What If? The 2006-2007 Suns Revisited
By Kory Miller
The Suns maintained the majority of their roster from 2005-06 to 2006-07. They traded their first round pick in the draft and made no high-profile free agent signings during the offseason. Tim Thomas, who started 10 games at small forward during the injury plagued 2005-2006 season, and new faces at the end of the rotation comprised the only turnover on the roster. Eddie House and Brian Grant joined Thomas in departing Phoenix. They were replaced by Marcus Banks, Jalen Rose and Eric Piatkowski.
Entering the season the starting lineup consisted of 2-time MVP Steve Nash at PG, Raja Bell at SG, Shawn Marion at SF, Boris Diaw at PF and Amare Stoudemire at C. Leandro Barbosa was the 6th man and led the bench portion of the rotation, which mainly ran 9 players deep. Other reserves in the rotation included Kurt Thomas, James Jones and Banks. Rose, Piatkowski and fan favorite reserve C Pat Burke also played in a decent amount of games throughout the season.
Nash and Amare (who would both be named to All-NBA First Team after the season) anchored the lineup. However, the other starters, especially Marion, were all key contributors during the season. The Suns were flat-out more athletic at just about every position than anyone else in the league. Any starter could go for 30 points in a night, especially with a player like Nash leading the break.
In typical fashion for a Mike D’Antoni coached team (entering his 3rd full season with the Suns in 2006-07), Phoenix didn’t play much defense during this era. The gameplan was built around putting more points on the board than the opposing team, and doing it as quickly as possible. No lead of any size, on either side, was safe. Phoenix would routinely rally from 15-20 points down at times, and they also gave up just as many leads of the same margin.
It was the dawn of the space and pace NBA and the Suns were the hottest ticket in the league. Every game was a show and Phoenix was the most exciting team in the NBA. The Suns might give up 115 points, but they’d drop 120 and still get the W.