Offseason Grade.

[JohnVancouver]

Sorry, SunsFan - i hadn't read your post before I responded to the same thing, and said exactly what you did re; Stat

Well I'm still up in the air as to what "grade" to give for what we've done so far, but I am going to say a solid C as it stands right now.

As for the negative grades given for the Shaq trade, I actually think that was positive move for the team. Yes we can go over HIS individual stats all day long and say how great HE played and HE was an all nba third team selection and HE was an all star, but the entire rest of team suffered because of it. Yes HE played very well as an individual, but we suffered as a team. We are not built to continually dump the ball down low and everybody else just wait around for Shaq to get HIS numbers. Now I was a big backer of the Shaq deal at first, but I just didn't realize how much it would adversely affect the rest of the team. I still like Shaq, but he just didn't fit our team. So I would actually give this a B, would have been higher had we gotten back a pick, but the objective was met with this trade.

[JohnVancouver]

You'll have a hard time convincing me that a team with no one on it who can play post defense or rebound is going very far.

--- i wouldn't try to convince you of that. I don't believe my ownself. But i also don't believe that that post defensive presence could be Shaq. He's too exploitable and combined with Nash, makes for a really bad defense.

[Wormwood74]

You'll have a hard time convincing me that a team with no one on it who can play post defense or rebound is going very far.

--- i wouldn't try to convince you of that. I don't believe my ownself. But i also don't believe that that post defensive presence could be Shaq. He's too exploitable and combined with Nash, makes for a really bad defense.

And Nash + Stoudemire at center makes for an even worse one.

I don't buy the whole "Shaq slowed us down" argument... Kurt Thomas had the court speed of a banana slug, but we still led the league in scoring and offensive effeciency.

Additionally, we were still a better team with Shaq on the court than we were with him off of it (Check out his net +/- per 48). By your logic, we should have sped up when he left the court and been playing SUns ball, making us a winning team with him off the court. But, the numbers do not support that conclusion at all.

[realsunsfan]

You'll have a hard time convincing me that a team with no one on it who can play post defense or rebound is going very far.

--- i wouldn't try to convince you of that. I don't believe my ownself. But i also don't believe that that post defensive presence could be Shaq. He's too exploitable and combined with Nash, makes for a really bad defense.

And Nash + Stoudemire at center makes for an even worse one.

I don't buy the whole "Shaq slowed us down" argument... Kurt Thomas had the court speed of a banana slug, but we still led the league in scoring and offensive effeciency.

Additionally, we were still a better team with Shaq on the court than we were with him off of it (Check out his net +/- per 48). By your logic, we should have sped up when he left the court and been playing SUns ball, making us a winning team with him off the court. But, the numbers do not support that conclusion at all.

You see, you keep trying to add things into our statements, I did not say Shaq "slowed" us down, and again you continue to state "HIS" stats, and to be honest most teams didn't post us up, the wings and guards just drove to basket flying right past Shaqtastic for a bucket with an occaisional and1, his post presence did not do a whole lot for us at all, if you look at the points per game scored against us, even with Shaq's presence we were not able keep them from scoring in the paint, and on offense, he got his numbers, but nobody else on the team did, with Kurt he didn't clog the paint, he actually had a good midrange game, big difference between him and shaq.

[rsavaj]

i'll give this offseason a much higher grade if we can pick up another big like Joe Smith, KT, Drew Gooden, Oberto, etc.

i'd like Tim Thomas too but an offensive forward isn't really a priority right now.

[grumpysaddle]

teams didn't resort to posting up when shaq was in very much. instead they killed the suns with pick and rolls that shaq can't defend if his life depended on it. and the numbers with shaq in or out don't really matter, considering the entire system was reconstructed by porter to revolve around shaq. when the entire offense is built around dumping the ball into shaq, i'm sure porter didn't give much thought to what they'd do when shaq was on the bench. or they were just completely out of practice/rhythm from not playing the way 90% of the team is most comfortable playing.

