Our present roster

[JCSunsfan]

Nash
Bell
Marion
Thomas
Amare
Barbosa
JimJ
Padgett
Diaw
Tischer
Dijon
Burke

pg
Nash, Barbosa, Diaw, Bell, JimJ

sg
Bell, JimJ, Barbosa, Dijon, Diaw

sf
Marion, JimJ, Diaw

pf
Thomas, Padgett, Tischer

C
Amare, Padgett, Tischer


Picking up Finley would make a big difference. Also adding a backup pg would help (Dickau or Payton).

One more big man would be good. It would be nice to have a shot blocker. I would bet that Dale Davis is coming to town. Amare and Shawn will have to be the shot blocker.

This is a deeper team than last year, but the top 7 isn't as good.

 

[damo]

i can't believe from last years team, that led the league in wins, there's only 5 returnees.

 

[scoutmasterdave]

Don't forget Pat Burke, yo...

<yawn>

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

i can't believe from last years team, that led the league in wins, there's only 5 returnees.

Well we only played 7 people. 3 of the 7 are gone, which sucks.

The only real big loss is JJ. I think everyone agrees Thomas is better for the team than Q. Hunter would never have played with another good big man on the roster, so his loss isn't that big of a deal.

 

[damo]

true we only really played 7 people, but there's 12 guys in a locker room, and more on a plane, and in practice etc. it's just a shame, y'know? im gettin all sentimental.

 

[Folster]

Nash
Bell
Marion
Thomas
Amare
Barbosa
JimJ
Padgett
Diaw
Tischer
Dijon

Compared to

Parker
Ginobli
Bowen
Duncan
Nazr
Barry
Horry
Glen Robinson (FA)
Nesterovic ?
Udrih
Devin Brown (FA)
Oberto
Massenburg (FA)
Mike Wilks (FA)
Linton Johnson
Sean Marks (FA)

 

[JCSunsfan]

BTW, the stars have really aligned for Barbosa. The door is wide open right now for him to make a splash--as a combo guard--playing both 1 and 2 with JJ gone.
It will be interesting to see what he can do.

LB looks his best when playing along side of Nash. No one is as fast down the floor, except maybe Shawn.

 

[Billythekid]

Time will tell if KT is better for this team than Q.

KT doesn't replace Q. Just because we traded Q for KT doesn't mean he'll replace him. Q spread the floor and was a dangerous 3 pt shooter. He had the green light to shoot whenever he wanted and that had teams very much on edge trying to man him up. Left alot other guys open, especially when we would swing the ball around the perimeter. Teams just couldnt man up on all our shooters. Well... we've lost that edge.

Like everyone is overlooking Hunters importance to this team, what about Q? Say what you want, but if a guy breaks the team record for 3 pointers made in a season, he's GOING TO BE MISSED. Remember why we were so good. Run and Gun. 3 point shooting.

This teams heart and soul has been slaughtered. Nash, Marion and Amare are GREAT! but is just so disappointing how we've blown up this team!

 

[jandaman]

Q is a better shooter than what his % showed.

You can tell that half his 3 pointers are for the heck of it, he's a chucker half the time since the suns offense flows that way. JJ shot well, I think having Q there helped take away attention off him.


Barbosa will probably need to improve his long range to get more minutes, since Bell and JJax will be sharing the volume of the shots.

Diaw intrigues me, he can thrive in the suns offense, but one thing that may limit him minutes wise, is that he cannot hit the perimeter shot.

Bell should see 13-14 ppg and JJax around the same, since they will be the suns main shooters.

 

[joshstmarie]

Q is a better shooter than what his % showed.

no hes not, these are his last 5 years 3pt shooting %

38
38
30
35
35

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Q spread the floor and was a dangerous 3 pt shooter. He had the green light to shoot whenever he wanted and that had teams very much on edge trying to man him up. Left alot other guys open, especially when we would swing the ball around the perimeter.

That isn't really accuracte. Q was the man that was left wide open while teams tried to man up our other shooters. That is why he got so many attempts. Teams focused in on Nash and JJ, and would drift from Q and Marion.

Just because he set a record for makes doesn't mean anything. Antoine Walker once held that record. You have to make a decent percentage for it to mean anything. Damon Jones was just behind him in makes, but shot a far less amount. His departure would mean a lot more to the heat than Qs does to us.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

no hes not, these are his last 5 years 3pt shooting %

38
38
30
35
35

Exactly. Q has ALWAYS been a streaky shooter.

 

[Billythekid]

That isn't really accuracte. Q was the man that was left wide open while teams tried to man up our other shooters. That is why he got so many attempts. Teams focused in on Nash and JJ, and would drift from Q and Marion.

Yes, my point exactly.

Now without Q AND JJ. Who hits all those 3's now?


And yeah, if he breaks a team record... it sure as sh*t means something

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Well Bell will prove to be an accurate 3 point shooter. Also figure that Jimmy will play a lot more than he did last season. When he got good steady minutes he was amazingly consistant. Didn't he shoot like 48% from 3 in the playoffs?

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

And yeah, if he breaks a team record... it sure as sh*t means something

Not really. If he broke it shooting an acceptable amount of 3s a game it would be impressive. I mean he took over 8 a game, of course he was going to break the record!

