Faith

by MichiganSunsFan on Feb 28, 2008 8:14 PM MST Comment 9 comments

[Flattery will get you everywhere, especially when it's coupled with some sage advice. Welcome to the main page, MichiganSunsFan! Now, back to that break I mentioned... -TexSUN]

I love this website and the phenomenal people who run it. There's a great community here that I'm proud to share my opinions with.

I've followed the Suns faithfully ever since the 2006 Playoffs. Last year on nationally televised games and online, this year I'm proud to say I've seen nearly every game of the season thanks to the League Pass.

I know that this year has been disappointing so far. The Shaq trade has not produced, we've slowed down, turnovers are up, and fast break points are down. Despite this I still have every belief that this team can and will win its first championship. In the end I think you have to just believe in a team. Not in stats, not in trends, and not in trades.

It's easy to support a team that wins all the time. Easy to support a team with a crowd pleasing style. What's hard is to support that same team through the bad times. I think you could call the last few weeks bad times for the Suns. That makes it even more important for the team to get the support of the diehard fans.

Let's look forward to the rest of the year. Let's look forward to getting back on track Saturday. I know I'll be watching until the last minute of the playoffs (and hopefully finals) is played.

I hope you all are too.

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nice

I was at work today and told the owner I had just bought nba league pass and was very excited about watching the last 20+ games of the season of the suns but thought it was funny, right after I decided to buy it, they lose again badly...

The owner asked me what type of fan I was, he said most people he was around were fair weather fans, and would only support their team when they won, and would abandon that same team when they lost.

I've already been away from phx for 2-3 yrs now, and it was an easy question, at least for me. I was allowed onto the suns court as a 10-12 yr old kid a few times, met larry nance and some other suns, my dad speaks fondly of talking with alvan adams on a plane flight.

I'm with this team to the end, or at least for a few more years, I missed a couple of years when the team got marbury, hard to like a team when they're thugs...

but this team (since 2004-present) has been a lot of fun to watch. And even if I knew at the beginning of the yr they weren't going to win it all, I'd still buy nba league pass and watch them play,....but...I do have to say...if we were in miami's shoes and losing 23 of 24 or whatever it was, I'd not be so sure about sticking with them. I just want them to be good, and hopefully great, even with these 2 bad loses, they still are a good team and I think will bounce back from this.

The Gasol trade though really hurt the nba, in my view, it was a simple thing, the nba wants the big markets to do well - boston, ny, l.a., etc (2 out of 3 isn't bad) considering all 3 sucked last yr.
I think the people that run the nba are idiots, but, I still like good basketball, and end up getting that more often than not from the suns...

by jasonsuns1 on Feb 29, 2008 12:58 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Look at the bright side...

After all, that is the name of the site. I have been a suns fan since 1971, and there have been some lean years. Most notably, in the drug scandal years in the mid 80s. But unlike Dallas and Sacramento, the ownership never seemed to let it last more than a few seasons before getting it back on track.

If you want to hear griping to the nth degree, go to phxsuns.net. There is a guy in particular who posts regularly, and he is so gloomy, you feel like you need a drink after reading his posts.

Unlike most of the NBA, and that gloomy fan, I never doubted that our brand of small ball, shoot 'em up couldn't win a championship. I believe the 04-05 crew, if kept together for 2 or three seasons, could have won a championship. but 3 events doomed that team, one which was of the suns doing, and two others beyond their control.

The first was how Joe Johnson's situation was handled. A combination of bungled negotiations with a young star along with a greedy agent sent Joe away.

The second one nobody could forsee, and that was the deterioration of Q's back injury. He was a key piece, and would have gotten better, but the injury, which I think the Suns new about before the trade, but not it's extent, has proven to be a career killer for Q.

The third is obvious, the event of Amare's serious knee injury, which led to microfracture.

If Joe stayed here, Amare didd not get hurt, and Q stayed healthy, the addition of Raja Bell and a few spare parts would have won a championship. still, I believe the suns were championship worthy the next year if not for key injuries to Bell and Thomas. And we all know what happened last year.

So we could be sitting on three rings right now. We still could win one with modified small-ball. The fact remains, we have seen some excellent entertainment, and even when the Nash era ends, I don't believe that we will have a long stretch of losing like the Mavs and Kings had in the 90s.

'07-'08 Suns: It's clobberin' time!

by Hawk42 on Feb 29, 2008 7:44 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda.

