41 DOWN, 41 TO GO. Time for a Report Card

41 down, 41 to go is where the Suns stand right now. We have reached the midway point of the regular season and it's time for a check on the Suns' performance so far.

The Record: 29-12

Phoenix has the best record in the Western Conference and a one game lead on the Lakers in the Division. The Suns are 15-4 at home and 14-8 on the road.

The Division race looks much tighter this time, as the Lakers have really improved and should be able to contend for the Pac 5 crown despite the fact they'll miss Andrew Bynum for a few weeks. Andrew was the League most improved player and was starting to become a dominant NBA center.


The Players (and a 1-10 rating of their respective performance so far)

Stoudemire: (22.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.18 BPG) big numbers almost every night, poor defense and the sense that he could be better and could actually take over a game almost every night. (8/10).

Barbosa: (17.1 PPG, 3.0 APG) usual spark off the bench. As quick as they come, solid season so far but nothing spectacular (7/10).

Nash: (16.9 PPG, 12.1 APG, 3.63 TPG) Steve is just being Steve...walking around on the Suns' half court (often clueless when his direct opponent doesn't have the basketball) but passing the ball like Tom Brady, leading the League in assists and shooting very well from 3-point range (8/10). Suns co-MVP.

Marion: (16.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.95 SPG) still unhappy I guess but so far has just played hard every night. Not having his best season stat-wise since he had to give up some shots to Grant Hill but shooting well. Suns co-MVP so far (IMHO), since he's the most consistent player on a very inconsistent season (8/10).

Hill: (15.9 PPG, 4.60 RPG, 3.5 APG) all we expected and possibly more. Great mid range shooting, running well and looking young. Hope he'll recover well from appendicectomy (8/10).

Bell: (11.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.1 APG) Raja started the year with some minor - but annoying - injuries that limited his mobility. He's coming back, shooting better and playing better difense (5/10).

Diaw: (7.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.7 APG): the biggest question mark of the year so far. Seems to have turned the corner, could be interesting to watch him when Grant Hill comes back (4/10)

Banks: (5.4 PPG, 1 APG, 13.0 MPG) he's out of favour with the Coach and has been replaced by Strawberry in the rotation lately. Shooting the ball well from outside, the feeling is the Suns would love to trade him if not for his huge contract (5/10).

Skinner: (3.7 PPG, 4.30 RPG) a nice addition, he's a fighter and a better than expected shooter. Always ready, good signing (6/10).

The rest: D.J. Strawberry is emerging as a role player, hopefully he'll be able to play 10-12 minutes a game untile the end of the year. His defense and hustle could become very useful in the playoffs. Not much to report as Tucker has appeared in 5 games only while Marks and Piatkowski are just there to fill the roster.

Coach D'Antoni

Trying to keep the team focused and motivated which is difficult on a nightly basis when everyone knows their season will rest on playoffs' performance.

Team has showed too much inconsistency and on a few occasions and alarming lack of energy and effort sometimes. He's doing a good job lately as team's performance (and defense) is improving.
Since, nothing less than a Finals appearence will be considered a success and D'Antoni knows well you can't win the Championship in December but you can lose one, he's putting some heat on his team lately.

He's missing Iavaroni as the Suns have been beaten in the paint often this year.

So far, Coach D deserves a 7 (out of 10).

The Mood

Losing often against top teams in the West had all Planet Orange worried (and stil is) but performance is improving (i.e. the nice win against the Lakers). Mood is positive and I think the Suns will be ready for the Playoffs. I am expecting another 30 wins in the next 41, a division title and a top 2 seed in the Conference...then let the battle begin !

Go Suns !

Will the real Diaw please stand up?

A collection of the headlines (just click on the link if you're interested in the complete stories) from The Arizona Republic dealing with our number 3, Monsieur Boris Diaw (Photo AFP) since the start of the season.

- Diaw: Big game "nothing special" (Arizona Republic, Jan. 13th, 2008)

- Diaw's struggles puzzle D'Antoni (Arizona Republic, Dec. 28th, 2007)

- D'Antoni turns up heat on Diaw (Arizona Republic, Dec. 13th, 2007)

- Diaw's selflessness may irk fans but not D'Antoni (Arizona Republic, Nov. 25th, 2007)

- Diaw's selflessness an asset (Arizona Republic, Nov. 24th, 2007)

From this simple selection you pretty much get the idea. Diaw is very talented, has the potential (Je crois) to become a dominant player in this League. Boris has a point guard mind in a power forward frame, not a bad combination to begin with and he should thrive in the Suns' system built on speed, passing and shooting. He's the prototypical NBA modern player: quick, string, tall, good shooter, great passer...

