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Not sucking..
SI.com Roundtable
3. Barring a late-season rally, the Suns will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2004. What should be their priorities in the offseason?
Ian Thomsen: They need to launch a wholesale turnover of the roster. They've tried to enhance Mike D'Antoni's style over the last year but they've only served to weaken the team as a whole. Owner Robert Sarver and GM Steve Kerr want a different style, so they need to make it happen sooner than later. Everyone should be available in exchange for draft picks and younger talent. But here's the problem: Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire will be free agents in 2010, so the Suns need to send them where they want to go (in which case they may agree to contract extensions) or else accept less value in return, given the fact they'll merely be rented by their new teams next season.
Jack McCallum: This is the 50-point bonus question, right? Because it is not an easy one. The general assumption is that the Suns have to do something. Trade Nash! Trade Shaq! Trade Leandro Barbosa, perhaps their most tradable commodity, considering the salaries of the first two stars. So the conservative thing to do -- which is to do nothing -- is, in fact, the radical thing. Put me down for conservative. Re-up steady hand Alvin Gentry as coach. (Which is probably going to happen.) Hope that the star-crossed Stoudemire comes back strong; remember that the Suns, for all their issues, were in decent shape in the playoff race before he had eye surgery. And coax one more good year out of Shaq and Nash, who still perform at close to an all-pro level. That means that the summer of 2010, when Shaq comes off the books and Nash is also a free agent, becomes the franchise's real decision time.
Chris Mannix: How about finding an iden y? Are they a running team (as they've been since Gentry took over) or a half-court team (as they tried to be under Terry Porter in the first half of the season)? Do they keep Gentry (and D'Antoni's up-tempo system) or do they again go out and try to find a coach who can create a more balanced attack? The Suns are in a very precarious position right now. Nash is nearing the end of his deal. Stoudemire, who was dangled like a worm on a hook for more than a week last month, has to be thinking about jumping ship as a free agent next year. That is, if the Suns don't trade him first. If the front office doesn't act wisely, the Suns could quickly find themselves buried at the bottom of the Western Conference.
Steve Aschburner: The Suns need to pursue rebuilding, en masse and immediately. O'Neal's resurgence is a nice story, fun to watch (on offense, anyway) and eliciting nice quotes from the big fella. But he'd be gone by now if Phoenix could have gotten what it sought for him at the trading deadline. Nash is long in the tooth and Grant Hill, despite astounding durability for him, is a supporting player only. Gentry should get a full shot at head coach, but there's no sense in trying to tweak what's here. Stoudemire, Barbosa, Robin Lopez, the No. 14 pick in the June draft and free agency are the way out for these guys now.
Not sucking..
Blowing the team up and trading Shaq, Nash and Amare before their value shrinks more than it already has.
I miss when Phoenix and San Antonio had a rivalry, and this is the only way it could happen again.
And keep Gentry with the understanding that he won't turn into another D'antoni. He's used the bench way more than either Porter or D'antoni which is the reason why he deserves an extension, and I blame this a lot more on the players than on him, but their defense has been god awful since he took over.
There's nothing wrong with pushing the tempo as long as your not giving up easy buckets and offensive rebounds in order to do so.
The biggest problem I have with Gentry is his fetish with Matt Barnes, which I can live with because D'antoni's fetish with Diaw and Barbosa and his refusal to use Kurt Thomas was a lot more annoying.
Who cares?
I'm surprised this thread hasn't gotten more responses. This is an interesting topic, for any NBA fan. The Suns have so many things going for them, and yet they can't put it together into a playoff team. Nash, O'Neal, Amare, Hill, and Barbosa are all great trading assets. This is a armchair GM's dream.
I'd keep Barbosa and make him the starting PG. He knows the system and he's a great PG. Same with Hill. He may not offer much in the later years, and he may not always be healthy, but use him as the crafty veteran, locker room presence. He won't need to play to be effective.
Trade Amare for a defensive presence in the middle, a la Ben Wallace. Trade Nash for the absolute most talent you can get. Preferably a scoring forward, thinking Richard Jefferson. O'Neal -- trade him, waive him, do whatever you can to get rid of him and his salary.
Build around youth, but keep it exciting. They have the pieces to win now, but can still work on rebuilding at the same time.
Anyone think the Suns may take Bruce Bowen? (kidding.... really really kidding)
There was no rivalry. San Antonio won every game that mattered and basically beat up the Suns and stole their lunch money almost every year.
SA
2003
2005
2007
2008
Suns
Nada
Last edited by exstatic; 03-18-2009 at 10:13 PM.
Saving cash.
Get rid of Steve Kerr; this guy has made some dumbass moves
CIA Spurs
Figure out what type of team they want to be first and foremost. Then keep the players that fit into that system and trade the rest.
Not gonna happen with Kerr
He has single-handedly destroyed this team
1. Save more money and avoid the luxury tax.
2. Get young talent for Nash and Shaq
OR
Sell the team.
Trade Nash, Shaq, Amare, JRich and Grant Hill for Brandoy Roy, Lamarcus Aldridhe, Travis Outlaw and Rudy
They should start by finding a new owner.
Trade Nash to or Barbosa to the Houston Rockets for Brian Cook
Epic but salary does not match. Nate McMillian's team runs one of the slowest offense in the NBA. The personnel does not fit.
Move the team to Canada
I would rather they keep the contracts that will expire in 2010, and sign some free agents then.
In the meantime, hire Tom Thibodeau as coach. I was hoping they would do this last year, but nooo, Kerr had to go with someone who had "head coaching experience" and wasn't patient enough to wait until the Celtics could finish their season.
If only D'antoni would have let Kerr hire Thibodeau as an assistant in the summer of '07 like he wanted to...
Shaq is gonna be a huge trading chip next year. Of course, Sarver would rather keep his expiring K than trade for up and coming talent.
fixed
We could seal the deal when Duncan was injured
With respect, I completely disagree.
Barbosa is exactly the kind of player you want to move away from. He's a limited offensive player who needs an open look to score and plays ZERO defense. They have a much better PG who doesn't play defense now in Nash.
Trade Amare for Ben Wallace? I hope you're just using Big Ben as a template. The Suns SHOULD have dealt Amare to the Bulls back when teams thought he was actually shaping up on the defensive end. Now, you get what you can for him. The problem is there aren't a lot of great defensive centers left in basketball, and the ones that exist and even have a moderate ability to score, no team is going to trade. Maybe a decent PF like Al Jefferson. It would even be worth picks to seal that deal up.
Trade Nash and Barbs to a team looking to dump a player or two. Or, trade them separately to a team looking to dump salary, but make the other team have to throw in a pick to get it done. Barbs is probably better trade value at this point.
Just let Shaq's contract expire. No team will take him for anything more than peanuts at this point, even with his resurgence, his albatross of a contract is a nightmare for any GM in this economy.
Not sure what to do about J-Rich.
I agree. This is the best possible move for the suns.
As crazy as it sounds, Nash for T-Mac is something the Suns should consider if Houston would do it.
use the termination clause in Nash's contract and let him walk
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