So, what now.......?

[JS22]

As it stands:

Kurt out for essentially the entire season. (he MAY be able to return for a late playoff run.)

Nash is ailing. You could see it tonight. Keep playing him 40 minutes a game and his hammy is going to explode. He honestly needs to rest for a week.

JR's wrist clearly hasnt recovered. His shot looks different, and none of them were even close.

Skita has an ankle sprain, which could sideline him for a few weeks.

Muststard, excuse me, Dijon is done for the season with upcoming knee surgery.

Brian Grant is still out for about a month.

Amare isn't coming back until at least 2-3 weeks from now.

So essentially we have:

Healty

Barbosa
House
Marion
Diaw
Bell
Burke (haha!)
Jackson (ugh.)

Ailing

Nash
Jones

Out for an extended period

Amare
Grant
KT
Dijon
Skita ???

This is cleary NOT good news. Phoenix has to do something. Lee Nailon, Fizer, Traylor? Anyone? ...Tim Thomas?

 

[mribnik]

I just posted a list of FA over in the KT thread. Just curious, what ever happened to Marcus Fizer?

 

[elindholm]

The only one who plays at a high enough level to make a real contribution is Tim Thomas, and he doesn't address the big man problem. I suppose if Stoudemire comes back very strong, he and Diaw could scrape by at center, but I can't see that working against the Spurs.

Unless there's an overseas savior, this looks pretty bad. But I won't go into more detail, since I know how upset some people get at anything that sounds "pessimistic."

 

[nathan]

Paul Shirley quit that Chinese team, right?

 

[panfolk]

The only one who plays at a high enough level to make a real contribution is Tim Thomas, and he doesn't address the big man problem. I suppose if Stoudemire comes back very strong, he and Diaw could scrape by at center, but I can't see that working against the Spurs.

Unless there's an overseas savior, this looks pretty bad. But I won't go into more detail, since I know how upset some people get at anything that sounds "pessimistic."

Personal attacks and trolling are what upset "people". Looking at the glass as half empty in our current scenario is merely realism.

 

[George O'Brien]

It is easy enough to rag on Burke, since he seems inclined to make too many "rookie" mistakes that reflect how short a time he's been in the NBA. On a bad team, he'd have had a chance to play through his mistakes but on the Suns that was not possible.

Can they do better with a free agent at this late date? We'll see. But if they can't, then the coaching staff is going to have to put a lot more time and effort into getting Burke to play within himself and cut down on his errors. It won't be easy, but playing Yao and Mutombo with just Diaw and Jones does not look like a promising plan.

 

[az1965]

Kurt did a solid job on Yao last time. This will be a big problem Monday.

 

[Chaplin]

If only Dijon wasn't hurt...

 

[Louis]

Kurt did a solid job on Yao last time. This will be a big problem Monday.

Yao might play even less since Phoenix will put a fast team on the court to counter missing KT.

 

[slinslin]

Kurt will come back right at the end of the regular season as it stands right now, that's if he misses a full 8 weeks.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Maybe it's time to dust off Jackson. He might be able to get his 20-25 minutes per game now. He's probably pretty fresh.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns need a veteran bigman off the bench. I don't think Burke even got off the bench in the second half. He just does not have the NBA athleticism to compete.

IMO, it was pretty obvious he does not have the quickness to play inside with another team's frontline (or even most bench players). This is not a knock on Burke as a person or the effort he puts forth.

Diaw and Marion are the Suns center and PF respectively with no present reliable backup. If Skita were healthy I would have been glad to see if he could do anything, however, he is probably a year away from contributing if ever. I just don't believe Burke can get the job done off the bench.

 

[Louis]

Maybe it's time to dust off Jackson. He might be able to get his 20-25 minutes per game now. He's probably pretty fresh.

Unless JJax can grow 5-6 inches he isn't going to be able to help. But with all his sitting he's probably shrunk.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Unless JJax can grow 5-6 inches he isn't going to be able to help. But with all his sitting he's probably shrunk.

That's damn funny. But we will probably go even smaller now that KT is down.

 

[Yuma]

This season has been doom and gloom since it began and we knew Amare was hurt. With every injury, this forum has decried our season is over. Still we are only 4 games off the pace of last season. When are we going to enjoy this season? Seems this whole forum is like, "Yeah, we won by 15 points last night, BUT San Antonio will still beat us in the playoffs. Why bother."

Maybe Chaplin is right, if only Dijon wasn't hurt!

 

[Mainstreet]

This season has been doom and gloom since it began and we knew Amare was hurt. With every injury, this forum has decried our season is over. Still we are only 4 games off the pace of last season. When are we going to enjoy this season? Seems this whole forum is like, "Yeah, we won by 15 points last night, BUT San Antonio will still beat us in the playoffs. Why bother."

Maybe Chaplin is right, if only Dijon wasn't hurt!

Or Skita?

He is probably a year away from developing (if ever) but I was hoping to get some use out of him this year. Now even this appears to be highly unlikely.

Seriously, who is the Suns backup Center behind Diaw (please don't say Burke) and backup PF behind Marion (James Jones???)?. The Suns' coaching staff has worked marvels with the players they have but the Suns are running out of players that can play the 4/5. Diaw is totally indespensible at Center with their dearth of quality big men. If Diaw gets into foul trouble or needs rest, the Suns are hurting.

I hate to think if Stoudemire or Grant cannot return this year. I'm thinking the return of KT is doubtful.

