amare32 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Black Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squeaks4 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Best news I have heard all week. Here we come San Antonio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 calm down my fellow Phoenix residents . Let's wait to see what happens in the first 5 games he returns and if he does well THAN watch out SAN ANTONIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 I think he should still take it slow Suns are a lock to get 2nd seed with or without him and hope he is 100% for playoffs. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 THAN THEN ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFoA Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 THAN THEN You must understand, around these parts "THEN" sounds like "THAN", so it was perfectly acceptable at least in the South Anyways, my pick in the West just went to the Suns. I mean, if the Suns were leading their division without the guy, just imagine what they'll be able to do with him. The West's gonna be fun to watch once again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 THAN THEN do you notice when I wrote THAN, I did this as a sarcastic manner because I already knew someone was going to pick it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amare32 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starchild Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Reality check time from the pissy Knicks fan....Am I the ONLY one who remembers last years playoffs when the Suns were "supposed" to beat the Spurs?Please... Phoenix residents... don't get ahead of yourselves. Let's be real here... the San Antonio Spurs are THE team to beat in the NBA. Detroit is the team to beat in the East, but the Spurs are the defending NBA Champions... on top of it all, they have a better squad than they did last year. Amare Stoudemire first, will have some rust having not played in months. Get passed that, assuming he's 100% for the playoffs... you still have a team that plays a brand of basketball that doesn't translate into championship success.The Suns still play zero defense. For the Suns to be taken to triple over-time by the Knicks is ridiculous. The Knicks play no defense, but they're not competing for a title. As long as they play NBA Live on the court, San Antonio is going to trample right over their dreams of a title.And even if by some act of G-d that the Suns are able to make it to the NBA Finals, they'd be swept by Detroit. Hands down. So either way you look at it, defense wins championships, and Phoenix has none. "The true New Yorker secretly believes that anyone living anywhere else has got to be, in some sense, kidding." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camden Crazy Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 I don't remember many, if any people picking the Suns to beat the Spurs last year, so thanks for putting words in everyone's mouths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadragon76 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Heh heh heh. Look at all of the little Sun fans getting all hot and bothered with the return of Amare.Please. San Antonio is the best of the West. Hell, Dallas is better then the Suns. Why? At least the Mavs can play some defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starchild Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 I don't remember many, if any people picking the Suns to beat the Spurs last year, so thanks for putting words in everyone's mouths. That's not the point.The point is, people are getting all excited for the Suns this season, when the fact is, they haven't changed from last year. Replace Q-Rich and Joe Johnson with Boris Diaw and Raja Bell. Throw in Kurt Thomas for phantom-post-defense.But if I wanted to put words in peoples mouths, I most certainly will. So deal with it. "The true New Yorker secretly believes that anyone living anywhere else has got to be, in some sense, kidding." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amare32 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Allow me a rebuttal.The Suns are an offensive-minded team, w/ athleticism and a philosophy geared to scoring tons of points.Points Per GamePHX - 107.0 (1st)DET - 98.1 (13th)SAS - 94.6 (21st)W/ the up-and-down style, you'd also expect Suns' opponents to have plenty of opportunities and to score plenty of points per game. Opponents' Points Per GameSAS - 88.4 (2d)DET - 89.7 (3d)PHX - 100.3 (24th)And if you judge only by that measure, then the Suns are a bad defensive team. That's not the only measure that matters. Granted, scores will be high in a Suns game -- but there are other, better ways to tell how a team is performing defensively, and those other measures are by their nature indexed to a team's style of play.Opponents' FG Pct.SAS - 42.770% (3d)PHX - 44.100% (11th)DET - 44.659% (13th)Points Differential Per GameDET - +8.4 (1st)PHX - +6.7 (3d)SAS - +6.2 (4th)If the Suns played no defense, then