Lefty
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This from Hoops World. The Nene rumor is near the bottom in bold.
One and done is all the Suns could do before being dismantled by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. After playing fun-n-gun all season and using it to take out their first two playoff opponents, the Suns ran out of gas against the Spurs. The Spurs showed that they could also play the Suns style while playing stronger defense. The Spurs defense was able to shut down every player on the Suns team not named Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson.
Shawn Marion, Quentin Richardson and Jimmy Jackson all had problems against the Spurs defense. Mister Invisible is the new nickname that many Suns fans have been emailing me for Marion. One Suns fan wrote me an email telling that he didn’t even realize Marion was in the game till halfway through the second quarter in the fifth game. Marion had such a hard time because he is more of an open court player and not a half court set player. Q only scored more than 20 points once in the playoffs and that was in the first round. Q totally disappeared and showed why many Suns fans still do not like his singing. Instead of just picking one of top two SF left in the first round of the draft last year, the Suns shipped the pick to Chicago in order to have enough money to sign Q. Jimmy Jackson was able to play decently because he was often getting open shots but if he had a hand in his face, he really struggled.
The Suns saw a lot of things that they can improve on when they faced the Spurs. Amazingly, the Suns had such an amazing season it is hard to believe that there are so many areas that need improvement. This report is going to look at some of these things, draft preview and more. There will be a positional review after the draft, just because there are other things I want to talk about before I go over each position.
First things First: Resigning Players: The Suns top order of duty is signing Amare to a long term deal. Amare has shown an incredible amount of improvement just in the playoffs. These playoffs have shown him exactly how much he can do as a player and he is constantly improving his game. Coach Popovich of the Spurs constantly praised him in their series and Tim Duncan knows that he will be facing him for years to come. Amare deserves the Max and should get it.
The second order of duty is to sign Joe Johnson to a long term deal. The Suns remind me of the Indianapolis Colts football team. The Colts spend all their money on offense and just use the draft and pick up random players for defense. That’s how I think the Suns feel about their starting five. The Suns would rather have the best starting five possible while having a bench that consists of draft picks and lower tier players. A lot of people are wondering if the Suns are going to resign Joe or if they will let him go if another team offers him to big of a salary. If another team offers JJ a contract starting at over 8 million, will the Suns let him go? Well first off, the new collective bargaining agreement appears to have a max of 4 year deals. This plays to the Suns advantage as they would not mind matching or offering a larger contract for this short of a time. The new agreement also increases the size of the cap, letting teams spend more money on players. The severe penalties don’t kick in unless a team is extremely over the cap. The Suns would be no where near this. I would believe that the Suns would have no problem going over the cap as long as they keep a winning team in Phoenix. The Suns also have the fifth lowest payroll in the league. If they start throwing out some money, it shouldn’t hurt the owners to much.
Joe Johnson will be resigned, that’s all there is to it. The Suns will probably offer him a deal for the max amount of years starting at 7 million a year. He might wait and see what his market value is though. It depends a lot on the other shooting guards get as far as contracts before JJ knows exactly what he is worth. The Suns have said they will match any offer and this could scare away a lot of teams. Look for JJ to be resigned.
The Draft: The Draft offers some interesting opportunities for the Suns. They could pick up a player that could help immediately or get a player that would stay overseas to save the Suns some money. They could also trade the pick and player to get either more depth or help. There are lots of possibilities in the draft and a future Suns report will look at this when the draft is closer.
Resigning players and the Bench: Obviously the bench needs a lot of work. It appears that they only player on the bench coming back to the Suns is Jimmy Jackson and Leandro Barbosa. Bo Outlaw and Walter McCarty are both free agents. Walter would like to come back to the team and it appears that the Suns feel the same way. Steven Hunter and Jake Voskuhl both have player options and it looks like both will opt out of their contracts. Hunter is opting out because he is looking for more money and Jake is looking for a chance to play. Paul Shirley has a team option that will probably be exercised just because of his knowledge of the system. That leaves the bench with McCarty, Hunter, Barbosa, Jackson and Shirley coming back for next season. Voskuhl might pick up his option because he knows that he won’t make as much anywhere else. He might also pick up the option if the Suns find a team willing to take him and play him.
