ESPN: Phoenix Suns Preview

[rsavaj]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... review0809

Chad Ford's preview: http://query-origin.andohs.net/8000A6/c ... shsuns.mp3

Some doom and gloom, and some optimism.

Meh, I'm fine with 6th.

[Phx4Life08]

i'm fine with just making the playoffs, who ever we face is going to be a great team from 1-8 so i don't think placement really matters that much. Only the regular season will tell though, i can't wait for the first game against the Sterns

[ray ray]

I truly believe that the Suns are going to surprise a lot of people this upcoming year. I think that the Suns are going to be around 4-6 seed. Goran Dragic is going to be a huge plus by mid season and Matt Barned is going to bring some of the elements that Shawn Marion did and Lopez is a much younger better defensivenly Skinner. I do believe that we have the ability to be a runnining team when Shaq is not on the court.

You can have a line up consistent of Steve Nash, Raja Bell, Matt Barnes, STAT and Lopez. For some reason I do believe that the Suns are going to be a pleasant surprise to many including some Suns fans.

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

i'm fine with just making the playoffs, who ever we face is going to be a great team from 1-8 so i don't think placement really matters that much. Only the regular season will tell though, i can't wait for the first game against the Sterns

Every time I read that people are happy with 6th I just think WTF??? No offense Phx4Life, but how many teams have won the 'ship from 6th? Off the top of my head 1.........and that was a team that had already been there and done it.

Sure teams 1 through 8 are all going to be great, but IMO that is why home court will be so much more vital. I know expectations are at an all time low for us in the Nash era, BUT, this is really our last chance, barring any major trades in the off season next year.

Anyways, IMO for us to win the whole thing we need at the very least a top 4. Can we do it at a lower seed, sure I believe we could give it a shake, but we really need to aim higher than 6th.

[BurningHeart]

We need to win the division.

[tsherkin]

Unless there is immediate and obvious gelling once all the starters get out there, I don't think the Suns have a legit shot at the division unless Kobe's knee injury and pinky finger affect him long-term over the duration of the season. The Suns will probably have to make do with the 5th or 6th seed and work from there.

Tough as it may be, they don't project to be better than the Lakers, Hornets or Rockets and are debatable against the Spurs and the Jazz, to say nothing of the possibilities presented by the Clippers, Mavericks and Blazers, all three of whom present worrying challenges to Phoenix over the 82-game grind and potentially even in the playoffs.

That said, there is the possibility that once the regular season starts, Shaq starts posting 15/10 while Nash and the others get on a good roll and Amare starts murdering people like he did after the trade this past season and the Suns' offense, in a new way, manages to totally dominate people while their defense and rebounding improve enough to be better than before.

If that happens, then the sky's the limit, but I still don't think that the Suns are realistically going to take out Kobe, Pau and Bynum for the Pacific division.

[nevetsov]

Call me the eternal optimist, but I have a feeling the Suns will shine this year.

The group of teams tsherkin mentions that project to finish ahead of us is completely justified, however the Rockets have been perennially projected to finish highly ever since the teaming of Mac and Ming - and on each occasion have disappointed. Be it injuries or whatever, the bottom line is until they have done it at least once, I still rate the suns ahead of them. It's kind of like people saying that this will be the year the Spurs start slowing down - well we've all been hoping for that for years, but i'm not going to start "projecting" it until I see evidence of it happening.

As for the Lakers, who knows what will happen with them. They have arguably undergone equal if not greater change than the suns this offseason - the re-addition of Bynnum and the subsequent benching of Odom could very well lead to a greater change in dynamic than our own new spare parts in Barnes, Dragic and Lopez - and by that reckoning they are just as much an unknown quantity as the suns. It's very likely that they will come out and own the Pacific but it certainly isn't a sure thing.

Barring injury, I think the Hornets are far and away the favourites to win the west. And rightly so.

[tsherkin]

As nevetsov says, the Rockets will only finish higher than the Suns if they are healthy... but with Artest added to the mix, they're likely to have at least 2 of their 3 stars healthy at any given time, which makes it more likely that they are healthy enough to win games and lest we forget, they cranked out 12 consecutive wins after Yao went down last year without Artest.

I maintain that the Lakers are far and away the favorites because they know what chemistry they have with Bynum and Odom will end up playing whatever minutes Phil Jackson tells him to... or not at all, because he's irrelevant to their success with Bynum and Gasol healthy.

[eastsidecrossover]

I have to a point disagree tsherkin. I think the lakers are the favorits, but not far and away the favorites. The west is even better than before that they will not run the table and the suns will finish a few games behind them I think. I think with Bynum coming back, this team will be a little different than when with bynum and with Gasol. The kid is good, but not worth 17 mil a year.

I think the suns will need some time and if they can gell, I think they have a chance to overtake the lakers at the best in the pacific.