Phoenix Suns Season Preview

Transactions- Players (that matter)

Grant Hill- accepts his one-year player option worth about $3 mil.
Amar’e Stoudemire- opts out of final year, signs $100 mil / 5yrs. for the Knicks.
Channing Frye- signs $30 mil / 5 yrs.
Hakim Warrick- signs $18 mil / 4yrs.
Josh Childress- Acquired for a ’12 2nd round pick. Signed 5yr / $35 mil.
Hedo Turkoglu- Acquired from Toronto for Barbosa and Dwayne Jones
Dwayne Jones- Tried out for team during training camp and was cut.
Gani Lawal- Drafted 46th overall
Matt Janning- signed muli-year deal (details not yet released)
Garret Siler- Signs contract (details not yet released)
Robin Lopez- Team exercised option for 4th season (next year).

Front Office Moves

Named former Cavs. Ast. GM Lance Blanks General Manager.
Named former Agent Lon Babby President of Basketball Operations

What do these transactions mean in the Big Picture?


The biggest problem the Phoenix Suns have had over the last few years has been poor contract decisions by the front office (Diaw, Barbosa, Bell, Frye?). Babby doesn’t have any experience as a President of Basketball Operations; but what he lacks in experience in that field he makes up for with his experience as a long-time multi-sport agent. The guy should undoubtedly give us the upper hand in any future negotiations (too bad he got here after Sarver and Gentry blew all the money we saved with Amar’e leaving on Warrick, Frye, Turkoglu, and Childress). Did he bring on a friend of his to work with him as the GM, yes he did, is that a little bit nerve racking as a fan? Oh yea. But, the fact of the matter is that nowadays GM’s and team Presidents need to work so closely together, this might actually end up benefiting us. We know we won’t see any big time disagreement from the get go, and we know they are both on the same page as to the future of the franchise. I’ll take that certainty over the uncertainty of whether they will hold each other accountable when mistakes are made.

The roster moves made in the off-season were a lot of sweet, and of course, a little bit of sour. But you know what they say, “the sweet ain’t so sweet without the sour!” (Right Clippers Fans!?!) Let’s get the elephant right on out of the room and talk Amar’e. The guy is a physical freak of nature, he’s the best scoring big man in the game, he has an amazing outside J for a guy who’s 6’11”; and I’m glad he’s not coming back. The guy just doesn’t understand the subtleties of the game, like defense. I see Amar’e get more fouls by slapping at the ball because he didn’t move his feet more than any other big man in the league. His rebounding “efforts” are nothing more than he gets the ones that are right to him, and his adversary gets the rest. He has no clue how to clog the lane on defense. The thing that worried me the most though, is that he had been bad at all those things from DAY ONE! He has shown MARGINAL improvement in these areas and has shown a minimal decline in his offensive prowess since his last eye surgery. Is Amar’e a very good PF in the NBA, yes, is he worth $20 mil. a year? No. You have to play both sides of the ball to be worth that much…oh yea, and to win a title! I don’t know about you, but with Amar’e playing D and boxing out the West’s big men, I don’t see us ever winning a title.

On to the NEXT ONE! Now unfortunately all that $20 mil. we saved…we went and spent $6 mil of it on Channing Frye. I like Channing’s shooting ability and how it will create mis-matches; but I feel he is only a slight improvement over Amar’e when it comes to his defense and boxing out. I was hoping we would resign him to a deal worth about half as much per year and I thought that would be pretty solid (it’s how much we are paying Grant!). I think this one could come back to hurt us, and hopefully will have been Sarver’s LAST roster decision for this team (let’s all say a prayer real quick).

It’s really nice to have G-Hill back on the squad for his all around solid play and more importantly he is a leader of men; both on and off the court. He conducts himself in a way that if you had 12 G-Hill’s on your side, you’re doing BIG things just on pure chemistry. He is a epitome of this idea, “If I can have a team of all guys that have a 10 in physical skills and a 6 in character, or a team of all guys that have a 6 in physical skills and a 10 in character…I’ll take the character guys everytime.” Let’s all say another little prayer here that Hill stays as healthy as he has been. (Our trainers kick some serious butt! Nice job Aaron Nelson!)

Hakim Warrick seemed to be another desperation move by Sarver and Gentry in the wake of Stoudemire leaving. I like Warrick, but I don’t think we should have given him 4 yrs. on his deal. If we are still relying on Warrick as a role player 4 yrs. down the road, I’m gonna be worried. I think he will fit in well here because he is a good slasher and plays similar to Marion on offense; but again he doesn’t really help us guard the Western Conferences big men.

We brought Josh Childress back over from the Euro Leagues and were required to compensate Atlanta with a 2nd round pick and gave him a deal worth about $7 mil. yr. This might end up being a little bit steep for a player like Childress but we will look back on this and be happy about it. The guy knows how to play efficiently, with Childress, Hill, and Dudley we have by far the smartest group of swingmen in the NBA. They all score and play efficiently. Childress will play exactly like Grant and Dudley did last year but will add a little more athleticism and potential into the equation. He can knock down the corner three with his weird release, and he knows how to finish both in the half-court and in transition.

