Larry Schweikart
Veteran
I have been a fan since Connie Hawkins. I've related before that the greatest basketball play in history was not videotaped, and it wasn't either Dr. J's under the basket scoop or MJ's floaters. It was Hawk. But that's another story.
I celebrated with the whole Valley when the Suns beat the Golden State warriors to go to the finals against the Celtics in 76. Folks, do you realize the then-dominant Arizona Republic put on its FRONT PAGE "AMAZING SUNS RISE IN THE WEST"?
I suffered through the heartbreaking game 5 double OT loss to Boston when, as the game was tied with only seconds left, Boston called a TO right in front of Ritchie Powers---which would have been a technical foul cuz Boston was out of TOs---and the free throw would have won it. What happens back in PHX? Who knows. But Powers ignored the Boston coaches and gave them life. No loss ever hurt more than that one. People forget that in that series, our hottest shooter, SF Keith Erickson, sprained his ankle and was out in the last two games.
From 1976 on, the Suns had a center problem. Adams was a high post center, good offensive player and fast, but not a great defender, nor could he shoot threes. Subsequent attempts to fix the center position resulted in a whole string of good, but just not quite "there" centers, including James Edwards and Mark West.
The loss in the finals against the Bulls was tough, but observers knew that while Barkley was close to his prime, Tom Chambers was past it. I'm convinced if we'd had the TC of just two years earlier, we would have beaten the Bulls.
I adored the "Six Seconds or Shoot" teams but knew deep down that defense wins championships, and they just didn't have the D.
Which brings us to today's Suns. I LOVE this team, almost as much as that 76 team. But for most of the season they played above their talent level. More important, they are the first truly defensive Suns team I've ever seen---but that requires, absolutely requires, a healthy Dhillon Brooks. He and Gillespie and Goodwin force offenses to eat up time and they are excellent at steals. All season I expected (but prayed it wouldn't happen) that either Gillespie or White or Booker or Brooks would really see their shooting tail off. G did, Book's rose. But we just don't have the shooters without Brooks and without a healthy Allen all the time.
We'll make the playoffs, obviously. Without Brooks, we're one and done. With him we probably get past one opponent, maybe, if extremely lucky, two. But for next year, we need to seriously examine Mark Williams, Ryan Dunn, and, sadly, Gillespie (probably due to $) and maybe Allen. If PHX can find one more Goodwin, we can cut opposing teams down from the 110-120 range (unacceptable, and a loser range) to the 100-105 range (toosup). Then we'll need either Green to advance his game, Fleming to come along faster, or add one more shooter---but whomever we land has to be a defender first.
Regardless, this team does something none of the KD teams did---it hustles, scratches, and fights almost every night (ok, there was Portland). We haven't seen that kind of energy since the Nash teams.
I celebrated with the whole Valley when the Suns beat the Golden State warriors to go to the finals against the Celtics in 76. Folks, do you realize the then-dominant Arizona Republic put on its FRONT PAGE "AMAZING SUNS RISE IN THE WEST"?
I suffered through the heartbreaking game 5 double OT loss to Boston when, as the game was tied with only seconds left, Boston called a TO right in front of Ritchie Powers---which would have been a technical foul cuz Boston was out of TOs---and the free throw would have won it. What happens back in PHX? Who knows. But Powers ignored the Boston coaches and gave them life. No loss ever hurt more than that one. People forget that in that series, our hottest shooter, SF Keith Erickson, sprained his ankle and was out in the last two games.
From 1976 on, the Suns had a center problem. Adams was a high post center, good offensive player and fast, but not a great defender, nor could he shoot threes. Subsequent attempts to fix the center position resulted in a whole string of good, but just not quite "there" centers, including James Edwards and Mark West.
The loss in the finals against the Bulls was tough, but observers knew that while Barkley was close to his prime, Tom Chambers was past it. I'm convinced if we'd had the TC of just two years earlier, we would have beaten the Bulls.
I adored the "Six Seconds or Shoot" teams but knew deep down that defense wins championships, and they just didn't have the D.
Which brings us to today's Suns. I LOVE this team, almost as much as that 76 team. But for most of the season they played above their talent level. More important, they are the first truly defensive Suns team I've ever seen---but that requires, absolutely requires, a healthy Dhillon Brooks. He and Gillespie and Goodwin force offenses to eat up time and they are excellent at steals. All season I expected (but prayed it wouldn't happen) that either Gillespie or White or Booker or Brooks would really see their shooting tail off. G did, Book's rose. But we just don't have the shooters without Brooks and without a healthy Allen all the time.
We'll make the playoffs, obviously. Without Brooks, we're one and done. With him we probably get past one opponent, maybe, if extremely lucky, two. But for next year, we need to seriously examine Mark Williams, Ryan Dunn, and, sadly, Gillespie (probably due to $) and maybe Allen. If PHX can find one more Goodwin, we can cut opposing teams down from the 110-120 range (unacceptable, and a loser range) to the 100-105 range (toosup). Then we'll need either Green to advance his game, Fleming to come along faster, or add one more shooter---but whomever we land has to be a defender first.
Regardless, this team does something none of the KD teams did---it hustles, scratches, and fights almost every night (ok, there was Portland). We haven't seen that kind of energy since the Nash teams.
