I know, I know, it's frustrating.
We want to see the Suns winning games. We are frustrated by our inability to watch, to form our own opinions from seeing the guys on the court. All we get are gamecasts and boxscores and occcassional online feeds featuring opponents' announcers.
So when someone who's seen the game says "don't worry about it", we are unable to simply accept that as golden. We can't take our eyes off the rebounding deficit, the point differentials, the turnovers and the 1-5 record.
But all in all, here's what we have actually learned this preseason: A lineup including 3 or more of Lawal, Clark, Janning, Siler, Jones, Atkins and Dowdell will lose a LOT of games.
Fortunately, Alvin won't be playing that lineup starting next week. In fact, we may never see it again with the exception of the occassional blowout.
So why did Alvin Gentry spend so much time playing those guys?
I have some guesses...
These guesses are with no particular knowledge or inside information. They are just based on logic of the hindsight variety. Given that Gentry has repeatedly filled the second-half lineups with scrubs who've lost leads by the barrelful, there has to be a reason right?
Here's my top 10 reasons we have seen what we've seen:
- Fewer minutes = less wear and tear. Hill is 38, Nash 36, Turkoglu 31 and Richardson 30. Lopez is young, but injury-prone.
- The games don't matter.
- Dudley and the starters (including Turkoglu) are known quantities. Alvin has watched the starters earn leads whenever they've played together. He knows what he has with them.
- 5 out of 6 games have been on the road. When you really, really don't care about the end result, it's easier to play your deep scrubs when the game is on the road. No one in the building cares.
- The games don't matter.
- Two of the six games have been against Utah, the Suns' opponent in Game 2 of the regular season. Just like in the NFL, you don't give your opponent anything to chew on if you can avoid it and the Jazz have seen very little of the Suns team they will play on Oct 28 when it counts.
- Two of the six games have been in Canada. Games with fans less interested in basketball than they are in cheering/booing particular players.
- The games don't matter.
- In case of mass injuries, would ANY of the deep scrubs step up as leaders on that third unit? Would any surpass expectations? Unfortunately, that's a no. Most disappointing is Earl Clark.
- The games don't matter.
Of course, we've seen some worrying trends.
Rebounding deficits and 110 points-allowed fly in the face of kool-aid drinkers who have convinced themselves the Suns will survive in those areas.
But don't use the preseason as a barometer for the upcoming regular season. Those are two different animals. Regular season matters. Preseason doesn't.
The Suns team you see next week will not resemble the one you've seen so far. Sure, the warning signs are there.
But the biggest thing we have to worry about is if Gentry will play Janning, Clark, Lawal and Siler/Jones together in a tie game in the third quarter. My hunch is no.