Almost a 1/3 of the way into the 09/10 NBA season and there is no confusion as to who the Phoenix Suns are. I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

Last season, the Suns had an identity crisis of epic proportions that drove many Suns fans to the brink of insanity. For example, my dumb a** even recorded a video of myself doing the Carlton dance to a Suns win and posted it on YouTube. Really? One win in the regular season made me that happy? It’s funny what the Suns will make me do.

Anyway, the team obviously couldn’t decide if they were centered around Shaq in the post or Nash with the ball. Should they run? How could Nash and Shaq be used effectively together? It wasn’t decided until the All-Star break what kind of team the Suns would be. Until then, Suns fans watched every game not knowing what team would show up or how the game would be played. This would lead to migraines and many broken things around Suns fans homes. Also YouTube videos of dancing when they did win.

This year, thankfully, the Suns have a clear identity and it’s showing early on with their better-than-expected 15-6 record. It’s pretty simple, really. We know what they have to do to win games and we know what will happen to warrant a loss.

Unless the Suns make a move before the trade deadline, this is what we are going to get. It’s certainly not rocket science and nothing earth-shattering.

Offense

The Suns aren’t the run-and-gun team of old, but they’re not a set offensive team either. They have a few offensive sets they throw around and play an effective high/low game with Channing Frye leading the defense out of the lane for Amare to go to work. They have great shooters along the perimeter and a select few players that can drive the ball into the lane and draw fouls. They don’t have a phenomenal rebounder so if they want to continue to run and put up 100+ points, they’ll need a gang-rebounding mentality that we’ve seen for about 12 of their wins so far. Clearly, the offense revolves around Nash and allowing the ball handlers the freedom to create which will win a lot of games in the regular season under Nash, but still has proven to be fairly ineffective in the post-season.  They’ll struggle with the bigger teams and opponents who thrive in the post, but they’ll use their scoring prowess to counteract that.

Defense

They can be a good defensive team if they want to be. They don’t have any outstanding defenders to speak of, but their weak-side help and on-the-ball defense has improved under Gentry. What really kills this team is rebounding and the 2^nd chance points they give up to other teams. It’s also clear that when the Suns play with a collective passion on defense they can hold teams to under 90 points. Part of this is because the Suns aren’t running as much on offense which allows them to exert more energy on the defensive end, but also because of a newfound mentality of responsibility and accountability that Gentry has instilled.

They’ll win games if…

They shoot the ball well. Simple as that. When the Suns make 10-12 three’s a game they are damn near unbeatable. However, in order to make as many shots as they do they need to rebound the ball and get out in transition. The Suns 15 wins have featured spectacular shooting from several different players combined with Nash’s ability to distribute. If that happens, and they watch their turnovers, they’ll win 50+ games this season.

They’ll lose games if…

They don’t shoot the ball well. Revolutionary, I know. But the Suns have an indelible need to shoot the ball well because they don’t have many players that can get to the foul line other than Amare to impact the game positively. Also, if they’re not shooting the ball well, they have to rely on their rebounding to create more shot opportunities and since they’re not a great collective rebounding team, the chances of winning while shooting poorly aren’t very good.

See how simple that is? There are no more decisions about who the offense should be run through or what type of style they should play. The Suns are who we thought they were – and I couldn’t be happier. At least we know what we’re getting into. The Suns have always played better as an underdog and are proving to be an easy team to root for.

They might not be a contender, but at least we know what we’re going to get.