What if the Suns are

[Qwigglez]

I think we all just need to relax and enjoy this part of the ride. Don't go crazy IF we see the Suns start to struggle against top-tier teams full of veterans. If the Suns somehow are able to maintain this type of record throughout the entire season, then I wouldn't mind seeing the front office packaging some picks for an upcoming restricted free agent on a struggling team (Greg Monroe, Gordon Hayward, Evan Turner). If those players are not available (at a low price) then the only player I'd like the Suns to make a trade for would be Al Horford, but he would come at an expensive cost.
Anyway, I like the new identity this team has transformed into, however we are far from being a contender, hopefully we have all the potential on the roster, they just need to develop.

[rsavaj]

Small sample size can lead to premature estimation:

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2013/ ... estimation

I think we'll have a much better idea of whether or not this team is for real at the end of next month.

The one thing that separates a LeBron from a Brandon Jennings – whose 50 point rookie game looks increasingly like it was lucky – is that there is NO WAY to stop LeBron, because he is so good, and has so many options. Ditto Durant, whose shooting, size, length and skills make it impossible to stop him. Jennings, however, is small and has a poor shot, so teams found a way to make him do inefficient things. Plumlee and Bledsoe are just starting to feature prominently on scouting reports, and as they do, we’ll see where their ceiling is.

Plumlee is, for the first time in his NBA career, starting to get some notice. The question is, if teams take away his first option – what he does really well – will his secondary moves and skills be good enough? The little mini-hook and the shot blocking have been awesome, and I HOPE the answer is yes he has GREAT secondary skills, but I’d say it is more likely Plumlee needs a year or two of developing secondary moves before he’ll keep up those stats. For comparison, Gortat averaged 5 blocks through 7 gams last season and ended up with 1.6 bpg, so teams can kind of negate shot blockers.

Bledsoe is getting it done at the FT line mostly – 5th in the league – and if teams start to restrict his drives or, as I suspect, start to mix things up and force him to make decisions, his biggest weakness, that’s when we’ll know if he’s a SUPERstar, or merely very good.

Kief is perhaps the most shocking, because there was ample evidence he was a bust. His shooting has been INSANE, and I’d wager 60%+ is unsustainable (see Mayo, OJ end of calender year 2012). As long as he can rebound OK (he’s about average now), keep the fouls down and hit > .500 he’ll at least be a serviceable player.

All that said, if we end the year a top 10 defence, I’ll be BEYOND shocked.

[NaturalBuns]

you have to give it like 15-20 games to see what we have with this team.
If i can remember right Gortat started off like the first 10 games last year leading the league in blocked shots he was straight swatting everything.

It died down.

[RunSunRun]

Small sample size can lead to premature estimation:

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2013/ ... estimation

I think we'll have a much better idea of whether or not this team is for real at the end of next month.

The one thing that separates a LeBron from a Brandon Jennings – whose 50 point rookie game looks increasingly like it was lucky – is that there is NO WAY to stop LeBron, because he is so good, and has so many options. Ditto Durant, whose shooting, size, length and skills make it impossible to stop him. Jennings, however, is small and has a poor shot, so teams found a way to make him do inefficient things. Plumlee and Bledsoe are just starting to feature prominently on scouting reports, and as they do, we’ll see where their ceiling is.

Plumlee is, for the first time in his NBA career, starting to get some notice. The question is, if teams take away his first option – what he does really well – will his secondary moves and skills be good enough? The little mini-hook and the shot blocking have been awesome, and I HOPE the answer is yes he has GREAT secondary skills, but I’d say it is more likely Plumlee needs a year or two of developing secondary moves before he’ll keep up those stats. For comparison, Gortat averaged 5 blocks through 7 gams last season and ended up with 1.6 bpg, so teams can kind of negate shot blockers.

Bledsoe is getting it done at the FT line mostly – 5th in the league – and if teams start to restrict his drives or, as I suspect, start to mix things up and force him to make decisions, his biggest weakness, that’s when we’ll know if he’s a SUPERstar, or merely very good.

Kief is perhaps the most shocking, because there was ample evidence he was a bust. His shooting has been INSANE, and I’d wager 60%+ is unsustainable (see Mayo, OJ end of calender year 2012). As long as he can rebound OK (he’s about average now), keep the fouls down and hit > .500 he’ll at least be a serviceable player.

All that said, if we end the year a top 10 defence, I’ll be BEYOND shocked.

I agree that its somewhat best to temper expectations, but this team is so much more fun to watch than last year's abomination.

It makes sense that the Suns aren't on many scouting radars, most of course had us pegged as one of the worst teams with the 76ers who are also surprising a lot of people. Lot of teams overlooked us, but we have their attention now.

I just hope we keep improving and developing our young guys, this looks to be a solid core going forward so far.

[gaspar]

Adjusting for strength of schedule, Suns are playing like a 46-win team.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/bbstats/status/403590390206304256[/tweet]

[grumpysaddle]

Adjusting for strength of schedule, Suns are playing like a 46-win team.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/bbstats/status/403590390206304256[/tweet]

If that held up to be true... that would be THE worst possible finish for the Suns. They'd be 9th in the West.

But then again... The Thunder would be 8th and we all know that's not happening.

[B-easy]

What do the suns fans want, a top 4 pick or playoffs?

[grumpysaddle]

What do the suns fans want, a top 4 pick or playoffs?

Either of them, but not somewhere in between.

[RunDogGun]

What do the suns fans want, a top 4 pick or playoffs?

I want the team playing their hardest, and creating a good competitive atmosphere. The result of that, isn't going to bother me. Although, it is more fun to watch the playoffs, when you have a dog in the race.

[thamadkant]

What do the suns fans want, a top 4 pick or playoffs?

In all honesty.. I want then to finish top 5 in the west..

If not...

Perfect would be for suns to get a top 5 pick but with every game they play go to the wire... Except for lakers, I want them to smash lakers... This way the team is competitive, the players remain high in terms if competitiveness... But at the same time get a major piece that allows them to fill the roster or give them an asset so they can trade for a star that will push the team into top 5 in the west for the next 5-10 years.

[TASTIC]

Must be tough being a Cavs fan...ANOTHER 1st overall pick and they've blown it. Admittedly there weren't that many good options, but surely they could have offered that elsewhere with sweetener and gotten a legit 2nd option to pair with Irving? They better PRAY they re-sign him long term or he's gone...

Bynum was a horrible addition, AV they should trade now before he gets hurt again, Waiters is awful and has a bad me-first mentality and the guys who could contribute on a winning team (Clark and Gee), aren't. Tristan Thompson is putting up hollow numbers I feel - someone's got to grab boards and putbacks, it just so happens it's him - I wouldn't trade anything decent for him that's for sure. He reminds me too much of a Jason Thompson - look what he did his early years, he was a double double machine and then teams figured him out that he's basically just a big body in a good situation for him...

[rsavaj]

What do the suns fans want, a top 4 pick or playoffs?

Either of them, but not somewhere in between.

[BurningHeart]

Just goes to show that you can have all the high draft picks you want. If you don't have good management or a winning culture, it won't mean anything.