Waiting and Waiting

azirish

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The Suns will add at least one more player which will almost certaly be a big. Of the bigs on the free agent market, several are gone but many more still remain:

Gone:

Mikki Moore - Kings
Magloire - Nets
Voskuhl - Bucks
Joe Smith - Bulls
Milicic - Griz
Croshere - Warriors
Bass - Mavs
Hayes - Rockets (re-signed)
Oberto - Spurs (re-signed)

Unrestricted:

PJ Brown
Olowokandi
Sweetney
Pollard
Willis
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Dale Davis
Webber
Josh Powell
Mutombo
Singleton
Alexander Johnson
Doleac
Skinner
Marc Jackson
Louis Amundson
Potepenkio
Cato
Malik Rose
Corless Williamson
Ely
Sow
Araujo
Booth
Ruffing

Restricted

Varejao
Blatche
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It's not a very inspiring group.

Skinner is probably the only unrestricted who could get many regular season minutes on the Suns, but probably would not settle for what the Suns want to offer until close to training camp.

PJ Brown seems intent on retiring unless he gets a very strong offer. There are a lot of suitors, but none seem inclined to throw a lot of money at him. (Dallas would pay the most just to keep him off the Suns).

Mutombo: Following the Hayes signing with the Rockets, his name is now coming up. Seems like a bad fit for the Suns, but he can still play. For the same price he'd be more likely to go to Boston.

ELY: He's underperformed his entire NBA career, but still has more talent than most of the veterans on the list with experience at practicing against Duncan. You would hope the Suns could do better.

Maybe I'm missing somebody, but it is not a great bunch.

Prospect Types:

The three guys who best fit this Louis Amundson, Alexander Johnson, and Pops Mensah-Bonsu. Based on summer league, Amundson could be the best fit but Johnson is also intriguing.

Johnson was let go from the Griz due to being redundant (they have a lot of athletic bigs). Last season he averaged 4.4 ppg in 12.8 minutes, shooting 53.8% (only 66.1% from the line however). His 3.1 rpg was a credible 0.24 per minute.
 

Sunsman44

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You can also throw in Theo Ratliff's name to that list since Wolves will cut him.

I'd go with the following based on categories:

want a strong center? Skinner, Ratliff, Cato are your best bets.

want an athletic forward? ruffin, singleton, powell, johnson are your best bets.

those are my picks.

I think Suns should stop crossing their fingers on PJ and sign someone already. Perhaps even two.
 

hcsilla

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I liked Alex Johnson in college very much and was totally unimpressed from Amundson. I haven't seen either in the NBA.

Mensah-Bonsu was very raw even by NCAA standards.
 

okhoops

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It has to be a veteran type that MD will trust at crunch time; a young guy or unproven veteran is probably not going to get meaningful minutes during the reg season and then be relegated to the pine during the playoffs, which means the same issues will plague the Suns next year (tired legs, foul concerns, lack of front court saavy/spark coming off the bench).

Find us a presence that Coach D will be willing to put on the floor in multiple situations.
 

Mainstreet

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I think most fans hope Kerr has a plan which somehow ties all his moves to the overall well being of the Suns team... yeah the flexibility stuff. However, what is really scary, he may not.

I do not dwell in this dark place.
 

Sunsman44

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I think most fans hope Kerr has a plan which somehow ties all his moves to the overall well being of the Suns team... yeah the flexibility stuff. However, what is really scary, he may not.

I do not dwell in this dark place.

Hahaha. Kerr has a plan? LOL.

Great joke.

Kerr and plan don't ever go in the same sentence.
 
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azirish

azirish

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I liked Alex Johnson in college very much and was totally unimpressed from Amundson. I haven't seen either in the NBA.

Prior to this year's summer league, I had not even heard of Amundson. It was not until DX started writing about him that I got interested.
http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=94188

Johnson may be the better bet and certainly has more experience. I'd like to see one or the other as a camp invite at the minimum.
 

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