So, how good is this team going to be?

[Absolute Zero]

We never did pick up that high scoring 2. I don't see enough punch in the offense to pay traditional high octane Sunsball. How well we do will really depend on how things come together defensively. I could see us finishing anywhere between the 8th spot and the bottom few rungs of the Western conference. We are really going to have to watch these guys play together, and I agree that they will get better as the chemistry develops over the course of the season.

 

[Neo]

28 wins is my guess, with more wins coming towards the end of the season than at the beginning. We will be awful at first as the team learns to play with each other.

Towards the end of the season our team of mediocre players will gel to make a mediocre team. It will be too late to make the playoffs but will cost us some ping-pong balls in the lottery.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

28 wins is my guess, with more wins coming towards the end of the season than at the beginning. We will be awful at first as the team learns to play with each other.

Towards the end of the season our team of mediocre players will gel to make a mediocre team. It will be too late to make the playoffs but will cost us some ping-pong balls in the lottery.

this.

i foresee an awful year for sports in the valley:

cards look like they're going to suck. but likely not enough to get a good qb in draft

suns will suck, but not badly enough to get impact player in draft

coyotes will lose doan, deal will fall through, and they'll move

dbacks will continue to tease, remaining 3-6 games back, but never actually threaten

sun devils, under new leadership, will finish in bottom half of pac-12

yay sports.

 

[Griffin]

Martin's numbers were quite a bit better (as was the Rockets record) during the 1st 2 months of the year before he starting playing hurt. He was averaging 20 a game and the Rockets were 21-15.

This isn't quite accurate. I just looked at the numbers and they went 10-7 in January with Martin averaging 20.9 ppg. But they went 9-6 in February with Martin averaging only 13.7 ppg. It didn't seem to make much difference in their record whether he was scoring, not scoring, or not playing at all.

And who is going to be our leading scorer? If its Beasley then him getting 19 points on 17 shots works out to a detriment to the offense.

Could be Beasley, could be Brown, could be Dudley, could be Dragic, could be Scola, could be Gortat. One of these guys will get 17 ppg, and I don't think it will be on 19 shots because whoever takes that many shots to score so little will get benched rather quickly by Gentry, imo.

Thats not the point. Lee, who was their backup, would be our starting SG.

Perhaps, although the Suns had a chance to sign Lee and they opted for Brown instead.

But, Dudley would start ahead of Parsons at SF, and Parsons was their starting SF the second half of season. I think that more than evens out.

Also remember that in the second half of the season, the Rockets starting lineup featured Dragic, Lee, Parsons, Scola and Camby and that unit also went around .500 with both Martin and Lowry sidelined. We have two of those starters. Is Lee, Parsons and Camby better than Dudley, Beasley and Gortat? I'm putting Dudley there because I expect him to start at SG until told otherwise.

 

[BC867]

with all the negativity, i expect Oneal to contribute more than some predict. he's looks a lot slimmer, has the blood-treatment, and our training staff is the best in business. he said all the right words, in that he did some searching and is accepting his new role at this stage of his career.

Barring injury, I've had the same gut feeling as you that O'Neal will be a solid backup Center to Gortat. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

This season, I want to enjoy watching the Suns being competitive in each game, even if we come up short most of the time. Not having to watch Robin-the-comic-book-boy-wonder will be a pleasure. Not having to watch Frye keep a real big man from playing would be good, too.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Barring injury, I've had the same gut feeling as you that O'Neal will be a solid backup Center to Gortat. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

This season, I want to enjoy watching the Suns being competitive in each game, even if we come up short most of the time. Not having to watch Robin-the-comic-book-boy-wonder will be a pleasure. Not having to watch Frye keep a real big man from playing would be good, too.

I actually liked Lopez and feel he still might develop. I am not opposed to moving him if he is absolutely set on starting, especially since we got some useable pieces.

I do believe ONeal will be a more consistent backup. He just doesnt have the upside. Thats fine.

 

[sunsfan88]

#7-#8 seed barring major injuries.

 

[Phrazbit]

This isn't quite accurate. I just looked at the numbers and they went 10-7 in January with Martin averaging 20.9 ppg. But they went 9-6 in February with Martin averaging only 13.7 ppg. It didn't seem to make much difference in their record whether he was scoring, not scoring, or not playing at all.

Could be Beasley, could be Brown, could be Dudley, could be Dragic, could be Scola, could be Gortat. One of these guys will get 17 ppg, and I don't think it will be on 19 shots because whoever takes that many shots to score so little will get benched rather quickly by Gentry, imo.