The Big ? = Hedo, What Hedo, When Hedo it. This guys a classic freakin head case. You make him happy, he’ll play well, you piss him off, he won’t. When he was in Orlando and he was the man on campus (offensively); he puts his best foot forward and was up for East Conference MVP. He leaves and enters a situation where he is more of a role player in Toronto and he checks out. He had his worst season out of the last 5 last year with Toronto and he just seemed pissed off the entire time. Well Phoenix is a pretty damn fun team to play for, and we definitely need him to be the man on offense with Nashty. So we will see the Hedo more from Orlando than from Toronto. I’m really excited to see him and Nash run the pick n’ pop because Turkoglu has great ball handling skills and knows how to create his own shot, a nice little pick play with Nash will just make it all the easier for him to get into the lane or to settle for an open outside J.

Well this is already it for Lopez, right here, right now. Yes we already guaranteed we will keep him till next season but this is the year where we see who he is really going to be in the NBA. Will he be a role-playing big man like Varejao or will he be a big time big man asset like Noah? I’m saying the second option. The guy has a desire and grit about him that really surprised me right out of Stanford in his rookie season. Last year we saw how well he played at the end of the season and in the playoffs. He knows how to do all the things a big man should know how to do (didn’t learn it from Amar’e!). He boxes out very well, he gets boards he had no right getting at, he fills up the lane very well with long arms and quick footwork. He plays DEFENSE! He plays like a traditional big man with offensive moves that might not be fancy but should net him a +60% FG. If he doesn’t average 17-10-2, I’ll be disappointed.

We won’t see much of Lawal or Janning but I have a sneaking suspicion that we will see Siller. While both Lawal and Janning are works in progress, Siller seems ready to play a small role for the Suns immediately. The guy is 6’10” 300 lbs. C from a small division 2 college. I didn’t think he would make it on the roster but the fact that he did over Dwayne Jones who had a serious leg up on him going into camp, speaks volumes about how the coaching staff feels about him. He could definitely play a more limited Lou Almundson role from the last couple years. Come on in when the team is plagued by injury or in foul trouble and play D, get boards, and clean up around the rim.

Prediction

The Suns are going to miss Amar’e on offense without a doubt. What they need to do is to make up for it by doing the other things Amar’e was bad at, much more efficiently. We need the guys to rally on the boards and play the stellar defense they are capable of. We will have a lot of trouble guarding teams with two solid big men (LA) since we will have Frye/Turkoglu/Warrick/Siller guarding one of those guys (big liability). If these guys can fill in and play D in that role well, we could be looking at a Suns team that is greatly improved on defense while taking a small step back on offense. The other big if is whether or not Turkoglu shows up to play. If we get the Orlando Turkoglu, the sky is the limit with this team; if we get Toronto Turkoglu, Suns easily miss the playoffs and we are all calling for Sarver’s head. Overall I do believe the Suns will be improved on an already solid defensive team with really only one weakness in the paint; we will miss Amare’s offense but Lopez and Turkoglu will help us forget. The Suns should be behind LA, Utah, and Oklahoma City, fighting for the 4th spot in the West with Dallas, San Antonio, and Portland and Houston slipping in at the 8 spot.

The South Beach Experience

The NBA salary cap is amazing. I like the way it makes rookies come in and prove themselves before they can make big money (TAKE A PAGE NFL!). Even more, I love the way it supports stars staying with teams that they are playing for (The Larry Bird Rule). This rule definitely helped Pat Riley sweeten the deal by getting sign and trade deals done for Bosh/James. For specifics on their salary sacrifices go here. These guys sacrificed not just the salary they were capable of making (approx. $15 million ea.), but now they all are going to have to compete for the major local endorsement deals. Do you know what kind of money any of these guys would have made from local endorsements in NYC!?! Lebron made $28 mil. in total endorsements in 2009 (almost double his salary). I guess we will find out with Amare just how much they missed out on. It is not often that players are critisized for sacrificing all this money. Often, almost ALWAYS, I get upset because I know a player has made a decision for more money. There is a long list, every year, of examples like Darrell Revis or Antonio McDyess circa '98 going from a young up and coming Suns team to sign with Denver for more money and play for a terrible team. This is the norm, this is the business that we all want to deny. The NBA doesn't have a business side, it is a business. It's all about the money, it always has been, and it always will be.
If we want to believe that there are still players and owners who only care about winning and will do so at their own financial cost; Miami is our Jesus. They are trying to guide the NBA to a future where the business side can be downplayed...slightly. I'm not saying we are going to have players sign for half their value in order to play with 5 all-stars on the court together, but this is as close as I have ever seen to some idea like that.
This offseason all we wanted to talk about was the ability for these guys to make a ton of money. The question was more about how much money would they make in a certain city than what type of players they had on that team and their ability to compete. I thought Lebron would sign in Cleveland or NYC and it's because in my experience players go where the money is.
He didn't, he signed for less in order to win! They sacrificed money...to win. God that is a beautiful thing. "These guys sacrificed money and potentially statistics; in order to be a part of something special." (Eric Spoelstra, Heat Head Coach) I think we are on the verge of seeing one of the most beautiful on-court examples of basketball we will ever see in our lives.

