- April 18, 2008 - Petro's Picks

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Eastern Conference

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Boston Celtics (1) VS Atlanta Hawks (8)

Don't let all the talk about Atlanta matching up well with Boston fool you. The same things were said about the Suns and the Grizzlies in the 2005 playoffs. The Boston Celtics are the best team in the league going into the playoffs and the Atlanta Hawks shouldn't even be there. Boston has no problem with dispelling the Hawks.

( Boston in 4 )

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Detroit Pistons (2) VS Philadelphia 76ers (7)

The 76ers are an exciting team in a conference that recently has been quite frankly boring. This series should be interesting. Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala are going to have their hands full. The Detroit Pistons should handle them with ease. The problem for Detroit is two fold. First, the Pistons don't have a true super star. If Detroit had a super star, they may have 3-4 title in the past 5-6 years. Second, will Wallace insist on shooting threes? If this is the case, it may extend hope for Philadelphia. Either way, Detroit will advance.

( Detroit in 5 )

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Orlando Magic (3) VS Toronto Raptors (6)

Toronto has been a disappointment this season. After some success last year they were expected to contend for the top spot in a below average Eastern Conference. They just have not gelled like most expected. Further more they face one of the best big men in the League in Howard. Orlando has all the ingredients to make a run at the Conference Finals. They will start with the Raptors.

( Orlando in 5 )

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Cleveland Cavaliers (4) VS Washington Wizards (5)

Pick-um. The Boston Celtics will surely be rooting for the Cavaliers in this series. Washington can put up numbers with the best of them. But there are question marks about this team. Will the return of Arenas put this team in contention for the East? I ended up changing my mind while I was writing this. I think in with the success that the Wizards have had in the past 2 months they will advance to the second round. I wanted to pick The Chevy Cavaliers simply for the LeBron Factor. I don't think that he has enough help to get by the dangerous Wizards.

( Wizards in 7 )

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Western Conference

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Los Angeles (1) VS Denver Nuggets (8)

Let's be honest. When people say that you don't end up number one by accident but that is exactly how the Lakers got there. If the Suns and the Mavericks do not make mid season trades, the Lakers very well could be in that 4/5 position. Of course the Lakers made a trade too but gave up nothing so their trade does not count. The big talk about this series is that Denver does not play defense. While this is true, the Lakers are not a stellar defensive team either. If they cannot contain Carmelo and Iverson, it will be a long series for LA. As much as it pains me, LA will over come Denver.

( Lakers in 5 )

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New Orleans Hornets (2) VS Dallas Mavericks (7)

The Hornets have been the best team in the West for the majority of the year. But pressure and a long season has begun to take a toll on the young Hornets. This team will have trouble getting through Dallas even with home court. Dallas has too much at stake and I truly believe that the Hornets feel some sort of accomplishment already with this season. If Dallas doesn't get past the first round for a second consecutive year, heads will roll; all the way up to Dirk. Dallas will prevail. They have too.

( Dallas in 6 )

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San Antonio Spurs (3) VS Phoenix Suns (6)

This maybe the premier match-up in the first round ever. Surely EVERY basketball fan, analyst, team, etc. will have their eyes on this series. The Suns have built their team to beat the Spurs in the playoffs and now will get what they asked for. A quick answer to their question; can we get over the hump? Unfortunately for the Suns, they will be starting on the road. While I think there is more pressure in this series to hold home court, you never want to give up advantages. Suns will finally prevail over the Championship Spurs. The Suns fans better hope that this team doesn't feel like they won the championship should they dethrone the Spurs.

( Suns in 6 )

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Utah Jazz (4) VS Houston Rockets (5)

Make no mistake the Utah Jazz got exactly what they were asking for when they tanked their last game against the Spurs. I am not going to say that Utah would have beaten the Spurs but it was quite obvious that the Jazz were not showing up (mentally) for that game. The Houston Rockets have been on everyone's wish list for a first round match up. The one thing that I learned in the last meeting between the Suns and Rockets is that nothing is a given. While Utah maybe one of the best at home, the Rockets are no slouch at home either. The Rockets are 31-10 at home but more importantly they are 24-17 away. Utah has a horrible road record and that will be the difference in this series.

( Rockets in 7 )

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- Petro

- April 18, 2008 - Suns Primed For The Playoffs

With the debacle at US Airways Center on Sunday, the Suns temporarily redeemed themselves with a win in San Antonio and winning the season series against the Spurs for the first time in the (new) Nash era. Now you can argue that the Spurs are not even the best team in the West at this time. You can also argue that the Spurs are right where they are supposed to be with never having a back to back title. But let me be crystal clear; mentality is as important in the playoffs as talent.

