Has our window of opportunity closed?

[TXSun]

I was intrigued by Magic's comments on the Mavs and that their window has closed. They were in the finals a few years ago and they were the best team in the NBA 2 seasons ago record wise. This just proves to you that the window closes and it closes fast. As for us, we were in the WCF in back-to-back years and last year we exited in the 1st round. So now I wanna ask our real PHX SUNS fans to be realistic and post their opinion. Has our window really closed? In all honesty, I think the 08-09 season is our last ligitimate chance at the ring. After that it's time to start rebuiding and to start getting younger again so that Amare could have another chance at it in 4 to 5 years. It really is this year or never IMO.

[PHXfan85]

I.....don't want to talk about it.

[The Diesel]

I also believe this upcoming season is the last chance for this current team to win a Championship considering how old Nash, Shaq, and Hill are.

That's what made the Shaq trade so stupid; if they kept Marion, the team would have been contenders for the next 3-4 years instead of just one more season.

It makes the trade all the more stupid.

[NashtyNas]

Not really. Yeah, with this team, it may have been closed. But if Nash resigns as the backup at a reasonable price, we can still count on him. Stat can stay at the PF and if Lopez pans out under Shaq as a solid DEFENSIVE big man that can get 12-13ppg, we have our front court I believe. Now, for Diaw, we could trade him for anything in 2010 at the Trade Deadline, depending on which team is tanking then, because he is an expiring (if we keep the team till then). We would be a solid team ONCE AGAIN by the 2010-2011 season, mainly because we will be MAJOR players in the FA market in 2010. Bell, Nash, SHAQ all expire, and Stoudemire will opt out to resign for max deal. If Bell/Nash can sign at 2-3mil/year deals and can still play, which I believe atleast Nash can, then thats 2 Veterans added. Ofcourse, if they can't Dragic would have had atleast 1 year under Nash, Lopez 2 under Shaq, and Barbosa would probably end up being our starter.

A core of:
Dragic
Barbosa
Diaw
Stoudemire
Lopez..
not bad at all if Lopez/Dragic pan out TBH.

[Sun Scorched]

We weren't winning a championship with Marion, especially towards the end. We had no one to gaurd the Duncan's and Ming's of the league. Guys like Al Jefferson walked all over us. With Stoudemire as our biggest guy, we just couldn't match the slowed-down half-court situation. Especially after Thomas left us in that trade.

Marion was going to leave us. Those who don't believe that are kidding themselves. The money was a factor for him to be sure (have people forgotten that he was our highest paid player) but he really didn't like being the garbage man behind Nash and Stoudemire. Folks, he has an ego the size of Texas.

I'm going to agree that this is our last legitimate run at a title, but we will still be a playoff team the year after as well. With the way that this team is positioned though, we won't have to worry about Kerr "blowing" it up. The way the Suns are positioned will see contracts simply expiring and us signing quality free agents.

[The Diesel]

How can you say the team wasn't going to win the Championship with Marion when they had the best record in the West before the trade?

I truly believe Phoenix would have won the NBA Championship this year if they kept Marion.

Nash
Bell
Hill
Marion
Amare

would have beaten

Rondo
Allen
Pierce
KG
Perkins

At-least in my opinion.

Plus, Marion is much younger than Shaq.

[PHXfan85]

Well they would have had to get to the finals to face the Celtics. You seem to forget that although we had the best record in the West, we had one of the worst (if not the worst) record against other contending West teams.

[BitonKOBE]

Well they would have had to get to the finals to face the Celtics. You seem to forget that although we had the best record in the West, we had one of the worst (if not the worst) record against other contending West teams.

yah the 'best record' thing is very misleading. almost everyone was picking the lakers to win the division before the trade.

phx's window isnt closed if diaw suddenly plays close to the level of his contract, and if nash stays almost as good as he was last year, and if amare improves defensively, esp 1 on 1. raja bell and barbosa need to play their best, too. hopefully raja and shaq dont drop off too much this year or next

[Miklo]

Best reg season record is not only misleading, but is the reason we were not in a position to win. We had a team that could have won 55-60 games any season, but as mentioned above if you don't have a bruiser to stop the big guys, you ain't gonna get a ring. Its all about defense and while Matrix was a good defender the matchups are everything.

[funlle]

Sadly, many of our fans want to believe there is still hope. Unfortunately, the window closed with the failed Shaq trade. I agree we were not likely to win with Marion. Marion, to me, became selfish to the point that we were not going to win last year. However, the Shaq trade substantially reduced Steve Nash to a slightly above average point guard as the team slowed down. I think losing D'Antoni was a mistake as we longer had free agents like Grant Hill who wanted to come here.

Sarver/Kerr slammed our window shut with a series of blunders over the last few years. I would be dumping payroll and preparing for another run. Unfortunately, we won't have some of our upcoming picks, which would have helped us rebuild.

It hurts because we were so close. We are no longer relevant as a top tier team. It is really frustrating because we were close enough that if Bryan Colangelo was still here, he would have been able to make the type of trades to put us over the top. Kerr is simply not effective but not sure if it is because Sarver ties his hands.

