RealGM

Phoenix Suns Current Evaluation is now finished, please give me your feed back. Last season we predicted 60wins and when the trade was made the program adjusted Phoenix win total to 56. The Suns won 55 games.
http://scoutingthenba.com/blog/category/phoenix-suns/

This season the teams 3 biggest impact players will more than likely be Amare, Nash, and Barbosa.
I doubt Hill nor Shaq will play 70 plus games. If Shaq, Amare, Nash can stay healthy for 72 games then this team will win closer to 55games for the season.
The Suns are headed for another 2nd place finish in the West.

Interesting read. While somethings including point guard position evaluation is a bit off, the prediction for a 6-7th seed in the West looks right. I believe that while the west is definitely getting stronger, the improvement is limited only to the top 6 teams of the west.

Blazers and Clippers are better but is not enough to make a noise in the west, ie the best they will come is 7-8th seed. Lakers (Bynum, i'll count him as a new piece) and Rockets (Artest) have new pieces that will help them out tremendously not only in the regular season but also the playoffs. Hornets also added Posey who will give them an excellent defender and a vet who knows how to get things done. Utah is still as a good as ever as DWill keeps getting better. And while some of the pevious top teams like Spurs and Mavs have dropped slightly due to age and bad trades (kidd?) they still provide solid competition in the west.

Suns on the other hand, are still an elite team, but they will struggle in the regular season more than they have in the last few season with D'Antoni. But the Suns are built for playoffs now and while the evaluation projected us to be eliminated in the first round, if our plans to rest Nash works we should stay competitive no matter what team we play and have a good chance of getting to second round. I see big things for Amare, not sure if he'll avg 12 rpg, but I see him doing 25ppg easy and possibly even pushing 28ppg going into playoffs.

In terms of injuries, I don't wanna name names, but certain vets will probably miss a few games, but as long as they are healthy in the playoffs, it should be alright even if we are the 7-8th seed. Our vets are a year older, but they are still extremely talented and have the maturity to get through tough situations. You gotta remember that while our vets aren't who they used to be, even if they are only a fraction of what they used to be, they are still solid players even in the west.

Position Breakdown:
PG: B
Although Nash is getting older, he is still a top 5 pg in the league. Dragic will be an important part of the team's success more so than Lopez, in that he has to run a team and hold things down while 2-time MVP is resting. We just don't know if he's ready for that yet.

SG:B
I would give it a C because of Bell's decline, but I still have high hopes for Barbs, getting better defensively and maturing on the offensive end. Bell is still a top perimeter defender even at 32 and if he get's back his shooting form, we'll have our 2 guard position locked.

SF:A-
I don't think our SF position is a B-. We still have a wealth of talent in this position and I think the the evaluator looked more at Hill than at Diaw and Barnes. Hill give us that vet who knows how to get to the rim and get to line, he's smart, mature and always keeps his cool, the type of guy who will keep our team together mentally. Like Barbosa, I think Diaw can will get a lot better this season, putting up stats close to his MIP season. Barnes was an excellent pick up at that price and will contribute even if he's given 2mpg.

PF: A
Look for STAT to put up 25-11, which is good enough to be considered a top 5 MVP candidate. Diaw is a natural PF who has a nice repertoire of post moves and i hope he does get more aggressive this season. Amundson will probably be a bench warmer, but seeing Porter is coach here now, I wouldn't be surprised if he played more than scrub minutes.

C:B-
Shaq ain't what he used to be, but he's still an enormous interior precense, and he won't be taking sh*t from no centers in the West or the East, I'm expecting 12-9 from him. Lopez will be a productive rookie because he isn't asked to carry a scoring load, just grab rebounds and protect the basket, which is what he's been doing all through college. You can have an off night offensively, but the defense will always be there.

I still think we can go far in the playoffs and even if we don't win a championship in these two coming seasons, our future is still bright as ever with STAT to rebuild around and nice pieces in Diaw and Barbosa for who we can keep or trade for.

^ wow you're predicting a 6th or 7th place finish out of the West? I think that's a little bit off as well. I think more of a 4th and 5th place is more accurate. quite frankly, i only see us behind the Lakers and Hornets. It's up for grabs between PHX, HOU, and SA for the 3rd spot IMO.

I still have big issues with PG ratings. Are you saying we're as strong at SG as we are at PG?

I just don't see it. Factor in what they've already said about Diaw + Hill doing some facilitating too

PG should be A- and SG is a B

I hear they're planning on limiting grant Hill's minutes.

Really, really, really, good idea.

Tucker and Barnes get burn.