'04 - '05 Roster <u>Starters</u> C - Amare Stoudemire PF - Shawn Marion SF - Quentin Richardson SG - Joe Johnson PG - Steve Nash <u>Bench</u> Jim Jackson Steven Hunter Leandro Barbosa Walter McCarty Bo Outlaw This was the core of last seasons team with Joe Johnson and Steven Hunter leaving, Quentin Richardson traded and it doesn't look like Bo Outlaw will be re-signing though it could still happen. The team was undersized when considering the starting line up and the bench was quite poor with only Jim Jackson, Steven Hunter and Leandro Barbosa being the only real contributors. Despite this the Suns heavily criticised fast break style of play did work and won them 62 games in the season and got them to the western conference finals post season where they fell to San Antonio 4 - 1. '05 - '06 Roster <u>Starters</u> C - Kurt Thomas PF - Amare Stoudemire SF - Shawn Marion SG - Raja Bell PG - Steve Nash <u>Bench</u> Jim Jackson Boris Diaw Leandro Barbosa James Jones Brian Grant Walter McCarty? Pat Burke Dijon Thompson This is the core of the team for the upcoming season which looks promising. The team have had a good offseason making their bench a whole lot better than last season but losing Joe Johnson and being unable to sign free agent Michael Finley (I nearly wrote Jordan). Recieved through a trade from New York Kurt Thomas, who averaged a double-double last season in points and rebounds, if he plays Center allows Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion to drop down to there natural positions where they'll hopefully be more effective. They've also added tough defender Raja Bell who can drain the three averaging .377 from the ark and 12 ppg '04 - '05 season. Additions of veteran Big man Brian Grant, Boris Diaw and unproven James Jones also helps solidify the bench. But the question is will the '05 - '06 roster do better than the '04 - '05 roster? In my opinion Yes I don't think they will neccesarily beat their 62-20 record but I believe they will have a stronger playoff run with a stronger bench and Amare and Shawn back in their natural positions especially after they've spent a season defending bigger players than themselves and at the same time doing a good job. The team is looking generally better defensively which was one of their big problems last season. Please post me your thoughts on the suns upcoming season and if you think they will do better than they did last season.
I think this year will be much better for the Suns Amare is back to his normal position where he can play better and more importantly Marion is going back to his normal-spot Marion was not comfortable playing at PF and we found this out in the playoffs his numbers fell and he was averaging about 10 ppg and less than that in the Spurs series. Their bench also looks muchh better last year's bench was crap so they should be getting good numbers from their bench
I do not care what any doubters say......the Suns will win at least 50 games and win an NBA championship within the next three years possibly even this season.
The Suns have made moves to their roster to make them a stronger playoff team. There regular season win total will take a hit, but they are more balanced now and will compete better in the post season. The Suns are still good enough to win the Pacific, and possibly hold the #1 seed in the post season. The Pacific is going to be one of the most competitive divisions next year, with the Kings, Warriors, Clippers, and Lakers all improving this off-season. I agree with emannen, the Suns should win at least 50 games, and be a top seed in the West.
IMO, even though they lost JJ and Q-Rich they still improved. They got James Jones who is a great shooter, and got Raja Bell who can help their defensive problems. Also Amare, and Marion are going back to original positions.
I agree with Shape. Their wins will go down but if you know your a top 3 team in the WEst, you know your regular season wins will come, but you have to prepare for the playoffs.
I think they have the potential to be better next year, but it's not for sure yet. They have to improve on the defensive side of the ball, and with Marion sliding down to the 3 and bringing in Raja Bell, that should help. The acquisition of Kurt Thomas was also good for them. It gave them a double double guy who is a good hustle player and gives them the ability to potentially move Amare to the 4 spot. All this is well and good, but you still can't look past losses. QRich, though he may have been 3 happy, is still a big loss. He was able to stretch the defense and give Amare some more space in the paint to work with. He's not there this year to do that. The Joe Johnson one was equally as big. They lost their back up point guard and their best shooter and second best defender from last year. Without him and QRich, the offense is really going to have to look for Amare and Marion to have moster seasons. Also, I'm still not set on how good their bench is. Jim Jackson is really the only legitmately good player on that bench. Walter McCarty has never exactly been the greatest player in the world. Barbosa still has a lot of room to improve. Grant has two bad knees and won't give you many minutes, etc. Essentially, it may look better this year, but it's not that much of an improvement over last year in my opinion. Now, after all this, how are they going to do in the win category. To me, seeing as how the West is so deep this year, I think it's going to be next to impossible for them to hit 60 wins again. They'd need huge years from Nash, Amare, and Marion to do that, and then some. I think somewhere around 53 or so is feasible. They do have the talent and potential to win a few more then that, they also have the ability to win less then that. All in all, I think this team is more ready for the playoffs then they were last year, but overall, I don't think they'll be winning more games.
Please believe that Kurt Thomas will not be at center, Amare will. I'm still baffled at the brilliance of trading Q-Rich to NY for Kurt Thomas. So much for a fast-breaking offense. I respect these moves though, they don't want to end up like Sacramento. They are trying to build a battle tested team for when it counts, the playoffs, which makes me question the addition of Raja Bell. Steve Nash is going to be a lot more of a scoring threat this year. Finley would have been a great addition, although I could see him clashing with Marion when it comes to playing time.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Please believe that Kurt Thomas will not be at center, Amare will. I'm still baffled at the brilliance of trading Q-Rich to NY for Kurt Thomas. So much for a fast-breaking offense. I respect these moves though, they don't want to end up like Sacramento. They are trying to build a battle tested team for when it counts, the playoffs, which makes me question the addition of Raja Bell. Steve Nash is going to be a lot more of a scoring threat this year. Finley would have been a great addition, although I could see him clashing with Marion when it comes to playing time.</div> I'm not sure Kurt Thomas will play PF or C although Amare was succesful at this position he admitted to not enjoying it and I thought the whole Q - KT trade was to allow Amare and Shawn to drop to their natural positions. Raja Bell is there for defensive reasons and the fact that he can shoot as well as, or better than, Q from the arc (not hating on Q). You make a very good point that Steve Nash will be a bigger scoring threat like he was late in the playoffs. Eddie House has also recently signed with the Sun's which gives them another great player who fits into the fast break system coming off the bench.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting emannen:</div><div class="quote_post">I do not care what any doubters say......the Suns will win at least 50 games and win an NBA championship within the next three years possibly even this season.</div> you right about everything except for the championship part its still a possibility but not in the upcoming season suns are going to do better b/c they have more depth and that depth can make up for the losses
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post"> I'm still baffled at the brilliance of trading Q-Rich to NY for Kurt Thomas. So much for a fast-breaking offense. </div>Jurassic, Kurt Thomas won't hurt your fast break offense, but his rebounding *will* reduce the number of times the opposition gets to run the ball back the other way on you. A fast-break offense is *not* all about speed and never has been. If it was the Cowens era Celtics would never have won any titles because Cowens was just about the only real speed demon on that team. Take that from someone who watched them live, not on tape. Long story short, Your team improved it's chances of beating the Spurs or the Heat come playoff time. That's the most important thing, isn't it?
