Hollinger's Suns Forecast

[rsavaj]

It's generally trendy to hate Hollinger, but I find myself agreeing with almost every word in this case, especially about A)D'Antoni's system and B)the Marion trade

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingc ... recast0809

Your thoughts?

[Vernon Maxwell]

well written. i agree with mostly everything he says and i do see us gettin 6th in the west

[HootieRules]

It's really amazing this guy still has a job. After completely trashing the Suns and particularly Nash every chance he could for the last 3 years, now he's bashing them for actually committing more defensively. He talks on and on about how having new a coaching staff is going to make them more mediocre but he never actually says how they are going to make them more mediocre. He's a complete flip-flopping tool.

45 wins in the west? I absolutely hated the Shaq trade but there is no chance in hell with this much talent on this team we are winning less than 50 games. It may only be good for 5th or 6th in the West, but to predict 45 wins for this team is a complete joke.

I should've never opened that link. Every year that tool has me pissed of all of October predicting doom and gloom for the Suns and predicting the Bobcats and the Jazz to surprise the NBA and the Rockets to all of a sudden be completely healthy for 82 games.

[lilfishi22]

Yeah pretty accurate, can't fault anything Hollinger wrote in this article because he's pretty spot on. Our offense may have taken a hit with the Shaq trade and a new system, but like I've said over and over again, from an outsider's perspective our team looked invincible on the offense end but once it came to the playoffs our offense was shutdown with touch defense. Teams were playing tougher defense and we definitely got away with a lot of games playing this style in the regular season but no one will give us anything in the playoffs.

I am quite intrigued to see what a full training camp and a full season of Shaq would do for us. As stated in the article injury is a major concern for an old team like ours, but I like that the people in charge recognize this, unlike D'Antoni. Even though it may not work it's good to know we have a plan in place to limit our vet's minutes.

I'm fine with 6th place, I'm fine with 7th place. I don't care who we play in the playoffs, last season we were all dreading playing teams like Spurs, Hornets, Jazz. But this season I feel like we have the right players, so much so that it doesn't matter who we play.

[JohnVancouver]

Hollinger pisses a lot of us off, but I have to say this was a pretty fair assessment. But ... a lot can happen between now and spring. An 82-game season is full of so many opportunities for things to go right or wrong in so many areas (and to all the other teams as well) that the variables make it the-game-that moves-while-you-play. Just looking at a roster on paper is an exercise for the hard-core fan and the journalist needing to fill space.
How often are pre-season predictions right - did anyone pick Miami three years ago?
And we've all learned that the regular season means not-so-much to the elite teams. It's more important to get the team ready for the playoffs and the variety of strategies they'll face than it is to finish first with the best W-L. Resting older but still key players is more important that losing a few games to do it, and this year we have a coach who's more likely to do that.
The real questions are - can we get this roster to a place where they are as adept at half-court games as they are at running? Can we improve the defense enough that it's not the weakness it has been? Can we retain enough of the SSOL approach to utilize Diaw and LB, not to mention Nash and Amare? It's not a bad idea to hybridize the offense and when Shaq first arrived we did it pretty good.
A full training camp and a whole season to work together should pay off. We've improved rebounding, defense and depth. We still have the savviest point guard in the game, who's also likely the best shooter in the league. We have an absolute beast in Amare and a huge presence in Shaq, old or no.
Honestly, I like this roster more than I do the Lakers, as far as talent goes. We're just not the hot, sexy new kids anymore. That's fine - being America's darlings didn't help us much, did it?
My biggest worry is injuries and Shaq at the line in the playoffs. The Spurs really hurt us with that. But all in all, I like this team and I'm excited about the chances.

[eastsidecrossover]

Ehh, its close. Funny thing is, he loves to rip the suns, and this time, it seemed a little different. I think the guy needs to put down the Vaseline when he does they numbers.

But if you look at the past, almost most of his predictions are not even close

Its time to face reality. We have talent, but we have somewhat of a big unknown about our coach. The west is stronger than ever and its up in the area. How are our guys going to mesh with Porter? Is his system going to work with our players? Our bench????

I think we will know what we have by all star break

[-SDU-]

we are either a major major major contender for the title or we are an also ran

there is no middle ground with this team its gonna be hit or miss

[ballerblogger]

I think Hollinger's preview was very fair.

I especially agree with this part:

"Man, the Suns can let it rip. And while they may be playing a more traditional style this season, that won't stop them from raining in shots all over the court. It all starts with Nash -- no, not with his passing, but with the largely unrecognized fact that he's the best shooter in the league. Nash hit 47 percent of his 3-pointers and has made over 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3 in each of his four seasons in Phoenix."

I think Nash needs to be more selfish this season. He's a GREAT shooter.

Amare is my darkhorse candidate for MVP. LeBron James is the only player more talented than STAT.