ESPN Insider on the Phoenix Suns

[Joe Mama]

Suns future looks bright


Remember the old Sesame Street game, one of these things is not like the other?

Well the Suns are in a very different situation from the Pacers, Bucks and T-Wolves.

The team has the reigning Rookie of the Year, Amare Stoudemire; one of the best young point guards in the league, Stephon Marbury; solid veterans like Anfernee Hardaway and Bo Outlaw; and up-and-coming young players like Joe Johnson, Jake Tsakalidis and Casey Jacobsen.

No one thought the Suns had a shot to make the playoffs this season. Now, it looks like teams will have a hard time keeping them out for the next decade.

With the exception of finding a way to re-sign Scott Williams, the Suns don't have much to do this summer from a personnel perspective. They have a decent draft pick and their mid-level exception to play around with. But most of the summer will be used to divine lessons learned from this season.

Inexperience and health are the only things holding this team back at the moment. Losing Hardaway for much of the second half of the season hurt the team. With him, they were playing at a near elite level. Just ask Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

"They are very, very different from a (normal) No. 8 seed," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told the Arizona Republic. "We're thrilled to have beat them, and I'm very, very happy we don't have to play them again."

"I told our guys, I'm very proud of the effort they gave the organization, the coaching staff and each other," coach Frank Johnson said. "Of course, we'd have loved to have gone further. But we ran into a better team. If you look at the record, they're the best team in the league and we battled them very, very tough."

"We've got a lot to work on," rookie Amare Stoudemire told the Arizona Republic. "But we'll be back. I guarantee it."

 

[elindholm]

"I'm very, very happy we don't have to play them again."

That's a pretty classy thing to say. I guess it was fashionable to hate the Spurs during the series, but now that it's over, I'm pulling for them to go all the way. There's really no one on their team who's incredibly annoying, and really, how many teams can you say that about?

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Originally posted by Joe Mama

"We've got a lot to work on," rookie Amare Stoudemire told the Arizona Republic. "But we'll be back. I guarantee it."

Ugh, we saw where the LAST guarantee got us....hehe



Mike

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by elindholm
"I'm very, very happy we don't have to play them again."

That's a pretty classy thing to say. I guess it was fashionable to hate the Spurs during the series, but now that it's over, I'm pulling for them to go all the way. There's really no one on their team who's incredibly annoying, and really, how many teams can you say that about?

I'll be cheering on the Spurs the rest of the way as well. For the most part they really do seem like a good bunch of guys. I really like Tim Duncan. He just seems like such a nice guy, and he's a damn good basketball player also. If I had to start and NBA team, and I could take any player to build my team around it would be him.

Joe Mama

 

[JS22]

I really dont think Tim is a nice as everyone thinks.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by elindholm
"I'm very, very happy we don't have to play them again."

That's a pretty classy thing to say. I guess it was fashionable to hate the Spurs during the series, but now that it's over, I'm pulling for them to go all the way. There's really no one on their team who's incredibly annoying, and really, how many teams can you say that about?

I agree. I tried really hard to dislike Stephen Jackson, but his comments during the series have been gracious and professional, so I can't hate him...

I actually think the Spurs will have a very good chance of knocking off the Lakers--I'll be crossing my fingers!

But I still like Sacramento to win it all this year.

 

[fordronken]

This was definantly one of the classier playoff series in a while, media-wise. It seems like both teams respect each other tremendously. Plus, if the Spurs win it all, we can say "Yeah, we lost, but it was to the eventual champions."

 

[Freddie]

I don't like Manu Ginobli. Don't ask me why, but I don't like him. Now that I think about it, it's probably because he hit a couple of clutch threes in the series. Ok now I know why, he complains like Vlade Divac after EVERY foul.

Tim Duncan is the same way after being called for a foul. He may not argue a lot, but he will always act like he didn't commit a foul. I also hate the way he shows no emotion on the court, it's like he doesn't care.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Freddie

Tim Duncan is the same way after being called for a foul. He may not argue a lot, but he will always act like he didn't commit a foul. I also hate the way he shows no emotion on the court, it's like he doesn't care.

Well, his team has moved on and won 60 games. If he doesn't care, then SA would be the best team EVER if he DID care.

 

[jbeecham]

All of the Spurs interviewed said they were very impressed with the Suns and were glad they didn't have to play them again. On Suns.com there are numerous quotes.......here they are:

SPURS HEAD COACH GREGG POPOVICH:The Suns were a great eighth seed and they played so tough. If they had hit their shots down the stretch we would probably be playing a seventh game. We feel fortunate. We are thrilled that we were able to beat them and very happy that we don’t have to play them again.

SPURS FORWARD TIM DUNCAN : (The Suns) play with a lot of pride and played us hard. A lot of respect for these guys. They played it all the way through and I’m just glad to have the series over with.We didn’t want it to go to a Game 7. These guys are scary. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. They can make a run at any given time, so it was good to get them done now.

SPURS GUARD TONY PARKER: “They match up very good against us and cause us lots of trouble. They play very good defense and they are very athletic. They fought and you have to give them a lot of credit. They’re going to be good in a couple of years and they’re going to be tough. They have a lot of good young guys. With Amaré Stoudemire, Rookie of the Year, they are going to be tough. So I’m happy it’s finished. Now we can get back to playing regular basketball now.”

SPURS GUARD STEPHEN JACKSON: We came out and played hard and they fought for the whole game. They scared us for four quarters, but we were able to fight and get a win here. The reason I’m so happy is that we don’t have to deal with these guys no more. These guys gave us problems all year and you’ve got to take your hats off to the team. They’ll defiantly be back next year. They have a great group of guys.

 

[arthurracoon]

Even though I would now like to see the Spurs do well, I really want to see the Kings destroy the Lakers. (And see Bobby Jakson dunk on Shaq)

 

[jbeecham]

You will probably see that unless Portland beats Sacramento. Portland is on a tear and has destroyed Dallas in the last 3 games to tie up that series. I have serious doubts that the Spurs will beat LA. The Spurs won't get the same calls from the officials against LA that they got when they played us. Can the Spurs win 5-8 against the defending champs? I doubt it.

 

[cly2tw]

I have always liked the Malik Rose, Najera kind of undersized, overachieving power player. I will root for the Spurs to beat the Lakers. They have a good chance if they could contain Kobe to some extent and don't crack under pressure defense as they did for extended stretches against us. With Fox out, LA's pressure defense with Kobe, Fisher, and Horry can't last as long as the Suns. So, there is hope they survive the Lakers.