Keys to Sun's success in the upcoming campaign.

[NashtyNas]

A wing we could use and a deal that may be possible, although we all know there aren't any trade's happening. Just an idea I thought off, let the flaming begin.

Boris Diaw + Raja Bell + 2 Second Rounders for Caron Butler and Darius Songaila.

Butler can and would play the 2-Gaurd, and Songaila would back up STAT.

Nash/Dragic/Singletary
Butler/Barbosa/Tucker
Barnes/Hill/Tucker
STAT/Songaila/Amundson
Shaq/Lopez/Amundson

1 Person would get out of the rotation ( can only have 12 players) and I'm pretty sure that player would be Singletary..

[rsavaj]

^^That would be effing fantastic, but I have a feeling that Butler's value is higher than Marion's is right now, so they would laugh at that trade. Boris doesn't really fit a need for them, and his 9 million a year only makes things worse.

[TASTIC]

Jeez....we couldn't unload Diaw for a scrub, and you think Bell and 2x 2nds is enough to get Butler?

yikes...Butler's a stud, WAS knows that and everyone else does, not to mention that he's on a very reasonable salary too

[b-ball forever]

Jeez....we couldn't unload Diaw for a scrub, and you think Bell and 2x 2nds is enough to get Butler?

Which scrub? TJ Ford? The only Diaw trade rumour that surfaced this offseason was Diaw For TJ Ford + Raps 17th draft pick.
But yeah, Caron Butler has become 1 of the best SFs in the NBA nowdays and Wash won't be tradin him unless they get an allstar caliber player in return.


Keys to success :

-Shaq staying healthy and not playing like the utter crap he was in the playoffs this year.
Our infamous med staff, coupled with Porter's readiness to let Lopez into the rotation straight up (which means more rest for Shaq) makes me less worried bout his usual sucky contionning... but whether he still has what it takes to actually play near as good as Marion at his age is what I'm more concerned about.
Consistent comitment by Shaq to Porter's supposed defensive focus is an absolute must from him, altho his current lack of mobility makes him a potenial scary ass target (like he was in the Spurs series). Don't wanna see no more "guarding" with his arms down anymore this year.

Shaq's level of play and health is easily the important factor for success since :
1) He makes 20 mil per, and
2) We traded away Shawn friggin Marion to get him

-Diaw's gotta NOT come back to camp all flabby like he did in summer 2006. He's also gotta adapt to his new coach and teamates quicker then he adapted to STAT's return.
I'm sure he'll be fine on the defensive end, given that he's often done a solid job defending the post, and also did pretty good while he was on Parker in the playoffs... But he can't just disapear on the offensive end and let Barnes/Hill do all the point-forward work. He's gotta realize that he's helping the team by being more agressive and active, not killing Barnes/Hill/Barbs.

-Barbosa has to get back the agressiveness he used to have in 2005-2006, and 2006-2007. He also needs to get less touches and play fulltime SG now. I mean he was our backup point guard last year, got the most touches on our team besides Nash... and yet he STILL managed to average less assists then both Diaw and Hill. No more point-Barbs please Mr Terry.
Even working with Porter, I seriously doubt he's got the IQ it takes to run an offense, so I'm not expecting that from him, just want him get back to attacking the basket hard/efficiently and finally make good use of his athletic advantages on the defensive end.
Not expectin him to magically turn into a ballstoper or anything , just wanna see him do a decent defensive job.

-Really can't ask anymore OFFENSIVE improvement from Amare, he's already by far and away good enuf there between his excellent mid-range jumper and his explosivness at the rim.
But I def wanna see him back up his talk and cut out the slacking on the defensive end.
He's gotta realize that Shaq isn't gonna cover the post for him, and that if he doesn't become an at least decent defender, our post defense will be too sucky between him and Shaq to get us going anywhere.
He seems to think that it's D'Antoni's fault that he sucked at defense, so if he continues to guard with his arms down and NOT box-out, he's gonna look like a (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

I'm not worried bout Hill/Raja since the Barnes addition will let us not play em crazy minutes like they did last year. Resting Nash makes me happy for the post-season, but I just hope it won't cost us too many reg season games.
Last, Dragic has to adapt to the NBA quickly, work on playin more under control and not being a turnover machine, and also not fold under the pressure our management has stupidly been putting on him all offseason long.

[NashtyNas]

I know Butler is that good, which is why I said, let the flaming begin, LOL. I knew that trade was stupid, but I just need to talk about sh*t right now until the season starts... SO...


Bell + Diaw for Kenny Thomas and John Salmons (he would have to play the 2-Gaurd ofcourse).