The Suns have taken a huge leap in the mentality department. The Suns did everything they had to do in beating the Spurs. At the end of the game when Bowen did what Bowen always does, the Suns kept their cool. This is mental maturity. I believe that this was the final hurdle in becoming a true championship contender.

Now I am not crowning our beloved Suns. They surely have a tough road to get through. If they match up against Utah in the playoffs, they will have to play near perfect. If the Suns fail to get home court against Utah, they may have to play perfect. Utah might be the toughest road team in the league. Of course there are the Lakers, the renewed Mavericks, and of course the Spurs.

This playoff season, the Suns will no longer have a monkey on their back though. They will not be looking ahead to whom they position with in the second round. This might be the best team that the Suns have ever put into the playoffs. They will go in with one of the bigger advantages because they haven't played a lot of these playoff teams regularly while at full strength. I don't count the 2-3 weeks of getting acclimated with Shaq as full strength either.

Against the Spurs the Suns proved that they can go 9 deep. This team is gelling at the right time. They still have business to take care of with Houston tonight, Golden State on Monday, and Portland on Wednesday. They should win out and continue their rhythm going into the playoffs. I understand that it maybe customary to rest the starters for the playoffs but I think that the Suns should not practice this custom. They have had a short season with Shaq. Players like Bell and GG have heated up; I do not want to see them cooled. LB had one of his best games against a team that he almost never shows up for in the playoffs. The Suns don't have real practices so they are probably more rested than a lot of other teams if you average it all together. Their starter's minutes are similar to most of the contenders in the league.

The Suns only downfall from beating the Spurs this year would be if they believe that they have already won something. No, beating the Spurs or any other team in the regular season means nothing (to some extent) when the playoffs start. Ask The (Chevy) Cavaliers. They ran the table on the Spurs last year in the regular season just to get punked by the Spurs on the biggest stage in the NBA. I don't think Nash and Grant Hill will allow this though. And look for Shaq to dominate everything come April 19, 2008.

- Petro

- April 4, 2008 - Phoenix Suns still have work to do.

With the pre-season winding down, it's time to evaluate the Suns going into the final 7 games and into the playoffs. Since the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal for Shawn Marion the ups have been high and the lows can be compared to the depths of the seas. Now, personally I am not a fan of the sports roller coaster, but I have enjoyed the work the Suns have put in since mid February. As soon as this trade came down I was sure we were going to see Coach D'Antoni tighten the line up that much more. It was a no-brainer for me. Here is a guy who struggles to go to that ninth and tenth player anyway. Now you throw in the fact that the Suns system was going to change in a tight Western Conference race and in his mind he has no other choice.

The main weakness surrounding the Suns remains the turnovers. Let me say right now that if the Suns don't cut there turnovers down, they will not make it out of the first round. Gone are the days where the Suns will out run teams and try to break records for field goal attempts. This team, in the last 6 outings, has averaged over 15 turnovers a game. Turnovers however are coming down quite a bit from February. It appears that the Suns are on the right track but is there enough time for the ship to be righted? The Suns will have to play near perfect basketball (for them) in order to advance to the Western Conference Playoffs. It's that simple. The Suns do not get enough breaks and calls to be able to play below their capabilities. The West is too strong this year.

Barbosa will have to step it up. He can be a wonderful offensive weapon but his current me first attitude will help sink the SS Phoenix Suns. Now LB has a good head on his shoulders. He has a good heart and is extremely important to this team. The Suns will need his energy coming off the bench. But there are two things that stand out to me. First is defense. There might not be a player on the Suns who looks more lost on defense than LB. He is constantly blowing assignments by not rotating or going under screens which often times leaves the center or power forward position gambling on where they need to be. That's a bigger issue that I don't think can be solved by the playoffs. The other issue I have with LB is control of the offense. He has to learn to play within himself and know when to drive and when to throw it in to the Big Cactus. I can't, off the top of my head remember LB and STAT running the pick-n-roll. This problem can be overcome by playoff time. Dan D'Antoni will have to continue to communicate this with his protégé.

There is little argument out there about STAT being the best forward and maybe the best player since Shawn Marion was traded. Even the notorious Suns hater, John Hollinger agrees with this assessment. Amare makes my list for 2 reasons. His defense is average at best this regular season. Now in the past and especially in the playoffs he steps up. I don't expect anything less this post season; especially with Big Papa Shaq around. What I want to see is his fouls to be under control. This will be a difficult task for Amare as his minutes will increase and emotions will rage. He has to stay calm, cool, and collected. He can not gamble so much in the playoffs. A lot of his fouls will come when he gambles on a block, a charge, or a slap at the ball to in the lane. The second issue isn't entirely Amare's fault. STAT needs to have the ball more. The offense has to go through Amare especially late in games. This will be crucial in the playoffs. D'Antoni will have to surrender his philosophy of the offense runs through everybody when the game is on the line. This may be a tall order for Coach, but Amare is clutch and will be a key to the Suns going to the promise land.