We really are not even fun to watch anymore.

[Vernon Maxwell]

That's what made the Shaq trade so stupid; if they kept Marion, the team would have been contenders for the next 3-4 years instead of just one more season.

It makes the trade all the more stupid.

by contenders you mean finishing top 3 in the west but having no chance of getting to the finals, then yes, we were contenders.

[TXSun]

I believe this year is all in Shaq's hands. No excuses this year from Shaq or Kerr. Can Shaq have a good productive regular season and a dominating post-season? One more crack at it is all we are getting.

[lilfishi22]

Not yet, but this season is our last opportunity before we lose our players to either FA/Retirement/sharp decline :Shaq, Bell, Nash (to some extent), Hill and Barnes. Like someone mentioned before, if Porter can somehow work Diaw into our offense even when Amare is on at the same time, then we could go for the title. I believe we have the players but it depends on the coach.

[lebron4mvp]

ok the window is not closed yet but its geting close



fun how can you say the shaq trade failed he got to play what 20 games at 100% did not know the system and i don't even think he was realy 100% any time last year with us.



you must not have watched the lakers game where shaq dominated with us he can still play at that lvl he just has to be 100% which he will be this year.



so on the shaq trade its still a ? whether it has failed or not

[TASTIC]

I think we're reaching for a really high window, and Shaq's finger tips are still in there. But it's juuuuust about shut

[walkingart]

Sadly, many of our fans want to believe there is still hope. Unfortunately, the window closed with the failed Shaq trade. I agree we were not likely to win with Marion. Marion, to me, became selfish to the point that we were not going to win last year. However, the Shaq trade substantially reduced Steve Nash to a slightly above average point guard as the team slowed down. I think losing D'Antoni was a mistake as we longer had free agents like Grant Hill who wanted to come here.

Sarver/Kerr slammed our window shut with a series of blunders over the last few years. I would be dumping payroll and preparing for another run. Unfortunately, we won't have some of our upcoming picks, which would have helped us rebuild.

It hurts because we were so close. We are no longer relevant as a top tier team. It is really frustrating because we were close enough that if Bryan Colangelo was still here, he would have been able to make the type of trades to put us over the top. Kerr is simply not effective but not sure if it is because Sarver ties his hands.

We really are not even fun to watch anymore.

LOL...considering that Shaq played better than most expected after he came here, and while Nash became less of a playmaker, Amare increased his production.

Nash will become more of an offensive threat next season as he gets more accustomed to playing with Shaq, not as a playmaker but as a scorer. He still is the best shooting PG in the league.

With the emergence of Amare after the Shaq trade, I would say our window is as big as its ever been and won't be closing as long as Amare is playing at an MVP level. This will be even more evident if Kerr gets his way and Amare starts to work on a low post game rather than working on his 3pt range as he was under the tutilage of Mike D.

BC is a joke, maybe he could have traded away the future rights of someone of the caliber of Deng or Iggy so we could sign the next Q. Also the reason why we didn't want to offer JJ the extra $5M he wanted not to become a RFA. If BC was so smart, our starting lineup would be Nash/JJ/Iggy/Marion/Amare. I wonder if that team would be considered a serious contender?

Welcome to my list of foes!

[phx#7]

That's what made the Shaq trade so stupid; if they kept Marion, the team would have been contenders for the next 3-4 years instead of just one more season.

Marion's contract situation insured he would not be on the team past the '08-'09 season(suns are in a much better position having Shaq's/Bell's/Nash's contracts coming off at the same time imo) and the Suns schedule was much tougher after the Marion trade than it was before which accounted for the drop in the standings. I'm pretty sure their record against playoff teams improved after the Shaq trade(even with Shaq not playing in 11 or so games).

As to the question, unless Amare becomes a dominate defender/rebounder AND none of the older players loose too much this year then yes the window is closed and has been since Amare/Diaw got suspended.

[walkingart]

good take #7....resigning Marion would have left us unable to sign anyone in 2010, and letting him go would have given us only $6M to work with in FA in 2009. Not much of an alternative to where we are now.

I also look for Amare to make steady improvements on his game as he has throughout his career, and his rebounding seemed to get better after Shaq's arrival. Let's hope a little emphasis on defense inspires him to be more motivated on that end of the court.

For me, looking back on things with perspective, I think not resigning JJ closed the door on Mike D to win a championship here. Barring injury, we could have made our best run his last season here.

[The Diesel]

And why do people keep insisting that the team wouldn't have won the Championship with Marion when EVERYONE agrees they WOULD have won the Championship if Amare and Diaw weren't suspended?

I don't get it...

[walkingart]

I don't think they would have won it all with Amare and Diaw, but for those who do you have to consider a few things: Barbs was playing better, Bell was shooting the ball better, we had both JR and KT on that team as well. We also had a good record against the best teams in the west.

Last season, our 3pt shooting was not as high and our defense and rebounding was worse and we had a horrible record against the best teams in the west with Marion.