The sad thing about the match-up with France is that even if Turkey wins, they are set to meet Slovenia in the Quarter-finals. I have made it a point to maintain my love for the Suns throughout the competition but if I have to choose between Hedo or Goran… It’s a no brainer. Puff the Magic Dragic has supplanted Amar’e as my favorite Suns player. Nash is the best, but I am most excited every time Goran steps onto the court. Hedo, I will root for you once you don’t shoot 33% from the field in a Suns uniform and once you average 15/4/4 for an entire season in Purple and Orange, then maybe I will root for Turkey in the 2012 olympics… not likely considering Slovenia may add Zoran Dragic to the roster so he can play in the back-court with Goran. It will be hard not to choose Slovenia over the U.S.A. from here on out…  It’s simple Suns players on team U.S.A. – 0/ Suns players on Slovenia – 1…

Result- Turkey Wins! Hedo played his best game so far. He scored 20 points and had a lot of time to sit because the Turkish squad was hitting on all cylinders today. Hedo scored 20 points, had 3 assists and 3 rebounds on 6-10 shooting. I will be sad when Goran has to CRUSH Hedo and Turkey in the Quarter-finals, but at least one of my teams is guaranteed making the semi-finals. I think the best player on the court was probably Boris Diaw. He LITERALLY led france in EVERY statistical catagory. He looked excellent, he was leading the French squad on both sides of the court. He had 21 points to lead all scorers, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. Way to play Boris. He looks thicker and guarded much bigger players the entire game. This creates the inevitable match-up with my man GORAN DRAGIC. Hedo, it’s time for you to lose, but stay fired up, and keep shooting the rock well.

Go Slovenia ALL THE WAY!

This takes us back to debates about the leagues best point guards, and ESPN’s John Hollinger wrote an article about Steve Nash being the most prolific shooter in the modern era of the NBA. In response to the argument that Nash’s shooting is an undervalued asset and he in fact is the best… he stated,

“It makes sense, though — run through the numbers, and Nash crushes every possible competitor. And it becomes even more impressive when one considers nearly all his shots from the field have come off the dribble. Nash and the fourth-ranked player on this list, Mark Price, are the only two players in history to shoot better than 50 percent on 2s, 40 percent on 3s and 90 percent from the line for their careers.”

I am excited to hear about the prospect of Hedo starting at the 4 and running one of the most devastating pick and roll’s in the NBA!

1. Solvenia – This team has some serious game. They have Goran “Puff The Magic” Dragic, multiple former pros, and solid guard play. Not to mention, it is probably the dark horse team all Suns fans should be able to get behind. Goran Dragic is the star player of this team and in their opener against Tunisia, Goran had 16 Points, 8 Assists and 5 Rebounds. However, in the second game against the U.S.A. Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook forced Goran to his weak hand (right) more often than not disrupting the lefty’s offensive output. In today’s game, Goran went for 14 points on 50% shooting, 4 assists and 4 rebounds. However, he also had 5 turnovers. Goran has shown that although he is very skilled, he goes from tentative, to overly ambitious in no time at all. Slovenia in the Olympics could be sporting a line-up with 5 former/current Pros playing and Goran’s little brother Zoran is expected to make the Olympic roster in 2012. Go Dragic’s! With two victories in the books, Slovenia has basically secured itself a spot in the final 16, so you can root for them longer than if you chose Iran as your squad.

2. Turkey – Heddddo Turkoglu is the Turkish star playing in front of his home-crowd in Istanbul, and after coming off a year where the main thing in question was Turkoglu’s commitment. We will hopefully see him care about his performance and show us that he can still be a playmaker capable of 15/5/5. If Hedo can be that guy again, the Suns will have a real chance. But if Hedo can’t even get up for a game in front of his home crowd while playing on behalf of his nation, I have no reason to believe Money or Phoenix will be able to motivate him. The World Championships is Hedo’s chance to prove he is still a big time signing. In Game 1, He went 0-6 from the field but pulled down 7 rebounds and had 7 assists to go along with his six points. In Game 2, he took more of a shooters role and scored 14 Points, with 3 assists and 3 rebounds. So far, an inconsistent display from Hedo, but they play Greece tomorrow and I expect him to have his game-face on while taking on one of the top 5 teams in the tournament.