But Diaw is currently averaging 7.2 points and shooting .426 from the field his worst total - so far - as a Sun. His career stats so far:

03-04 Atlanta 25.3 MPG 4.5 PPG 4.5 RPG 2.4 APG
04-05 Atlanta 18.2 MPG 4.8 PPG 2.6 RPG 2.3 APG
04-05 Phoenix 35.5 MPG 13.3 PPG 6.9 RPG 6.2 APG
05-06 Phoenix 31.1 MPG 9.7 PPG 4.3 RPG 4.8 APG
06-07 Phoenix 35.5 MPG 7.2 PPG 4.2 RPG 3.5 APG

In other words, over the last 2 and 1/2 years Diaw's performance has worsened as minutes, points, rebounds and assists have been going down.

When this kind of high-potential player doesn't perform at the expected level everyone start thinking about a lack of motivation. Diaw 's struggles have been the Suns biggest mystery so far, one that coach D'Antoni need to solve as Diaw will eventually be one of the key to the Suns' success in the playoffs.

Any idea? Right now I think:

1. Boris, like Amaré and all the Suns big men, is missing Iavaroni.


2. Boris needs to find certainties (i.e. a stable position) on the court.


3. Boris needs to find some fire back. He's a nice man, with a positive attitude and a French upbringing (in other words not your typical NBA player). Boris lists good food, photography, animals and good wines among the things he likes in his borisdiaw.com Mes Gouts section. I hope Diaw hasn't lost his desire to compete in a struggling period.

Go Boris ! Suns Nation Needs You.

Go Suns !

Suns top the West: Un-happy at 23-9 ?

Coach D'Antoni (AP Photo/Paul Connors) opening training camp last October reaffirmed that the Suns needed to "enjoy the journey".

"It can't be, 'This is all a disaster if we don't win the championship', "You don't enjoy the journey that way and I think we didn't enjoy the journey enough last year", said the Coach to ESPN.com Marc Stein on Oct. 12th, 2007.

At the start of the season it was quite clear that the Suns would have won a lot of games in the regular season but as almost everyone knew, this is a team built to win it all. Anything less than a trip to the Finals will be considered a failure.

Now, in early January, with about one third of the season gone, the Suns have the best record in the West (23-9 on Jan. 4th) but more or less seem one of the unhappiest team in the NBA. Somewhat I think I agree with Marv Albert on that (check the broadcast of the Sonics game last night on TNT)

The Suns have been somewhat inconsistent this year, from game to game and sometime within one single game: on and off; scoring 35 one quarter and then 15 the next.

They have played with a lack of energy, mostly on defense, on various occasions (that e.g. costed loss in Atlanta and Minnesota.)

The Suns have also been outrebounded almost every night. Stoudemire have been fantastic on offense, awful on defense, more or less the same with Steve Nash.

Defense has been poor as the Suns won most of their games just by running over worse teams - those being almost 25 teams in the NBA. Phoenix defense was nothing special last year too, it's no big surprise, but it's very important the Suns put a lot of energy on both side of the floor as playing the lanes on defense is the key to scoring in transition.

Despite all of this, the Suns have won over 70% of their game and are in perfect position to enter the playoffs with the best record (and home court advantage) in the Conference.

So, Why is (almost) everyone so unhappy with the Suns right now?

Were we really expecting to be 32-0 at this point? Of course not.

I think the lack of enthusiasm has a lot to do with just a handful of games, those against the teams the Suns will be playing to win the West next spring: Dallas, San Antonio and the LA Lakers (and maybe to a lesser extent Golden State, New Orleans, Houston and Utah).

Against those big three the Suns are just 1-3, with two painful losses vs. the Lakers (booed at home in the opener and defeated on Christmas). The only win came in San Antonio facing the Spurs without Tony Parker and with Tim Duncan just back from missing a few games with injury.

On those occasions I think we more or less felt a little shiver-down-the-back as we saw a Suns team unable to solve last year's problems: playing against teams with talent and athleticism and defending the inside.

You get the idea, it's more fear, than lack of enthusiasm.

The fear that comes with the idea the Suns have only a 2-year-opportunity to win the championship with their current core of players; the fear that comes with the belief that, if possible, this year will be even tougher.

Go Suns !