The Suns Are Hot! (For Now)

"Markieff Morris" by Mwinog2777 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.

The Phoenix Suns have been winning games and are currently sitting at a record of 7-5. Now, why has this been? Well let's start off with the Suns guard play that they seem to be very successful with.

Eric Bledsoe has averaged some great numbers for this Suns team and is starting to look like an all-star player. In 12 games, he has averaged 22.8 points, 4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.1 steals while shooting 37.7% from 3-point range. Not only that but his backcourt brother, Brandon Knight, has been amazing as well. He has averaged 21.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1.4 steals as well as shooting 41.3% from 3-point range. These 2 have done really well together.

Brandon Knight has really been the reason for the Suns success. When the Suns lose, Knight averages 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 4.4 turnovers as he shoots just 37.2% from the field, and only 27.6% from 3. In the wins, however, Knight averages 25.3 points, 5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and only 2.6 turnovers as he shoots 50.8% from the field and 49% from 3. So as you can see, Phoenix wins when Brandon Knight plays good, but when he plays bad, the Suns lose.

This may be surprising, but the Suns aren't that great defensively when Tyson Chandler is on the floor. Despite Tyson Chandler being known for a defensive player over the course of his career, the Suns play their best defense with Alex Len at center and T.J. Warren in the game. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight seem to take a part in the defense and they average a great amount of steals. Also, Teletovic has been great as the team has had an amazing offensive and defensive rating when he is on the floor.

Markieff Morris has not played well for this team. In fact, his defensive rating is the worst on the team, and his offensive rating isn't so hot. This is a guy that should be traded off. I think a team they would trade him to is the Wizards. They would trade him for a guy like Nene. The problem is that Markieff hasn't averaged this low of numbers in 3 years in points, rebounds, and assists. This guy is hurting his team more than he is helping and I think it is more of an attitude problem that occurred this summer after he expressed his thought on the Suns trading off his brother.

The Phoenix Suns have been great to start the season, no doubt. Just take a look at their positions in the league in these categories.

• Points Per Game      - 3rd                - 105.8 PPG
• Rebounds Per Game- 3rd                -   47.4 RPG
• 3-point Percentage   - 3rd                -  38.6%
• Steals Per Game       - Tied For 5th -  9.2   
• Pace Of Play            - 3rd                - 102.42

Not to mention that they are 4th in offensive rating within the last 5 minutes of the game, but they are also 29th in defensive rating within the last 5 minutes, meaning that they are horrible in defense in the end of game situations. So why have they been winning so many games. Well, here is the issue. The Suns haven't beat any great teams really. Here is who they have won against.

• The Nuggets twice (6-7)
• The Blazers twice (5-9) 
• The Kings (4-9)
• The Lakers (2-10)
• The Clippers (6-6)

So really, the only somewhat impressive one was the win against the Clippers, in which that team hasn't even gotten off to the hottest start. They have taken care of business against these easy teams, but they really haven't beaten any tough teams yet. So, you have to look at this like the Suns are going to have a tough time making the playoffs. They have to continue their success, but most of all, Brandon Knight just has to play good. Just look at the stats. This is going to be tough for the Suns but I think that they have a chance to make the playoffs. I think that they have to trade off Markieff Morris. Bledsoe and Knight are amazing, and I think both should make the all-star game this year. Hopefully we see more from them and the Suns as they head into harder competition.

Thanks for the season

The teams that are done and will not enter the playoffs are the Hornets, Pistons, Magic, 76ers, Knicks, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, Kings, Lakers, Wolves

More will be decided tonight. I want to give a shout out to the best plays from these teams.

Hornets: Kemba's multiple buzzer beaters this season.

Kemba was probably the most clutch guy this season. He hit multiple shots to win and tie the game. Gotta love Kemba. Good bye Hornets. We will miss those close games.

Pistons: Reggie Jackson Trade. Ever since Reggie Jackson came to this team, it has been great. I will admit. I miss Singler, but you have to love what Jackson has done. Ever since he came to the Pistons, he has averaged 17.4 PPG, 35% from 3pt, and 9.1 APG. Just throwing this out, those are numbers that John Wall is pretty much averaging. Bye Pistons, we will miss Jackson's new numbers.

Orlando Magic: Elfrid Payton's hair. Wait! That was an April Fools Day joke! He sure fooled NBA article writer Lang Whitaker. Good Bye Orlando Magic. We will miss all the jokes and laughs you have given us.