3. The U.S.A.

As a Suns fan, without having any other players in the World Championship, you should ultimately be rooting for your home country. It’s fun when sporting events allow nationalism to take a break from causing political conflict, and instead create a fun competitive spirit. The U.S.A. team is YOUNG. Take away Chauncy Billups and Tyson Chandler, and every player is under 25. There are definite emerging stars playing in Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon and Kevin Love. All of these players have shown that they are going to be forces in the NBA. One player who has really impressed me, and apparently all U.S. analysts is Andre Igoudala who has shown defensively and athletically, he is tough to match. Watching rim rattling rebounds get stuffed back into the bucket by Iggy, (FIBA allows offensive players to touch the ball even over the cylinder) it has been the most fun of FIBA so far.

Get Ready for the round of 16!

Choose your squad.

Go Slovenia!

October 28^th-29TH @ Utah Jazz – vs. L.A. Lakers

November 7^th-8th @ Atlanta Hawks -  @ Memphis Grizzles

November 14^th-15th @ L.A. Lakers – vs. Denver Nuggets

November 17^th-18th @ Miami Heat – @ Orlando Magic

December 2^nd-3rd @ Golden State Warriors – vs. Indiana Pacers

December 7^th-8th @ Portland Trailblazers vs. Memphis Grizzles

December 19^th-20th @ OKC Thunder – @ San Antonio Spurs

January 11^th-12th @ Denver Nuggets – vs. New Jersey Nets

January 21^st-22nd @Washington Wizards – @ Detroit Pistons

February 10^th-11th vs. Golden State Warriors – @ Utah Jazz

February 27^th-28th @ Indiana Pacers – @ New Jersey Nets

March 13^th-14th vs. Orlando Magic – @ Houston Rockets

March 22^nd-23rd @ L.A. Lakers – vs. Toronto Raptors

March 29^th-30th @ Sacramento – vs. OKC Thunder

April 10^th-11th @ Dallas Mavericks – vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

NBA.com offers the Full Schedule

10 Home Games – 20 Away Games

Now at first glance, the disparity in the number of home and away games seems like a lot. However, in looking at the other teams in the NBA, as you would imagine, they make sure that the number isn’t too different. The Lakers play a similar ratio and even have a seven game road trip in the middle of February. So I have no reason to complain about the scheduling.

One notable note from the back to back list is that all but 2 of the 15 back to backs begin on the road. That can be viewed as the Suns finishing back to backs more frequently at home. That can be a benefit because it’s easier to fake energy at home, rather than being tired and having to play on the road.

I am excited about the Suns 2010-2011 schedule. Once again ESPN is dogging the Suns. Starting last season ESPN had us going into the season predicted to finish in 11th place. This year it’s not a lot different. They have the Suns finishing outside of the playoffs this season in 9th place. Last year, I predicted the Suns finish in the top 4 and could finish in the top 3 in the conference. So since I have been posting. Me- 1. ESPN- 0. This year I look to extend my lead to 2-0 by predicting the same thing as last year. I think the Suns have replaced Amar’e by getting even deeper on the bench. Dragic, Childress, Dudley, Warrick, Frye or Turkoglu/Frye is one of the more formidable back-up units if not the best bench in the NBA. It may take the critics and ESPN analysts until February to say it, but having the 11th and 12th men be Earl Clark and Gani Lawal means that the Suns are going to be able to replace the loss of Lou Amundson, the undersized over-achiever in Lawal, and the talented under-performer in Earl Clark. If Earl Clark can just spend the first few months learning the offense, I think he will be great. He struggled in summer because he was playing with scrubs, and took on too much of a scorers role. In late games last year, he came into games knowing he had to play defense to justify being on the court. If Earl Clark plays well aka, pass first, defense oriented basketball, he can find a valuable place on this team. If not, it’s going to a long year of warming the bench for Earl.

