Ford: Suns offseason grade

[carey]

14. Phoenix Suns

Key additions: Hedo Turkoglu (trade), Josh Childress (trade), Channing Frye (re-signed), Hakim Warrick (trade), Lon Babby (president), Lance Blanks (GM)

Key subtractions: Amare Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa, Steve Kerr

After one last run in the playoffs for the always fun Suns, the sun began to set on Phoenix this summer. Steve Nash, the heart and soul of the Suns, is still plugging away at age 36. But the rest of his teammates have, one by one, left the team. Of the original run-and-gun Suns, he's the only remaining member.

The biggest defection of the summer came when Stoudemire bolted the team for the Knicks. If you've followed the Suns at all the past couple of years, you saw this coming, but when it finally went down, it still stung a little.

GM Steve Kerr also left the team, leading to an awkward situation where owner Robert Sarver used an NBA agent, Lon Babby, to help him navigate the summer free-agent waters without a GM. In the process, one of Babby's clients, Turkoglu, and one of his former clients, JChildress, landed in Phoenix and Barbosa was shipped off to Toronto. When the summer was over, Sarver hired Babby as the team's new president.

Babby is a respected agent and has been a voice of reason over the years, but his first moves this summer didn't wow anyone. Turkoglu is a good fit in the Suns' system but he's grossly overpaid with four years, $40 million left on his contract. Childress is super versatile, but was he worth a six-year, $33.5 million contract? And did I mention that he and Turkoglu both play the same position as another Babby client -- Grant Hill?

Meanwhile the Suns are very thin up front. Frye turned one good season shooting the ball off the bench into a starting gig and $30 million. The team also paid Hakim Warrick $12.75 million over three years to help back him up. Third-year big man Robin Lopez is the team's only true physical presence in the middle.

Gentry and Nash will still figure out how to get the most out of this squad and maybe even sneak the team into the playoffs -- but the direction the Suns are heading is clear and it won't be long until darkness covers the land of the sun.

Grade: D+

Link

 

[The Commish]

Next stop, years of mediocrity.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Next stop, years of mediocrity.

Good to hear. I was afraid we were due for some real dark days.

Steve

 

[elindholm]

A D+ is pretty harsh. Yes, Turkoglu is overpaid, but so was Barbosa, and Turkoglu at least offers the chance of springing back to his All-Star form. The Warrick signing is for chump change, and given how many $2-3 million contracts get thrown out to total stiffs, paying a bit more than that for a rotation combo forward doesn't seem like a big problem to me.

Frye was a mistake, and it's hard to know what to make of the Childress signing. I'll like the Childress acquisition a lot less if it means Dudley is gone. What I think is more likely is that Hill has told the Suns that this is his last year in Phoenix, so they're stocking up in the wing positions while they can.

I'd give them a B-.

As for the "years of mediocrity," it's too soon to tell. If the Suns' various trade pieces can be parlayed into something substantial mid-season, they might turn out all right. But otherwise, the plan is just to ride Nash until he's completely out of gas, and I agree that that won't be pretty.

 

[AzStevenCal]

A D+ is pretty harsh. Yes, Turkoglu is overpaid, but so was Barbosa, and Turkoglu at least offers the chance of springing back to his All-Star form. The Warrick signing is for chump change, and given how many $2-3 million contracts get thrown out to total stiffs, paying a bit more than that for a rotation combo forward doesn't seem like a big problem to me.

Frye was a mistake, and it's hard to know what to make of the Childress signing. I'll like the Childress acquisition a lot less if it means Dudley is gone. What I think is more likely is that Hill has told the Suns that this is his last year in Phoenix, so they're stocking up in the wing positions while they can.

I'd give them a B-.

As for the "years of mediocrity," it's too soon to tell. If the Suns' various trade pieces can be parlayed into something substantial mid-season, they might turn out all right. But otherwise, the plan is just to ride Nash until he's completely out of gas, and I agree that that won't be pretty.

I'd really have trouble giving them a grade. I thought all things considered they did fairly well in that they exceeded my expectations. But, OTOH, I had VERY low expectations for this offseason. As it stands, my only big complaint is that there should have been more compensation coming our way with the Hedo deal. Barbosa may have been overpaid but I think it's reasonable to expect him to come much closer to earning his contract that Hedo will.

This team isn't going to win it all and they'll probably struggle just to make the playoffs. Unlike many, I don't really have a problem with that as long as I believe there is a plan in place to build a true contender. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt in this regard but it's difficult to remain optimistic. Riding Nash till he drops doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

Steve

 

[jagu]

D+ ? Ford can suck it.

Dumping Mr. Run 100 mph into defenders and get rejected Barbosa got traded for a big man with passing ability and shooting ability alone gives us a C.

I give the Suns a B-. Yea Amare is gone but the Suns have the best bench in the NBA (pretty much a full starting lineup coming off the bench). I'm glad they gave them such a low score so when they whoop up on teams this year the ESPN reporters can once again hang on the Suns' jocks.

 

[jagu]

I also see years of mediocrity. That's how the NBA is built unless your in a great market. We'll always end up trading off players who we can't afford to keep around and the big market teams can always take a cap hit because they are making a ton of money. It's puzzling how the Knicks who have a huge market , can't win ever.

 

[Bufalay]

F

Amare is good.

 

[devilalum]

The Suns made some odd moves. It won't be the first time the Suns proved all the haters wrong.

 

[Yuma]

I'd give it a C. No real upgrades, just best of what we could get while keeping payroll manageable. I would give a higher grade, but I have no idea the vision the Suns have for this team as currently configured. Maybe when we see them take the court and see what they are trying to do, it will become more clear. I am guessing we are going to be playing a version of European ball this year. Race down court and jack up threes!!!!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

i want a minimum of 16 flops a game!!!

 

[AzStevenCal]

i want a minimum of 16 flops a game!!!

I wonder how many of them will be called in our favor. Maybe 3, tops?

Steve

 

[Superbone]

How about a grade of incomplete?

As in our PF position is now incomplete.

Speaking of which, I guess it's time to retire my signature.

 

[Mainstreet]

As I see it, the Suns will be deep (10+), very talented and athletic. What the Suns lack in bulk they hopefully will make up for with depth, shooting and hopefully the ability to play defense in some measure 48 minutes a game. The Suns have not replaced Amare but he was not the defensive player nor the rebounder the Suns always needed. The Suns will need to beat teams in the fourth quarter by outlasting them by essentially using two frontlines like last season. The Suns will need to wear down opponents like a boxer. However, everyone knows in the playoffs things change. I anticipate the Suns will make a trade for a big man before the trading deadline. I guess I will give the Suns a "B" for the offseason.

 

[Covert Rain]

I think D+ is a little harsh but not far off IMO. I would probably give the Suns a c-. We have a log jam at small forward, no depth in the middle, no go to big man scorer, no real rebounding presence and became more of a jump shooting team.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I think the grade depends on how you look at it. If you grade them based on where they started vs where they finished, it's a solid D. If you base it on how they performed vs expectations it's a solid B.

Steve

 

[pokerface]

Positionwise...D+

Talentwise...B

 

[Bufalay]

Positionwise...D+

Talentwise...B

How about long-termwise?