Barbosa is indeed a scorer, yet will not letting him run the team? Davis, Marbury, Francis, Wade were all combo guards that adapted themselves to the point guard duties while still being great scorers. Leandro can do that. As for next year, it would be great to add another shooting-guard, with better long-range deliveries than Joe Johnson, such as the european wonderkid Arvydas Macijauskas, a shortest version of Stojakovic (between 6"3 & 6"4). Joe Johnson could be great from the bench, such as Desmon Mason for the Bucks. Next year, the team coud be: C M.Lampe - T.Splitter* - J.White PF A.Stoudamire - Z.Cabarkapa SF S.Marion - J.Jonhson SG A.Macijauskas*- A.Iguodala* PG L.Barbosa - M.Vujanic* - H.Eisley *rookies + 2 draft picks N? 6 - PF Tiago Splitter (a mix between Nowitzki and Gasol) N? 13 - SG/SF Andre Iguodala (track and field athlete, a shorter and but more complete S.Marion) And a great defensive coach (Mike Fratello) would hurt... Or rather a coup ala Terry Porter with his majesty Kevin Johnson (what are you doing?)
About the Barbosa thing, I think JJ is still the best PG on the Suns team... he's got handles I didn't think he had, and if he could make better/faster decisions, I'd put JJ at PG and Barbosa at SG, Barbosa is fine for now though, while JJ learns the position. As for next year, the Suns can't bank on Lampe, he's way too young still... he'll need 3-4 years. White has been doing real well, I think they'll stick with him next year while drafting a center if they can get one worth while (Pavel Podkolzine or Ha Seung-Jin) then having Voskul and Lampe, I'm sure with 4 Centers somebody will get traded (White will be nearly $6 mil, on his last year, so teams would be willing to take him for the cap relief the next year). The Suns may resign Googs or McDyess at the vet minimum, if not look for them to sign another PF at vet min. Their forwards will be Amare, Shawn, and Cabarkapa... although good, it's very thin. Eisley, JJ, Barbosa, and Jacobson are their backcourt... good young talent, but also thin, so they'll be busy in free agentcy or stock piling draft picks. Eisley is the new Penny though, he's going to cost 6-7 million per year for the next 3 years. I'm sure they'll try to unload him, but who's going to take that salary? The only way is if they trade Amare or Shawn, which I'd hope the Suns wouldn't do. Perhaps the Mavs are willing to take Eisley this offseason (Nash may be gone) for a 2nd rounder or something... Cuban's got the cash!! As for those draft picks (mainly Iguodala) I'm sure the Suns could get much better talent, seeing how they currently have the 7th and 8th picks (not sure why you assume one of the picks will be at 13, but if that's the case I still don't see the Suns picking anything but foreign players)... at this second I'd assume the Suns would take Ha Seung-Jin and Splitter. As for the coach the Suns have so much foreign talent, they need somebody like D'Antoni... so I see D'Antoni being the Suns coach for the next 3 years. But if the Suns are going to get another coach, they NEED to get a coach that's proven, somebody like Lenny Wilkins, not a former player with no coaching experience. I love KJ as a player, but we're talking about coaching and the Suns really need a proven coach like Wilkins. Also the Suns aren't going to play defense, their players aren't defensive minded, that's why Frank Johnson couldn't get them to win... they are like the Mavs and Kings, they need to just try to run & gun and try to outscore everybody.
