Yahoo "experts" pick Suns as favorite to win title

az1965

Love Games!
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Posts
14,760
Reaction score
0
Location
Austin, TX
I was watching Yahoo! videos and 2/3 experts (Kenny Smith and Adrian Wojnarowski) pick Suns to be early favorite to win the title over Spurs.

Adrian really believe adding Hill is going to push us over the hump and that we probably could have done it last year as well if not for the suspensions. Kenny believes Suns have all the pieces now to win the title.

They also don't think Marion issue will be a distraction.

Kenny Smith just laughted when Larry Biel asked him if anyone in the pacific division can challenge the Suns for the division title.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=4700714&ch=244098&src=sports
 
Last edited:

Ronin

…..
Super Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Posts
132,089
Reaction score
52,118
Location
Las Cruces, New Mexico
I was watching Yahoo! videos and 2/3 experts (Kenny Smith and Adrian Wojnarowski) pick Suns to be early favorite to win the title over Spurs.

Adrian really believe adding Hill is going to push us over the hump and that we probably could have done it last year as well if not for the suspensions. Kenny believes Suns have all the pieces now to win the title.

They also don't think Marion issue will be a distraction.


Kenny Smith just laughted when Larry Biel asked him if anyone in the pacific division can challenge the Suns for the division title.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=4700714&ch=244098&src=sports

I hope so!:thumbup:
 

arwillan

The King
Joined
Nov 18, 2006
Posts
2,952
Reaction score
0
great vids. the guy who picked the spurs had no reasons behind his points. he just said that the spurs will finally repeat and that his family is from S.A. he made no mention of why they would beat the suns or the mavs this year...
the guys who picked the suns had valid points to support their points including grant hill, the fact that they now have every part necessary to win, the depth with skinner and banks coming in (also improved defense). they said the suns will be more like the spurs in that they will not play the starters too much during the regular season and they will prepare for the post season better this year. 2 of the 3 guys said this is the suns' title to lose. all 3 agreed that the suns will beat the celtics or any other team out of the east and the only chance the celtics have of winning is if one of the big 3 teams in the west somehow dont make it to the finals
 

sly fly

Devil Me This
Joined
Jun 12, 2002
Posts
2,469
Reaction score
0
Location
N. Phx
I don't see how PHX got any worse in the off-season, despite what many people around this board think...

- Added Grant Hill. Subtracted James Jones. This move is an asset for both the regular season and the playoffs. Of course, the big IF is Hill's health. A healthy Hill equals the best pick-up by ANY team outside of Kevin Garnett this off-season. Count on that.

- Nash will be Nash. I'm expecting him to be a little more vocally demanding of his teammates this year.

- Subtracted Kurt Thomas. Added Brian Skinner and "Sean Marks". This move is a wash for the regular season, and a potential liability for the playoffs.

- Amare is a year wiser and hopefully stronger. Asset on all fronts. Just hope he realizes that his $$$ are earned down low, not becoming Brad Sellers. Amare needs to push himself to dominate his man every night on both ends of the floor.

- Barbosa is a year wiser and hopefully more well-rounded. Asset on all fronts IF he isn't suffering from burn out. A little worried about his elbow and rib injuries of late.

- Diaw is a year wiser, and hopefully NOT more well-rounded. Needs to be a catalyst every night off the bench. Needs to shed his soft mental reputation.

- The bench is younger, greener, yet potentially more apt to provide a spark when needed. DJ looks to be a steal. You never know what kind of bench a team has until the season is about a 1/4 way through.

- Marcus Banks will be traded before the deadline. Shawn Marion will not.

- Raja Bell needs to play smarter and more under control this year. Just hit the 3, play tough D, and let your play do the talking.

- David Stern. Needs to go. Not sure why he's been let off the hook.
 

PoolBoy

BIRDGANG
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Posts
5,734
Reaction score
0
Location
Sec. 450
we dont even need to play this season, everybody already picked us to win.
 

Chris_Sanders

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2002
Posts
37,577
Reaction score
26,233
Location
Scottsdale, Az
I don't see how PHX got any worse in the off-season, despite what many people around this board think...

- Added Grant Hill. Subtracted James Jones. This move is an asset for both the regular season and the playoffs. Of course, the big IF is Hill's health. A healthy Hill equals the best pick-up by ANY team outside of Kevin Garnett this off-season. Count on that.

