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The Phoenix Suns are now on the outside looking in for the first time since Steve Nash arrived in Phoenix in the summer of 2004. They’re trailing the Dallas Mavericks, who’s in 8th place, by 4 games but things have been positive with the Suns’ recent win steak. Making the playoffs for the Suns is reachable but it won’t be easy. Here are some reasons why they will make the playoff and why they won’t.

Why the Suns will make the playoff:

• Steve Nash will play like old Stevie

I don’t mean like an old Steve Nash, which was how he was playing under the system of Terry Porter. What I mean is playing like his MVP seasons. We all know that he is the quarterback of the Suns and they’re a completely different team without him. I still think that he should have been voted in the All Star team if it weren’t for Terry Porter. (more…)

The Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings made a trade with less than 24 hours left before the trade deadline where the Bulls got Brad Miller and John Salmons in exchange for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni and Cedric Simmons.

This will be Miller’s second stint in Chicago while Gooden is slowly being labeled as a journeyman.

With this trade happening, it sure will free up more minutes for Spencer Hawes unless Gooden plays the center position and Jason Thompson stars at the power forward position. Andres Nocioni can start at small forward and take the place of Salmons but this is the lineup I’d like to see out there.

PG – Beno Udrih
SG – Kevin Martin
SF – Jason Thompson
PF – Drew Gooden
C- Spencer Hawes

As for the Bulls, it looks like the they aren’t done trading yet as it is rumored that Kirk Hinrich will also be moved to Minnesota together with Thabo Sefalosha for Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal. If this trade happens it would be made for financial reasons and for the Bulls to have financial relief.

This would also be a great trade for the Wolves as they get a combo guard who could play well beside Randy Foye. They also get a good defender in Sefalosha just in case Corrie Brewer doesn’t heal well for next year. As for McCants, he’ll have more DNP-CDs.

You're out Porter, You're in Gentry

League sources say that team officials of the Phoenix Suns were meeting on Sunday afternoon with Alvin Gentry to finalize a deal for him replace Terry Porter as head head coach of the Suns.

As this deal is being finalized, Terry Porter said that he hasn’t heard anything from Suns officials and they will be meeting later today.

Gentry, who has had head coaching experience with the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat, is the lead assistant and will be taking over the Suns for the remainder of the season.

Reasons for the firing of Porter are obvious as he wasn’t able to bring the defensive mindset that the management was looking for when he was in Detroit. Another is that the whole offense of the Suns became too slow and was focusing too much on Shaquille O’neal. These led to the trading of D’Antoni’s favorite Boris Diaw and crowd favorite Raja Bell to the Bobcats for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley in December. Coach Porter also loosened up the offense and it looked like they were winning again but losing 8 out of the final 13 games convinced management that it was time for him to go.

This could be great news for Phoenix Suns fans as Amar’e Stoudemire might not be traded after all. It also looks like they have a good relationship with coach Alvin Gentry as he has been with the Suns since 2004. Let’s just hope that Gentry learned a thing or two from D’Antoni’s run ‘n gun system as this will boost the production of all the Suns players except Shaquille O’neal.

If Amar’e stays, look for the Suns to go to him more and play Phoenix Suns basketball with all the running. Steve Nash’s career will be rejuvenated after it took a step back for half a season this year. Look for them to score more this second half and I’m pretty sure that fantasy owners of Suns players and Suns fans are all excited with this.

It’s just crazy how there are just so many season ending or major injuries to star player in the NBA lately, isn’t it? We had Gerald Wallace then Michael Redd, Andrew Bynum, Jameer Nelson then now Elton Brand. Brand will be out due to his dislocated right shoulder and he will have season-ending surgery on it.

“Elton wanted to do whatever he could to get back on the court and initially elected to forgo surgery in order to help his teammates,” Ed Stefanski, the 76ers president and general manager, said. “He worked as hard as he could over the past six weeks to return, however the scope the injury would not allow it.”

The past two years have been really tough on Elton Brand as he missed all but nine games last year with an achilles injury while this year he has just played a total of 29 games.

“It’s the most disappointed I’ve ever been in my career,” Brand said. “This was supposed to be special. This was supposed to be winning, supposed to be fun. Management believed in me. I’m still not going to let them down.”

What’s disappointing is that after signing a 5-year deal worth nearly $80 Million with the Sixers last summer he has just averaged 13.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. The Sixers didn’t play well when he was around and this resulted in Mo Cheeks’ firing.

Fantasy Impact

Just like what happened when he first went down, Sam Dalembert will continue to improve his disappointing start this season. He has been able to rebound and block shots lately but an ankle injury slowed him down a bit. He looks to be ready now and enjoy his production the rest of the season as the Sixers’ big man.

