Suns Camp Begins on Tuesday

As the Suns go into training camp on Tuesday, the question of whether the Marion controvery will disrupt the team any more than it has in the past is far from the only question to be answered over the next month.

1. How much impact will Grant Hill make? Reports from his workouts have been very promising, but that's a long way from knowing how far back from his injury he's come. There is a giddy fantasy that he's back to being close to the 90's Hill, which is too much to expect. But even a return to his 2004-05 performance where he scored just under 20 ppg would be huge.

2. How will Brian Skinner react to the Suns style? Skinner sat out most of the summer waiting and hoping for a chance to play with the Suns on the belief he will thrive in D'Antoni's system. He's a big (265 pound), strong, athletic inside guy who plays defense and is a pretty good rebounder. D'Antoni has been reluctant to play guys who cannot shoot, but he may become a backup for Marion who cannot shoot either. If Brian does not adapt, it will leave the Suns very weak on the inside.

3. Can Sean Marks contribute? After barely playing last season, it is hard to know whether he can or cannot play. In 2005-06 with the Spurs, Marks showed a decent mid range shot in limited minutes, but it does not explain why he didn't play last season.

4. Will Diaw return to his 2005-06 effectiveness? Last season he came to camp out of condition and never really returned to his previous level of performance. This year he has lost weight for the Eurobasket bournament and when that was over, the Suns sent a conditioning coach to Paris to work with him. It looks like the Suns plan to use Diaw exclusively on the inside the season where he seems to be better suited than at small forward. All of ths give hope that he will return to his former effectivenss, but that remains to be seen.

5. Will Banks emerge as a useful player or just get buried again on the bench? Banks had a couple of good outings in summer league and has spent much of the summer in informal workouts with Nash, Hill, etc. New coach Jay Humphries has promised to make Banks his special project. None the less, the rumors that the Suns are constantly trying to unload him remain strong, so it is far from clear that he's changed the team's opinion of him.

6 Will either of rookies make an impact? Tucker and Strawberry are both super athletes with very good physical strenth, team orientation, and weak shooting skills. In college, Tucker was very good at finishing at the basket and Strawberry was an elite on-the-ball defender. Strawberry showed some promise as a distributor point guard and Tucker had some summer league games where he scored a lot. Will any of this translate into regular season minutes?

7. Will Stoudemire get better on defense? Amare's summer with the USA team gave him a chance to practice against Dwight Howard and under the direction McMillian. This remains a major focus on what the team is looking for from him. Without KT, there is no "safety net" for Amare to get by with inconsistent defense.

8. Will the Marion stink cause problems? All of this will be overshadowed by Marion, but unless he's even dumber than he sounds the Suns can expect him to do much of what he's always done. The rest of the team seems prepared to live with his complaining as long as he continues to get the job done on court. But if he becomes even more selfish than in the past, the situation could change.

This seems like a lot of questions for a team that is so highly rated, but this is due to how small the margin for error there is when going for a championship.

Shooting A Key to Banks

Last season, a major issue for Banks was his shooting. He was very good when going to the basket, but not when shooting the ball.

2006-07
Layups: 47 of 77 for 60% (40.1% of total shots)
Short: 1 of 8 for 12.5%
Mid: 31 of 82 for 37.9%
3 pointers: 5 of 29 for 17.2% (14.8% of total shots)

2005-06
Layups: 105 of 178 59.0% (38.3% for the total shots)
Short: 7 of 25 for 28%
Mid: 82 of 202 for 40.6%
3 pointers: 22 of 60 for 36.7% (12.9% of total shots)

One odd thing about guys playing relatively small minutes is how much difference just a few shots can make. If Banks had hit his three pointers like he did in 2005-06, he'd have had 6 more made shots and raised his percentages to 45.9% overall.

Only 40% of his shots were layups, but 54.3% of the made shots and 50.9% of shooting points were from layups.

FT - 48
Layups 44 * 2 = 88
Other 35 * 2 = 70
Three 5 * 3 = 15
-----------------------
Total 221

Banks was actually better at getting to the basket than Barbosa on roughly the same percentage of shots. But Leandro was a very good long range shooter including 43.4% for three on 190 of 438; while Banks just wasn't. One odd element is that Leandro was only marginally better than Banks on his mid range shooting, 40.1% versus 37.9% for Banks; but Leandro's three point shooting was exceptional.

This is why Banks' 4 of 5 for three in the Las Vegas game is such a big deal. If he can learn to shoot threes and play within the scheme, he could become very valuable.