The 07-08 season is in full swing. Let’s discuss…

Record
16-5 (6-2 Home, 10-3 Road)
The good start is welcome after slow starts the last two years. The team has also had a customary early season winning streaks with a 8 gamer and a 5 gamer that were both ended with sluggish road losses.

Starters
Steve Nash (17.9 PPG, 12.3 APG, 46% 3FG) remains a nightmare to guard and gameplan for. Raja Bell (12.0 PPG, 40% 3FG) has found his shot after some injury trouble. Shawn Marion (16.1 PPG, 11 RPG, 2.24 SPG, 1.62 BPG) has let his play silence his offseason trade demand. Grant Hill (15.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.8 APG) has reminded everyone how deadly this team is with a slasher who has midrange game. Amare Stoudemire (21.1 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.78 BPG, 58% FG) has been brilliant but his constant foul trouble translates into an average of 29 minutes a game.

The team boasts the best starting five in the league. With all the injury problems, Nash, Marion and Hill have been the rocks. Nash carried the team early on and as Grant Hill has gotten into ‘Phoenix Suns shape’ he’s proven to be a valuable addition. Even though LB is a tremendous slasher, he a weapon when he comes off the bench. Grant gives the team what they had with Joe Johnson, another playmaker who can score and defend (he’s better on D than JJ). Amare has had some monster games but he’s a target for opposing defenses. He still picks up silly fouls and takes himself out of games and his rebounding numbers have to be much better. Marion remains one of the leagues best rebounders and glue guys. His shooting numbers haven’t been as good and his scoring continues to decline but he is still has a major impact in every game.

Bench
Leandro Barbosa (17.8 PPG, 2.9 APG, 34% 3FG) has been great off the bench and in the starting lineup. Boris Diaw (7.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.8 APG) continues to be an enigma but does make plays. Brian Skinner (3.9 PPG, 4 RPG, 1.29 BPG) has been another solid addition with good defense and timely offense. Sean Marks, Eric Piatkowski, DJ Strawberry and Alando Tucker have mostly seen blowout minutes.

LB is again leading the team in shots attempted and his big scoring nights prompt people to say he should start. That’s precisely the reason Manu Ginobili doesn’t start. He brings a change-up and terrorizes other teams 2nd units. Boris is tough to figure out. There are some shots he takes without any hesitation but the creativity he used to show in the post has become a slew of unnecessary passes and turnovers. It shows in the stat sheet in a different way: the +/-. Boris has a +/- of +6 on the season. Compare that with playmakers Nash (+184) Hill (+161) and LB (+72). LB comes off the bench and has an impact, the same can’t be said for Boris most nights. This ultimately keeps the rotation short because the team has had trouble stretching leads without Nash on the floor.

Thoughts
The good start is very welcome and we’ve grown accustomed to the Suns smacking teams once they get into shape. There are few teams with a solid game plans who can beat the Suns straight up without the assistance of injury or a grueling schedule. The upcoming schedule will get tougher and the boys will be rolling out to my backyard to visit the Spurs and Mavs. As Grant Hill has pointed out, the team isn’t ultimately concerned about beating teams like New York- or even Atlanta or Minnesota for that matter. It’s Dallas and San Antonio that are the real tests for the roster and coaches.

The team has won in different ways including clutch victories and scoring showcases. The blueprint to beating this team however remains to hold them under 100 and pound them inside. The story is there in their losses. The Lakers loss was a fluke. The Atlanta frontline controlled the game (shit the entire team is 6′7″ or taller) with STAT out. Golden State relentlessly attacked the rim and outgunned the Suns. Yao finally controlled a game against PHX. Minnesota caught PHX on a back-to-back and got a monster game from Al Jefferson in the post and on the boards. (On a side note, why is Al Jefferson so hard to like as a player. He’s destined to be a career loser, which doesn’t make me sad.) While that loss was embarrassing the team still shutdown the T’pups in the 4th but couldn’t shoot well enough to rally. The key component is the interior. The interior attack lead to easy buckets, offensive rebounds, fouls and free throws. When those numbers pile up, the Suns struggle.

The season long question will be how will the Suns address their weaknesses and cope with defenses that find a way to slow them down. Enter Grant Hill. It’s evident at this point why the staff is so high on the guy. Grant is 6′8″ and he provides a legit solution to both issues. I’ve already mentioned the offensive aspects but the defense is key. The Suns are running more double teams and traps at the post to force teams to shoot jump shots. They bank on guys taking the first open bad shot rather than making the extra pass. When doubling, Grant is similar to Marion in that he deflects a lot of balls plus he gives great help and takes charges. The team can switch almost every pick n roll and minimize the mismatches.

The team looks good but they have a long way to go as far as peaking as a unit. The team defense is by far the biggest concern because the team is more geared toward small ball than ever. We’ll look at these subjects again in about 20 games.

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