So far under Gentry the Suns have only lost 2 games, both loses were against teams in last year's NBA Finals, both were without Amare, and one was without Nash: Alvin Gentry Record: 6-2 (.750) PPG: 124.9 OPP PPG: 115.4 FG%: .547 OPP FG%: .492 FTAPG: 28.4 3P%: .399 RPG: 41.2 OPP RPG: 39.4 TOPG: 15 Terry Porter Record: 28-23 (.549) PPG: 104.4 OPP PPG: 103.4 FG%: .494 OPP FG%: .452 FTAPG: 27.4 3P%: .380 RPG: 41.6 OPP RPG: 40.7 TOPG: 16.3 Player Before/After Shaq: 17.3 PPG, 8.9 RPG Shaq: 22.5 PPG, 8.1 RPG Nash: 13.8 PPG, 9.7 APG, 3.8 TOPG Nash: 16.6 PPG, 9.2 APG, 2.4 TOPG Barbosa: 12.8 PPG, 1.9 APG Barbosa: 20.5 PPG, 4.6 APG Richardson: 15.6 PPG, 39% 3PT Richardson: 17.7 PPG, 42% 3PT
I really don't see the point, even if you guys make the playoffs you still won't be able to go any further than you did with D'Antoni. You've got to be able to play a slow down, defensive game in the playoffs and you guys are letting team's score 115ppg. While Porter wasn't doing a very good job, I don't understand going back to the same type of play that couldn't get you too the WCF.
I'm not personally making the Playoffs, I'm just a fan, I don't play for nor work for the Suns. You might be too young to remember way back to 2006 or 2005 (or maybe the bandwagon hadn't stopped by yet) but the Suns made the WCF both years, in 2005 Jerry Stackhouse broke Joe Johnson's face so he missed most of the WCF games; in 2006 Amare was out the whole season thus didn't play in the Playoffs... what could've been. Then there's 2007 and the David Stern decision to suspend Amare and Diaw because Robert Horry is a dirty player. I was a kid when the Showtime Lakers were winning Championships giving up 109 PPG, if there's a rule only boring teams can win Championships then I'll start watching grass grow -- looking at the Finals' ratings lately, it seems most people already have. You're allowed to like and root for teams that don't have bandwagons; that's what I hate about this forum and end up not posting for months. It matters because Suns fans like the Suns, not because somebody told us to but because we have loyalty and enjoy watching them; I don't post in every non-Lakers/Celtics forum asking "What's it matter? You're not going to the Finals"
I'm not trying to attack the Suns at all. In fact I enjoy watching them, I just didn't really understand the move. I know TP was doing a pretty bad job, but if this type of offense/defense didn't get you to the Finals before, why would it work any better now? That's all I was asking. My mistake for forgetting about 2005/06, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, sure it's very fun to watch, and if I was a Sun's fan I'd love to watch them play in person, but when it comes down to winning championships, IMO the Sun's type of game doesn't win them.
when I saw "Suns progress under Gentry" I immediately thought of "night and day" they look much better now and a lot less like they are sleep walking. what killed those excellent Suns teams you mention in your reply was not the high tempo, little defense philosophy, but the Suns cheap ass owner who wouldn't pay to keep talent like Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson who fit the team so well. selling of 1st round draft picks hurt too as Rajon Rondo was selected by the Celtics with a draft pick acquired from the Suns.
Not sure about the 04-05 season. Suns got handled on their homecourt, they lost all three games. Certainly not an indicator to me that you would have taken the Spurs that season just with JJ. However, yes you do have a very good case for 05-06 combined with the following year (06-07 a bit more though, because injuries are part of the NBA not freakish playoff suspensions). Tough breaks really, I think that style can indeed win a title and there's evidence to support it. Really depends on the situation, some teams just pull it off masterfully.
Comparing basketball now to basketball in the 1980s isn't a fair thing to do. The pace was much, much quicker back then in comparison to now. As for the Suns, regardless of what they're doing now, they're not winning a title this year. They need Amar'e to do that, and he's gone for the year. When he went down, their title aspirations went down the drain with him.
BlazerFreak, I didn't mean that directed at you specifically, it's just something that's been boiling since I started reading this forum again and your comments were the straw. I can't read a thread without somebody claiming a team doesn't have a chance, so apparently it's stupid to even watch them play... the Warriors had no chance of beating Dallas even once (they won the series), the Cardinals had no chance to win their first round game (they almost won the SuperBowl), the Rays had no chance of making the Playoffs (they made the World Series); "that's why they play the game"! Where have I ever said Phoenix was going to win the Championship? So why is everybody worried about it? Suns fans like watching the run-n-gun Suns, if we have to watch a 8th or 9th place team at least let us enjoy it, that's why the move was made. This team is not a half-court team, if Porter and Kerr wanted a half-court team they should've unloaded the team and rebuilt from the ground up by drafting and bringing in half-court players, it'd really have turned a lot of fans against an owner and GM that we're mostly angry with anyway. I think the system can win, it's an easy game and requires only one thing to win, score more than the other team; hence giving up 115 is fine if you're scoring 125, it's all about margins. Imagine you're a manufacting company, which numbers would you rather have? Company A: Cost of Production = $1,000,000 ; Revenue = $5,000,000 Company B: Cost of Production: $5,000,000 ; Revenue = $10,000,000 Company A requires less cost (Opp PPG) to manufacture the product and makes 5:1 on their return vs 2:1 for B... so why would you pick B? Because Total Profit is $5,000,000 vs $4,000,000, numbers can be skewed a million ways. The reason an up-tempto team hasn't won lately is because only Phoenix and Golden State have correctly implimented it (perhaps the Mavs and Kings several years back but Shaq was in his prime, so not really the scheme's fault) and Phoenix was the only contender, due to some circumstances they missed out on the Finals, granted they may have still lost... but maybe not. I think D'Antoni has a great scheme, his problem is he rides his starters and doesn't use his bench, by the Playoffs Nash and others were breaking down. As long as Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni are on the same page, I'm certain New York will win a Championship using his system -- considering they have the money to keep players and draft picks. [NOTE]: Yes, Phoenix will probably end up 9th in the West and miss the Playoffs... but they'd have home court in the East, so perhaps they're not as bad as the Lottery team everybody wants to write them off as.