Raptors vs Suns Game in 6 Mins

YouTube - Raptors vs Suns Game in 6 Mins

Let's do a quick re-cap of what I was thinking about during yesterdays game. Raptors started F- Linas Kleiza F- Reggie Evans (lets pray to god he doesn't do this) "C"-Andrea Bargnani G- Jose Calderon G- DeMar DeRozan. Suns went with G- Nash G- Jason Richardson F Grant Hill F Turkoglu C Robin Lopez.

I'm glad to see Kleiza on another team where he can think he is better than he is.

The Raptors have a very athletic young team. They really dont have a lot of size though.

I hope Dudley can really come around even more than he did last year.

DeRozen was drafted early and he has ability, if he can develop a shot...he should be a solid slashing G in this league.

I think Turkoglu's finess game will fit in great for the Suns, but I don't think it will blend well with their new found defense from last year.

Barbosa AND Marcus Banks are on Toronto, THANKS Colangelo! Barbosa scores on his patented baseline backdoor cut.

Janning is under control and has a nice little shot.

Lopez looks garbage out there right now. He just gave the old school below the hip hook shot and barely hit the glass. Lopez had 2-2-0, no steals/blocks, 5 to's 5 pf's in 16 mins. Ouch!

Uh Oh...who predicted Reggie Evans getting T'd up!?! Hill got T'd up too! Hill and Reggie Evans just got thrown out of a preseason game and they are walking off together joking about it. That's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a preseason game.

Thoughts on the teams during preseason-

The Raptors played 17 guys yesterday. All but 2 played 15 minutes or more. They have a wealth of guys who have been in the league a few years and haven't proved much (Julian Wright, Joey Dorsey, Amir Johnson, Marcus Banks). It looks like they are just doing what most teams would be at this point which is eliminating the weak. It may be more difficult in Toronto because they only have a few guys that are actually part of their future; and the rest are on the verge of being washed up by a new wave of talent.

The Suns are basically in the exact opposite position when it comes to their roster. The Suns can have up to 15 players on the team where 12 can dress for games. Those 12 are pretty much guaranteed unless there is injury. With the contract we gave to Warrick I can't see him being one of the three that doesn't dress, especially since PF is our weakest position. Other guys that might not make that 12 person roster...maybe Lawal or Clark? If it's Clark he is done with this team which would be sad. Other than that they aren't going to put Childress, Frye, or Dudley down there...NOR SHOULD THEY! I'm just making the point that the guys on the Suns deep roster are fighting for basically three spots at the end of the bench. I think Dwayne Jones PF/C has pretty much locked up one of them from rumors and roster logistics. PG Matt Janning is becoming a coaches favorite. He's a 22yr. old 6-4 175lb kid from Northeastern who can shoot. Zabian Dowdell is another G whos 26yr. old 6-3 200lb. from Va Tech, he probably has no chance with all of our players at his position already and Janning outplaying him so far. Then Garret Siler and Chucky Atkins are the last two playing for a spot on the team. I like Atkins to get it, Siler is a C that reminds me of Oliver Miller, is that enough said? Good. Atkins on the other hand is a veteran who has played in a lot of different systems and if we do suffer an injury at PG he could fill in decently as a back-up PG. So that would be Dwayne Jones PF/C, Chucky Atkins PG, and Matt Janning SG to round out our 15 man roster. I'd say it's a lock that this is our team going into the 2010-2011 season.

Halladay Perfect Game

Roy Halladay is amazing. This post season could put him in the Hall of Fame. The Votto at-bat in the top of the 7th really told you how untouchable he was last night. Votto, the NL MVP contender who was chasing the triple crown; has a 1-0 count. He steps back into the box and Halladay takes a few extra seconds to deal. In that split second you saw something in Votto's eyes. It was fear. He hesitantly called time, so submissively that the ump, didn't catch it. Halladay was just about to start his delivery, and did if you ask me, and Votto made a more bold gesture and got the TO called. He was trying his best so shake the beast. To no avail. The next pitch, a 90 mph. two seamer right over the plate that buckles Votto's knees. Then, he does it again, Votto waits to the LAST half second and gets a TO called. Halladay hasn't shown a single sign of being fazed. Halladay delivers a 1-2 count to Votto who softly grounds out to the left side of the infield. Best pitching performance I have ever been a part of.