Upon Further Review or Hurting Myself again.

Instead of going out to dinner with friends I decided to spend last night at home, in front of the TV, hurting myself, watching the last two Suns games one more time. So I took the laptop on my knees and started re-watching the games in Detroit and Boston. Here’s what I think I saw in no particular order.

Wait a minute! Arron Afflalo (correct? Double R, Double F) is in the starting five for the Pistons. He was drafted a few picks later than Alando Tucker who as of today has played the grand total of FIVE games so far. Why can’t we ever play a rookie, why? Trade all draft picks from here to eternity, maybe the Mavs could give us Dirk Nowitzki if we just pack all first rounders until 2020.

D’Antoni is starting the game on a 2-3 zone defense. Am I watching the right game? I think I saw Amaré coming from the weak side to provide help on defense. Twice! He even seems to care a bit more about what’s going on.

Whit Shaq on the court the Suns are actually a better (forget our initial fears) fastbreak team since they can trust Shaq under the boards and the other four players can just fly quickly to the other side. Yet the Suns are a totally different team from the one that opened the season. Different players, different attitude, different plays, different everything and they’re depending more and more on Nash; without Steve at QB the Suns can’t play offense at all now.

Did you notice nobody seems to miss Marion or is it just me?

I had not realized how good a defender Grant Hill can be. With Nash, Shaq and Hill on the court the Suns have by far the highest basketball IQ on the planet. It should have happened 4 years ago.
Shaq can give the Suns 20 minutes (no more) of high quality basketball each night, despite being in the best shape of the last 2-3 years, another great job by the Suns training staff.

The Suns have completely stopped playing the pick and roll between Nash and Shaq which they tried often in the first four games of the Era of the Big Cactus. Wow, how about trying to defend a pick and roll between Diaw and Nash with Steve actually setting the pick and getting open for a three…lovely. (It happened with 5:50 left in the second of the Detroit game).

I don’t like Gordan Giricek.

Do you recall the last time the Suns had a little help from the officials? C’mon ref, that’s an offensive foul

Leandro Barbosa is definitely overrated, as much as I love the guy he’s still very far from being a complete basketball player, he’s the best at coming off the bench, shooting and running as fast as he can, but he’s far from getting the inner details of this game. Don’t get me wrong, I like Leandrinho, Beep Beep !

These days Stoudemire vs Garnett is the best match-up in the NBA to watch, possibly even better than Lebron vs Kobe. KG (I know we should have made that deal) can change a team like no other player in the NBA. I love that guy, he’s the best overall player in the game right now, no one can give you so much on BOTH sides of the court. Garnett has to be League’s MVP. Kobe, Lebron, Paul, are all great players, possibly with superior talent, but he’s the MVP. (all photos by AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

And finally, give us the playoffs, I am getting tired of the regular season.

Go Suns !

State of the West

While it's quite clear the Eastern Conference Champions will be eventually chosen between Cleveland, Boston and Detroit (I like the Pistons), in the West everything is possible. With less then a month left in the regular season here's what could happen on this side of the moon.

Lakers (48-22) Gasol and Bynum will come back in time for the playoffs, the schedule looks promising with 8 games at home (9 if you count the road game with the Clippers) in the remaining 12. Expect LA to hold on first place in the Pac 5 and the Conference.

New Orleans (47-21) 4-6 over the last 10 on the road could mean trouble as the Hornets will play mostly out of the Big Easy including visits to Cleveland, Boston, Toronto, Orlando, The Lakers and Dallas. Division lead in jeopardy but I think they'll be able to hold on and retain the second overall record in the Conference.

Houston (47-23) That 20-something win streak was amazing but how long can Tracy McGrady and Luis Scola carry this team without Yao remains to be seen. Houston will only play teams within the Conference and mostly on the road, but some of those foes are easy ones (Clippers, Sonics, Kings twice each). Make the playoffs but end up third in the Southwest.

San Antonio (47-23) The "hated" Spurs are starting to get into playoffs mode: tight (dirty) defense, clutch plays, the usual amazing play from Manu and more or less just ugly wins. A tough stretch in the schedule with Houston, Golden State, Utah, Portland and Phoenix in 10 days. 2nd in the division is where they'll end. They'll be there to the end as usual.

Utah (46-25) 7 home games left and since you can't beat this guys in Salt Lake City (30-4) it's good news for them; although you won't find a tougher final stretch of the year (San Antonio, New Orleans, Dallas, Denver, Houston and the Spurs again). Easly win the Northwest and should have a couple of rounds with home-court advantage in the post season.

Dallas (44-26) along with the Suns this is the most interesting team to watch since the whole season has been an emotional roller coaster, and the ride is far from over over since Jason Kidd is still looking for his place, Marc Cuban is still unsure about Coach Johnson's leadership and skills, Josh Howard has lost some of his early season form and above all Dirk could be out for a few weeks. The schedule is so-so, not bad but not too easy as this team needs to find answers now. The Mavs could well win the League or miss the playoffs (Cuban won't stand still in the latter case).

