About Next Season

[azirish]

It is amazing how many people want to blow up a 60 plus win team. Take away a bad start and a long stretch without KT, shorter periods without Nash and Diaw (who is still not 100% healthy), and this could easily be in the 65 plus wing range. I would be very careful about messing this up.

I think the Suns can improve themselves through the draft and some smaller trades, but I don't see any of the core getting moved: Nash, Stoudemire, Marion, Bell, Barbosa, and Diaw. (Boris has not been playing as well as last yera, but he is almost untradeable due to issues about his health and his base year contract).

I don't see KT getting traded unless the Suns can get a low post defender who can replace him. Right now his expiring contract is more attractive than his on the court which is not as good as it was before he was injured.

James Jones might have some trade value and could be expendible if the Suns draft a PF like Horford who could play significant minutes. He's been improving his overall game and is still young, so his value is probably greater than his stats migh indicate.

I would not be shocked if all the rest of the players were gone by next season. Banks may be hard to move, but he may get showcased at the Las Vegas Review and during training camp. I would expect Pike to be included in a trad package as cap fill. The rest are free agents and probably won't be back.


As usual, the Suns have the same needs in the draft they always have: low post defender/rebounder who can run and shoot; backup point guard; and a stopper perimeter defender who can shoot. I'd love to get a real PG who can shoot and play defense, but it will be a challenge to get someone with all those skills.

Obviously the luxury tax is going to be a constraint so I cannot see the Suns making any significant plays in the free agent market. I can anticipate small trades, but I'd be hugely surprised if one of the core guys was moved.

 

[TucsonDevil]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

 

[elindholm]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

You can want it all you want, but it ain't happenin'. He just signed a ginormous extension.

 

[JS22]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

It is extremely hard to justify firing a coach who consistently makes it to the WCF. They made it last year without Amare, so, by default, I have to give him at least 2-3 more years to try to win it all.

 

[NativeSun]

Fire D'Antoni??

Holy crap. That was funny.

 

[D-Dogg]

You guys should really fire D'Antoni. Also, cut Nash. And trade Amare to the eastern conference.

Then, trade Barbosa to the Lakers for Smush Parker and a pick.

Sweet offseason!

 

[dreamcastrocks]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

Coach D isn't a big piece. Nah.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

The core will stay the same, but unless they want to pay the tax someone has to go. Likely Thomas, especailly if they can draft Hortford.

I expect/ hope Jones to be gone as well, you can't be a sharp shooter at sub 40% FG's, sorry. There are a lot of inside efforts guys you could replace him with and have no drop off on the shooting percentage. There are outside guys out there that we could replace with his contract. Bottomline, is the guy can't shoot consistently in games.

Other than that I welcome back the entire team for another run next season.

I will say I do think Diaw has value, just being on the Suns ups any players value, some GM would take him and his contract.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Fair enough, pile on me. I desperately want Coach D to prove me wrong this post-season by coaching cirlces around Popp and Avery, then Riles or Flip. I believe in his game plan and his players, but when it comes to "in-game" coaching, D'Antoni gets exposed.

I hope I am proved wrong... but my gut tells me that we win those close games inspite of our Coach's failure to put in the right matchups, call the crucial TO, make adjustments, etc...

 

[asudevil83]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

wont happen.

A.) D'Antoni just signed an extention
B.) He's our GM
C.) he built this team around his offense. therefore, throwing a new style into the mix will spell disaster.
D.) he's praised by EVERYONE in terms of how he treats his players. his players love playing for him, and players around the league would love to play for him.
E.) he's not at odds with anyone within the sun's organization, and therefore doesnt deserve to be fired.
F.) who the hell would replace him?

there are better chances of Phil or Avery or Sloan or Van Gundy being fired first at this moment.

 

[D-Dogg]

there are better chances of Phil

Jackson??

No..not a chance. In fact, he's rumored to have a contract extension on the table that includes a provision for moving into the front office at the appropriate time.

He's banging Jeannie Buss...dude is going nowhere.

 

[Scot1]

In my first 6 years in the Valley, we were regularly in the playoffs but got bounced early. The last 3 years we've made the WCF regularly, and haven't been all that far away from the next step. A lot of that is D'Antoni. He should not be fired--totally apart from the fact that his replacement would be odds-on to do worse.