The Suns obviously need more defense as well as a true C so that Amare can go back to his natural PF position. This is going to be an interesting off-season. The Suns brass knows what they need and it will be interesting to see them get it. The Suns have some valuable assets in the 21st pick in the draft and Milos Vujanic – though he tore his ACL and is out for 4-6 more months. The Suns could also look to trade one of their starters. Q and Marion appear to be the two most likely starters to be traded out of everyone. The Suns need a center that can run and that is the only type of player they would be looking to trade a starter for. Out of the big men in the league, here is a list of who would be a decent addition to the team either through free agent signing or through trade:
Bucks: Dan Gadzuric – Would be a good free agent pickup if Steven Hunter out prices himself.
Magic: Kelvin Cato – A true Center that would provide tough defense and shotblocking, not very durable though and has no offensive talent. A trade of Shawn Marion for Cato, Hedo Turkoglu and a 1st round pick or a trade of Q and Jake Voskuhl for Cato and a first round pick would make this work.
Hornets: Chris Anderson – Anderson is an athletic shot blocker that will be a free agent, about in the same position as Gadzuric as far as signing him.
Grizzlies: Lorenzen Wright – Little undersized for the West but could play decently on the Suns. A trade for Voskuhl and Q for Wright and their first round pick would work.
Houston: Dikembe Mutombo – Should be a free agent. Though he doesn’t have much left, he plays all out in the playoffs and could be a great addition for a cheap price.
Denver: Nene – Denver needs a SG and Nene is expendable for them. Nene would start at Center for the Suns and Najera adds great rebounding and defense off the bench. A trade of Nene, Eduardro Najera and one of their two first round picks for Q and Voskuhl makes this work.
Portland: Theo Ratliff - Ratliff would be a great fit on the Suns. He is a runner and is an amazing defensive player. Has fallen out of favor in Portland but could make an impact on the Suns. The only player that’s contract is close is Marion and they don’t need another SF.
Bobcats: Melvin Ely – He is an undersized Center but showed that he can play their last year when he started some games. He is a good scorer and is willing to bang under the basket. Ely would be a good pickup if traded for Jake and future considerations.
Clippers: Chris Wilcox – Barbosa and Jake for Wilcox works for both teams. They need a SG and Barbosa could be an excellent shooter next to Shaun Livingston. Because of Livingston’s height, this wouldn’t even be a problem on defense. A pick or someone small from either side could get this deal to work. This is something I would extremely like to see the Suns do.
Other trades that could happen:
Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavs are dangling both Sasha Pavlovic and Jiri Welsch for a first round pick. The Suns could offer Jake and their first round pick for Jiri Welsch and a second round pick. This would be a great pickup for the Suns, especially if they move Barbosa sometime in the off-season.
Memphis and Boston: Both are looking to get rid of their first round picks, 19 and 18 respectively, and both could be had for cash and future considerations. Memphis is the least likely to deal with the Suns since they would only be helping a team in their conference. Because of Danny Ainge’s past affiliations with Phoenix, he could possibly be willing to sell the team a pick. This would be a great deal for the Suns if they trade their 21st pick to the Cavs or in any other form of a deal.
So let’s take three of the most likely scenarios above and see how they work. Paul Shirley – Team option -- and Barbosa go to the Clippers for Wilcox and two second round picks.
The Suns then send Jake Voskuhl and a first round pick to Cleveland for Jiri Welsch and cash. The Cavs also like this deal because it gives them an extra $200,000 to spend on free agents. The Suns then send Boston the cash they got from Cleveland as well as a second round pick in the future.
These deals would add a potential starter in Wilcox, a great bench reserve in Jiri and also move the Suns up two spots in the draft while giving up only one semi contributor off the bench in Barbosa. Each of these three deals could very easily accomplishable and could happen.