- Nash will be Nash. I'm expecting him to be a little more vocally demanding of his teammates this year.

- Subtracted Kurt Thomas. Added Brian Skinner and "Sean Marks". This move is a wash for the regular season, and a potential liability for the playoffs.

- Amare is a year wiser and hopefully stronger. Asset on all fronts. Just hope he realizes that his $$$ are earned down low, not becoming Brad Sellers. Amare needs to push himself to dominate his man every night on both ends of the floor.

- Barbosa is a year wiser and hopefully more well-rounded. Asset on all fronts IF he isn't suffering from burn out. A little worried about his elbow and rib injuries of late.

- Diaw is a year wiser, and hopefully NOT more well-rounded. Needs to be a catalyst every night off the bench. Needs to shed his soft mental reputation.

- The bench is younger, greener, yet potentially more apt to provide a spark when needed. DJ looks to be a steal. You never know what kind of bench a team has until the season is about a 1/4 way through.

- Marcus Banks will be traded before the deadline. Shawn Marion will not.

- Raja Bell needs to play smarter and more under control this year. Just hit the 3, play tough D, and let your play do the talking.

- David Stern. Needs to go. Not sure why he's been let off the hook.

It is easy to get caught up in the negativity of all the budget moves. I did so myself. Ultimately Grant Hill is a massive upgrade over James Jones and Skinner is a good signing. I will really miss Kurt Thomas, but our starting lineup is better and our bench is about the same.
 

PoolBoy

BIRDGANG
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Posts
5,734
Reaction score
0
Location
Sec. 450
i think our bench is better thought because of the youth and speed. we all know about barbosa, but banks is fast, and appears to be better. and my boy dj is really fast. alando is a solid post player. marks looks better. skinner may annoy me and i may have to use the simpsons voice, but he looks like a good defender in preseason. and diaw is a starter off the bench.
 

Louis

DJ Roomba
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Posts
5,316
Reaction score
1
Location
Winning Friends and Influencing the People in My H
- Subtracted Kurt Thomas. Added Brian Skinner and "Sean Marks". This move is a wash for the regular season, and a potential liability for the playoffs.

The Suns must be the only team in the world to add guys to their roster who were already there.

By all star break Sean Marks will be relegated to the role he is most familiar with. Book it.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Posts
50
Reaction score
0
Am the only person who hasn't liked Tuckers game thus far? Granted I've only seen two games but he doesn't have a NBA quality skill or talent (ie Barbosa's speed, Pike's shooting, Skinner's strength) to make him a contributor. I hope I'm wrong but he remind's me of poor man's Walter Berry.
 

cly2tw

Registered User
Joined
Oct 26, 2002
Posts
5,832
Reaction score
0
Am the only person who hasn't liked Tuckers game thus far? Granted I've only seen two games but he doesn't have a NBA quality skill or talent (ie Barbosa's speed, Pike's shooting, Skinner's strength) to make him a contributor. I hope I'm wrong but he remind's me of poor man's Walter Berry.

He is actually quite like Q with a better D but worse jump shots as of now. As to strength, he will overpower anybody smaller than him on the low post, which is a rare quality on the current Suns team.
 

The Commish

youknowhatimsayin?
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
11
Location
San Francisco
My hope is that either Banks or Strawberry become good rotation players off the bench. We need one of those guys to step up - my hope is that it's Banks initially so we can trade him then have DJ take his minutes once he is gone.

And I'm not impressed with Tucker so far. Needs to improve his shooting if he wants any chance of getting minutes.
 

Mainstreet

Cruisin' Mainstreet
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
112,537
Reaction score
51,770
Actually Tucker impresses me the most of the two rookies right now, especially if he gets his outside shot down. I really like his ability to take the ball inside. He appears to be one of the few Suns players that like the ball down low. However, the Suns need Strawberry to develop the most because of his PG skills. Anyway I rooting for both but getting enough minutes will probably hinder the development of one.
 

jbeecham

ASFN Addict
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Posts
6,250
Reaction score
583
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I've seen Tucker play live 2x in the pre-season and while his overall game isn't extremely impressive, he seems to have a knack for finding the open spot around the basket and getting easy hoops. He's also pretty good getting out on the break for easy baskets. His post moves against smaller players are pretty good, but I doubt he'll have a chance to use them except in garbage time. I haven't been as impressed with his defense as I have with DJ's defense, but I haven't seen him get abused by anyone yet either. His jumpshot is horrible and flat, but with our assistants working with him & DJ, I think it'll improve by mid-season.
 