Nash, Grant Hill, Raja, and Shaq know what to do and I trust them to step it up and leave it all on the court come playoff time. The keys to the Suns success will hinge on more than team improvement that I speak of. They will need some luck and some calls to go their way also. They will have to stay injury free. The Suns shouldn't worry about where they are seeded too much. They haven't really played enough of the Western contenders to know who they match up with best. Home court is a great advantage and a great stress in my opinion. It only takes one win on the opponent's court to gain that advantage. So far home court hasn't been the key for the Suns. It wasn't even necessary for San Antonio last year. I believe that this team has enough talent to make it to the finals but it's the mentality that continues to hold them back. The X-factor when it comes to mentality will be the Big Cactus. Will his presence finally be enough to tip the scales? We will find out soon enough.

- Petro

- March 26, 2008 - NBA needs a wake up call.

Ok, this is supposed to be propaganda so let's go. Now I am not a big conspiracy theorist and I am not going to start today either. But, the officiating is deteriorating more and more every year. What is the cause of this decline? Is the NBA too lenient on poor officiating. Are they too protective of their officials. Are the officials getting too old or too arrogant? What is this league coming too when one of it's most celebrated highlight is of Michael Jordan pushing Russell out of the way for a game winning shot?

It's not just bad calls or missed calls. It's also inconsistent calls. What is a foul in the 1st quarter is no longer a foul in the 2nd quarter; just to show up again in the 3rd quarter. What is a technical for arguing a call becomes no big deal, even if you curse out the ref. Of course I am talking about Amare's T and the no technical on Prince when he was swearing at the official after being called for a foul. Prince's acting out was more egregious than that of Amare yet it didn't warrant a technical the same as it did for Stoudemire. I guess the game of basketball is officiated on emotion while the league is trying to take the emotion out of the game itself.

What is this game all about when 2 officials with clear views don't make a call but the most obstructed official apparently has the eyesight of Superman? Or the make up call. Oh Lord how I love the make up call. Yes, we missed a call or my colleague made a poor call but we will call a foul down the road for you to make it up. This game that is so predicated on momentum should not be interrupted with "make up" calls. How about the assumption call? I like this one too. Well, so-n-so never shoots like that (or ever makes a mistake) therefore it must have been a foul. I know, it is 5 seconds after the play but heck, I can't let is go. Not with the point spread so dangerously close.

Unless the league is purposely trying to go the route of WWE, it going to need help. Now I don't know if the infusion of new rules and regulations year after year is a culprit. It seems to me that the officials have too much on their plate to be proficient. Simplify the officiating. It's such a difficult game to officiate in the first place, do we really need all the extra intricacies? I don't know if they need stationary officials in the game therefore limiting the amount of running up and down. What about replay? They already have instituted it for end of half scenarios. With all the commercials that ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc. play, I think there is enough opportunity to allow challenges to fouls, shots, blocks, etc without disrupting the flow of the game.

Look, I understand that it is a difficult task at hand. But the game of basketball is based a lot on momentum. One way or the other. The example from the Piston - Suns game was the no call on Shaq. When Wallace made the three to cut the Suns lead down to 2 with a couple of minutes left the momentum was clearly swinging in favor of the Pistons. Shaq went up for a put back when McDyess purposely tried to foul him. If Shaq goes to the line and makes even 1, momentum has ended. Now I am not going to completely blame the officiating for that loss. Despite the referring , the Suns had other opportunities to deliver the win. Hills 2 missed free throws; a shot clock violation; a poor shot by Amare; giving up second chance points by not securing the rebound. All these factors played a role in the loss. But I am thinking on a larger scale. Ask Golden State their opinion of officiating after that horrible call against them in the last Lakers game. Ask the Mavericks how they feel after being robbed in the Finals. Then when you are done with the Mavs, ask the Spurs how they felt in the Mavs series that same year. Finally, ask any veteran in the NBA now or in the recent past about the preconceived labels they get from officials. Ask them about their conversations when they see who will be officiating the game that night.

With the WWE at least I know what to expect. That is why I don't watch it. I want fair competition. I want my team, and other teams to have a fair shake. I am not interested in watching the Globe Trotters, as fun as they are to watch. It's time to hold the league accountable. It's time to stop believing David Stern's drunk sincerity about the "spirit of the rule" or the " letter of the rule" BS. For crying out loud if you can't do it for the sake of the league, do it for Mike D'Antoni's health. Do it for the fans health and their family's sanity of listening to them after these types of games.

- Petro

- March 17, 2008 - Stars Align For the Suns to Shine.

