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Ok so we stand currently in 7th place in the Western Conference with a record of 32-23. There are 27 games left to play. The goal is to make the playoffs and go from there.

The question is how far can this team go?

Realistically I think a goal for this team is to win a series. I think they can win a series with the team as constructed if everything goes right.

These are the things that would have to go right:

1. Jason Richardson plays effectively and doesn't force up dumb shots and plays good defense, grabs rebounds. I'm tired of seeing these off balanced shots he shoots. Square up that's what they teach you from the time you're 5 years old playing.

2. Amare has to continue this play. Hopefully this wasn't just because of the trade deadline but he's playing very well. 30 points and 14 boards and 3 blocks? He could do that almost every night if he wanted to.

3. Barbosa has to come back healthy and make an impact off the bench. Our bench will go from good to great with his return. I don't know how that affects the rotation and who gets less minutes probaby a little less from Dudley maybe a little less from Dragic. Barbosa's scoring off the bench is a nice punch.

4. Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic have to continue their developments. I'm surprised by both of them they've developed into legit nba role players it seems like. Rolo is playing the tyson chandler type role he still needs to rebound better and work on his offensive post moves. Dragic is coming along.

5. Nash has to dominate the ball less distribute it effectively in the sets get people in rhythm. Find J Rich in the post on smaller guards find Amare cutting to the basket Barbosa on the backdoor baseline cut etc

6. Hope for good health. I think a team with a 10 man rotation of Nash J rich Hill Stat Lopez and a bench of Dragic Barbosa Dudley Amundsen and Frye can do some damage.

I'm given up hope that Earl Clark will get any significant playing time if we're contending for playoff seeding and trying to do well in the playoffs which really is just to get Sarver and extra 2 million or more in his pocket. If it goes to game 6 in the first round it'll be 3 million. 1 mil per game.

This suns team can win some games but unless we really flip on the switch every night and play our asses off on defense and rebound well as a team we're not going farther than the 2nd round. Winning a playoff series would be an accomplishment.


Thoughts?

Well if Kerr doesn't trade Amare within the next hour he can opt out and go sign with another team while management ends up getting nothing for him. If he walks that would mean the Suns would have about 7M in capspace to sign a midlevel guy which I doubt they will because they would probably have to pay Frye and Amundson. They don't have their pick next season so that takes care of getting a rookie. So looks like it's the same team comming back next year without Amare, would be to bad to make the playoffs and to good to get a high lotto pick, good times...

Good thread. I would post something more substantial but that's all I have right now.

Yeah we gotta hope Amare opts in this year then we try to extend him or we do a sign and trade. If the right deal came around for Amare I would've pulled the trigger. But how do you pull the trigger on the stuff they're offering. Obviously if he walks this summer and we don't sign him and we lose him for nothing that'll be a big mistake. If we wanted to blow it up, I would've put feelers out there for Nash, Hill, Richardson, barbosa etc and see what you could get. Amare could be a piece that is on a contending team. I still think if he gets the right mentor here (not shaq) to develop his defense and his awareness on that floor he'll be the big man we all hope he'll become. Then again it's probably too late for that to come.

If we keep Amare we keep a guy that can do what very few big men can do in this league. Take the ball to the rim dunk on people draw fouls go to the foul line. I'm cool with the possible Amare/Lopez 4/5 spot. I'd love to dump J rich though if we could for expirings before the deadline or in the summer for picks and young talent. that'll probably happen at the deadline I'm assuming. I'd love to get Rudy Gay here or possibly Joe Johnson back but those are pipe dreams.

If everything goes right (Jrich hits shots, plays good defense, Amare beast with rebounding, The old Barbosa returns, Lopez and Dragic do their thing, Nash wil 12+ assts, and Gentry puts Nash in at appropriate times) then we'd be playing the Lakers in the Finals.

What's the possibilty of all that happening though....

