There are some of us here who remember the 05-06 team with fond memories.  Not because they won a championship, which they didn't, and not because they played flawless ball, which they didn't either. 

But because a team consisting of maybe two legitimate NBA starters, and a collection of anonymous and otherwise underachieving players won 54 games and got to the WCF.  And not smoothly either: They lost their all-star center for the whole year, before the season started, and his backup/replacement for a third of a season, just after the all-star break. And sometimes that team was beaten like a red-headed stepchild caught with cigarettes.

But that group had heart, grit, tenacity, fearlessness, self-belief and unity.  Some players, like Boris and Raja, stepped up from nowhere to show how good they really were.  Others like Trix, wallowed in their new found respect and status.  All of them, though, played the season of their careers, because of their trust in each other and their leader.  That team, ultimately failed, but not for reasons of it's own doing or control.  They went down fighting and with defiance.

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Inspired by recently intensified comments and murmurs concerning Goran Dragic's performance so far as a member of the Phoenix Suns - hear out my two cents as to why I believe jumping on the 'dump Dragic' train would be a tragic mistake. 

To start off - I will concede that the front-office hype surrounding Goran Dragic was too much last year.  I blame a small part of the sour taste in the mouths of a seemingly growing group of Suns supporters on that.  But I feel the major source of the Dragic negativity lies within those very same Suns fans who were swayed by an over-excited and almost giddy new GM in Steve Kerr, who saw a diamond in the rough in Goran.   You see - a majority of Suns have forgotten how spoiled they really are when it comes to the PGs  who have graced our team's roster.   For practically the entire history of the franchise we have had all-star caliber, if not hall-of-fame caliber PGs.  

From Westphal to Hornacek - to Kevin Johnson to Jason Kidd - even Starbury to Nash.   How long has it been since we haven't had an all-star PG commandeering our team?  In fact... how long has it been since we have had to endure the development of a PG... does it go back to Hornacek? (Nash did a lot of his development in Dallas)

The truth is - as Charley Rosen succinctly put it in an article, "the point position is the most complex, and is therefore the most difficult for young players to master".   Development of point guards requires A LOT of on the court minutes - feeling the game - learning the opponent - mastering and perfecting technique.  In the most recent history I can only think of Christ Paul in 05' to be a starting rookie PG who drastically affected his team positively and put up big numbers.  He is a freak of nature.  So besides CP3 - PGs are slow developing players.  Be Patient with young Goran the Dragon - give him time, it's not an 'add-water' recipe, even with Steve Nash as the supervisor. 

In fact - coming into your rookie year as back-up PG is even tougher than coming in as a starter because of the lack of minutes given to the back up PG.  Though I think being a back-up of a future hall-of-famer as a new player in league can only accelerate future progress (see Steve Nash). It will just take a little more time.   Be patient with Dragic.  Before I prove this with some sweet charts I spent a grip of time making - consider this:

We know what kind of a roller-coaster year it was for our Phoenix Suns - I won't bore you - but it is interesting to see the major improvements Goran Dragic made after the coaching switch was made from Terry Porter to Alvin Gentry and a more up-tempo style was unleashed once again. Take a look at some of his important statistics before and after the coaching change.

The difference is pretty drastic.  While improving practically all of his stats, the most notable improvement was in his PPG and his 3P% where they basically were doubled.  I think it's safe to say we can expect more of that kind of improvement and production as Goran gets more playing time and as he gets more comfortable in the league in a more stable environment this year compared to that of his rookie year.   All signs so far (with the exception of his poor pre-season shooting numbers) this offseason point in this direction.  Again - be patient.

Now to the good stuff.  I've taken the rookie year 'per game' stats of the current top 6 point guards in the league and placed them next to Dragic's season average numbers... (keep in mind the minutes played - and the vast difference in Goran's numbers from the beginning of the year under T.P. to the end of the year with A.G.)

The biggest discrepancy accross the board is in the minutes played - out of the 7 point guards examined - 5 were basically starters their rookie year and logged major minutes learning, acclimating and feeling out the PG position - yet compared to the 2 other players who weren't starters right away (Nash and Davis), Goran's numbers aren't as bad the naysayers and Dragic haters would like you to believe.

So in order to really see how well our young Slovenian stand-out did his rookie year compared to these top point guards we need to adjust the numbers according to a constant variable.  Luckily for me - most stat sites already do that by providing the average stats a player puts up 'per 36 minutes played'.  (What would I do without www.basketball-reference.com?) So take a look at this next graphic and see where Goran stands.  It doesn't look bad AT ALL.  In fact - according to these numbers he is performing extremely well and in some cases has out-performed some of these superstar's rookie numbers. (Note that CP3 was already averaging 36 minutes a game - so his numbers stay the same).

To finish up - I am not trying to convince anyone that Goran Dragic is the next Steve Nash or the next Deron Williams.  But what I am suggesting is that we take the blinders off and lend some patience to this young talented player.  We have seen flashes of brilliance and exhibitions of dominance and style from Dragic already - the consistency and confidence will come with time.  