Philadelphia 76ers: We will miss the stats you have given me. You ranked 1st in steals and second in blocks. You also ranked 1st in turnovers though. Still, thanks for the stats. But really, don't trade off anymore of your players for future draft picks. It gets a little old. We will miss you 76ers. We will miss your crazy defensive stats you gave us.

New York Knicks: Knicks winning against the Hawks. That was pretty good. You have put up some fights. Not to mention your fans are probably booing you for lessening your chances at the #1 draft pick. Still, you had some great games. Most bad, but there were some good ones. And thanks for finally taking Lou Amundson out of the starting line-up. We will miss you New York Knicks. For your wild win over the Hawks.

Phoenix Suns: That Trade deadline wouldn't have been crazy without you. You traded off Miles Plumlee, Isaiah Thomas, and Goran Dragic and changed your team completely. Wow, this was one of the most interesting trade deadlines of all time, and we owe most of it to the Suns. Them and Sam Hinkie, who makes no sense at all. Why is he a GM?! We will miss you Suns. Thanks for the trades we will miss so much.

Utah Jazz: Thank you Jazz for upsetting a lot of teams and going to make a playoff run, even though you were already eliminated. You put all your effort but just could 't make it. I would also like to make a shout out to Gordon Hayward for leading his team and making the Cavs go home with a frown on their faces
We will miss the Jazz and that face LeBron had after Hayward made that shot.

Nuggets: I don't know that I will miss much from this team. Sure, Gallinari had 47 points, but that's the best that has happened. We will miss you Nuggets, I guess.

Kings: All three coaches. Let's face it, they will have a new coach next year. It's just what the Kings do. They love finding new coaches. C'mon they had three this year. I know that their arena isn't that good (more like horrible). But you can't tell me that it hasn't been fun seeing a variety of post-game conferences from a variety of coaches. We will miss you Kings. And all three of your coaches too.

Lakers: Steve Nash. He is gone. Never played a game for the Lakers this regular season. And now he is gone from our lives. Never got a ring. Just two MVP trophies. We will miss you Steve Nash. And so will the Starters. Good bye Lakers, and good bye Steve Nash.

Minnesota Timberwolves: The worst team had given us some great plays. And by great plays I mean Dunks. From Zach LaVine to Andrew Wiggins to Anthony Bennett, we have seen some great dunks.

Thanks Zach for the Dunk Comp.

Thanks you Wolves for the worst season and turning it into a dunk festival. We will miss you Wolves and we will miss the highlight dunks from you.

As the Regular season closes. These teams are done til next season. So I ask that everyone dedicates this moment to these teams and all they have brought. Whether it's Mo Williams 52 points or Payton's Triple-Double. They made the NBA season just that more special. Besides, without them, we would have no regular season. It would just be the playoffs and the playoff teams. We will miss all these teams, and we will miss the Regular season.

Danilo Gallinari needs to play somewhere else

Danilo Gallinari scored 47 points in the loss against the Mavericks. The guy was knocking down threes, perfect from the free throw line, and shot 65% from the field. He is underrated and placed behind teammates Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. I honestly think Gallinari needs to request a trade. He is on one more year with this Nuggets team after this season. This is a guy who could do great on some teams. I will list them below.

3. The Pacers: With Paul George back, this team has a star. George Hill will be looking to pass and score. This team obviously is different now with Lance Stephenson gone though. They would really benefit from a three point shooter like Gallinari who could spread the floor.

2. The Hornets: This team didn't benefit with Stephenson but they would benefit with Gallinari. I honetly think a trade of Stephenson for Gallinari would be great. The Hornets could use some one coming off off-ball screens sizing up and spreading the floor. This would get guy like Kemba cutting and he could set screens to get people open.

1. Phoenix Suns: This could be the guy to get this team into the playoffs. He would help guys like Eric Bledsoe get off good shots and would work well with Brandon Knight. Gallinari would be able to knock down big threes. The Phoenix Suns struggle with end of game which they could use him for. He would come off curl screens from Markiff Morris to get open shots. This would be a great team for him.

Gallinari is averaging 12.3 PPG this season and I don't think that the Nuggets are using him properly with an immature PG, Ty Lawson. Gallinari would do better somewhere else. You can see he is being improperly used in the video as he is being isolated and not coming off screens. This is a prime example on why Gallinari would do better somewhere else. You think this is good, imagine what he could do somewhere else.