The Suns completed their European trip yesterday, beating an Israeli team, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, in Cologne, Germany. They won two of the three games they played in Europe, with their lone loss coming at the hands of the only NBA team they faced, the Sixers. The most important thing that happened was the fact that Amare Stoudemire played two games on back to back days and reported no problems with the knee.
Amare played 19 minutes against the Sixers and played 25 minutes against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He looked slow on defense, and had some trouble with turnovers, but he did show some flashes of the vintage Amare, even dunking over a Maccabi player.
Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa, the Suns two emerging stars from last year's playoffs both played well. Diaw is in the final year of his contract and if he does not sign an extension before Oct. 31, he will become a restricted free agent after this season. This concerns the Suns because they don't want a repeat of the Joe Johnson situation. Diaw and the Suns do not appear close on a contract. This makes me wonder if Diaw and his agent may think they'll test the waters next summer. I also wonder if Diaw would be as good in another system as he is in the Suns run & gun style.
Speaking of the run & gun, the most important signing of the summer was backup guard Marcus Banks. Banks could start at PG for many NBA teams, in fact he did start most of the second half for Minnesota. The Suns success rests on the back of Steve Nash, and having a legit backup PG will help Mike D'Antoni get Nash out of the game and not worry about the team faltering, like last year when Eddie House came in the game.
The first home preseason game is next week. I can't wait to see this team play.
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