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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/chris_mannix/08/19/suns/index.html
Script changes
Offseason moves rewrite Suns' plan of attack
Posted: Friday August 19, 2005 12:20PM; Updated: Friday August 19, 2005 12:42PM
Kurt Thomas
Almost more important than the defense he'll bring, Kurt Thomas will allow Amare Stoudemire to move from the center position.
Through 62 regular-season wins and two playoff rounds the Suns were a high-octane machine, posting the best scoring average in the NBA in 10 years and playing with a free-flowing style and flair not seen since the days of the Showtime Lakers.
At the end of the day -- and the Western Conference finals -- Phoenix's fun-and-gun style could not measure up to the disciplined play of San Antonio's Spurs, who put the hammer down on Phoenix in five games on their way to an eventual NBA championship.
So when this summer began, Phoenix GM Bryan Colangelo had two options: he could maintain the status quo and let his Suns take their chances in the West again next season with a revved up offense with no real defensive presence to speak of; or he could revamp his roster, break up a contending team that filled the seats (Suns attendance averaged 17,639 last season.) in favor of a more traditional lineup that paralleled the physical nature of the Western Conference.
Much like his team did last season, Colangelo didn't sit still.
With the trade of long-distance threat Quentin Richardson to New York and the pending departure of Joe Johnson to Atlanta, Phoenix will go into the 2005-06 campaign with a roster markedly different from the one that scored 110 points a game last season. Kurt Thomas, a rugged rebounder and adequate mid-range shooter who arrived in return for Richardson immediately becomes the Suns starting center, initiating a domino effect that bumps Amare Stoudemire to the power forward slot and Shawn Marion to small forward. Brian Grant, an amnesty casualty of the Lakers who signed this week, steps in as Thomas' backup. Grant may have had his worst season as a professional last year with the Lakers, but he's still a career 7.6 per game rebounder who is unafraid of mixing it up underneath.
Johnson's defection won't be so easy to fill at shooting guard. Michael Finley, an amnesty cut by the Mavericks, is Phoenix's first choice to replace Johnson, but league sources believe Finley is headed for an Eastern Conference team; despite the allure of returning to Phoenix (where Finley played from '95-97), the Suns can only offer the 6-foot-7 guard the veteran minimum of $500,000.
Phoenix's fallback is Raja Bell, a free agent from Utah who agreed to a 5-year, $24 million deal to move to the desert. Bell is not the perimeter threat Richardson is and isn't as versatile as Johnson, but he does bring the Suns a different quality: defense. Bell has a reputation as a hard-nosed defender, so much so that upon hearing of Bell's signing, Spurs swingman Manu Ginobili reportedly called his agent to gripe about Phoenix's acquiring one of his least favorite defenders.
In casting aside two-fifths of the starting lineup, everyone from Suns fans to coach Mike D'Antoni must be wondering if the club can continue to play the style to which they had become accustomed?
I don't see it. While the additions of Thomas and Grant undoubtedly will toughen up the Suns' interior, it also removes two of the bullets from the Suns' offensive chamber. Last year Phoenix had five guys who each could outrun their counterpart down the other end of the court. Grant, whose chronic knee problems plagued him in L.A., and Thomas would have trouble outrunning D'Antoni. Likewise Stoudemire and Marion, who easily outpaced fives and fours respectively, will find their once wide-open lanes becoming considerably clustered by more athletic forwards.
True, Steve Nash will still be running the show, but even the reigning MVP will encounter some problems. Despite losing in six games to the Suns in the conference semifinals Dallas took much of the teeth out of Phoenix's attack by employing a strategy that others are likely to mimic this fall -- allow Nash the ball -- and make him keep it. Nash rang up 121 points in the last three games against the Mavericks, and even though Phoenix won two of those games, the margins of victory were decidedly closer than in the series' first three contests.
And when Nash does manage to find an open teammate next season, an assist will be far from assured. Richardson made a league-high 226 3-pointers last year while Johnson was the NBA's runner up in accuracy, shooting 47.8 percent from beyond the arc. Bell, who averaged a career high 12.3 points last season with Utah, is a career 37.7 percent from long range.
This fall will be a trying time for the Suns. In addition to incorporating a confluence of different styles, Phoenix will be saddled with the additional burden of enticing Stoudemire to re-sign after this season. Should Phoenix falter or should Stoudemire be thrust back into the center position (a spot he loathes and cites as a factor in his happiness), he could sign Phoenix's one-year qualifying offer after '06, knowing that the Lakers, with their bevy of expiring contracts coming off the books in '07, will be waiting in the wings. It's a burden, to be sure, one the Suns may not be able to bear.