[Orange_Blooded]

C+

Liked getting rid of Shaq and his contract, liked the Clark Drafting, Frye Signing and obviously the Hill re-sign. Liked Officially Signing Gentrie as the coach.

Really like that we didn't deal amare and extended Nash but that didn't factor into the grade.

Didn't like that we basically had to dump shaq for nothing and didn't sign another decent Center, didn't like the last two draft picks... would have liked to somehow see marion back in purple & orange but never expected to see it anyways.

[Spartan13]

Shaq was perfect in D'antoni's system as a man in the middle who could get you a double double and defend the post. What we should have done was trade for Ron Ron to get some perimeter D and Versatility, instead of trying to build around Shaq and trade for J-Rich. ANYWAYS...

Shaq Trade: D-

Saves them money. which they spend on Channing Frye. Whoopie. Next time try getting at least a 1st round pick for an ALL-NBA center.

Draft: B

Clark could provide some D, some versatility, some Marion-esque play. He looks promising.

Frye Signing: B

Hes not gonna solve any problems but he doesnt cost much either.

Nash extension: A -

Face of the franchise. Atleast Nash has trade value now, instead of seeing him leave for nothing. And he will probably still be worth his contract 3 years from now. Who knows, the Suns might even be contenders again?

Hill: A -

Thought he would leave for sure. Is getting old but has been a warrior for the suns. I dont think they overpaid for him so its all good, plus no point in rebuilding this year anyways since OKC has our pick.

Summer League: meaningless.

Wasnt RoLo supposed to be better then his brother last year after his great USA Select team play?


Please find a Centre. Sign Brevin Knight as insurance for the 1. Barbosa has no business playing pg. See if you can trade J-Rich for a Defensive oriented C and 2 guard. Maybe Raja Bell and Diop? LOL...FML

[JohnVancouver]

Shaq was perfect in D'antoni's system as a man in the middle who could get you a double double and defend the post. What we should have done was trade for Ron Ron to get some perimeter D and Versatility, instead of trying to build around Shaq and trade for J-Rich.

---That's a pretty astute read on this. I think we all agree that Shaq worked (under D'antoni) and had we done as you suggest, with Ron Ron,we would have had a tough lineup.
Really, our misfortunes began to snowball when Kerr brought Porter in. That's when it all turned to ... fecal matter

[lilfishi22]

Shaq Trade: C-

Gives us savings, but we really could've gotten more from the Cavs. Quite disappointed we couldn't get any draft picks for him. Buying out Wallace saved us some dough so that's OK. Hopefully we do something good with Pavs contract.

Draft: B

Clark is intriguing, I'm not sure I'd give him the stamp of approval yet since I've only seen him play twice. But so far all signs point to him being the right pick for us.

Frye Signing: B-

I'm iffy on this trade. He's still young and can still develop, but from what I've seen, he's just another soft PF/C who can shoot the outside shot. He doesn't really fill out any of our needs but fleshes out our roster.

Nash extension: B+

We could be regretting his contract 2-3 years from now, but it was a good move to keep him in Phoenix. He's our franchise player and he makes the SSOL system go. Without him, we're easily a lottery team. I hope we make some good moves in the coming season and the next and completely reload to contend again to give Nash and Hill that championship they have been looking for.

Hill: A -

This was a no-brainer, he was probably our best player last season with his defense, efficiency and leadership. I'm not sure about the $$$ in his contract, but it's a two year contract with a player option in year two, which means it's basically a one year contract. Great move for the Suns. I didn't think we'd be able to resign him with teams like Celtics and Knicks offering more money and a better chance at a championship.

Summer League: C+

Liked what I saw from Dragic, he's still has problems passing out of the double, getting trapped and finishing at the rim, but he has definitely improved. Lopez showed up on the first day and dominated, and then disappeared in the rest, not sold on him being our starting C. Clark looked good, he played good perimeter defense, looked good shooting the outside shot and is a good passer. Thunder Dan called him out for not playing with intensity, which you could see he was lacking in the games. I hope he fixes that.