Perhaps, although the Suns had a chance to sign Lee and they opted for Brown instead.

But, Dudley would start ahead of Parsons at SF, and Parsons was their starting SF the second half of season. I think that more than evens out.

Also remember that in the second half of the season, the Rockets starting lineup featured Dragic, Lee, Parsons, Scola and Camby and that unit also went around .500 with both Martin and Lowry sidelined. We have two of those starters. Is Lee, Parsons and Camby better than Dudley, Beasley and Gortat? I'm putting Dudley there because I expect him to start at SG until told otherwise.

But in the 2nd half of the season, a time which you are roughly equating this current Suns group to, the Rockets were a losing team.

To think this Suns team will be a .500 squad is really ignoring how important Nash was to everything that the Suns did last year. We are not going to be running the Rockets system, and we dont have the interior defense and rebounding the Rockets did anyway (something that you never countered and will be a significant problem for this team).

What will this team do well? Honest question... when Nash was here we knew we would have a very efficient offense in the majority of our games. This team looks like it will really struggle with offensive consistency, it looks very bad on the glass, bad on defense. If you see a strength lemme know.

And look at the rosters in the West. Houston is probably the only team who clearly has less talent than we do (but they did have an excellent draft).

 

[Griffin]

But in the 2nd half of the season, a time which you are roughly equating this current Suns group to, the Rockets were a losing team.

I'm referring to the period when Dragic entered the starting lineup, which was the last 26 games. In that span, the Rockets went 13-13.

To think this Suns team will be a .500 squad is really ignoring how important Nash was to everything that the Suns did last year.

But I didn't say I expect them to be a .500 team. I said that it's a possibility, and compared the roster to Houston as example. It could very well be that they struggle to win 20 games. Not sure which is more likely at this point, but obviously Nash's departure changes everything. This team struggled historically without Nash, but that's in part because they relied on him so much. This is a brand new team this season and half of these players never played with Nash.

We are not going to be running the Rockets system, and we dont have the interior defense and rebounding the Rockets did anyway (something that you never countered and will be a significant problem for this team).

The Suns don't have a Camby, but Gortat did average 10 rpg and is a pretty solid defender. In the second half of season, Dalembert was turned into a backup. If O'Neal could stay healthy enough, a big "if", he could provide the same type of rebounding and defense. Scola will help on the boards. As will Frye when he gets back.

What will this team do well? Honest question... when Nash was here we knew we would have a very efficient offense in the majority of our games. This team looks like it will really struggle with offensive consistency, it looks very bad on the glass, bad on defense. If you see a strength lemme know.

The Suns offense really wasn't very efficient anymore. The Suns lacked scorers and struggled to score points after Amare's departure. This will likely continue with Dragic, because the Suns still lack scorers. I don't see a lot of strength to this roster.

However, I do believe that the difference between winning 20 games and 40 games relies much less on talent and much more on coaching and team chemistry. Teams underachieve and overachieve all the time. That's why I said it's hard to predict where the Suns will finish other than they will have a hard time making playoffs.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns don't have a Camby, but Gortat did average 10 rpg and is a pretty solid defender. In the second half of season, Dalembert was turned into a backup. If O'Neal could stay healthy enough, a big "if", he could provide the same type of rebounding and defense. Scola will help on the boards. As will Frye when he gets back.

There is always a chance Markieff Morris will improve going into his second season as well.

 

[crisper57]

28 wins.

 

[95pro]

I'm referring to the period when Dragic entered the starting lineup, which was the last 26 games. In that span, the Rockets went 13-13.

But I didn't say I expect them to be a .500 team. I said that it's a possibility, and compared the roster to Houston as example. It could very well be that they struggle to win 20 games. Not sure which is more likely at this point, but obviously Nash's departure changes everything. This team struggled historically without Nash, but that's in part because they relied on him so much. This is a brand new team this season and half of these players never played with Nash.

The Suns don't have a Camby, but Gortat did average 10 rpg and is a pretty solid defender. In the second half of season, Dalembert was turned into a backup. If O'Neal could stay healthy enough, a big "if", he could provide the same type of rebounding and defense. Scola will help on the boards. As will Frye when he gets back.

The Suns offense really wasn't very efficient anymore. The Suns lacked scorers and struggled to score points after Amare's departure. This will likely continue with Dragic, because the Suns still lack scorers. I don't see a lot of strength to this roster.

