they will make the playoff, but in the lower four seeds and will be kicked out in the first round. Thanks, big shaq
The Suns should have traded Marion for Camby or Ben Wallace. They both get paid less than Shaq. They both play with more energy than Shaq and both run the floor better than Shaq.
Wow, thats a pretty tough schedule! But they will definitely make the playoffs, Denver and Portland will not be able to get in at their expense. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M3-GJTUUAPc"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M3-GJTUUAPc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
I have always thought Marion was overly-maligned and under-appreciated. It was more than just Nash that made him good. Now the Suns are stuck with the vastly inferior Diaw as their Marion-type do-everything player and he's not even close.
I want to see how Nash makes Shaq better. BTW, if the trade was the coach's idea, he should be fired after they got eliminated. How anyone would trade for Shaq's big fat contract and his big fat body at this point of his career is beyond me, let alone giving away Marion.
Had no idea their schedule was that brutal. I'd want to say that it's not jsut Nash's poor D that is hurting them - Shaq and Amare have both been lazy on that end their whole career. They'll get a couple of splashy "look at me" blocks to fool casual fans, but watch how reluctant they are to come out on high screen & rolls or rotate to help on a mid range shooter. They probably weren't contending with Marion, but assuming they make the playoffs, they've got the wrong frontcourt to defend the likes of Bynum-Gasol-Odom or Okur-Boozer-(AK47/Harpring/Korver). Too many West playoff squads are going to force defenses to come out and face front court guys with range. Especially when everyone knows how bad Shaq is when you don't allow him to sit under the basket. I think they can get 9 wins out of that schedule. That would put them at 48. For all the talk about a team getting 50 wins and missing the cut, I don't see it happening. Too much of the remaining schedule pits West vs West in dogfights - 45 or 46 is much more likely the #9 seed's record. We've got 11 games (out of 23) left versus "playoff" teams.* If I'm harsh and assume we go 3-8 against the big boys and drop 2 or 3 fluke games against the weak sisters, we'd have a home stretch of barely 0.500 ball (50 or 51 win finish). And I think we'd have company. Mavs have 12 remaining against playoff teams Hornets have 11 Warriors have 11 Nuggets have 12 Suns have 13 None of these teams is doing particularly well in big game matchups as of late. This is going to go down as one of the biggest dogfights in NBA history for playoff seeding. *Including Denver, but I'm only counting Boston and Detroit from the East in this. The rest of them are crap, and making the postseason by default. Yes, including the Cavs.
With Shaq in the lineup, The Suns are 1-6 against teams with a record of 0.500 or higher. The rest of their schedule is nothing but teams over 0.500. If they don't flip the switch soon, it may be....
Well all i gotta say is its great to see those frustrated suns fans at their forums. Can't really feel bad for them, it was obviously a huge gamble that evidently didn't pay off.
LOL @ Suns defense in 4th quarter against the Jazz. Jazz have only missed 2 shots in the entire 4th quarter.
In the 4th quarter they were fielding Nash, Shaq, and Amare. That's 3/5 of the lineup that has no interest in playing defense whatsoever. We even got to witness a bricked FT from Shaq with the game on the line.
The Jazz scored 41 points on them, which is just ridiculous. I thought the game was slipping away from the Jazz when the 3rd quarter ended but the Suns can't stop anybody right now. I'm not (yet) ready to predict the Nuggets will catch the Suns.
Both teams have matador defenses but at least the Nuggets have Camby. The Suns' best defender is vacationing in Miami right now.
