Phx-Suns.Net

"The Steve Kerr era is off to an undeniably promising start. He inherited a top-flight defense and already has the Dubs humming offensively with all that movement. Don't really want to overreact to gaudy preseason numbers, but it's hard not to buy into the optimism, especially with a healthy Andrew Bogut back."

golden state had a top flight defense last year? wow didn't know that...

With everyone healthy they play good defense, we'll see if it lasts. Hopefully it does, I got bogut and Igoudala on my fantasy team

i guess i just always thought of them as a strong offensive team with ok defense, rather than the other way around. never thought a team featuring curry and david lee could be a top flight defense, especially with bogut out for half the season. shows how much (or rather, how little) i know...

pickle wrote:i guess i just always thought of them as a strong offensive team with ok defense, rather than the other way around. never thought a team featuring curry and david lee could be a top flight defense, especially with bogut out for half the season. shows how much (or rather, how little) i know...

Well you're right that those 2 are defensive sieves, but Klay is one of the best 2 way shooting guards in the league, Iggy is not his former self defensively but is still solid and Bogut is very good. Having him healthy makes a huge difference.

Bogut, Marc, late Duncan, Jefferson... true centers can make a huge difference. It is known ehheeh. And I never thought I'd write this, but I really wanted to see freaking Pau Gasol playing for Hornacek. Will be cool to see him under Thibs, though.

But Klay is just the top 3D guy at SG. He is Ray Allen some nights, but not so often. Besides, who is he guarding? If he is in contention for 'Best SG 'award', the position is not exactly stacked. If he takes care of PFs or PGs, his value increases, but is still role player territory. You can sell Klay, put Iggy at the two and as long as the SF makes threes, you are safe while being able to improve elsewhere. Bench, for instance. Or PF.

Or you could pawn off Iggy while his reputation still lasts, no?

I think you're under valuing Klay quite a bit.

Klay is very good, but if his contract stuff is still up in the air all season, that could prove to be a distraction. It could affect his game where he's trying to inflate his own numbers to prove he's a max player, etc.

My predictions:

East
Tier 1
1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
Tier 2
3. Raptors
4. Wizards
5. Hornets
6. Atlanta
Tier 3
7. Detroit
8. Brooklyn
9. Miami
Tier 4
10. New York
11. Indiana
Tier 5
12. Milwaukee
13. Orlando
14. Boston
Tier 6,774
15. Tankadelphia

Western Conference
Tier 1
1. LA Clippers
2. San Antonio
3. OKC
Tier 2
4. Golden State
5. Memphis
6. Dallas
Tier 3
7. Houston
8. Phoenix
9. Portland
10. New Orleans
11. Denver
Tier 4
12. Sacramento
13. Utah
14. Minnesota
Tier 5
15.

My tiers would be:

SAS-LAC-OKC
MEM-GSW
DAL-HOU-PHX-POR
NO-DEN
UTA-MIN-SAC
LAL

CLE-CHI
WAS-CHA-ATL-TOR
MIA-BKY-NY
MIL-ORL
DET-IND
BOS-PHI

Some other random predictions:

- Finals will be Clippers vs. Cavs
- Sixers will threaten the worst record of all time. That team is an abomination.
- I have no idea what to make of the Hawks. Could be the 3rd best team in the East. Could be the 10th.
- Derrick Rose will have a relatively healthy season. The Chicago bigs (Pau, Noah) will not.
- Stan Van Gundy will figure out a way to effectively use the Detroit bigs.
- David Blatt will prove to be an excellent hire.
- The Bucks will surprise (even though I don't trust Jason Kidd)
- Monty Williams won't survive the season in NO.
- Orlando and Minnesota will suffer from having too many players expecting time.

Breakout players: Steven Adams, James Ennis, half the Utah roster (Burke, Burks, Gobert, Kanter and Favors makes a leap), Eric Bledsoe, Giannis, Sullinger, Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr.

in hindsight phxers (now that we know bleds is back), would you rather have isaiah thomas and lose gerald green?

I'm not sure that we have to choose, but yes, IT3 is more of a special talent than is Gerald Green. I like them both, though, and wish we would find a way to keep both of them on our roster.

Shabazz wrote:Breakout players: Steven Adams, James Ennis, half the Utah roster (Burke, Burks, Gobert, Kanter and Favors makes a leap), Eric Bledsoe, Giannis, Sullinger, Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr.

I agree with all of those except for Giannis. I think he's two years away from two years away before he starts making a big impact.

Xylus wrote: I agree with all of those except for Giannis. I think he's two years away from two years away before he starts making a big impact.

I don't think so. I think he's about a year out and will show a lot of flashes this year. They are going to play him a ton of minutes this year. I'm watching him now and he looks really good.

i'm somewhere in between on him. he's got the talent but he's also quite raw. it's easy to put together a highlights package for an nba player that gets rotation minutes and has genuine talent, but his shot is not there yet, from what little i've watched. he'll begin to make an impact on the defensive end maybe next year, as in, more than just the occasional highlight block but a consistent defensively disruptive presence, but he is at least a couple of years away on the offensive side. he may be working towards a kawhi leonard type impact player for the next couple years, but with more upside due to his special talents. my 0.02 worth.

43-39 for the Suns this year. Probably just barely miss the playoffs.

41-41 for the Suns this season. 4 games out of the 8th spot, pick #14 again.