HEDO

Hedo is the X Factor. If he can be a playmaker on the second unit or a solid defender and deadly shooter in first unit, the Suns have the sky as the limit. If he plays lazy, or gets complacent coming off the bench, we are in trouble and the ESPN analysts may even up the score on Suns predictions. If he is a 15/5/5 player, the Suns are going to be VERY good, if he is 11/2/3… the Suns are going to be looking for a lot of trade-deadline movement.

I can’t wait for this season to begin. As Brandon at Boulders says, “It’s the first time in a long time that I am excited for the Season to begin”

Me too!

Go Suns

The Suns will be trading Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones for Hedo Turkoglu.

ESPN Reports, “The 10-year NBA veteran averaged 11.3 points last season on 40.9 percent shooting, his lowest scoring average and shooting percentage in six years. As recently as the 2007-08 season, Turkoglu won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award by averaging 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists with Orlando, then helped the Magic reach the NBA Finals in 2009 by averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists.”

He gives the Suns another passing play-maker and knock down shooter to go along with Steve. Not to mention Hedo is 6’10.

In addition, Hedo wanted out of Toronto and made it clear, as “According to the Republic, Turkoglu is waiving roughly $5 million of a trade bonus in his contract and reducing the guaranteed money in the final season — which was worth $12 million in 2013-14 — to facilitate his move to the Suns.”

The Suns added serious depth today acquiring former Hawks and Olympiakos star Josh Childress. He is going to give the Suns depth at the Wing. This means the Suns can look to move the contract of Jason Richardson (Expires and costs 13 million) if they need a shake up OR they can let his contract run out and make a move in the next off-season.

Now when you look at the starting line-up of with Hedo at PF, or SF… Which is possible in our offense, he can stretch a team as well as anyone and facilitate far more offense than Jason Richardson, or Leandro Barbosa. If he is on the bench and we play newly acquired Hakim Warrick in the starting line-up , that means the bench is Goran, Dudley, Josh Childress/Earl Clark,Hedo,  and Frye. I all of the sudden at least like the Size of the Suns line-up, although, it’s not like at PF Hedo will be a dominant rebounder like at SG.

Wow. The Suns went from being crushed offensively without Amar’e in the Half-court to having Nash’s pick and pop dream. Now we have one of the more interesting depth-charts in the NBA. I think this Hedo move could have been in large part because Earl Clark doesn’t seem to be getting his offense in rhythm very well in the Summer league. Still time left. I hope to see Scottie Reynolds and post more about the Summer League tomorrow.

Go Suns. Great Move.

Final Piece: Kevin Pritchard!

If David Stern really rigged the game, he would have used his #1 Man Joey Crawford to slide game 5 in the Cavs favor… maybe the game was so out of reach, that the calls would look to obvious, but either way. Lebron James is not in the NBA finals…again.

Lebron statistically an excellent player, but he can’t control a game’s tempo, and doesn’t understand how to manage a late-game situation. He always does the same thing. If less than two minutes are on the clock and they are down by 3 points or less, Lebron starts hoisting up 3′s. His arrogance and inability to realize he is an average shooter at best, make it so he makes bad late-game decisions. Selfish decisions.

I expect the Brooklyn HOVA’s will be signing Lebron while the Russian Billionaire owner offers Lebron a chance to have LBJTV… A worldwide satellite channel with all Lebron all the time. I hope to see Lebron Dunking and coming off the rim throwing up the Roc-a-fella sign and high-fiving Jay-Z as he runs the court.

Goodbye Lebron… finally. I am so tired of having to hear about what you will do this off-season… unless its work on your jump-shot and defense… I don’t care about you. Lebron will no longer detract from the playoffs… ha, yeah right- who am I kidding? More than ever I am sure I will be hearing about where Lebron is going to be next season.

But at least now I can make a safe lobby for getting Nash an MVPuppet. He does have two of them.