Analysis: Phoenix Suns add more talent and questions

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Analysis: Phoenix Suns add more talent and questions

Deals for Turkoglu, Childress offer quality, create intrigue

13 commentsby Paul Coro - Jul. 12, 2010 10:06 PM
The Arizona Republic



When the Suns'

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trades likely are done Tuesday, adding Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress while losing Leandro Barbosa makes the Suns undoubtedly more talented.
For Phoenix to come away from Amar'e Stoudemire's exit with Hakim Warrick, Turkoglu and Childress is more palatable than how nothing would have tasted. Leandro Barbosa and possibly Dwayne Jones will go to Toronto for Turkoglu. A three-way deal involving Charlotte that would send ex-Suns player Boris Diaw to Toronto remains a possibility, but a Barbosa-Turkoglu swap will happen regardless.



The Suns also will send a 2012 second-round pick and a trade exception to Atlanta for Childress.
The deals make the Suns intriguing and relevant again, just as they were starting to look like a fringe playoff team without Stoudemire. But how will it work in Phoenix?
Can last season's hailed Suns chemistry survive losing three rotation players and others getting fewer minutes because of more overlap on the wings? Can a poor rebounding team get by with Turkoglu as the starting power forward

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? Will the Suns' go-to play of Steve Nash running the pick-and-roll be anywhere close to as effective with Robin Lopez and Warrick as his top pick-and-roll partners? Can Earl Clark get that promised rotation time if there are six people ahead of him who can play one or both of his forward spots?
Turkoglu was struggling and unhappy in Toronto, but he is two years removed from arguably playing like an All-Star. Even at 6 feet 10, Turkoglu at power forward harkens back to when the Suns reached the conference finals four years ago with Diaw as a makeshift center and Shawn Marion as an undersized power forward. Turkoglu's ability to guard power forwards is questionable, but the 31-year-old's ability to stay in front of wings could be a concern, too. Defense and rebounding from the Suns power-forward spot already was questionable when Stoudemire was there.
Turkoglu has a court savvy that helps him at both ends. However, Turkoglu often ran the Orlando offense in his best years, but the Suns have Nash to dominate the ball.
Turkoglu was disgruntled in Toronto but wants to be here, especially if his agent, Lon Babby, aided it and is set to head the Suns' basketball operations. Turkoglu will yield about $5 million of his trade kicker and make his $12 million salary for 2013-14, when he is 35, only half-guaranteed.
The Suns will pay Childress an average of $6.6 million over the next five years to back up Jason Richardson and Grant Hill on the wings, where Phoenix also has Jared Dudley and potentially Turkoglu, Clark or Goran Dragic at times. Dudley is up for a contract extension by October, but how does Childress' contract affect that?
Phoenix was set up for salary-cap space next summer before the moves but still is not a luxury-tax team and does not have a regrettable contract.
Coach Alvin Gentry once thought last season that a 10-man rotation would be too difficult, but he pulled it off without internal issues.
Can he do it again with the cast and situations changed? The versatility of the multipositional, multiskilled Suns could make for unconventional lineups.
Their makeup lends to continued use of zone defense as a scheme rather than a last resort.
The bench is set up to be a difference-maker with better defense again with Dragic, Childress, Dudley, Warrick and Channing Frye as a second unit.
The Suns have much to work out but more talent to do so than when last weekend began.

Note


The Suns got their first NBA Summer League win Monday, 96-88 against a D-League Select team in Las Vegas. They were boosted by the debut of undrafted guard Scottie Reynolds, a roster candidate who missed the first two losses with an Achilles' injury. He scored 16 points in 19 minutes with 11 points in the first quarter. Earl Clark shot poorly in two losses but scored 18 on 6-of-12 shooting Monday, when he also had six turnovers. Second-round pick Gani Lawal had 15 points, 11 rebounds, 10 fouls and seven turnovers.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sun...oenix-suns-trades-analysis.html#ixzz0tXhECo8i

Coro does not seem to see the lieklihood of a trade, which is surprising.