I'm hoping at least a playoff series win. If we somehow play the Spurs or Dallas in a series, I think we can beat both. I don't think we stand a chance with the rest.

1. Makes playoff and get sweep in the 1st round

2. Extend Amare for another 4 years at $14 mil per

3. Package Barbosa + 2nd round pick to move up the draft

4. Draft a SG and C

5. Resign Frye, maybe ? at 2.5 mil per, otherwise, dump him

6. Trade JRich's expiring next year for decent talents or picks

I don't know even at full strength we're better than Utah or Denver in a 7 game series. Rockets will now make the playoffs with Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill.

Rockets made out like Bandits today. They basically gave away t mac expiring contract and Carl landry and got Kevin Martin Jordan HIll and 2 first round picks. one was a swap and the other was new yorks' pick. unreal. Rockets will be a playoff team now.

More competition for us.

If we can surprise a team in the playoffs I'll consider it a success. I don't want this Suns team to miss the playoffs back to back. I really, really miss the playoffs....

sunsfever68 wrote:I don't know even at full strength we're better than Utah or Denver in a 7 game series. Rockets will now make the playoffs with Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill.

Rockets made out like Bandits today. They basically gave away t mac expiring contract and Carl landry and got Kevin Martin Jordan HIll and 2 first round picks. one was a swap and the other was new yorks' pick. unreal. Rockets will be a playoff team now.

More competition for us.

Yep.

Just goes to show you what a real front office exec can do for a team. Daryl Morey, Kevin Pritchard, and Sam Presti own this league.

Also if Amare walks, what will Nash say? Would he want out? I have a hard time seeing him being thrilled to play with Lopez, Frye and Richardson

MaryvalesFinest wrote:Also if Amare walks, what will Nash say? Would he want out? I have a hard time seeing him being thrilled to play with Lopez, Frye and Richardson

Hmm I dunno. He seems to be developing a real rapport with Lopez on the pick-and-roll.

justinb80 wrote:

MaryvalesFinest wrote:Also if Amare walks, what will Nash say? Would he want out? I have a hard time seeing him being thrilled to play with Lopez, Frye and Richardson

Hmm I dunno. He seems to be developing a real rapport with Lopez on the pick-and-roll.

Would Nash want to play with Lopez though when he could go to a contender? I have a hard time seeing it but who knows...

you gotta remember we are in 7th right now but only 1.5 games behind a 1st round home court.

In the off-season you guys trade Amar'e in a sign and trade to Cleveland for Antawn Jamison (2 years at $13 million per year), a 2012 1st round pick, and JJ Hickson.

Our goal is pretty simple: Make the playoffs

sunsfever68 wrote:1. Jason Richardson plays effectively and doesn't force up dumb shots and plays good defense, grabs rebounds. I'm tired of seeing these off balanced shots he shoots. Square up that's what they teach you from the time you're 5 years old playing.

Yes, we need to utilize JRich correctly. He needs to rebound, hustle on D, post up on mismatches, and slash to the rim. No more off balance shots or chucking the ball. Gentry needs to stop the nice guy act. Some guys need you to put some trust in them (Dragic) and others need a slap to the head (JRich). If he's on, give him the ball and let him iso. If he's off (like most nights), bench him if he's not doing the above (rebound, hustling, not chucking).

sunsfever68 wrote:2. Amare has to continue this play. Hopefully this wasn't just because of the trade deadline but he's playing very well. 30 points and 14 boards and 3 blocks? He could do that almost every night if he wanted to.

Gotta try Re-up Amare. He's willing to sign for less than max but wants a 4yr extension. Maybe we can meet at a middle ground at 3yrs. Sarver and Kerr really need to do some @$$ kissing once the deadline passes. If he re-ups, Amare's gotta take control of the team. Demand more touches, hustle more, just do something so that the ESPN announcers are saying
"Amare Stoudemire and the PHX suns..." instead of "Steve Nash and the PHX suns..."

sunsfever68 wrote:5. Nash has to dominate the ball less distribute it effectively in the sets get people in rhythm. Find J Rich in the post on smaller guards find Amare cutting to the basket Barbosa on the backdoor baseline cut etc.

