Unless the Suns become willing to trade for playable depth. Miami seems to me like a team that wants high level players and will fill out the rest of their depth however they can. Marion and Banks for Haslem, Williams and Wright seems like a trade that addresses problems for the Suns and the Heat.
- The Heat would have three legitimate stars. They could trot out a starting lineup of Parker, Wade, Marion, Walker and Shaq.
- The Suns would have a dirty work power forawrd who can hit jump shots, a down-the-line wing and a point guard who actually fits the system as a back up.
- The Suns would save 13 million dollars after the season, save 5 million dollars in salary this season, plus the luxury tax money, which saves them an additional 5 million.
- I honestly think that if Williams was given the freedom to play his true, risk-reward style of play off the bench for the Suns, he'd be very effective. He's only needed to play 15 minutes per game off the bench, which would mean that Nash's minutes would cut down to 33 a game.
- They'd have a smart, big defender to go against the best opposing post player, and the Suns would have 3 big men who are capable of playing 30-40 minutes a night at power forward or center. Also, I think Diaw and Haslem would work very well together on the floor.
- Everyone has clearly defined roles. Nash is the leader. Stoudemire is the finisher and go-to scorer. Bell is the perimeter defender/shooter. Hill is the utility knife. Haslem is the post defender. Barbosa is the bench spark. Diaw is the game changing forward/center off the bench. Williams is the streaky, kind of crazy, can take over the game or be put back on the bench back up point. Am I crazy, or can that team beat San Antonio and Dallas? Haslem did a great job on Dirk in the finals, he can probably be serviceable against Duncan. Sure, we have no one to guard Parker, but we don't have that with our current team. Maybe Strawberry can do it. Who knows? But the Spurs have no one to guard Stoudemire.
Lineup
Nash/Williams/Barbosa
Bell/Barbosa
Hill/Bell/Tucker
Haslem/Diaw
Stoudemire/Diaw/Marks
If the Suns manage to add PJ Brown, they'd have a legitimate 9 player rotation of Nash, Bell, Hill, Haslem, Stoudemire, Barbosa, Diaw, Williams and Brown. There's also the hope that someone from Marks/Tucker/Strawberry could be helpful in injury situations.