I sort of thought I’d begin this post by throwing that out there, so you all have an idea where I’m coming from. I’ve been watching basketball for a long time, and betting on it for nearly as long, and I’ve seen a lot of different styles of play. There was the bruising, defensive-minded style of the late-80s Detroit Pistons. There was the triangle-oriented, a.k.a. “what? It’s a close game late in the 4th? Give the ball to Michael and get out of the way!” style of the Chicago Bulls in the 90s… and now, there’s what I’d consider a new style, a “we don’t care how many points you score, we’re going to score more” style characterized by the Phoenix Suns.

How can you not love this guy?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. The Phoenix Suns style is pretty much just the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers, but transported a decade and a half later, right? I’d say no, and here’s why: the Lakers had Kareem. With Abdul-Jabbar in the paint, they always *could* buckle down and play that half-court, “get the ball to the big man” game when they needed to.

Last year, at least, the Phoenix Suns didn’t have that option. With Amare Stoudamire injured for nearly the entire season, their “big man” options included perennial All-Stars such as Kurt Thomas, Pat Burke, and Brian Grant, who was injured most of the year anyways. They had 6-8 Boris Diaw posing as a center for much of the playoffs. Look, folks, nothing against Boris, but Shaquille O’Neal has eaten bigger sandwiches than Boris Diaw. Yet, the Suns still made it to the Western Conference Finals. With Stoudamire? Who knows.
The Suns were without a doubt one of the best teams to watch, though. They ran, non-stop, because they had literally no other options. Steve Nash led the team to 54 wins, good enough for a #2 seed in the Western (read: Best) Conference. Sure, they didn’t win every game, but every one of their games was fun to watch, because they played the same up-tempo style. What other team can say that? Let’s face it, hoops fans… scoring is more fun than defense. And the Suns score with the best of them.

The point of this post is that I’m thrilled to see other teams following the Suns’ lead. The Toronto Raptors seem committed to becoming the Phoenix Suns of the North, having just signed PG T.J. Ford to a three-year deal, and getting agile big man Chris Bosh on for a long-term deal too. New Orleans seems to be doing the same thing. The point is, Phoenix has proven the style is not just a passing fancy… although there’s plenty of fancy passing. The Suns make basketball fun, for the players and for the fans, and that, folks, is a beautiful thing.

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Posted by Hansel Wei on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 4:55 pm.