Five Reasons to feel positive about the Phoenix Suns

Sheridanhoops.com is running a season preview series of guest columns that will run throughout October. The theme of the series is Positivity - which runs rampant throughout the league before the real games start in November.

This time of year, (almost) every team feels like they can make the playoffs. For the contenders, it's merely an assumption. For the pretenders, it's "if this breaks right and that breaks right".

The Suns are in the latter group. So, when I wrote the guest column I focused on what national readers might not know about the team that no longer boasts "He Who Must Not Be--"... the Two Time MVP of the National Basketball Association: PG Steve Nash.

Amid all the gloom and doom, there IS reason for optimism. I've written about many of them already, but one reason that hasn't been touched on much yet is:

2. The best players can play the best minutes

One of the most difficult aspects of coach Alvin Gentry's job the last two seasons was managing the minutes of his aging stars.

Even on a healthy night, Suns fans knew that whenever Nash had to play more than 24 of the first 40 minutes (to the 8-minute mark of the final period), we were asking for trouble. Nash had a kitchen timer for a body clock. Once that 30-minute mark went off (though sometimes it was set for 24 or 28 minutes), he was done. His passes weren't as crisp, his decision-making off, his shots short. Heaven forbid that timer went off with 2-4 minutes remaining.

Hit the link to see my "national" view on 4 other reasons for optimism.

Was I optimistic enough? I didn't want to overdo it, but then again I am excited so it's hard not to.

Did I hit on the real top 5 reasons for optimism this season? What are YOUR top 5 reasons?

Free throw:

Check out the posts by other team writers. It's always interesting to see what the pretenders have to say about their team's chances.

And, check out Sheridanhoops.com on a regular basis. Great content over there!