Here at Sparty and Friends, we have reached NBA preview time (again). There will be one team per work day leading up to the season opener (Celts vs. Cavs, October 27th at 7:30pm on TNT). The teams are ordered by record starting with last place and going up through the non-playoff teams, followed by the playoff teams in order of elimination (or lack thereof in the Lakers’ case). We’ve already grabbed a Sac(To) lunch, went off to see the Wizards, turned to JP and the Clips, visited a Grizzly veteran, played some Timber sports, found our inner Warrior, rolled with the Thunder, wonder ed why there exists in today’s hip-hop NBA a team named after a older than old school piece of clothing, shared the regret of naming a team after a popular movie, headed to Brooklyn Russia New Jersey, tried to Buck the trend, Bobbed for Cats, tried to keep the Pace, and now we might as well be walking on the Suns…

I remember when the Suns were on the verge of winning the NBA Championship. They seemed like they were finally going to prove everybody wrong. Then Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorers table and some guys left the bench. That was the end of their title hopes. Last time we saw this team, they were running on Diesel and it was going pretty well. Yet the same story came back again. Their owner didn’t want to spend money and forced GM Steve Kerr to cut costs. This time, they dealt Shaq to go help LeBron. They still have a few of the usual suspects but without D’Antoni and some of the other guys, this team isn’t much of a threat. It’s too bad, really. I used to really love this team. You can see what’s left of them after the jump…

Last Year’s Record: 46-36 (2nd in Pacific Division, 7th to last in Western Conference, 13th in the NBA)

Last Year’s Prediction (GITC): 52-57 wins, 2-6 in the Western Conference

Coach: Alvin Gentry

Expected Starting Lineup: Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire, Channing Frye

Expected Bench Contributors: Leandro Barbosa, Jared Dudley, Robin Lopez

As I said, some of the guys are there. Nash. Stoudemire. Hill and Richardson have been there for a few years. But Channing Frye? Wow. He might work in this kind of system but remember that the system actually doesn’t really belong to the coach. Barbosa is still there to come of the bench with crazy speed, but Jared Dudley? He essentially has to play with Grant Hill starting. They didn’t resign Matt Barnes. Robin Lopez has been a surprisingly quick learner. He’ll contribute a bit more this season and he might be starting over Frye by seasons end.

I just don’t think thta the team has it anymore. Nash is old. I love him, but his back has more problems that your average therapist’s office. Amare was one of my preseason picks to make 1st Team All NBA last season and he just didn’t live up to it. I hope he lives up to his potential once again and is able to leave the knee injury in the dust. Grant Hill is really old and isn’t the best guy ever for this system without Matt Barnes to play the minutes behind him. I’d watch out for a midseason injury. The real problem is that their bench isn’t nearly deep enough to follow the system they like to play. Whether or not Alvin Gentry will be a help or  do damage is yet to be seen.

Video of the Day time! This is an unbelievable video. Have you always wondered where the video is of Louis Amundson singing “Ice Ice Baby” with Shaq and Alando Tucker as his back-up dancers followed by the theme from “Greatest American Hero” by Goran Dragic and the theme from “Cheers” by Robin Lopez? Well, look no further.

Best Comment From Last Season’s Preview of This Team time! This one goes out to Marco for changing a quote from last season’s preview…

I love Steve Nash. I love Amare Stoudemire. I love Grant Hill. I love CMFost. And more than anyone else, I love Shaq-fu.

/couldn’t resist

That’s alot of man-love.

As for a prediction? I’d have to say that they keep it pretty much the same as last season.

Prediction: 41-46 wins, 7-11 in the Western Conference

Guyinthecorner is an author here at spartyandfriends.com. He writes the NBA section, X-Games section, and contributes to College Basketball and MLB. He doesn’t watch hockey except when the circumstances are dire. He’s not sure how to rate Michael Phelps on the scale of athletes not only because he doesn’t directly compete against people, but because he is a fish. He doesn’t understand the hate for the 2002 National Champion Maryland Terrapins and wishes everybody would just shut up by now. He is known for having statistical formulas and might be Bill James or Joe Lunardi depending on who you ask. His identity is as hidden as many times over as the number of internet memes he employs in his comments. Some have called him “The Riddler.” He can be reached at gitc@spartyandfriends.com. “GITC” is an acronym for guyinthecorner in case you aren’t that perceptive.

Popularity: 1% [?]