NBA Basketball Preview: The Suns Are Just Starting to Rise

This is the year. I can feel it. This is the year the NBA season and playoffs captivate the nation. This is it. This year people will pay attention to the 82 games before the Playoffs. This year the NBA Finals will get better ratings than reality show re-runs. This year people won't miss football in February. No more boredom. No more frustration with Shaq's dominance. No more foregone conclusions. This is the year the NBA gets exciting. Why do I know this? Well, for starters, the current talent pool in the NBA is incredible and the teams are more evenly-matched than they have been for decades. And, most important of all: Amare Stoudemire is back and the Phoenix Suns can begin their conquest of the NBA and the nation. Dare I say back to back to back MVPs for Steve Nash?

There is no team more fun to watch than the Phoenix Suns. I will argue this point until my voice cracks and dies and then I will furiously sign it until I pass out-and when I awake, I will begin it all over again. The Suns are the purest team in the league. The players like each other. Support each other and play exquisitely well together. They have born leaders in Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. They have incredible and varied talent in Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa and Shawn Marion.

The intense pace of a Phoenix Suns' game brings out the best and prettiest elements of the NBA. Exceptional plays happen one after another in a litany of passion and passing and buckets. Basketball fans need only look to the 2006 NBA Playoffs: The opening-repeat: opening-series between the LA Lakers and Phoenix Suns was the most exciting series in sports ALL YEAR. The drama of this seven game series fomented the storied spirit and pluck of players on both teams. You had Raja Bell clothes-lining Kobe Bryant for the top moment in sports for 2006 (and most likely the millennium). You had Bryant and Nash and

Bell
and Barbosa all hitting clutch, game and series-swinging shots. The intensity of this series was unmatched at any other time during the playoffs. And the Finals between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks were a complete and total disappointment in comparison.

How does this series affect the 2006-2007 season? Basketball is in a shift. The triangle offense is out. The defense before offense strategy is out. Shaq is less and less of a factor. Teams can win with smaller, faster, and non-superstar players. Look to the Bulls. Or the Mavericks. Or the Suns. These are the teams that will impact the sport of basketball over the next five to ten years. Teams around the league are going to slim down and speed up. The tempo will be more important than the entry-pass and the instincts of leaders and shooters will trump convoluted schemes. And it is so exciting to watch.

Basketball fans can expect a marvelous 2006-07 NBA season. Players like Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire continue to improve an already saturated-talent pool. And the versatility of these players (the division of labor in the NBA continues to decrease as passing, dribbling centers service as well as guards that can rebound and post-up) promotes a dynamic and uncertain atmosphere. There are to be no foregone conclusions and no dynasties in the years to come. Teams will win and lose based on chemistry and instinct and talent, not on superstars and height. And for my money, that means Phoenix will lead the charge. Finally, basketball will be fun to watch and exciting again.