their opponents would shoot much higher percentages from the floor. And they'd keep up w/ Phoenix in the scoring department. Instead, the Suns are above average in FG%-against and elite in points differential per game.The best measure of the Suns defense, then, is not opponents' points per game -- it's defensive efficiency, i.e., points allowed per possession. Take the number of points allowed per game, divide it by the number of possessions per game, and multiply by 100 (approximately the average number of possessions in an NBA game). The Suns are among the best teams in the league by that measure.Defensive EfficiencySAS - 96.5 DEff (1st)PHX - 100.0 DEff (4th)DET - 100.5 DEff (5th)As you might expect, the Suns are among the most efficient offensive teams in the league, i.e., their points per possession are elite. Take the number of points scored per game, divide it by the number of possessions per game, and multiply by 100. You get this --Offensive EfficiencyDET - 110.2 OEff (1st)PHX - 108.1 OEff (3d)SAS - 104.2 OEff (10th)Having calculated offensive and defensive efficiency, you can compare the figures to create a differential, i.e., points scored minus points allowed, per 100 possessions.OEff/DEff DifferentialDET - +9.6 (1st)PHX - +8.2 (2d)SAS - +7.7 (4th)So while more possessions translate to higher scoring games, their defense prevents opponents from keeping up w/ the Suns.Now factor in the individual defensive play of Shawn Marion, Kurt Thomas, Boris Diaw and lock-down perimeter defender Raja Bell. The latter three are unquestionably defensive upgrades over their counterparts from last season: Stephen Hunter, Quentin Richardson and Joe Johnson.What you have is a picture of a team that, while not atop the league defensively, more than holds its own in that department. It's a club that advanced to the Western Conference Finals last season w/ a demonstrably poorer defensive cast and an injured Joe Johnson.Add to that Amaré Stoudemire, who as a 22-year old averaged 8.9 rpg, .96 spg and 1.63 bpg last season. Does anyone doubt that Amaré has the talent and work-ethic to make himself a force on defense?He has not done it yet, at least not that we have witnessed, tho until undergoing knee surgery he had dedicated his offseason to just that task.Nor has the team won anything. Nothing is promised, no one is annointed. But this bull about the Suns playing no defense? It's just that -- bull .Some people will have you believe that thuggish, slow-paced, grind-it-out defense is the only way to win titles. Defense is critically important, but it is a myth that the only way to win is to play half-court ball. The defense-only argument ignores the history of the league.It's unsurprising that a New York fan would fail to recognize quality basketball when he sees it, such quality being wholly foreign to Madison Square Garden. But if you're not a Knicks fan, you have no excuse to deny that the Suns are legitimate contenders for the NBA title.Phoenix is legit. They are the best offensive team in the league. They do, in fact, play defense -- tho not the molasses slow variety popularized by teams that lack the skill to score. And they are about to be bolstered by the return of a 6'10", 245 lb. force of nature -- Amaré Stoudemire.The ultimate respect comes from winning a championship. The Suns are quite capable of accomplishing that feat. I've stated my case -- now it's up to my boys to remove all doubt.GO SUNS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee. Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Holy . You put a lot of thought into that.Still no job, huh? Welcome to DrunjFlix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amare32 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Holy . You put a lot of thought into that.Still no job, huh? Correct! Jimmy, tell the man what he's won... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starchild Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 An excellent breakdown amare...but, as a stubborn New Yorker (because that's a requirement), I'll give credit to the Phoenix Suns when they lock down a team like San Antonio and get to the NBA Finals...Are they a talented offensive squad, sure... arguably the best offensive team in the league. They've got a volume offense, and that's beautiful. But anytime you rely on outscoring an opponent as opposed to stopping a team (in other words, pounding in the points to drive a wedge in between the competition so they can't catch up, as opposed to scoring, and then trying to stop the other team, and producing a wedge that way) is a dangerous game.All it takes is a bad posession or two for Phoenix, and it's all down hill. If shots aren't falling (which granted, isn't very likely for them, but possible nonetheless) what will Phoenix do then? Can you really expect the Suns to be a lock-down defensive team if the game is close? With under a minute to go and the Suns up 1... can anyone expect Phoenix to be capable of effectively shutting down a team like Dallas, San Antonio, or Detroit from either