Excellent Appraisal of Current Suns Roster

[ASUCHRIS]

I thought this scout put out a very well thought out, well reasoned explanation of the current situation the Suns face, including the puzzling lack of direction.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/suns.scout/

 

[Mainstreet]

Thanks ASUCHRIS.

This is a great article from Sports Illustrated. It tells the story like it is. I especially like the second paragraph.

I still think they have enough talent to make the playoffs, but they took a painful way to get here. Basically, they spent the last two years doing a flip-flop. They got rid of Mike D'Antoni and they said they wanted to play slower-paced basketball with Shaquille O'Neal. And then they realized they didn't like it because it negated two of their most valuable assets in Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa. It's an example of one of those things you don't appreciate until you don't have it anymore. Teams work hard to be good, and not every good team can win the championship. Phoenix tried to change the system instead of enjoying the success it had earned and knocking on the door every year, and I think now they would give anything to get back to the success they used to have. They wouldn't have been good enough to win the championship, but that doesn't mean they would not have been really good.

Part of the issue was that they have a meddlesome owner who wanted to dictate their moves. But they also had a rookie general manager in Steve Kerr, who, in coming as he did from the Bulls and the Spurs, realized the importance of defense and that there was no example of a fast team winning the championship. But at the same time, you have to know how hard it is to contend for the Western finals every year, and sometimes you need to just ride that thing out because who knows what can happen with injuries. Look at how Orlando wound up sneaking into the Finals last year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/suns.scout/

 

[CaptainInsano]

My favorite was the part about Amare. Pretty much dead on.

 

[krazyasiankid]

If only Sarver or Kerr read that article...

 

[carey]

If only Sarver or Kerr read that article...

It's funny you don't think that they do. I'm sure Kerr reads all of the major publications pieces about his team.

 

[AnotherHOMER]

It is what it is..

Lets play ball!

 

[mojorizen7]

Instead of trying to go old like Boston or trying to go young like Portland, it looks like they've taken the middle ground. But I would argue that it has left them nowhere. It's easy for me to say, but if they were going to tinker with the formula, they probably should have done a major overhaul and traded Nash and all of their assets for some young guys who could turn into something. Right now, I look at them and I don't see that this franchise has any kind of future.

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What i've been saying and beating into the dirt since D'Antoni left.

It's obviously fun & easy to be excited over a contender....

IMO(and i may be alone here) it's also exciting(in a different way) to witness a team change the culture,rebuild,go young and develope something thru the draft,FA etc...if you have good basketball people in place it doesn't have to take 10 years to do so.

Sorry,I CANNOT get excited about a middle-of-the-road-team that's going nowhere like this one.

 

[joshstmarie]

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What i've been saying and beating into the dirt since D'Antoni left.

It's obviously fun & easy to be excited over a contender....

IMO(and i may be alone here) it's also exciting(in a different way) to witness a team change the culture,rebuild,go young and develope something thru the draft,FA etc...if you have good basketball people in place it doesn't have to take 10 years to do so.

Sorry,I CANNOT get excited about a middle-of-the-road-team that's going nowhere like this one.

Im fine with it. Normally I wouldnt be but watching steve nash and grant hill on a semi nightly basis is a treat.

 

[dodie53]

let's just appreciate on what we have right now.

 

[DeAnna]

I heard Steve Kerr response to those that wanted them to trade everyone and start young. He said you can't just have a young team without any direction and veteran leadership. They would just be rudderless, and won't guarantee the young ones will actually develop.

Made sense to me.

Also, this sentence intrigued me (but I had heard this before):

"My impression is that the whole organization has been frustrated with him, mainly because he has not always taken his game and his role on the team seriously. You don't see him getting better and more mature as he gets older."

 

[Ronin]

wait

for

it!



Nash's Fault!

 

[goldseraph]

why cant reality be like my NBA 2k10 franchise, where somehow I dealt Nash, Jrich, Hill etc and ended up with this starting 5 -

PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - Barbosa
SF - Corey Brewer
PF - Amare
C - Lopez

 

[green machine]

why cant reality be like my NBA 2k10 franchise, where somehow I dealt Nash, Jrich, Hill etc and ended up with this starting 5 -

PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - Barbosa
SF - Corey Brewer
PF - Amare
C - Lopez

That team sucks.

 

[Covert Rain]

That team sucks.

That team would never sniff the playoffs.

 

[Superbone]

why cant reality be like my NBA 2k10 franchise, where somehow I dealt Nash, Jrich, Hill etc and ended up with this starting 5 -

PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - Barbosa
SF - Corey Brewer
PF - Amare
C - Lopez

Yuck.

