Republic: It's decision day for Suns roster

[George O'Brien]

Republic: It's decision day for Suns roster

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 1, 2004 12:00 AM

By this afternoon, at least one Suns player you didn't know was ailing will be on the injured list and another player or two you didn't know would be on the team will become official members.

Official NBA rosters are due by 4 p.m. The Suns front office has known for days what it plans to do but was waiting until today to make sure there were no new injuries or changes of opinion.

Phoenix's first decision is whether to keep all 14 players on the current roster. It can do so by putting two of them on the injured list to start the season.

Point guard Yuta Tabuse's spot seemed to be secured Friday when Howard Eisley accepted a contract buyout. He also had the benefit of a partially guaranteed contract and his rapidly growing fan club.

Tabuse would be Japan's first NBA player.

Forward Paul Shirley, a make-good camp invitee, has shakier odds. The staff would love to keep the 6-foot-10 journeyman, but it is more of a financial decision that lies with management.

The Suns also must decide who will go to the injured list if they keep more than 12 players. Heading into Sunday's off day, Phoenix had nothing more than "nicks and bruises" to heal. Rookie Jackson Vroman has not only recovered from a broken thumb but worked his way to quality minutes.

Tabuse, Shirley and Zarko Cabarkapa are injured list candidates.

Cabarkapa may have benefited if he had chosen to stay in Phoenix this summer like fellow 2003-04 rookies Maciej Lampe and Leandro Barbosa. Lampe and Barbosa improved significantly from individual daily workouts with staff and heavy minutes in summer leagues.

Instead, Cabarkapa chose to return to Serbia in hopes of playing in the Olympics, only to be cut by his national team.

Cabarkapa never regained the promising form of a year ago. He had light duty in the preseason, shooting 23.3 percent from the field and making more turnovers (nine) than assists (six).

I would not be shocked if Yuta made the top 12 and Zarko went on IR. Neither would play except at garbage time and the PR buzz from Yuta might make a difference.

Another consideration is that a player on IR does not have to travel with the team, so the Suns could simply leave Zarko in Phoenix to work on strength and condititioning. Zarko needs to be about 20 pounds heavier, a lot stronger, and quicker on defense. These are conditioning issues won't be improved by flying round and participating in shoot arounds.

 

[jbeecham]

Zarko also needs to shoot about 1000 shots a day. His preseason FG average was around 22%. I was really hoping he would come back and play like he did against Dallas last year before Fortson cheap shotted him. Against Sacramento, he looked worse than he ever did all of last season. On top of that, we've got Amare, Lampe & Vroman who can play PF and Marion, JJ, Q & occasionally CJ that can play SF. He's really going to need a lot of work if he wants to crack the rotation and he's not going to be able to put in the time if he's traveling with the team.

Also, I don't see Shirley making the roster. I didn't see that much of him during the Sac game. He looked better than Zarko, but that's not saying much. I think the team has enough depth that they don't need the extra insurance of having another spare 12th man (Zarko would come off the IR 1st).

 

[khilari]

I think that we should dump Shirley and pick up a young shot blocker that we really need to sit and learn on the bench from our coaches. Any thoughts???