Well the beating that the Suns have put on Memphis and Sac Town isn’t something to jump for joy at except for the fact that they are no longer struggling against teams that they should handle easily. They are in line to make a run for the Pacific Division once again with the Lakers struggling and Pau injured (surprise). It’s not an easy end of the month but with Portland and Seattle next, you may see a changing of the ranks between LA and Phoenix.

The Suns have a different seriousness to them since Shaq has been added to this team. Sure it’s still Steve’s team, as well as it should be, but when people say Shaq Daddy, it appears that can be taken literally. The team is so much more focused as of late. There appears to be a sense of urgency. Maybe it’s just the fact that the Suns are scrambling to find themselves. What ever it is, I like it.

GG (Gordon Giricek) has been a huge pick up. This is a guy that I have admired for a few years now. In all honesty, I wasn’t a big fan of trying to bring Brent Barry to the Suns. It’s not like he was ever coming anyway. But Brent wasn’t playing that well for the Spurs. I didn’t see him making a big enough impact off the bench to get a significant role with Coach D. I have always thought the GG was a big shot guy. Not a huge impact from play to play, just the right play at the right time so to speak. What he has shown is that he is a true baller. He is all hustle on D, he drives to the hole, has the mid range pull up shot, and can bomb the three. What doesn’t surprise me is that his potential was not reached in Utah. But was does surprise me is that Philly didn’t use him. I know Philly is playing good but what team couldn’t use a GG, at least what the Phoenix fans have seen so far?

Suns have won 4 in a row. It will be 6 in a row when they meet up with the Rockets. I truly hope the Rockets are still on their winning streak. There would be no better feeling than to bust (a D’Antoni term) the current best team in the league. After Houston it’s on to Detroit. It will be revenge time. And finally off to Boston; an NBA Finals preview?

So the stars are aligning. The chemistry is coming into place. This was my biggest concern regarding the trade. Could the Suns get it together in time for the playoffs? Fortunately it appears they have. Of course they are still not as good as they were against the Spurs and the Kings but they are not as bad as they were against Detroit either. They are somewhere right of center. Not yet proven to play at a championship level, but well on their way. Suns fans can climb off that cliff and back into their lounge chairs and strap in. The road to the playoffs maybe just as compelling as the road to the Finals.

-Petro

- March 12, 2008 - Shaq Attack.

When we talk about 'Shaq Attack' it's usually reserved for his play on the court. But ever since the blockbuster trade was made that sent Marion to Miami and Shaq to the land of cacti, the attack has come from off the court. Of course fans will have mixed emotions on the trade. Clearly Shaq isn't the player he once was. Shawn Marion was the longest tenured Sun and will most likely be headed to the Ring of Honor. Fans emotions are closely tied to their team. What has really thrown me for a loop is the supposed expert media hacks.

Yes, I consider a lot of these guys and girls hacks. For 3 ½ years all Suns fans would here was how the Suns run and gun style can not get them a ring. They talked about how it was a system that was built for the regular season but when the real season starts (the playoffs), the system would fail. The Suns could not match up with bigger, stronger opponents. The Suns were too soft. You can't win being a jump shooting team, especially if you get killed on the boards. So the Suns go out and make a trade that can shore up all those deficiencies with Shaq.

So the media darlings should love this right? Wrong! After the trade all you heard from these yahoo's was how can the Phoenix Suns abandon their system? How can the Phoenix Suns give up what has been so successful in the past. How can the Suns change now when they were so close to winning it all last year? Are they talking about the same Suns that they were just saying couldn't compete with that old style? Didn't I hear all these knuckleheads say that the Suns were not contenders even this year? You have to love the likes of Bill Walton who comes out and criticizes the trade and Shaq. Then when Phoenix handed Boston their third loss in a row, Walton came on ABC the next Sunday proclaiming that the Suns would be contenders. Of course this was before the Detroit game started. By the end of that butt whipping he was on his diatribe once again about how horrible the trade was. Is there a bigger joke?

Fans haven't been much different. I understand the emotion tied to Marion. But let's be honest; Shawn no longer wanted to be here. The Suns problems were in the paint. They lead the league in shot blocks but that was because they couldn't stop penetration at the perimeter. Marion was great for guarding guys 1-4 but he couldn't guard more than one guy at a time. The Suns help defense is horrible. I like the idea to control the paint and take a chance with the perimeter defense. As soon as the team can get comfortable with new roles on defense, the shooting percentages will come down. The team has made huge strides in rebounding. In the 10 games that Shaq has been here the Suns are +3 in differential. That's a ranking of 7th since the trade. They still rank in the top ten at number nine in those ten games also.The fans just need to be patient. You will not get a true idea of where this team stands for a few more games. If you look at the games against Portland, Utah, and San Antonio, you should be optimistic. If the Suns can continue to improve on that play, they will be my favorite to win it all. The biggest concern for me is the length of time left in this season when this trade went down. In a tight, tight western race, do the Suns have enough time to put it together before the playoffs? Will they make the playoffs? Better hope so. The Suns gave their 1st round pick for 2008 to Seattle with the Kurt Thomas trade. Can you imagine the Suns being a lottery team, having Atlanta's unconditional pick, and still end up with no picks in the lottery?

