FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.The 2009-10 Phoenix Suns are caught somewhere between the past and the future. But just because they don't know where they're going, and have one foot stuck in a place where they've already been, doesn't mean that the team can't win this season, while playing an entertaining style of basketball along the way.
The Suns had more turmoil than most teams a year ago, yet, through it all, still almost managed to make the playoffs, finishing just two games behind the Jazz for the final spot in the Western Conference postseason picture.
This season, everyone from the players to the coaching staff to the general manager all seem to think that the continuity and the positive atmosphere that the team was lacking in the Terry Porter/Shaquille O'Neal era will translate to a year that, at the very least, will be enjoyable for all involved.
With head coach Alvin Gentry firmly installed, and his system being the same one employed by former fan favorite and current Knicks' head man Mike D'Antoni, there's a strong chance that this team will once again be among the league's elite, at least on the offensive side of the floor.
But defensively, can the Suns improve just enough to get some key stops down the stretch of games against the top teams in the league? Once again, that will be the all-important question.
Meanwhile, with Shaquille O'Neal having departed for Cleveland, and Amar'e Stoudemire returning from last year's season-ending eye surgery, the Suns will rely on Amar'e more than ever for their interior scoring. That's because the team's starting center, the newly-acquired Channing Frye, will be expected to stretch the defense by knocking down shots on the perimeter -- including from three-point land.
But again, scoring isn't going to be an issue. What will determine the Suns' fate this season, both as a regular season winner and as a playoff contender, is going to be the team's ability to get stops when games are on the line.
This was definitely a point of emphasis for Gentry's coaching staff when he took over in the middle of the season last year. We'll see if a full training camp to install his line of thinking, along with his end-of-game defensive sets, will be enough to make this team a legitimate playoff threat as the season unfolds.
Whether they are or they aren't, don't sleep on the Suns: with players like Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Stoudemire playing in that uptempo system, win or lose, they're once again going to be a joy to watch.
Last Season By the Numbers
Record: 46-36. Finished second in the Pacific Division, 9th in the Western Conference -- just two games out of the playoffs.
Offense: 113.6 points per 100 possessions, 2nd in the NBA. 1st in shooting, 26th in turnover rate, 11th in offensive rebounding, 8th in free throw rate.
Defense: 111.6 points per 100 possessions, 26th in the NBA. 23rd in shooting defense, 21st in opponent turnover rate, 22nd in defensive rebounding, 14th in opponent free throw rate.
Top Performers: Amar'e Stoudemire led the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game, but appeared in only 53 of them due to the season-ending eye injury. The Suns had seven players average double digits in the scoring column, due to their elite offense. Stoudemire also was second on the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game, but the team was led last season by Shaquille O'Neal's average of 8.4. Shaq and Amar'e led the team in blocked shots with 1.4 and 1.1 per game respectively, while the team assist title belonged to Steve Nash, with a more-than-solid 9.7 dimes per game.
All statistics via Basketball-Reference.com.
Player to WatchFanHouse's Matt Moore and Tom Ziller preview one player to watch from each team. Here's a snippet of Ziller's post on Suns guard Leandro Barbosa.
Barbosa was the most efficient among the Suns' top five backcourt players under [Terry] Porter's slower system last year, scoring roughly 105 points per 100 individual possessions. If Porter + Shaq hurt anyone the most, it was [Steve] Nash. Barbosa's style and on-court persona is so tied to D'Antoni's Suns that we conflate Nash's struggles to be shared by Barbosa. But that just wasn't the case under Porter. Nash suffered, but Barbosa held out fine.
See Ziller's full post on Barbosa.
Offseason Tracker
IN: Earl Clark (draft), Taylor Griffin (draft), Channing Frye (free agency).
OUT: Shaquille O'Neal (trade), Matt Barnes (free agency).
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Suns have already set. That was why they traded for Shaq. They failed in the playoffs with their small ball alignment. And Marion was playing out his option, so they traded him, for Shaq. That worked out well for Shaq. He went from saying he used to be a good player, to being an legit all star again. It wasn`t enough to salvage the setting Suns. And now they have done right by Shaq, and the league, sent Shaq to Cleveland, to possibly win another championship, but waived the two guys they traded Shaq for. Helping the two teams who picked them off waivers, but not helping themselves. And Robin "Weak Sister" Lopez is out injured, so they have little choice but to go with Amare, possibly two aging athletes, Hill and Nash, and two more guards, Richardson and Barbosa, much of the time. Though Frye, Amundsen, Dudley, Dragic, and others will get looks. The team may have to go even smaller than that, at least until Lopez gets healthy again. Nash suffered under Porter basically because Amare didn`t play college ball, so tried to play center style with Shaq, a real center, next to him, or small forward style, which he didn`t know how to do, missing a lot of lazy mid range jumpers. Amare would have blended better as a super sub of the bench, a front court version of Barbosa.
They finished four games behind the Mavericks (6th), and two games behind Utah (8th). Please.
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