I don't think that just switching JJ and Barbosa would do the trick at PG/SG. Over the past couple years the Suns have tried to get JJ into the type of player to initiate the offense, bring the ball up the floor, etc. but it hasn't worked. So I think keeping JJ at SG and Barbosa at PG (bring the ball up the floor and the such) would be the best thing to do while JJ functions as the actual PG. I'm hoping Lampe is the real deal for the Suns at C. His career is young, but it has been full of mysetery so far. So far he has been put on IL after IL (with phantom injuries) so I'm hoping some development, whether mentally or physically, is taking place. The last thing the Suns need is someone with Lampe's supposed talent to waste their talent by wearin street clothes on the sidelines. With the draft not looking totally good, I'm thinking the Suns will try to pull off a trade if they don't somehow land a top three pick. The question would be for who and what position. The only spot the Suns would need help with, I think, in terms of starters is the C spot. Amare, Marion, JJ, and Milos will be the four to start, unless the Suns would want a superstar type player at SG. Maybe the Suns would trade their two first rounders plus whatever else makes the deal work for the first pick, which they would then pick Howard with (if he makes the jump). Howard, Amare, and Marion may very well be the most athletic frontcourt in history if that happens. Of course this is all speculation, and probably bad speculation at that. As for coaching, I think the Suns need to stick with someone. They can't just keep changing and changing, so as for now, keep D'Antoni. Regarding the first post: Marbury has always been a PG. He was never a SG who adapted to being a PG. All through his life he has been the playmaker on whatever team he has been on.
Right now, JJ is fitting in good at the 2-guard. He is strong enough, fast enough, strong enough, and a good enough shooter to score 20+ on most 1's or 2's. What most of you are forgetting is that with the recent NY trade, next year the Suns get the right to some Yugoslavian PG who is supposed to be the best-ever European PG. Barbosa is also coming along nicely. The frontcourt is one of the best we've had in a while with several talented players in Stoudemire, Marion, Cabarkapa, and Lampe. The draft could add a center maybe or a back-up guard. I hear they are also trying to unload Eisley to the Bobcats next year, thus freeing up more cap space to possibly pursue a Kobe Bryant caliber free-agent.
Forget what I said, Johnson is the Western Michael Redd (level speaking) Barbosa - Johnson - Marion - Stoudamire - Lampe + young prospects & veteran Eisley... A bright future to come
Bright future, but Lampe and Vujanic are still mysteries, they might not turn out to be the players everyone is hyping them to be. Eisley wouldn't hang around for long I believe.
Yeah I agree Lampe and Vujanic are still mysteries, but Stoudamire was a high schooler years away from making an impact. Johnson was an inconsistant rookie when we gave up sizable contract players to get him. Larry Nance was too good to trade for Kevin Johnson and Mark West. Marion was the 9th best player in 1999 draft (behind Jonathan Bender and Wally Szczerbiak to name a few) while Finley was the 21st best player in his draft. Anyway you get the point... The Suns are a pretty good judge of talent, as much as I hate the trades when they occur, they more often than not end up with the better end. I'm pretty sure Vujanic will somehow better the Suns, maybe they trade him for somebody who makes an impact, or he comes over and makes an impact, either way it's good for Phoenix. Lampe I'm suspect on, he's not nearly big enough to be a center in the West, and we already have Stoudamire @ PF... so why exactly do we need him? Depth you say? You can sign anybody at anytime to give you depth... you don't spend time devloping depth!!
Yeah the Suns really do have a good eye for talent, but signing Penny was a waste of 80 million big ones. Maybe they got Lampe to be future trade bait. Any team in the East would give a lot to get him in the future.
I love the future potential for the Suns, especially with all the lottery draft picks they will be having. I like their three main plays a lot, with Amare, Shawn and Joe. Maybe they can use one of their draft picks to draft Jameer Nelson, or some other pointguard. I don't see Barbosa (sorry if I spelled that wrong) really working as a starter for them, but I think he can make a pretty good backup PG for their future. As for Lampe, I haven't really seen him play but from what I hear he is full of potential. I hope the Suns can use their picks wisely and maybe draft a Center ( I don't know if there are any big named centers this draft though ), and like I said a PG. I can see the Suns as having a similar bright future ahead of them like the Clippers(atleast I hope).