Golden State (43-26) still running at full speed, making each game a tactical mess. Monta Ellis has become one of the best guards in the League and with Davis and Jackson it's never easy to face Nellie's band. The Warriors are trying to hold off Denver for the last playoffs place in the West. The schedule is not easy early on but the end the season with 4-of-5 at home. They'll play the Nuggets twice and those games could mean a lot. I still think they'll make it as the 8th seeded team.

Denver (42-28) the Nuggets are a very good team but a victim of the tough Western Conference. I think they won't reach the playoffs despite the great recent play of Melo and Iverson but they still have a chance and have destiny in their hands (as they say) since they'll play Dallas once, Phoenix and Golden State twice. I don't think they'll make it.

And finally, your Phoenix Suns (47-22). The Suns are finding a new balance, defense has been better, if not good, lately and after a few difficult games Phoenix is again shooting the ball very well. A seven game winning streak is there to prove it. With 13 games to go I expect the Suns to win 9 and possibly lose 4 (Detroit, Boston, Denver and San Antonio all on the road). A 56-26 record should be good for a top four seed and a chance to play at least one at home in the playoffs. Second place in the Division and third in the Conference is what will happen.

And then...I'll just sit down, root for the Suns, and watch. Each team in the West (maybe except the Nuggets should they make it) is very capable of winning it all.

Go Suns !

Watch out Spielberg !

According to The Arizona Republic Steve Nash sees filmmaking in his future as he already started his cousin.

Check some of his magic on You Tube. That's some director's talent.

I am sure Steve will one day become the greatest film producer in the industry.

Go Suns !

The consequences of trade

A recent Sons of Steve Nash poll, among others, came to the conclusion that the Lakers made the best deal available by trading Paul Gasol for nothing. A real no-brainer. I wish Steve Kerr had asked them first.

The move was clearly much better, from LA point of view at least, than any other Western Conference trade.

But speaking of trades it was interesting to read some nice considerations on pre and post trade team performances in the Moderatly Celebral Bias Blog. A bit strange to hear that after 10-12 games teams more or less failed to show any significant form of improvement. Very interesting, indeed.

This also is a nice occasion to judge the Suns, comparing the pre and post Shaq era. On the always great Bright Side of the Sun I just realized that so far the Diesel-powered Suns actually improved scoring (by a short margin .6 PPG), allowed almost 2 points more, rebounded better while winning percentage actually declined.

The next 5-6 games will be a better judge, after the trip Northwest the Suns will play Houston, Detroit and Boston.

Still not sure what to think about the Shaq trade, anyway.

My heart likes it (Shaq is a great presence, a charismatic man and still can play), my brain still hates it (Shaq is slow, old and is basically ruining the Suns' system).

Go Suns !

Are the Suns willing to play defense?

The Suns defense is awful. We all know that, but I am still not sure of the reason.

The Suns players are individually very poor defenders with the possible exceptions of Bell and Strawberry. Stoudemire is big, athletic but doesn’t have a clue on defense, Hill doesn’t have the size to guard a forward in the League, and so on.

Well documented are Nash’s defensive limitations, i.e. check this very interesting post from the Empty the Bench blog, while "of course" I don't agree with the fact that Nash is overrated.

I actually believe Nash is not that bad one vs. one, at least in trying to drive his opponents where help should be coming. Steve (and more or less everyone else on the Suns team) is lost when opponents start spreading the basketball, playing the passing game and setting consecutive picks.

Did you notice how many open shots Suns’ opponents can take in a game?

The departure of Shawn Marion means the Suns are suffering on the perimeter. Check the stats of the small forwards the Suns faced recently: Anthony scored 30, Gay 36, Iguodala 32, Jamison (playing at SF most of the night) 28 as Raja often has to guard the opponents' small forwards. Raja (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens) is a very good defender on guards but he’s not big enough to guard much bigger players.

The Suns play possibly the worst pick-and-roll defense in the League. Often opponents play pick-and-roll (even the NBA teams not calling Salt Lake City home), most of the time that’s the play they call to start their offense, with a combination of PG and C (or PF). Against the Suns it means the 2 worst defenders on the team, Nash and Stoudemire, come into action. Shaq is not any better as a pick-and-roll defender.

So the Suns need a good defender at small forward…Marion? Right, back then we needed a big presence in the middle. It can't be solved, I am afraid.

Playing defense is so far away from the Suns state of mind that even if they enter the play with a decent attitude, they just fail to play defense for 24 seconds. They often look more or less lost.

So the question is, can a team of poor individual defenders become a decent defensive team? I think it is possible as it’s mostly a matter of will, attitude, good coaching and work ethic. Let’s just hope it can be feasible in a couple of months.

Go Suns !

The Schedule is against the Suns

Entering today’s game against the Spurs, the Suns (40-22) will have exactly 20 games left in the 2007-08 season.
Of those 20 games Phoenix will have 16 vs. the West and the four games against the East will be played on the road in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Of those 20 games, 13 will be against teams with winning records.
Before the end of the regular season Phoenix will play 2 vs. the Spurs, 2 vs. the Nuggets, 2 vs. Golden State, 2 vs. Houston. You got it.

It’s time to get worried as the Suns are SERIOUSLY in danger of missing the playoffs or eventually enter the post season with the Conference 7th or 8th seed.

Go Suns !