Possible 2004-2005 Suns Lineup

[sunsfn]

I doubt very much if the suns will trade the 7th pick in any deal to get Ratliff.

Martynas is probably out of the draft, but if he was there and they took him, in a couple years he would have a good chance to be better than Ratliff.

Plus he would stay in Europe and not cost the suns any money until then.

 

[cly2tw]

If we don't get Kobe, I'd save the cap flexibility by signing one-year contracts. We'd have no chance to win anything, so why bother to commit our precious cap to mediocre complementary players before it's really necessary? Or is everyone convinced that great complementary players are harder to come by than franchise players?
Focus on (man-to-man) defense and let the players fight for minutes.

 

[George O'Brien]

It is relatively easy to justify signing Kobe, just hard to do. It is not easy to justify signing anyone else so I guess the Suns can plan on going into next season with the same crew as last season.

I can't comment on whether the Suns would lose these guys to other teams who will offer them less money, but over the years the Suns have had good luck at getting guy like Manning, Rogers, Delk, Chapman, etc. to sign on.

Is Barry old? At 32 I suppose he is older than might be optimal, but he is still a quality defender and a fantastic shooter. He can play point guard as well as playing off the ball, he is tall enough to defend SG's and still do a decent job on PG's. Even when he doesn't shoot, he forces opponents to play him tight which would open up more opportunities for the JJ, Shawn, and Amare.

Blount is not a top center and would not be paid like one either. Once he was given a chance, he proved to be better than expected on offense while being a solid defensive/rebounder type big man.

Maybe sitting on the cap space is the best move, but I don't see any straight free agent signings that would solve the Suns problems better than Barry and Blount. Nash and Okur? Yeech. No defense.

Do Barry and Blount give the Suns an instant championship team? No. Neither does Kobe. The current Suns have to get a lot better for this team to be a championship level team. Amare has to make the next couple of steps, JJ has to keep growing, Shawn has to become a better on the ball defender and smarter shooter, and Lampe has to become an NBA center. No signing is going to speed that process up, but it could make the team better both now and in the future.

 

[cly2tw]

Do Barry and Blount give the Suns an instant championship team? No. Neither does Kobe.

George,

you don't seriously think that those two scenarios have equal impact on how the Suns can build a contender after that, do you?

With Barry and Blount signed to more than one year, the Suns lose any chance to get a franchise player or the manuver flexibility via free agency. The latter is particularly precious for the current Suns, since, as you put it so eloquently, the players JJ, Marion, Zarko and Barbosa are all still of big question marks! After the coming season, you might need the cap space to play around. Why deprive yourself of this ability already now, just to hire some not so important complementary parts?

 

[George O'Brien]

Do Barry and Blount give the Suns an instant championship team? No. Neither does Kobe.

George,

you don't seriously think that those two scenarios have equal impact on how the Suns can build a contender after that, do you?

With Barry and Blount signed to more than one year, the Suns lose any chance to get a franchise player or the manuver flexibility via free agency. The latter is particularly precious for the current Suns, since, as you put it so eloquently, the players JJ, Marion, Zarko and Barbosa are all still of big question marks! After the coming season, you might need the cap space to play around. Why deprive yourself of this ability already now, just to hire some not so important complementary parts?

Fine, who do you have in mind?

We've gone over this many times. There are so few super stars and they move so rarely, it is hard to build a scenerio that actually makes one a Suns.

Ironically, having quality players under contract may make it easier to make a trade than simply sitting on cap space. The trade for Barkley happened because the Suns had so much depth that they could give up three players including an all star caliber guard and still be a place Barkley wanted to go to.

A trade is a vastly stronger option than sitting on cap space when seeking a top player. They just don't move often enough.

 

[cly2tw]

A trade is a vastly stronger option than sitting on cap space when seeking a top player. They just don't move often enough.

With cap you have flexibility! If someone trade a player for cap, they get a trade exception that might be a lot more valuable than the players they might have to accept to make the trade feasible. Barkley more or less forced his way anywhere he went. With the luxury tax in place, cap is a lot more valuable than before.

 

[Joe Mama]

Does anybody have a free-agent list for 2005? I think Amare Stoudemire was going to be a borderline superstar next year. It would not surprise me if he averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds over the season. I just hope his defense improves along with the team defense.

I also believe that with an upgrade at point guard, Center, and on the bench this team could easily contend in the Western Conference. Look at the state of the Western Conference right now. It appears the Lakers are falling apart. Sacramento is definitely on the decline. San Antonio has some room to make some moves, but they are far from a dynasty. The Timberwolves are good, but Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell are both older players. There are some young and upcoming teams, but there's no one that really looks like the next dynasty. It's more wide-open than it has been in some time.

In short, I don't think the Phoenix Suns have to get a superstar like Kobe Bryant to be a great team. That's not to say that I wouldn't want him here though.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Does anybody have a free-agent list for 2005? I think Amare Stoudemire was going to be a borderline superstar next year. It would not surprise me if he averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds over the season. I just hope his defense improves along with the team defense.

I also believe that with an upgrade at point guard, Center, and on the bench this team could easily contend in the Western Conference. Look at the state of the Western Conference right now. It appears the Lakers are falling apart. Sacramento is definitely on the decline. San Antonio has some room to make some moves, but they are far from a dynasty. The Timberwolves are good, but Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell are both older players. There are some young and upcoming teams, but there's no one that really looks like the next dynasty. It's more wide-open than it has been in some time.

In short, I don't think the Phoenix Suns have to get a superstar like Kobe Bryant to be a great team. That's not to say that I wouldn't want him here though.

Joe Mama

I think the opportunity is there. If the Suns can just tighten their defense and strengthen their bench, they have the potential to be quite good. If Amare makes it to the next level....