Mid season evaluation.

[eastsidecrossover]

Feel free for you all to jump in a write your own. Respond to what I say or go another directions. This is not an article by any sorts. I just put this together and want to see what you all think? Bring your own evaluation. I would like to read it.

As we all know, the suns have underperformed to this point, placing themselves out of the playoff picture for now. They have the talent to overwhelm teams inside and out, but seem to be a two faced team of W’s and L’s.

Frustration and anger among the FO, coachs, players and fans overwhelmed this entire organization. They have showed us how they can win and play solid ball. They have the tools, the pieces to make this happen. For instance, they are not going to get the top 4 seeds IMO, but they have enough to get it done and go all the way if the timing is right. But they have to play to their strengths.

So who deserves the blame? To me, it seems that it has fallen to TP and Amare. Mary likes to blame nash, and petbull thinks barbosa is the next MJ. Anyways, TP got the axe and I think Amare will not be traded now. Thing is, was this the right move??? I would say yes. I feel for TP because he was the wrong coach at the wrong time. He might have been the right guy after 2010, but kerr was looking to put his stamp on this team too early.

To me, kerr is the moron who tried to fix the problem with at the wrong time. The critics said they could not win it with no real big man down low to rebound and clog the paint. So, they go and get shaq. After this first week, it was labeled as a failure. Kerr brings in a coach with a different style and does not have the right personal for his strengths. This was a bad move by him, especially with vets who like things a certain way. TP is the right coach for a rebounding process, with youth and those he can mold and teach. This is not the right team for that for some reason. I wish him luck because I think it was not all his fault. I think if you had a pie, it would fall 4 ways, kerr, sarver, tp and the players. Some might deserve more of the blame then others, but this was a consistent poor effort of failure.

Amare was a beast last year and the team and the fans have turned on him like he was a deadly virus. He was considered the best offensive PF in the game, but has been reduced to an avg player to trade for scrubs. Nash has never gotten a reliable back up to rest, we have lost most of our shooters that made us successful, and have not addressed the bench issues still. We have never established Amare as a go to guy, and never open the court for him to do his thing.

As said before, the critics have been on this team. Good or bad. They loved the run n gun, but said it would not work. It should have, but did not. Many said change needed to happen, and so it was somewhat addressed and critics continue to hate on the suns. They needed to go to a slow down, grind it out type of team and bring in the right players. Well, shaq came and the critics continue to do what they do. Their record makes them an easy target, and the 1st rd exit was another conformation to those critics.

Now we know many do not like Sarver. Many label him as a cheep owner when in fact he has paid some of the highest payrolls in the nba the past few years. I do not agree with some of his moves as a fan, but understand some of them due to financial issues. I do not think he is cheap, but think his motives to sale picks were not always his fault. I think the guys is a competitive person who wants to win. If not, he would not have done what he has with this team and kept some expensive pieces together. I think the guy is passionate about winning and wanting to win it all. I also do not think he is the dumbest owner out there. I gained some respect for him when he came out and said he was wrong on the JJ situation. At least he was man enough to come out and say it. Hindsight is 20-20, and admitting your faults is a good thing I think. I understand why he did not sign JJ due to what he just paid for nash, Q and purchasing the organization when the prior year they were horrible. I think this team would be in a different place if he would have decided to take the risk and sign JJ. Some of that lies with BC and the staff he inherited from the Colangolo regime.

What now?

Do we trade Amare? Do we try to salvage whats left of the season and see if this team can hit a hot streak and ride it into the playoffs? I would say we keep Amare, see what happens and if AG can get these guys to play together, check the ego at the door and win. I think Sarver had made that decision by axing TP and will ride the ship this season before evaluating what is next for this organization.

I do not see anything changing with TP gone, but if AG can get the team to buy in his system, get them to trust him and each other and play as a TEAM, then they have a chance. To me, how this team finishes the season lies solely on the players shoulders. They need to see what strengths and weakness they have and address them as a Team. No more pointing fingers, but play their role as a team. They need to go back, watch the showtime Lakers and see how they did it. However, my concern is that shaqtus bought in last year, but now wants the ball. He is an all star again and wants the respect and believes he still has it. I think he does, but it starts with him if this team wants to turn this around

What needs to be done?

Bench needs to be addressed. If marbury gets released, do we go after him? Do we seek a small trade to address more depth? Sessions and Villa would be nice, but we would have to let barbs go most likely. I think we need a back up for nash and we need some type of big that can shoot. Remember that TT guy?

Bring your take.

[eastsidecrossover]

wow, sorry guys, really long. Its late and Im out.

[eljayyyyyyyyyy]

well as always lets put it like this we obviously have till this thursday to come up with something or what we have right now is what we have to use for the rest of the season. hopefully other than canning porter trade shaq or someone on the bench. just dont get rid of amare, its just not right.

[chrice]

Have Sarver spend $50M to buy a time machine so that we can go back in time and find Ponce De leon and then toss Shaq, Nash, Hill, J Rich, and maybe Bo Outlaw in there for good measure. Problem solved.

I don't really think there's anything we can do that will help us contend this late. Our big hopes were on Dragic and Lopez to solidify our rotation. Both disappointing right now. Nash doesn't seem like his self so we probably won't be able to rely on him to carry us through the post-season like he has been. Doesn't help we have no frigging coach either.