<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"This is the third year of our run," coach Mike D'Antoni said in an interview on the eve of the playoffs. "We've proven we can win 60 games. When you start the playoffs, all the little stuff goes away. But chemistry is something you have to be careful with. It doesn't happen all the time, and it can be destroyed." The sense around the Suns' organization is that this playoff run will determine whether this team breaks through and stays together or whether major changes must be made. The system is not about to change, and Nash isn't going anywhere. But there has been an internal debate about how to use the big players, and if the Suns get knocked out by the Spurs again, it wouldn't be surprising if there are some shocking moves. The Suns have Atlanta's draft pick?unless it is top three?from the Joe Johnson deal. Given this is a strong draft, especially for big guys, the Suns could use that pick and perhaps package Marion or Stoudemire for another lottery pick, especially given luxury tax implications with the Suns well into the tax next season. Without a championship, owner Robert Sarver has made it clear he won't accept an inflated payroll. Of course, Nash is 33, which means they're not about to rebuild. What about the team that gets the No. 1 overall pick? Would you rather have Greg Oden or Stoudemire? The Suns aren't saying they'd do it, but if they lose in this series, everything figures to be on the table.</div> Source: Chicago Tribune
I can understand where they're coming from. If you have all the right pieces like the Suns seem to have, yet can't make it work.. something needs to change. I'm sure they have an army of statisticians and other folks trying to figure out exactly how to squeeze some more success out of the core. What to take away, what to add, etc. It's likely to be an interesting off season.
That's a scary thought. I don't want to see them ripped apart. If they do need to retool, I think Marion, Nash, Amare, and now Barbosa should all be untouchable. They could trade Diaw, Bell, or Ja. Jones or something, but they can still compete for a title next year if they keep that core together. And when Marion's contract runs out, let him go and we hit the free agent market. Plus, with the 4th pick, they might end up with Noah, which would mean they have a year to coach a replacement for Marion.
I would bet that no matter what the Suns do Sarver is going to cut payroll, if they win he can claim "ok, we accomplished our goal, we can now focus on financial goals". If they lose he can claim "we can't win a Championship with this team, let's go in a different (cheap) direction". Every summer Marion is supposed to be traded (last summer I read Marion was all but on his way to Seattle) but this summer is probably the most serious as next year the Suns are going to be well into the luxury tax. Plus its well documented that Shawn wants more respect and individual awards, now Sarver can say "we're trading him to a team where he can get more respect, we're the good guys" -- similar to how he snaked out of the Joe Johnson situation (Sarver refused to extend Joe before his contract ran out, then told him to find offers before he would offer anything, then scared off teams by saying he'd match any offer, which of course he wouldn't have and was only saved once Joe asked for a trade, which he was more than glad to do). The Joe trade worked out on accident, trading Marion won't. Of course the other option is trading Amare, which I have heard the Suns were almost thinking of maybe sort of trying to trade him once he didn't look very good coming back from his injury. Of course he came back fine and next season he should be as good as he can be. Though I was reading a recent article about the Suns future and the author mentioned trading Amare and the Hawks pick for Greg Oden, I'm not sure if the Suns would do it (or if the team picking first would do it) but it was an interesting trade scenario, personally I think Amare & a top 5 pick is way too much for Oden. Greg is a defensive beast, but offensively I'm not impressed, he'll probably only become a taller Ben Wallace, or worse a complete bust (Olowokandi). The Suns will not trade Bell or Barbosa unless they absolutely have to include them in a trade to unload a higher paid player. Bell doesn't even make $5 million a year, he's one of the biggest steals in the league, Barbosa isn't far behind, he's starting his new contract next year at only $5.6 million. Marion ($16.4 million), Diaw ($9 million) and Thomas ($8 million) are the guys I'd look to unload, they are all great but their numbers are just to high for their status on this roster. The problem is if they trade these guys they have to get similar salary back, it won't do any good for next year's luxury tax problem... thus it means they are going to have to do the trading at the draft and include picks. Remember last year when Phoenix had 2 picks and walked away with less than they came in with (they traded away both picks and Brian Grant for money)? Well this year its 3 picks, including a possible top 5... its very likely you'll see Phoenix give away their picks so that teams will take their high priced players, so not only won't we get new rookies, we'll have lost some of the major parts of the current team. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Plus, with the 4th pick, they might end up with Noah, which would mean they have a year to coach a replacement for Marion</div> Noah has been falling, I'm hearing he's not even a top 10 pick anymore. He may move back up with some good workouts. I'm looking at Al Horford from Florida, he can replace Kurt Thomas, he's a better defender than Amare, plus he'll help keep him out of foul trouble as Harford would guard the scoring PFs/Cs. I really like Brandan Wright, but he has no strength which means he can replace Marion but can't help Amare with the Duncans of the NBA. Julian Wright is like Diaw, Corey Brewer is like Raja Bell. I don't trust Yi Jianlian, Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, or Mike Conley to turn into a very good NBA player (something a top 5 selection should be). The best thing the Suns can do is somehow trade up (without giving up a lot) and get Kevin Durant -- though trading up probably means Marion or Amare + the Hawk's pick which is probably a bit much, even though I really like Durant. I wouldn't give up a top 10 player in the NBA + a high pick for somebody who may be a top 10 player in the future when you have an aging Steve Nash... I just couldn't do it.
