Next Year's Roster

[George O'Brien]

I brought this up on another thread.

The Suns usually run an 8 man rotation unless there are guys in foul trouble or injuries. The way to think of the team is terms of starters, regular rotation backup players(usually 20 or more minutes) and role players (includes projects).

STARTERS

Stoudemire
Marion
Johnson
Barbosa
Voskuhl

ROTATION BACKUPS

Jacobsen
Eisley/or Vujanic
McDyess

ROLE PLAYERS

Vujanic/or Eisley
White
Carbakapa
Lampe
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A draft pick like Okafor could become a rotation backup early in the season. Howard and Smith are likely to be role players for the first year but might get into the rotation as the year goes on.

FA - A center would would replace Voskuhl and an outside guy would replace Jacobsen or push one either Marion or JJ into the Rotation Backup. That would push Jacobsen down to being a role player.
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Unless White or Eisley gets moved, this scenerio is 14 players.
It was not unreasonable to pass on taking on another role player this year, but giving it away without getting future pick was just stupid. While the second pick was certain to be a role player, he would have had at least some trade value.
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Any thoughts?

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by George O'Brien

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Any thoughts?

You create too many threads.

 

[cly2tw]

And don't think you could ever catch up with Chaplin's number of posts never!

Seriously, this is a team going no where next reason. Consider it another season to let Amare, JJ, Barbosa, Zarko getting mature. I will stay away until there is a franchise player on board so that I could assess the chance of this team becoming a contender. Consequently, I'm against signing a non-franchise FA to multiple-year deal and hope they don't give JJ an extension more than the MLE before that.

 

[Errntknght]

Hopefully, Vujanic will be JJ's starting partner in the backcourt. I like Barbosa on the team but I'm far from convinced that he'll ever be a starting PG in this league - he's shown almost no developement at point in generous PT. I can see him being useful coming off the bench to pick up the game tempo or when you want to put as much perimeter firepower as possible on the floor. He would probably be good as the ringleader of a 'pressing and scrambling' unit, should the coach decide to go that route. I'll be happy to be proven wrong about him but now I just don't see the court vision or playmaking skills starting to blossom.

You're probably right about Lampe's position on the team but that's more a statement about D'Antoni's shortsightedness than anything else. Lampe needs to be brought along with all possible speed just because it's possible he can do the job at center, where we are most hurting.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Errntknght
Hopefully, Vujanic will be JJ's starting partner in the backcourt. I like Barbosa on the team but I'm far from convinced that he'll ever be a starting PG in this league - he's shown almost no developement at point in generous PT. I can see him being useful coming off the bench to pick up the game tempo or when you want to put as much perimeter firepower as possible on the floor. He would probably be good as the ringleader of a 'pressing and scrambling' unit, should the coach decide to go that route. I'll be happy to be proven wrong about him but now I just don't see the court vision or playmaking skills starting to blossom.

You're probably right about Lampe's position on the team but that's more a statement about D'Antoni's shortsightedness than anything else. Lampe needs to be brought along with all possible speed just because it's possible he can do the job at center, where we are most hurting.

John Gambadoro can be a big mouthed, New York fool, but I will give him credit for one thing. He seems to have a good source inside the Phoenix Suns. Take it for what it's worth, but yesterday he said repeatedly that the Suns are very, very high on Vujanic. Gambo kept saying he would likely be the Suns starting point guard next season. I hope that's correct since it would probably mean he is better than Barbosa.

Joe Mama

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
John Gambadoro can be a big mouthed, New York fool, but I will give him credit for one thing. He seems to have a good source inside the Phoenix Suns. Take it for what it's worth, but yesterday he said repeatedly that the Suns are very, very high on Vujanic. Gambo kept saying he would likely be the Suns starting point guard next season. I hope that's correct since it would probably mean he is better than Barbosa.

Joe Mama

Um, duh!

Every chat with D or BC or Jerry has mentioned Vujanic and them being really high on him. I'm not sure what makes you think Gambo's "source" is really all that good when his evidence is plastered all over the net.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
John Gambadoro can be a big mouthed, New York fool, but I will give him credit for one thing. He seems to have a good source inside the Phoenix Suns. Take it for what it's worth, but yesterday he said repeatedly that the Suns are very, very high on Vujanic. Gambo kept saying he would likely be the Suns starting point guard next season. I hope that's correct since it would probably mean he is better than Barbosa.

Joe Mama

I suspect that the Suns will rotate Barbosa, Eisley and Vujanic next season in the "other guard" position. Several people on this board have questioned whether Vujanic is going to be a real PG, but it certainly sounds like he can play. Perhaps it won't make any difference who the "point guard" is because JJ will handle the ball more than most SG's anyway.

I'm not ready to write off Barbosa after a few rough games. He is still learning how to be an NBA point guard but he is not the only one.

Leandro Barbosa - Phoenix - 18.2 minutes per game. He is scoring 6.7 ppg on 44.3% shooting, 40% beyond the arc, with 2.1 assists per game.

There were several point guards taken ahead of Barbosa that have not been tearing up the league either:

Troy Bell - Memphis - 7 minutes for the entire season

Marcus Banks - Boston - averages 17 minutes a game. He is scoring 5.4 ppg but shooting only 38.3% and 30.3% for three. He is getting 2.2 assists.

Zoran Planinic - New Jersey - 7.6 minutes a game. He is scoring 2.5 ppg while shooting 40.6% and 25% beyond the arc. He averages 0.9 assists per game.

Reece Gaines - Orlando - 8.1 minutes a game. He is scoring 1.1 ppg on 20.5% from the field and 25% beyond the arc. He gets 0.9 assists per game.

Luke Ridnour - Seattle - He has looked good running the offense, but his stats are still not overwhelming. 15.9 minutes a game, 5.6 ppg on 40.1% shooting and 30.3 % beyond the arc, with 2.2 assists per game.

Ridnour came into the league as the most polished pass first point guard in the draft, but doubts remain whether he will ever be more than an adequate defender.
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The only rookie PG that is having a strong season is Kirk Hinrich of the bulls: 34.3 minutes a game, 10.8 ppg, 39.6% from the field and 38.8% for three, and 6 assists per game.

Hinrich had four years of college in a top program (Kansas) and was probably better prepared for the NBA than any of the other rookie PG's. Also, he is a lot less likely to shout out instructions to his teammates in Portuguese.

Overall, I'm optimistic about Barbosa's future. He plays very hard and has incredible physical skills. What he lacks is experience and a pretty jump shot.