Amare's health still a question mark in Suns' bid for title

PHOENIX -- Run, pass, shoot, score - then run some more. No wonder the NBA's general managers overwhelmingly voted the Phoenix Suns the team that was the most fun to watch in the league.

Whether that can translate to a title is another question.

Their style and talent have been good enough to reach the Western Conference finals two years in a row and earn Steve Nash a pair of MVP trophies.

This season, the Suns are aiming to all, a goal that hinges largely on Amare Stoudemire's so-far uneven comeback from microfracture knee surgery.

"I think we all understand he's a huge story," guard Raja Bell said, "and he's a huge part of what we're going to wind up being when it's all said and done."

Except for an aborted three-game comeback, Stoudemire missed all of last season, then underwent arthroscopic surgery on his other knee because of the wear-and-tear rehabilitation. His comeback in training camp has been slow, often two steps forward and one step back.

When the season begins, he will be coming off the bench. Asked where Stoudemire was in his comeback a week before the opener, coach Mike D'Antoni said without hesitation "50" percent.

"It's just rust," D'Antoni said, "just being able to play with everybody."

Stoudemire insists he's making good progress, although he still needs a day off periodically. D'Antoni acknowledges that the big forward's comeback looms as the biggest unresolved issue facing the team.

"The team's going to have to deal with it, he's got to deal with it, I've got to deal with it," D'Antoni said. "We've got to get him to 100 percent, and how to do that and not lose games is the tricky part."

When Stoudemire was a powerful force on the team two seasons ago, the Suns relied mostly on repeated pick-and-roll plays. Last year, with Stoudemire out, Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa emerged as major forces in a different style of attack.

"It's going to be really difficult," Nash said. "He (Stoudemire) hasn't played with this group really, and it's going to be a process getting him comfortable with the way we play. Our style changed last year from the year before. The ball moved a lot more and we became a team that was a little more predicated on intelligence, spacing, good shooting and quick decisions."

Diaw and Barbosa have new contract extensions, and both figure prominently in this season's plans. Diaw earned the NBA's most-improved player award last season and is a fixture in the starting lineup, mixing his ability to pass and see the court with a solid mid-range jumper.