If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that you never know who's watching. And with Brittany being a private person, I did my best to keep everything as a brief summary. Beyond that, I may have gotten a little carried away, but it was good to get nearly everything down! The first bit I just copied from my blog, then starting at NY, it's all for you folks. Enjoy!

I’ve kept exactly 42 fortunes from my favorite Chinese restaurant and none of them could have told me this... Last Tuesday (one week ago?!) I took a first date to the old ballpark. Unfortunately for the D’Backs, it was something of a blowout. This gave Mr. Grace and Sutton the opportunity to roam the crowd for entertainment. Luckily for them, I was with my first date with a big ol’ sign proclaiming the fact that we were on our first date. I thought we’d get on the jumbotron and have a nice little story. Nope.

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Hey Snakepit, everyday lurker here, one time fantasy baseball league champion (Shenanigans will live!) and, strangely, a writer who never submits at this site. Anywho this post is asking a favor, so feel free to stop reading now if you have something better to do.

I entered a contest with 620 KTAR called the "Big League Dream Job". It's the chance to cover our baseball team for the entire season with the oppurtiunty to interview players and coaches. Contestants had to create a video explaining why they deserve the spot. Naturally I made a movie trailer with awesome production value, however I'm down by a huge amount of votes. While votes aren't the only thing that matter, they certainly can't hurt.

Here's the link

I know asking for favors on the glorious internets is very feast or famine, but every vote helps!

In the last hour alone, there have been five fan posts created on this site. Which proves that we care about our Suns, quite possibly to an unhealthy amount many would agree to. All of us here searched for a place dedicated to the Phoenix Suns, or were directed here by some other means out of our like, curiosity, or love of sports. We research comparable stats to our favorite players and the financial situation of our favorite teams, among other things, to what? Why do we commit ourselves to a subject that doesn't pay us, at least the vast majority, in any monetary value?

Do we have any influence over the front office? Doubtful. Through multiple ownerships there are a history of moves and trades that conflict with that idea, all in the hopes of bringing home an elusive, and reports suggest shiny, trophy. It's a sad fact that the Suns do not have a banner displayed proudly in the arena, unlike so many for the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls or many other teams. So here are we, the Bright Side of the Sun and indeed all Suns fans, in this shortened 2011-2012 season trying to judge what our future has in store for us.

Every season the goal is to pursue a ring, or keep our eyes on the prize. Yet in a year so unlikely to produce a championship team, indeed one that may blow up at any moment, we continue our own pursuits of who the Suns should acquire, whether it be Sebastian Telfair or Chris Paul in some insane ESPN trade machine scenario. We would do the same if we had the 1992 Dream Team in their primes, though.

To this I ask - what's the point? Do we trade that hall of fame player to rebuild, do we go for the gold now and forsake any future this franchise might have for the next some-odd years? Or does this all cumulate back to our love of sports and simply enjoy the moment, carpe diem style. Championships are the pinnacle of any sports season, but I ask you this: Would you rather have a banner dangling from the rafters with a relatively fond recollection of a monotonous play, or have the memories, no matter how painful, that our Phoenix Suns have given us for the past forty three years?

TL;DR version - Let's go win a damn championship!

My season ends when the Suns does, so I'm tentatively looking forward to the next one. Though we don't even know if there will be a next season, and the word I keep finding in reports is "bleak" without any actual reporting. I'm sure the news will pick up after the playoffs, but does anyone know any of the details? 

I think we'd all like to know with the ageless wonder of Steve Nash looking, well, less youthful recently. I don't want the 6 game series with the Lakers last season to be our last hurrah in the Nash-era. So any rumblings of a lockout get me more than a little worried. Thanks for any info.

    Three games into the season is a very small sample size, not really worth dissecting teams and the players that assemble them. So analyzing those players with observations and strange things called "stats" really have no merit right now. However this year like most others, the Phoenix suns have a few newcomers which we fans aren't familiar with. Since this season is so young, we might as well take a look at the new guys before we entrench ourselves with over analyzing every missed jumpshot. I present, Hakim Warrick.

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[Note by Wil Cantrell, 11/01/10 8:49 AM MST ]:  While it's a bit early to be looking at how the Suns rank in these categories, these statistics below tell the real story behind the game. Yes, numbers are boring to many, but if you can get into it, it's easier to understand why teams are doing what they are doing, or why they are not.

Also- a couple of excellent sites that incorporate these stats:

www.basketballreference.com (awesome historical and statistical data, and everything else in between)

www.82 games.com (May not be up and running yet for this season, but has great stuff on 5 man unit productivity)

Through my time of lurking, it was difficult not to notice all the fancy stats being thrown around like OReb Rate and DRtg. And while some of you may be fluent in statistics, many of us aren't so lucky. I thought it may come in handy to have some of the more commonly used new-fangled stats all in one spot.