Time will tell. Hell, that's all fans have until the next game. The Suns have been 4-6 since the trade. They dropped from 1st to 6th. They are a game and a half away from the last playoff spot. But the biggest gage has to be against the Spurs. I think that the Suns finally have what it takes to beat the Spurs in a 7 game series. They didn't lack talent, they lacked attitude and a championship mentality. I just hope that the Suns can make it far enough to put their new team to the test against those Spurs. It will be a long summer if the Suns don't even get a chance.

- Petro

- November 30, 2007 - I often go through the message boards and I see a lot of fear in Suns fans right now. This is my response to you scared Suns fans:

Wow, Suns fans are spoiled and panicked at the same time.

I love this. Fans will say that the 04/05 Suns were the best team if JJ doesn't go down. So that style worked then but not now?

Amare and Kurt go down in 05/06 and nobody expected them to compete.

So you have two legit reasons that the Suns lost. (maybe 1 because Spurs still might have been better than the Suns regardless)

The 3rd year the Suns beat Spurs at home (game 4) setting up their best chance to beat the Spurs in the playoffs. Then Amare and Boris make huge mental mistakes that cost game 5. Now I will give it to all you guys who want to put some blame on the coach for this one too. You can make the argument that if the bench had played more maybe he could have relied on them for game 5. My argument for that is at least 3 of those guys are not even in the NBA anymore. That bench may have been one of the worst in the league that year (out of all the playoff teams). So maybe a bad bench doesn't help out as much as people think. I think the fact that the Suns had to play that small is why they lost. Pat Burke and Sean Marks makes no difference in that game except giving guys a blow. But if they are out there, the team isn't as good, and the rest it gives the smaller players still doesn't solve the problem of being too small. I put some responsibility on coach but I put most on Amare and Boris. I don't like the rule. I think it is a rule that can set bad examples for the NBA because it is natural to come to a fallen teammate. But it was the rule. If Amare and Boris didn't blow it, it may have been a different story. We will never know and we should let it go.

I truly believe that good coaches are needed but all good coaches have bad luck or run into dynasties that they can't over come. 8 teams have won the ring in the last 27 years. That tells me that there are certain players in the league that are so good that other really good teams can't over come them.

How many rings does Sloan have? if you take away the 1999 ring from Pop, he would have went 6 years before winning it. I say take away that 1999 ring because it was a shortened season. How is Phil Jackson without Michael and Shaq. Even with Shaq he lost.

So lets get a grip and put a little perspective on the whole situation. Coach D has had 1 complete season (including playoffs) with healthy players. If this team wants to win a title then they will need Amare to step up. He has to be that low post presence that most teams need to win a title. And Coach D will need more than a couple of seasons to prove that he is a "bad" coach. He only needed one season to show that he may be a bad GM though.

- Petro

- November 7, 2007 - Suns Shine Against the Bob-kittens

Clearly Suns fans around the country had their fingers on the panic button after 2 games. Even national basketball magazines have shown some hesitations. Dime magazine has dropped the Suns 6 spots on their power rankings because of 1 loss. This is why I really have distain for power rankings that come out every week. I guess if the Suns don’t lose by next week, they should move back up. Dallas, San Antonio, Houston should all look out now that they all have 1 loss.

So the Suns started the season slow. They loss to the Lakers with one of their stars unavailable. They looked off and confused on defense for the first 2 ½ games. So what? They have a better record at this time than last year. They also lost last year to the Lakers without Kobe. They have a changed starting line up with the addition of Grant Hill. They have 4 new players all together and 2 existing players with expanded roles. The Suns were also banged up in preseason. Marks, Stoudemire, Hill, Barbosa, Bell, Skinner, and Diaw all had injuries that kept them out at sometime during preseason. So the beginning of the regular season will once again have to be used to find their cohesiveness. This appears to have taken form with the Suns win over the undefeated Bobcats. Not that the Bobcats are considered a real threat with their 2-0 start, but they are better than Seattle.

