Phoenix's defense is so underrated by a lot of people, and it is really improving a good deal.- Marcus Banks is a defensive harrasser, he's a very good on-ball defender, he's very quick, and also very sneaky. Any Celtics/Wolves fan can back this up.- Shawn Marion can guard both forward positions.- Raja Bell is a very good perimiter defender.- Jumaine Jones is a much better defender than people think, and he can stick with 2's, 3's, and some 4's.- Amare Stoudemire WILL, I repeat - WILL be a good defender. He never was a bad defender. Give him a little time, obviously, but once he gets back into the swing of things he will help this team both offensively and defensively.- Diaw is above average defensively, he can guard 3-4 positions.- Don't forget about Kurt Thomas.This team is a much much much better defensive team than they were 2 years ago, and they are going to be much better this year with a healthy Amare/Thomas and the new acquisitions of Marcus Banks and Jumaine Jones.I honestly wouldn't be totally suprised if the Phoenix Suns won it all this year, they have an excellent shot.
The Suns are a little overrated...they are, at worst, the 3rd best team in the West, and probably the NBA as well.If they were in the the East, I'd put them down as Finals locks...but they have to play a much tougher playoff schedule and they'll run into the Mavs or Spurs eventually...both have proven they can beat the Suns.The Suns can play a semblance of D...and they may get better. But let's face it...the Suns make their money due to their offense.But when they play a team that's just as talented as they are, like the Mavs last year, the Spurs the year before, who can score enough to keep up with them, and can force them from they're up and down style, and force them to play a half court offense...they bog down.I can't tell you how many possessions ended in Shot Clock violations, bad pass TO's, or just bad shots that were forced up because the Mavs forced them to be a half court team instead of allowing them to run up and down.Chicago is the other team I think is overrated.
I do think that the suns are a little overrated. But to say that they would be finals locks in the east as opposed to the west is ludacris. The east isnt the push over conference of 3 years ago. The east is tough. The only difference between the east and west now is the 7 and 8 seeds. The teams at the top of both conferences match up well together. By saying that the suns would be a lock for the finals in the east, you are saying that they FOR SURE are better than the Pistons, Bulls, Cavs, Nets and the Heat. And not only are you sayin they are better than the heat, you are saying they are better than Dallas as well (seeing as how the heat beat dallas last year). Im not sayin that the suns arent that good this year. Im just saying that knockin on the east isnt as easy as it was in previous years. Cant knock on the conference that has taken 2 of the last 3 titles.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Becar @ Sep 25 2006, 11:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I do think that the suns are a little overrated. But to say that they would be finals locks in the east as opposed to the west is ludacris. The east isnt the push over conference of 3 years ago. The east is tough. The only difference between the east and west now is the 7 and 8 seeds. The teams at the top of both conferences match up well together. By saying that the suns would be a lock for the finals in the east, you are saying that they FOR SURE are better than the Pistons, Bulls, Cavs, Nets and the Heat. And not only are you sayin they are better than the heat, you are saying they are better than Dallas as well (seeing as how the heat beat dallas last year). Im not sayin that the suns arent that good this year. Im just saying that knockin on the east isnt as easy as it was in previous years. Cant knock on the conference that has taken 2 of the last 3 titles.</div>The suns are better then the heat. Their not the horrible defensive team they were 2 seasons ago. Marcus banks is a good defender at the 1. They have 2 other great permiter defenders in Raja bell and Shawn marion. Boris diaw is an underrated defender imo. Post defense is good for a guy of his size. Then you have KT and Amare which do help their small front court. Only thing heat have on suns is experience and a legit superstar. Suns are deeper and have better individual defense. Shaq would be almost useless because he can't keep up with their offense.