I like your summary Hawk and for the most part I agree. We have been very close to making it to the promised land.

I have read a few posts this morning, and coupled with the likely Giricek signing, well, um, I have to admit I think this season is finished.

I don't mean to be doom and gloom, but I think the majority of us here see an exhausted, confused basketball team that simply can't hang anymore. Who would have thought?

This Shaq thing may be a mistake, but let's face it, we weren't going anywhere with the team we had, maybe second round of the playoffs? Of course we can all wonder why we couldn't have made a serious play for Gasol, and perhaps we did and the asking price was too high. Looking further into hindsight, maybe there was a way to get Garnett as well...The past is gone though and here we are...

We all are rooting for this team, but my personal opinion-we are 1-2 years from a major blow up-players, coaches, front office, etc.

So, as they were saying at the outset of the season, let's just enjoy this ride. (if possible). If we win 50 games, and get out of the first round of the playoffs, I'll feel pretty good about this season taking everything into consideration. But talking about a championship is kind of ridiculous at this point.

I hope to be proven wrong. Really.

by rc74 on Feb 29, 2008 8:20 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

You Might Be Right, But

Colangelo was always the guy righting the ship in the storm.

I think Sarver has shown a commitment to winning through his spending. Anyone who still spells his name as "$arver" hasn't been paying attention. Was it money well-spent, though? Who knows. But, can he sustain it like Colangelo?

Really, though, don't give up on the season yet. The Suns will make the playoffs and then everything is wide open.

In 2-3 years, there will probably be some lean times, which only means my season tickets will get better. There won't be a "blow-up" of the team, though, simply because most of the players will retire not get shipped out.

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Feb 29, 2008 10:17 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Thing was....

Colangelo was a power broker, not a power spender. He was not as rich as Sarver, but he just had a knack for luring talent here to the Valley. That's why he's the Godfather. It'll be interesting to see how Sarver handles this organization when lean years arrive.

"Act well your part: there all the honor lies"-Alexander Pope

by PurplePinoy on Feb 29, 2008 11:07 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Obviously...

... the Suns have a lot to work out and that loss to the Hornets a couple days ago was painful.

But just to put it into perspective a bit... I did think it was interesting to see the Hornets up by 23 on the Jazz by the end of the first tonight and end up beating the Jazz in the end. A 23 point first quarter lead on a team that does have solid defense. The Jazz just beat the Pistons last night by the way and they've done great against New Orleans and Deron Williams has been tearing apart Chris Paul, until this game.

Paul, West.... even Pargo... everyone went off again tonight just like they did on Wednesday, and the Jazz are well known for the tough defense. Yes we kind of blow right now but the fact is our guys have played a few of the hottest teams in the league in their first few games together. I'm not throwing in the season just yet.

by Travis on Feb 29, 2008 9:24 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

great point

Thanks for saying this, let's see how we bounce back these next 4 games

by jasonsuns1 on Feb 29, 2008 9:30 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

FAITH IS DIFFICULT, BUT YOU MUST ENDURE

The SUNS are fine. They've undergone surgery, don't you see?

It's one thing to say THA MATRICKS for SHACK. Everyone thinks, "Just keep playing ball, guys!"

But it's another thing to mend the emotional and spiritual loss of THA MATRICKS (aka the SUNS MVP, heart and soul of a team for 9 years, etc.) and wholly welcome a replacement man - and Linton Johnson and GGiricek - at the same time.

The first must heal before the next can fit.

Time is what is required. We'll soon know if SHACK can improve this team ala Tim Thomas, Grant Hill, and Kurt Thomas, or if he just doesn't fit and follows in the footsteps of Marcus Banks. I think he's too proud to let that happen.

Meanwhile, it's a work in progress to formulate a successful strategy. This team is versatile, can go big or small. They'll find their strengths.

by The Humongous on Mar 1, 2008 12:23 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

growing pains

I agree with you, even with those 2 horrible losses,
all I have to do is think of shaq diving after loose balls in the celtics game to know he'll be a good fit (heart wise) for this team, we already know bell, and nash are...and I like the things we're seeing in amare,diaw and lb. If we could just play some sort of defense, we'd do great. I'm not worried about scoring, I'm worried about if our defense can improve enough to actually be effective, at least against the toughest teams...

I'm still glad i bought nba league pass recently, tomorrow night will be my first game on tv with my newly purchased direct tv nba lp!! Remember..I'm in dallas....

by jasonsuns1 on Mar 1, 2008 1:30 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs