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...if Tim Duncan gets hit by a bus.The Suns believe they can win the NBA le
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...unsnb0201.html
Players say 'why not?' to NBA le talk
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 1, 2005 12:00 AM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Amaré Stoudemire seems to have the power of a soothsayer when he foretells where Steve Nash's passes are headed.
Suns fans can only hope he truly has such power, given the 2002 statement he made to Phoenix's other powerful basketball tandem - Jerry and Bryan Colangelo.
"I told them when they drafted me to give me three or four years and we'll win a championship," Stoudemire said. advertisement
The claim seems more appropriate with Phoenix among the elite at 36-10. Two wins from their first six-game road sweep ever, the Suns are openly talking about a championship in earnest for the first time.
There had been le allusions cast in long-term goals. Ever since Nash returned from injury and the Jim Jackson trade fast-forwarded the plan, the Suns' confidence about winning a le this season has grown.
"We're too good of a team to think we can't be a contender and can't win," Nash said of championship aspirations.
The coaching mantra is that the jump from a losing team to a 50-win team is tough, but the bump from 50 to 60 wins is even tougher. Yet, the Suns are on pace to leap from 29 wins to 64 wins, which would be one victory off the greatest turnaround in NBA history by San Antonio seven years ago.
Nash's off-season acquisition was made with the idea of assembling the Suns' first championship team. The notion then was that the Suns had a five-year window to make their move and add the necessary pieces along the way.
"It (a le) wasn't a goal," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said of the preseason, when he aimed for 50 wins. "Making the playoffs was the goal. We talk about it (a le) in ways of what we have to do to be a championship team. We've got a ways to go. Whether or not we've got the stuff to do it, that's way in the future."
D'Antoni did put up signs in every Suns locker before the season with words over the backdrop of a championship ring. It read: "The Ring . . . Commitment to the game . . . Commitment to winning . . . Commitment to teammates . . . You're in or you're out."
"You can't ever sell yourself short," said Stoudemire, averaging 31.5 points on 69 percent shooting in six games since Nash's return. "If we can do it this year, we have to go after it."
If the Suns don't, the six-man core returns next season, as long as they match any offer that restricted free agent Joe Johnson receives.
Nash is almost a consensus MVP pick. But when it comes to le talk, the Suns get a lot of "buts" and "ifs" about their experience, style and depth.
"I think we're taking a lot of the 'buts' and 'ifs' out of it," D'Antoni said.
Free throws
The Suns control D'Antoni's chances of coaching in the All-Star Game. The Suns will have the West's best record on the cutoff date Sunday if they win at Memphis today, at Minnesota on Wednesday and against New York at home Saturday.
• During this trip, Phoenix is averaging 126.3 points on 53 percent shooting and 47 percent accuracy from three-point range.
...if Tim Duncan gets hit by a bus.The Suns believe they can win the NBA le
I guess that's right -- only because the Suns will have played more games. Pop may still get his wish without having to cough up a game to earn a vacation.
...if the earth falls through a black hole into an alternate universe.
Did anyone pick the Pistons to win last year? Hey I like the fact that they are young and gaining confidence, doesn't everyteam that makes the playoffs think they're going to win the championship? I would be more concerned if he said, "you know we don't have a shot to win this year, because they're better teams than us?...They're not y They're confident, people always get that mixed up....but I like this..And a Suns v Spurs WCF, i paid to watch that on PPV, where's don king
lets the suns TALK all they want, still gotta prove it in the playoffs. lets see if the suns have anything left in the tank by may (if they make it that far).
I'm more concerned about the Pistons and then the Sonics than the Suns. Detroit, if they get their together, are capable of playing the style of defense that the Lakers did last postseason.
Stop taking a le for granted Spurs fans.
The Suns dream is gonna go down the drain when they face the Spurs in the play-offs.
They came all that way for nothing.
They're not y? Everytime I see them pull their jerseys forward to display the name I want to puke. They may be good, but QR and AS are a couple of punks. The pushups were a nice touch of class don't you think?
Yeah i think adding Jackson wasn't the thing they needed, in stead of adding one very good role player, they needed to add about 3 servicable ones to spell the starters. The suns will be outta gas come may, especially Steve Nash.
All this proves is that the crack in Phoenix is about as good as you can find anywhere else.
Not a valid comparison. The Pistons came into last year as two-time division champions who flamed out in the playoffs.
The Suns are going to need at least another year, I think, to prove their staying power.
A fact that hasn't gone mentioned is that every other big-turnaround team (Spurs in 98, Spurs in 90, Celtics in 80) didn't win the championship that year (although the 98 Spurs and the Celtics won it the following year).
Actually not known for the crack here but a better one would be the speed, They do call us the "Valley of the Spun." As far as the jersey and pushups, yeah AS has some maturing to do, he is only just barely 22, I remember 22, I did some foolish things...But you notice in the column their intial goal was to make the playoffs, now they're extending their goal, I like that. Odds are against them, but I like the fact they are gaining confidence in themselves.
But did anyone pick them? Did anyone say they had shot last year?
After they got Rasheed, yes.
The Suns have as good a shot as anyone.
If you think the Spurs will just sleep walk through a series with them, you are even dumber than I thought.
If the reporters ask them, what are they supposed to say? That they have no chance?
With the possible exception of the Spurs, there is no dominant team this year.
Obivously the Suns have to play better defense and get some breaks but they are clearly one of the teams that have a chance.
Whether Spurs fans believe it or not shouldn't bother them.
very true. they have played well...why not believe it?If the reporters ask them, what are they supposed to say? That they have no chance?
nothing wrong in thinking it. but reality could prove to be a .
Tony Parker is 22, and do you see him doing stupid like that??I remember 22, I did some foolish things.
Tim Duncan never did stuff like that his rookie year.
Chalking it up to youth is ascanine.
Maybe lack of discipline on the team, and Stoudamire being a punk are the reasons.
It ain't happening. Suns will not even make WCF. Spurs vs. either Mavs or Kings as both Sonics and Suns face growing pain. Short run:
Game of which "losing streak" blinks first now, Tpups of Suns.
"I told them when they drafted me to give me three or four years and we'll win a championship," Stoudemire said." Garnett I am sure thought the same thing and Nash for all his brilliance does not have a history of taking a team to the finals.
I am predicting right now Suns lose again to Wolves and then begin a slow spin back to reality falling several games back of Spurs in race for 1.
MadDoc
"Suns lose again to Wolves"
no ing way. The Wolves don't hustle the way the Spurs and Grizz did end-to-end to beat PHX, and the Wolves don't have the offense to keep up.
Suns have to play there tommarow.
Could be a close one, Phoenix could be getting fatigued.
"Phoenix could be getting fatigued."
It's a second of B2B for Minny, also.
TWolves suck, can't get it up anymore. PHX, even at half power, will kill the Wolves.
Nope. Sorry, running teams just don't cut it deep in the playoffs. See: Dallas Mavs, 2002-2004.The Suns have as good a shot as anyone.
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