FanPost

Common Misconceptions About the Phoenix Suns


Everyone in the league likes to have their team to pick on, to hate on, to (insert negative verb here) on. Unfortunately for the Suns, they are one of the easiest teams to do so, whether or not the statements made against them have much validity or not. I, along with Stan (and likely just about every reader here), grow weary of reading "no defense" this and "terrible GM/owner" that. Sure, we've made some mistakes in the past, and there are definitely areas in which the team can improve, but honestly...let's lay off a little. This is, in no way, a "stop hating, it's hurting my feelings" post, but rather a post to try and bring light to the accusations made against the Phoenix Suns.

There are an array of places where I could start, but I'll just go ahead and start with the GM/owner issue.

Steve Kerr and Robert Sarver are at two conflicting places, neither of which are helping the team: Kerr wants to build a team in the Spurs' image, and Sarver wants to cut costs, which is hurting the team (while preventing Kerr from doing what he wants).


While Kerr may have been trying to build a team in the Spurs' image last season with the Terry Porter hiring and Shaq trade (just before last season), it's hard to fault him on that. While yes, it wasn't exactly the smartest decision, as trying to change a team's identity in one year is nearly impossible to do and it was essentially taking the D'Antoni Suns' strengths and throwing them out the window, it made sense.

On one hand, we have a team that had beaten us 4 out of 5 possible times (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008). On the other hand, we have the rest of the entire basketball world shouting the words "defense wins championships", "the Suns can't win with their Run and Gun system", "Nash is too worn out in the regular season to do any damage in the playoffs", among other things. Why in the world wouldn't Kerr try and change that? Bringing in a defensive minded head coach (that had minimal success in Milwaukee) and bringing in a big man to rebound and clog the paint and curb two of our biggest weaknesses made absolute sense on paper. The only thing preventing Steve Kerr from being one of the greatest GM's of this decade is the fact that, for better or worse, this gamble didn't pay off.

On the Sarver note, how many seasons has he been paying the luxury tax since taking over the team in 2004-2005? (Feel free to enlighten me on this one...I couldn't find sufficient information for this one.) My guess is more than you (and your ESPN analyst) would think. Say what you will about him selling off so many picks, trading away so many players in what appear to be salary dumps, the guy is willing to pay for a team that he thinks has a chance at a championship. Regarding the Shaq trade (which is largely viewed as a cost cutting move), why would you keep a $21 million 37-year-old on your roster? It made absolute sense, and while it may leave us a bit thin at the front line, I'm glad we did it. Kerr and Sarver were willing to admit their mistake, take the flak for the gamble not paying off, and are working to try and keep the Suns competitive, while trying to build a young core.

The Suns don't play defense, and until that happens, they are destined to reign over the "Will Win a Ton of Games, but Fail in the Playoffs" category.

While this category has been much debated (both on these boards and elsewhere), I don't think the Suns could have been closer to winning a championship than in the 2005-2006 season, and that was missing key piece Amar'e Stoudemire. Arguably the Suns' best team in recent years was the 2006-2007 team, where a string of unfortunate events prevented us from winning it all (which I still wholeheartedly believe we would have).

I'm not here to say that we were "one Robert Horry hip check" away from a championship, or that we were "one microfracture surgery" away from winning it all, but the Suns, whether you'd like to believe it or not, were poised to win. We had the personell. We had a winning system. However, for whatever reason, it just didn't happen. You can blame it on bad luck or say that they were simply overmatched, but the truth of the matter is, the Phoenix Suns deserve more credit for the success they've had over the past 5 years than most give them credit for.

The Phoenix Suns team is a team full of aging veterans who are past their prime.

First off, let me get something straight here. The Phoenix Suns, after the departure of Shaquille O'Neal, have only two players over the age of thirty: Steve Nash and Grant Hill. Steve Nash, while playing in the Suns' uptempo system, is still one of the elite point guards in the game, and Grant Hill, for the first time in his career, played all 82 games last season. Both of these players deserve more respect than they are given, especially when dubbed the moniker "old". Sure, they might be older than most players on the court, and might be out of the league in a few years, but unless you're talking trading some young, franchise player-esque talent, there's no one else I'd rather have on our team. Both players bring veteran leadership, incredible poise, and an intense desire and love for the game of basketball...something that is quickly going out the window with today's "working for a paycheck" mentality.

Secondly, the Suns have a fairly young and promising core with players like Amar'e Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa, Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and (whether you actually believe these guys are promising or not, they still have untapped potential that is still very accessable) Goran Dragic, Robin Lopez, and Earl Clark. Taking all of these young players, combined with our two "retirees", the Suns have an average age of 26.4. That's better than the current championship favorites: the Lakers (27), the Magic (27), the Cavaliers (27.33), and the Spurs (28.07). So, by the logic that the Suns are full of players that are past their prime, so are all of the teams that are heavily favored to win the coveted Larry O'Brien trophy.

Now, while you, Mr. John Q. Reader, may not think all of these things, there are people out there who do. People that have jobs at prestigious sports reporting companies like ESPN and Yahoo! Sports. People that write regularly for well respected and oft read basketball blogs. The sole point of this post is to try and offer a few rebuttals to the common misconceptions (or purposeful bashings) made against the Phoenix Suns.