I've been as frustrated as anyone else by D'Antoni's multiple stupidities--bench use, defense, half-time adjustments, FA and draft choices, him seeming like Typhoid Mary spreading depression around the team.... I think you have to resolve to see the bad as connected to the good--it's his style, and it has been good enough to deserve another couple of chances. He's still learning. So no, don't fire him--what Sarver needs to do next year, if we don't win it all, is have an early 'Potato Shooter Night', hand out 10,000 potato guns, and if DA doesn't go 9 deep into his bench during the first half, take him out to midcourt and let the fans fire away. [I know, bad idea--but if we had really self-controlled fans...]

 

[sly fly]

AZIrish... for the record. If we don't win a championship this year (especially if we don't get to WCF), I want to see Coach D'Antoni get fired. The team can make a couple of small trades, FA signings, but I wouldn't want to see big pieces moved. But Coach D should go.

Oh, boy.

 

[sunsfn]

D'Antoni is not going anywhere and he is NOT still learning on the job.

In order for a team to get to the championship you have to have veterans and they have to play together a long time.

D'Antoni has a short bench and a lot of teams that win the championship play 7-8 players. The Suns have three all-stars and they are going to play big minutes instead of the 8 & 9th players on other teams.
The great Boston Celtic teams always played less players than most teams and they won a ton of championships.

I think the suns need another big man and another big combo guard that can back up Nash and play with him and be a scorer. Not easy to find another Joe Johnson.
I was upset the suns did not sign John Salmons this last off season. He is not playing as many minutes because of the emergence of Kevin Martin, but he is what the suns need. Salmons played pg in college and would have been a great fit.

The suns bench is not very good, so how do you play them?
They are minumum paid and no on has emerged from that group to really contribute.
If the Suns can get a decent big at the Atlanta pick, hopefully they keep the 24th pick and take the best sg/sf swingman and he turns out to be a good one.
If Kurt Thomas is traded, it may be at the trade deadline because of his expiring contract. James Jones has me completely baffled, I do not understand his shooting problems, and I hope someone can figure it out soon. But, they have to get rid of Marcus Banks even if it takes the last pick in this years draft.

 

[Covert Rain]

The suns bench is not very good, so how do you play them? They are minumum paid and no on has emerged from that group to really contribute.

Really?!?!? Cause last time I checked most of those guys have not gotten a fair shake. None of them have gotten consistant minutes to try and prove themselves. What about Jalen? 4 out 5 games he played in he performed. He had ONE bad game and got benched again.

The only other bench player (not counting Barbosa, Kurt or James) that has gotten an ample opportunity is Marcus Banks and his benching is justified. Don't get me started on his insistance on playing James Jones as inconsistant as he has been. It took him over 1 month to have a good game.

I would call that GROSS mismangement of the bench. We don't know what we have because D'Antoni won't stick with anybody long enough. I don't agree that he should be fired though for 1 simple reason. This team was put together for his system. A new coach will blow everything up. As long as Nash is the starting PG D'Antoni will be here IMO. When the Nash era closes (and if we have no title) D'Antoni will be gone.

Having said that, if we don't win a title this season, I would hope that Sarver would at least have a long talk with D'Antoni about his bench usage and management. We give Diaw crud for not being agreesive but I swear D'Antoni is just as scared to break from the normal rotation.

 

[sunsfn]

Really?!?!? Cause last time I checked most of those guys have not gotten a fair shake. None of them have gotten consistant minutes to try and prove themselves. What about Jalen? 4 out 5 games he played in he performed. He had ONE bad game and got benched again.

The only other bench player (not counting Barbosa, Kurt or James) that has gotten an ample opportunity is Marcus Banks and his benching is justified. Don't get me started on his insistance on playing James Jones as inconsistant as he has been. It took him over 1 month to have a good game.

I would call that GROSS mismangement of the bench. We don't know what we have because D'Antoni won't stick with anybody long enough. I don't agree that he should be fired though for 1 simple reason. This team was put together for his system. A new coach will blow everything up. As long as Nash is the starting PG D'Antoni will be here IMO. When the Nash era closes (and if we have no title) D'Antoni will be gone.

Having said that, if we don't win a title this season, I would hope that Sarver would at least have a long talk with D'Antoni about his bench usage and management. We give Diaw crud for not being agreesive but I swear D'Antoni is just as scared to break from the normal rotation.