Speaking of Seattle reminds me of something else. How is Kurt Thomas doing with his new team? Kurt Thomas still hasn’t played a regular season game and is scheduled for and MRI today for his injured leg. There has been a lot of nonsensical talk about the Suns giving up their best post defender in Thomas. The idea of Thomas being the Suns best post defender is a bit skewed. Sure he was probably the best low post defender but that shouldn’t be mistaken for a good post defender against the only player that the Suns cared about; Tim Duncan. Duncan had his best playoff numbers against Kurt Thomas last year. As a matter of fact, I am going on the record as saying that the Suns will be an overall better rebounding team with the players the Suns have now. I know people will talk about the first couple of games as reason to balk at my statement. On paper though, Skinner is only averaging 1.5 rebounds less rebounds than Thomas last year with 5 minutes less per game, Grant Hill is a better rebounder than James Jones by a couple of rebounds a game, and Stat will be better then ever. I am not going to say that the Suns will be a good rebounding team, they don’t have too be. The gave up 51 rebounds last night to their 46. Furthermore they gave up 9 more offensive rebounds to the Bobcats. However, the Suns blew the Kittens away. So did the rebound disadvantage really have an effect on this game. Averaging the rebounds for every game doesn’t tell the whole story. The Suns were out rebounded by the Chevy Cavaliers on Sunday by 51-40. How did that game turn out?

I am not here to say that rebounding isn’t important. It is, especially in the playoffs when every possession is important. But the point differential is +7 while giving up 11 more boards a game. Rebounding comes down to desire. How else does Marion average in the top 10 every year? How does Jason Kidd hold the most triple doubles? How did Barkley do it? Pure determination. The Suns will have to address that when they reach the playoffs. I think the likes of Grant Hill will set the tempo and leadership for the rest of the team.

Amare will be back tonight against the Hawks. Boris Diaw will have to learn how to play behind Stoudemire. He will have to except his backup role. I think he will. I believe he really cares about how he plays. Amare was named Captain which is a brilliant move by D’Antoni. Last year Amare struggled coming out of the gate in his reserve role. When he was given the starting position, and some felt undeserved, he flourished. I believe this will be the case with this move. Stoudemire still requires direction and this is the motivation to guide him to the next step.

The Suns bench has been the most encouraging. They have really played well overall. The bench has not been a source of frustration like in the past. They come in and maintain the lead or at least don’t create a huge deficit. This has been one of the things that Coach Mike gets criticized about the most, bench play. The benches in the past have been suspect at best. Where is the Suns bench from last year. Burke, Jumaine Jones, and Rose are all out of the league. Eric Piatkowski would be out too if it wasn’t for his player option. The replacements have been a couple of rookies and Skinner. Strawberry will be a real nice player and a defender to be reckoned with in the future. Skinner will replace Kurt Thomas stats. Banks has reemerged. Sean Marks shows signs of life. It looks at this point that the Suns can really go 9 deep. I hope this happens, not because they will give rest to the starters. If you look at the minutes around the league, the Suns minutes are in balance. I don’t want to hear about Nash either, he is one of the most conditioned athletes in all 4 major sports. What I like is that they can relieve players in foul trouble or suspensions in the playoffs. The experience can be critical.

So everyone can put their panic buttons at least to the side. Take the fingers off and take a deep breath. The Spurs were said to be done because of their first half season stats last year. We all know too well how that ended. So enjoy the games, root for the Purple and Orange, and hope to God the Atlanta isn’t for real, at least for 1 more year.

- Petro

- November 1, 2007 - Well the Phoenix Suns season is officially on its way! It was a slow start for the Suns but they came together when it counted. There may be some panic out there because of the way the Suns played tonight. Suns fans should not fret. It is only their second opening day win in 9 seasons. Additionally Amare was hurt most of preseason, LB was hurt, Skinner was out of shape and hurt, Hill was briefly hurt, Raja was hurt, Diaw was hurt, you see a pattern. These guys will have to use the regular season before that cohesiveness is all together there. You could definitely tell there were some nagging injuries.

Raja Bell really struggled from the three point line. Not only did he struggle to get it in, it appeared that he was hesitant to even try sometimes. Clearly the tendonitis was bothering him.

LB looked a little off. He was not at 100%. He was a little slow tonight.

Nash as usual.

Grant Hill looked really good. He will make up Kurt Thomas’s numbers and role with Hill’s mid range shot. The Suns will just have to develop a decent double team scheme against some of the better bigs out there like Timmy Duncan.

Amare showed only the affects of a lack of conditioning out there.

Diaw was feeling pain and still passing away from what appears to be lay ups.

Matrix seemed to have other things on his mind in the first half but pulled it together in the second. He shot 70% from the field.

Banks is my player of the game. He really started the three point fire. He looked clumsy out there at times, which means he fit right in with the rest of the Suns, but really contributed. Look for him to gain more of a role if he plays the rest of the season the same way. He was 4/5 from downtown.

Skinner apparently was in mainly for relieving Amare’s foul trouble. He played just under 8 minutes. I think he can get some time in D’Antoni’s system.

I believe Marks was unavailable. I think the Suns could have used his energy tonight.

