Official PHOENIX SUNS Off-Season Thread

[burns1923]

Suns fans, your thoughts on the past season?

What do you think the Suns need?


IMO, we need a new coach. Mike's been great but this playoff season has revealed moreso than ever how ineffective his in-game decision making can be. Forexample, just think about how many games, playoffs included, the Suns lost this year because of his inflexible player rotations and reluctance to read the flowof the game to decide what needs to be done minute by minute.

My pick: bring back Paul Westphal. Dude knows the franchise, he's a great coach who understands the talent we have, and he'll actually make decisionson-the-fly and play a fuller rotation. Playing only 8 players is ridiculous for any team yet the Suns did.

Second, we need a player who can create his own shot, a true scorer. You know who'd have been great for us this year? Joe Johnson. Still can'tbelieve this guy walked out on the team. Nevertheless, Kerr needs to consider whether or not guys like Leandro and Boris are ever going to reach a consistentlevel or if they should be traded.

Bottom line - the Suns can't go through another year of getting bounced by the Spurs or anyone else. Way past time to get it together.

 

[CP1708]

Mine's gettin locked ain't it?

Told ya'll we needed one.

 

[darthska]

^ Yes. I was just waiting for a Suns fan to start the thread.

You know good and well Laker fans would riot NikeTalk if our offseason thread was made by a Suns fan.

 

[dukedude31]

Saddens me too see this so soon

 

[pkballr]

Even though it's been a horrible ritual of the Suns, trading away that 15th pick might not be such a bad thing. Obviously they're in win now mode, andany player they take mid-draft would be useless to them for now and a couple of years. They can easily pick up another player to pad on to their team.

One suggestion was something along the lines of Barbosa + Trade Exception/Draft Pick for Artest. Now, yes they're pacific division opponents, but think ofthe front court for the Suns. Artest, Amare, Shaq would be completely dominant. And he's just a one year gamble.

 

[not a sneak]

Trading Barbosa just adds more trouble to you're bench problems. Develop the bench and sign an athletic wingman who plays defense. Sign a back up pointguard who is 100% defensive minded. Thats it, Trade away that 15th pick if and only if you can't get either a Shawn Marion type player or maybe an athleticbig man.

 

[jblackcat13]

The future isn't looking to bright.

 

[the future d1]

no good

 

[slow motion g35]

I guess u guys can start by dismantling the team, trade nash or barbosa...

why nash? cus hes starting his decline, and really hes not a championship PG, maybe a MVP to some, but not a guard that can defend or play team defense.

barbosa needs to go, ...they need depth..

 

[bigpunoy]

what they need are some real assistant coaches that will beat some fundamentals into their heads. namely boxing the fck out!

 

[koolbarbone]

I really don't see any conceivable way for the Suns to win next year unless they pay the luxury tax or get a really good coach.

 

[beats05]

I think both Nash and Shaq have 1 year left in them, so they better make some good decisions this offseason. They might want to consider Ron Artest or JohnSalmons from the Sacramento Kings. They're defensive minded guys who can create their own shots and score big. The Kings would probably want Diaw in returnthough.

 

[pkballr]

^Diaw's contract is long and god awful. Plus, he'll be put in a position competing with whoever is left of the Salmons/Artest debacle. That's why Imentioned Barbosa... At least we'll get a good backup PG. Maybe a stronger one-two punch at the PG position similar to the Raptors. But back to the Suns...

Blowing up the team is very premature. It's only been half a year with a new core. They're still very strong contenders. Even though this doesn'tfactor in too much to the big wigs running the show, they did have to run up against a wall called the Spurs a couple of times. I think a summer of refocusingShaq's game would do this team good. I wish their rotation was just a little bit deeper though.