So far there is a promising outlook in the draft. If the suns draft a center and a power forward they have options. For PF Okephor, Humphries, Davis, and Splitter all look solid, depending on what position we get in the lottery. For center they could get Perovic or Swift (Pavel looks like too much of a project like Big Jake was). My question is does the lottery go on eight worst records or the four worst records from each conference? From what I've read Vujanic is a shooter when playing for the pro teams who need scoring and a passer when he plays with the serb national team. Apparently he is quite a good shot. His contract is owned by Vlade Divac's team in Europe and he was farmed out to an Italian league. Peja and Vlade both think he is ready for the NBA and will make a quick and easy transition to the style of play. Peja said he tried to convince Vujanic to come over for this season. Apparently he is good friends with Z and is willing to come over for the Suns vs. not wanting to come over and sit on the Knicks bench. Most importantly he wants to play. I really love Barbosa's game and think he is capable of dishing out regularly eventually. When he gets too wild we have Eisley to correct things. With Marion, Z (given he pulls his game around over the rest of the season and this coming summer), and Casey I think we are good for Small Forward. I think Casey can do a good job filling in minutes for JJ as well. With Amare at PF if Z is able to swing over and if we could get someone like Stromile Swift we could draft a rookie and not need to play him til he is ready. At Center the draft does look thin... Apparently JJ and MArion have tried to convince Marcus Camby to sign with us next year. Kobe is out (thank god) and nash will never leave the Mavs. KMart would cause conflict with Amare over who gets start I'd bet. So I really think Stromile swift as a solid FC is our best bet for FA. Center will always be a weak spot but with SWift and Amare and Voshkul and White (he'll still be under contract next year) we'll have options. MAybe Ginobili as JJs backup... but JJ's performance will take a flop as soon as he thinks he has to fight for minutes. I think much of his up down is mental. His numbers might stay down now that Amare is back and he doesn't feel as vital. Lampe will take awhile and I seriously doubt he will ever have the bulk to play center in the NBA. I think we should do a two for one trade and pick up Okephor if we don't get one of the top spots. He has the most experience (Humphries would be good though) to pan out immediately. Anybody think Lampe can be a Center? Anybody know any good FA Cs coming up?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting panfolk:</div><div class="quote_post">My question is does the lottery go on eight worst records or the four worst records from each conference? </div> First off nice post, welcome to the Suns' forum, glad to see more Suns fans posting. Secondly, here's a quick sum of the lottery... The teams that DON'T make the playoffs are all lottery teams. It's called the lottery because the first 3 picks are picked the same way lottery numbers are. The worst your record is, the more numbers you are assigned. Then 3 numbers are chosen, the teams corresponding to those numbers get the first 3 picks... then the rest of the draft is sort with worst record to best... so right now Orlando was the worst record, if they DON'T get one of the top 3 picks, then they normally pick at worst 4th, but this year Charlotte gets the 4th pick, so they'd pick 5th. Phoenix currently holds the 4th worst record in the NBA, which means they will have a very good shot at one of the first 3 picks... but let's say Orlando, Chicago, Washington, and Phoenix (worst 4 records in the NBA) all don't get one of the first 3 picks, Phoenix will draft 8th (first 3 picks, Charlotte, then the teams with a worse record than the Suns). But the odds are way against that happening. So I guess to answer your question, 7 teams out of the East and 6 teams out of the West are in the lottery (the teams that don't make the playoffs). Do remember about Charlotte, they will have #4 no matter what, so if Phoenix doesn't get one of the top 3 picks, they will at best draft 5th (that's IF they end with the 4th worst record, and the teams with even worse records get the top 3 picks). I hope you get that... anyway I would love Camby at a very cheap price, he has brought a lot of Denver, but I'm worried about his health, and I do think he's playing so well because it's his contract year. But a shot blocker and rebounder would be nice. A few centers that we could sign next year are Mehmet Okur (considered a center, however very undersized if he moves West), Greg Ostertag, and Adonal Foyle. Not sold on ANY of them... so they better find one through a trade or something. I also wouldn't mind Jon or Brent Barry at a low cost, they could bring veteran leadership and clutch shooting. I think Stromile Swift is way too small to be playing center, Amare's taller and bigger than him, and he can't hold his own defensively if he had to play center. We really need a Ron Artest type player... a guard who can play shutdown defense. Not too many good defensive guards, the best defensive player available next year is Michael Curry, but we'll probably be pretty loaded in the front court. Oh and Lampe is NOT big enough to be center, if he grows (he's like 18-19) taller and gains weight, maybe.