Script changes
Offseason moves rewrite Suns' plan of attack
Posted: Friday August 19, 2005 12:20PM; Updated: Friday August 19, 2005 12:42PM
Kurt Thomas
Almost more important than the defense he'll bring, Kurt Thomas will allow Amare Stoudemire to move from the center position.
Through 62 regular-season wins and two playoff rounds the Suns were a high-octane machine, posting the best scoring average in the NBA in 10 years and playing with a free-flowing style and flair not seen since the days of the Showtime Lakers.
At the end of the day -- and the Western Conference finals -- Phoenix's fun-and-gun style could not measure up to the disciplined play of San Antonio's Spurs, who put the hammer down on Phoenix in five games on their way to an eventual NBA championship.
So when this summer began, Phoenix GM Bryan Colangelo had two options: he could maintain the status quo and let his Suns take their chances in the West again next season with a revved up offense with no real defensive presence to speak of; or he could revamp his roster, break up a contending team that filled the seats (Suns attendance averaged 17,639 last season.) in favor of a more traditional lineup that paralleled the physical nature of the Western Conference.
Much like his team did last season, Colangelo didn't sit still.
With the trade of long-distance threat Quentin Richardson to New York and the pending departure of Joe Johnson to Atlanta, Phoenix will go into the 2005-06 campaign with a roster markedly different from the one that scored 110 points a game last season. Kurt Thomas, a rugged rebounder and adequate mid-range shooter who arrived in return for Richardson immediately becomes the Suns starting center, initiating a domino effect that bumps Amare Stoudemire to the power forward slot and Shawn Marion to small forward. Brian Grant, an amnesty casualty of the Lakers who signed this week, steps in as Thomas' backup. Grant may have had his worst season as a professional last year with the Lakers, but he's still a career 7.6 per game rebounder who is unafraid of mixing it up underneath.
Johnson's defection won't be so easy to fill at shooting guard. Michael Finley, an amnesty cut by the Mavericks, is Phoenix's first choice to replace Johnson, but league sources believe Finley is headed for an Eastern Conference team; despite the allure of returning to Phoenix (where Finley played from '95-97), the Suns can only offer the 6-foot-7 guard the veteran minimum of $500,000.
Phoenix's fallback is Raja Bell, a free agent from Utah who agreed to a 5-year, $24 million deal to move to the desert. Bell is not the perimeter threat Richardson is and isn't as versatile as Johnson, but he does bring the Suns a different quality: defense. Bell has a reputation as a hard-nosed defender, so much so that upon hearing of Bell's signing, Spurs swingman Manu Ginobili reportedly called his agent to gripe about Phoenix's acquiring one of his least favorite defenders.
In casting aside two-fifths of the starting lineup, everyone from Suns fans to coach Mike D'Antoni must be wondering if the club can continue to play the style to which they had become accustomed?
I don't see it. While the additions of Thomas and Grant undoubtedly will toughen up the Suns' interior, it also removes two of the bullets from the Suns' offensive chamber. Last year Phoenix had five guys who each could outrun their counterpart down the other end of the court. Grant, whose chronic knee problems plagued him in L.A., and Thomas would have trouble outrunning D'Antoni. Likewise Stoudemire and Marion, who easily outpaced fives and fours respectively, will find their once wide-open lanes becoming considerably clustered by more athletic forwards.
True, Steve Nash will still be running the show, but even the reigning MVP will encounter some problems. Despite losing in six games to the Suns in the conference semifinals Dallas took much of the teeth out of Phoenix's attack by employing a strategy that others are likely to mimic this fall -- allow Nash the ball -- and make him keep it. Nash rang up 121 points in the last three games against the Mavericks, and even though Phoenix won two of those games, the margins of victory were decidedly closer than in the series' first three contests.
And when Nash does manage to find an open teammate next season, an assist will be far from assured. Richardson made a league-high 226 3-pointers last year while Johnson was the NBA's runner up in accuracy, shooting 47.8 percent from beyond the arc. Bell, who averaged a career high 12.3 points last season with Utah, is a career 37.7 percent from long range.
This fall will be a trying time for the Suns. In addition to incorporating a confluence of different styles, Phoenix will be saddled with the additional burden of enticing Stoudemire to re-sign after this season. Should Phoenix falter or should Stoudemire be thrust back into the center position (a spot he loathes and cites as a factor in his happiness), he could sign Phoenix's one-year qualifying offer after '06, knowing that the Lakers, with their bevy of expiring contracts coming off the books in '07, will be waiting in the wings. It's a burden, to be sure, one the Suns may not be able to bear.