One and done is all the Suns could do before being dismantled by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. After playing fun-n-gun all season and using it to take out their first two playoff opponents, the Suns ran out of gas against the Spurs. The Spurs showed that they could also play the Suns style while playing stronger defense. The Spurs defense was able to shut down every player on the Suns team not named Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson.
Shawn Marion, Quentin Richardson and Jimmy Jackson all had problems against the Spurs defense. Mister Invisible is the new nickname that many Suns fans have been emailing me for Marion. One Suns fan wrote me an email telling that he didn’t even realize Marion was in the game till halfway through the second quarter in the fifth game. Marion had such a hard time because he is more of an open court player and not a half court set player. Q only scored more than 20 points once in the playoffs and that was in the first round. Q totally disappeared and showed why many Suns fans still do not like his singing. Instead of just picking one of top two SF left in the first round of the draft last year, the Suns shipped the pick to Chicago in order to have enough money to sign Q. Jimmy Jackson was able to play decently because he was often getting open shots but if he had a hand in his face, he really struggled.
The Suns saw a lot of things that they can improve on when they faced the Spurs. Amazingly, the Suns had such an amazing season it is hard to believe that there are so many areas that need improvement. This report is going to look at some of these things, draft preview and more. There will be a positional review after the draft, just because there are other things I want to talk about before I go over each position.
First things First: Resigning Players: The Suns top order of duty is signing Amare to a long term deal. Amare has shown an incredible amount of improvement just in the playoffs. These playoffs have shown him exactly how much he can do as a player and he is constantly improving his game. Coach Popovich of the Spurs constantly praised him in their series and Tim Duncan knows that he will be facing him for years to come. Amare deserves the Max and should get it.
The second order of duty is to sign Joe Johnson to a long term deal. The Suns remind me of the Indianapolis Colts football team. The Colts spend all their money on offense and just use the draft and pick up random players for defense. That’s how I think the Suns feel about their starting five. The Suns would rather have the best starting five possible while having a bench that consists of draft picks and lower tier players. A lot of people are wondering if the Suns are going to resign Joe or if they will let him go if another team offers him to big of a salary. If another team offers JJ a contract starting at over 8 million, will the Suns let him go? Well first off, the new collective bargaining agreement appears to have a max of 4 year deals. This plays to the Suns advantage as they would not mind matching or offering a larger contract for this short of a time. The new agreement also increases the size of the cap, letting teams spend more money on players. The severe penalties don’t kick in unless a team is extremely over the cap. The Suns would be no where near this. I would believe that the Suns would have no problem going over the cap as long as they keep a winning team in Phoenix. The Suns also have the fifth lowest payroll in the league. If they start throwing out some money, it shouldn’t hurt the owners to much.
Joe Johnson will be resigned, that’s all there is to it. The Suns will probably offer him a deal for the max amount of years starting at 7 million a year. He might wait and see what his market value is though. It depends a lot on the other shooting guards get as far as contracts before JJ knows exactly what he is worth. The Suns have said they will match any offer and this could scare away a lot of teams. Look for JJ to be resigned.
The Draft: The Draft offers some interesting opportunities for the Suns. They could pick up a player that could help immediately or get a player that would stay overseas to save the Suns some money. They could also trade the pick and player to get either more depth or help. There are lots of possibilities in the draft and a future Suns report will look at this when the draft is closer.
Resigning players and the Bench: Obviously the bench needs a lot of work. It appears that they only player on the bench coming back to the Suns is Jimmy Jackson and Leandro Barbosa. Bo Outlaw and Walter McCarty are both free agents. Walter would like to come back to the team and it appears that the Suns feel the same way. Steven Hunter and Jake Voskuhl both have player options and it looks like both will opt out of their contracts. Hunter is opting out because he is looking for more money and Jake is looking for a chance to play. Paul Shirley has a team option that will probably be exercised just because of his knowledge of the system. That leaves the bench with McCarty, Hunter, Barbosa, Jackson and Shirley coming back for next season. Voskuhl might pick up his option because he knows that he won’t make as much anywhere else. He might also pick up the option if the Suns find a team willing to take him and play him.
