If you cast your mind back to last summer, a few of us…well most of us, had absolutely no hope for the upcoming season. The lockout didn’t actually seem like such a bad thing because it meant we wouldn’t have to struggle through a pitiful 82 game season of mostly losses. Remember, just prior to the shortened season tipping off, ESPN reckoned this team was the second worst in the West after the Hornets who had just traded CP3. They weren’t the only ones.

With the slow start and some awful losses to the likes of the Nets, Raptors and Cavs, it looked like that assessment was right. Calls for "tanking" were soon in full flow, as were the arguments to "free Nash" and do a "full blown rebuild" based around securing a high draft pick. In other words, a lost season.

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Tonight’s game with the Rockets has me pretty damn excited. These last three or four weeks have been pretty exhilarating as a whole, and hopefully a win tonight will keep the good times rolling. After all, these are meaningful games we never expected. This is a Suns team punching far, far above its weight.

It’s truly a joy to watch this team take to the court and battle these games out. Yet at the same time, it’s somewhat bittersweet…even if the Suns do make the playoffs.

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We can forget holding out hope that the Suns might drastically improve and make the playoffs this season. It's pretty simple: if you manage to lose to the Nets, Cavs and Raptors all at home, you're just not a good team at all. There's no two ways about it.

There's all kinds of reasons for this, namely an inability to execute on offense, especially when Nash sits, along with poor defensive efforts (save for a few games when it was impressive). There's also the fatigue factor, with the shortened and packed schedule seeming to be a bad thing for a team where two starters are almost 40. But let's not go over all that. What I want to look at is the shooting, specifically, the three point shooting.

Since the 2004/05 season when Nash returned to Phoenix, the Suns have been known as a great three point shooting team. Their ability to space the floor with good shooters who could knock down their shots was as vital to their success as anything else. Here's a look at the percentages for each season since Nash returned, along with the key performers from three point range. We'll ignore those who didn't shoot much, for example Maciej Lampe shot .667 from 3 in 2004/05, but only had three attempts.

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I haven't written anything of note, here or elsewhere, for quite a few months now. There's an obvious reason for that, and it's the same for most people: apathy has well and truly set in now as far as the NBA is concerned.

Some will suggest that the bleak future of the Suns contributes to that apathy - the realisation that the Nash Era is all but dead and that chances of a championship are almost certainly gone now. It is a little depressing, considering the several talented rosters that, in my eyes, were good enough to win it all. There's no denying that.

But I dismiss that suggestion. It's been a while since the Suns have had a truly awful team, so I may regret saying this: so long as the Suns are playing, I'm satisfied.

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The timing of this piece, potentially, was pretty good. When you have a crappy, losing season, you look for the little things to celebrate in place of actual team success. You know, those little things that make you feel just a little bit better about the year gone by, where you say "Well, the Suns sucked, but at least this happened". Vince Carter being released would have been one such thing, but sadly that hasn't been done yet. While the Lakers' and Spurs' exits were highly enjoyable, I'm talking about Suns players winning league awards.

As good as he was this year, I think we all knew Steve Nash wouldn't be making the All NBA teams. As impressive as his stats were as a sixth man (and as a starter), we also all knew it was a long shot that Marcin Gortat would come away with the Sixth Man of the Year Award. And unless a bizarre series of events occurred involving a combination of stuffed brown envelopes, large amounts of alcohol and possibly a weapon or two, there was no chance anyone in the Suns front office would walk away with Executive of the Year. Grant Hill on an All Defensive Team though? Absolutely.

If there's one thing that impressed me most this season, it was Grant Hill's defensive efforts, game in game out. I was sure he'd grab a spot on one of those teams. Totally convinced. So with the All Defensive Teams scheduled to be announced several days before this piece was slated to drop, I had it all wrapped up. Never mind breaking down Grant Hill's game, his age, his season performance, his strengths, his weaknesses, etc etc. I could have simply just pointed out that he was voted All Defensive team. That there ends all arguments. You simply can't argue against bringing back a guy who just made an All-NBA Team.

Somehow though, Grant Hill was left off both the 1st and 2nd NBA All Defensive Teams. Genuinely, it shocked me. It meant I now actually had to put some effort into writing a full piece, so here we are.

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I know this pitiful season hasn't quite finished yet but I figured now's as good a time as any to look back at the top ten plays for the year. Maybe it's just me, but I think we've lacked a little in the entertainment department this season, so I've put in one that wasn't even by a Phoenix Suns player.

Yes, I could have downloaded all the plays and made a sweet video but frankly I can't be bothered and it's too much effort, so I'm just going to do a Vince Carter on that front.

Speaking of which, I deliberately didn't put in any Vince dunks, for everyone's sake. I'll be honest, there was a dunk, maybe two which could have made the list but...

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