LowPosts Team Previews: Phoenix Suns
Key Offseason Additions: Channing Frye, Earl Clark, Dan Dickau, The Other Griffin Brother, Jason Richardson’s DUI, The Ghost of Sasha Pavlovic, Amar’e Stoudemire’s right eye
We found the new Pollard...
The Lowdown: Once upon a time not long ago, the Suns were one of the most fun teams to watch and the easiest to predict, with a nucleus of Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amar’e Stoudemire jacking up shots in seven seconds or less and winning 55 games in the process. But of course, Steve Kerr had to go and mess that up — now why you wanna go and do that, Steve, huh?
With the Shaquille O’Neal experiment now deemed failure in Phoenix, the Suns will look to revitalize the run-and-gun days of old under of one of Mike D’Antoni’s disciples, Alvin Gentry. After barely missing the playoffs with a respectable 46-36 record — including a promising 18-13 finish under Gentry — Phoenix welcomes back a team with more questions than answers, led by a presumably two-eyed Stoudemire, a suspiciously revitalized Grant Hill (you would’ve gotten pretty good odds in Vegas on Hill playing in all 82 games last year), and a 35-year-old Nash coming off his worst season in five years.
The Good: While Goran Dragic, despite sounding like a highly formidable “Rocky” opponent, failed to show much promise in his rookie campaign, Dan Dickau was brought in to battle for the backup PG spot. So there’s that. And let’s not forget, the Suns continue to lead the league in awesome hairstyles, from Louis Amundson’s Scot Pollard-esque samurai ponytail, to Robin Lopez’s best Sideshow Bob impersonation. It may not help them get more wins (or will it?), but it sure adds to their entertainment value. At least for me.
Fantasy Sleeper Alert: Anyone who’s watched Channing Frye in Portland over the last two years has probably wondered what he’s done to deserve a guaranteed NBA contract, much less a starting job. But as it stands right now, Frye is atop the team’s depth chart at center, making the aforementioned Lopez an immediate candidate to get big minutes and emerge into a cheap source of boards and blocks.
Prediction: 44-38 — 2nd in Pacific Division, 8th in Western Conference