However, I do believe that the difference between winning 20 games and 40 games relies much less on talent and much more on coaching and team chemistry. Teams underachieve and overachieve all the time. That's why I said it's hard to predict where the Suns will finish other than they will have a hard time making playoffs.

Gentry's teams have overachieved imo

 

[Breaking Bad]

12-14 seed. The reason why I didn't include 15 seed was because that spot is reserved for the Sacramento Kings.

 

[PhxGametime]

This current Team could finish anywhere from 7th to 11th, in West.


Having said that, I'm guessing with capspace and 3 First Rounders, the Suns will make a Trade during Season to improve Team: lol by trying to get into Playoffs, taking on bad contract (gaining assets), or by adding a superstar. There will be no rumors leading up to Trade because EVERY year the Suns are in some kind of Trade talk and nothing happens...


and the Western Conference will lose many stars to injury and the Suns will end up in NBA Finals lol where Gortat (with 20 rebounds in Game 7) will starting jacking up 3PTers, for the Suns very first NBA Championship!!!

 

[BC867]

... and the Western Conference will lose many stars to injury and the Suns will end up in NBA Finals lol where Gortat (with 20 rebounds in Game 7) will starting jacking up 3PTers, for the Suns very first NBA Championship!!!

I like it, except for Gortat jacking up 3's. With Frye, and now Morris, we have enough big men playing 23 miles -- I mean, feet -- from the basket.

 

[dziki]

http://www.sport.pl/koszykowka/51,65040,12328424.html?i=0

look at Gortat, he truly looks like Thor. hopefully suns will make PO this season ;-)

 

[BC867]

http://www.sport.pl/koszykowka/51,65040,12328424.html?i=0

look at Gortat, he truly looks like Thor. hopefully suns will make PO this season ;-)

Your reference to Thor, the Norse god, reminded me of the old joke about the morning after the orgy.

"I'm Thor!"

"You're thor? I'm tho thor, I can hardly pith."

 

[Superbone]

http://www.sport.pl/koszykowka/51,65040,12328424.html?i=0

look at Gortat, he truly looks like Thor. hopefully suns will make PO this season ;-)

I love Google translate. The subject of the article:

Basketball. Poles blot the stain after the Belgian raid

 

[dziki]

basically the article is about how crap Polish national team is;-) anyway - this photo is really good.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

this.

i foresee an awful year for sports in the valley:

cards look like they're going to suck. but likely not enough to get a good qb in draft

suns will suck, but not badly enough to get impact player in draft

coyotes will lose doan, deal will fall through, and they'll move

dbacks will continue to tease, remaining 3-6 games back, but never actually threaten

sun devils, under new leadership, will finish in bottom half of pac-12

yay sports.

Ahhh thank god for ARIZONA BASKETBALL!

 

[Errntknght]

The average of all of our predictions is 32.5 wins... I counted 22 predictions and translated seeds to wins. I used the midpoint when someone gave a range.

 

[mojorizen7]

28 wins is my guess, with more wins coming towards the end of the season than at the beginning. We will be awful at first as the team learns to play with each other.

Towards the end of the season our team of mediocre players will gel to make a mediocre team. It will be too late to make the playoffs but will cost us some ping-pong balls in the lottery.

+1
...but i'll go with 27 wins.

I also think that either Gortat or Scola will be moved before the deadline.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The average of all of our predictions is 32.5 wins... I counted 22 predictions and translated seeds to wins. I used the midpoint when someone gave a range.

It will be interesting to see how close we come.

Actually, the range of predictions here is not that broad. I think we all know basically what is coming this year.

 

[BC867]

I also think that either Gortat or Scola will be moved before the deadline.

I'm curious why you say that. Then we'd be not only a losing team, but a weak, relatively faceless team. Five Wings on the court is not going to put cash customers into the seats.

I am curious why you would single out our two top power players. As we learned when Amar'e played Center alongside two Small Forwards, it takes its toll. On his health and stamina. And on his time on the court, leaving us with -- yup, five Wings on the court.

The Phoenix original recipe bucket of Suns.

 

[Phrazbit]

We cant trade Scola for a year.

But I agree that it makes sence to listen to offers for Gortat

BC867, if you're a 28 win team it does not matter if youre faceless. Gortat is an asset, his value probably wont be higher than it is now, and if this team takes 3 years to rebuild then it would be best to move a guy like Gortat now when his value is best.