At 11-2, the fast running high flying Suns are known to some as "The Best In The West". What do you think?
I don't think so. If they played the rest of the season this well I still don't think so. The Suns are still inexperienced and I doubt that they will go past the second round. They have an excellent team however their lack of a big man is still crucial. By big man I mean center. You will probably see even better results from Stoudemire if you put him at his natural PF position. Marion is capable of playing the 4 but, that isn;t his either so you won't get the best results out of him aswell. Imagine if they are in the playoffs will Duncan and KG be killing Marion downlow? Ofcourse they will. The Suns still are yet to prove themselves of being the "best in the west"
The Suns are good but they aren't at that top level yet, I agree with mrj18 that the lack of a true center and running small ball with Marion at the 4 will hurt the Suns later in the season if they expect to make a playoff run. Maybe come time the trade deadline rolls around we will be working the phones trying to move possibly Casey Jacobsen for a good bench center.
The Suns need to give their other bigs some experience so they can defend guys like Duncan down the road (they would put Voskuhl on him as it is). Bo needs to be incorporated into the system and Lampe Hunter and Vroman all need experience. I would rather see us scrape by into the eight seed while playing these guys than what we are currently doing. Small ball puts our five best scorers on the floor but it will be our downfall in playoff games against opponents like SA that can slow the tempo down to the pace they want it. I'm not worried about Dallas and I haven't seen how this year's squad will match up with Minnesota. I say we have a chance at getting in if someone else beats SA before we play them. If Q is on and we can get solid minutes out of Hunter we may be hard to beat.
A good bench center? No offense man but there isn't much we can get out there for Casey, Zarko, and Vujanic's rights which is about all we'd be willing to give up. Unless JJ goes for Nene, or something similar, there won't be much trading going on I'd bet.
Nope, their still unable to defend the elite bigmen among the NBA, when the season turns the corner and heads down the stretch that flaw will be brought out every night without question. Check the stats, they've been unable to stop high caliber power fowards amongst the league... 11/3/04 - ATLANTA HAWKS - ANTONIE WALKER: 21 PTS & 13 REBS 11/10/04 - CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - DREW GOODEN: 16 PTS & 21 REBS 11/10/04 - CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS: 24 PTS 11/13/04 - SACRAMENTO KINGS - CHRIS WEBBER: 28 PTS & 10 REBS 11/16/04 - DALLAS MAVERICKS - DIRK NOWITZKI: 20 PTS & 16 REBS 11/19/04 - LA LAKERS - LAMAR ODOM: 18 PTS & 15 REBS 11/21/04 - LA CLIPPERS - ELTON BRAND: 17 PTS & 9 REBS 11/22/04 - CHICAGO BULLS - EDDY CURRY: 17 PTS & 9 REBS Now lets imagine a 7 game playoff series or an extremely meaningful late season matchup where playoff postioning is on the line, how is Phoenix going to compete in slowed down, half court, grind out style games? How are the going to compete against Dallas with Dampier and Dirk on their frontline? How are they going to compete against Sacramento with Webber and Miller? How about The Rockets with Yao Ming and Juwan Howard? These would be extremely difficult matchups for Phoenix, they'd simply be unable to play small ball, and will be forced to use Jake Voskuhl as their starting center. That of course will make them weaker offensively, which in turn makes them a less dangerous squad as scoring is their biggest threat. Small ball isn't a way to succeed long term and late in the NBA season, it's been proven time and time again. Dallas has found that out several years in a row and just finally attempted to solve the problem this offseason. Trust me, view the stats one more time, do you trust Jake Voskuhl?
Needs a real center, that's all it comes down too, a lineup of: PG - Nash SG - Joe Johnson SF - Marion PF - Amare C - A real Center lol Could be a contender in the league.
The suns have yet to beat san antonio, mini....If they beat these two teams, then yes, they are the best in the west. Some people feel that the suns will have to play a slowed down defensive game in the playoffs. I feel that will be their downfall if they let their opponents dictate the pace of the game. If they push, push, and push the ball and play their type of basketball...then they can compete.
Right now, they are one of the best so far in the West... and I only see them as getting better as a team so I agree with that.