 

[Yuma]

If they're not willing to trade Nash and Stoudemire, I can't see where they are headed.

I have a real problem with this statement. Who will take Nash's salary at his age? It's not like the Lakers or anyone else are knocking down Phoenix's door with trade offers. Amare has been oft injured lately, and kind of a B to B+ player. Would you pay big in a trade for him? Plus, you know he could be a free agent this off season, so why trade for him now? These are arguably our best two pieces in a trade, but really, what could we get for them? They are arguably worth more to us this season, than some risky young guys, draft picks (which we would trade away most likely), or a bunch of B and C level players. No one would give us a Super Star player even if we gave away BOTH Nash and STAT in a trade. I think we just run out the string. With our cap situation, someone needs to explain to our owner, just about the only way we can get better is through the draft right now. We should enjoy Nash and STAT while we have them, because the NEXT couple seasons could get REAL stark!

 

[WildBB]

I have a real problem with this statement. Who will take Nash's salary at his age? It's not like the Lakers or anyone else are knocking down Phoenix's door with trade offers. Amare has been oft injured lately, and kind of a B to B+ player. Would you pay big in a trade for him? Plus, you know he could be a free agent this off season, so why trade for him now? These are arguably our best two pieces in a trade, but really, what could we get for them? They are arguably worth more to us this season, than some risky young guys, draft picks (which we would trade away most likely), or a bunch of B and C level players. No one would give us a Super Star player even if we gave away BOTH Nash and STAT in a trade. I think we just run out the string. With our cap situation, someone needs to explain to our owner, just about the only way we can get better is through the draft right now. We should enjoy Nash and STAT while we have them, because the NEXT couple seasons could get REAL stark!

They don't even have a 1st next year do they?

So far so good. Maybe they'll stay healthy and surprise the pundits. They really need to have a good year this season. Hopefully Lopez and Drajic can make strides this year along with Clark. And I like Amundson and Dudley all out styles.

 

[mojorizen7]

That team sucks.

That team would never sniff the playoffs.

Yuck.

Come on fellas,don't sugarcoat it....LOL.
Tough crowd.

 

[jandaman]

Nash should improve his stats back to about 17 points and 11 assists a game at efficient percentages from the field/stripe.

Still not sure on Suns record, as they've shown to be far behind the elite teams (Orlando) even without 2 key players.

But I am curious but deep inside I want to see a new direction if things arent going by All-Star break.

 

[Mainstreet]

I have a real problem with this statement. Who will take Nash's salary at his age? It's not like the Lakers or anyone else are knocking down Phoenix's door with trade offers.

I think DA needs a spark-plug PG in NY but I don't see it happening.

 

[krazyasiankid]

It's funny you don't think that they do. I'm sure Kerr reads all of the major publications pieces about his team.

True. But if he actually absorbes the infomation he recieves is another matter.

 

[goldseraph]

That team would never sniff the playoffs.

How would that team suck? Westbrook is a future all star PG who plays excellent D, we know what Barbosa can do, Brewer is also a very good defender and long at SF, and a decent shooter. Amare at PF we know what he can do. Lopez sucks sure, but may improve or we can sub in Amundson or Frye for him. Much better imo than the current team and we'd have a future instead of having a 0% chance of making the finals in the next 10 years like now.

 

[Covert Rain]

How would that team suck? Westbrook is a future all star PG who plays excellent D, we know what Barbosa can do, Brewer is also a very good defender and long at SF, and a decent shooter. Amare at PF we know what he can do. Lopez sucks sure, but may improve or we can sub in Amundson or Frye for him. Much better imo than the current team and we'd have a future instead of having a 0% chance of making the finals in the next 10 years like now.

Two problems. Sure you could sub but you have Lopez/Amare still getting the bulk of your minutes. Meaning you would have one of the worst rebounding/defending front courts in the NBA IMO.

 

[krazyasiankid]

why cant reality be like my NBA 2k10 franchise, where somehow I dealt Nash, Jrich, Hill etc and ended up with this starting 5 -

PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - Barbosa
SF - Corey Brewer
PF - Amare
C - Lopez

Haha I agree.. My Suns 2K10 team is

Westbrook
Barbosa
Jeff Green
Josh Smith
Amare Stoudemire

Bench
Earl Clark
Anthony Morrow
Austin Daye
JaVale McGee
Ramon Sessions

 

[goldseraph]

haha too bad you cant swindle real nba gms like that, unless its Chris Wallace of course