 

[Chaplin]

This season has been doom and gloom since it began and we knew Amare was hurt. With every injury, this forum has decried our season is over. Still we are only 4 games off the pace of last season. When are we going to enjoy this season? Seems this whole forum is like, "Yeah, we won by 15 points last night, BUT San Antonio will still beat us in the playoffs. Why bother."

Maybe Chaplin is right, if only Dijon wasn't hurt!

Doesn't matter. Most people on this board think Sarver's the Devil, Bryan Colangelo is god, and JJ was worth 70 million dollars to this team.

Kurt Thomas being injured is just another log to add to their fire.

And yet, we still are playing good basketball.

 

[Mainstreet]

And yet, we still are playing good basketball.

I think the Suns are playing good basketball but don't you think the Suns are very short on depth at the 4/5 now? And there is no guarantee KT will be back this year nor Amare or even Grant. Are you that high on Burke backing up Diaw at Center? I'm willing to give it a further try but I'm certainly not counting on him getting the job done even as a reserve.

He didn't even get off the bench in the second half of the Suns' last ball game as I recall.

Really, I'm worried that in a pinch Marion may be forced to play Center and Jones play PF if Diaw goes to the bench for foul trouble or a rest.

Very scary.

 

[Chaplin]

I think the Suns are playing good basketball but don't you think the Suns are very short on depth at the 4/5 now? And there is no guarantee KT will be back this year nor Amare or even Grant. Are you that high on Burke backing up Diaw at Center? I'm willing to give it a further try but I'm certainly not counting on him getting the job done even as a reserve.

He didn't even get off the bench in the second half of the Suns' last ball game as I recall.

Really, I'm worried that in a pinch Marion may be forced to play Center and Jones play PF if Diaw goes to the bench for foul trouble or a rest.

Very scary.

I never said we aren't short on depth, this has been a worry throughout the season. But the question is, is it a big worry? I don't know, for some reason, I don't feel too bad about it.

And I certainly never said any of that above, like being happy that Burke is backing up Diaw. My philosophy is that we have to make due with what we have--there are precious few free agents I would rather have other than Burke to do the job.

 

[hsandhu]

As it stands:

Kurt out for essentially the entire season. (he MAY be able to return for a late playoff run.)

Where did you get this? Based on Kurt's comments in the paper, it seems as if he fully expects to be ready for the start of the playoffs. I think he also feels in 8 weeks, if he still feels some pain he can still gut it out and play.

 

[elindholm]

The current situation is simply unacceptable. There is only ONE big man on the roster, and that's Burke. We can wave our hands and say that Marion can play PF, or Diaw can play C, or Tskitishvili will be able to play at all someday, but there's a limit to how far those gimmicks can take you. The Suns can't survive with only a single PF/C on their roster, especially when that person is barely NBA caliber.

I don't know what they will or should do, but it has to be something. Standing pat is suicide.

 

[Errntknght]

A couple of months ago I would have said to give Burke some minutes and hope but now I'm convinced it's a waste of time. What really ticks me off about him is that he isn't too unathletic to play in the league - he simply doesn't get his head into the game. Or he's lacking the mental wherewithal to do it. The way this team rebounds the door has been open for him ever since Grant went out but he hasn't shown the least sign of wanting it. Bring some guys in on ten day contracts - they can't be any more useless than Burke.

Frankly, I'm not so much concerned about salvaging the season as not having Amare return when the pressure will be heavy on him and D'Antoni to accelerate 'the plan'. It'll take some luck to find anyone who could help but trying to do it beats sitting on our hands.

I do think D'Antoni should give JJax a chance to redeem himself - personally, I'd like to see Jax given a couple of starts at the 3 and see if that couldn't rouse him. I'm not suggesting that could solve our shortage of height and muscle but the whole bench is very thin now with Raja playing SF.

 

[kaesile]

According to rotoworld, Bell jammed his thumb during the Charlotte game. Anybody know his condition for the game tonight?

At this point it's not just a matter of finding a scrub to prop up the frontcourt - it's having enough players active to play (not to mention keeping minutes sane). Just a few weeks ago we were in great shape, congratulating ourselves on having a deeper bench than last year, and now everything seems to be slowly unravelling.

Raja Bell - G - Suns
Raja Bell reportedly jammed his right thumb in last night's game and couldn't make a fist after the game.
Hopefully we'll know more on his status tomorrow, but it's concerning that he didn't shoot in the fourth quarter despite scoring 27 points. Feb. 26 - 9:53 pm et

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Maybe it's time to dust off Jackson. He might be able to get his 20-25 minutes per game now. He's probably pretty fresh.

This is probably the best suggestion so far. Since Nash's arrival, he has been the only one that could run the point, if even in spot duty.

Diaw can pass well, and spot the open man, but he should not be bringing the ball up the court to initiate the offense.

 

[George O'Brien]

Burke was brought in to give the Suns a big guy to play against the kind of power players that get the Suns into foul trouble. During the period when he played a lot, the Suns shooting defense was much more impressive than it is now. What he can't do is defend really athletic big men or be a serious offensive threat.

Yes he makes a lot of mistakes, but most of this is due to inexperience and trying to do too much. But the main reason D'Antoni went to the small lineup was that he wanted to up the pace and get more shooting.

BTW, Jake Tsakalidis is now starting for the Grizzlies. It took him forever to become more than a deep bench scrub. He'd never be suited to the Suns pace, but he's just one more example of a big man that is very slow to develop.