scoring or getting to the line? I find it INCREDIBLY hard to accept.Are the Suns a top tier team? Of course they are. Nobody can take that away from them. Steve Nash is unquestionably the MVP of the league, Boris Diaw has been a fantastic signing, Raja Ball is a solid perimeter defender, Marion and Amare are wonderful... but their shortcomings are in holding another team down. I watched in the stands as Phoenix came back in the 4th against the Knicks, then let them go to double overtime, and simply couldn't stop Stephon Marbury in the 3rd overtime after he was quiet the rest of the game. Understand from this view, it's hard to see how the Suns can be expected to hold off far superior players and teams. The slow paced defense we're exposed to - a la the Pistons and Spurs - certainly isn't the only way to play defense. But history has shown it's, if nothing else, the most used and effective. The Bad Boys, current Pistons, the Spurs, the Knicks (until recently), Rockets, Bulls, the Celtics... these teams were capable of locking down teams in a half court set.... it's absolutely key to be able to have that 1 critical defensive stop with the game on the line. I have yet to see any visual evidence of the Suns having the ability to do that. The Dallas Mavericks were of the same breed. They put up a lot of shots, sank most of them, but if the well ran dry, they were toast because they couldn't stop the opposition from sinking theirs and taking the lead.The proof is in the pudding... if the Suns can prove me, and other critics wrong, then more power to them, and they will certainly deserve to win the title - and ultimately could. Without question. But if ANOTHER season goes by where the Suns either don't make it to the NBA Finals, or get crushed by Detroit in the Finals, then there really is no argument. Defense wins championships, bottom line, and if the Suns are going to win it, they're not going to win with offense. The Spurs and Pistons are capable of running and gunning, and putting up points (Detroit moreso than Spurs, of course)... but the difference is in their ability to rack up those points, AND stop Phoenix from doing so.As for a Knicks fan not being able to recognize quality basketball, I take exception to that. It;s not that I don't recognize it... any NY basketball fan will tell you Phoenix is incredible to watch, and they win ball games. But the difference is, NY basketball is defensive minded basketall - the opposite of excitement.... we jump out of our seats when a huge block comes our way, or we hold on for the win with a great defensive set... a fast break alley-oop or run-and-gun threes may have us clapping, but that's not what we care about. It's a different brand of basketball from a different location. L.A. basketball is showtime... NY basketball is nitty gritty. "The true New Yorker secretly believes that anyone living anywhere else has got to be, in some sense, kidding." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amare32 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 I respect New York basketball, in a broad and historical sense. What I'm dissing is Knicks basketball, which is absolutely terrible.Even still, the Knicks did defeat the Suns. But anecdotal evidence can be put to alot of squirrelly purposes.11.20.05 - TOR 107, MIA 9412.10.05 - ATL 94, SAS 8401.11.06 - NYK 117, DAL 11502.07.06 - ATL 99, DET 98The moral of the story -- big whup. Bad teams occaisionally defeat good teams. You can use bad losses as the basis to indict Phoenix, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas and Detroit. But if you're gonna cherry pick, I prefer these cherries --01.06.06 - PHX 110, MIA 9301.07.06 - PHX 91, SAS 8602.16.06 - PHX 109, HOU 75Anyway, regular season wins don't mean a hell of a lot. You're right -- you gotta do it in the playoffs. I'm willing to wait until my Suns hoist the trophy to proclaim them the best team in the league. Let 'em settle it on the court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starchild Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 I respect New York basketball, in a broad and historical sense. What I'm dissing is Knicks basketball, which is absolutely terrible. Hahaha. That's fine, because right now, calling current Knicks basketball "terrible" is a compliment. Back in the mid 90s, now that was something.But anyway, it should be fun to say the least, come the playoffs. If nothing else, we'll have more stuff to argue about And people say the NBA isn't fun. Psh. "The true New Yorker secretly believes that anyone living anywhere else has got to be, in some sense, kidding." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amare32 Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 Amaré "80/20" to return Thursday versus Portland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Thats good news for the Suns they can be real dangerous in the postseason especially with Pistons coming back to pack in 2nd Half. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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