+1!!!! We need to start weaning Nash off the ball. It'll go a long way in helping us prep for the post-Nash era.

After all the distractions hopefully the Suns can focus on every single game now and secure a playoff spot.
Can't wait for LB to return...i know Dragic & Co. have been playing well, but we need him if we want to play better.

keep on competing. I do not think the suns are anywhere near close to be a contender but amare deserve his shot at being the man the suns. if it turns out that phx is losing... the suns may get a good shot at finding a franchise player for years to come.

Keys to Suns success:
1.) Let this be Amare and Nash's team. Not Nash and Amare's team. Amare can effectively score 30 points on any given night. Coincidentally when he gets over 20 shots he gets at least 10 rebounds per game. Go ahead and check his stats for the season and you'll see that I'm correct. Amare focuses more defensively when he gets touches.
2.) Nash still needs to score. He is effective distributing the ball, but I think he is more effective if he gets himself involved first and then the teammates after.
3.) Jason Richardson needs to play a Shawn Marion type role. Marion made most of his points off of fast breaks cherry picking and shots close to the basket. I'm content with Jason Richardson shooting 2-3 three pointers a game, but anymore and his productivity goes down.
4.) Start using Dudley more instead of Hill. Hill has been pretty non-existent this year, its time to play him only 24 minutes once Barbosa gets back.
5.) Dragic and Barbosa need to give instant firepower off the bench. They need to figure out how to coexist and make it work more effectively.

And extra.
6.) Frye needs to move around more. He reminds me of that guy in the gym who thinks he is really good and thinks everyone enjoys watching him. He's the guy that continuously puts his hands up like he expects every possession to go to him, and then he makes the shot more difficult than it has to be. Frye needs to keep it simple, roam the court, post up more, drive to the basket, keep the defense guessing.
7.) Lopez in the PnR. I'm not sure how many centers will be able to stop the alley-oop from happening, Lopez is very lengthy. He needs to start rebounding more though.

During the off-season I expect the Suns to make Amundson an offer of something less than 2mil. Not entirely sure what Grant Hill wants to do, but I wouldn't really care if he retired or stayed. I think Amare is going to stay long-term. Jason Richardson's contract will be huge next season and the Suns will have all the leverage. I expect a very lopsided trade to happen like Iggy for J-Rich, or maybe even if the Pacers are still struggling I could see a J-Rich and Clark for Granger (highly unlikely but still).
Anyways I'm very excited that the Suns did not trade Amare and were patient with this whole ordeal.

Great posts guys. would like to extend Amare and make it his team as well, dude has displayed serious maturity through all of this. Amare just turned 27 in Nov, I think he and Lopez are doing the damn thang, now we just need Clark to live up to his potential.

Once Clark developes that jumper, lights out. I see a lot of teams playing off of him, appearing to be afraid of his dribble penetration. I really want to see Clark start defending the Dirks, Kobes, LBJ's and Wades of the world. I am really excited to see a

Clark 6'10
Amare 6'10
Lopez 7'0

front court. As someone noted, I love Lopez in the Tyson Chandler mold, but smoother on offense.

Dragic needs to get better at running the team, I am cool with his driving and shooting, he is tough. Needs to get better at the PnR and handle defensive of pressure, as was mentioned in an earlier post.

I am cool with Dudley being a spot up defending 2 guard, alas Bruce Bowen. Let Clark, Amare and Dragic create and spoon feed Duds and Lopez. I think lopez will be able to produce on his own offensively in the near future.

If we keep Amare in the summer, we won't have to go through a rebuild. For those of you who keep living in the past, get over it, we are who we are.

You can't change your past, but you can change your future,

peace.