Other than the draft and Porter... WTF has Phoenix done in the offseason?

[pauls931]

No one biting on Barbosa and Diaw I take it...

[ducks]

diaw would be stupid to get rid of
he should play and help shaq keep his minutes down

[ducks]

suns have alot of old players that noone wants

[pauls931]

Spurs have a lot of old players that no one wants

fixed it for ya.

[jmard5]

fixed it for ya.

Brent Barry...
Kurt Thomas...

and are you sure no team would want to recruit Finley and Horry?

[Tully365]

I like Diaw, but his contract is large. I can't see too many teams being able to take that salary on, or wanting to give that much in return. Ironic after all those years of being a contrast to the Spurs, that Phoenix is the new San Antonio-- an old veteran team, with not much in the way of trade assets.

[JamStone]

They haven't been doing much because they're all busy trying to get the taste of Shaq's ass out of their mouths.

[RON ARTEST]

They haven't been doing much because they're all busy trying to get the taste of Shaq's ass out of their mouths.

:clap

[MarHill]

They haven't been doing much because they're all busy trying to get the taste of Shaq's ass out of their mouths.


hahahahahahaha!!!!

[pauls931]

They haven't been doing much because they're all busy trying to get the taste of Shaq's ass out of their mouths.

Dammit, that was pretty good. :lol

[Bruno]

A FO can do 3 main things to do during the off season: draft players, sign players and trade players.

Suns have been quite active during the draft day. They have kept their first round pick and have traded up in the second round to get a guy they really like.
There have been some trades rumors about Suns but it takes two (or more) to do a trade. Other teams haven't proposed trades that Suns liked and doing no trades is still better than doing bad trades.
Suns are in luxury tax troubles. They can't spend more money. The only kind of contracts they can offer is a minimum contract. Players, who sign this kind of contracts, signed it usually later in the summer.

In all likelihood, Suns will sign a couple a cheap players (Brian Skinner, Tyron Lue, Sean Marks...) and calls it an offseason.

[Lakers_55]

Well, Phoenix did get a new coach. Be interesting to see what he can do for the team.

[angelbelow]

they did good in drafting a defensive minded 7 footer too. suns are a lot like us, they need to make minor adjustments to cataput back up. they add a quality back pg and maybe another wing and they should be set to make another run.

[Obstructed_View]

Getting rid of D'Antoni vastly improves that team. When they play defense, run a deeper rotation and have a backup for Nash they'll be a lot stronger in the postseason even with basically the same personnel.

[nashzilla]

They haven't been doing much because they're all busy trying to get the taste of Shaq's ass out of their mouths.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/meeks4president/u-fail.jpg

[SRJ]

Getting rid of D'Antoni vastly improves that team. When they play defense, run a deeper rotation and have a backup for Nash they'll be a lot stronger in the postseason even with basically the same personnel.

True to a point. They're still going to depend on Nash and Shaq; one has always been a bad defender and he's a year older, while the other isn't a good defender anymore and he's even older. They still have Clueless the Jumping Jack Stoudamire fouling everything in sight, so I don't think their defense is going to improve tremendously. They'll look better defensively earlier in the year, when Nash/Shaq's legs are still fresh.

[ElNono]

Getting rid of D'Antoni vastly improves that team. When they play defense, run a deeper rotation and have a backup for Nash they'll be a lot stronger in the postseason even with basically the same personnel.

That was the most imporant first step. But creating an habit of playing defense will take a while, especially since the old system had zero accountability, and Phoenix doesn't have the luxury of sitting out Nash, Barbosa and Amare if they're not playing D. Changing the culture there will probably be Porter's biggest challenge.

[JPB]

There are two moments in the year for GMs to act.

One of Suns biggest move was made last february.
There isn't much you can do in the ensuing offseason after a blocbuster move like this one.

Getting rid of your coach is also a really important decision for a franchise.

[Obstructed_View]

I think the players that are there realize that if they want to have a shot at a championship they are going to have to commit to the changes. All of the players they have are capable of playing team defense. Hell, if AJ could get the Mavs to do it for 18 months, then the Suns should be able to do it.

[pauls931]

It would be nice for them to make some kind of defensive commitment. I lost count of how many layups ginobili and parker got in their last series. If you have shaq and amare that kind of stuff should not happen as often as it did. Damn I'm impressed ginobili was able to go around shaq without getting winded.

[pauls931]

Well looks like they picked up Matt Barnes from GS. No biggie, but I like his competitive spirit. Man, I'd hate to be a GS fan this year, they just need to trade Captain Jack and then team would have no reason to exist.

[mojorizen7]

Getting rid of D'Antoni vastly improves that team. When they play defense, run a deeper rotation and have a backup for Nash they'll be a lot stronger in the postseason even with basically the same personnel.

:clap hit it on the head

[RonMexico]

I wished they could have signed Barnes last year. D'Antoni probably still would have run Grant Hill into the ground, but Barnes would have been a valuable asset at SF when Hill was hurt during the 1st round.

I like the signing, but it still doesn't solve the need for a PG. I guess it's time for Porter to ressurect the player-coach or Diaw/Hill have to play point-forward. The Diaw-Hill scenario sounds really good to me because it allows Barbosa to play off the ball and use his quickness on the wings. If he can just learn a few AI/Parker moves around the bucket and perfect his floater or get to the line, then I see no reason in trading Barbosa.

[Jeremy]

The Diaw-Hill scenario sounds really good to me because it allows Barbosa to play off the ball and use his quickness on the wings. If he can just learn a few AI/Parker moves around the bucket and perfect his floater or get to the line, then I see no reason in trading Barbosa.

How about the fact that he can't play defense and is too short for a 2? IF he can play off-the-ball at the 1 and can guard PGs, and can still learn how to play good defense...then maybe he should stay...

[RonMexico]

Barbosa has all the physical tools to play defense like Rajon Rondo... someone just needs to force him to do it.

[angelbelow]

they just got barnes lol.

[RonMexico]

they just got barnes lol.

LOL? Name the Spurs' biggest free agent splash? Suns and Spurs are in the same sparse FA boat right now... and you guys haven't even locked up Kurt Thomas.

Barnes is a good player, but just doesn't fill mgmt's public desire for a backup PG. I like Strawberry in that he can defend and be active out there, but I'm not sure if he can run the offense yet. However, if Porter watched some of the Finals, saw what Rajon Rondo could do, and allowed DJ a chance to bring some energy out there, I don't think the Suns will suffer a whole lot with other offensive tools like Hill, Diaw, Stoudemire, Barbosa, and Barnes to an extent.

[RonMexico]

And are about to sign Jayson Williams as a backup to Nash. I would say they adressed their needs. Now they have a bench, so the expectations should be soaring in the valley of the sun. Cant wait to see those sour faces when the Spurs or Lakers knock them off in the first round again:lol

Since you're a Laker fan and - consequently - an idiot, I have to assume you're talking about "White Chocolate" Jason Williams. Because Jay Williams is the former Chicago Bulls PG-turned motorcycle victim and Jayson Williams is the former New Jersey Nets forward who was acquitted of murder charges.

I also assume you have no insider knowledge and are just quoting an Arizona Republic article from a week ago that said Williams and Sam Cassell were on the backup PG watch list.

[pauls931]

And are about to sign Jayson Williams as a backup to Nash. I would say they adressed their needs. Now they have a bench, so the expectations should be soaring in the valley of the sun. Cant wait to see those sour faces when the Spurs or Lakers knock them off in the first round again:lol

When was the last time LA knocked phoenix out in the first round? My memory doesn't go back that far.