I would much rather have an accurate shooter than someone that makes a large amount of shots.

 

[Errntknght]

"Time will tell if KT is better for this team than Q."

Time will probably foster lots arguments about this question but it won't settle a thing because far too many other changes have been wrought. Even if we'd just traded those two but otherwise kept the team intact we might have a hard time knowing for sure - I say this because we've found there were strong resentments festering below the surface last year which might have dramatically altered the chemistry of the team had it stayed together.

Speculating what might have been is a good way to waste time in the off-season but I'm more intrigued by what D'Antoni is going to do with the group he's got and may yet get. It looks like the Suns still have two roster spots to fill to get the total up to 14.

Unless they've found a useful big in the person of Burke, you'd think they'd have to add another C/PF. I can't imagine having Padgett as our main backup for Amare and KT. Heck, I'd hate to start the season an injury away from him backing them up.

Then there's our backup PG commitee... JJack, Bell, Barbosa and Diaw. To me that's scary... I see Nash playing more minutes than last year. I'd be in favor of giving Smush another try if worst comes to worst. I'm serious though I don't think it will come to that. With the influx of PGs this year I think there'll be a couple of decent vets for the min... the likes of Brunson and Palacio. Maybe Frank Williams who's not a vet but might do.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Im glad Q's gone...he hit some big shots and i loved how he popped the Phoenix emblem when we would win....but he killed our offensive sets like four times a quarter by jacking up a wild three or a failed attempt to get to the hoop...

 

[Joe Mama]

Barbosa will probably need to improve his long range to get more minutes, since Bell and JJax will be sharing the volume of the shots.

Diaw intrigues me, he can thrive in the suns offense, but one thing that may limit him minutes wise, is that he cannot hit the perimeter shot.

Bell should see 13-14 ppg and JJax around the same, since they will be the suns main shooters.

Barbosa is a good three-point shooter. He just needs room to get his shot off. Last season Q averaged 35.8% three-point shooting. Barbosa averaged 36.7% last season and 39.5% the year before. This doesn't mean I'm sold on Barbosa getting many minutes on a good team, but he is a decent three-point shooter.

I'm not sure how we can possibly compare Kurt Thomas and Q. Yes, they were traded for each other, but they play completely different positions. On top of that there has been to many other changes on the team If we do have to compare Thomas and Richardson I would say that Thomas should make the Suns much better defensively and on the boards without sacrificing much on offense. He still spreads the floor even though he's not bombing away from three-point land. He should also allow Shawn Marion to break more often.

BTW Jim Jackson actually shot 51.5% from beyond the arc in the playoffs. He shot 45% from beyond the arc during the regular season. Depending on who else they acquire, he and Bell showed average 25-30 minutes per game each.

Finally, I would be surprised if the Phoenix Suns didn't make at least one more important move this summer. I'm not sure who it would be, but I think it will happen. I'm keeping an eye on a few of the Jones from Indiana. If they don't do anything this summer I think they'll make a move during the season. They'll key in on a young guy with a lot of talent who might not be making a big contribution to his current team just like JJ a few years ago.

Joe Mama

 

[Billythekid]

Im glad Q's gone...he hit some big shots and i loved how he popped the Phoenix emblem when we would win....but he killed our offensive sets like four times a quarter by jacking up a wild three or a failed attempt to get to the hoop...

We had offensive sets?

 

[elindholm]

Q is a better shooter than what his % showed.

Okay, I give up: What the heck is this supposed to mean? It's like saying that I'm taller than my height indicates.

 

[Billythekid]

Yep. Just like Barkley played taller than his height. Right?

I think the point he was trying make was that Q is a chucker. He puts up alot of ill advised shots which don't do his % any good, BUT the shots he takes within the flow of a set offensive are usually very accurate.

I don't think everything should come down to statistics.

 

[elindholm]

He puts up alot of ill advised shots which don't do his % any good, BUT the shots he takes within the flow of a set offensive are usually very accurate.

But there isn't a shred of evidence to support this. We wait and see if the shot goes in. If it does, it was "within in the flow," and if it doesn't, it was "ill advised."

I don't think everything should come down to statistics.

I definitely think there are cases where statistics can be misleading. It has never seemed to me that Richardson's poor FG% is one of those cases.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I would still like to see this team add another shooter, Scott Padget does not cut it for me, sorry.

 

[F-Dog]

Time will tell if KT is better for this team than Q.

If anything, they brought in Raja Bell to replace Q, not KT. I still think that the Suns' BT saw the Bell signing and the KT trade as a single move.

Here's a little chart of the team's roster turnover:


Last year-----This year
Hunter--------KT
Q-------------Jim Jackson
Jim Jackson---Raja Bell
Joe Johnson---they're screwed

 

[elindholm]

Last year-----This year
Hunter--------KT
Q-------------Jim Jackson
Jim Jackson---Raja Bell
Joe Johnson---they're screwed

So the Hunter - Thomas move is a big upgrade, the two wing shuffles are a wash, and the Johnson - Nobody move is a big downgrade.

Hmm.