What do you guys thinks happens to the Suns once Nash leaves

[Inconspicuous]

I'm assuming he stays with us until 2010, and retires. Will we go through the 5-10 years of mediocrity and eventually nab another potential star like Amare?

[Miklo]

You never know, the mediocrity period might start now...and last until a time far, far away.

[MaryvalesFinest]

Not much, Barbosa can replace him at the point and what ever people say about his defense Barbosa is a lightyears better defender than Nash. People say Barbosa is a not a pg but the guy can probally average between 5-7 assists per game like most do in the league. As for the draft If they don't have much luck in the draft they can easily sign some free agents, players love to play in a warm climate and the Suns can just sign some good free agents. So no need to worry about that, the Suns don't have trouble getting players but it would depend on managements free agent signings, mistakes were made in the past like backcourt 2000 with Hardaway but that was with the C's, so let's see what happens.

[Gorilla Warfare]

Barbosa wont play PG because J-Rich is going to be out at the end of this season. Shaq will be gone too. Nash will stick around until 2010 playing 15-20 mpg then retire, passing the reigns on to the 2nd best point guard in the 2008 nba draft...

This team is going to hurt for about 4 years. But at least with Shaq and J-Rich gone we have a spare 32 million laying around to sign a couple good role players for Amare.

[amitg]

who will take J-Rich?
he has 13.3M next year, and 14.4M the year after, i don't see too many GM's jumping on his contract.

[Gorilla Warfare]

Someone else has to be as stupid as us. We will trade him for nothing because thats what the Suns do, they trade players who have gotten into trouble with the law. I want Colangelo back.

[pidi]

we won´t trade j-rich.
when shaq is gone he has more room to slash to the basket.
gonners for 2010 are:

ghill, shaq, barnes, tucker, lopez....

[dunleavyjr]

Suns can always sign Chris Paul.

[lilfishi22]

I think Nash could do what he wants. If he wants to stay I think management would accommodate him. I mean he's two-time MVP and if he's asking for a reasonable extension, I don't see why management won't keep him here. If he wants to leave I sure management would be happy to oblige too. I think on a competitive level, he still has another 3-4 seasons left after his current deal ends.

As for Barbosa taking over as PG, I think he can play the PG to a certain extent. He averaged something like 4 assist in his 6th man of the year season when Nash was still very much in his prime. I certainly wouldn't want him as our first option PG but if our next best option is Dragic, I'd have Barbosa playing the PG full time.

JRich is going to be stuck in Phoenix I think. I think Suns management are going to try and put him on the table but I find it highly highly unlikely considering there will be a lot of teams looking for expiring contracts because of 2010. Possible takers for JRich? Hmm, Toronto, Chicago, Denver, LAC and maybe one or two more. It will be tough and I think we're just going to ride out his contract.

I think we should focus on signing Amare to an extension since it'll be tough to lure a top flight FA to the Suns now that things are the way they are.

[ray ray]

I think Nash could do what he wants. If he wants to stay I think management would accommodate him. I mean he's two-time MVP and if he's asking for a reasonable extension, I don't see why management won't keep him here. If he wants to leave I sure management would be happy to oblige too. I think on a competitive level, he still has another 3-4 seasons left after his current deal ends.

As for Barbosa taking over as PG, I think he can play the PG to a certain extent. He averaged something like 4 assist in his 6th man of the year season when Nash was still very much in his prime. I certainly wouldn't want him as our first option PG but if our next best option is Dragic, I'd have Barbosa playing the PG full time.

JRich is going to be stuck in Phoenix I think. I think Suns management are going to try and put him on the table but I find it highly highly unlikely considering there will be a lot of teams looking for expiring contracts because of 2010. Possible takers for JRich? Hmm, Toronto, Chicago, Denver, LAC and maybe one or two more. It will be tough and I think we're just going to ride out his contract.

I think we should focus on signing Amare to an extension since it'll be tough to lure a top flight FA to the Suns now that things are the way they are.

I think that the only team that would be willing to trade for JRich are the Clippers. They have a blethora of big man and they would like to get rid of one of them. I dont see any team wanting Zach Randolph( 2yrs and 33mil) or the cave man Chris Kaman (3 yrs and 33.9 mil ) versus Marcus Camby (1 yr and 7.6 mil). So they are going to have to trade Marcus Camby for some guard play. I think that the Clippers would be entice to reunite Jason Richardson and Baron Davis and see if the can reproduce what they did with the Warriors but that's going to be wishful thinking in my part.

What the Clippers are going to want is Barbosa but I hope the Suns don't trade Barbosa since he's the only thing that bring some type pf hope to the Suns.

There's a couple of teams that we might trade Shaq to and not bring much money back:

Team Salaries:
Piston 33.7 mil ( Shaq for Kwame Brown 5.1 mil)
Nets 49.7 mil ( possibly trade Shaq 21 mil for Bobby Simmons 10.9 mil)
Pacers 57.9 mil ( Shag in a 3 team deal involving Tinsley, Murphy going to Clippers)

[eastsidecrossover]

Mary, your wrong, barbosas defense is atrocious. You have to have some kind of bball IQ which he does not have. Nash at least could get his body in place to take some charges. Mediocrity is coming back to planet orange, just like after the barkely years. I imagine it will take longer then 4 years before this team is anything to talk about, unless amare stays and improves.

[albasuna]

the Suns will suck for as long as Sarver and Kerr are running the show.

[toucansma]

[eljayyyyyyyyyy]

well i hope that if we do go to the draft, then i hope jrue holiday is entering and nabb him. but who knoes....

[scootfu602]

"What do you guys thinks happens to the Suns once Nash leaves"
Well this would be a nice start:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3967710
wouldn't mind seeing a future line-up of

Marcus Williams/Tragic
L.B./Tucker
J.Rich/Barnes
STAT/Swift/Amundson
RoLo (if we can develope him into a 12/10 starter)/Swift

[JohnVancouver]

"What do you guys thinks happens to the Suns once Nash leaves"
Well this would be a nice start:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3967710
wouldn't mind seeing a future line-up of

Marcus Williams/Tragic
L.B./Tucker
J.Rich/Barnes
STAT/Swift/Amundson
RoLo (if we can develope him into a 12/10 starter)/Swift

--- I'm sure they keep FroLo just because he's cheap and, really, who would want him based on this year? He may well be better than we've seen but the evidence so far is not encouraging. Dragic ditto, and he's pricey.
Barnes I'm sure will want a better deal than we will offer.
Swift will get the vet min here or somewhere else
Amundson we want to keep - bargain
I hope Tuck gets some burn in the last 18 games so we can really see who he is - isn't his contract about up?
Williams I was quite high on, as were the Nets. It's been a rough ride for the kid so far - I can't take Nellie's appraisal/dismissal of him seriously; Nelson is showing signs of some sort of brain disease.

That leaves unloading some big contracts and picking up draft picks over the next few years.

I don't know, maybe it's just depression over how this year went, but I don't hold out much hope with Kerr as the mastermind.