Thaddeus Young will also play a little in the post and in some leagues may gain PF eligibility if he continues playing this position. Marreese Speights is a decent pick up in deeper leagues but if he’s not available go ahead and grab Reggie Evans especially if you need the rebounds.

Their guard rotation is pretty much the same but don’t you just wish Louis Williams becomes a full time starter? This guy can play and can produce for fantasy teams with points, threes, and steals. With a full time job in the starting rotation, Louis Williams’ assists numbers should also go up. So…Mr. Willie Green should step down, please.

Rondo in Deng in a Suns uniform..not bad!

Since the arrival of Steve Nash in the valley of the Suns, Phoenix has been one of the strongest teams in the West. They were well coached under Mike D’Antoni with his run and gun style of play and they had a great core with Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw. Half of that core is gone now and they have a new coach, Terry Porter, for this 2008-2009 NBA season and they also have new faces but not necessarily young legs. In fact, the two players, Shaquille O’neal and Grant Hill, they’ve traded for and signed the past two years are turning 37 this year.

Former MVP Steve Nash will be turning 35 this year, and wouldn’t it be nice if the Phoenix Suns had kept some of their first round draft picks that they’ve traded during draft night the past 4 years? (more…)

After thirteen straight losses, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won four straight and six of their last eight games. Yes, they’re beating mostly non-playoff teams in this stretch but you have to somehow believe that this team is actually growing and getting better. Thanks to Randy Foye and Al Jefferson, the Wolves are the hottest team in the NBA now.

What’s up with this team?

1. They’re playing with confidence

“Probably confidence, I would say,” McHale said after the Wolves ran their winning streak to four games Wednesday night with a resounding 129-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “They’re confident. They’re feeling good about playing basketball.”

They’re shooting the ball well and they’re running mainly because of Telfair manning the point. This guy has been inconsistent but he can run a fast break. In their last 8 games, the Wolves have averaged close to 108 points a game. This is up from 94 a game in their first 27 games.

2. Better spacing

The Wolves always had problems with their spacing in their half court set. This was mainly caused by Randy Foye running the point but now that he’s playing off guard, it looks like this problem has been fixed. One more reason that they’re being able to solve this problem is that they’re running more and they’re letting Brian Cardinal play. What? Who?? Yup, Cardinal, for me, is just an intelligent player. He is also a good defender but the best thing is that he knows where to position himself on offense. He doesn’t get into the driving lanes of his teammates and creates enough space so he could also be a threat from outside.

3. Foye is on fire

In their four straight wins, Randy Foye is averaging 23.25 points a game up from his season average of 15. He is also averaging 3.25 threes and is shooting 54% from the field. Keep this up and Wolves fans can forget about almost landing shooting guard OJ Mayo in that draft day swap between Mayo-Love(w/Mike Miller). They should be happy with Foye.

4. A change in the lineup

Speaking of shooting guard, Foye has been starting as their shooting guard in their past nine games and they’ve won six of them. The Foye experiment at point guard obviously didn’t work as he looks more comfortable as a scorer and playing off the ball. Sebastian Telfair looks to be the point guard in the near future and has looked effective. Mike Miller, who has had ankle problems of late, has been coming off the bench. This has been going well for the Wolves as Mike Miller is already familiar with this role having won the sixth man of the year before.

5. Steady improvement of Gomes and Love

In their last four games, Kevin Love has found a way to get his rebounds and score at an efficient way. His overall fg% is up because of his 58% shooting in those four wins and he has averaged 12.25 points and 10.5 rebounds. This is a much better performance compared with games where he went 0-7, 0-4 and so on. As for Gomes, he has been very consistent scoring the ball as of late especially with his threes. The best part of his game is he is one Minnesota’s best defenders.

6. Who could forget Al Jeff?

It’s just great to see the Wolves winning as Big Al has just been working hard the past two years. He has just been a consistent player and he has been racking up 4 straight double doubles. This trend could continue as they’re up against the Bucks, Heat, Suns and the Clippers in their next 4. Al Jeff somehow just play well when he’s against the Suns.

7. Mc-Cants be found

In their last four wins, Rashad McCants has played a total of 13:41 and has had two DNP-CD. This could be a good thing for the Wolves. Though he is a good offensive player, he sometimes lacks the energy in games. His role coming off the bench has been given to Mike Miller and some of his minutes have been given to Rodney Carney.

“I thought Rashad played well when he played,” McHale said. “You can’t play everybody. His time will come again. You’ve got to practice hard, put your nose to the grindstone and make it happen for yourself.”

Maybe this guy is just distracted.