There is a free Preview of his insider information on ESPN. I only posted the Suns part but its a good article. Also, he also says that since moving Amare over 22 games ago, Amare is the best player in the league.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=WestForecast-080403&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dWestForecast-080403
Forecasting the West: How will the top teams finish?
By John Hollinger
ESPN Insider
Updated: April 3,2008
Much has been written about the incredibly compelling race in the Western Conference this season and the upcoming playoffs. Truly, this is the best playoff race the league has ever seen. Consider the fact that with two weeks to go in the season, not one Western team has even clinched a playoff berth.
Only three games separate the top six teams, and the first-place team is only 7½ games from being out of the playoffs entirely. On top of that, three teams that could win 50 games each are locked in a tight battle for the final two playoff berths.
So with the entire conference in the unusual situation of having two weeks worth of extremely meaningful games, it's time to break down where the Western playoff contenders stand, check out some of the numbers behind their performance, and look in the crystal ball at where everyone might end up.
Phoenix Suns
Glass half-full: We've won 10 out of 13, and the three losses were at Detroit, at Boston and at Denver.
Glass half-empty: We're still only 13-9 with Shaquille O'Neal.
Key factoids you might not know: I slammed Suns president Steve Kerr for trading for Shaq; based on the contents of my inbox, it appears one or two Suns fans noticed this. I still have some misgivings about the deal, especially once you get into next year and the year after, but it's hard not to notice how well the Suns are rolling right now.
The key has not been the play of Shaq, who continues to have an insanely high turnover rate. (Seriously, how do you make three turnovers a game if you're taking only eight shots?) Rather, it's been his apparent impact on Amare Stoudemire. The Suns made this deal in part to move Stoudemire out of the center spot, so you have to give them credit for the results.
In 22 games at power forward, Stoudemire has been the best player in the league. No, really, he's been that good. He has averaged 29.4 points on 58.2 percent shooting and averaged nearly 11 free-throw attempts.
But the number that maybe is most important is 36.7. That's how many minutes per game he's played with Shaq, after averaging only 33.0 before the trade because he was in foul trouble too often. Stoudemire's foul rate is still fairly high, but it has declined just enough that he's able to play his regular minutes.
A pessimist would note the Suns have shot unbelievably well on 3s during the recent hot streak, and that's unlikely to hold up over an extended period. But if Stoudemire keeps playing this freakishly well it's not going to matter too much, because right now the difference between New Stoudemire and Old Stoudemire more than offsets the difference between Shawn Marion and Shaquille O'Neal. I'd have never thought that possible, but it's happening.
Remaining schedule: It could be worse. Road games against San Antonio and Houston won't be fun, but they have two gimmies (home vs. Minnesota, at Memphis), and they should be able to handle home games against Dallas and Golden State.
Crystal ball says: The way they're playing they might grab six of the final seven and steal the division crown from L.A. The unfortunate thing is they probably have to win six of the seven, because the Lakers own the tiebreaker. So the smart money remains on the Suns ending up with the No. 5 seed and a brutal first-round pairing against Utah.
It's possible they could move up to No. 3 even if they don't win the division, because the Suns still play San Antonio and will own the tiebreak with a victory. But again, this scenario pretty much depends on them winning at least six of their last seven.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=WestForecast-080403&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dWestForecast-080403
Forecasting the West: How will the top teams finish?
By John Hollinger
ESPN Insider
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Updated: April 3,2008
Much has been written about the incredibly compelling race in the Western Conference this season and the upcoming playoffs. Truly, this is the best playoff race the league has ever seen. Consider the fact that with two weeks to go in the season, not one Western team has even clinched a playoff berth.
Only three games separate the top six teams, and the first-place team is only 7½ games from being out of the playoffs entirely. On top of that, three teams that could win 50 games each are locked in a tight battle for the final two playoff berths.
So with the entire conference in the unusual situation of having two weeks worth of extremely meaningful games, it's time to break down where the Western playoff contenders stand, check out some of the numbers behind their performance, and look in the crystal ball at where everyone might end up.
Phoenix Suns
Glass half-full: We've won 10 out of 13, and the three losses were at Detroit, at Boston and at Denver.
Glass half-empty: We're still only 13-9 with Shaquille O'Neal.
Key factoids you might not know: I slammed Suns president Steve Kerr for trading for Shaq; based on the contents of my inbox, it appears one or two Suns fans noticed this. I still have some misgivings about the deal, especially once you get into next year and the year after, but it's hard not to notice how well the Suns are rolling right now.
The key has not been the play of Shaq, who continues to have an insanely high turnover rate. (Seriously, how do you make three turnovers a game if you're taking only eight shots?) Rather, it's been his apparent impact on Amare Stoudemire. The Suns made this deal in part to move Stoudemire out of the center spot, so you have to give them credit for the results.
In 22 games at power forward, Stoudemire has been the best player in the league. No, really, he's been that good. He has averaged 29.4 points on 58.2 percent shooting and averaged nearly 11 free-throw attempts.
But the number that maybe is most important is 36.7. That's how many minutes per game he's played with Shaq, after averaging only 33.0 before the trade because he was in foul trouble too often. Stoudemire's foul rate is still fairly high, but it has declined just enough that he's able to play his regular minutes.
A pessimist would note the Suns have shot unbelievably well on 3s during the recent hot streak, and that's unlikely to hold up over an extended period. But if Stoudemire keeps playing this freakishly well it's not going to matter too much, because right now the difference between New Stoudemire and Old Stoudemire more than offsets the difference between Shawn Marion and Shaquille O'Neal. I'd have never thought that possible, but it's happening.
Remaining schedule: It could be worse. Road games against San Antonio and Houston won't be fun, but they have two gimmies (home vs. Minnesota, at Memphis), and they should be able to handle home games against Dallas and Golden State.
Crystal ball says: The way they're playing they might grab six of the final seven and steal the division crown from L.A. The unfortunate thing is they probably have to win six of the seven, because the Lakers own the tiebreaker. So the smart money remains on the Suns ending up with the No. 5 seed and a brutal first-round pairing against Utah.
It's possible they could move up to No. 3 even if they don't win the division, because the Suns still play San Antonio and will own the tiebreak with a victory. But again, this scenario pretty much depends on them winning at least six of their last seven.
