Suns are rolling

The NBA season couldn't be going better for me. The Suns are looking awesome. They are 6-1 and that win on Friday against the Celtics in Boston was huge. This might be the best Suns team of this era actually. It is slightly better than the D'Antoni teams of 2004-2008. They took a step back last year under Terry Porter and the window seemed shut, but they seem rejuvenated and the new pieces fit them perfectly like a glove. So they have improved significantly because of the intangibles and chemistry though the talent has not been upgraded a whole lot since last year. In fact, on paper, the team lost a lot of talent with Shaq. But with this team and this system, give me Channing Frye over a 37 year-old Shaq any day of the week and twice on game days. Frye is just perfect for this system. He is tall, he can run and he can shoot the 3. He gives them much needed size after a long time.

Jared Dudley is the other piece thats fitting in nicely right now. He is averaging 8.5 points and 3.7 rebounds off the bench and plays good D and brings a lot of energy. Kudos to Alvin Gentry for playing the bench. Thats the difference between D'Antoni and Gentry and this is exactly why this team seems better than even D'Antoni's Western conference Finals teams. Of course Steve Nash is still the heart and soul of this team. He is playing better than ever. He is raining assists all over the court and is playing even better than his MVP years. Grant Hill and J Rich are doing good as well. Amare is getting back into shape and this team will get even better if Amare gets more explosive. Lets see how this team does long term. It is still the best show in the NBA. It's fun to watch these guys run.

I was watching the Warriors game the other day and I realized it was not even a NBA standard game. It felt like a crime to charge people 70, 90, 110 bucks for those tickets to watch a product like the current Warriors - bad talent, poor chemistry, horrible coaching and sub-par shooting. Of course watching Nash and the Suns everyday on TV doesn't help my perception of other teams. It' just a huge drop-off when you watch Nash do his magic and then go watch a dysfunctional team like the Warriors. Nelly might be destroying that team for the second time in 15 years and I think he should be fired. He doesn't have the talent in that roster to continue with his zero-coaching, one-on-one, jump shooting system. They seem legitimately confused and seem to have no plays or sets to execute. They came out of a timeout in one game with a shot drawn up for Mikki Moore. Are you kidding me?

This is no way to run a young team which doesn't have a legitimate point guard, but actually has some talent that could be coached and improved. There is no Nash or Baron Davis to run the show for Nelly on the court and no Nowitzki to hit the jumpers. He has a rookie point guard for God's sake, but Nelly still doesn't get off his butt and coach a lick. I love Nelly and I love the fact he always makes the game exciting. But at this time and place, with this particular Warrior team, he is a horrible fit and needs to be fired. No way around it. As for the rest of the league, the Lakers and the Celtics are rolling and so was Denver before losing 2 straight. Melo has started the season white-hot and so has Kobe. The King and the Cavs have started a little slow, but are playing slightly better now. May be that game in New York will wake him up for good. They should be fine when it's all said and done.