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Republic: Suns Set ’05 Goal to Reach Playoffs
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
April 16, 2004
The Suns' 2004-05 season began Thursday.
The organization has a plan to turn a 29-win club into a playoff participant a year from now.
"Everybody has their dragons to slay," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We just have a lot of them."
Each coach on the staff will monitor assigned groups of players during the summer. Coaches will visit off-season homes, if necessary, to ensure that each player is on track.
"Everybody's got to be 100 percent ready to go," D'Antoni said. "We've got to get a jump-start on the season. If we start slow, that's nuts."
At the start of May, the younger players will begin workouts with the staff, while the front office crosses fingers for the May 26 draft lottery.
From there, the organization will prepare for the June 22 expansion draft. Phoenix is expected to leave Howard Eisley ($13.3 million over the next two years) and Jahidi White ($5.9 million next year) unprotected and could convince Charlotte to take one of them by including a draft pick and/or up to $3 million.
Two days later, the Suns will have their own first-round draft pick.
That lottery pick could be part of a formidable Rocky Mountain ***** summer league entry in mid-July.
The Salt Lake City league will be one chance for the less experienced Suns to work on the two primary areas they need to improve: teamwork and defense.
"If everybody could get on the same page, we could be unstoppable," guard Joe Johnson said.
Phoenix will woo free agents in the first half of July and could sign one or two of them starting July 14.
Most of the team should be in Phoenix for conditioning in September. Camp opens Oct 2.
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
April 16, 2004
The Suns' 2004-05 season began Thursday.
The organization has a plan to turn a 29-win club into a playoff participant a year from now.
"Everybody has their dragons to slay," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We just have a lot of them."
Each coach on the staff will monitor assigned groups of players during the summer. Coaches will visit off-season homes, if necessary, to ensure that each player is on track.
"Everybody's got to be 100 percent ready to go," D'Antoni said. "We've got to get a jump-start on the season. If we start slow, that's nuts."
At the start of May, the younger players will begin workouts with the staff, while the front office crosses fingers for the May 26 draft lottery.
From there, the organization will prepare for the June 22 expansion draft. Phoenix is expected to leave Howard Eisley ($13.3 million over the next two years) and Jahidi White ($5.9 million next year) unprotected and could convince Charlotte to take one of them by including a draft pick and/or up to $3 million.
Two days later, the Suns will have their own first-round draft pick.
That lottery pick could be part of a formidable Rocky Mountain ***** summer league entry in mid-July.
The Salt Lake City league will be one chance for the less experienced Suns to work on the two primary areas they need to improve: teamwork and defense.
"If everybody could get on the same page, we could be unstoppable," guard Joe Johnson said.
Phoenix will woo free agents in the first half of July and could sign one or two of them starting July 14.
Most of the team should be in Phoenix for conditioning in September. Camp opens Oct 2.
