Image by kevindooley via flickr

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.

• The Dallas Mavericks will continue their losing streak

Currently, the Mavs are on a two game losing streak where they lost to the Lakers and the Warriors. Nine out of their last 15 games are against playoff bound teams while one of those games will be against the Suns. It looks like a tough April for the Mavs.

• The Phoenix Suns will continue their winning streak

They’re also on a streak but this time they won their past two against the Thunder and the Warriors. While eight out of their last 15 are also playoff bound teams, they could easily win the rest of the games because they’re up against teams like Sacramento, Minnesota, and Memphis. They are 7-0 against sub-.500 teams under Alvin Gentry. Go Suns!!!

Why the Suns won’t make the playoff:

• Shaq will take his annual leave

The reality is Shaquille O’neal has just played in more than 70 games once in his last seven seasons. Will he make it eight straight? We will find out as he has already played 60 games and that would mean he would have to miss at least 6 games in March and April to keep the streak alive. They have 2 back to backs, and he likes to rest on the second day so that would mean already missing two. Let’s all find out..

• The Mavs go on a crazy winning streak

It’s that simple. Even if the Suns win 10 of their last 15 games, they won’t make it if the Mavs keep on winning. The Mavs have to lose their games for the Suns to make it in the playoff.

• The Suns forget to score

The Suns are still a run and gun team and they’ve remodeled their offense to “seven seconds or Shaq” and they love to score. Take note that the Suns are 8-1 when they score 120 points or more this season. That lost came against the Miami Heat recently so if the Suns if the Suns don’t want to lose, they’ll try to reach that 120 mark.

All in all, I still think the Suns will continue their winning streak with a light schedule up ahead. They’re now closer to that 8th place and Steve Nash and Shaq won’t give up easily on this season. They also have Grant Hill, who is still motivated to win that championship or at least get out of the first round. The whole Suns team have 15 games to go for them to make it to 8th. I hope by the end of the regular season, the Mavericks are the ones who will be outside looking in.

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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.

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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?

I’m talking about Luol Deng, Nate Robinson, Rajon Rondo, Rudy Fernandez, and Sergio Rodriguez. Yep, they were all Phoenix Suns draft picks but none of them ever played for the Suns. They were all traded during their draft picks for various reasons but mainly to free up cap room and relieve them of luxury tax issues.

Luol Deng

Draft Pick (year): 7th pick overall (2004)
Traded to: Chicago Bulls
Career averages: 15.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1 steal

Deng was drafted by the Suns and immediately shipped to the Bulls for a future first round pick. Deng has been a steady piece in the development of the young Bulls. He was part of the trade rumor that would send Kobe Bryant to the Chicago Bulls. He could’ve been a nice addition to the Phoenix Suns roster in 2004 but his averages wouldn’t have been this high since he would be backing up Shawn Marion. He would have also been a priced free agent and the Suns wouldn’t have been able to sign him unless they traded Shawn Marion as early as two years ago and kept Deng instead.

Nate Robinson

Draft Pick (year): 21st pick (2005)
Traded to: New York Knicks
Career Averages: 11.3 points, 2.3 assists, 1.2 threes

Nate Robinson and Quentin Richardson were traded to the New York Knicks for Kurt Thomas since the Suns were looking for a serviceable big man who could help their front court against the San Antonio Spurs come playoff time. Robinson has been playing well in former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni in New York. He has also been part of the slam dunk competition and is one of the most exciting players in the open court because of his size.

Rajon Rondo

Draft Pick (year): 21st (2006)
Traded to: Boston Celtics
Career Averages: 9 points, 5.1 assts, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals

Rajon Rondo was selected by the Suns and immediately shipped to the Boston Celtics together with Brian Grant for a future first round pick. Rondo, as we all know, has been the starting point guard of the Celtics in his first three years and helped tremendously to their road to a championship last year. He looks to be improving this year and I believe this guy could have been the backup of Steve Nash instead of Marcus Banks who they signed weeks after trading Rondo. Banks would be traded to the Miami Heat as part of the Shaquille O’neal-Shawn Marion deal.

Sergio Rodriguez

Draft Pick (year): 27th (2006)
Traded to: Portland Trailblazers
Career Averages: 3.3 points and 2.6 assists

Rodriguez was also selected in the first round by the Phoenix Suns but traded to the Portland Trailblazers for cash considerations since the Suns wanted to avoid luxury tax issues. Rodriguez was another guard the Suns could have developed but opted for the more expensive and unreliable Marcus Banks. This guy has shown that he can run a team especially now that Rudy Fernandez is his teammate. He has asked for a trade and I know that he can produce if given minutes, which is something he is not getting in Portland because of its depth.

Rudy Fernandez

Draft Pick (year): 24th (2007)
Traded to: Portland Trailblazers
Career Averages: 11 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2 threes

Fernandez was one of the fan favorites during the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 where he got his soon to be coach Nate McMillain really excited. He continued his success in the NBA as a rookie now and is one the more popular players in the Blazers. He is one of the players that can be voted as the 4th dunker in this year’s all star dunk contest and will be going up against Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay and another Suns draft pick that away, Nate Robinson.

So what do you think of the Phoenix Suns players that got away?

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