Suns are the biggest threat to the Lakers repeating

[Johnny Firpo]

I saw two Suns games, they won both (against my Mavs and the Nuggets), and they didn't look world beaters in either. Of course neither did the teams they beat. I would want to see an at least 20-game sample size from every teams. 20 games is a decent enough sample for regular season projections.

[ShotCreator]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

Ayton is can guard AD and has the level of rim protection needed to slow down a LeBron offense.

CP3/Bridges/Johnson can do spot duty on LeBron.


Keep in kind Phoenix is this good and CP3 and Booker have been negatives. Actual negatives out there for the most part.

I think the bench will regress and the starters will improve but this has shown Phoenix has the athleticism and skill for a top 5-10 offense AND defense.

Essentially contender level team.

[old skool]

Kind of difficult to predict a team's success when a season ending injury to their top player could change everything.

Or a major deadline trade.

Or the addition of a ring chaser waived late in the season.

Or a pandemic based disruption.

Or star players demanding a trade.

Heck, the NBA didn't want to even attempt to schedule a "full" 72 game season at once, given so much uncertainty. Let's not pretend that we fans have the slightest clue how things will evolve.

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[NoZoLakers]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

Ayton is can guard AD and has the level of rim protection needed to slow down a LeBron offense.

CP3/Bridges/Johnson can do spot duty on LeBron.


Keep in kind Phoenix is this good and CP3 and Booker have been negatives. Actual negatives out there for the most part.

I think the bench will regress and the starters will improve but this has shown Phoenix has the athleticism and skill for a top 5-10 offense AND defense.

Essentially contender level team.

no crowder is not a good Lebron defender, his contribution is preventing lebron from cheating on D with his 3pt. shooting, he does not guard Lebron well, watch the finals again

[insomniac00]

People keep saying the Suns are going to get even better with chemistry and guys snapping out of slumps. That’s fine but you’re acting like the rest of the league won’t do the same and is already at peak potential. Suns won a lot of their games so far because their opponents are still figuring things out as well.

Like others have said, too early to tell. But they’re certainly intriguing.

[mademan]

I think like a few teams in the West, they should feel good against any non-Lakers squad. Clips have more talent with Kawhi, but i like the matchup with the wing defense+rim protector combo of Crowder/Bridges+Ayton to combat Kawhi/PG.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

Ayton is can guard AD and has the level of rim protection needed to slow down a LeBron offense.

CP3/Bridges/Johnson can do spot duty on LeBron.


Keep in kind Phoenix is this good and CP3 and Booker have been negatives. Actual negatives out there for the most part.

I think the bench will regress and the starters will improve but this has shown Phoenix has the athleticism and skill for a top 5-10 offense AND defense.

Essentially contender level team.

Since when has Crowder been a great Lebron defender? Didn't look the part in the finals.

[SlovenianDragon]

Its already over Lakers fans...

[ShotCreator]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

Ayton is can guard AD and has the level of rim protection needed to slow down a LeBron offense.

CP3/Bridges/Johnson can do spot duty on LeBron.


Keep in kind Phoenix is this good and CP3 and Booker have been negatives. Actual negatives out there for the most part.

I think the bench will regress and the starters will improve but this has shown Phoenix has the athleticism and skill for a top 5-10 offense AND defense.

Essentially contender level team.

Since when has Crowder been a great Lebron defender? Didn't look the part in the finals.

You guys are right. Just looked up the stats.

I was thinking about Giannis, not LeBron.

Iguodala actually defended LeBron well in the 2020 finals. Held him to 5/14. I knew he still had something left last year.

[sunsbg]

Mikal defended LeBron, Crowder defended AD in the preseason games. Throw in Ayton's improved defense and the Suns match well with the Lakers. If the Suns make the playoffs healthy they will scare some teams IMO.

[bwgood77]

Id love to see the Suns in the playoffs again, but if they do itll be on the bottom half of the seedings. Den, LAC, Por, Utah, and Dal are better teams than them.

Well they've beaten 3 of those teams, the Nuggets and Jazz on the road in a b2b. And they have the Clippers tomorrow.

That being said, I won't say they are the biggest threat. I think it's still the Clippers and the Nuggets, who almost made a huge comeback last night against the Suns. Maybe Utah too.

But I think the Suns are in that next tier, and probably right there with Denver and Utah too after beating them on the road in a b2b with Booker playing like crap....but it's still a small sample size so I'll try not to get overly excited (though hard not to after the last 10 years).

[bwgood77]

Kind of difficult to predict a team's success when a season ending injury to their top player could change everything.

Or a major deadline trade.

Or the addition of a ring chaser waived late in the season.

Or a pandemic based disruption.

Or star players demanding a trade.

Heck, the NBA didn't want to even attempt to schedule a "full" 72 game season at once, given so much uncertainty. Let's not pretend that we fans have the slightest clue how things will evolve.

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Of course, but this goes for the Lakers or any other team as well.

[jcsunsfan]

I saw two Suns games, they won both (against my Mavs and the Nuggets), and they didn't look world beaters in either. Of course neither did the teams they beat. I would want to see an at least 20-game sample size from every teams. 20 games is a decent enough sample for regular season projections.

I am a total Suns fan, so I hesitate to even post on this thread. I agree with this post. The Suns have not looked like world-beaters. They just win. That's because they are playing excellent defense. As a long-time Suns fan, I am not sure I even know how to process that. They are 5-1 but not one of their players is playing out of his mind. They are all playing the type of game we know they are capable of. Its just that they are a well-constructed team with lots of shooters and a real commitment to defense.

You are right. It will take about 20 games to see. However, they are now 13-1 in their last 14 games.

Call me cautiously incredibly optimistic.

We'll worry about the Lakers when the time comes.

[Barnzy]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

How so?

He was just on a team that LeBron dropped 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists on in a series

[dlts20]

I was actually going to make this same thread the last few days. I haven't seen him this year but his stats look good and in the bubble I was honestly questioning if he will ever be the same

[homecourtloss]

Crowder is a great LeBron defender.

How so?

He was just on a team that LeBron dropped 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists on in a series

He just edited.

LeBron was 8/12 from the field, 1/2 on threes, shot 7/8 on FTs while being guarded by Crowder.

Agaisnt Butler, LeBron was 21/34 from the field, 3/6 on threes.

He was 5/14 against Iggy. Iggy defended him better than anyone last year,

[RoyceDa59]

I think Suns are a threat, as are the clippers, Bucks and Nets.

Regular season will be weird but come playoff time everything you know about bball will prove to be true once again. The teams with superstars will excel.


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[nitocobola]

The only thing that I don't trust about the suns is deandre ayton

[GSP]

I have a feeling this thread is going to be bumped in March when the Suns record is 25-38.

March reporting in



23-11

Guessing a 2-27 stretch is incoming

[dhsilv2]

Did someone steal this guy's account to turn it into another espn deal?