was brought in to contain him, and Duncan still had a great series, and I was surprised by that because the Suns beat the Spurs twice after the trade and Shaq did a great job on him both times.

But he was awful in the playoffs and was badly outplayed by Duncan.

Shaq can easily be stopped 1 on 1 now because he has no more athleticism.

[Kuq_e_Zi91]

It becomes a problem playing Shaq in crunch time. Pop exploited the fact he can't make free throws and disrupted the Phoenix offense at the same. They can't go down there and PnR with Amare if they can't even get to half court before Shaq is intentionally fouled. In this case, you're trading maybe 1 point for every 2 or 3 the Spurs would score on the other end. IMO, at this point in Shaq's career he is a huge weakness.

[Gordon Bombay]

well id say la, no, sas, hou and utah are all set up better for playoff basketball and i dont think phx can beat any of those teams in the playoffs. the suns are probably in that 6-8 range with dallas and portland...so id say their chance of winning it all is highly unlikely - not impossible, but unlikely

[gumpspeed]

The only time Duncan outplayed Shaq was when Shaq was on the bench in fould trouble. Oh BTW they are susposedly changing the flop rule. Shaq stripped Duncan late in game 1 and dove for the lose ball remember??? Shaq blocked Duncan's shot right before PHX had the shot clock violation at the end of regulation. Shaq went nuts in the last game during the regular season against the Spurs when PHX won!!! That is why the Spurs employed the hack a Shaq!! But again the season will soon began and we will see!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

[The Diesel]

What about Shaq shooting 2-8 in Game 5?

But yeah, some of those calls against him in Game 1 were awful; especially the first "offensive foul" when he barely touched Oberto. One of the worst calls I've ever seen.

He played pretty well in the second half of Game 1, he was great in Game 2, awful in Game 3, great in Game 4 and absolutely awful in Game 5.

He had a very poor series and was BADLY outplayed by Duncan.

[Blame Rasho]

No.

[kdot99]

Their best chance was the first year of the "Steve Nash" Era

PG- Steve Nash
SG- Joe Johnson
SF- Quentin Richardson
PF- Shawn Marion
-C- Amare Stoudemire

Oh JJ, if you didnt have the f'd up eye...

[HarlemHeat37]

what are some of you watching? Shaq isn't even close to being dominant offensively anymore..is he still good offensively? yes he is..but dominant? not even close..he misses a lot of point-blank shots and he doesn't move nearly as well..he's still a great passer for his position, but I would rarely double-team him..

Tim clearly outplayed him..Shaq being on the bench is irrelevant, because that's his own fault..Shaq and Stoudemire were tops in the NBA in fouls per game, so it isn't a coincidence that they picked up fouls in the playoffs too..

Phoenix is still a good team..they'll DEFINITELY be a tough out for any team in the 1st round..but they won't win a title, unless Shaq comes to camp in the best shape of his career and is 100% determined..then I'd give them a little chance..it's difficult to win when Shaq has to defend the pick and roll, especially at this age..Nash's defense is worse than ever since he's getting older and older..Stoudemire is one of the worst defenders in NBA history..

it's a shame that Stoudemire doesn't have a brain, since they would have had a legit chance of winning in 2007..IMO they would have still lost, but he cost them a title..D'Antoni's poor coaching was always a key as well IMO..

[Blame Rasho]

The only time Duncan outplayed Shaq was when Shaq was on the bench in fould trouble. Oh BTW they are susposedly changing the flop rule. Shaq stripped Duncan late in game 1 and dove for the lose ball remember??? Shaq blocked Duncan's shot right before PHX had the shot clock violation at the end of regulation. Shaq went nuts in the last game during the regular season against the Spurs when PHX won!!! That is why the Spurs employed the hack a Shaq!! But again the season will soon began and we will see!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

Shaq sucked in the playoffs... You can sugarcoat crap but it is still crap. No one is buying what you are selling.

[Throwback24]

Do not compare a man as Godly as TD to a feeble peasant like Shaq.

[The Diesel]

At the same time, let's not forget that Duncan is still only 32 and Shaq is 36. To expect Shaq to outplay Duncan was expecting too much, HOWEVER, he was capable of doing a much better job against him than he did.

I was extremely disappointed with Shaq's play in the playoffs because he looked so good towards the end of the season...

[shawngoat23]

Bos - LAL
Det - NOH
Orl - HOU
Cle - SAS
Was - UTA
Tor - PDX
Phi - POR

The Suns moved to the Pacific Northwest?

[RapsBulls4evr]

NO.

[Ballings7]

I don't think they have a respectable chance. That's not meant to bash on the Suns..

They still have to improve some of their weaker areas which have ended their runs. Either they haven't done that nearly enough as a whole, or have improved to an extent in certain areas, but just not up to what's needed. Part of that has been due to D'Antoni's offensive bias in style and player preference, and the front-office not committing enough to doing things. Also, currently, unfortunately for them, they just can't get better in specific aspects because of players they're committed to. The main thing there being defense.

Their best chance was the first year of the "Steve Nash" Era

PG- Steve Nash
SG- Joe Johnson
SF- Quentin Richardson
PF- Shawn Marion
-C- Amare Stoudemire

Oh JJ, if you didnt have the f'd up eye...

They were definitely explosive offensively, and talented offensively for what they had - but were still a flawed team. In terms of their overall depth (bench), lack of a defensive mentality or real committment, lack of defense up front, lack of solid rebounding. Needed another big man and another proven wing producer off the bench (Barbosa was still young and inconsistent, and eventually came to struggle against bigger/balanced teams). That team was not as dependent on Nash to run their offense, as they became in the future, but they were still too perimeter-oriented, outside-in, and relied too much on jumpshots and quick offense.

Joe Johnson back for the whole Spurs series, may well of won the Suns another game, probably not of taken it to 7, and definitely not the series. The Spurs just had the edge.

----------------

Two underlying factors that played against Phoenix with their running style, was not fouling at times to prevent a sure basket, or a good oppurtuinity for the other team - so they could keep the pace of the game going. The other, as a team, was being below-average in getting to the free throw line, because of going for a lot of easy baskets and spot-up, open jumpers.

Phoenix just weren't and aren't relative to a balanced team.