How about this?

[jimjames1]

I'm not really sure who is going to start at center this year. Frank Johnson has said that he likes Jake Voshkul's energy off the bench, and I kind of agree with him on that. Scott Williams isn't exactly starter material, and Carbakapa supposedly is more suited for small forward than anything at this time. So who does that leave? I was thinking, how about starting Amare Stoudemire at center and Tom Gugliota at power forward, or at least vice versa. Obviously, having Amare at center isn't optimal, but if we're going to be playing small-ball, he's going to have to play some time in the middle anyway, and I don't think he'd mind banging with the bigger guys of the NBA anyway. This way though, we keep Voskhul's energy as a 6th man, we don't have Scott Williams and his dwindling talent as a starter, and we give Googs a chance to start again. He's had a tough time adjusting to coming off the bench, and even though it woudln't be the biggest line-up ever, we'd still have two guys over 6'10 on our front line, and that's not too bad.

Now, this all hinges on whether or not Googs can still compete in this league, but for some reason I do believe he can. With Zarko and Williams not going to be able to benefit from training camp, it wouldn't even be fair to them to just throw either of them into the starting lineup right away, and there's no reason not to give Gugliota a real opportunity to prove to all of us, and himself, that he can still do it.

Stephon Marbury
Penny Hardaway
Shawn Marion
Tom Gugliota
Amare Stoudemire

I think that's a pretty tough lineup.

 

[3rdside]

yup, i agree. I am expecting this line up fairly often; it might even be the starting day line up. I have no problem with it.

I guess it's fairly logical to expect goog's to be the first one off and JJ to be the first one on. JJ for goog's then cabarkapa for penny or something like that.

 

[F-Dog]

That's the lineup I guessed the Suns would use when I first saw the trade, and I haven't seen anything to change my mind.

Voskuhl and Archibald are both short-minute players, and Scott Williams was a perfect candidate for IR even before he hurt himself.

Also, I'd much rather see Googs at center than Amare--why put the team's 6'9" pheenom through the meat grinder at center every night, when overpaid, washed-up Googs is available? Playing center might even be effective as motivation for Googs:

"Hey, Tom, we need to start working on what you're going to do against Shaq next week...oh, and by the way, I was wondering whether you had reconsidered waiving that trade kicker yet?

Anyway, here's the team's depth chart in my mind, given that everybody is healthy and effective and cool:

PG: Marbury, Barbosa, (B. Knight)
SG: Penny, Dermarr, Casey J
SF: Marion, Joe J
PF: Amare, Zarko
C: Googs, Voskuhl, Archibald, (S. Williams), (Trybanski)

Obviously, Joe J will get most of his burn at SG. After last year's playoffs, though, I'm starting to think that SF is his natural position...

 

[JCSunsfan]

BC said that he had expected Scott Williams to emerge from camp as the starter, but I don't buy it. I think they envision Googs or Amare to fill that role.

If healthy both can run, and both are good rebounders.

I think that they have been through so many injury issues with Tom that they are afraid to mention him as getting many minutes for fear of being laughed out of the building.

They would rather just wait and let Tom prove himself on the court.

They seem to be very high on this kid Archibald. He's 6-11, but a tank, with the ability to shoot, and decent athleticism. They probably are thinking about using him against the bigger centers. I still don't seem him making the team.

 

[Errntknght]

Frank has fewer brain cells than I thought he had... Voshkuhl looked better starting than he did coming off the bench and he didn't pick up fouls near as fast. In fact, Frank's idea of Jake emulating Bo Outlaw is completely ridiculous - he never looked worse than when he was trying to chase guards around the perimeter, and he fouled like crazy. I like Jake's energy but only when he channels to staying at home on his man and getting rebounds. I'd like to see him using some energy on offense but it looks like FJ doesn't want him involved - I'm thinking in terms of him finding open spots for mid-range jumpers like Scotty does, in addition to his occasional 'cripple' in close. None of us know if he can be successful with those shots since he's taken like three in his whole career - but he claims he's been working hard on them and it's sure worth a major trial run. If he can be modestly successful he'll probably be fine as the starting center on this team.

I don't have a problem with Googs getting some spot duty at center or sliding Amare over to let Zarko get a few minutes at PF but the right thing to do is to make Jake the starter and show some confidence in him. Stop the 'Bo Outlaw lookalike' bit. Give him a well defined role in the offense. If he's got some energy to spare have him use it running the floor. How hard is it to take the best guy you have for a slot and give him a serious chance to succeed? Even a third rate coach should figure that one out. (That said, I expect FJ to jerk Jake all around for five months then try it for three games, with no enthusiasm whatsoever.)

 

[devilalum]

ZArko
Marbury
Marion
Amare
Gugliotta
Voskul
Barbosa
Knight (if not traded)
JJ
Penny

I bet we'll see every possible combination of 5 from this group before Christmas except maybe the 5 guard lineup.

 

[elindholm]

I do not think we will see any lineup that includes any three "bigs" at the same time, such as

Voskuhl, Stoudemire, Cabarkapa
Voskuhl, Stoudemire, Gugliotta
Voskuhl, Gugliotta, Cabarkapa
Stoudemire, Gugliotta, Cabarkapa

Did I miss any? In other words, I don't expect to see Cabarkapa seeing any time at all as a "true" SF.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Originally posted by elindholm
I do not think we will see any lineup that includes any three "bigs" at the same time, such as

Voskuhl, Stoudemire, Cabarkapa
Voskuhl, Stoudemire, Gugliotta
Voskuhl, Gugliotta, Cabarkapa
Stoudemire, Gugliotta, Cabarkapa

Did I miss any? In other words, I don't expect to see Cabarkapa seeing any time at all as a "true" SF.

Question, why?

 

[elindholm]

For the Suns and their coaching staff, it would be as dramatic and silly a departure from the norm as having the players wear their jocks outside of their shorts.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

lol, interesting choice of phrase.....A lineup of Stoudemire, Gugliotta, Cabarkapa doesn't seem like that much of a stretch, to you me, and hopefully the suns, especially against bigger teams. I think you're wrong, from what I've heard, Cabarkapa would be a very effective SF, but I guess we'll both see.....