Coach Mike used 9 players. Let see if he can keep it up. He didn’t panic tonight and the starters all had below average minutes. Coach has put a lot of emphasis on playing 9/10 player rotation. Me thinks that management may have had a talk with coach about what he could do to rotate more players in.

The Suns will have their home opener tonight against the Lakers. It will be a home televised game. You will not have to labor through TNT commentary, side line reporting during fast breaks, and lengthy interviews with player’s mommies.

- Petro

- October 8,, 2007 - The mighty Suns returned to Phoenix on Sunday as training camp was capped off with a Saturday night scrimmage. For all those who did not get to go, you should go to suns.com to check out the web cast. There were a couple of highlights from Saturday’s game. Shawn Marion looks like he won’t let the business side of basketball interfere with his performance. Along with Shawn, Hill and Diaw also played well. One of the surprises of the scrimmage for me was Sean Marks. I can’t see him duplicating that in a regular season game but I understand why the Suns resigned him.

I truly believe that the loss of Kurt Thomas will not be felt by the Suns as a lot of worried fans fear. If Diaw is back to his form from 2005-2006 season, he alone will make up for KT. With the additions of Skinner and Hill and the maturity of Amare, this team can and will be a better rebounding team which is sorely needed. Kurt Thomas was not a great Tim Duncan defender and the way to only stop Tim is to double down. The Spurs have too many weapons to keep doubled down on Duncan. Let Duncan get his and D everyone else appears to be the direction that this team will have this year. Coach Mike’s attitude is let teams match up with the Suns and not the other way around. I like the philosophy because I like the system. It is a better brand of basketball as far as entertainment wise. Most experts believe that this style can’t win it all. I so desperately want this to work because the NBA will be a lot more exciting to watch.

It appears that there were a lot of chemistry issues last year. I found it interesting that Coach Mike made it a point to say in his interviews that he and the Team have to enjoy the journey to the playoff. Coach Mike along with several other players kept referencing the lack of togetherness in last years team as compared to the 2 previous years. Coach mike even went on record to say that almost nobody on the team was happy during the 17 game win streak in January. It has come out that some of the veteran players that were getting little to no playing time infiltrated the team chemistry by forming clicks with some of the main players on this team. Looking at this team, my best guess is Jalen Rose and Jumaine Jones was the main culprits. These veterans were very open about their disappointment in their lack of playing time and caused strife in the locker room. There was also the frustrated Marcus Banks who just came out and said that he was humbled by last year and did not approach last season with the most professionalism. Also added to the mix of bad chemistry were Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw. So there were a lot of things wrong with our Phoenix Suns last year that we did not see.

One of the issues that GM Steve Kerr brought to the forefront this year was the lack of rookies on the team. I know that there are a lot of fans out there that criticize Kerr as being a yes man for Sarver but clearly it was the influence of Kerr that had the Suns finally draft this year. It seems that the majority of Sarver hater’s out there blame the owner for being cheap and not wanting draft picks. I am beginning to think that the lack of draft picks is a coach Mike thing more than anything else. It is going to take a lot for Tucker to get off the pine this year but DJ Strawberry has been very impressive in training camp. If Banks doesn’t figure it out, you could see DJ play a fairly significant role on the team this year. Don’t expect any of the camp invitees that are not signed to contracts to make this team.

- Petro

- October 4,, 2007 - So all is well with the Phoenix Suns on their second day of camp. Amare Stoudemire had successful knee surgery and the prognosis looks good. The good thing is that Skinner and Boris will get more playing time in camp. Let’s see if coach D really expands his rotation like the management and players are saying. Shawn Marion was his happy, bubbly self. I truly feel that Shawn Marion will not be a distraction this year. Steve Kerr and Marion had a private conversation that went probably as well as it could. Steve Kerr will help out a lot in the GM position when it comes to situations like this where a player needs to be calmed down or picked up and encouraged.

I really have to get to something that has been driving me crazy all summer. The subject is Robert Sarver. Truly anyone with any sense to them can not really believe this owner is cheap. My judgment on him is still out as an owner, but how can people call him cheap. I understand that the team has made some moves to help secure the financial integrity of the team but this team isn’t at the bottom trying to work its way up. We are here now. I know the frustration that fans have had with the whole selling of draft picks, but do any of you sincerely believe that these rookies have a chance on coach D’s team? The only one that would have had an impact almost right away was Deng. Deng wasn’t drafted because the Suns decided to give up their high draft pick and offer a contract to Nash that was so high that the billionaire Cuban wouldn’t even match it. That was the Suns philosophy. This philosophy continues to this day. The Suns do not want the guaranteed contract of bench players for 3 years. Their thoughts were to pick up veteran role players that may actually contribute right away. They viewed the window for a Suns championship like many of you; limited to how long Nash stays healthy. There was no need to rebuild or to bring players up in their opinion. Now you can say you like the thought process or don’t, but calling it a “bankers move” to save money and so that all his banker investors make money is ludicrous. This was actually some people opinion. I also know that a lot of fans are hurt that Kurt Thomas was traded away. People call it a cash move but do not forget that we have an 8 million dollar exception with that trade that will come in real handy next off season, especially if Marion decides to opt out of his contract. My point is that there is a definite method to the Suns so called madness. They spent a lot of money on Nash, Amare, and Diaw. They signed Banks and Barbosa to deals. So the ownership group has spent and spent. You may not like who they spent it on but they spent. Call them bad owners, or inexperienced, or crazy, but please people, stop calling them cheap. Sarver is not the banker from let’s make a deal. He puts himself and family on the floor almost every game night to root for this team. He doesn’t hide in a box or in a special room at US Airways Center.