Bufalay

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Posts
4,643
Reaction score
735
Tucker has a unique game. Pretty strong inside. Hopefully he can rebound.
 

Errntknght

Registered User
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
Posts
6,342
Reaction score
319
Location
Phoenix
I'm very unimpressed with the Suns so far though I've only seen the open scrimmage and the Denver game. I expected to see Hill much more in the thick of the action in the half court but D'Antoni has him pushed way deep in the left corner, forcing Bell out high. I realize that Grant is a smart enough player to figure out how to take advantage of the baseline but D'Antoni doesn't have a clue about that so why in the world would he shuffle him off to a corner? Especially into Raja's corner, where the latter functions great as a spot up shooter?

The only reason I can think of is that Mike is so enamored of making Hill into a three point threat that he's putting him into a position where the three's are easiest and his other options are limited. The worst thing is that D'Antoni is so stubborn, he's likely to persist in this misbegotten alignment the entire season. Sheesh, he's likely to end up patting himself on the back for making Hill into a decent three point threat.

They haven't been using the pick and roll as much as usual but I haven't spotted anything interesting that they're replacing it with. No hint of two man games or pinch post maneuvers even though they have players with talents very well suited to either one or both.
Fewer people cutting than last year, too. One change I did notice was Amare driving to his left but he gets stripped of the ball so easily the opps will still camp on his right hand.

Of course, there is good news - Amare coming back fast from the knee 'scope', Hill looking healthy and mobile, Diaw more active than last year and Shawn playing like Shawn but the offense is structurally putrid. Nash is still going to have to bust his butt every game to make it produce.

In the Denver game, Banks looked only marginally improved from last year and I suspect it won't be long before Strawberry pushes him out of the rotation. DJ is looking more and more like the real deal - you'd never guess he couldn't shoot the ball. Tucker is much more of a gunner but DJ isn't shy and he seems to thrive under pressure. Different guys react differently to getting the 'green light' and it looks like he is one that it has a positive effect on.

One doesn't expect the defense to look good in the pre-season and the Suns haven't exceeded expectations by any means but the rebounding hasn't been as bad as I feared. Marks has helped on that front and presumably Skinner will continue once he gets Marks minutes but Hill and Diaw have been contributing, too.
 

Louis

DJ Roomba
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Posts
5,316
Reaction score
1
Location
Winning Friends and Influencing the People in My H
I watched the NBATV training camp special for the Suns and I have to say that Grant Hill looks extremely uncomfortable shooting 3s.

But that it was also obvious that Hill is taking a bit of time to adjust to the offense. And that is more than just conditioning.
 

dreamcastrocks

Chopped Liver Moderator
Super Moderator
Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Posts
45,633
Reaction score
10,826
Every GM in the league said that the Suns would win the division. :D
 

pokerface

ASFN Addict
Joined
May 20, 2004
Posts
5,369
Reaction score
807
Ahhh predictions....


I predict titles arnt won on paper.
 

azirish

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Posts
3,876
Reaction score
0
Location
Sun City
I don't really know what to think. The team's play in preseason was not that great, but they no longer are trying to wow people in meaningless games to sell tickets. If they didn't hold tickets back, every game would be a sellout from day one.

One thing I'm curious about is just how much they are going to emphasize getting the ball to Amare. He only played two games in preseason, but shot 12 of 14 including 1 of 1 for three. He also grabbed 8.5 rpg in just 21.5 minutes. Not bad for someone coming off surgery.
 

oneofthesedays

Veteran
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Posts
107
Reaction score
0
Bullsh!t the Suns aren't winning anything if they have to go through San Antonio. Instead of getting stronger defensively to guard guys like Duncan you got weaker by sending out KT just to save money. I watched the Spurs tonight and they are a well-oiled machine and they are going to roll through the Suns again if they meet up in the playoffs.
 

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
534,771
Posts
5,246,091
Members
6,273
Latest member
sarahmoose
Top