The Suns obviously need more defense as well as a true C so that Amare can go back to his natural PF position. This is going to be an interesting off-season. The Suns brass knows what they need and it will be interesting to see them get it. The Suns have some valuable assets in the 21st pick in the draft and Milos Vujanic – though he tore his ACL and is out for 4-6 more months. The Suns could also look to trade one of their starters. Q and Marion appear to be the two most likely starters to be traded out of everyone. The Suns need a center that can run and that is the only type of player they would be looking to trade a starter for. Out of the big men in the league, here is a list of who would be a decent addition to the team either through free agent signing or through trade:
Bucks: Dan Gadzuric – Would be a good free agent pickup if Steven Hunter out prices himself.
Magic: Kelvin Cato – A true Center that would provide tough defense and shotblocking, not very durable though and has no offensive talent. A trade of Shawn Marion for Cato, Hedo Turkoglu and a 1st round pick or a trade of Q and Jake Voskuhl for Cato and a first round pick would make this work.
Hornets: Chris Anderson – Anderson is an athletic shot blocker that will be a free agent, about in the same position as Gadzuric as far as signing him.
Grizzlies: Lorenzen Wright – Little undersized for the West but could play decently on the Suns. A trade for Voskuhl and Q for Wright and their first round pick would work.
Houston: Dikembe Mutombo – Should be a free agent. Though he doesn’t have much left, he plays all out in the playoffs and could be a great addition for a cheap price.
Denver: Nene – Denver needs a SG and Nene is expendable for them. Nene would start at Center for the Suns and Najera adds great rebounding and defense off the bench. A trade of Nene, Eduardro Najera and one of their two first round picks for Q and Voskuhl makes this work.
Portland: Theo Ratliff - Ratliff would be a great fit on the Suns. He is a runner and is an amazing defensive player. Has fallen out of favor in Portland but could make an impact on the Suns. The only player that’s contract is close is Marion and they don’t need another SF.
Bobcats: Melvin Ely – He is an undersized Center but showed that he can play their last year when he started some games. He is a good scorer and is willing to bang under the basket. Ely would be a good pickup if traded for Jake and future considerations.
Clippers: Chris Wilcox – Barbosa and Jake for Wilcox works for both teams. They need a SG and Barbosa could be an excellent shooter next to Shaun Livingston. Because of Livingston’s height, this wouldn’t even be a problem on defense. A pick or someone small from either side could get this deal to work. This is something I would extremely like to see the Suns do.
Other trades that could happen:
Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavs are dangling both Sasha Pavlovic and Jiri Welsch for a first round pick. The Suns could offer Jake and their first round pick for Jiri Welsch and a second round pick. This would be a great pickup for the Suns, especially if they move Barbosa sometime in the off-season.
Memphis and Boston: Both are looking to get rid of their first round picks, 19 and 18 respectively, and both could be had for cash and future considerations. Memphis is the least likely to deal with the Suns since they would only be helping a team in their conference. Because of Danny Ainge’s past affiliations with Phoenix, he could possibly be willing to sell the team a pick. This would be a great deal for the Suns if they trade their 21st pick to the Cavs or in any other form of a deal.
So let’s take three of the most likely scenarios above and see how they work. Paul Shirley – Team option -- and Barbosa go to the Clippers for Wilcox and two second round picks.
The Suns then send Jake Voskuhl and a first round pick to Cleveland for Jiri Welsch and cash. The Cavs also like this deal because it gives them an extra $200,000 to spend on free agents. The Suns then send Boston the cash they got from Cleveland as well as a second round pick in the future.
These deals would add a potential starter in Wilcox, a great bench reserve in Jiri and also move the Suns up two spots in the draft while giving up only one semi contributor off the bench in Barbosa. Each of these three deals could very easily accomplishable and could happen.
