He came off the bench as a small forward with athleticism for the Indiana Pacers shot 40% from three point land someone I would have loved Houston to get on this team as a role player to complement Tracy Mc Grady, however in Pheonix he may be asked to do too much too soon.
Will someone please try to refute these comments on the Suns? There are also big questions on whether D'Antoni can coach a more conventional offense or an adequate defense. I put the over/under at 50 wins.
I really don't know why so many people are so sure we are ahead of the Suns. I actually somewhat agree with the list. Amare was a beast last year and almost virtually unstoppable last year in the paint. This year they have put Kurt Thomas to his side whose job is most possibly is just to box out other opponents so Amare can do his thing on the Offensive side and grab reabounds on the defensive side. I'm sure he can block shots as well. I also would not count the addition of Raja bell James Jones and Brian Diaw a failure either. I think Jim Jackson is also still a threat off the bench. I think Nash's style of play and ability should improve their game and shouldn't be over looked as a step back. I'm sure these guys could still run if they wanted to and they would still be pretty lethal from all end of the floors. I think Raja Bell shot like 40 something percent from beyond the arc and James Jones did a great job in the first round with 54 percent three point shooting. As for us, like someone stated earlier we definitely have as many what if's as the Heat do. We probably also have as much what if's as the Suns do. Like Crazyguypete said, Sura is great on our lineup when healthy. But the key words here are "when he is healthy". The guy was supposedly still a maybe for the training camp or preseason games. That is not something very reassuring. Derek Anderson is also an issue. Do you honestly believe he was completely healthy last season. If he is so good and so healthy why did they not play him that much last season? Besides the Clippers what team really wants to lose? If Derek Anderson could help them out last season I am sure he would have gotten played especially with the Ginormous contract he has. It is either he sucks or he just wasn't healthy enough. I really hope that it was not cause he just sucks now like Gin Baker. With Swift we also aren't sure if he is really going to break out of his shell this season. I'd love for him to break out this season but that is no sure thing yet. He's got the potential but heck so did Eddie Griffin. We can say the Grizzlies should have upped his minutes but if you looked at his stats the second season in Memphis they did up his minutes. The first year he was in Memphis his numbers looked like he was almost ready to break out of his shell. Then his numbers were increased but his production did not seem to increase but I think they went down a bit. I don't think Hubbie Brown was a r****d nor do I think Jerry West is an idiot. If Swift could beat out Lorenzen Wright out of his starting position I think they would have let him start. I hope he does break out of his shell this season but hey that is a question mark too. Kurt Thomas showed he could still play while he was in NYC, Raja bell has some decent numbers coming from the Jazz especially on a team that didn't have a great pg last season like Nash, James Jones also showed a decent flashes of brilliance in the first round of the playoffs with the outside shooting. Our additions are just as much of a what if. The Pistons were very close to beating the Spurs last year even with the Larry Brown fandango going on. He's a good coach but I think Flip Saunders is too. I hope as the season progresses we'll move higher in the rankings and deserve it but until then we are also filled with What if's and Maybe's. The Pacers are in the right spot too because they definitely were a scary team two years ago with a Ron Artest on the court and not sidelined because he flung his fist at someone. If he can keep his hands from the audience and leave his anger and attitude on the court the Pacers are definitely going to be a heck of a team in the East. They've also added a nice back up pg which should help. Their chemistry should be quite nice after playing a couple seasons together. The heat and pacers are the ones I think that should be switched on the list because the Heat are filled with more what if's than the Pacers are in my opinion. The heat lost a player in eddie jones and Damon Jones who i felt were effective without the ball in their hands. They have now added Walker and Jdub who both want or maybe need the Rock in their hands. But Shaq and Wade went quite a distance last season and are understandably rated ahead of us. Where we stand on the list looks pretty good to me.
why are so many you guys so down on the Pacers? I think they're going to be great next year. They won 44 games last year without Artest and they also missed O'Neal and Jackson for a good deal of games too. If not for the brawl they would've been around 60 games last year.
At least one of these Eastern teams will stumble this season...hard to say which one. Probably Miami (Shaq is another year older).