Be patient, he'll make mistakes and make you pull some hair, but give the hating a rest... - and enjoy the fact that we are able to witness first hand the development of PG - that's something that hasn't happened here in Phoenix for a long time.

what you had?

Knick fan here... just wondering if it is eating at you guys that you traded our first round pick away to Utah... It kills us that it was sent away in the first place... Possibly one of the worst moves of all time was Thomas not even top 5 protecting it.

Isiah Thomas sent it to Phoenix, who then sent it to Utah.  In a hilarious chain of events, the Jazz will have acquired a potential top-five pick for Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten.

Yesterday I had the amazing experience of being a member of a small studio audience made up of Suns and Amare Tweeps for the filming of the season's first episode of "Nothing but Net".

It was a fun and exciting experience to hang out with Amare Stoudemire, Tim Kempton, Jamie Morris, Scott Williams, and the stellar Suns production crew.    Just watching them work and listening to all of the other responsibilities and projects the Suns crew has going I really gained a better understanding of how hard they work. I also sat and felt grateful for how fortunate we are here in Phoenix to have a Suns Organization that is so open and candid with its fans, from all the Twitter conversation from the organization and the constant contact they keep with fans - to the fan-connection our players like Jared Dudley, Amare Stoudemire, JRich, and Steve Nash cultivate through their use of social media.

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After reading wattdoggs great piece about the first time he truly relised just how unbelievable our mighty leader Steve Nash is, I felt now would be as good a time as any to ask all of you - What's been your favourite Steve Nash moment?  What was it that made it so special? What happened?

Be as descriptive as possible people - we all want to bathe in the Nash-love that we all know we have.

http://phoenix.fanster.com/2009/10/28/the-sports-retorter-maybe-the-nba-did-have-it-in-for-the-phoenix-suns/

Stampchez posted an excerpt from Deadspin's copy of the Donaghy book yesterday.  Today we've got another tantalizing little quote as well as some interesting commentary.

As was stated in Stampchez's thread, it's Tim Donaghy, so all of this should be taken with a grain of salt.  But still, they are allegations that should at least be considered by Suns fans.

We're way beyond this at this point.  We're a semi-rebuilding team just looking for the playoffs now.  But what would/could have happened if we had actually won the title in 2007?  How different would this team look today both on-court and in management?

My favorite Tommy Nunez story is from the 2007 playoffs when the San Antonio Spurs were able to get past the Phoenix Suns in the second round. Of course, what many fans didn't know was that Phoenix had someone working against them behind the scenes. Nunez was the group supervisor for that playoff series, and he definitely had a rooting interest.

Nunez loved the Hispanic community in San Antonio and had a lot of friends there. He had been a referee for 30 years and loved being on the road; in fact, he said that the whole reason he had become a group supervisor was to keep getting out of the house. So Nunez wanted to come back to San Antonio for the conference finals. Plus, he, like many other referees, disliked Suns owner Robert Sarver for the way he treated officials. Both of these things came into play when he prepared the referees for the games in the staff meetings. I remember laughing with him and saying, "You would love to keep coming back here." He was pointing out everything that Phoenix was able to get away with and never once told us to look for anything in regard to San Antonio. Nunez should have a championship ring on his finger.

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-the-book-the-nba-doesnt-want-you-to-read

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Alyp4aIO5dhuVPT0ykzpzhW8vLYF?slug=ap-barkley-gm&prov=ap&type=lgns

I'm not too thrilled with Steve Kerr, truth be told. Anybody agree? It might not be the smartest move, but it sure would be a wild ride! The man took us to the Finals and we shipped him to Houston. I think he deserves better than that.

Then there's Steve Kerr. His moves are understandable, as I've said, but not really ideal. One minute we're the Spurs, the next minute we're the Bobcats, tomorrow we'll be the Hornets? We've got to go in one direction.

You know, it would probably be a terrible move, but for Charles Barkley to be the Suns GM would be one of the greatest, most hilarious moments in NBA history.

I got a couple:

Toney Durant
Brother: Kevin Durant (Younger)
Summer League Stats

Stephen Graham
Brother: Joey Graham (Twin)
Preseason Stats (Bobcats)

Seth Curry (Maybe Better?)
Brother: Stephen Curry (Older)
College Stats (Duke)

Ben Hansbrough

Brother: Tyler Hansbrough (Younger)
College Stats (ND)

anybody got anymore?

With all the articles around Jarron Collins that he can be signed as a free agent to answer the lack of rebounding, can we not just continue the trade in which Amare was supposed to go to Goldenstate for Biedrins, Azubuike and (supposedly Curry). I don't really care much about Azubuike or Curry, but Biedrins alone can help us with rebounding and front court defense. I know he lacks the scoring instinct Amare has, but our current front court is consisted of 6'10 & 6'11 guys not known for rebounding and defense. The front office should revive trade talks with Goldenstate that has Biedrins in it with or without Curry.