Phoenix Suns 2008-09 NBA Champs?

[MaryvalesFinest]

Being a Suns fan ive been following this team closely ever since the Nash era as well as before. It always seems like some sort of bad luck happens, in 2005 with JJ's face, in 2006 Amare was injured, in 2007 the suspensions and in 2008 Duncan's 3 pointer. We've always been saying next year is going to be our year but I think the Suns are going to have there best shot at it this season and here's why.

The Shaq trade: At first I was skeptical on it but even though Shaq is in his mid 30's he's still a force in the league if he's motivated and in shape. We all saw what happened when he was traded to the Suns, alot of players were afraid to drive into the lane and Shaq had a few over 15 + rebound games. With new coach Terry Porter he will more than likely have Shaq post up in the paint and that's what Shaq does best.

New head coach Terry Porter: When Terry Porter was hired I thought he was a great choice. Now many people don't know much about Porter other than the few seasons he had as the Bucks head coach. During that time he lead a medicore Bucks team to the playoffs and they haven't been to the playoffs since he's left. Porter was a tough player that had fundamentals and will bring those as the new headcoach of the Phoenix Suns. Porter is going to still keep the Suns running uptempo but also knows about defense and playing a solid bench.

Suns draft pick Robin Lopez: I wasn't thrilled with the pick but I wasn't upset either. After listening to Suns management talk, watching him on summer league games my opinion has changed. Lopez just might be the steal of the draft. It's very rare to find athletic 7 footers in the league, even though he doesn't have many offensive skills and if he doesn't develop them his defense and energy is going to keep him in the league. The thing about Lopez is that he has a higher ceiling than his brother, if he develops a offensive game he's going to be a special player in the league. If we look back at Amare, he had very limited offensive skills when he was drafted by the Suns and now he's one of the top players in the game, is Lopez going to be the same way? Who knows but the Suns definately made a great pick and added another player to deepen the bench.

The signing of Matt Barnes: Loved the signing, getting a guy like him for vets minimum was a steal. Barnes had a tough year last year but during the 2006 Mavs-Warriors playoff series he was one of the key players in pulling off one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Barnes is a jack of all trades, he can shoot the three or drive to the basket, he can play almost any position from power forward to back up point guard. Adding him though just made the Suns have a deeper bench.

Grant Hill: Losing just one player makes a difference, being injured during the Spurs series last year really hurt the Suns, having a healthy Hill makes a big difference. If he's healthy like at the start of the season the Suns have another solid player that can help lead them far in the playoffs.

Suns sophmores-Alando Tucker and DJ Strawberry: Last year they rarely got playing time. Now both are in there second year and seem ready to step up and contribute to the Suns after tearing it up in the d-league for the second year in a row. Tucker is more of a scorer while Strawberry is a defensive guru. If both can start out with limited time during the season and work there way up to being role players the Suns would have another two solid young players to call up on there playoff run.

Even though it doesn't seem like it, the Suns did make some changes that are going to be good for them next season, especially in the playoffs. Can the Suns finally hoist up the trophy? We're going to find out sooner or later.

[suns12345]

good observations. i agree

[flanpaw42]

i agree with pretty much everything you said.... i actually think that lopez's offense is very underratedhe is better than advertised.... not quite amare, but he is no dampier or diop either.

porter got the shaft in milwaukee..... also i think that the lakers and celtics showed that playing your bench throughout the season is very important...... i think mike d not playing our bench throughout the season was more hurtful than hill going down and i think its the reason we lost to the spurs.

i've got no idea which shaq will show up to training camp, the overweight lummox. or the shaq from orlando and early lakers days.... a properly motivated shaq has proven he can win a ring.... a fat lazy shaq has proven to bring down an entire team. the shaq experiment wont be a failure till the end of this year. half a season is just not enough time...... ( lakers and gasol were an exception to the rule. gasol is perfect for the triangle offense and benefitted from not being the man in lakerland)....

all in all we have a very good and seemingly deep squad this year. if we can find a backup point we are golden......

spurs did nothing to get better and have been on the decline, mavs dont have alot of talent but not mentally tough enough. lakers and hornets will only get better.... as will blazers.... warriors got worse, clips, grizzlies, kings and sonics(not sonics) will be bottom feeders, and the jazz just do enough to have make the playoffs.... the rockets got real scary with their little three headed monster...

we still have a top 5 pg, pf, and c, with an all defense sg, and a couple of very good sf's to boot.... now with a more defensive minded coach who will hopefully use his bench, we should be very dangerous... i have to say though. this year there better be no excuses if we dont win... there are 3 very good teams currently ahead of us. at least on paper......

[JohnVancouver]

[quote="MaryvalesFinest"]Being a Suns fan ive been following this team closely ever since the Nash era as well as before. It always seems like some sort of bad luck happens, in 2005 with JJ's face, in 2006 Amare was injured, in 2007 the suspensions and in 2008 Duncan's 3 pointer. We've always been saying next year is going to be our year but I think the Suns are going to have there best shot at it this season and here's why.

---- I envy your optimism but I think our best shot was the year we lost to Dallas in the WCF. If we had got past them I think we could have beat Miami. If Raja had not gotten hurt again in that series ... weird, becuase we had KT and Amare out, but Boris was a monster and the team was firing on all cylinders. There was just something magical about that spring.

[phx#7]

---- I envy your optimism but I think our best shot was the year we lost to Dallas in the WCF. If we had got past them I think we could have beat Miami. If Raja had not gotten hurt again in that series ... weird, becuase we had KT and Amare out, but Boris was a monster and the team was firing on all cylinders. There was just something magical about that spring.

I think the Suns best chance was in '07. It was clear the Suns were right there with the Spurs and if not for the suspensions they may have pulled it off. The '06 team would have had similar problems with the Heat the Mavs had. Suns may have beat the heat because I don't think they'd have made as many mental mistakes. But the Heat were getting every call their way and their role players were hitting all their shots.

[TXSun]

beautiful write-up. However after 3 years straight of telling my friends that this was "the year" I'm just keeping my mouth shut the whole season and hope for the best. I'm with happy with the roster right now, but I'll be happier if could sign a solid back-up PG.

[chrice]

I agree w/ phx #7. I thought '07 was our best shot. I don't have very much confidence in getting past the Lakers next season, no matter how poorly they did against the Celtics. Especially with all of our key players on the decline and a new coach and new system. If we had Nash in his prime, we'd have a legitimate shot. He's been such a big crutch for the team in terms of carrying us through the big games, it's hard to imagine how we'll function with him when he doesn't have those clutch performances.

[MaryvalesFinest]

How many games do you think the Phoenix Suns will win this season and why?

[Miklo]

50-55...Porter's system will be better but it will take some adjusting and may not translate to as many regular season wins...just those postseason W's (knock on wood).

[suns12345]

my opinion is that we can win the chamionship but we definately aren't favourite and shouldn't be