Nash
Salmons
Barnes
Stoudemire
Shaq

bench:
Dragic
Barbosa
Hill
Amundson
Lopez

We would need another big, since KT is not even servicable at this point..

[Nash2Stoudemire]

I can't see any reason why Shaq would improve now, but I hope he does!

Just hoping he starts trying to bank them or something?!

[lilfishi22]

I know Butler is that good, which is why I said, let the flaming begin, LOL. I knew that trade was stupid, but I just need to talk about sh*t right now until the season starts... SO...


Bell + Diaw for Kenny Thomas and John Salmons (he would have to play the 2-Gaurd ofcourse).

I like Salmons but this is a 2 for 1 trade. KT is as you say, not serviceable anymore. Giving up Diaw and Raja "heart and soul of the team" Bell is too much for 1 player to be honest. But other than that, the Kings would definitely do this, since they get two good players and unload a useless contract.

[NashtyNas]

Fishi, this would be a lateral move defensively, but it would help very much offensively with the decline Raja has been showing. Salmons is a solid 3PT shooter, and can create some offense for himself. He can be the 15-17PPG starter wing we need who can play defense, and not to mention we still keep Barbosa. We also dump Diaw, and get another expiring for 2010. I would do such a deal in a heartbeat, even if we had to throw in a second or 2..


EDIT:

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=

We can also acquire Shelden. That would, ofcourse, be about 4 times as costly as just signing another big at the vet minimum, but he expires next season, and we could probably net a pick out of SAC for taking away a bunch of their cap killing contracts (Shelden and KT dont play at all for them. Williams could actually be a very good backup to Stat, considering we need defense and thats all he provides, along with size, rebounding and blocks.)

There aren't any big's left that would sign at vet min that are intriguing to back up STAT other than PJ Brown, but if he wanted to play, he'd just go to the C's. So, we're better off taking Shelden.

[lilfishi22]

^ Can't agree Salmons is a solid 3pt shooter with a career 33.3% from beyond the arc and shot a career-best 35.7% two seasons. While he isn't a great shooter you probably can't leave him out in the open. I have to say, Salmons is probably a better half-court player than Bell since he's got a pretty good post-up game but still not as good as Diaw in the post.

If we could get ourselves a pick for taking KT and Williams, then I would consider this trade. Williams is a good filler in this trade since he expires next season and would be good on our bench for spot minutes.

The only real problem I have with this trade is that we're giving away two very big pieces of our team. We're so close to training camp and moving Diaw and Bell and bringing in two new players could hurt our offense/defense. Also we need all the help we can get THIS season and while I have no doubt Salmons would contribute right away, this is still a 2 for 1 deal and at this point in time, I'm not ready to pull the trigger. Bell and Diaw still has value on our team I believe.

[Frank Lee]

call Diaw a back up all you want.... he is still going to get 30+ mins a game, and is our most versatile player.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again...if Diaw plays like a Doris and barbo like a Barbososo then our chances are slim.....(though with the addition of Barnes, some of their load is lessened)

both those two need to buck up, not only for their contribution levels, but to enhance their trade values.

BTW.... I see absolutely no reason to makes anymore deals till we see how this unit stacks up and plays together....all this chatter for Salmons and Butler and(???) is mastertradebation. We have the fire power, and have boned up on the D... lets play some ball.

[BringinDaRuckus]

call Diaw a back up all you want.... he is still going to get 30+ mins a game, and is our most versatile player.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again...if Diaw plays like a Doris and barbo like a Barbososo then our chances are slim.....(though with the addition of Barnes, some of their load is lessened)

both those two need to buck up, not only for their contribution levels, but to enhance their trade values.

BTW.... I see absolutely no reason to makes anymore deals till we see how this unit stacks up and plays together....all this chatter for Salmons and Butler and(???) is mastertradebation. We have the fire power, and have boned up on the D... lets play some ball.

I agree with all this. We have a new coach and a new system. Let's see how this group of players play under this system first before thinking of trades. Who knows.... Diaw could flourish in this system that is catered to a more half-court set.

Once the trade deadline approaches, we can decide then what needs to happen in terms of trades. As of right now, let's go into the season with this group and see what damage we can do unto the league.

[lilfishi22]

^ That's exactly why I don't like the Kings trade. I don't want to trade away two huge pieces of our team and muddle up our system. I've said it before, I think Diaw will play better in a half-court game. His trade value should rise and by the trade deadline comes, we'll be able to add better pieces if need be.

Frank Lee is spot on.

[nba_addict]

If there is someone who needs to get traded for better fit it would be Barbosa first before Diaw. The reason is quite obvious, Diaw is more versatile than Barbosa.

[mkot]

^Not only that, he's our best defender in our frontcourt rotation...