For the rest of the week I will continue to cover the suns training camp. I will also cover the Suns scrimmage on Saturday. Down the road I will give my power rankings as teams jell and some preseason games are played. There are still a lot of question marks out there for teams. This season is shaping up to be one of the more interesting ones with all the scandals and stars asking for trades and being traded. Everyone should go to suns.com for complete coverage of the Suns training camp.

- Petro

- October 2, 2007 - Well it’s the season we all have been waiting for. I am not talking about, no more 100 degree weather or the beginning of the NFL season or the MLB playoffs. It’s go time with the run and gun Phoenix Suns! This is my favorite time of year. The summer was filled with another questionable draft night (Atlanta getting the #3 pick), and trades of James Jones and Kurt Thomas. The season was also filled with some exciting news with the pick up of Grant Hill and the fact that even though we did not draft at number 24, we did draft two players which will make the roster in Tucker and Strawberry. But all this is nothing to what has developed over the past week with Shawn Marion and now Amare Stoudemire’s knee scope.

Amare should be fine and is expected to be out for 3 to 4 weeks. This really shouldn’t worry anybody too much. This will be on the knee that did not have the micro fracture surgery. The knee in question is the right knee and has been scoped out before without any complications. I don’t see any short comings with this procedure.

Shawn Marion on the other hand could be a blow more devastating than Amare’s micro fracture surgery. I make this comparison because Marion has made it officially known that he has requested a trade from the Suns. For the first time since he was signed to a max offer, he has said that the trade rumors were enough and it was time to break up the bad marriage. Of course this comes on the heels of Steve Kerr not wanting to talk contract extension. Marion reportedly wants 3 years and 60 million. Ouch. Talk about a tight team getting tighter. The question will be can Marion play this season without disrupting the chemistry of the Team? Will he truly be a professional and not let this get in the way of the ultimate goal of winning a championship? Will the Suns be forced into a trade in the middle of the season which could ruin any hope of a championship especially because MarionR17;s return will not equal his value to the Suns? I say now the addition of Grant Hill becomes more important than any of the other off season moves. Grant Hill along with Steve Nash should be able to mend MarionR17;s hard feelings for the season until the business side comes into play next off season. Don’t expect Marion to opt out though. It is widely believed that no team thinks he is worth more than 10-15 million a year. They site his age, time in the NBA, the fact that his talent is based off his athleticism, may equal a decline in the near future. I don’t really buy that and in my opinion, you never know who the next Rashard Lewis may be. I also do not see Marion opting out and giving up over 17 million either.

Another question facing the Sun’s will be their trade of Kurt Thomas. I am a huge Kurt Thomas fan but I do not feel he is worth the money that they were paying him. People always site that he was our low post presence against Tim Duncan. Well here is a news flash for you all. Tim Duncan had his best statistical performances against the Suns out of every other team in the playoffs. So even if Kurt was the best, he was not nearly good enough to do the one thing he was brought in to do which was to stop, or slow, Tim Duncan. I think if Kurt is to be missed anywhere it will be on the pick and pop from 16 feet. What it will come down to for the Suns to win this year will be solely on the maturity of Amare Stoudemire. If Amare can mentally set himself right, he has all the tools to go one on one with Duncan both on the offense and defense. I am sure we all remember that block on Tim Duncan back in the 04-05 playoffs to seal the win. He was set to make huge strides in the off season and said his one goal was to become better defensively. Well we all know how the next year went for Amare. We really can not judge him too hard on last seasons performance on defense. It is unfair because of the mental challenges he had to over come during the season. He was basically starting all over again, and with new teammates. This is the year he can mature beyond anything that we have seen before. Of course that is if he is healthy.

So this is the beginning of another journey for the Suns and a new journey for myself. Expect another stellar year form the boys in purple and orange. They will win 55+ games again and surely be a force in the playoffs. The good thing is that, as of right now, this core is intact and with another year of experience and maturity, this team will challenge once again for a NBA championship.

Go Sun’s!