I dont think that there is anything wrong with the suns gaurds. Barbosa is coming along really well, and he is getting more consistent. Barbosa and JJ can become a great backcourt, JJ IMO is deserving most improved player this year and Barbosa is playing great for the minutes he recieves. Barbosa averages 6.9ppg 2.1apg 1.3rpg 1.11spg 18.2mpg, and JJ averages 16.1ppg 3.9apg 4.5rpg 1.05spg 39.1mpg. Theres no need for the suns to draft a gaurd unless they want to use him as a backup. The only really big problem the suns are having is there center, they dont have a solid center. If they could get stro or draft Okafor they would be better or else there probably going to have to trade for one.
Mehmet Okur is the only one mentioned who has any life left in him. He's a solid PF and he could fill in a little at C too. I think Swift would be good on the floor as PF with AMare at C. Talk about stout. Camby is a health concern. Who knows maybe Dice will pan out and we resign him at PF? Vujanic and Barbosa could be the next Bibby/Bobby as far as I'm concerned. Barbosa'll probably get start for good reason. If we got Okur we'd have 2 serbs a brazilian a pollack and a turk. What fun. And the quasi Italian coach. Okur might not be resigned by detroit if they plan on using darko. So Okur Camby or Swift and 2 drafts. Solid.
Oh yeah I also think Brent Barry would kick ass as a backup to JJ. Give us a perimeter threat with barbosa and casey already on the floor.
The suns arent getting there hand on okur, no way. Havent you heard?, that there trying to trade big nasty or bobby sura to clear cap space so they can resign him. Memo is clearly staying in Detroit, I think the suns could get there hands on the stro show, he would probably end up playing Center because Amare is so well adapted to playing PowerForward. As for brent barry coming in as a backup to JJ :thumbsup: .
Swift, now that sounds good to me. Stromile would be a great addition to the suns. Another athletic type couldnt hurt at all. He would just add more highlights to the suns games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jdub:</div><div class="quote_post">Swift, now that sounds good to me. Stromile would be a great addition to the suns. Another athletic type couldnt hurt at all. He would just add more highlights to the suns games.</div> Highlights don't turn into wins. The Suns need some leadership on the floor...a veteran with experience and someone who knows the game. They don't need another young cat who is inexperienced.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Big Nasty:</div><div class="quote_post">Highlights don't turn into wins. The Suns need some leadership on the floor...a veteran with experience and someone who knows the game. They don't need another young cat who is inexperienced.</div> Exactly. I don't understand why they released Scott Williams. They really do need someone to teach their youngsters how to play, and Williams was the perfect answer. This team is in turmoil right now.
I think Barbosa is still a few years away from being a top-tier point...JJ is more of a scorer and works off the ball better, imo...the Suns will need to sign an athletic point in the offseason to accompany their athleticism...
They offered Williams a coaching job to keep him around but he declined and asked them to find a way for him tp play, so they obliged and released him kindly. Dice may pan out for the rest of the year. What veterans do you have in mind. Nash will never leave the Mavs. No other point in FA is suitable or worth a starting role even. This is a little disturbing... from Hoopshype interview: It's going to be a tough second part of the season for the Suns in the Western Conference. There are no playoffs for you this year. AS: Whatever we accomplish, we are going to do it by working the hardest we can to win games. Even though we are not going to be in the playoffs, you have to develop a good chemistry on the team and go from there -- next season and in the future. In that future, it seems you are going to be the star in Phoenix, right? AS: I like the role of leader. It sounds good to me. I'll try to lead my teammates to the highest point possible now that I'm OK physically. He's too damn young and too damn overconfident in himself to lead, and what chemistry are you going to make by trying to wrest leadership away from Marion and JJ? I don't think of swift as a highlight reel. He'd be solid. I agree that they should have given scott time. He was still vital in the locker room even when they were trying to give minutes to the youngsters as long as they weren't winning.
