Re: OT: Suns win in Boston Excuse me? Boris Diaw come on as a versatile swing player who admirably filled in at C for the Suns when Amare was out. There was a year in Fantasy Basketball where he had SG/SF/PF/C status. Channing is not that dynamic. Boris Diaw, up until recently did not shoot the 3-ball very often or well (he's done it much in Charlotte than he ever did in Phoenix). Channing just spots up for the three, he doesn't provide the passing or playmaking that Diaw has. But in the Suns system, having Channing be able to exploit mismatches off the pick and roll is very valuable. Channing is doing well for them, but he's definitely not similar to Boris Diaw the player.
Re: OT: Suns win in Boston Yea that was the year before he got fat and pretty much became their guy that could play SF, PF and C and he actually played more backup center than anything. So anyhow, your excused.
Re: OT: Suns win in Boston Have you seen their roster? It's the same, except swap out Channing for Shaq and some rookies.
Re: OT: Suns win in Boston yeah I was wrong, I was thinking of kendrick perkins. it's weird they don't even list glen davis on the roster as a DNP
OT: Phoenix Suns What do you think, guys? Are they for real? They are 7-1 and SIX of their 8 games have been on the road! They look like they're for real to me. They won in Boston and Miami for Pete's sake! Thoughts?
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns Good regular season team once again, but will fail miserably one more time in the playoffs.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns They're hot and are ahead of a lot of other teams right now, including Portland. But sooner than later those teams, the better ones will catch up and meet the the level of play Phoenix is at and exceed it, including Portland. Hopefully.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns To be fair, alex, they've been to the WCF twice and were injured both times. In 2005, Joe Johnson went down during the series. In 2006, Amare Stoudemire was down and they still came within 2 games of the NBA Finals. I wouldn't call that failing miserably in the playoffs. Also, in 2007, they were tied at 2-2 with the Spurs in the 2nd round but both Diaw and Amare were suspended for the pivotal Game 5 on a technicality. Even without Amare and Diaw, they only lost Game 5 by 3 points. I don't think they've failed because of how they play but moreso because of some bad luck. 2008 & 2009 don't count because Shaq ruined their chemistry and changed the way they played for the worse.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns You're right, they've had good seasons. It just depends on what their expectations were and I think it was going for the NBA title, and they didn't get it for various circumstances and reasons. I don't think they're for real yet before 10 games have been played. They look like a playoff team for sure, but title contenders is a bit premature at this point. It'll depend on how healthy Nash can stay over the course of the season, and he's not getting any younger.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns It all remains to be seen if Nash can stay healthy (Grant Hill too) and whether or not Amare is going to have any latent effects from his eye surgery ... but yeah I guess you have to say they are "for real," they are beating decent teams, their offense looks potent and they are even putting up decent defensive numbers. But if you mean "for real" as in championship contending team, I seriously doubt it; they give up a lot of size in the frontcourt and Nash and Richardson aren't exactly world beaters defensively. At best they might be a decent playoff team.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns The most interesting thing about this - is to notice that it was not D'antoni that is the great genius there because of his system - but his ability to realize that Nash is very good when he goes at 100mph and build a system for Nash. D'antoni can not reproduce the same success in NYK, BC can not reproduce it in Toronto - but Gentry can reproduce it in PHX because they still have Nash going 100mphwith a bunch of 3pt shooters around him. I suspect they make the playoffs and maybe the 2nd round and out - but it is still more than what I thought they could do this year - so - good for them. Fun team to watch, for sure.
Re: OT: Phoenix Suns I think Suns will not keep up this pace and fall back to 6-8th seed. It's a long season and I wonder if Nash can keep this up. Also, the running is working for now, but after the all star break, when playoff teams are gelling and concentrating on defense, I think Phx lack of size will hurt them. And if not in then second half of the season, the defintely the playoffs.
PHX is still an old team if you look at Nash and Hill. Lots can happen in an 82 game season. PHX needs to get off to a good start, because this pace will cause some injuries and wear and tear as the year progresses.