There are a lot of decisions made about the bench in team practices. Obviously there are problems that we are not hearing about or D'Antoni would play the bench more.
Sarver is not going to have a long talk with D'Antoni about playing his bench any different than he has in the past, Sarver does not know squat about running a team. JC would be the one to talk to D'Antoni, but there is nothing to talk about, even if you think there is.

The other problem is that they have had to get Amare back to playing with the others especially KT and Diaw who he did not play with two years ago. Then Diaw came in out of shape and hurt his back, and KT hurt his elbow and was out for a while. James Jones needs playing time to hopefully get back his shot.

There is not a player on the bench not playing, that deserves time ahead of KT, Barbosa, & James Jones. That is eight players, and unless there is an injury or D'Antoni rests someone in one of these late games the bench is not playing.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Really?!?!? Cause last time I checked most of those guys have not gotten a fair shake. None of them have gotten consistant minutes to try and prove themselves. What about Jalen? 4 out 5 games he played in he performed. He had ONE bad game and got benched again.

The only other bench player (not counting Barbosa, Kurt or James) that has gotten an ample opportunity is Marcus Banks and his benching is justified. Don't get me started on his insistance on playing James Jones as inconsistant as he has been. It took him over 1 month to have a good game.

I would call that GROSS mismangement of the bench. We don't know what we have because D'Antoni won't stick with anybody long enough. I don't agree that he should be fired though for 1 simple reason. This team was put together for his system. A new coach will blow everything up. As long as Nash is the starting PG D'Antoni will be here IMO. When the Nash era closes (and if we have no title) D'Antoni will be gone.

Having said that, if we don't win a title this season, I would hope that Sarver would at least have a long talk with D'Antoni about his bench usage and management. We give Diaw crud for not being agreesive but I swear D'Antoni is just as scared to break from the normal rotation.

You know what is hilarious about this post. Two weeks ago when the Suns were in a slump - the reason was because he cow towed to outside pressure and played more guys. Once he went back to our regular rotation it seesm the only disappointing loss was to the Spurs in SA - and that shouldn't be all that shocking. They are our achillies heel. But we can beat them.

What some fans need to realize is that not everyone is cut to play in D'Antoni's system. Thats why he doesn't play them. Banks is to one on one and turns over the ball too much, Rose is too slow to run, Pike can't defend at all etc.. I am actually happy D'Antoni sees the value in getting KT minutes cuz while he won't help in the regular season as much he will be much needed in the playoffs.

Let D'Antoni coach his way. Not every thing he does is going to work 100% of the time. But he is coaching this team for the playoffs. Where EVERY team goes to a 7 man rotation. Whats the point of developing Rose and Banks - are they going to be better than Barbosa or Diaw at any point? Probably not...

 

[boisesuns]

You know what is hilarious about this post. Two weeks ago when the Suns were in a slump - the reason was because he cow towed to outside pressure and played more guys. Once he went back to our regular rotation it seesm the only disappointing loss was to the Spurs in SA - and that shouldn't be all that shocking. They are our achillies heel. But we can beat them.

What some fans need to realize is that not everyone is cut to play in D'Antoni's system. Thats why he doesn't play them. Banks is to one on one and turns over the ball too much, Rose is too slow to run, Pike can't defend at all etc.. I am actually happy D'Antoni sees the value in getting KT minutes cuz while he won't help in the regular season as much he will be much needed in the playoffs.

Let D'Antoni coach his way. Not every thing he does is going to work 100% of the time. But he is coaching this team for the playoffs. Where EVERY team goes to a 7 man rotation. Whats the point of developing Rose and Banks - are they going to be better than Barbosa or Diaw at any point? Probably not...

Good post. I think there's a reason why guys don't get playing time. If some of them did, they might get ripped up and down for not being able to play in this system. We run a lot, play some defense, and run some more. If you can't move the ball or make a good pass, and run, you'll be on the bench.

We complain about not using the bench, when most of us wouldn't trust any of the guys past 6 or 7 to keep the pace he is trying to go for all the time. If we played like the pistons, then we might use more of our bench. Our halfcourt sets run through a few guys and everything else is a result of good passing and individual performances, or the occasional garbage point.

