I would trade JRich straight up for JJ in a New York minute. There’s no comparison. Also, Grant and Dudley are a nice combo, but to say they are even with the Matrix and Q is naive.

The only thing this team has on the 04-05 bunch is a bench, which is far superior.

04/05 Amare>now Amare
04/05 Nash=now Nash, somehow :o
Marion>Hill
JJ>Rich
04.05 Barbosa<now Barbosa, which is great to see
Jim Jackson>Dudley
Q=Frye

Basically, even if we’re “better”, the rest of the league has improved so markedly, and we don’t have that “BOOM!” factor where we can just come out of nowhere and start 31-4 to surprise everyone like we did that season, because nobody was ready for us.

But if we DID start 31-4? Oh my….I would cry.

It’s an interesting post:

The Suns are looking fine early on, but they look like a hallmark D’Antoni team.

5th in offense, 18th in defense, 2nd in pace. 10th in SRS is the big difference. In 04-05, they were 2nd, with nearly double the SRS margin and were still better the year after. Of course, they also had Marion instead of Grant Hill. Better again in 06-07 and again in 07-08.

The differences aren’t huge, mainly in the SRS margin and in defensive efficiency. The latter can be attributed to having a 6’7 wing who can guard anything from the 1 to the 4 and who roamed like some kind of sneaky, athletic monster. The other parts can be attributed to Nash feeding that same monster on the break while also working with Amare.

I don’t think Gentry is doing anything overtly special here; maybe a little more creative offensively because the Suns don’t have the full range of tools, but this team isn’t performing at a level that sets it apart from its previous incarnations (a little worse, actually, which I suppose should be a credit to the current coach).

I like Channing Frye’s contributions so far, though his specific efficiency rate will drop.

Richardson has looked awesome so far, but there’s no way on God’s Green Earth he’ll keep shooting 58% from downtown on over 6 attempts a game. When that drops, Phoenix will go from 5th in offensive efficiency to 7th or 8th. Improved free throw shooting from some of the other guys will bump that back up a bit, but the Suns are playing WAY over their heads on a hot streak right now.

This level of offense cannot be maintained, even by a team stacked with elite three-point shooters. Richardson takes something near 50% of his overall attempts from downtown which is why he’s performing so well right now; when those go away, his overall efficacy plummets because he doesn’t draw fouls and can’t do much of anything creative offensively. He’ll probably shoot a 48/40 on the season, likely bumping his FT% up to 75% or so over time.

But yeah, the early success is awesome, though it is somewhat deceptive.

This team has been great. Lets hope they keep it up through the season so we can accurately gauge whether this comparison to one of the great Suns teams is really merited.

Current JYD is better than ye olde Jim Jackson
Current LB is greater Young LB (young LB lacked confidence, was tentative)
Current Nash is slightly greater than Younger old Nash
Current Amare is a more experience but much worse athletically than Young Amare
GHill is worse than Matrix
JRICH is slightly less than Joe Johnson. JJ was clutch.
Current Bench is better than Old Bench.

Maybe Ghill is equal to Jim Jackson.. Both were a bit off there prime here, solid guys. I think anyway.

04
Nash 15.5 pts,11.5 assists, 1 stl, 3.27 to
JJ 17.1 pts, 5.1 reb, 3.5 assists, 1 atl, 1.80 to
Q 14.9 pts 6.1 reb, 2 assists, 1.2 steals 1.29 to
Matrix 19.4 pts, 11.3 rebs, 1.9 assists 2 steals, 1.5 blocks
Stoudemire 26 pts, 8.9 rebs, 1.6,1 steal, 1.6 bocks ,2.36 to and he played 80 games
Stoudemire was a beast, Steve Nash was the most badass pg in the league. Q didn’t suck balls and was an entertaining dunker and good rebounder. Joe Johnson was awesome as he is today and. Matrix was a sick sob,

todays lineup
Steve Nash
J-rich
Grant Hill
Stoudemire
Frye
Steve Nash is still the most badass point guard on the planet, but no longer an MVP canidate. Old Nash was better
JRich is fine, but JJ is and was so much better, no comparison
Grant Hill is slower than Q and cannot shoot 3s and not a good dunker, but he rebounds and plays smart. I will give it to Hill.
Comparing the old Marion to Frye is no competition. Marion was so super freaky athletic back then and a great defender and rebounder, and he had crazy dunks. Frye just shoots 3s. Marion was way better.
The old Stoudemire was way better and more entertaining. The goggles are cool, but he was just so unstoppable back then. he was the biggest beast., now he dunks less and shoots more jumpers. The old Stoudemire was healthier, unstoppable, and had more of a work athic. The old Stoudemire wins.
The 2004-2005 suns were so much better no question. Better passing, better rebounding, more exciting. And they actually played some good defense at times. Today the Suns are great scoring, good passing, but not as good as 04-05. They’re less entertaining, older, less explosive, don’t play much defense, don’t rebound.
I don’t know how you can even think the Suns now are even close to the old suns. The only thing that may be better about these suns is the bench, but thats it

I know you guys miss Marion too, we all loved Marion and still do. he will never be more successful anywhere else other than Phoenix. Hopefully one day we can see you in a Suns uni again. If we had you toay we would still be among top 5 west teams. You made the Suns great, and i don’t know how he will ever recover from the Shaq trade. I miss Marion If he were with the Suns today he would still be a 20 10 guy with blocks steals and dunks. No matter where Marion goes there will always be a lot of love for him in Phoenix. I don’t blame him though for getting mad about less of a role. I also don’t blame the fans for being angry at him. I blame management for not making it work and trading him away.

it will be very descriptive and it will interest you I promise

and disappointing how want money and injuries have changed Stoudemire. Before he played with so much passion and heart. Now he is just different. He doesn’t really have the heart of a champion as he used too. It may sound stupid, but I don’t think he is playing anymore for the love of basketball he is playing for money. I love Stoudemire, but I think it would be best to trade him because I doubt he would resign he doesn’t have the patient or willingness to stay in Phoenix. Before Stoudemire was a player everyone loved, everyone believed in now people question his integrity his skills, his heart. Its really sad to see what he has become, and even though he is 26 it seems he will never be as good as he was in 04-05. i hope he succeeds and stays in Phoenix. Steve Nash is the best point guard in the league. No matter how old he gets Steve Nash will always be the best. I hope playing with Nash can persuade him to stay. I think that if the Suns didn’t trade for Richardson they could have still been contenders.