 

[mjd77]

^^^They don't need to trade to try and get depth. They have it. D'Antoni just didn't use it. They could have easily been 10 deep. Rookies likeStrawberry and Tucker are known as good defenders and could have been worked in a few minutes here and there to get some experience. You also had Skinner,Piatkowski, and Giricek who are veterans that could provide some quality minutes.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Get rid of Diaw OR Barbosa, whoever can get the highest value in return. Hopefully they have picks to go along with one of those two. With a throw-in, theymight be able to get someone like Artest, Salmons or someone else.

They have no bench to develop. Diaw, Barbosa, and Giricek is as good as its gonna get. Strawberry, Skinner, Piakowski are not getting any better. So they mightas well use one of those players to go for another solid starter (replacing either Bell or Hill, knocking them down to the bench) and hope that free agentscome knocking.

It's hard to gauge the conditions as to what they can go after... Redd's price seems low but I don't think the Suns have enough... Maybe RJ orVince. VC would be good because Nash and Shaq are not going to be able to handle being big name players after next year.

 

[wstcoastgotti]

Get rid of Diaw
No. When he plays well hes as valuable as anyone on the roster. hes 6 '9 and can handle the ball like a guard

 

[i nasmatic i]

not a suns fan, but if i were them i target dj augustin in the draft.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Originally Posted by WstCoastGotti

Get rid of Diaw

No. When he plays well hes as valuable as anyone on the roster. hes 6 '9 and can handle the ball like a guard

That's different from "he plays well."

Also, when I said "...for the highest value," I was indicating that they should get rid of him for something valuable in return. I wasn'tinsinuating that they get rid of him no matter what, no matter the price.

He only played well in the playoffs generally. For this reason I would get rid of him FOR THE RIGHT PRICE. If I can get someone to insert at the startingSG/SF spot for Diaw, then it's a no-brainer. One more year of his erratic play and his value will go down again. The Suns should try to get rid of him FORTHE RIGHT PRICE while his value is high.
Put in other terms, if they can't get someone to upgrade their starting lineup by trading Diaw (or Barbosa forthat matter), then don't trade him because yes, they would be better off keeping him in that case.

 

[denni5themenace]

if only the suns kept those draft picks and drafted well, they would be competing for titles for a while now.

 

[dyyhard]

[h3][/h3]

Off-Season Thread

you talking about the past regular season?

anyways, don't give up anybody for cash this summer,

they need to find a replacement for Grant Hill....he's not dependable at all, prob will get injured during the season next year.

Pike is gone...I don't see Shaq working out this summer...things might get worse.

 

[guillermo gutierez]

im not a suns fan, but WHO is their backup point guard?

 

[Los Angeles]

^Erik Piakowski

 

[antoekneeo]

^^^ He is a SG not a PG to my knowledge. The Suns should have the 15th pick in the draft(via Atlanta). So perhaps they package that with Barbosa to upgrade atthe 2 guard.

 

[the dauqs]

Originally Posted by mjd77

^^^They don't need to trade to try and get depth. They have it. D'Antoni just didn't use it. They could have easily been 10 deep. Rookies like Strawberry and Tucker are known as good defenders and could have been worked in a few minutes here and there to get some experience. You also had Skinner, Piatkowski, and Giricek who are veterans that could provide some quality minutes.

I dont understand why he didnt put DJ out there to guard Tony Parker. I think he couldve bothered him. He is their quickest and most athletic defender.Nash was just getting destroyed out there and I felt like he was the main reason why the Suns lost this series (Besides the lack of in game adjustment byD'Antoni ).

 

[recognizaz]

the team they have now is legit...if i was dantoni or whoever the coach is... i would work them (the bench) to death this year get everyone to play like alegit team..split the team up so you have guys actually playing and when the season starts off play the whole bench.

Dantoni's biggest mistake this year was to not play the bench during the season, he's an idiot. Strawberry is a legit defender and shooter, Skinner isnot that bad of a player, when he was playing during hte shaq trade the man was making blocks. I legitimatly thought that he was proving himself during hteregular season as a threat on the bench when the postseason came, and he just sat.

get rid of the white boys though sitting on the end (-) gordan and nash they are taking up room for potential players who could ACTUALLY help