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With each great season, comes a seemingly forgettable one. What do you remember about the 2001-2002 season? Shawn Marion winning player of the week once? Tom Gugliotta overcoming his hand-eye coordination deficiency to play basketball? More than likely you remember Raja Bell draining the three against the Clippers in ‘06. Or that pure gut feeling of adrenaline when Kevin Johnson came out from retirement in the stretch run of ‘00. And of course, anytime Steve Nash ever does anything.

The question for this season remains; Will we witness the Phoenix Suns find their rhythm and give us another season to remember? Or will we hear the story of how the Suns set quietly into the night? We’ve been here before, the year following a memorable season with question marks littering the roster. How do these Suns compare to the morning after effect teams of past? (Forgive my title, please)

Unfortunately, I’m very new to analyzing basketball stats so don’t expect an abundance of shiny graphs or anything like that. 

1994-1995 59-23

What happened: Kevin Johnson is swallowed by Shaq in the preseason and misses 36 games. The starting PF and future hall of famer Charles Barkley, is hampered by lingering injuries and sits out over 20 games. Yet somehow this team showed unbelievable resiliency in its depth to compile the best record in the NBA, ultimately falling to the reigning champs in the Conference Semis. 

I’m sure I’ll lose credibility here, but these are some of my earliest memories. I have no idea where I was, but I remember rooting for KJ as he dropped forty-six points in that game seven against the Rockets. 

1995-1996 41-41

What happened: The strong depth dissipates just enough and five rookies are brought on the roster with Michael Finley being the biggest producer out of them. Barkley was his usual dominate self, but injuries to KJ and Danny Manning hurt the team which finished with a .500 record. Still good enough for seventh place,however the Spurs were quick to dispatch us in four games.

Unfortunately I don’t have much memory of this seemingly lost season. This appeared largely like a  forgettable campaign judging by the stats and the replacement of Coach Westphal midseason. 

On a side note, how good does it feel to have swept the Spurs last season?

Comparison to 2010 Suns: Just like the ‘95 Suns, this year we’re hot off a playoff run which ended in dramatic fashion. But unlike the ‘95 team, this one (hopefully) will display one of the strongest benches in the league. That seemed to be a shortfall of Westphals group. What that team did have was Barkley, a presence this team will certainly lack. A presence that team did miss was a lacked of a center, something which Lopez may finally cover. The one variable we cannot count for is the injury bug. Knock on wood.

2000-2001 51-31

What happened: Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd happened. Marion averaged a double-double while Kidd only gave assists to the tune of 9.8 a game. On top of that, the defense was huge that year, limiting opponents to 91.8 points per game. Early and late season surges powered the Suns to the sixth-seed where they met the Kings in the first round. While that series was disappointing, the future was bright with Kidd and Marion at the helm.

Looking back, that team seems like a hodgepodge of players. Though they were effective, Cliff Robinson even went for 50 points against Nuggets the year before.

2001-2002 36-46

What happened: The French Fry. I’m sure no refresher is required in this one. To his credit, Marbury performed well enough to garner himself a bobble head night, but the team just couldn’t come together. The few bright spots were the continual development of Shawn Marion and the new Arkansas kid, Joe Johnson. But beyond that, the biggest news that season was Thunder Dan rejoining the team, to which the fans rejoiced.

I remember being royally pissed when Jason Kidd was dealt, but I was late for soccer practice and didn’t have time to hear the story.. Also I remember walking in the stadium and seeing an old lady kiss the televised image of Dan Majerle. As for memories of basketball, meh! The Dbacks just dethroned the Yanks. Woo-hoo!

Comparison to 2010 Suns: Marbury played just below all-star level at point guard while shooting 42% from the field, you can be sure Nash will have higher marks. Big Jake was given an opportunity at center but only pulled in five rebounds per game. Lopez will should perform at a much higher level than that. Our offensive production will undoubtedly be higher than the 95.1 PPG the ‘01 team posted. However, I think we would all be absolutely thrilled with a defense that allowed only 95.8 PPG.

2009-2010 54-28

2010-2011 

I would say we fans are… anxious to see how this 2010-2011 season plays out for our beloved Suns. Many have lowered their expectations, even our fearless leader number 13 has expressed doubt. Our fingers are inching closer to that panic button even before the first tip-off. And why shouldn’t they? An atrocious preseason, an all-star sized hole in the line-up and the never ending complaint of an aging roster. Yet, I’m excited to see Nash and company size up the competition. How many buzzer beaters will we see this year? How many overtimes will break our hearts? How many times must we listen to Scott Williams announce? Folks for better or worse, this is Phoenix Suns basketball