Some of the guys will help in the playoffs, but ultimatley what got us here was the style we play and the players who exectue it. Some can, some can't

 

[Covert Rain]

You know what is hilarious about this post. Two weeks ago when the Suns were in a slump - the reason was because he cow towed to outside pressure and played more guys. Once he went back to our regular rotation it seesm the only disappointing loss was to the Spurs in SA - and that shouldn't be all that shocking. They are our achillies heel. But we can beat them.

It would be "hilarious" if I was the one that made that observation. I didn't and didn't agree with D'Antoni take that it was because he was tinkering. I call that a coach trying to place the blame on himself (which good coaches do). The reason for our bad play was not about using the bench. Adding one more player to the rotation was not the difference between losing and winning. The team wasn't playing defense or crashing the boards in most of those losses. What's funny is if you actually believe that can be caused by opening up the rotation one more slot.

What some fans need to realize is that not everyone is cut to play in D'Antoni's system. Thats why he doesn't play them. Banks is to one on one and turns over the ball too much, Rose is too slow to run, Pike can't defend at all etc.. I am actually happy D'Antoni sees the value in getting KT minutes cuz while he won't help in the regular season as much he will be much needed in the playoffs.

I think fans realize that. The play of Marcus Banks clearly shows that to be the case. However, not every player off the bench has had the opportunity that Banks has. Not every player has been given weeks. Some of these guys have been 1 and done. Some of these guys play well then have one bad game then get benched.

Also, that's a bunch of crud about Rose. We can play with Kurt in the lineup as slow as he is. Also for 3 out of his last 4 games Rose ran with the team just fine. That was already debunked.

Let D'Antoni coach his way. Not every thing he does is going to work 100% of the time. But he is coaching this team for the playoffs. Where EVERY team goes to a 7 man rotation. Whats the point of developing Rose and Banks - are they going to be better than Barbosa or Diaw at any point? Probably not...

Nobody is saying they will be better. However, how many times have we seen this team go into funks? How many times have we seen teams slow things down...especially in the playoffs? Having another player come off the bench (who is agood half court player) can't hurt. Just as long as it's not Banks. I started to think Mike is a little paranoid with guys having bad games because of guys like Banks. However, then he gives someone like James Jones an entire month to turn around his bad play only for it to last 1 game. That's the only problem I have with D'Antoni. His coaching style is fun to watch and one of the reasons the team is so fun to watch.

 

[azirish]

I think the problem with most of the non-rotation guys is that they aren't good enough on defense. I know people think D'Antoni doesn't care about defense, but that's not really true. What's true is that he won't put guys on the floor who opponents don't have to defend.

Overall, D'Antoni shows a preference for quickness over power on both offense and defense plus great decision making. Unfortunately, the deep bench has not really shown enough athleticism for this style. Banks got a real shot at it because he's athletic, but his shooting and decision making just never measured up.

Why didn't the Suns do a better job in getting free agents last summer? Unfortunately their gamble on Banks didn't work and the rest of the guys are minimum contract guys who weren't expected to contribute.

The sad part is that many players have a very hard time coming off the bench and playing well. Hyper energetic guys like Barbosa are great in that role, but most guys seem to take a few minutes to get into the flow of things and tighten up. D'Antoni has a very quick hook, but he's hardly alone.

 

[dodie53]

don't fire coach D..

it will be too much burden for nash to be a playing coach!

 

[azirish]

don't fire coach D..

it will be too much burden for nash to be a playing coach!

You mean he isn't?

 

[dodie53]

i was being sarcastic..
hehe

 

[Mainstreet]

I think the suns need another big man and another big combo guard that can back up Nash and play with him and be a scorer. Not easy to find another Joe Johnson.
I was upset the suns did not sign John Salmons this last off season. He is not playing as many minutes because of the emergence of Kevin Martin, but he is what the suns need. Salmons played pg in college and would have been a great fit.

Your exactly right. The Suns minimally need another big man and a large combo guard in the off season. In regards to Salmons, he would have been a perfect fit in Phoenix instead of Banks. Going into the playoffs I fear the Suns lack of a large combo guard might cost them a Championship. This is where Phoenix needs depth the most especially with all the slashers in the league.

 

[msdundee]

You mean he isn't?

In many ways he is, at least an assistant coach. D'Antoni on Nash:

"He usually always makes the right choice, so whatever he’s doing I don’t question him- I’m not going to mess him up.”

There's that freedom again, and it's a mutual respect. A good coach has to trust his players, especially a player with Nash's level of ability, just as much as the players have to trust the coach.